Realm Barrier

After his initial studies in meditation, Suye discovered what meditation meant to him: closely connecting body and mind, merging them so he could better perceive his body and, in turn, better perceive himself.

Suye realized that, living in a society flooded with information, almost everything he had experienced in the past—going to school, working, getting promoted, making money, succeeding, and everything else—had been defined by the outside world. Nearly everything had involved seeking externally.

He himself was clearly the root of everything, yet he had never properly sensed or examined himself.

After meditating, Suye's body and mind established a connection once more.

From that point on, Suye completely abandoned the mindset of seeking externally. He turned inward and began pursuing his heart's true desires, chasing his original aspirations.

After that, Suye's meditation ability advanced by leaps and bounds. Following arduous cultivation at the Insight Meditation Center, he ultimately reached an extremely high level.

Suye was not opposed to Niedern's method itself. He simply understood that a meditation method based on imagining external objects was very easy to learn at the beginning, and for people with relatively good concentration, it posed no real problem.

The problem was that if a meditator's mind was too active and their thoughts especially scattered, something could very easily go wrong during the visualization process.

Suye himself had experienced a minor mishap back then. He corrected it immediately after discovering it, thus avoiding going astray.

On Blue Star, many guided meditations no longer used such overly illusory methods. They generally involved listening to soothing music, then beginning by sensing the body and feeling the present moment. That was also the foundation of mindfulness.

Suye divided meditation into three realms.

The first realm was sensing the body and merging body and mind.

The second realm consisted of three minor stages: understanding oneself, affirming oneself, and examining oneself. This was also Suye's current realm.

The third realm was transcending oneself. But Suye had never met anyone like that, because those who truly transcended themselves would instead be extremely humble and feel that they had not transcended themselves. Still, one thing could be certain: people who truly transcended themselves all possessed tremendous achievements.

Casting aside the distracting thoughts in his mind, Suye first inhaled deeply, then exhaled through his mouth, making sure the inhalation and exhalation lasted equally long. After doing this three times, he closed his mouth.

Some meditation systems maintained inhalation through the nose and exhalation through the mouth the entire time. Suye believed this went against the body's natural laws and might even weaken the nose's exhalation function, so he did not choose this breathing method.

Afterward, Suye completely ignored Niedern's guidance and began using the scanning meditation method he employed most often.

Suye first focused his attention on his eyes, sensing how they felt before consciously relaxing them.

Next, Suye focused his attention on his brain, sensing it and calming it down as he relaxed.

After that, Suye began at his hair. Having sensed and relaxed each area, he allowed his attention to slowly sweep down his body, from top to bottom: scalp, ears, forehead, nose... and finally the tops of his feet, the soles, and his toes.

During this process, distracting thoughts occasionally surfaced in his mind, such as the teacher's voice, worries about the future, or Horton's revenge. But Suye neither judged them nor grew anxious. He did not take them as proof that his meditation ability was inadequate. He simply classified them, determined what each one was, and then cast it out of his mind.

At that moment, Suye knew that he was meditating.

After completing this round of scanning meditation, Suye's body and mind became even more closely connected.

Afterward, Suye stopped sensing his body and began emptying his mind until everything dissolved into nothingness.

Everything became empty, and Suye seemed to forget that he was meditating.

Before long, Suye's eyes remained closed, but they moved slightly.

In some unknown place beyond the material world, a place that only the spirit could reach, a thought emerged. It seemed as though another Suye had appeared.

The new Suye seemed like a transcendent existence standing at the highest point of the world and the starry sky.

He existed, yet seemed not to exist.

He was independent, yet also one with body and mind.

This was the superego of the spirit—or perhaps the soul, or perhaps some strange state.

This was his god.

This newly born, strange spirit examined Suye, who was meditating, examining himself.

At that moment, Suye once again knew he was meditating, but things were already completely different from when he had begun.

Observing the self.

Boom...

Suye suddenly felt the heavens and earth shake and the world collapse.

If he had still been a beginner, Suye would have been jolted awake immediately. But his meditation realm was now extremely high. He merely sensed fluctuations in his body, mind, and spirit, and soon returned to normal.

Not long afterward, the trembling stopped.

Suye suddenly "saw" the sky above the pitch-black world begin to change color, slowly turning blue-black.

Countless cracks appeared across the blue-black Sky Curtain, as though an overcast sky had been pierced by a rain of arrows, leaving countless holes through which densely packed sunlight poured down.

Even though his spirit was immensely powerful during meditation, Suye still became confused.

Hadn't Teacher Niedern said that one could see at most a dozen or so cracks? Why did there seem to be a billion or even more now? Suye recalled Niedern's words again: if one lacked talent, one should choose a nearby crack; if one had great talent, one should choose a distant one.

Suye thought for a while. If he wanted to be rational, he should choose one in the middle. But if he wanted to be even more rational, and considered that altar, perhaps he could choose the farthest one.

Suye decided to choose the most rational path.

Suye suddenly discovered that his meditation in the World of Gods differed somewhat from his meditation on Blue Star.

On Blue Star, although his mental state while meditating had been transcendent and he had been able to examine himself, it had essentially been one with his body and mind, formless and intangible.

It had been like thoughts that could not be grasped.

But now, his spirit actually possessed a concrete form.

Beneath the blue-black Realm Barrier floated a tiny, semitransparent figure whose appearance was exactly the same as Suye's.

The little Suye looked himself over and clicked his tongue in wonder. Then he thought for a moment, clenched both fists, straightened his right forearm, slightly bent his left arm, and thrust both fists forward.

"Fly!"

With a thought from Suye, his Spirit Body immediately flew beneath the deep-blue Sky Curtain, heading toward the farthest crack.

Suye saw light flow before his eyes and Divine Radiance flash. In the blink of an eye, he had completely flown out of the dense region of divine light and entered the pitch-black surroundings.

Suye was somewhat unaccustomed to it. When he turned his head, that region resembling a galaxy had become an almost imperceptible speck.

"That fast?"

Suye pondered for a while, then continued flying forward beneath the blue-black Sky Curtain.

Suye felt as though his body was about to transform into light.

At first, he could still see some tiny cracks. But in the end, there was only the solid Realm Barrier above and endless darkness below. Not a trace of Divine Light could be seen.

"Could I have flown past it?"

Just then, a gentle voice rang out. It seemed to carry mysterious magic as it lingered beside the ears of Suye's Spirit Body.

"Class, today's meditation lesson is about to end. I have already dispelled the spell. Now, don't suddenly open your eyes. Begin imagining yourselves slowly returning to Plato Academy, returning to this meadow, and then slowly opening your eyes. Slowly opening them..."

Suye immediately imagined himself leaving the region of the Realm Barrier and slowly returning to the meadow.

Suye opened his eyes and discovered that the sky had turned dusky yellow, with the sun about to set.

"Snore... snore..." Loud snores rang out.