Hyperdimensional Player

Chapter 324 The Three Corpses Appear, Great Proof of the Dao! Breakthrough Failure
Inside the secluded valley.

Lu Shanjun marveled at the thousand-year-old withered vine before him. Although he was physically strong, he dared not easily come into contact with such a poisonous substance. When he saw the Everlasting Youth Technique on the stone wall, his eyes immediately lit up. He had never learned any profound cultivation methods before, and this extraordinary technique was like a timely help for him. However, like Duncan, he could only practice the last eight diagrams.

The Jade-Faced Lady has other secret methods, but she is clearly very interested in immortality. She mainly cultivates the Profound Yin Inner Force, which is perfect for cultivating the first eight diagrams.

Inside the stone chamber, a familiar scene unfolded once again.

This time, however, it was Lu Shanjun who broke through. His efficiency in cultivating the last eight diagrams was slightly lower than Duncan's, and the phenomena he experienced were also different. When he cultivated the third diagram, Lu Shanjun's figure actually showed signs of petrification, and in the end, he became a petrified statue sitting cross-legged.

"He's entered a meditative state!"

Miss Sun and the others were shocked and completely stunned. It was one thing for one person to be exceptionally talented, but the appearance of two of them together made them feel a profound sense of powerlessness, like ordinary mortals.

As firm as metal and stone.

Once Lu Shanjun entered meditation, it seemed as if he had stopped breathing, but in reality, he was breathing internally, using the pores of his body to absorb spiritual energy from the outside world.

Fu Jianhan was greatly stimulated and practiced his skills even more diligently.

Duncan then surveyed the entire valley and organized the spoils from killing the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal.

—"The Glory of the Withered Tree (Ancient Secret Technique): By activating the secret technique of the Glory of the Withered Tree once, you can cause yourself or others to experience a miracle of rejuvenation. The other party will lose all their power and cultivation, but will gradually recover over time, eventually restoring their physical age to sixteen years old and restoring all their lifespan. Their true energy attribute will be transformed into wood."

(When this secret technique is applied to other people, the effect of rejuvenation will be slightly weakened.)
—"Wooden Heart (Rare Item): A treasure left behind by the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal. It has the wonderful effect of changing the properties of true qi. It can temporarily block out the seven emotions and six desires, and is no longer disturbed by external things, greatly increasing the probability of breaking through the realm."

This is all the loot we gained from killing the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal.

The old monster didn't have much on him; most of his legacy was in the stone chamber.

The night wind howled.

Duncan sat on the edge of the cliff, holding a scroll of the "Stealing the Sky and Changing the Sun" manual in his hand. The probability of this manual falling was so low that he had almost given up hope.

"The best way to collect all the martial arts techniques in the world is to directly conquer other sects."

This "Stealing the Sky and Changing the Sun" technique is not easy to master. Strictly speaking, it is called the "Stealing the Sky Technique," a miraculous skill that burns lifespan to greatly enhance the transformation of essence into qi.

"This martial art seems to be able to be paired with the Longevity and Youth Skill!"

Duncan rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought. If the two were practiced together, the cultivator's internal strength would advance by leaps and bounds, but his lifespan would also be greatly depleted. If he could not break through his cultivation level in time, he would burn through his lifespan in just a few years.

This extraordinary skill focuses on the three jiaos (upper, middle, and lower burners), which is equivalent to controlling the body's metabolism.

From a modern perspective, one only needs to glance at the meridian pathways through which internal energy is circulated to know what makes these mental techniques special.

"But the threshold for the Everlasting Longevity Technique is the Innate Realm, unless I can come up with a low-end version."

"Otherwise, there would be no way to combine them to mass-produce a batch of martial arts masters."

Once the Longevity Technique is mastered to a minor degree, one can live for two Jiazi (60 years). Breaking through the first realm of the Stealing Heaven Technique requires burning twenty years of lifespan. The Three Immortals of the South Sea were unwilling to burn off all their lifespan, so they looked like immortals with white hair and youthful faces, but in fact they were only in their forties or fifties.

"There is room for maneuver, but it is also easy for people to die."

