Ye Qin still did not know how great a disturbance his actions had caused in the library, or what kind of shock they had brought to those people.
By then, he had already embarked on his journey back. The knowledge he had temporarily absorbed was already enough, and he needed some time to settle and digest it. Of course, that knowledge was only useful to him for the moment, and there were still many things he wanted to understand for which he had found no answers.
For example, he had also wanted to look at some Buddhist and Daoist scriptures, but the Mist City Library did not have any.
Still, at least there was no longer much point in remaining inside the library.
What he needed to do now was properly digest this knowledge, transform it into something he could put into practice, and make better use of it in his cultivation.
Since he had already made the journey once, the way back went much more smoothly. Ye Qin was eager to hurry and took few breaks along the way; even his speed had increased considerably.
The buildings that resembled an iron forest gradually vanished. Without those obstructions, Ye Qin's view opened up. Looking at the unbroken green mountains in the distance, he found them as majestic as waves surging across the sea.
He turned back for another look. The city shrouded in hazy mist, the smoke of human life, the mortal world—all had dissolved into the ethereal fog, appearing and disappearing, impossible to grasp.
In that instant, his heart filled with countless emotions.
He had once belonged to the city, but from now on, he belonged to these boundless mountains. In the future, an even broader sky awaited him, waiting for him to discover it.
Ye Qin did not know what lay ahead, nor how far he would be able to travel along the path of cultivation.
But there was one thing he knew: he was walking a path with no precedent and no successor, one he would have to open up and explore entirely on his own.
Perhaps it would be difficult. Perhaps he would fail. But it was precisely these countless variables that made life rise and fall in dramatic waves.
He had been a dead man to begin with. Now that he had been reborn in a snake's body, every extra day he lived was a profit.
When he reached the familiar cave again, he felt the mud beneath him, unlike the cement ground of the city. Its warmth and softness were exactly what Ye Qin liked, giving him the feeling of returning home.
Everything in the cave remained as it had been. The white bones sat in silent stillness, their hollow eye sockets staring at the little black snake.
Ye Qin muttered to himself, "I'm back. I gained quite a lot from this trip. Sure enough, sometimes you can't just cultivate blindly. Going out to take a look once in a while is pretty good."
The white bones naturally did not respond. Ye Qin merely wanted someone to talk to. He could not speak human words, and the sounds he made were nothing but meaningless hisses.
Although Ye Qin never said so, he occasionally felt lonely. He was the only anomaly in the entire world. That was a blessing—or perhaps a misfortune.
His human kindred in his previous life would drive him away, while his fellow snakes in this life could not communicate with him.
Beneath heaven and above earth, he alone possessed a snake's body and a human soul, had awakened his spirit and intelligence, and had embarked on the path of cultivation. He did not even have a fellow traveler.
The Great Dao had fifty branches, Heaven's workings derived forty-nine, and one escaped.
He was the only variable in this world.
Ye Qin rested for a while, cast aside the distracting thoughts in his mind, coiled himself together, and gazed at the white bones before him as he entered contemplation.
During this trip to the library, he had come into contact with many books. Although the predecessors had left behind no clear cultivation methods or techniques, many of the ideas they had summarized were still useful.
He was like a sponge, absorbing the strengths of a hundred schools. The sparks of thought forming in his mind collided again and again, ultimately blending together as he understood and experienced their meaning in his own way.
The predecessors had been unable to step onto the path of cultivation. Their ideas could not be converted into practical actions, but Ye Qin could. A hidden key lay within his body; all he needed was the right opportunity.
With his innate talent for sudden enlightenment and his spirituality added to that, everything followed as naturally as water flowing into a channel.
Once again, it was that mysterious, profound feeling.
After such a long interval, Ye Qin finally entered this Chaos Space for the second time. Gray mist churned endlessly, as if welcoming his arrival.
Ye Qin felt somewhat excited. He had finally succeeded.
"According to the scattered records in ancient texts, the ancient sages could enter a state of meditation only once in their entire lives. They spent the rest of their lives searching, yet could never enter it again. But I'm different from them. I can enter it again. Perhaps there will even be a third time, and a fourth time, in the future."
"This proves that the fusion of snake spirit and human intelligence truly can bring enlightenment to all things. It is extraordinarily special."
At this thought, Ye Qin's emotions began to surge.
This transcendent enlightenment felt different from the enlightenment of ordinary cultivation. It could even bring many indescribable changes to his body.
Last time, he had been muddleheaded and failed to observe properly. This time, Ye Qin carefully examined the surrounding scene.
Apart from the gray mist and himself, there were no other living creatures. Moreover, though he did not know whether it was merely an illusion, he always felt that the gray mist seemed slightly darker this time.
Heaven and earth had yet to be divided, and everything had returned to its original state. Ye Qin could not figure out what this place truly was, so he temporarily called it the Chaos Space.
Within this space, Ye Qin felt incomparably comfortable. Every pore in his body seemed to open, as if his body were continuously extending.
Unable to resist, he reached out and touched the gray mist. As if it had sensed his movement, the gray mist scattered in all directions, like a mischievous child playing with him.
A sudden thought struck Ye Qin: if he practiced visualization here, would it produce twice the result with half the effort?
It was much like how humans entered a kind of deep sleep, falling asleep while entering another layer of dream space.
Although there were no white bones in this space, that did not stop Ye Qin from continuing his visualization.
As this thought surfaced in his mind, white light flickered in and out of sight. The gray mist boiled like water, producing some kind of chemical reaction as it rapidly churned.
A hollow skull inexplicably appeared in midair. Then came the body, and finally the limbs, as if someone were holding a paintbrush and drawing it stroke by stroke.
In the end, what appeared before Ye Qin was a complete set of white bones, so lifelike that if flesh and blood were added, it would be a living human.
Looking at the white bones before him, which were identical to those in the cave and had truly been manifested, Ye Qin instinctively widened his eyes.
Two beams of light shot from within the white bones, instantly covering his body. Countless joints were continuously tempered and forged, creaking as if someone were forcefully stretching his body.
In an instant, Ye Qin felt unbearable pain.
It was as though ten thousand ants were gnawing at his heart, crawling through the gaps between his bones. It was also as if someone were violently pulling at his body, leaving him in so much pain that he could barely make a sound.
Ye Qin rolled his snake body, writhing back and forth without pause. The surrounding gray mist grew restless because of it, hovering around him.
With every roll Ye Qin made, the entire space seemed to tremble as though struck by some colossal creature.
No one knew how much time passed before the pain slowly faded, replaced by an indescribable sense of ease.
It was like a traveler crossing a desert who had finally spotted a water source, easing the dryness that had tormented him for days.
Ye Qin drew a deep breath and felt as if his entire being had been sublimated. It seemed that if he wished, he could soar through the clouds and ride the mist even at that very moment.
He glanced at his body. In an instant, it was as though he saw the white bones flowing with radiance, glimmering like jade.
The outside of his snake body seemed unchanged, but Ye Qin had a feeling: if binding an eagle or falcon had been somewhat difficult for him before, now it would be effortless.
Sure enough, just as he had guessed, in this transcendent state of enlightenment, everything could achieve twice the result with half the effort.
He had never experienced such a state in the outside world before.
Ye Qin's breathing quickened. Earlier, he had tried visualizing the sun and moon, but perhaps because his cultivation had been insufficient, he had been unable to succeed.
What if he tried now?
(The End of the Chapter)