Chapter 285: Cultivation

There is great terror between life and death; within the secret land of longevity, although there is an Array to suppress it.

Yet at the Array Eye, the forces of life and death, withering and flourishing, are interlocked like dog teeth, fighting and slaughtering one another.

Chen Mo steps into this place and must endure these forces.

This is why the Martial Artists who enter this place to cultivate must have a cultivation level of at least the Zhenyi Realm Second Layer.

Otherwise, they are not qualified to step foot here.

The power generated by the shifting and changing of life and death is not something an ordinary Martial Artist can withstand.

Moreover, this power is tangibly affecting the Martial Artist themselves; even Chen Mo, as a Martial Artist of the True One Realm, will suffer its influence.

Once death energy intrudes, his physical body will instinctively trigger the power of the laws hidden within his body to resist the death energy.

If a Martial Artist wishes to comprehend the meaning of life and death, understand themselves, and sever the causalities of heaven and earth.

Then the simplest and fastest method is to truly experience and perceive life and death, but if one uses this method, the risk is too high.

To go and perceive life and death, once a mistake is made, it means truly dying.

Cultivating here is different; although the true meaning of life and death will constantly erode the Martial Artist, these two forces are ultimately in constant flux.

The Array itself will also constantly monitor the Martial Artist's condition, and as long as there is danger, it will stop immediately.

Although doing so carries a certain risk, the worst-case scenario is merely being injured and needing to recuperate for a period of time to gradually recover.

Compared to directly experiencing life and death, the risk one must endure is truly far, far lower.

Chen Mo constrains his own power, allowing the death energy to gradually permeate his physical body; only in this way can he better perceive the changes of life and death.

The terrifying yet dull death energy covers Chen Mo in just an instant.

This power cannot be called particularly special; it is like a murmuring stream, yet it cannot be blocked or resisted.

What is true death?

Chen Mo does not know much about this; he only knows that in this world, after people die, they go to the Netherworld.

And what is the specific process of death?

He is completely ignorant of this; after all, he has never truly died.

However, as the endless death energy wraps around him, Chen Mo only feels a sense of nothingness; everything disappears, and everything has no meaning.

Death is stillness, a complete cessation of existence.

Chen Mo has a slight realization of life and death, feeling only a cool sensation enveloping his entire body.

Immediately afterward, he thinks of another point: if a Martial Artist shatters the Reincarnation Stele, then they do not even have the chance to reincarnate and cultivate again.

Once the Reincarnation Cup is shattered, all connections and ties between the Martial Artist and this world will be completely severed.

In this situation, when the Martial Artist dies, there is no reincarnation or Netherworld; instead, they return completely to nothingness.

Shattering the Reincarnation Stele is equivalent to the Martial Artist taking a crucial step; from then on, there is no chance for regret.

By severing the constraints of heaven and earth upon oneself and attaining great freedom and ease, the Martial Artist's subsequent cultivation will be a smooth path, perhaps even faster than before.

Likewise, many Martial Artists are blocked at this step for their entire lives.

Once this step is taken, there is no chance for regret.

Although there is not much of a way back for Martial Artists in this world today, facing the great terror between life and death is by no means an easy task to break through.

Chen Mo perceives life and death; his vitality is vigorous and high-spirited, and he is in no rush to contemplate this point.

He must understand life and death and see through them.

Only then, when facing the Reincarnation Stele, can he calmly shatter it without leaving hidden dangers for his future cultivation.

Death is nothingness; everything has already disappeared.

It is not difficult to understand this point; the difficulty lies mainly in accepting and thoroughly comprehending the true meaning of death.

And to understand death, one must have life as a comparison.

Chen Mo is cultivating at the Array Eye here and can naturally, to a certain extent, make the Array operate according to his own thoughts.

However, in the blink of an eye, the death energy that had completely enveloped him disappears, and a rich, vigorous, and active life force envelops him.

Chen Mo carefully senses this power; it is gentle and harmonious, like the warm sun on an autumn afternoon.

Completely different from the death force that previously returned everything to nothingness, the life force is incredibly active, constantly merging into his physical body.

Chen Mo's physical body already possesses thousands of mysteries.

Under the catalysis of endless vitality, the law power dormant within his physical body also becomes active, beginning to absorb the life force to further improve itself.

Such mystery, while not comparable to the Mortal Transformation brought by the Transformation Pearl, is not far off.

Chen Mo controls his physical body to draw in and absorb these forces, transforming this life force into nutrients to strengthen his own laws.

This process lasts for several days, and he then draws in countless death energy, covering his physical body once again.

And he carefully contemplates the differences and changes between life and death.

Among those who can reach the True One Realm, the number of Martial Artists who cannot break through due to worries about life and death is not large.

At least, it is not large among the Human Race.

Because even if a member of the Human Race is born into a major power or a great sect and has top-tier talent from a young age, they must still put in countless efforts to cultivate to the True One Realm.

