Novel Full Chapter 2752 - Retreating Really Can Help You Advance
Chapter 2752 – Retreating Really Can Help You Advance
Ma Yu maintained his kneeling position.
“Why not just report us?” asked Su Yi. “Why rush to divulge this information to us?”
Ma Yu froze, then said sheepishly, “Venerable Immortal, you chose to spare our lives earlier. I naturally cannot repay your kindness with cruelty.”
Su Yi raised his hand and tapped. Ma Yu instantly felt an agonizing, rending pain in his soul, as if it were being ripped apart.
A while passed before the pain faded.
“I just emblazoned a cultivation technique in your soul. Should you get the chance to shatter the skies, ascend, and step onto the path of cultivation, you’ll be able to grasp its secrets.”
Su Yi swung his sleeve, and he and Pu Xuan instantly vanished.
Ma Yu stood there in a daze. An Immortal master gave me a secret cultivation technique? Am I dreaming?
Ma Yu slapped himself across the face and grinned in response to the stinging pain in his cheeks. I’m not dreaming! That really happened!
Ma Yu was an ordinary mortal, an unrefined warrior. He would never have imagined that he’d manage to turn disaster into good fortune today. He’d encountered an immortal master and received his wondrous teachings!
Although Ma Yu didn’t know it, Su Yi hadn’t just placed a cultivation technique in his soul; he’d placed concentrated power of the Grand Dao there, too.
Going forward, when Ma Yu cultivated, the power of the Grand Dao would continuously nourish his body. He’d have no need to fear failing to reach the pinnacle of the Martial Dao. After that, all he had to do was shatter the sky and ascend!
……
Su Yi and Pu Xuan explored Southern Currents City and stopped for a jug of unfiltered wine at a tavern. The streets were bustling with traffic. Human life was on display in all its facets.
The world of cultivation had lively, bustling cities, too. They were far more exciting and splendid than those of the mundane world.
However, the cities of cultivators lacked this view into all facets of normal human life.
“Going back to their roots, the world’s cultivators almost all started out as mortals. A few might be born as immortals and gods, but the vast majority began in the world of red dust. They had to rise through the ranks gradually, one step at a time.
“Thus, the way I see it, the difference between gods and mortals is that the former has a cultivation base, while the latter has never cultivated.
“In that case, why do so many cultivators see mortals as mere ants and disregard their lives?
“Why is it so difficult for mortals to begin their cultivation? Why do they need fortuitous encounters or great force of will to even begin?
“Is there a type of Grand Dao that could let everyone live like dragons?”
Along the way, Su Yi considered numerous questions, all of them involving the workings of the Grand Dao and the disparity between mortals and immortals.
It wasn’t that he’d never considered these problems before, but back then, his knowledge had been more limited.
Now, he had the Cauldron of Epochs, and with it, the opportunity to one day rule over the Epochs.
When Su Yi deliberately re-examined these seemingly trivial questions, his horizons, opinions, and awareness were starkly different from before.
He gained a lot more, too.
It was as if he were planning a painting and considering how best to depict the beautiful scenery in his heart. Before, all he had was a vague idea, but now, his vision was starting to become clearer.
To Su Yi, this was cultivation. He cultivated the heart and the proper course of the Laws of the Grand Dao!
After leaving Southern Currents City, Su Yi and Pu Xuan went north.
Good fortune was hidden on the Mountain of Bitter Rains, in the northern reaches of the empire. It was fully ten thousand miles away.
Those without cultivations had to go by boat and horseback. Even if they traveled day and night, it would take them half a month to reach their destination.
But against Pu Xuan’s expectations, Su Yi was in no hurry. On the contrary, he was like a tourist exploring the mortal world, starting and stopping at whim.
He once sat amidst the misty rain, drinking and admiring the apricot blossoms, and fell into an intoxicated stupor on a wooden boat docked amidst the reeds. He was too drunk to tell where the skies ended and their starlit reflection on the water began.
He chatted with farmers working the rice paddies in remote mountain villages, drinking their wine and sleeping in their homes. When he resumed his journey, he left them a trivial sum in silver.
He watched a warrior of the Jianghu host a martial arts competition to recruit a live-in son-in-law with great relish.
He would never have guessed that, when the bride-to-be threw a silk ball into the crowd to determine her future groom, she’d select the handsome, elegant Pu Xuan. Pu Xuan upped and ran, making the bride-to-be stamp her feet with frustration.
Su Yi burst into laughter. Was this a martial arts competition, or was the would-be bride just throwing the silk ball at whoever she found most handsome?
Neither Su Yi nor Pu Xuan made any attempt to disguise their appearances, so they frequently found themselves surrounded or targeted by assassins.
But to Su Yi, these attempts on their life were trivial little kerfuffles.
For instance, an assassin perched on the beams of a tavern was just about to attack when he noticed a piece of paper and ten pieces of silver beside him.
When he read the note, he was stunned.
It read, “Take this silver and go buy the ingredients to treat your mother’s sickness, and don’t forget to make her congee tomorrow morning.”
It was a seemingly ordinary message, but the middle-aged assassin clutched his head and silently wept.
Before he left for the night’s mission, he drank a strong brew, one he normally couldn’t bear to part with, to boost his courage. He told his friends that if he died, they were not to tell his sick mother.
His greatest fear was that if he died, his mother wouldn’t get to drink the congee he normally made for her every morning before dawn.
He wasn’t a member of the Jianghu, and he wasn’t even a martial artist. He was attempting this assassination purely to earn enough money to treat his mother’s sickness.
He was willing to risk his life for it.
