Golden Lotus Seed in the Sea of Suffering

The tea room was wreathed in curling smoke, fragrant with tea.

Li Jiusheng was overjoyed. He had never expected to comprehend the [Invincible Golden Body] this way.

He immediately began to examine it.

The [Invincible Golden Body] had not been created by Emperor Wu of Zhou. Its founder had been a disciple of the Buddhist Sect, who inherited the Buddhist Sect's Arhat Golden Body before creating this technique based on everything he had learned in his life.

Emperor Wu of Zhou had merely obtained this technique and cultivated it to an extremely high level.

The [Invincible Golden Body] required repeated transformations, cultivating the physical body to its utmost limit before comprehending "Force." Only by combining the two could one be considered initiated.

After entering the path, one had to undergo transformation step by step. This alone stopped countless people, for transformation was an exceedingly painful matter—it was akin to severing one's former self.

After studying it carefully, Li Jiusheng smiled. "Transformation may be difficult for others, but for me, it is actually very simple."

As simple as drinking water or eating.

Because Li Jiusheng had already set foot on this path.

Li Jiusheng had long cultivated the [Mountain and Wild New Life Method] to the level of "Force," and his first transformation was already proceeding steadily. Cultivating the [Invincible Golden Body] now was simply like a fish taking to water.

He acted as soon as he decided. Li Jiusheng decisively began cultivating the [Invincible Golden Body], embarking on the process of tempering his body.

This also laid a foundation for the [Mountain and Wild New Life Method]. After all, the more formidable Li Jiusheng's body became, the more powerful he would be after rebirth.

That day, the wilderness lay bathed in sunlight. A gentle breeze brushed across his face, carrying the breath of spring.

After the snow melted, it flowed into the mountain streams and eventually joined the main river feeding the waterfall, increasing its volume. It had been crashing down thunderously all this time, but Li Jiusheng had grown accustomed to it.

The plants that had accumulated strength all winter eagerly absorbed nutrients, breaking through the soil and unfurling fresh green shoots.

Hibernating beasts, snakes, and insects awoke one after another and began to hunt. The wilderness, silent for an entire season, once again brimmed with life.

Li Jiusheng took it all in and felt that this must be what it meant for all living things to strive freely beneath the frosted sky.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

The winter snow had melted, though the cold still lingered. Yet more and more green spread across the earth and forests, and spring came before Li Jiusheng with cheerful steps.

Over those three months, Shangqing Palace seemed to have undergone tremendous changes, yet it also seemed unchanged.

The tremendous change was that after Li Qingshan slew Zhang Wudao with a single sword strike, it caused an enormous uproar throughout the Cultivation world. The names of Shangqing Palace and Li Qingshan resounded across the land.

People everywhere asked who Li Qingshan truly was.

How had he suddenly appeared?

And how was he so powerful?

Furthermore, he knew Li Tianxian's [Grass and Wood Sword Technique]. Had Shangqing Palace left behind a copy back then, secretly accumulating strength and training disciples all these years?

Shangqing Palace could offer no answers to these questions, but not long afterward, it announced that the inauguration ceremony for its new Sect Master, Li Qingshan, would be held on an early spring day three months later.

Once this announcement was made, the world was filled with anticipation. As if by mutual agreement, everyone turned their attention to the Luochuan Sect.

Zhang Wudao had been the disciple of Emperor Wu of Zhou, patriarch of the Luochuan Sect. Li Qingshan had slain him, and with the [Grass and Wood Sword Technique] at that. How would the Luochuan Sect respond?

Rage!

Their patriarch would emerge from seclusion, punish Li Qingshan, and wipe out Shangqing Palace.

This was the conclusion everyone reached, based on Emperor Wu of Zhou's notoriously vindictive temperament.

Yet to everyone's surprise, the Luochuan Sect offered no comment on Zhang Wudao's death or on the news that Li Qingshan was about to inherit the position of Sect Master of Shangqing Palace.

The world was dumbfounded.

