When the sea was calm, it looked like a refined and elegant lady. All one could see was a pure shade of sea blue. To a certain extent, anyone who was surrounded by such moving sight would feel their heart and soul being one with the sea – endless and borderless, transcending heaven and earth.
Shen Lian stood on a plank and floated in the sea. Instead of drifting along with the current, he was headed toward the direction of Qing Xuan.
In the sea, there were the Yin flow and the Yang flow. The interchange of Yin and Yang formed the sea current.
Shen Lian latched onto the motion between the interchange of Yin and Yang. With a little more push, he could manipulate the plank underneath and could float across oceans and seas.
That was not a supernatural power, it was derived from his understanding of the surroundings. The difference between men and wild beasts would be the former’s ability to utilize the power of nature via the creation of tools. Even if men could not swim, we could still make use of boats and ships. Being good at utilizing the resources available were not considered as being over-reliant on external aid, but was merely putting one’s intelligence into good use.
The recurring theme of truth in Buddhist scriptures was to let go of worries, that would be the sign of supreme wisdom. The unqualified supernatural powers stemmed from wisdom, which allowed one to move freely between the three realms and be freed from the restraints of Five Elements and Eight Trigrams.
Shen Lian was not contemplating about this supreme wisdom in detail but he did have a general direction and was cultivating tirelessly toward it.
Even if there were no more martial exercises to follow, he would not stay stagnant with his cultivation.
He could still explore the ways of talisman, or to control vital Qi. He could observe the birds flying, or to feel the fish and the wagging of their tail underneath his feet. He could also feel the formation of the wind, or how undercurrent was formed from the interchange of warmth and cold.
The process of cultivation was neither narrow nor confined to a single place, it was everywhere around us.
The true wealth of Shen Lian’s cultivation was the experience he had from his past life during the age of information boom. There was no other era that could offer more information and impact than the age of the internet.
Internet connection and an electronic device that could surf the net was all one need to exchange thoughts with hundreds of millions of people. It did not bring direct benefits in terms of cultivation but it helped by repetitively breaking one’s current perception through the formation of new ones.
It was similar to the breakthroughs in cultivation – Shen Lian was not just cultivating, he was thinking as well.
The Mastery of Senses served as a good source, the way that a great mathematician would need an incredibly strong memory to memorize all sorts of numbers and formulas.
A great cultivator must have a spirit that could observe everything.
There was a flicker of emotion on Shen Lian’s face. Out of a sudden, he heard a wonderful voice singing, it was music that did not belong to this world. Behind him, waves rolled up. This was not in accordance with common understanding and logic – the sudden occurrence of strong waves was not accompanied by any form of prior indication.
With his clothing inflated, he tried to call upon the Qi of heaven and earth to ride on the wind and breakthrough the waves.
However, the Qi that was once intimate to him felt like a stranger. Instead of replying to his calls, the Qi congregated to a certain spot.
Before he could ponder further, he was hit by the waves and the wooden plank underneath his feet broke into pieces.
He was rolled under the waves and fell into a silent stream of undercurrent.
…
When Shen Lian opens his eyes again, he was soaked and found himself on an island.
In the sea not far away, he saw a towering column of water. Underneath the column of water, there was a giant black rock with a smooth surface. It looked like a cay spanning several acres.
As the giant black rock rose and fell, giant waves were generated and came crashing to the shore.
Shen Lian’s feet were soaked by water again.
He heard the strange singing voice again. That was when he realized that the giant black rock was actually the back of some form of giant living creature, who spouted those towering column of water.
The singing voice might be the breathing of this sea monster.
What was scarier was how the surrounding vital Qi would congregate toward it as it sung and the Qi was all his to inhale and exhale.
With a body as big as that, the amount of vital Qi that he swallowed was massive. Regardless of how low its attainment was, it could easily deal ten or a hundred more times damage than Shen Lian could.
The sea monster was similar to a whale, or maybe it was a whale that knew how to cultivate.
Shen Lian did not get back into the sea blindly. The mana within his body slightly wavered to the singing of the sea monster.
He decided to first seek refuge and to hold things off until the sea monster left. Thus, he walked into the island and found the scenery pleasing and could smell the scent of flowers.
There was only one kind of flowers and it came in five different colors; not more, and not any lesser. The trees inside were bigger than usual. As Shen Lian walked deeper into the island, the singing of the sea monster was filtered by the woods and he regained resonance with the Qi of heaven and earth.
The singing of the sea monster must be a more advanced form of communication with the heaven and earth Qi than the talisman Dao that he currently understood.
Given the chance, Shen Lian would love to look into the subject.
Despite knowing that the sea monster had a dubious origin, he realized that the island itself was not simple either.
The places that he walked past had no sign of human life, not even any sign of beasts could be seen.
The flowers were in bloom but they were not frequented by bees and butterflies. The entire forest was caught in an eerie silence.
The scenery far ahead caught Shen Lian’s attention. It was a tree with a thick trunk – one that could be wrapped around by the embrace of ten over people.
A soft and gentle voice spoke, it sounded like the pleasing sound of a yellow warbler. The voice was laidback and Shen Lian took a liking to its owner before even setting eyes on her.
“Gentleman, are you here to look at the beautiful flowers as well?”
Shen Lian did not move. He cocked his head towards the source of the voice which was deep in the flower bushes. A beautiful woman clothed in colorful clothes walked over and her features were impeccable and flawless. However, this was not the first time that he saw a woman as such – Xin Shisiniang was the first.
Unlike Xin Shisiniang who gave off a proud and pure aura akin to the winter snow, the woman clothed in colorful clothes was enchanting and moving. Her curves were almost perfect and it was hard to look away from her. The juxtaposition of her black hair and her porcelain-like neck was alluring.
The woman eyed Shen Lian boldly. It seemed as though she took an interest in the pretty young man.
She was slightly taller than a normal woman but slightly shorter than Shen Lian. Her moving body gave off hints of pleasant scent, it was different from those of flowers but it did not smell like perfume either. The scent sneaked its way into Shen Lian nose.
His clear eyes wavered, and to be honest, he could feel a flame being lighted up in his heart – lust.
He did not clear away his lustful thoughts hurriedly. “Where did you come from, young lady?” he smiled and said.
“I’m one of Mister Hai’s concubines and he is paying a visit to his friend. Seeing how the flowers are in bloom, I decided to stay and did not go with him. I was getting bored when I heard you, which was why I decided to come and take a look at you. Please pardon my abruptness,” she spoke while looking at Shen Lian.
What she just said would be normal if it was coming from a man to a woman. However, the words were extremely seductive coming from her.