He would never have guessed he’d receive a note like this and money instead.
A long time passed before the middle-aged assassin wiped away his tears. He carefully put the note and silver away, then leaped off the eaves, knelt, and kowtowed before the already vacant room. Only then did he get up to leave.
The world was a harsh place. Even the strong could suffer for lack of wealth.
But the middle-aged man had decided never to play assassin ever again!
Similar scenes unfolded throughout Su Yi’s journey through the world of red dust. Su Yi resolved them casually, never pausing to consider whether he was doing good or not.
He just did as his heart pleased.
When he could avoid a fight, he did. As someone in possession of a cultivation base, he disdained to kill ordinary mortals.
But there were exceptions.
For instance, one time, they were spending the night in a temple on the slopes of a mountain when a group from the Jianghu tried to set the whole place on fire. They were after Su Yi and Pu Xuan, but they weren’t the least bit bothered about burning the monks alive, too.
Su Yi naturally wouldn’t show people like that mercy. He raised his hand and summoned lightning, striking every last one of the offenders dead.
When the monks saw this, they couldn’t help but lament. It’s true! Those who commit acts of wickedness invite their own demise!
Soon, ten days had passed.
Late in the evening, beneath the picturesque beauty of the setting sun, Su Yi and Pu Xuan each rode a swift horse and galloped into the distance, leaving clouds of dust in their wake.
“Fellow Daoist, are you cultivating?” Pu Xuan couldn’t help but ask.
Over the past ten days, Su Yi had engaged in all manner of seemingly trivial matters, but he wasn’t just frolicking amidst the red dust of mundanity. No, he truly walked among the mortals.
The part that left the deepest impression on him was the time Su Yi conversed with an old farmer busy transplanting rice seedlings.
Su Yi suddenly rolled up the sleeves of his pants and waded into the rice paddies, walking through the mud to help the old man with his labor.
He worked all afternoon, too.
When he emerged, he was drenched in muddy water, but his smile was utterly radiant.
He sighed. “My hands busy themselves planting rice, but with my head lowered, I see the heavens reflected in the water. It’s only with a pure heart that one can see the Dao; taking a step back really can help you advance.”
His words made Pu Xuan’s heart quiver and his scalp tingle.
He looks down and sees the sky reflected in the water?
When he takes a step back, he fills the rice paddy before him with seedlings.
Pu Xuan was a sword cultivator immersed in Buddhism. The mysterious truths in Su Yi’s words inspired him, and he benefited, too!
It was then that Pu Xuan realized something. Mortal territories might lack spiritual energy, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t cultivate!
Su Yi was obviously pondering the minutiae of the Grand Dao here in the mortal world.
Su Yi raised a jug of wine and laughed. “You’re quite perceptive.”
Pu Xuan laughed bitterly. “No, I’m simply not blind. I’d be a fool if I couldn’t even figure that much out.”
Su Yi pondered briefly, then revealed his secret. From the very first day they’d entered the Huaihuang Empire, he’d been resisting the Laws of this mundane nation!
He was using the miniature heaven and earth of his body to resist the Laws of the entire territory.
His Eternal cultivation base had never sought anything outside itself, nor had he ever undergone the baptism of an Eternal Tribulation. He sought Eternity purely on his own strength.
That aside, he had the power to bring order, and he carried the Epoch Spark. Thus, the Laws of the Eternal Heavens Domain couldn’t restrict his cultivation base.
At least, not fully.
When he first arrived in the Huaihuang Empire, he could at most maintain strength comparable to a Spirit Dao cultivator. As he continuously clashed with the Laws, he excavated his potential. By now, he could travel this mundane territory as freely as a fish in water.
He could even have flown if he wanted to.
The most wondrous part was that the process of contending with the Laws was like constant, invisible tempering. It continuously excavated his latent potential!
Su Yi had a strong premonition that when he left the Huaihuang Empire and returned to the outside world, he’d find that his cultivation base had improved considerably.
That aside, although this was a mortal nation, it didn’t lack the Grand Dao!
It was just that here, the Grand Dao served to separate the mortal and the immortal. It restricted the cultivation bases of those who entered it.
Along the way, Su Yi had contemplated and gleaned enlightenment into the truths of the mortal world.
It was just as he’d said earlier: sometimes, stepping back was a way to advance!
How could his powers of the Grand Dao have undergone this sort of tempering if he hadn’t entered this mortal empire? How could he have experienced the wonders of the mortal world?
This was why Su Yi wasn’t in any rush to complete his journey.
After learning these secrets, Pu Xuan sank into silence, then sighed. “I’m sure no one else in this world could have done this, Fellow Daoist.”
He wasn’t just flattering Su Yi; throughout the Eternal Heavens Domain, who but Su Yi and the Heavenly Sovereigns could have explored a mundane territory without being subject to the restrictions of heaven and earth?
Soon, another month had passed.
The northern territory of the Huaihuang Empire.
It had just rained, and everything was cold and damp.
They could already see the silhouette of the Mountain of Bitter Rains in the distance.
The mountain wasn’t particularly tall or grand, nor was it overly steep. It just stood there, looking quite ordinary indeed.
But when Su Yi saw it, a strange feeling arose in his heart, and a thought rose unbidden to his mind.
The Laws of the Will of the Heavens have sealed the Mountain of Bitter Rains!
Pu Xuan, however, gasped, then murmured, “There are so many people!”
He could see numerous camps constructed around the mountain, full of densely clustered soldiers. Flags billowed in the wind and horses whinnied. It was as if they’d arrived at a battlefield.