I'll Surpass The MC

Chapter 1069: Path of Body, Mind, and Soul to Transcendence (Part 1)

By now, through his learnings at Halmahera, Inala derived a decent enough understanding of the Body Path’s progression.

In a typical Continent, there only existed Pranic Beasts. They were born with a Primary Nature that conformed to the Body Path. As the Primary Nature existed in a physical sense in their bodies, it gave the Pranic Beasts a stronger resistance to change.

Following it was the Mind Path Secondary Nature, which was obtained when a Pranic Beast trained its body to the extreme by harnessing one of its physical characteristics, a characteristic capable of growth and change.

Without the proper means, this was impossible for most Pranic Beasts. And even for the ones with the means, they would have to spend most of their lives trying to reach the extremity in an effort to birth the Secondary Nature.

Then came the final part, the Tertiary Nature with an exponential difficulty of acquisition. Soul Path Natures were already extremely tough to obtain. In a situation where the body already has two Natures, the constant influence changes permeating the body thanks to the two Natures makes it virtually impossible to obtain a third Nature.

With the third Natre belonging to the Soul Path, even with a perfect method, obtaining it is extremely difficult. Even for large forces in such Continents, barely few succeed.

As the body path is resistant to both change and growth, a Pranic Beast couldn’t grow beyond the state it was born. Even when the Pranic Beast manages to obtain a Mind Path Secondary Nature, which is capable of growth, it remains the same.

After all, the Primary Nature’s influence, with it being a Body Path Nature, is the strongest on the body. Since the body, the physical container in existence, refuses to change, whatever means of growth brought by the Mind Path Secondary Nature is suppressed.

It was why Inala didn’t change in Grade as a Brully despite obtaining a Secondary Nature. In the Body Path progression, Mutations weren’t naturally occurring.

These Continents didn’t follow the rule of ’Survival of the Fittest’, but instead the ’Survival of the Strongest.’ It was because Body Path Natures couldn’t be controlled. So, the Pranic Beasts have to fight with their existing state of self, without the means for control.

After obtaining two Natures, all Pranic Beasts in these Continents aimed for one of the two: State of Harmony and State of Unity.

Due to the conflict of influences in the body, it was impossible to birth a third Nature, especially from the Soul Path. Instead, the Pranic Beasts tried to reach the final path.

In a State of Harmony, the three Natures were harmonious with each other. Therefore, in the efforts to reach that point, the Pranic Beast would harmonise its Primary and Secondary Nature.

And from there, they will calculate the Nature, that if existed, would be in harmony with these two. Through this method, they will map out the general state of the Tertiary Nature.

Following that was just a matter of practice and patience. The Primary and Secondary Natures would be maintained in harmony, until the influences between them affected the body in harmony.

However, Prana is created by the energies of the body, mind, and soul. Therefore, this state, where two Natures are in harmony, is actually toxic to the individual.

When in disorder, it didn’t matter too much. There were insanity issues and problems that plagued the body. However, they wouldn’t die. But when in harmony, the body and mind harmonise with each other and create an imbalance in influence.

The body would influence the mind, and the mind would influence the body, creating a vicious cycle. In this imbalanced state, the Prana’s self-preservation characteristics will be awakened to the extreme.

It will try to counter the imbalance, which was only possible to bring in a third variable and stabilise the skewed harmony. As the Prana continues to make efforts, it will obviously follow the knowledge about the possibility of the Tertiary Nature that had been accumulated by the Pranic Beast.

With it as the base, it will naturally begin drawing in the presence of the Pranic Beast and accumulating it. Eventually, a point is reached where a vast sum of Prana is moulded and manifests the accumulated influence, turning into a Tertiary Nature.

The moment it forms, the Pranic Beast naturally attains a State of Harmony. Since the process is heavily reliant on the Prana’s self-preservation characteristics, there were oftentimes where it gets overwhelmed and results in the Pranic Beast’s death.

Majority of the cases result in the Pranic Beast going insane, suffering from numerous health complications, and eventually inviting death. Very few succeed.

There was no concept of obtaining a Tertiary Nature and then trying to attain a State of Harmony. Any Pranic Beast with a Tertiary Nature is in a State of Harmony, for that was the method used to get the Tertiary Nature.

Similarly, the second method to obtain a Tertiary Nature is through a State of Unity. This method is significantly more difficult to attain than the previous method.

After all, a State of Unity is a container that perfectly houses all the characteristics of a cultivator and makes it one. This wasn’t limited to the Natures alone. Everything part of a creature is turned into a unity, which is the same level of existence attained by a Transcendent.

