Warhammer Cultivation: Cultivating the Tao Te Ching in the 40K Universe

It is a battlefield.

A battlefield where he is engaged in an endless struggle with the beast within himself called "out of control".

"...carrying...transformation..."

He repeatedly pondered the two words his mentor had left him.

He could clearly feel that the raging "heart fire" within his dantian, like molten lava from the earth's core, was constantly roaring and impacting every corner of his body, trying to turn him back into the monster who only knew destruction and devastation.

He used the "Rock Solid Mind Technique" taught by his mentor to transform his will into the strongest and thickest dam, firmly imprisoning the magma, which was powerful enough to incinerate the heavens, within his body.

This process is painful.

But his Daoist heart was also tempered and made more resilient in this never-ending "war".

However, he also encountered a bottleneck.

He learned to "bear," but he could never understand what "transformation" meant.

He could feel himself as a tightly sealed pressure vessel about to burst. He didn't know how much longer he could suppress his emotions like this. Perhaps the next second, perhaps the next year, the moment his will wavered even slightly, the pent-up magma would erupt in a more violent and irreversible way!

He needs an outlet.

An outlet that can transform this destructive force into creative energy.

But, he couldn't find it.

It was on this very day, when all the students at Wenxinzhai were, as always, immersed in their own practice and confusion—

The sky has changed.

This is not a metaphor, but the most real "change" felt by all those in the Wenxinzhai at the same moment, originating from the deepest part of their souls!

The change did not come from the outside world. The natural light simulated by ancient technology in Wenxinzhai remained as gentle as ever; the breeze blown by the air circulation system remained as warm as ever.

Change originates from the level of "Tao".

Karen remained in the same position, her fingertips hovering over the withered leaf. But in that instant, her blue eyes, slightly dimmed by defeat, suddenly widened!

She felt it.

She felt that the "qi" of the entire Wenxinzhai, the energy field of "harmony" and "tranquility" that she and the other students had jointly constructed, seemed to have transformed in an instant from a pool of pure but still "dead water" into a... slowly flowing, vibrant river full of life!

Chapter 139 The Master of the Daoist Academy

A "Taoist charm" she had never felt before, grander and purer, like a silent spring rain, quietly seeped in from all directions!

That "Daoist aura" was so familiar, yet so...powerful!

It was like the source of the "Mysterious Ice Technique" she practiced every day!

It is like the long-lost "soul" of this entire Wenxinzhai!

Under the influence of this Daoist aura, Karen's heart, which had become somewhat agitated due to countless failures, was instantly soothed as if by a pair of the gentlest, most invisible hands.

Her long-standing impasse regarding "transforming cold into life" suddenly became clear in the face of this Daoist charm full of "harmony" and "balance," like ice and snow illuminated by the sun!

She understood!

She finally understands!

Her past mistakes were not due to her "coldness," but to her "stubbornness"!

She kept trying to forcefully transform "coldness" into "life" using her own "intention." But she forgot that her mentor had said that the true "Tao" lies in "non-action"!

Spring, summer, autumn, and winter—the cycle of the four seasons is the most natural law of the universe!

The freezing of winter is not "death." It is merely the earth gathering strength, making its deepest "protection" for a more splendid "rebirth" in the next spring!

At the end of "cold" lies "life"!

She doesn't need to "transform"! She just needs to "wait"!

The moment this thought arose in her heart, which had been thoroughly cleansed and made clear by the Daoist principles—

A miracle happened.

The icy chill, imbued with a sense of annihilation, lingered at her fingertips. A faint, yet incredibly tenacious, hopeful...emerald green bud quietly emerged from the deepest veins of the fern leaf, already covered in frost and seemingly dead!

That touch of green was so faint, yet so "real"!

Immediately afterwards, that green color, as if infused with the life essence of the gods, spread wildly in all directions along the already dried veins of the leaf at a speed visible to the naked eye!

In just a few breaths, the dead leaf that was originally scorched, withered, and even covered in frost, seemed to have experienced a reversal of time, and was reborn with the vibrant, lush green that only life at its peak possesses!

Karen stared blankly at the leaf on her fingertip that had been "reborn," and for the first time, two streams of hot tears, filled with ecstasy and sudden realization, flowed from her sapphire-blue eyes.

