Chapter 1645: Difference in Opinion Regarding the Dao
Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire
“This isn’t spatial energy.” As Qin Wentian’s voice faded, Shan Lengqiu calmly replied. He stared at the golden mountain before them and continued, “This is world energy.”
The eyes of everyone gleamed with sharpness. This was none other than what many of them wanted to come into contact with most, world energy.
Qin Wentian’s eyes also gleamed as he stared ahead. Was this world energy?
In addition, the world energy could clearly be felt in the atmosphere. Truly, this was as expected of this worldstone-ranked mine that was one of the eight major mines.
For the emperor realm, one has to strengthen their law attribute energy and fuse them together to establish a stronger law domain. However, what should the next step be?
When one comprehends their law energy to the limits, they would touch upon the source origin of their laws. This is what it means to transcend the emperor realm. At that time, at the empyrean realm, the cultivator can infuse his will into his laws, making his will the law’s will, making heaven’s will, his will. After that, when one reaches the limits of the empyrean realm, their laws will fuse together and a brand new energy would be born. The new energy is known as world energy.
This kind of energy had already surpassed the boundaries of law domain, it’s an intrinsic evolution, a qualitative transformation. Once you infuse your will into this new energy, that energy would be a part of you. Stellar martial cultivators originally represented the will of heavens. Hence, for empyreans, they must transcend laws, breaking past immortality and try to control heaven’s will.
How many immortal emperors are there in the Lifelong Realm? They are basically countless in number. But then, how many world overlords are there?
As of now, Qin Wentian only knew of two. One was the Lifelong Realmlord. The second one was Ancient Emperor Yi from the Azure Mystic Immortal Realms.
This step was truly as tough as ascending to the heavens. Countless extraordinary characters had given their all, but even until the time of their death, they couldn’t even glimpse that level.
Let alone the realm of world overlords, the vast majority of emperors couldn’t even glimpse the level between world overlords and immortal emperors. Empyreans were also very rare. In the vast Lifelong Realm, those who became empyreans could be the palace lord of a world palace or establish a new peak power. From this, one could imagine how strong empyreans are.
After Qin Wentian came to the Supreme Ancient Immortal Realms, it was natural that he would not forget to look up all this information. He once browsed through ancient scrolls before and the ancients had questioned that the thirty-three immortal realms they were living in, why would such a place appear? Why is there a world for them all? Why would things be so balanced and contain the various law attributes that could be fused together?
World Overlords have already faintly came in contact with this level. The stronger a stellar martial cultivator grows, the closer he would be to the truth, nearing the origin of this world.
“Brother Shan has good judgement, being able to tell that it was world energy the moment you saw it. As expected of the senior disciple under the Skyair Empyrean. You should not be far from the empyrean level.” Murong Xiaoxiao smiled. However, Shan Lengqiu shook his head, “I’m still too far from it.”
“I believe Brother Shan will reach there sooner or later. Maybe, you would be able to break through to the Empyrean Realm here in the taotie mine.” Murong Xiaoxiao gently smiled. “I don’t really understand about the world stones, how were they formed? Can Brother Shan help me out with this question?”
“Mhm.” Shan Lengqiu calmly nodded, “I was once fortunate enough to listen to a lecture given by my grand-master, the Lifelong Realmlord. He said that there are nine heavenly astral rivers in this world, and they are filled with a countless number of constellations. In truth, the nine heavenly astral rivers reflect our cultivation realms. The higher up a heavenly astral river is, the more terrifying the astral energy contained within its constellations would be. However, because humans are restricted by our cultivation base as well as limited by the boundlessly far distance apart, we cannot fully comprehend the true power of constellations. What we can comprehend, is only the energy we can absorb.”
Qin Wentian’s eyes flashed after he heard Shan Lengqiu’s words. He long had a similar suspicion in his heart. The constellations in the nine heavenly layers are all extraordinary. Even for constellations in the first layer, they contained boundless law energy. If not, for cultivators who have reached the immortal level, if the constellations they condensed before were all from the lower heavenly layers, would that mean that their constellations were crippled? Naturally no. After their cultivation base grows, the energy they can absorb would be of different quality as well.
“These mines are actually gigantic meteor stones from the heavens, or they might be naturally formed constellations. I have no idea how this taotie mine was formed but I believe that through the passage of countless years, as the saying goes, water droplets can even penetrate a rock. After absorbing the essence of the heavens and earth for so long, everything would evolve qualitatively. Maybe mines are the same as human cultivators, law origin energy would gradually be born and law’s will would appear. When two different kinds of law origins fused together for countless years, their law’s will would converge together and give birth to a brand new energy, resulting in the creation of a worldstone-ranked mine.”
“You are saying that these mines are sentient?” Murong Xiaoxiao asked.
“Law’s will isn’t considered being sentient. The laws in the world are what people refer to as heaven’s will. However, that itself is an ethereal thing but there’s no doubt it really exists. It is different from humans and demonic beasts, the mine cannot think for itself.” Shan Lengqiu explained. Murong Xiaoxiao’s beautiful eyes flashed with light as she smiled, “Brother Shan, you are really too awesome. After listening to you, I feel that I’m really close to comprehending some bottlenecks which held me up in the past.”
“Insightful indeed.” The Yi Clan’s siblings nodded. Qin Wentian had a look of contemplation on his face. Although Murong Xiaoxiao’s words were clearly a fawn, it’s true that Shan Lengqiu’s words had sparked some insights. Humans always say that it’s difficult to decipher heaven’s will and difficult to go against one’s destiny. If they were to apply Shan Lengqiu’s theory, everything would be more logical. The so-called heaven’s will is just a set of laws that governed the world. It was not sentient and couldn’t think for itself. It was ethereal by nature and would naturally be difficult to decipher.