Immortality is not so easy to achieve; there are far too many people in the martial arts world who have died from qi deviation while practicing extraordinary skills.

A soft sound of footsteps approached.

The Jade-Faced Lady has awakened from her meditation. She has made some progress in cultivating the first eight diagrams, but she is definitely not as good as Duncan and Lu Shanjun. It can only be said that she is using water to nourish wood, which will help her cultivate her true qi. In the future, when she uses other martial arts, the martial arts that cultivate the liver wood meridian will not cause her true qi to become disordered.

The advantage of Taoist profound arts lies in this: you basically don't need to dissipate your cultivation and start practicing again.

Duncan slowly stood up and asked, "How is it?"

The Jade-Faced Lady gazed at the handsome young man before her, her eyes shimmering with a gentle light, and said softly, "A small achievement indeed, a remarkable skill."

"Does the young master intend to seize this blessed land?"

Having spent so much time together, the Jade-Faced Lady could more or less guess what the young man was thinking just by looking at his expression.

Duncan nodded slowly, looking at the waterfall cliff in front of him, and said, "I do have that idea."

After a moment of contemplation, the Jade-Faced Lady said, "Taking this place is not difficult; we just need to be careful of Fan Huzi and his men."

"With the young master joining forces with Lord Lushan, and with our assistance, we can put up a fight against her."

Duncan turned to look at the Jade-Faced Lady beside him and said calmly, "If we really have to fight her, you don't need to intervene; you can deal with the others."

"Something's wrong with her lightning magic."

That Fan Hu Zi is clearly a cultivator, not someone that ordinary martial arts masters can deal with.

Even the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal didn't fare well against her, otherwise it wouldn't have returned to the secluded valley. Judging from its previous appearance, it was most likely injured in a fight with Fan Hu Zi, which is why it returned here to absorb the sap of the withered vines to heal its wounds.

The Jade-Faced Lady looked as if she wanted to say something but hesitated, her peach blossom eyes fixed on the young man before her.

If she can break through to the Dao Realm today, she will have the strength to fight Fan Hu Zi.

Duncan seemed to have guessed what she was thinking.

The young man turned his back to the stunning beauty behind him and slowly said, "You want me to help you break through to the Dao Realm now?"

Upon hearing this, the Jade-Faced Lady bit her lip, unsure how to respond.

Duncan gazed at the distant waterfall and said slowly, "If you want to use me as a furnace to break through to the Dao realm, you must first have feelings and then forget them."

"If it succeeds, it succeeds."

"If it doesn't work out, I'm afraid I'll become your inner demon in the future."

"You've never been able to say this in your entire life."

If Duncan were just an ordinary martial arts master, the Jade-Faced Lady could naturally forget her feelings and enter the Dao. But after all, he is no ordinary person. The Jade-Faced Lady has placed her affections on him, and she will probably suffer a lot in the future.

Now that his martial arts skills have improved by leaps and bounds, he naturally knows the secrets of the Jade-Faced Lady's cultivation method.

A gentle breeze blew by.

The Jade-Faced Lady's expression was no longer hesitant, as if she had made up her mind. Her voice was full of allure as she sighed softly, "If it doesn't work out, I'm afraid I'll only be able to serve as a flute-playing maid by your side for the rest of my life."

This scene inevitably brings to mind the Jiaochi Pool in Dangshan, where the two were at loggerheads and said the same thing.

A demoness is a demoness after all.

He had a purpose from the very beginning, and Duncan has always been very generous. He wouldn't be stingy with what the Jade-Faced Lady had done.

"As long as you don't regret it in the future."

Emperors are inherently heartless beings; those who rule as sovereigns and rulers, how could they possibly care about so many things?

The young man reached out and pulled the alluring beauty beside him into his arms. Then, he leaped off the cliff, which was hundreds of feet high. The next second, his figure soared into the sky, and the two flew through the air like immortals, heading directly towards the waterfall.

The waterfall cascaded down, its hundred-foot torrent cleaved by an invisible palm print, creating a stone chamber more than ten feet long behind the cliff.

