Chapter 340: Phantom Shadows and Blood Cores

Inside the dim cave, the light of a torch reflected on Duan Rong's face.

He pressed his lips together tightly, his gaze focused, his right hand pinching near the tip of the Minghong Saber, carving into a rock...

He had once devoured the Spirit Tool of a carving knife while at Xiao Yu's place, and already possessed a certain level of skill in carving.

What's more, the images of the Four Great Wisdom Kings were already deeply imprinted in Duan Rong's heart. He prepared to carve the four stone statues himself within this dim cave to construct a Mandala.

Not far away, near the Black Blood Vine, the wild boar's rotting carcass was still oozing yellow pus, and bursts of foul stench wafted over from time to time... but Duan Rong remained unmoved, staring only at the statue in his hand whose outline was gradually becoming clear...

This time, he was going to cultivate the Womb Treasury Sutra directly to the eleventh level. What did a little foul stench matter?

Half an hour later, Duan Rong held the statue of the Immovable Wisdom King he had been working on at an angle and blew the stone dust off its surface.

By the light of the torch, Duan Rong carefully examined the statue in his hand.

Its size and form were slightly larger than the statue he had used to cultivate the fourth level of the Womb Treasury Sutra at Xiao Yu's place.

Moreover, the delicacy of the facial features on the statue in his hand was clearly superior to the four stone statues at Xiao Yu's.

Holding the statue, Duan Rong cast a glance and saw that in the corner behind him, amidst the darkness illuminated by the firelight, the other three stone statues were also looming.

Holding the stone statue, Duan Rong arrived beside a platform deep in the cave; his gaze shifted, and he placed the statue in the due south position.

Afterward, Duan Rong placed the remaining three stone statues in their corresponding positions.

Only then did he flip his hand and pinch the Black Blood Fruit in his fingers.

Duan Rong took off his clothes, crushed the Black Blood Fruit against his chest, and then smeared his entire body with the fruit pulp.

The pulp of the Black Blood Fruit emitted a faint red fluorescence in the darkness; Duan Rong looked like a red-skinned savage at this moment.

As the pulp of the Black Blood Fruit seeped into his pores, Duan Rong felt his whole body begin to ache as if being cut by knives.

Daring not to delay, he immediately sat cross-legged in the center of the four statues, formed seals and incantations with his hands, and sank his mind into his Spirit Sea...

Several hours later, outside the cave, the sky had long since brightened, yet deep in the cave by the Black Blood Vine, Duan Rong still sat cross-legged. The fruit pulp on his body had been completely absorbed, and only some skin flakes and fruit seeds remained stuck to his bare skin...

The torch stuck in the wall had also burned through its oil, gradually burning the firewood until it snapped, falling to the ground and splashing a few sparks...

The moment the torch went out, Duan Rong suddenly opened his eyes in the darkness.

His eyes shone like stars; the fifth level of the Womb Treasury Sutra had been achieved!

However, the next moment, a heavy sense of fatigue rippled through his Divine Soul; Duan Rong let out a muffled groan with weary eyes and struggled to stand up.

Although Duan Rong was very tired, he still went to the edge of the water pool, washed himself clean, and then returned to his own cave.

Carrying his clothes, Duan Rong returned to the cave naked, grabbed a towel, wiped the water off his body in a rough manner, and then collapsed on the stone bed and fell fast asleep.

When Duan Rong woke up, it was already quite late.

He put on his clothes and washed his face, then headed to the Medicine Pavilion. He still remembered the message Xia Honghua had asked Pan Yong to pass on yesterday; if he didn't go today, he wouldn't need to go again in the future.

Duan Rong walked into the three-story building of the Medicine Pavilion and was immediately cornered by Xia Honghua at the curved counter, where she gave him a thorough scolding.

Duan Rong also knew he had been a bit excessive, so he just rubbed his nose and listened dryly to Xia Honghua venting her fury.

Xia Honghua scolded him until she was trembling, nearly losing her breath.

