Wanting to Go and Take a Look

Chapter 7: Wanting to Go and Take a Look

Ye Qin looked at himself in this state. His beastly pupils remained calm, without the slightest hint of panic. He simply let everything take its natural course.

The pupils of a snake appeared somewhat cold and indifferent. More accurately, they possessed a carefree detachment from the world.

He blinked lightly, and all the scenes vanished in an instant. Everything just now had been nothing more than an illusion within his visualization.

What entered his eyes was still the charred scales that had been struck by lightning.

There were no scales or flesh on the ground either, as though everything just now had been an illusion.

However, what he had just experienced had been far too real. Even after a while, Ye Qin still had not come back to his senses.

Through the White Bone Contemplation, he had glimpsed living flesh emerging from white bones. It seemed even his skin and flesh had been affected, forcing him to experience once more the process of transforming into white bones.

Everything was like reincarnation.

Only after a long while did Ye Qin recover and completely withdraw from the visualization.

He had heard that if one cultivated the White Bone Contemplation to its ultimate level, everything the cultivator saw would become white bones.

However, he had not reached that stage yet. After leaving the visualization, the things he saw were still ordinary scenery.

Perhaps I really did succeed in visualization.

Ye Qin lifted the tip of his tail slightly. He remembered that this place had been torn open by an eagle, so the section near the end had been completely unable to straighten. Now, however, it was taut and straight, like an arrow nocked in a bow and ready to be loosed.

Aside from that, he could clearly feel his injuries slowly improving. Although they had not healed all at once, at least his life could be preserved.

With injuries like those he had suffered before, he probably would not have survived more than a few days.

Ye Qin tried twisting his body. Perhaps it was merely his imagination, but he always felt that this body and his soul had become more perfectly attuned.

He had once been human, and when he had suddenly been stuffed into this snake body, it had been like cramming a huge polygonal object into a tiny rectangular container. The two simply did not fit.

Ye Qin had also been extremely unaccustomed to it. Every time he twisted and crawled, he felt as though his body were about to be twisted into a pretzel.

Moreover, all the muscles in his body seemed to have minds of their own. He would clearly want to head east, yet somehow the direction would veer off course.

If not for his good luck earlier, and the enormous potential that had erupted in the face of life and death, he might already have become an eagle's meal.

But things were different now. As his body twisted, every inch of bone and skin fit together far better than before.

Every sign indicated that his choice and direction were correct.

He did not know whether continuing to cultivate like this would allow him to ride clouds and mist as in mythological novels, or even transform from a snake into a dragon and cultivate a human body.

Ye Qin let out a long sigh. "It would be wonderful if I could truly cultivate to that level."

It was still far too early to speak of such things, so the thought merely flashed through his mind.

The current Ye Qin was only a Little Black Snake that had just circled past King Yama's gate and barely managed to save his life. His most urgent task was to heal his injuries completely.

"At any rate, this counts as a small step forward. As long as I continue to keep my feet on the ground and cultivate diligently, I won't have to worry about lacking opportunities in the future."

After his excitement and joy, Ye Qin quickly returned to his composure. He did not become smug over achieving a minor success.

He had only touched the threshold. There was still a very long road ahead of him.

A firm light flashed through Ye Qin's eyes.

Since Heaven had allowed him to be reborn and transmigrate into the body of a snake, and had also allowed him to discover a path of cultivation, this proved that he was not destined to die. The road ahead of him would be even more extraordinary.

Everything ahead was still unknown, and the only one he could rely on was himself.

Ye Qin did not expect to cultivate some divine ability overnight. That was unrealistic. Besides, cultivators might not even exist in this world. He might be the only one, meaning he would have to explore everything on his own.

He did not pursue speed, only steady progress. If he hastily sought success and ended up cultivating something wrong, he would gain nothing and lose everything.

Ye Qin's gaze fell upon the skeleton beside him, and he sincerely said, "Thank you."

At this moment, he was somewhat curious about the skeleton's identity. Was she truly a scholar who had been traveling to take the imperial examination? He could not help grumbling inwardly:

If she was an ordinary scholar, how could she have possessed a book like this? It wasn't even within the scope of the examination.

"Why would a scholar like reading the Yellow Emperor's Classic of the Inner Elixir? It would be strange if she could pass the examination."

Put in modern terms, it was equivalent to reading miscellaneous books a few days before an exam.

Unfortunately, the skeleton could not answer him. Everything would be buried in the passage of time. Regardless, Ye Qin owed the skeleton a debt of gratitude.

However, ever since he learned the gender of the white bones, he had become somewhat curious. In ancient times, women did not leave through the main gate or step beyond the inner gate.

Why was this woman different from the ordinary? Why had she been buried in a mountain cave? He did not know what had happened. There must have been an untold story behind it.

Unfortunately, the white bones could not speak human words.

"No matter what, I still have to thank you. If not for you, I might never have stepped onto the path of cultivation. I would still be a Little Black Snake waiting to die."

The white bones could be said to be Ye Qin's guide.

From the Yellow Emperor's Classic of the Inner Elixir earlier to the White Bone Contemplation later, everything was connected to the white bones before him by countless threads.

Both Buddhism and Daoism placed great importance on karmic affinities.

Ye Qin traveled once around the mountain cave. He had noticed earlier that the soil here was extremely loose and the ground very damp. When he forcefully jabbed the tip of his tail downward, he punched out a small hole.

Looking at the small hole before him, a bold idea surfaced in his mind.

Using his tail and head, Ye Qin continuously enlarged the small hole. Before long, a hole two fingers wide had appeared in the ground, while he had pushed the scattered soil to the side with his head.

During his recovery from a serious illness, he should not overexert himself. Whenever Ye Qin felt his body growing sore, he would stop to rest and continue visualizing.

The white bones gave birth to flesh, and various tissues slowly grew. This time, he still could not make out the woman's features, but his heart was already utterly unmoved.

Regardless of one's appearance, it was merely a shell. Only by seeing through the surface of things and refusing to be deceived by one's eyes could one glimpse the truth.

After Ye Qin finished visualizing and recovered his strength, he continued digging. The cycle repeated itself again and again.

Inside the mountain cave, there was no concept of time passing. Ye Qin did not know how long had gone by—perhaps a day, perhaps two—until the burning hunger in his abdomen finally reminded him that it was time to eat.

Ye Qin had cultivated until he forgot both sleep and food. During this period, he had not eaten anything at all.

There was no food inside the mountain cave, so he could only go outside to search.

This place was secluded in a corner, like a paradise beyond the mortal world.

Outside, however, danger lurked everywhere. For example, when Ye Qin had first transmigrated here, he had encountered an eagle. The slightest carelessness could have cost him his life.

The laws of nature were this cruel: the weak were prey to the strong, and only the fittest survived.

Ye Qin knew that he could not hide in the mountain cave and cultivate for the rest of his life. If he truly did that, it would be far too dull, and shutting himself away to work blindly was not realistic either.

Because the situation had been urgent at the time, he had not had a chance to investigate the surrounding environment. Thus, Ye Qin did not know where he was, whether it was a famous mountain and river or merely a wild mountain.

He knew even less about how far this place was from the cities, or which province or city it was near.

"After my injuries heal, I need to find a way to look up some ancient classics. Otherwise, if I rely entirely on the 'power of wild guesses,' it will be difficult to make any progress."

Ye Qin pondered this, but all he could do was heal his injuries first and make plans gradually in the future.

(The End of This Chapter)