Big clumsy hands!
The Jade-Faced Lady was utterly shocked. She had no idea when the young man had learned Lu Shanjun's Great Clumsy Hand technique. It was impossible to learn this supreme palm technique in such a short time without possessing unparalleled skill in fist and palm techniques. The shock she felt at this moment was no less than if someone in later generations had learned the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms in a single day.

Duncan killed so many people, and his fist and palm skills were the first to reach the grandmaster level.

He even possessed expertise in 'ghostly and divine incantations,' but he had only reached a basic level, which was considered to have met the threshold for learning many Taoist incantations.

The rapids splashed.

The two figures passed through the waterfall, the water crashing against the rocks with a deafening roar that drowned out all other sounds.

Stone interior.

Countless water droplets were blasted away by the protective aura.

The young man embraced her soft and alluring body, and with a gentle flick of his wrist, placed her on his lap as if she were a plaything.

"Take this item."

"Since you wish to transcend emotions and enter the Dao, this item can lend you a helping hand."

Duncan handed the wooden heart of the Corpse Immortal to the Jade-Faced Lady before him. His consciousness gradually returned to the dimension above, and his human form's expression became calm and indifferent. He was not tempted by beauty and seemed to have lost the seven emotions and six desires of mortals, leaving only a calm indifference that saw through everything.

The Jade-Faced Lady gritted her teeth, took the wooden heart from the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal, and began to fully exert her cultivation's extraordinary skills. Before anyone knew it, her pure white palace dress billowed up, and a snow-white fox tail slowly emerged.

Duncan remained unmoved like a Zen master, circulating the Great Wisdom and Love Sutra, his consciousness residing in a dimension above all else, his expression indifferent as he observed everything.

When Yin and Yang are in harmony, he activates the Supreme Yoga Method, releases all his true Qi cultivation, no longer pays attention to everything happening in front of him, but instead lets his consciousness escape into a state of emptiness, directly seeking to verify the mystery of great joy.

Cut off the seven emotions and sever the six desires.

All the beauty that the Jade-Faced Lady was displaying at this moment seemed like fleeting clouds. He was once the supreme emperor of the world, and what kind of beauty hadn't he seen?

As a mysterious suction force emerged, Duncan's Chi and Mana bars began to slowly decrease at their maximum values.

A demoness is a demoness after all; she'll have plenty of techniques for absorbing malevolent energy.

The primordial yang fire blazes.

The Jade-Faced Lady's figure trembled as if burned, and she almost lost her consciousness. Duncan touched her brow with a finger and channeled true energy into her, restoring her clarity. Then her consciousness sank into complete silence, allowing the Jade-Faced Lady to absorb true essence, all in order to find that wondrous state of mind of emptiness and existence and break through.

All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows.

The Jade-Faced Goddess borrowed his primordial yang fire and, using the Great Wisdom and Love Sutra and the Yin-Yang Secret Manual as references, broke the "isolated yin cannot produce" syndrome in cultivating Taiyin True Qi. As a bit of primordial yang was absorbed into her body, her whole being changed rapidly. A few snow-white downy hairs appeared on her incomparably beautiful face. Finally, her skirts fluttered, and a huge, snow-white fox tail, more than ten feet long, wrapped around the young man in front of her.

Half-human, half-demon, she revealed her true form.

Yin gives rise to Yang.

You can enter the path of Tao.

The Jade-Faced Lady gazed at the young man before her, a fleeting look of longing seemingly passing through her eyes. She then slowly closed her eyes. She had already overcome all obstacles, and now she only needed to forget her emotions to enter the Dao. But for some reason, she hesitated for a moment.

How could he hesitate at this moment? Duncan opened his eyes, which flashed like lightning in the darkness, and poured all the true energy and magical power in his body into his ancestral aperture.

In an instant.

Outside the human body, a hazy, humanoid phantom formed, as if the primordial spirit had left the body.

拙！
The illusory humanoid figure pointed a finger at the Jade-Faced Lady's brow, infusing it with a wisp of profound and wondrous true essence. In an instant, it seemed as if everything was gradually disappearing. The two lost the seven emotions and six desires inherent in their mortal bodies, leaving only a trace of their true, clear selves. The Way of Heaven, though emotionless, nurtures all things; the heart of a sage, by forgetting emotions, attains profound truth. Emotions are the threads that bind the spirit, the dust that disturbs the heart; clinging to them creates obstacles, forgetting them leads to the Way.

The first sword strike after landing!
First, kill the one you love!
As if suddenly realizing something, the Jade-Faced Lady hesitated no longer and swung her sword down, severing the lingering affections left in her heart by the image of the young man.

At their first meeting, the young man's extraordinary courage and sharp tongue made her both love and hate him—this was a physical attraction. Inside the manor, the young man's extraordinary talent, open-mindedness, and generosity were beyond the reach of ordinary people, inspiring respect and admiration—this was a place where she could place her affections. Inside the blessed land, the young man was like a god descending to earth, shielding her from the Five Thunder Palm with his own body, which gave her a feeling that she could entrust her life to him—this was the seed of love that had been planted.

The Supreme Treatise on Forgetting Emotions.

Sever all ties of love with a sword!
The Jade-Faced Goddess gathered her essence and spirit, using her heart as a sword to cut away all the illusions of the youth, and also severed the countless threads of affection. From the initial flutter of her heart and lust at first sight, to the growing admiration, it was as if she had found someone to rely on. The path she sought could not be relied upon by anyone.

Refine your heart in the mortal world, using the world as a furnace and yourself as the vessel, without relying on external things, and cut off all delusions.

The emergence of feelings.

One is a physiological instinct, and the other is an emotional attachment.

The moon is reflected in the water but not lingered; the wind passes through the bamboo but leaves no trace.

Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness pass by without lingering; love, hate, acceptance, and rejection are acted upon without attachment.

The heart is like a cold pool, reflecting all things; the spirit is like the vast emptiness, without a single thought arising.

A tear slowly slid down.

The Jade-Faced Goddess's demonic aura vanished completely, her profound yin transformed into yin, her true qi and magical power merged into one, she broke through to the Dao realm, and condensed the true essence within her body.

This relationship has been severed; it was all an illusion, so why cling to it?

"That's right!"

"My efforts have not been in vain."

Duncan's consciousness resides in a dimension beyond. With the help of the Jade-Faced Lady's spiritual connection when she broke through to the Dao realm, he also seeks an opportunity for breakthrough. His consciousness gradually quiets down, seeking great joy and freedom in the wondrous existence of emptiness, breaking free from all the constraints inherent in the human body.

—The wondrous existence within emptiness (great joy and great freedom).

Duncan also grasped the opportunity to enter the Dao realm in that instant, but for some reason, although he had clearly sensed a state of great joy and freedom, he was still unable to break through.

His true energy, malevolent energy, and magical power gradually merged into one, and strands of true essence condensed within his body.

This is something that can only be achieved by entering the Dao realm.

He has already reached the cultivation level of the Dao Realm.

However, he still couldn't overcome that hurdle. Although he had already condensed true essence and possessed the strength of the Dao Realm, he was still unable to truly enter the Dao.

"How is this going?"

Duncan's consciousness returned to his human form, while the Jade-Faced Lady's figure had already drifted away at some unknown time.

Forgetting worldly desires and entering the path of enlightenment, all past events are like fleeting clouds.

The threads of love she herself tied must also be severed by her own hand.

Illusions abound.

Despite having already attained a sliver of the profound mysteries of great joy and freedom through various techniques, Duncan's consciousness returned only to plunge him directly into endless illusions.

………………

A feeling of dizziness.

Duncan seemed to smell a faint scent of blood, along with the stench of cow dung. He slowly opened his eyes, looked at the pitchfork in his hand, and listened to the screams of slaughter coming from afar. An unprecedented sense of weakness enveloped his heart.

The smell of cow dung filled my nose and mouth.

Duncan felt his head buzzing, as if he had been punched hard in the right cheek, half of his face was swollen, and there was a metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

This is where it all began.

The starting point of dreams.