Duan Rong picked up the teacup on the counter, handed it to her, and said, "Drink some tea and rest. You're something else—you can even choke yourself while scolding someone?"

Xia Honghua looked at the teacup Duan Rong handed over, rolled her eyes at him, and said, "Don't try that with me. Can you still get the mid-year audit done for me in July? If you don't want to do it, just tell me clearly so I can find someone else."

"Taking my Contribution Points but not doing the work for me, wasting my time for nothing." As Xia Honghua spoke, she actually sat there and started crying, looking quite like a withered vegetable leaf in the rain.

Seeing Xia Honghua like this, Duan Rong knew she was truly anxious about the audit, so he smiled and said, "Look, why are you crying?"

"Last time I came over, didn't you say you would check me according to the progress on that slip of yours? Isn't it still before the inspection date? Why are you making such a fuss with me?"

Xia Honghua wiped her tears with a handkerchief, took the slip out from the drawer under the counter, looked at it, and said, "Isn't tomorrow the inspection date?"

"Then didn't I come? You can inspect it all you want tomorrow night; if I haven't finished according to the progress, you can deduct my Contribution Points. That's fine, right?"

Xia Honghua blew her nose with the handkerchief and looked at Duan Rong with teary eyes. "You said it. If you haven't finished, I'm deducting a month's worth of your Contribution Points."

Duan Rong laughed: "That's really ruthless. If you deduct that much, won't I end up paying you back?"

Xia Honghua pouted: "Who told you not to come for so long?"

Duan Rong waved his hand: "Alright. Let's do as you say."

After saying this, Duan Rong entered the room and went inside to balance the accounts.

That day, Duan Rong didn't leave the Medicine Pavilion until dusk.

Seeing that Duan Rong had actually stayed here for so long today, Xia Honghua's expression finally improved. She had truly been afraid that Duan Rong would stand her up, causing her to fail the mid-year audit.

The next afternoon, Xia Honghua came to the room where Duan Rong was auditing the accounts to check his progress.

As she checked, her eyes began to smile.

Duan Rong's progress was clearly faster than what she had planned, and the accounts were neat, well-organized, and clear.

Duan Rong said: "So, how is it? I did it according to the progress planned on your slip. When you showed me that slip, I saw I was balancing it too fast, so I stopped for a few days. I didn't expect you to get so angry because of that?!"

"Sigh! I really don't know how to do this job anymore?!"

As Duan Rong spoke, he kept sighing and shaking his head.

Xia Honghua looked at Duan Rong with suspicion. Could it really be that the progress I listed on that slip was too slow? But she had arranged it by working backward from the mid-year audit deadline.

Xia Honghua said: "The slip I arranged for you was the minimum progress; if you couldn't finish it, I would have to deduct Contribution Points. If you had nothing to do, you should have pushed ahead! How could you be like this, not showing your face for ten days or so? I thought you had quit!"

Duan Rong could tell that Xia Honghua was still full of grievances in her words, so he said: "This time it was my fault. It won't happen again."

"I ask that you please spare me, Madam." As Duan Rong spoke, he stood up and bowed deeply to Xia Honghua.

Seeing Duan Rong like that, Xia Honghua burst into a laugh and said: "That's more like an attitude of admitting a mistake. I'll let it slide this time. Don't do this again in the future."

"Yes." Duan Rong drew out the word 'yes' and bowed again.

Xia Honghua giggled and chided: "Get up. You look like you're worshipping a Bodhisattva in a temple. You're making me feel old."

Duan Rong straightened up and smiled: "Madam is a Bodhisattva to begin with, what harm is there in worshipping you?"

Xia Honghua really wanted to pinch Duan Rong's mouth, saying: "Stop with the sweet talk to make me happy. Just get the work done for me!"

Duan Rong said: "Madam, rest assured! The mid-year audit will definitely pass."

Xia Honghua glanced at Duan Rong and said, "Consider it that you still have a bit of conscience."