A cultivator expressed themselves through their presence, thought with the mind, lived with their body. However, a Transcendent didn’t have that distinction. They embodied a concept and existed as such.

Their body, mind, and soul existed as a unity. So, when they think, their mind alone isn’t thinking. Their body and soul too is thinking. Moreover, they didn’t need any special energy to function.

The energy of the body—Stamina!

The energy of the mind—Mental Energy!

The energy of the Soul—Astral Sea!

When your stamina is consumed, your body refuses to move. When your mental energy is consumed, your brain struggles to think. And finally, when your astral sea is consumed, you die from old age.

The weight of the soul, the presence, is an expression of the astral sea trying to affect reality. Being a metaphysical entity, the soul can neither be perceived nor interacted with by a mortal. It is an inert substance that is transcendental in nature, without form or function.

It can be considered that there exists an infinite amount of this metaphysical energy in an infinite space that couldn’t be perceived or interacted with. In its absolutely inert state, it has neither mass nor energy.

However, when a minuscule portion is broken off, its inert state of rattled. When rattled, a portion of it changes form, turning into astral sea. This piece is then addressed as the soul.

Fundamentally, over time, the astral sea is gradually converted into its inert state. And once the astral sea is fully consumed, the metaphysical piece rejoins with the infinite whole it was a part of.

The astral sea serves as a bridge between the body and the mind. Its existence differentiates the animate from the inanimate.

When the astral sea expresses itself through the mind, presence is created. Similarly, when the astral sea expresses itself through the body, lifespan forms.

As the astral sea reduces to zero, the soul turns inert and returns to its origin. With the bridge cut off, the body and mind are no longer connected. This state of being, for an animate existence, is termed death.

As the astral sea continues to reduce in quality, it has less of itself to be expressed. That’s why, over time, an individual’s body and mind grow old and exhibit reduced physical and mental capabilities.

Once the soul leaves, they turn inanimate, which is the natural state of matter without a soul.

That’s why, a Transcendent is a perineal existence, for they have become one with the soul that fuels their existence.

A cultivator would spend their life in a meditative state, seeking to discover the bridge between their body and mind. Since Prana is a fusion of stamina, mental energy, and astral sea, they will try to deconstruct it in its individual forms. And in doing so, will figure become aware of the existence of the astral sea.

Following that, they will try to become completely conscious of their body and mind, trying to reach a 100 percent state of awareness.

And in this process, they will try to affect the bridge. Once this is achieved, they will send some mental energy into the body through the bridge.

After that, they will send stamina into the mind through the bridge. As the energies invade the other side, they become more aware of their existence.

The mental energy will allow their body to think, like instead of existing passively, controlled by physical and chemical reactions, they will try to control said reactions.

The stamina in the mind would allow the individual to feel the mind space in a physical sense, as if it’s an organ, bearing weight.

As both energies keep being transferred, the bridge reaches its peak capacity. And soon, the changes in the body and mind affect the Prana, which in turn widens the bridge, to accommodate the increasing levels of energy exchange.

To widen the bridge, the inert metaphysical matter forming the soul is rattled by the Prana, allowing an increase in the astral sea.

A point would be reached where the bridge is wide enough for a complete exchange. Here comes the dangerous part.

Next, the cultivator would be sending stamina and mental energy through the bridge, just like usual. But they wouldn’t reach the destination, and instead remain in the bridge. To achieve this, the cultivator would have to send both energies into the bridge in an instant and then cut off the connection between the body and mind.

This couldn’t be achieved unless all the energy of the body and the mind is fully extracted and sent into the bridge. If successful, there comes an instant where the cultivator’s stamina and mental energy is within the bridge.

With the connection cut off, it’s no different from death. So, the soul naturally tries to become inert. However, its astral sea is filled with stamina and mental energy. Therefore, its tendency to become inert causes a singularity.

This results in a State of Unity!

Since the soul couldn’t become inert, the astral sea will try to form a bridge between the body and mind once again. However, the singularity is extremely stable and now has the power to destroy the soul. Therefore, the Prana does what it does best.

It will create an anchor to stabilise the singularity, which becomes the Soul Path Tertiary Nature.

As for the cultivator, they will activate the singularity whenever necessary and unleash a State of Unity.

Upon every activation, the singularity will grow in size. But soon, it will hit its limit, for the astral sea is fully consumed.

At birth, the soul was fully in the form of the astral sea. But over time, it becomes more and more inert. Now, whether the cultivator dies, surpasses the limits of their birth, or becomes a Transcendent, all depend on how they tackle this inertness.