Chapter 172

Finished speaking, Li Bashan returned to the room, sitting alone on the bed, face expressionless, eyes dull, as if fallen into contemplation, motionless as a sculpture for a moment.

"Can't figure it out, forget it, won't think anymore!" he muttered to himself, a trace of helplessness in his voice.

Afterward, Li Bashan gradually relaxed his mind, stretched both hands upward, assumed a strange posture, closed his eyes and began immersing himself in visualizing the Fundamental Diagram.

Inside his body, Qi and Blood surged, like a turbulent river, emitting a rumbling roar, as if the entire room were filled with this powerful aura.

However, this vast aura was like being carefully sealed in a secret chamber by a craftsman, not a single thread leaking through door or window cracks to the outside.

"Junior brothers and sisters want to be brilliant meteors, little junior sister perhaps wants more than to be a meteor, little junior brother wants to be the sun, then what about Master, what does Master want to be?"

"And me, should I also become a star, or the sun? Or, should I become...?"

Li Bashan's mind immersed, visualizing the Fundamental Diagram of the 【Great Self-At-Ease Heart Sutra】, this 【Great Self-At-Ease Heart Sutra】 is a pure orthodox martial art, its origins no longer verifiable, but left and right it was obtained by the 【Fusion Strange Sect】 ancestors using some dishonorable means.

Li Bashan never cared about these things, he only felt this technique suited him extremely well, cultivation came naturally, never encountering any bottlenecks or obstacles.

Master Li Guishe said, the 【Great Self-At-Ease Heart Sutra】 emphasizes a heart free of dust and stains, unfettered, just right for his childlike heart, which is the heart of great self-at-ease.

Li Bashan didn't understand what 【Great Self-At-Ease】 meant, in his view, 【Great Self-At-Ease】 should just mean dull-witted and foolish.

That is to say the 【Great Self-At-Ease Heart Sutra】 suits a stupid person like him to practice, otherwise, why after practicing all these years, day and night visualizing, could he still never condense his own 【Spirit Diagram】 in the "Spirit"?

Visualizing the Fundamental Diagram is using one's own "Spirit" to trace and copy, until the Fundamental Diagram is branded in the "Spirit", transforming into one's own 【Spirit Diagram】.

Once the 【Spirit Diagram】 forms, the whole person's soul essence will evolve toward the scene depicted by the 【Spirit Diagram】, which is, after martial dao becomes profound, truly breaking the Gene Shackles, evolving from human toward a higher-level "non-human".

The "non-human" here is just a general term, can be real existing beasts, can be dead objects in reality, can be those bizarre monsters in the Hidden Gate, can also be existences imagined by humans.

In short, whatever you visualize, you will evolve toward that.

This evolution is not necessarily the narrow understanding of material body transformation, it could also be a kind of conceptual, broad, fuzzy understanding.

Meaning, you won't truly transform into the non-human shape in the visualization diagram, but you will possess corresponding non-human abilities, or say non-human authority.

Therefore, 99% of Fundamental Diagrams in the world can only be comprehended intuitively, not conveyed in words, but ultimately they are all concrete... "physical paintings".

But the 【Great Self-At-Ease Heart Sutra】 differs from that 99% of Fundamental Diagrams, its Fundamental Diagram is actually... an "abstract painting"!!

According to Li Guishe, this is the marvel of the 【Great Self-At-Ease Heart Sutra】 Fundamental Diagram, it doesn't need you to trace and copy it, it wants you to trace and copy yourself.

What you hope to become, you will see; the more firmly you believe, the clearer what you see.

In short, the 【Great Self-At-Ease Heart Sutra】 visualization is you painting a portrait of your own soul.

And,

Strangely, Li Bashan visualized for many years, clearly never able to paint his own portrait in the "Spirit", yet the 【Great Self-At-Ease Heart Sutra】 cultivation progress kept increasing day by day, climbing steadily.

Li Bashan never figured out where the problem lay, Li Guishe fundamentally couldn't practice the 【Great Self-At-Ease Heart Sutra】, also couldn't answer his doubts.

But, today, Li Bashan seemed to suddenly attain enlightenment.

"The 【Spirit Diagram】 I visualized in the Spirit is sometimes blue, sometimes red, sometimes black, always illusory and intangible, ever-changing, like splashed ink, like halo dyeing, just without fixed lines and form."

