In the end, Shen Lian did not cause her death but did not lend her the merit instrument either. If there was still some sort of connection, it would be Chao Xiaoyu not being able to reconcile.
Shen Lian felt that he had nothing to do with Chao Xiaoyu, the karma has been broken off.
His temper, of course, was not one to kill your entire family in a disagreement. Even with the grandmaster Qingtuan’s sword having the peerless fierce and formidable killing intention, it still could not influence Shen Lian’s mind.
Shen Lian felt that it was already not easy for a person to come to this world, why is there a need to belittle someone else’s life?
There were many eyes that peeked at Shen Lian from the shadows. Now, he was refreshed and noticed it clearly with a smile on his face as he allowed those people to mouse about him.
Any divine thoughts that reached within three feet of him would feel like it had trespassed into the clouds of smoke of the heavens where it could hardly detect anything. Of course, if the prying came from an immortal, that would all just be crazy talk.
The nine states of cultivation are still fundamentally a part of cultivation even when it reached the school of the celestials and Buddhism. Even though it still could be considered as a cultivator, but the nature of life had changes happening already.
Even when Shen Lian did not experience this differences, he still knew that it was on a whole other plainfield.
Furthermore, to surpass a state for the sake of winning did not have any meaning to him. He cultivated because he wanted a long life, not to destroy the world.
To have strength is to protect oneself and not destroy others.
Shen Lian, with his hands clasped behind his back, flew to the place that he was staying now, which was also the location where the refugees were being housed. Just now while he fought Chao Xiaoyu, the heaven and earth shook but it did not use too much time. Song Qingyi and Qi Xiu could feel that something unnatural was happening at Banyue lake and they did not go over. This was because the surge of the Qi of vitality was too extreme, they were unsuited to go or else they would have caused trouble.
Song Qingyi saw Shen Lian flew in and was a little stunned, he did not think that Shen Lian was not here.
Only just a night of not seeing him, it was as though Shen Lian was a changed person. Even though there were no changes to his looks, but just by simply standing, he had a dominating air and hidden moral character that resembled the graceful bearing of the great masters.
Before that, Shen Lian was like a sharp sword that did not show its sharpness, the formidable ones were able to tell that he was also formidable but they could not tell just how formidable and scary he was.
But the Shen Lian now was like an unsheathed sword for people to admire, there was no piercing sharpness but anyone would know that this sword was able to slice through steel like mud.
This feeling was like the wise teachers that educated the masses, they stood out in the crowd but they were not loud, which only makes one to spontaneously have a respect for them.
He walked over and asked, “My Dao friend, Shen Lian, you already completed huandan?”
Shen Lian smiled as he replied, “I have already gotten the dan path, but have not huandan.”
He borrowed the sharpness of grandmaster Qingyuan’s sword will, gotten the immortality of it and he was able to receive and dispatch freely, honing away the fierce formidableness of it. He was already someone who had entered Dao but not yet completed it.
Huandan was to be the Yin Spirit Floating Clouds. Both the form and mind become one while it mingled with the universe, priming waves of Qi of vitality. With the rage of the storms and the tempering from the forces of the heaven and earth, one begins to transform oneself. From the beginning of this step, one could truly go against odds to become a celestial.
This was also why the huandan zhenren has a title, which is called ludizhenxian. The ludi zhenxian is not dixian. Dixian is the official term for the immortals by Xuanmen.
Ludi zhenxian was just proof that a huandan cultivator had the characteristics of a divine celestial. The biggest advantage was the 800 years extension to one’s lifespan.
As written in the Daoist scriptures, ‘regulate the breathing, out with the old and in with the new, imitate the hanging of the bear and the stretching of the bird, for the sake of life only; this is the guiding technique of this undertaking, the art of self-cultivation, the kind of people like ancestor Peng and the Changchun people love.”