She slowly raised her head and looked towards the entrance of Wenxinzhai.

She knew who had returned.

On the other side of the platform, Grol's body suddenly jolted!

He felt it!

He felt that the solid "ground" beneath his feet, constructed of alloy and rock, seemed to "come alive" in an instant!

A pulse he had never felt before, a pulse that was deeper and more "real," emanated from the deepest part of Terra's core, penetrating the layers of decks and energy fields, and achieving the most perfect "resonance" with his wildly beating heart!

His body, which had been stretched to its limit by forcibly suppressing his "heart fire," uncontrollably and slowly relaxed in the face of this pulse full of "bearing" and "inclusiveness."

He understood too!

His past mistake was in "blocking" rather than "dredging"!

He had been trying to use his will to forcibly cover the volcano that was about to erupt. But he forgot that the earth has never been meant to bear volcanoes in this way!

The earth will carve out a brand new channel for the volcano! Let the magma, powerful enough to scorch the heavens, flow slowly along the channel! The magma will no longer be a devastating disaster; it will become the most fertile soil, bringing new and more vigorous "life" to this land!

This is the true meaning of "carrying" and "transforming"!

The moment this thought took shape in his unbreakable Dao heart, filled with the "heart of a warrior"—

The raging "fire" within him, which he had suppressed for centuries, finally found the long-awaited "exit"!

"boom--!!!"

An invisible yet incredibly real "qi" suddenly shot up from the Baihui acupoint on the top of his head!

That was not a raging flame, but a kind of... more condensed, purer, and primordial life force, like a burst of energy from the depths of the earth's core!

His massive body, instead of going out of control under the force, emitted a "crunching" sound, like steel being forged a thousand times, full of "joy"! He felt every cell in his body cheering and jumping for joy!

He slowly opened his obsidian-like eyes. All the rage and anger in those eyes had vanished. Only an absolute calmness remained, like the earth itself, capable of bearing all things yet unmoving as a mountain.

He slowly raised his head and looked in the direction where the figure he had long regarded as his "father" and "god" appeared.

Wenxinzhai is located on the most ordinary path paved with fine white sand leading to the "Altar of God".

A figure dressed in a gray monk's robe, slender yet upright as a pine tree, was slowly walking towards them.

He did not release any psionic fluctuations, nor did he display any earth-shattering power.

He just kept walking.

But every step he took seemed to land precisely on the pulse of the entire Sky Garden, and even the entire Terra.

With each breath he took, it seemed as if he were resonating in perfect harmony with the heavens and earth.

He is "the Way".

He is "Heaven".

He passed by a group of students who were practicing Vipassana meditation.

Those young cultivators were originally engaged in a painful and arduous tug-of-war with their own inner demons, which were bared and clawed, within their sea of ​​consciousness filled with fear and desire.

However, the moment that figure silently walked past them—

At the same moment, the mental seas of all the students were calm and tranquil!

Their chaotic inner demons, raging like a rebel army, were like a rebel army of a true emperor reigning supreme, unable to even muster the slightest thought of resistance!

They simply calmed down and dispersed on their own, trembling with fear, like mice before a cat!

"Buzz...buzz...buzz..."

A series of harmonious humming sounds, like the gentle plucking of a musical string, rose and fell from the training area!

Dozens of students, stuck at the threshold of the Qi Refining Realm and whose true essence had stagnated for months, had their greatest obstacle—the "inner demon"—forcedly "suppressed" the moment it was released. The energy that had been accumulating for so long burst through the last and most solid barrier like a flood breaking through a dam!

They broke through!

Dozens of people, at the same moment, silently and collectively broke through!

That was not a violent outburst of energy, but a natural and collective sublimation!

When Hector's figure finally stopped beneath that unknown ancient tree, the entire "Altar of Gods" was already deathly silent.

All the students, whether it was Karen and Grol who had just had an epiphany, the newly promoted Qi cultivators who had just recovered from the ecstasy of their breakthrough, or the ordinary students who, although they had not broken through, had witnessed this "miracle"...

At this moment, everyone slowly rose from their prayer cushions.

Then, spontaneously, they bowed deeply, deeply, to the tiny yet incredibly majestic figure standing beneath the ancient tree.