"I always thought it was because I hadn't yet solidified the 【Spirit Diagram】, hadn't painted my own portrait, but perhaps, I have already painted it out, this formless intangibility without lines and form, is my 【Spirit Diagram】, is what I hope to become?"

Li Bashan suddenly opened his eyes, in his pupils blue, red, black slowly blended, that splashed ink that halo dyeing gradually merged into... the Sky!!

"I don't want to be a star, I also don't want to compete with little junior brother to be the sun, I also can't control what Master wants to be, what I hope to become is the Sky!"

Li Bashan's tiger eyes widened, muttering in a deep muffled voice,

"A vast Sky that can hold a few stars, a sun, and a little bit of something else!!"

Li Bashan looked up, line of sight seemingly able to penetrate the ceiling, gazing at the vault of heaven above, where was there any sky, only a sky-covering colossal shadow.

【You are immersed in selfless cultivation!】

【You are continuously cultivating the Body Forging Exercise!】

【Body Forging Exercise Proficiency +1!】

【Body Forging Exercise Proficiency +1!】

【...】

【Body Forging Exercise is taking effect, Body Forging Exercise·Flesh Third Solution is simultaneously taking effect!】

【The Pig Iron in your body is continuously digesting, Eating Degree is continuously increasing↑↑】

【.....】

【Your current Pig Iron Eating Degree has increased to 50%!】

【Your current Pig Iron Eating Degree has increased to 52.6%!】

【Your current Pig Iron Eating Degree has increased to 55.2%!】

【.....】

【Your current Pig Iron Eating Degree has increased to 99.2%】

【Your current Pig Iron Eating Degree has increased to 100%!!!】

Prompt boxes continuously flashing past the retina suddenly stopped, the condensed full progress bar flickering madly before Feng Mu's pupils, shocking him awake from the incomparably immersed cultivation.

【Current Settlement Screen:

Iron Eater: Second Stage

Metal Characteristic Slots Available: 2

Absorbed Traits: Mold Embryo (White)

【Current Food Slot 1: Pig Iron (Eating Degree 100%/100%, Reserves 0.)

【Current Food Slot 2: 【Yin Sha Nine Nether Calamity Resentment Iron (Eating Degree 6.2%/100%, Reserves 1.7%.)】

【Absorb Pig Iron Trait?】

【Yes (√)】

【No (X)】

Feng Mu did not rush to end his cultivation, but slowly completed the last round of the Body Forging Exercise, with the completion of the final movement, he slowly exhaled a long breath from his mouth.

He lowered his head slightly, took out his phone, and his gaze swept lightly across the screen; the time displayed: April 22, 03:11.

In this quiet early morning, time seemed to freeze; only the sound of cultivation breathing echoed in the air.

"Strange, why didn't I hear Senior Brother's thunderous snoring tonight?" Feng Mu wondered slightly in his heart.

Feng Mu didn't think too much about it, turned his head, and shifted his gaze toward Junior Sister standing not far behind him.

Hong Ya's eyelids drooped, her eyes seemingly vacant and dazed; obviously she was also immersed in some kind of cultivation.

Her footwork looked peculiar and bizarre, swaying left and right, as if dancing to some invisible rhythm; of course, it could also be that she was too sleepy and was sleepwalking her practice.

"Junior Sister, let's stop here for today." Feng Mu said with a smile.

Hong Ya opened her eyes, forced herself to rally, and asked: "Junior Brother, is it you who can't hold on anymore?"

Feng Mu gave a slight nod, then deliberately yawned in an exaggerated manner, looking as if he were truly exhausted to the extreme.

Seeing this, a flash of satisfaction flickered in Hong Ya's eyes, but she immediately straightened her face and said in a stern tone:

"Alright, we'll stop here for today. Junior Brother, you have to report to the Prison with Senior Brother tomorrow morning; rest assured, while you work at the Prison, this Senior Sister won't secretly cultivate alone and leave you behind."

Hong Ya's lie drifted lightly in the air; in reality, she had already made up her mind to take advantage of Junior Brother Feng Mu's busy working hours from now on, to secretly redouble her efforts and grind him to death.

Feng Mu found it amusing, nodded, and went back to his room.

In the room, Feng Mu nimbly removed his clothes, entered the Restroom, and casually locked the door behind him.

Only at this moment did he stand quietly before the Mirror, gazing at his reflection, and murmured softly: "Absorb!"

(End of Chapter)