After Xia Honghua finished speaking, she swayed her waist and walked out.

Duan Rong watched Xia Honghua's figure disappear at the doorway and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

If a woman starts making a scene, she is truly hard to deal with!

For some reason, whenever he thought of Xia Honghua's tearful appearance yesterday, and that charming glance she gave when she left just now, Duan Rong felt a chill in his heart...

From this day on, Duan Rong came to Xia Honghua's place every day to balance the accounts for two hours, while spending the rest of his time in hard cultivation on that mountain peak of Shang Xiangyu's.

Only after nightfall would Duan Rong first go into the dense forest to replenish the Devouring Tree Spirit; once the Tree Spirit in his Spirit Sea was full, he would go to the place where he hid his auxiliary medicines, take out the next level's auxiliary medicines, and go into the Black Blood Vine cave to practice the next level of the Womb Treasury Sutra.

After practicing hard until dawn, he could complete one level of the Womb Treasury Sutra.

Afterward, he would go to his own cave to sleep for more than two hours, then go to Xia Honghua's place to balance the accounts, and upon returning, he would refine the Zhengyang Pill and practice True Qi; after nightfall, he would practice the next level of the Womb Treasury Sutra again, and repeating this cycle, in the blink of an eye, eight days had already passed.

It was not that Duan Rong did not want to devote all his time to the cultivation of the Womb Treasury Sutra, but when practicing the Womb Treasury Sutra, a divine shadow would descend into his Spirit Sea, and when the divine shadow descended, there would be immense pressure.

With Duan Rong's Divine Soul strength, enduring it for several consecutive hours was already near his limit.

After completing one level of the Womb Treasury Sutra, he had to allow an interval for his Divine Soul to recover. Otherwise, if he forcibly practiced the Womb Treasury Sutra continuously, his Divine Soul would shatter and he would die.

These were also things Duan Rong had thought through in advance; the time he set aside for himself to practice the Womb Treasury Sutra was a full ten days, precisely to allow himself time to recover.

This morning, in the Endless Great Mountains, white mist was pervasive, and daylight filtered through the gaps in the gloomy clouds; although it was already May, the temperature in the great mountains was colder than outside, and summer arrived later as well, usually not arriving until June or July.

And along with summer came frequent thunderstorms.

At that time, thunderstorms would replace the white mist, becoming a common sight within this Changliu Mountain, spreading across the gullies and ravines of the Endless Great Mountains...

At this moment, deep in the Black Blood Vine cave, the torches had long since extinguished, and there was not a sliver of light in the cave.

The wild boar's remains from a few days ago had already been completely devoured by the Black Blood Vine; after the wild boar's remains were devoured, the stench in the cave had faded significantly, and by this day, only a faint odor drifted through the cave...

In the darkness, Duan Rong still sat cross-legged in the center of the four divine statues, his eyes tightly shut, his expression serene.

Duan Rong had already completed the eleventh level of the Womb Treasury Sutra.

His Mental Power level had also reached level twelve by this time.

Duan Rong was still in his Spirit Sea of Spiritual Clarity at this moment.

He stood upon the Black Earth, and a layer of milky-white mist settling on the ground drifted up to his waist.

Duan Rong's gaze was clear and profound as he looked up at the Cangqiong above his head.

His shoulders remained motionless, and his chin and neck were tilted at a large obtuse angle.

At this moment, his heart was as devout as a saint's.

In the center of the Cangqiong, eleven Star Bodies shone brilliantly, reflecting each other's light.

These eleven Star Bodies were no longer stationary, but were slowly rotating in circles around the center of the Cangqiong...

The outermost one was the milky-white Star Body that completed the first level of the Womb Treasury Sutra, followed by the blood-red Star Body, then the toad-shadow Star Body, then the pupil Star Body glowing with cyan light... and so on, until the innermost one, which was the eleventh-level Star Body that Duan Rong had just completed.

Eleven Star Bodies, layered and encircling, slowly rotated around the void in the center of the Cangqiong...

