Chapter 238: The Genius Who Stopped Advancing

The pavilion looked unremarkable, yet within it, treasure light overflowed.

The space was not large, holding only five or six people standing side by side.

On both sides stood redwood shelves, neatly arranged with various jade slips; the treasure light spilled forth from those jade slips.

The Yin Spirit, holding the skeleton behind Shen Yi, explained for the other: "The right side holds the Golden Body Arts; the left side contains things regarding Slain Hunyuan martial artists."

This place was clearly where the Great Qian Dynasty stored all high-realm martial arts techniques.

Not only were they scarce in number.

They even placed Slain Hunyuan Realm martial arts together with the higher-level Golden Body Arts belonging to the Transformation of Spirit Realm... Jiang Qiulan's words at the time might have been true; the Wumiao indeed did not master the path to Dao Infant Transformation of Spirit.

Shen Yi glanced briefly.

He found that on the right shelf there were exactly twenty-three jade slips, no more and no less, but many were damaged, with spots resembling blood stains even soaking into their smooth jade surfaces.

"These were all retrieved from outside by successive Transformation of Spirit cultivators; damage is quite normal."

Brother Zhu carefully placed the skeleton in a corner first, then straightened the skull before turning to pick up a jade slip and hand it to Shen Yi: "Twenty-three types of Golden Body Arts, but only thirteen are complete."

"Twelve of them can condense a three-zhang Golden Body Dharma Image."

"Only the remaining one, the Luo Han Golden Body Dharma Image, can achieve a six-zhang Golden Body."

Shen Yi took the jade slip and touched it with his divine sense.

A line of text quickly appeared on the panel.

【Transformation of Spirit: Red-Faced Lion Camel Dharma Image: Not Entered】

Without rushing to expend lifespan, Shen Yi closed the panel and asked seriously: "The larger the size, the stronger the power?"

Having experienced many battles, he discovered that stronger demons were not necessarily larger; for instance, Lady Qinghua's true form was only thirty zhang long, compared to the two or three hundred zhang-long flood dragons of the Yangjiang River back then, she could be called incredibly petite.

Yet the difference in power between the two was completely opposite to the difference in size.

Lady Qinghua could probably crush that Embracing Elixir Realm-perfected old flood dragon with a single stomp.

"The Golden Body Dharma Image is condensed from incense and vow power; in most cases, the larger the size, the deeper the foundation."

Brother Zhu did not display any arrogance of a senior, nor did he think this question was foolish.

After being tempered through long years, he had completely recognized a fact.

Before a true Transformation of Spirit Realm cultivator, all cultivators were no different, like a crowd walking on a cliffside suspension bridge; perhaps some walked steadily and very fast, leaving companions far behind.

But...

If this suspension bridge had no end.

Then walking fast or slow lost all meaning.

"I want to see the Luo Han Golden Body Art." Shen Yi turned his gaze toward the shelf.

"Very well."

Brother Zhu found nothing strange; every Upper Realm Wu Xian who came wanted to see this Golden Body Art the most, without exception.

He floated up, gently took down the jade slip placed at the very top, placed it in Shen Yi's palm, and then spoke to remind him: "Actually, the so-called Golden Body Arts do not require cultivating the most powerful one; comparatively, one should choose what suits oneself better."

"Suits?"

Shen Yi swept his divine sense inside again.

【Transformation of Spirit: Luo Han Golden Body Dharma Image: Not Entered】

"The most critical hurdle for a Yin Spirit cultivator breaking through to the Transformation of Spirit Realm is to clearly see what those white mists you casually cast out during the Wu Xian realm actually are."

Brother Zhu casually tore a wisp of white mist from the air, pinching it between his fingertips: "Try it?"

This amount of incense and vow power would not even be noticed by a Demon-Suppressing General of the Embracing Elixir Realm.

Shen Yi raised an eyebrow and reached out to touch it.

The instant his fingertips touched the white mist, a noisy, annoying sound suddenly arose in his ears, as if a swarm of flies were buzzing.

"..."

Shen Yi instinctively closed his eyes; with his current formidable divine sense, it still took him a long time to distinguish what that sound was.

It was a thousand people whispering simultaneously, each person recounting different matters, pouring out completely opposite emotions.

Greed, anger, evil; joy, rage, sorrow, happiness.

"The sword light we casually swing out, the palm wind we casually strike, are all formed by the accumulation of their thoughts."

"Treating incense and vow power as the breath of heaven and earth to empower oneself, sitting at home with endless breath to enjoy, is naturally comfortable and pleasant, even called a shortcut by martial artists."

Brother Zhu spoke in a soft voice: "A shortcut... always has a price. If you now use these things to condense a new body, that means these thoughts become your thoughts."

"The first threshold of the Golden Body Art is to choose a method to digest these stray thoughts, so they do not turn into your heart demon."

He pointed to the jade slip in Shen Yi's left hand: "The Lion Camel Art chooses defense; defending the homeland, defending the national gates, defending the common people Li Min, making this a vow."

Then he pointed to the jade slip in the other's right hand: "The Luo Han Golden Body Art chooses suppression; as for suppressing what... I am not entirely sure. When Shenxu Laozu chose it originally, he chose to suppress the common people Li Min and all living beings... so once his Yin Spirit was damaged, he suffered backlash."

"Huff."

Shen Yi finally finished digesting that wisp of white mist, feeling slightly mentally exhausted.

Hearing this senior's words, he finally understood why he had felt the Shenxu Laozu on the altar looked like a senile old man back then... being constantly backlashed by such noisy interference, how could one remain clear-headed?

"I have reviewed all twenty-three arts, yet found no single path suitable for me."

Brother Zhu floated past the shelves, touching each jade slip one by one.

A strange smile appeared on his face: "I thought for a long time before realizing it was because my talent was too high; I walked this path quickly and steadily, never encountering the slightest obstacle. Everyone praised me, demons feared me, therefore... I simply could not understand the stray thoughts within this incense and vow power."

"In my heart, there is only my Transformation of Spirit Dao."

"Now that I have reached the end, I find that of the twenty-three great doors, not a single one is willing to open for me."

"I traveled everywhere, wanting to re-experience the path of ordinary people, but I am already the Wu Xian with the highest cultivation in Great Qian; where could I regain such a mindset?"

"Once, I was utterly exhausted, tossing and turning unable to sleep, vowing to protect Great Qian and prove the Lion Camel Golden Body... I could deceive everyone else, but I could not deceive myself, nor could I deceive this vast sky of incense and vow power."

He was a genius, an Upper Realm Wu Xian at the age of forty.

To him, the common folk of the mortal world were nothing but ants in a burrow, utterly unworthy of his heart; whether it was guarding or suppressing, even if he whispered it a thousand times in his mind, it was merely a lie.

"Junior Brother."

Zhu Shixiong Zhu halted his steps, turned back to look, and a hint of bitterness appeared in his smile: "I vaguely heard them say earlier that you are also a prodigy?"

"..."

Shen Yi pondered for a moment, then shook his head lightly: "It is fine."

He had once been at the Zhen Mo Si in Outside Qingzhou.

A burly youth blocked the doorway and asked, "If you are not a genius, then why do you lack arrogance?"

His response at that time was... of course not.

(End of this chapter)