Emperor Wu of Zhou would not leave seclusion even now?

Could the rumors be true?

Had Emperor Wu of Zhou's foundation as patriarch truly been severed by Li Tianxian back then, leaving it still not fully restored even today?

Was that why he had swallowed such an unbearable humiliation?

For a time, the outside world churned with endless rumors and gossip. Yet Shangqing Palace and the Luochuan Sect, both at the center of the storm, tacitly remained silent.

None of this had anything to do with Li Jiusheng. For those three months, he immersed himself in cultivation and paid no heed to worldly affairs. Even when disciples came to the Scripture Repository Pavilion to borrow texts, he simply let them choose for themselves while he cultivated with complete focus.

He cultivated the [Grass and Wood Sword Technique], [Mountain and Wild New Life Method], [Dragon Elephant Prison Suppression Strength], and [Invincible Golden Body] one after another.

He practiced techniques during the day and meditated to cultivate qi at night. With the sun and moon as his companions, he improved alone.

Every cultivation session brought gains, like drops accumulating little by little. Li Jiusheng stored all those accumulations away, waiting for the day they would bloom and bear fruit.

After three months, the Real Core in his dantian had gradually taken on a golden hue. Every night, it absorbed spiritual energy and refined it into True Qi. The True Qi liquefied and circled the Real Core, tempering it bit by bit, slowly changing its color as it advanced toward the next realm.

"I am only one step away from the Golden Core," Li Jiusheng murmured, but he was not anxious.

Over these three months, he had not comprehended anything. Primarily, this was because he had immersed himself in cultivation and technique practice. These techniques had all reached the level of "Force," and he had gone far within that realm. He could enter the next level, "Nurturing," at any moment.

Li Jiusheng was not in a hurry. He cultivated with determination. Cultivation could not be forced; since he could not break through now, he would wait.

When matters were handled slowly, they became complete. When people moved slowly, they found peace.

Holding to this belief, Li Jiusheng cultivated quietly.

At night, the stars resembled sesame seeds scattered over a baked flatbread, while the Milky Way reflected in the stream, making for an exquisite sight.

Inside the Scripture Repository Pavilion, the lamplight flickered softly. Li Jiusheng held an ancient Buddhist scripture in his hands and read it slowly.

Shangqing Palace's Scripture Repository Pavilion contained countless books of every kind, not merely Daoist texts. It also held books from the Buddhist Sect, the demonic path, and the Confucian tradition.

The founder of Shangqing Palace had once said that learning in life had no end, and one should understand all knowledge that could be understood.

What Li Jiusheng was reading now was the final work written by an eminent Buddhist monk before his death.

He wrote that the world was a vast sea of suffering, and people all struggled within it. Mortals lived for a mere century, unable to escape their mediocrity, birth, aging, illness, and death.

The monk asked: What was cultivation?

The monk answered: Cultivation was escaping the sea of suffering and reaching the other shore.

But where was the other shore?

The monk answered: He did not know!

All he had sought in his life was the other shore, yet even before death, he had never seen it.

In the end, the monk summarized two principles.

People exhausted every effort trying to escape this vast sea of suffering. Some used their bodies as boats, carrying their souls across the sea of suffering.

Others cast aside their physical bodies, allowing their Primordial spirits to transcend and reach the other shore.

The monk wrote much more. As Li Jiusheng read, he gradually became absorbed.

If the world was a vast sea of suffering, how should he cross it?

[You observed a Buddhist scripture and gained insight. The world is a sea of suffering; the body crosses it, the Primordial spirit transcends it—better to become a golden lotus and pass through the sea of suffering.]

[You comprehended the phenomenon Golden Lotus Seed in the Sea of Suffering.]

Li Jiusheng looked astonished. This was the first time he had comprehended a phenomenon.

Phenomena were special sights that existed between heaven and earth. Some were born innately, while others were imprinted afterward, but without exception, all possessed immense power.

Li Jiusheng was very curious. What kind of phenomenon was this Golden Lotus Seed in the Sea of Suffering?