And at this moment, a faint phantom clearly emerged in the void at the center of the Cangqiong.

That phantom was like smoke and mist, its features blurred, as if a gust of wind would blow it away...

The phantom sat cross-legged in the void at the center of the Cangqiong, letting the eleven Star Bodies rotate around it...

Although the phantom's features were blurred, Duan Rong recognized at a glance that the phantom was the outline of himself.

Moreover, at this moment, he could clearly feel a sacred experience of merging into one between his own soul and that phantom.

He was that phantom, and that phantom was him.

That phantom was the external manifestation of his Divine Soul core, the location of his original Divine Soul!

Because of the emergence of that phantom, the originally weak connection between Duan Rong and those Star Bodies now became exceptionally clear and distinct.

Deep in his heart, he could already truly know every Star Body, and his connection with each Star Body had also strengthened.

The moment the phantom appeared, his relationship with those floating Star Bodies became as responsive as a finger to an arm!

Duan Rong stood there looking up for a long time, when suddenly a deep doubt arose in his heart.

In his past life, he had learned the story of Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly.

Was it Zhuang Zhou dreaming that he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that it was Zhuang Zhou?

At this moment, in his Spirit Sea of Spiritual Clarity, looking at that phantom, his heart also began to doubt.

Was he, standing in the center of the Black Earth at this moment, the phantom, or was that smoke-and-mist-like phantom floating in the center of the Cangqiong the real phantom?

Just as Duan Rong thought this, he clearly saw the phantom sitting cross-legged in the void open its eyes abruptly on its blurred face.

Its eyes lowered, looking at Duan Rong, who was looking up at the Cangqiong from the center of the Black Earth.

At this moment, Duan Rong felt a chill all over!

In that instant, in terms of spiritual perception, he and the phantom in the void were completely fused into one, connected to each other.

He looked up at the phantom in the void, and at the same time, he looked down from the Cangqiong at himself looking up from the Black Earth.

At this moment, he was both the saint prostrate on the ground, devoutly looking up, and the deity sitting high above in the Cangqiong!

Zhuang Zhou was the butterfly, and the butterfly was Zhuang Zhou!

Duan Rong's eyes were as bright as stars; at this moment, his soul felt as if it had been baptized, and his heart was filled with satisfaction and humility!

After a long time, the look of devotion in Duan Rong's eyes gradually faded.

He looked calmly toward a corner of the Cangqiong, where a Blood Core was floating.

That Blood Core was only the size of a fist, its surface covered in crisscrossing gullies and ravines.

This Blood Core was the origin of the Filthy Blood Divine Art, formed by the collapse of that nebula glowing with blood light!

After Duan Rong completed the eleventh level of the Womb Treasury Sutra, the Womb Treasury Sutra clearly underwent a fundamental transformation within the Spirit Sea of Spiritual Clarity.

That phantom appeared, and the eleven Star Bodies began to rotate slowly around that phantom...

Duan Rong had already tried it; if the origin of the Filthy Blood Divine Art was in its current state as a Blood Core, even if he wanted to activate the Filthy Blood Divine Art, he would be unable to do so!

However, if he were to communicate with that phantom and let it release its pressure on the Blood Core, in but an instant, that Blood Core could revert into a nebula of blood-colored light.

Once that Blood Core reverted into a nebula of blood-colored light, the moment Duan Rong wanted to activate the Filthy Blood Divine Art, he would be able to activate it immediately upon the thought arising.

It now appears that after the Womb Treasury Sutra reached the eleventh level, it took the initiative to seal away the Filthy Blood Divine Art; only by communicating with that phantom through his mind to lift the seal can Duan Rong activate the Filthy Blood Divine Art.

Duan Rong had always been quite wary of the Filthy Blood Divine Art, and seeing now that the Womb Treasury Sutra could seal the Filthy Blood Divine Art in such a way, he felt as if a thorn had been pulled from his heart, and he felt a sense of relief.

(End of chapter)