Ye Qin closed his eyes. Though the shadows of the sun and moon remained in his mind, they were extremely crude, no more than rough outlines—merely empty appearances.
He slowly opened his eyes, and his forked tongue trembled uneasily.
"What's going on? Why can't I fully enter meditation?"
Ye Qin tried to calm himself, yet he always felt restless. It was nothing like the profound meditative state from before.
Whether it was his consciousness or his soul, both had entered a deep space that was difficult for the outside world to influence. Thus, he had been able to forget himself and suddenly grasp the opportunity for cultivation.
But now, his feelings were completely the opposite. Though there were shadows in his mind, they were more like an imagined state floating on the surface.
"Where exactly did the problem arise?"
"The sun and moon may be ordinary and commonplace, but these ordinary things are extraordinary things."
"As the saying goes: Heaven is dark, earth is yellow; the universe is vast and primordial. The sun and moon wax and wane; the stars and constellations spread across the sky. Cold comes and heat goes; autumn harvests and winter stores."
The four seasons revolved endlessly, containing the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, the Dao of nature, and the Dao of the seasons. They seemed ordinary, but in truth, they contained unfathomable and endless changes.
It was just like the sun and moon. Every day, they hung high in the firmament, seeming close enough to reach, yet in truth, they were far beyond the horizon.
People merely grew accustomed to seeing them every day and assumed that made them ordinary.
Once he understood the principle, Ye Qin suddenly saw the light. "I had taken the wrong path before. For me now, visualizing all things is still somewhat difficult."
In other words, as merely a snake, what qualifications did he have to visualize the great sun and the bright moon?
That was why he had been unable to completely empty his mind and enter a state of visualization just now.
Everything he saw and recognized was floating on the surface, without any firm foundation.
He had just said that one had to keep both feet on the ground, taking one step at a time. He had not even learned to walk yet, so how could he run?
Ye Qin felt somewhat troubled. "It seems there's nothing else I can visualize."
Just then, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of white. Looking at the white bones close at hand, Ye Qin fell into deep thought.
"The great sun and bright moon are too distant and profound. Mountains and rivers are too vast. I'm only a little snake now, not enough to visualize such magnificent things. My horizons are too narrow, and I can't glimpse all of those things."
"So I can visualize things close at hand—a tree, a blade of grass, or even a skeleton!"
Ye Qin gradually grew excited, feeling that he had seemingly found the right direction.
A person had to know their own limitations. If one had just created a cultivation method and already wanted to visualize the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers, would that not be nothing more than a pipe dream?
Fortunately, he remembered that the Buddhist Sect possessed a meditation method called White Bone Contemplation. Perhaps it was perfectly suited for this situation.
It was all thanks to his fondness for reading miscellaneous books, and his memory was not bad either. Thus, he was not unfamiliar with White Bone Contemplation.
With a ready-made skeleton available for him to visualize, this was practically an opportunity delivered right to his door.
Ye Qin had been inspired by the "Yellow Emperor's Classic of the Inner Elixir" beside the skeleton and had thereby embarked upon the path of cultivation. This was the bond between him and the white bones. Now, he was once again relying on the white bones for visualization, as if it had all been destined in the dark.
Everything originated from the skeleton. Calling it Ye Qin's guide would not be an exaggeration.
"If you and I truly have a bond, I hope you can help me visualize successfully once more. If I gain the ability in the future, I will certainly gather your bones, clothe you, and bury you."
Ye Qin looked at the skeleton before him, settled his mind and calmed his spirit, and gradually let his gaze go blank. Buddhist chants drifted faintly in the air, once again appearing and disappearing.
This time, he quickly entered the state, but the feeling was different from before.
That chaotic space did not appear, nor did the living gray mist. He simply felt that something was missing.
Could this be a special state? Was it impossible to enter successfully every time?
The thought flashed through Ye Qin's mind. He quickly cast away his distracting thoughts and stopped dwelling on it.
There were 206 bones in the human body in total. They could be divided into the skull, thoracic bones, spinal bones, limb bones, and pelvis, and they were the source of human movement.
Each bone had a different function. Even the smallest bone had its own purpose and occupied a place within the human body.
The flesh would decay, but only white bones could endure for a hundred or even a thousand years without disappearing.
Ye Qin's gaze slid down bit by bit from the skull. Then came the chest, where twenty-four ribs were arranged in a neat, orderly pattern, followed by the spine.
To see more clearly, he raised his body upright. His black, slender snake body looked like a branch standing on end.
If he had not feared causing offense, Ye Qin might even have coiled himself around it, wanting to examine it more carefully.
Visualization had no special tricks.
It relied only on talent and patience.
Those of mediocre aptitude might spend time and effort yet see nothing, while those of outstanding talent were precisely the opposite.
Ye Qin clearly belonged to the latter.
"White Bone Contemplation is also called Bone Melting Contemplation. One should first visualize the forehead of one's own body, with the flesh rotting and falling away until only white bones remain. Gradually expand the visualization from narrow to broad, imagining one head with its flesh rotting and falling away, revealing the white bones. Eventually, the entire body should be seen as white bones."
Ye Qin did the opposite.
The white bones before him no longer had any flesh. That skin had long since decayed in the river of time, leaving only this pile of bones floating upon the surface.
The cave was dim, with nothing that could be used to measure time.
It seemed that only a few seconds had passed, yet it also felt as long as a century. The concept of time became blurred at this moment.
At the beginning of the visualization, he only felt that the bones were stark white and no different from one another.
But records in White Bone Contemplation stated that, toward the later stages of meditation, an illusion resembling a red pearl would appear. All subsequent transformations began from there.
The thought had only just emerged.
A pearl appeared in Ye Qin's mind as well. As time passed, the bones unexpectedly began to radiate red light.
Within the white skeleton, at the location of the Life-Generation Palace, a red pearl had appeared at some unknown point, flickering in and out of sight.
The pearl was bright crimson and glowing. Though tiny, it was incomparably hot, constantly radiating light and heat like a sun slowly rising.
The red light gradually enveloped the entire skeleton. Countless red threads wound through the white bones, not even sparing the gaps between the joints. They soon traveled throughout the body and began radiating outward.
They even enveloped Ye Qin's body.
The Three Thousand Great Worlds, all empty space, pervaded the entire Dharma Realm.
Light returned to the void and shone back upon the inner white bones. The inner white bones emitted light, empowering the outer white bones and illuminating the entire Dharma Realm.
The white bones reflected the red radiance. This was the so-called White Bone Radiant Light Contemplation.
The red light covered them, thread upon thread, like blood trickling through the bones. It seemed that something was using this as nourishment and growing wantonly.
Soon, Ye Qin saw a faint membrane. Using the red light as its foundation, it covered the bones, which were white as jade.
The fastest growth appeared around the two toes. Countless threads stretched on without end.
While the membrane in other places remained transparent, that area had already turned flesh-colored. It squirmed incessantly, then joined together.
(End of chapter)