A haystack, cow dung, a pitchfork, a pack of ravenous imperial soldiers—his weakest moment in history.

This time, however, he had no cheat codes, nor did he have the God's-eye view of dimensional space.

I do not know how long it has been.

Duncan's breakthrough came to an abrupt halt, a trickle of blood spilling out. Relying on his combat experience, he slaughtered the fleeing soldiers, but for some reason, he still failed to achieve enlightenment.

—The inner demons of the true self.

—Refining the Heart in the Mortal World (Bloody Mark)

Duncan already possessed the cultivation level of the Dao Realm, which allowed him to cultivate all the way to the point of breaking through the void and ascending to heaven, but he still failed to truly break through.

No inner demons or external things dared to approach him.

The only one who dared to approach him was himself.

The authority over dimensional space is too high.

Only he himself has the right to be his own inner demon. This world cannot limit his cultivation breakthrough, but to enter the Dao, he must transcend himself.

Amidst layers of illusion.

In that remote mountain village engulfed in flames, a weary young man, covered in blood and wounds, wielding a pitchfork, stood with corpses at his feet. He looked up at the sky, as if gazing upon some unreachable god, his face filled with extreme envy as he watched Duncan from a different dimension.

I am you.

You are me.

But I have no dimensional space, no God's perspective, no status or authority comparable to the Creator; all I have is myself, nothing more.

I'm so envious of you!
Endless power, supreme authority, and inexhaustible beauty in the world.

In the illusion created by the inner demons of the true self, two boys with completely different appearances looked at each other. Both were Duncan, but their circumstances were worlds apart. The seriously injured boy hunched over, holding a pitchfork in his hand, picked up a piece of jerky, chewed it vigorously, and bandaged his wounds at the same time.

He has an injured leg, and he has a slight limp.

Despite being extremely weak, he still gazed resolutely at the high heavens, his gaze transcending all obstacles and surpassing time and space.

At that moment, at this moment.

His gaze met Duncan's silently.

Can you face the person I used to be now?
I am your three corpses.

It is also your inner demon.

come!

Face me!
King of Kings - Duncan Caesar Augustus!!!

Inside the waterfall.

After a long silence, Duncan finally sighed softly, got up, and left.

He failed to break through to the Dao realm.

Although he had reached the Dao Realm and condensed true essence, he still failed because that was the real him, without the external dimension, without the God's perspective, and without the ability to seize power.

The Great Dao of this world is making things difficult for him; how can one break through to the Dao realm and face one's true self and inner demons, confronting one's true nature and three corpses?

He is the weakest inner demon.

But for Duncan, he was the strongest enemy.

The breakthrough failed.

For Duncan to attain the state of Great Freedom and Joy, the Heavenly Way of this world has already matched him with an equally matched opponent.

It's him.

Outside the waterfall.

Everyone watched as the young man slowly walked out, soaked to the bone like a drowned rat, while not far away stood the Jade-Faced Lady, her long sleeves flowing, like a celestial being, draped in radiant light, with a beautiful and ethereal appearance.

Even Lu Shanjun was surprised. He did not expect that Duncan would fail to break through to the Dao Realm, while the Jade-Faced Lady successfully entered the Dao Realm.

Originally, the Jade-Faced Lady's expression was calm and serene, as if she had forgotten all desires. But when she looked at the dejected young man in front of her, for some reason, a ripple of emotion appeared in her eyes.

It's not so easy to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Young master, you are a genius!

How could he possibly have failed to break through?

Lu Shanjun silently stepped forward, patted the boy's shoulder, and comforted him, "It's alright."

"Take some time to rest."

"Let me tell you about my experiences when I first broke through to the Dao Realm. Maybe you can break through next time."

The boy remained silent, only letting out a soft sigh.

That is himself.

The three corpses that my former self has transformed into are not so easy to understand.

Duncan has no clue why this is happening, but he has a feeling that he is being targeted by the Heavenly Dao. The mental bottleneck of breaking through the Dao Realm has forced out his Three Corpse Demons ahead of time.

There is definitely something wrong with this!

………………

(End of this chapter)