It was neither the reverence of a subordinate for a superior nor the fanaticism of a believer for a god.

It is a purer kind of submission to the "Tao" itself, like rivers flowing into the sea or stars paying homage to the Big Dipper.

The master of the Taoist temple has returned.

Their "leader" has returned.

Chapter 140 The Gaze from the Assassin's Court

The collective breakthrough on the "God's Platform" was like a silent psionic storm, and the shock it brought was far from subsiding.

When the 117 newly recruited "Qi cultivators," filled with boundless anticipation and awe for the future, opened the Daoist Canon: Qi Cultivation Scroll for the first time in their respective quiet rooms, they were unaware that the pure joy and hope they felt from glimpsing a corner of the "Great Dao" were like a campfire in the night, attracting the coldest gaze from the deepest shadows of Terra.

Hector Kane, too, did not immediately embark on his long-awaited period of self-cultivation.

He simply sat back down under the nameless ancient tree and brewed himself another pot of tea.

Tea is no ordinary product. It was the first and only batch of spiritual plants imbued with the meaning of "stillness" that he cultivated from the dark technological creation that could isolate cause and effect, using the research permissions of the "Dark Realm" he obtained after the life-and-death battle at the Navigator's Spire.

Its leaves are not emerald green, but a warm, translucent milky white, like moonlight, with some light gray textures naturally resembling those in a traditional Chinese ink painting.

When the scalding hot, pure spring water, condensed by Karen using the "Mystic Ice Technique," was poured in, the tea leaves did not unfurl and tumble like ordinary things. Instead, they silently and slowly transformed into wisps of visible, milky-white "qi," which blended into the amber-colored tea soup.

The aroma of the tea is pure and refreshing, without a trace of smokiness. Just smelling it is enough to clear the chaotic thoughts of mortals into a state of tranquility.

He slowly took a sip.

The tea soup had no taste. No bitterness, no astringency, and no sweetness. An indescribable stillness, originating from the deepest part of the soul, washed over me like a spring breeze and rain, cleansing my entire body and mind of any trace of the restlessness from the outside world that I had picked up upon returning home.

Then, his eyes, as calm as an abyss, looked toward the entrance of Wenxinzhai. His gaze seemed to pierce through layers of alloy walls and energy fields, landing on the "simple" door made of two warm, moon-white jade stones, without any guards.

Since his return from that "Feast at Hongmen" filled with laws and betrayals, and after revealing to Regent Makado the secret of the "Golden Elixir Without Leaks" that was enough to overturn the entire strategic landscape of the empire, he knew that the ripples he had stirred up as a small pebble could not remain confined to the Regent's quiet room.

Macardo is the "brain" of the Empire. What he thinks about is balance, strategy, and how to integrate Hector, a "chess piece" full of infinite variables, into the Empire's already treacherous game of chess with minimal cost.

And the empire, besides its "brain," also has... its "hands."

Pairs of cold "hands" hidden in the shadows, responsible for carrying out the empire's dirtiest and most necessary tasks.

They may not understand philosophy, nor care about the debate between "Tao" and "Law." But they possess a wild, instinctive intuition for "power" itself.

Especially when a completely new "power" that they have never heard of before, which could directly threaten the very foundation of their existence, appears in their hunting grounds.

Here, it is in stark contrast to Hector's "Wenxinzhai," which is full of vitality and harmony.

This is the land of "shadow".

A windowless underground fortress constructed entirely of pure, light-absorbing black basalt. This is the headquarters of the Empire's six Assassin Temples in Terra, an absolute forbidden zone that even most of the Custodian Guard are not authorized to enter.

Deep within the fortress, in a circular hall devoid of any light source, a figure, whose gender is indistinguishable and whose physical form is uncertain, seemingly composed of pure darkness, sits quietly on a throne also constructed of shadows.

He/She is the supreme leader of the Imperial Assassin Court, the chief mentor of the six great temples, and a being known only in legends as "Lord Shadow".

In the center of the hall, a huge holographic projection was silently playing an image.

The source of the footage was not any camera, but rather... the raw combat data stream captured by the power armor recorder of the Imperial Guard instructor, Marcus Aurelius.

The video shows Hector Kane undergoing his tribulation in the "All-Worlds Star Chart Hall," which has long since turned to cosmic dust.