That night, Tang Jie felt much better after divulging his worries to Xu Miaoran.
After sorting through his emotions, Tang Jie, Xu Miaoran, and Yiyi continued their travels. Wandering the world both widened their experiences and also helped them better understand and recognize themselves.
Cultivation was a process of understanding the world and the self, finally bringing together man and heaven in a perfect fusion. To reach this stage was to reach the apex. To make this breakthrough involved evolving to a higher plane, which was the conversion of the spiritual to the Immortal.
Tang Jie was currently in this “Heaven–Man Union” phase. In this process, he experienced his self, the world, and all that happened within it, which would affect his emotions, creating that “hindrance of knowledge”. This was because the distress he felt was not just his, but the world’s.
At that moment, Tang Jie’s emotions were connected to the emotions of the world.
This distress seemed simple, but it was actually dangerous and unfathomable. It was easy to get swept up in the distress of the world and be forever lost within it. Fortunately, Tang Jie had Xu Miaoran at his side at this most critical moment to counsel him. She had served as his guiding light in the sea of suffering, preventing him from getting lost.
But Xu Miaoran wasn’t enough. Tang Jie had to work individually to break free of this sea.
The turning point came a month later.
As the three were traveling through a mountain range, Tang Jie frowned. “The resentment in this place is very deep.”
At this moment, they spotted the smoke of a fire in the distance. The three went over, and after passing through a bamboo forest, they discovered that someone was living there. A woman had lit a fire in front of her home to make her meal, and when she spotted Tang Jie’s party, rather than being afraid, she smiled and welcomed them. “Did you get lost while traveling through the mountains? Why don’t you sit down? Have some tea and take a break.”
Xu Miaoran carefully examined the woman and found no problem, so she turned to Tang Jie.
Tang Jie chuckled. “It’s an excellent illusion. If not for the thick resentment filling the air, even I would have been fooled. But by encountering me today, you’ve finally run out of luck!”
A vertical eye opened on the center of his forehead.
As the Celestial Eye opened, a golden ring appeared under Tang Jie’s feet: his Realm of Insight. As the golden ring expanded, the scene around them disappeared, the lush bamboo forest becoming a sea of corpses. Skeletons were scattered all around, and the beautiful woman had transformed into a vicious fiend who exuded a kind of fog. As the fog scattered, one could vaguely see illusory sights within it. It was clear that all they had seen before was the creation of this fog. Now, the golden light of Insight had seen through it all, and the fiend wailed in pain.
“So it’s a giant clam fiend! No wonder the illusions were so potent.” Xu Miaoran coldly smiled.
Giant clams were fiends innately skilled in illusion, enough to be considered illusion masters. Alas, spell arts were still spell arts, and they could not overcome the Great Daos. Tang Jie’s Celestial Eye had seen through everything, and this illusion had been linked to the fiend’s life. With the illusion shattered, it was now bound to die, and all it could do now was howl and wail in pain.
Yiyi looked around at the numerous remains, saying in shock, “This giant clam fiend has killed so many people!”
Giant clams didn’t actually like eating humans, but with each human they ate, they could absorb the souls, adding to their intelligence and strengthening their illusions. This could be considered a form of cultivation, and it was why this fiend had hunted humans.
Screaming, the clam fiend died a painful death, and as it perished, numerous ghosts appeared. These had all been the souls the clam fiend had absorbed over the years. They floated in the air, silently screaming and stirring up icy winds, but Tang Jie’s group didn’t mind, simply watching those ghosts.
After screaming for a while, the ghosts had seemingly vented all their pent-up emotions. They bowed to Tang Jie before departing to the Nether Domain.
Yiyi looked up and said, “With these ghosts gone, this place seems a lot more comfortable.”
Tang Jie trembled as if he had sensed something, and a look of disbelief appeared in his eyes.
If Yiyi could sense it, how couldn’t he? In fact, he felt far more than Yiyi. In Tang Jie’s eyes, all of the endless sorrow that had engulfed this place had disappeared. The skies were now clear, the surroundings brimming with life and joy.
So he could experience not just the sorrow of the world, but also the joy of the world?
But sorrow always cut more deeply than joy, which was why Tang Jie had mostly only experienced the heaviness of sorrow in his travels.
Only today, when the death of the clam fiend freed the ghosts, making them joyful and grateful for their release, did Tang Jie finally have a chance to feel the joy of the world. All of those extremely heavy and downcast emotions were dispelled, replaced with unprecedented happiness and joy.
Tears welled up in his eyes.
Xu Miaoran saw that he was acting strangely and nervously held his hand.
Tang Jie shook his head to indicate that he was fine.
He explained, “I understand now. Since heaven and man are one, changing the world is also changing oneself!”