Therefore, Ludi zhenxian are not truly the divine celestials or Buddhas since they are still confined to the level of practicing their Qi and honing their form. They could only extend their lifespan and not live for eternity. To be able to extend 800 years is only an estimated numbered, if the source of it is studied, it would probably be from the phrase ‘the kind of people like ancestor Peng and the Changchun people love’. Ancestor Peng was the man of legends and not of celestials or Buddhas. Shen Lian had heard the legend of this man before in his previous life, the one thing that was most memorable was that this person had lived 800 years.
Actually, many huandan cultivators did not live till 800, either they had already powang, or that they were trapped in state and could not find a way out, finally wasting their divine Qi and died.
Just like how the ordinary human could rarely live till they die in bed.
Song Qiyi saw the leisure expression of Shen Lian and really admired him. Even though he was under Lu Jiuyan’s tutorage, but to reach huandan this point, without absolute assurance, even Lu Jiuyan could not directly send him to venture through it.
Ultimately, it could be said that all that Shen Lian needed is a quiet place to retreat for confinement, with the coming together of essence and spirit to thoroughly enter the huandan state.
As for Shen Lian’s divine qi, it looked like that he had completely opened his closed orifices, there was no obstacles at all.
The scary part was that even when he already had one feet in, he was still able to have one feet staying outside. To be able to receive and dispatch so freely, this calm state of mind was truly scary than him going into huandan.
He saw Song Qingyi’s facial expression and Shen Lian leisurely walked over. He patted him on the shoulder and sad slowly, “Don’t worry, that day will come for you.”
Song Qigyi sighed, “I hope so, now that I’ve seen you today, I am afraid I cannot let my emotions recover.”
Shen Lian answered with a smile, “Do not be this way, I ravenously breakthrough, now all I want is to say my goodbyes to you all.”
Song Qingyi was confused as he said, “Since you could restrain yourself and be struck at a junction point, why not directly return to Qingxuan there for huandan? No one would disturb you.”
Shen Lian answered, “I would still need to return to the sect but not now. Furthermore, I am waiting for my own huandan. There would be an uproar of abstruse noise from the heaven and earth, disturbing the five elements and the yin and yang during the sympathetic of gods and humans. How could the ordinary cause such disturbance?”
Song Qiyi knew what Shen Lian said had its reasons. To be able to achieve huandan by oneself means that those who entered Dao, unlike the demons who undergoes transformation and the divine thunder trials, tallying with the abstruse of the heavens and earth, during the moment of huandan and sympathetic of gods and humans where one is temporarily blended with the heaven and earth. It cannot be overstated that that time would be when the huandan cultivator is most powerful before having achieved longevity. That temporary understanding of the state where man is one with the heaven was also one of the rarer experience. Therefore, those who used external alchemy and celestial elixir does not produce their own ‘dao’, which could not tally with the abstruse of heaven and earth. Not only there is danger during huandan but there is a lacking of that understanding, that is why the huandan would stop at the fifth turn.
The reason why using the top grade celestial elixir is able to help people to achieve the seventh turn, eighth turn and even the ninth turn, was because there is some true meaning of Dao in it which the cultivators could directly transform for their own usage.
This time, Xiuqi came over and heard that Shen Lian wanted to seek a breakthrough. He was happy but at the same time, he was still quite reluctant to part with him. Song Qingyi was like the caring brother and Shen Lian was that teacher, the way he conducted himself was something that was worth learning from Shen Lian. Furthermore, he still remembered the time that his life was saved by Shen Lian.
Luckily, since everyone was a cultivator, there was not too much sentimental. Furthermore, if everything went well for Shen Lian, he could succeed with his huandan and they could meet again in the future.
But when they heard Shen Lian said his goodbyes with no restrained, the song was prolonged without a break, it went like this:
“Like the determined warrior that searched for the treasure sword for twenty years, a few rounds of leaves falling and new branches sprouting, he accidentally watched the blossoming peach blossom, from that moment on till now he did not hesitate anymore.” [2]
It had been twenty years since he came to this universe.
Translator’s Notes: