Entering Meditative State Again, Chaos Space

Chapter 18: Entering the Meditative State Again, Chaos Space

Ye Qin was unaware of the great stir his actions had caused at the library, nor the shock they had inflicted upon others.

At this moment, he had already embarked on his journey back. The knowledge he had absorbed was sufficient for now; he needed time to settle and digest it. Of course, this knowledge was only useful for his current needs. There were still many things he wished to understand, but he hadn't found the answers.

For instance, he wanted to read some Buddhist and Taoist scriptures, but the Mist City Library did not have them.

However, there was no point in staying at the library any longer.

What he needed to do now was to properly digest this knowledge, transform it into practical applications, and better incorporate it into his cultivation.

Having traveled this path before, the journey back was smoother. Ye Qin was eager to press on, resting little along the way and even increasing his speed.

The steel forest of buildings gradually disappeared. Without these obstructions, Ye Qin's vision broadened. He looked at the rolling green mountains in the distance, which resembled surging waves on a vast sea.

He glanced back at the city, shrouded in a hazy mist. The human world, the mortal world, all dissolved into the ethereal fog, indistinct and elusive.

In an instant, his heart was filled with emotion.

He used to belong to the city, but from now on, he belonged to these vast mountains. A broader sky awaited him to discover.

Ye Qin didn't know what lay ahead, nor how far he could go on the path of cultivation.

But he knew one thing: he was forging a path no one had ever taken before, and no one would follow. Everything depended on his own exploration and pioneering.

It might be arduous, he might fail, but it was precisely these variables that made life so unpredictable.

He was someone who should have died. Now, reborn with a snake's body, every extra day he lived was a gain.

He arrived back at the familiar cave. Unlike the concrete floors of the city, feeling the soil beneath him, with its comforting warmth and soft dampness, Ye Qin felt as if he had come home.

Everything in the cave was as it was. The white bones lay silent, their dark eye sockets gazing at the small black snake.

Ye Qin muttered to himself, "I'm back. This trip was incredibly fruitful. Sometimes, you can't just focus on cultivation; it's good to go out and see things occasionally."

The white bones, of course, did not respond. Ye Qin simply wanted someone to talk to. He couldn't speak human words, and his voice was just an unintelligible hiss.

Though Ye Qin didn't voice it, he sometimes felt a sense of loneliness. He was the only anomaly in the world, a gift and perhaps a misfortune.

His fellow humans in his past life would have shunned him, and in this life, his snake brethren couldn't communicate with him.

In all of Heaven and Earth, he alone, with a snake's body and a human soul, had awakened his spirit and intelligence, embarking on the path of cultivation, without even a single peer.

The Great Way had fifty principles, Heaven's derivation forty-nine, leaving one hidden.

He was the sole variable in this Heaven and Earth.

Ye Qin rested for a while, clearing his mind of distracting thoughts. He coiled himself up, gazed at the white bones before him, and entered a state of visualization.

His trip to the library had exposed him to many books. Although the predecessors hadn't left clear methods or techniques for cultivation, the ideas they had summarized still held many valuable points.

He was like a sponge, absorbing the strengths of various schools of thought. Sparks of ideas collided in his mind, eventually merging and integrating, allowing him to understand and experience their meaning in his own way.

Those before him couldn't step into cultivation; their ideas couldn't be translated into practical actions. But Ye Qin could. He possessed a hidden key within him, needing only the right moment.

Combined with his innate talent for enlightenment and his spiritual awareness, everything flowed naturally.

It was that profound, mysterious feeling again.

After so long, Ye Qin had finally entered this Chaos Space for the second time. Gray mist churned ceaselessly, as if welcoming his arrival.

Ye Qin was somewhat excited. He had finally succeeded.

"According to the scant records in ancient texts, the sages of antiquity could only enter a meditative state once in their lifetime. In the latter half of their lives, they struggled to find it again but could never re-enter. But I am different from them; I can enter it again, and perhaps there will be a third, a fourth time in the future."

"This signifies that the combination of a snake's spirit and human intellect can indeed lead to the enlightenment of all things, making it extremely special."

Thinking of this, Ye Qin's thoughts began to fluctuate.

This extraordinary feeling of enlightenment was different from ordinary cultivation epiphanies. It could even bring about many ineffable changes to his body.

The last time, he had been in a daze and couldn't observe properly. This time, Ye Qin carefully examined his surroundings.

Besides the gray mist and himself, there were no other beings. And he wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt the gray mist seemed a shade darker this time.

Heaven and Earth had not yet been separated; everything had returned to its primordial state. Ye Qin couldn't figure out where this place was, so he tentatively called it Chaos Space.

Within this space, Ye Qin felt supremely comfortable. Every pore of his body seemed to open, as if his body were constantly expanding.

He couldn't help but touch the gray mist. As if sensing his action, the mist scattered, like a playful child engaging with him.

Ye Qin had a sudden thought: if he were to practice visualization here, would it be twice as effective?

It was akin to humans entering a deep sleep, and within that slumber, entering another dream space.

Although there were no white bones in this space, it didn't stop Ye Qin from continuing his visualization.

As this thought surfaced in his mind, a white light flickered faintly. The gray mist, like boiling water, underwent a chemical reaction, churning rapidly.

A hollow skull inexplicably materialized in mid-air, followed by a body, and finally limbs, as if someone were painting it stroke by stroke.

Finally, a complete skeleton appeared before Ye Qin, lifelike. If flesh and blood were added, it would be a living human.

Looking at the skeleton before him, identical to the one in the cave, truly materialized, Ye Qin's eyes widened instinctively.

Two beams of light shot out from within the skeleton, instantly enveloping his body. Countless bone joints were continuously tempered and forged, emitting creaking sounds, as if someone were forcefully stretching his body.

In an instant, Ye Qin felt an unbearable pain.

It felt like ten thousand ants were gnawing at his heart, wriggling and burrowing between his bones. It was as if a giant force was tearing his body apart, the pain so intense he could barely make a sound.

Ye Qin writhed his snake body, rolling back and forth. The surrounding gray mist became agitated by his movements, swirling around him.

With each roll Ye Qin made, the space around him seemed to tremble as if struck by a colossal beast.

After an unknown amount of time, the pain slowly subsided, replaced by an indescribable sense of relief.

It was like a traveler in the desert finally spotting a source of water, alleviating days of parched thirst.

Ye Qin took a deep breath, feeling as if his entire being had been elevated. It seemed that if he wished, he could ascend to the heavens and ride the clouds right then and there.

He glanced at his body and in that instant, it was as if he saw his bones glowing like flowing light, shimmering like jade.

His snake body's exterior seemed unchanged, but Ye Qin had a feeling that if it had been difficult to coil around a hawk before, it would now be effortless.

Just as he had suspected, in this state of extraordinary enlightenment, everything could be accomplished with half the effort.

Such a state had never occurred in the outside world before.

Ye Qin's breathing grew a little rapid. He had previously tried to visualize the sun and moon, but perhaps because his cultivation was insufficient, he had failed.

What about now?