By the time they reach this realm, the temperament of most Martial Artists is sufficiently firm; although the barrier of life and death has thousands of difficulties and dangers, they can also see through it.

Instead, it is those Divine Beasts born with innate knowledge who, if they do not cultivate their Bloodline Divine Ability and choose to walk the path of Martial Dao cultivation.

Are highly likely to be blocked at this hurdle, and perhaps never make another inch of progress.

On one hand, because the power of these Divine Beasts born with innate knowledge comes too easily, cultivation does not hold much difficulty for them.

And most importantly, they still have a way out.

What if they encounter obstacles in cultivation? Even if they do not shatter the Reincarnation Stele, they can still take another path.

Excavating their own Bloodline Divine Ability may not achieve the Zhizun Realm, but how many people in this world can achieve the Zhizun Realm!

Giving up that slim chance of achieving the Supreme Realm, they can choose the more stable and safe bloodline power, which even offers a way out.

Under these circumstances, they would never easily sever their attachment to the heavens and earth.

Yet the Human Race Martial Artists have no way back; in this situation, they can only move forward.

Chen Mo focused his body and mind entirely on cultivation, never wasting a single shred of excess mental energy on the outside world.

Time passed, he knew not for how long, as Chen Mo continuously contemplated the changes of life and death.

Compared to before, he now had new insights.

The power of vitality is exuberant and active, representing endless hope; as long as one is still alive, there will always be variables.

Death, however, represents a complete end, where everything has been settled and there is no longer any possibility of change.

The Return Ruins is in this very state.

Everything within it is constantly disappearing until it completely returns to nothingness.

Only by living can there be variables and infinite possibilities, while death is the fixed fate that determines everything.

It was not difficult to understand this point; in fact, Chen Mo did not spend much time on it, as the time he primarily spent was on contemplating the power of life and death bit by bit.

And now, he had a relatively high level of understanding of the power of life and death, enough to begin attempting to shatter the Reincarnation Stele.

Although he did not know how long he had been in seclusion, the time he would need to spend would inevitably be much shorter than other Martial Artists.

Firstly, it was because his aptitude and comprehension were strong enough, and secondly, because his physical body contained ten thousand Heavenly Laws; these powers circulated within his body, allowing him to better contemplate and perceive the true meaning of life and death.

All the power within Chen Mo's body was mobilized, like trickling streams gathering into a river and sea, rushing toward the Reincarnation Stele with an unstoppable momentum.

If it were any other Martial Artist, the Reincarnation Stele would stand very thick and stable.

This is because those Martial Artists have lived long enough and cultivated for long enough, having too many entanglements with this world.

Furthermore, these Martial Artists were also born within this world, so they inherently have infinite entanglements with the heavens and earth.

To sever all these things—in the ancient era, the heavens and earth would even send down a Catastrophe to stop the Martial Artist.

Even after the Reincarnation Stele is shattered by a Martial Artist, the heavens and earth will still send down a Catastrophe to show their anger.

In this current era, although a Martial Artist will no longer face a heavenly tribulation when shattering the Reincarnation Stele,

it is still not an easy task to sever the connection between oneself and the heavens and earth.

Chen Mo would have it much easier; besides the fact that his cultivation time is relatively short, the most important thing is that he was not born in this world.

Although his cultivation base comes from this world, since he was not born in this world, the connection between the heavens and earth and him is relatively easier to sever.

The power, surging like waves and vast as mountains, crashed into the Reincarnation Stele.

In an instant, the Reincarnation Stele developed countless cracks, and then the cracks rapidly expanded outward, falling apart in the blink of an eye.

Chen Mo mobilized his power again and began to crush those fragments of the Reincarnation Stele bit by bit.

He also felt that the restrictive connection this world had on him was gradually disappearing.

With the heavens and earth no longer having any restraint on him, only a Martial Artist who has reached this realm attains true great detachment and great freedom.

Yet, to obtain such detachment and freedom, one must pay a price.

They are no longer bound by the heavens and earth, and the heavens and earth will no longer help or support them.

Chen Mo could feel the Heavenly Luck that was originally bestowed upon him gradually dissipating.

This is actually normal; when a Martial Artist severs the connection with the heavens and earth, it is equivalent to this person no longer existing in the eyes of the heavens and earth.

Under these circumstances, the blessings and Heavenly Luck gathered due to the heavens and earth will naturally dissipate.

But there is still much power of Heavenly Luck that has not dissipated, such as the Human Race Heavenly Luck.

Or, for example, the Heavenly Luck condensed by Chen Mo now holding a God Position.

Although these powers come from the heavens and earth, they do not come entirely from the heavens and earth, but from infinite living beings.

These living beings have their own wills and thoughts, and the power of Heavenly Luck they bring is, to a certain extent, not interfered with by the heavens and earth.

As the Reincarnation Stele was shattered, Chen Mo's cultivation ushered in a new round of improvement.

With the shackles undone, his comprehension and understanding of the Heavenly Law went a step further.