And as for humans, they are the most intelligent of the myriad of living things. When humans comprehend that kind of power, they can infuse their own will into the laws, forming a law’s will. If they could do that, they would represent heaven’s will. The heaven’s will is my will. How tyrannical is that?
“These are some of the more obvious things. In any case, the giant mountain before us should be a world stone that’s formed from the fusion of spatial law energy and earth law energy. The fusion gave birth to a brand new energy, transforming it from law energy to world energy. The people within are trapped and I’m afraid they most probably would never be able to exit from there.” Shan Lengqiu glanced at the figures trapped within the peak. Their eyes all had vacant looks, it was clear that they had experienced a most painful struggle and their spirits were already broken.
“This place isn’t suitable for us. Only world overlords are suitable to comprehend such energy. The distance for us is still far too great.” Shan Lengqiu continued speaking.
“Mhm, I’ll listen to you.” Murong Xiaoxiao nodded. Although the group of them felt that this mountain was mystical, they understood that it wasn’t suitable for them to comprehend the energy here. They were still too far from that level.
They then continued ahead and discovered another extraordinary place.
This place was a river of sword qi that cascades down from the sky, resembling a waterfall that flowed unceasingly downwards. The sword qi filled the earth, forming a sword abyss that was immeasurably deep. They had no idea if they reached the center of the taotie mine. This sword qi river was just too terrifying. If they entered the abyss, it would definitely be a path of death.
“The sword intent is clearly present but it didn’t fuse with any other law energy. It’s very close to the law origin.” Shan Lengqiu sat down cross-legged and directly closed his eyes, seeking to perceive the energy here.
Murong Xiaoxiao started when she saw this. She flashed a charming smile and went over to sit beside Shan Lengqiu.
Qin Wentian also found a good spot. He didn’t sit down. He chose to stand instead as he quietly observed. His white robes and hair fluttered in the wind.
The laws of sword can take on countless forms. It could actually become liquid, flowing like a river and it felt much milder than whatever he sensed before.
There were many people here, all of them were here to perceive the sword law energy and were standing in different locations. For people who came to the taotie mine, other than mining stones, they would often try to comprehend the mysteries here to cultivate. There were simply too many bouts of good fortune in here.
After several months, the group of them were still here comprehending. Qin Wentian stood alone at a location. Murong Xiaoxiao would occasionally stop to seek Shan Lengqiu’s guidance on cultivation.
“Brother Shan, you comprehended something?” At this moment, Murong Xiaoxiao asked upon seeing Shan Lengqiu opening his eyes.
Shan Lengqiu nodded lightly. Murong Xiaoxiao then asked, “Brother Shan, I wish to consult you on this. This sword river seems so mild and gentle, completely unlike the sharpness of sword law energy. How can the laws of sword be so soft? It doesn’t seem to contain any killing power within at all.”
“Naturally it can’t be. After losing the aura of sharpness, how can it still be termed as sword intent?” Shan Lengqiu spoke. “Sword users should all exhibit extreme sharpness. Although the energy fluctuations of this sword river seem gentle and soft, the innate nature of the laws of sword is still extremely tyrannical and sharp. If one steps into it, they would die instantly. The mild nature you sense now it’s just something on the surface.”
Not far away, Qin Wentian’s expression changed after he heard Shan Lengqiu’s words. Truth be told, he had been thinking about this question during this period of perceiving. However, he came to a different conclusion than Shan Lengqiu. Since this is the case, he might as well use this chance to exchange thoughts. Hence, he spoke, “I have a different opinion. The laws of sword can take on a myriad of forms, sword law attributes are indeed embodied by the words ‘tyrannical’ and ‘sharp.’ This is something innate to it. However, who says that sword intent cannot be gentle and soft, as mild as flowing water?”
Murong Xiaoxiao inclined her head and smiled at Qin Wentian, she didn’t expect Qin Wentian would speak up now. Shan Lengqiu frowned upon hearing the difference in their opinions. He coldly spoke, “Have you seen a sword intent before that fails to harm or kill others when unleashed?”
“I’ve seen it before.” Qin Wentian nodded. “In any case, when the sword intent we control flows in our bodies, why didn’t it injure us?”
“Ridiculous.” Shan Lengqiu’s voice turned colder. “How can the sword intent you control hurt yourself? What example is this? This is simply nonsense.”
“As to law’s will, it means that I have to infuse my will into my laws. This is something you said earlier. Since this is the case, when we break through to a higher realm, the heaven’s will would become our will. At that time, I can control the laws of the sword as I like, able to not injure myself or others if I so choose. Now that we are unable to do so, it’s only because our cultivation base is insufficient.” Qin Wentian’s tone was calm. This was his opinion.
This was a good theory too. Different people would naturally come to different conclusions.
“Have you met before a cultivator at the higher realms who can achieve this?” Shan Lengqiu coldly spoke, as a mocking look could be seen in his eyes.
“My Brother Shan is the senior disciple of the Skyair Empyrean, the grand-disciple of the Realmlord. He has heard the dao lectures given by the Realmlord before.” Murong Xiaoxiao giggled from beside Shan Lengqiu.
“There naturally would be different opinions. I’m only sharing mine. In addition, I stand by what I say.” Qin Wentian smiled.
“In that case, you feel that despite the difference in our opinions, your comprehension of the sword laws is a level above mine?” Shan Lengqiu’s tone turned sharp as a terrifying sword intent radiated from him. “Since this is the case, why don’t we have a spar? Wouldn’t we know the truth then?”
“Brother Shan, it’s only a dao discussion. Brother Tianwen is merely sharing his opinion. Let’s not damage the unity in our group.” Yi Qing tried to persuade, however, he felt that Qin Wentian’s theory made more sense. But naturally, he wouldn’t say that out loud in public.