The Yin-Yang Law has ten thousand changes, and Chen Mo must experience and understand them one by one.

Far from stopping there, he now wants to use this as a foundation to find a way to create his own cultivation Secret Skill.

Fortunately, he still has the experience left by his predecessors to refer to, such as the True Martial Gang Qi and the Samsara Sacrifice Technique.

Both of these Secret Skills were created by predecessors; although Chen Mo has only cultivated one, he can consider exchanging for the other to use as a reference.

Contemplating the Secret Skills of others to create one's own Secret Skill, and improving it step by step—

this is what a True One Martial Artist must do. Once the Dense Gathering is initially perfected, even if it is only a prototype, as long as the Martial Artist can control and master the knowledge, they can use it to step into the In-Charge Realm.

After entering the In-Charge Realm, through their own Secret Skill, a Martial Artist can to a certain extent master the Heavenly Law.

Even if this is only an initial mastery of the power of the Heavenly Law, it is enough to erupt with endless might.

It can fundamentally restrict other Martial Artists from borrowing the power of the Heavenly Law.

A Martial Artist of this realm, when erupting with full force, can exert a combat power that one person can match hundreds, thousands, or even more True One Realm Martial Artists.

Because for a Martial Artist of this level, numbers are meaningless.

Unless these hundreds or thousands of True One Martial Artists all form an Array, they are not enough to affect a Master Martial Artist.

Chen Mo's next step in cultivation is to attempt to step onto this path, and he must now begin to try to master the laws and polish his own Secret Skill.

And the key to polishing one's own Secret Skill is to cultivate the Secret Skills of other Martial Artists more; stones from other hills can serve to polish the jade of this one.

Before the In-Charge Realm, he only needs to focus on these two things.

As for matters after the In-Charge Realm, there is no need to worry too much for now.

Wanting to master the laws is by no means a task of a single day; even with the opportunity to listen to the Supreme preach the Dao, it is not so easy to achieve.

But with the breakthrough in his cultivation, Chen Mo was still able to feel the Yin-Yang Law changing more clearly before his eyes.

With the restrictions of the heavens and earth on him undone, he was instead able to contemplate the changes of the Yin-Yang Law more easily.

Not only that, having severed the restraints of the heavens and earth, when facing the power of the Heavenly Law again, he could completely hide his divine presence.

Completely concealing his own existence, no matter what kind of Heavenly Law power it is, let alone harming him, even the possibility of touching him does not exist.

Likewise, in this situation, he is also unable to influence or interfere with other laws.

To strike at him while he is in this state, one must use their own Heaven and Earth True Gang.

Because within Heaven and Earth True Gang, there is not only Heaven and Earth Power, but also the Martial Artist's own understanding of Heavenly Law, which can be called a completely distinct power.

With his cultivation reaching the True One Realm Third Layer, Chen Mo's Small World, on the contrary, did not undergo changes like before.

It was just that, imperceptibly, the laws of life and death within the world became more perfect, and the Six Paths of Reincarnation and the Netherworld began to gradually take shape.

Although it was only a prototype, it was still able to function.

Chen Mo understood that the strength of a Small World never lies in the vastness of its area, but in whether its laws are perfect.

Perfect Heavenly Law is what determines the true potential of a world.

Even if a Small World is only ten thousand miles in radius, as long as the laws are perfect, it can operate on its own.

In a suitable environment, this Small World will expand outward on its own, increasing its own power.

But if the laws are not perfect, then even if it has a radius of hundreds of millions of miles, the world will only be a scene of desolation.

The area of his Small World did not expand, but the further perfection of the laws greatly increased its potential.

Not only that, the perfection of the laws within the Small World is also of great help to him in creating his own Secret Skill in the future.

Creating cultivation techniques, after all, requires trial and error step by step.

After the laws within the Small World are perfected, when creating cultivation techniques, one can choose to make preliminary attempts within one's own Small World first.

The greatest benefit of making attempts within one's own Small World is that everything is controllable; even if one fails, the price paid will not be very high.

If done in the outside world, once a failure occurs, one faces a backlash, and in the best-case scenario, one would still need to recuperate for several years before being able to try again.

Of course, if one has spiritual pills and medicines to help oneself recover as quickly as possible, then this time can be greatly shortened.

This is also the reason why Martial Artists join a faction; obtaining pills from within a faction is more convenient and faster.

Otherwise, if one wants to refine pills oneself, not only does one have to collect materials, but one also has to refine them one by one, which would only consume more energy.

After inspecting the changes in the laws of his world, Chen Mo stood up and stepped onto the skiff.

The cultivation session had ended, and he should now return to the True Martial Tower.

Next, he should find an opportunity to enter Juhaiguan and wait for the Supreme to preach.

When that time comes, he can seize the opportunity to find a way to see the avatar of Fengdu Niangniang and pass on the item in his hand.

As for what happens after that, it is far beyond what he can concern himself with.

(End of this chapter)