The Realm of Night Roaming

The visions shifted in countless ways. Suddenly—

The scripture said that contemplating Amitabha could suppress all manner of inner demons and reveal one's true nature from a thousand lifetimes past. After closing his eyes, Hong Yi sat still, imagining the entire starry sky inside his mind. He pictured the starlight streaming down from the heavens, pouring into his crown and penetrating his head inch by inch. The moment the Buddha appeared in the starry sky of his mind, all of Hong Yi's pleasant sensations vanished, and his wits returned.

So the illusion at the final hurdle is this powerful! It's true: after enduring countless hardships and bitter trials, once you've finally reached your goal, no one can resist the desire to ascend to heaven. Not even a sage.

Hong Yi knew that if he had truly let his soul leave his body and drift up to the heavens just now, it would already have been scattered to the winds. Even a Ghost Immortal whose soul floated high into the sky could be blown apart in an instant.

Now that I know what to expect, I won't be afraid to try again.

Yet these illusions could provoke all manner of reactions in the soul—and even the body. Suddenly, everything changed again. He seemed to fall into a tender paradise, surrounded by beautiful women; their charms showed enticingly, while they moved and sang with languid grace.

"The soul is contemplated in the heavenly court. The heavenly court is where the gods gather, the spiritual terrace of all Buddhas. Imagine the energy of the stars pouring into the crown and penetrating inch by inch, joining with the soul. Then the visions will arise anew, and the soul may feel coolness, heat, sourness, or spice. One may see jeweled towers and celestial maidens in heaven, asuras and evil ghosts; celestial maidens and bodhisattvas, the gods of heaven and earth, sages of antiquity. One may feel oneself fallen into the cycle of reincarnation, or imagine fighting and killing on the battlefield; one may feel soft jade and warm fragrance, or a father's sternness and a mother's tenderness; one may feel that one's martial might shakes the heavens and overturns the seas, or that one's body rots away until only heaps of white bones remain. Pay no heed to any of these visions. Keep your mind fixed, and contemplate a Buddha in the Void, named Amitabha. Form the Amitabha Seal. This Buddha is the original nature of all beings in heaven and earth. Guard your original thoughts; let nothing move you, and you will escape calamity. Suddenly, one may feel the energy of the stars touch the soul and tug upward with tremendous force, as if one were about to ascend to heaven in broad daylight. At that moment, one must steady the mind with immense resolve and remain suspended within the body. Never truly let the soul leave the body. All such things are illusions..."

Wandering by night! Suddenly, his entire body rotted, crawling with flies, mosquitoes, and maggots, while his bones showed through joint by joint.

Hong Yi knew the scripture wasn't exaggerating. The Buddha had been painted with such skill that the entire meaning of Buddhist doctrine had been condensed into the image.

Just as he was about to lose himself in the sensation, Hong Yi's instincts stirred. He abruptly visualized the scene: a golden Buddha appeared in the starry sky, kind and familiar, as if he were Hong Yi's own past life from a thousand lifetimes ago.

Hong Yi's soul could not resist the tremendous force pulling it from his body, drawing it upward toward the heavens.

In cultivating the soul through visualization, one had to remain still and concentrate with one's whole being. The false became real, and the real became false. If the mind slipped for even an instant, one would be doomed forever. Cultivation was more dangerous than martial training.

Hong Yi had a feeling that if Bai Ziyue saw this Buddha, he might advance even further without needing to practice the methods in the scripture.

This pleasant sensation was an irresistible temptation, even for warriors, Martial Masters, Xiantian Martial Masters, and Grandmasters with iron wills.

Hong Yi, too, felt himself sinking into it. He knew his soul had been drained badly, much like after reading and thinking too hard. The Daoist Classic recorded it, and Bai Ziyue had told him as well: once the soul could leave the body, this desire marked the Realm of Night Roaming.

Hong Yi kept his resolve. In an instant, he understood what "life and death are inconstant" meant, and the terror in his heart vanished.

The sensation was incredibly real, and incredibly wonderful. It was like a seeker who had endured untold hardships and overcome eighty-one trials, finally passing the last hurdle and ascending to heaven in a blaze of glory.

With more experience this time, Hong Yi quickly overcame the countless illusions again. Once more, he felt that tremendous force from above tugging at his soul, as though it were about to leave his body and ascend.

Sure enough, the helpless, chilling sensation from before was gone. Instead, he felt as if he were swimming freely, utterly at ease.

The starlight he had imagined seemed to merge with his soul. Hong Yi felt an irresistible force descending from the Void above, pulling his soul out of his body and drawing it skyward.

In his mind's eye, every star in the heavens glittered from the unfathomably distant Void, sending down endless rays of light. They all landed on his crown and burrowed inside, inch by inch.

Suddenly, that night, Hong Yi lit a stick of incense in his room and tried letting his soul leave his body.

He woke to broad daylight.

Because Hong Yi had experience cultivating the Pagoda Visualization Method and could steady his mind, he had few distracting thoughts once he calmed himself. Cultivating the Amitabha Sutra's method of strengthening the soul wasn't too difficult.

Once his interest was stirred, Hong Yi's soul drifted out through the door.

The Perfected One does not dream.

Hong Yi resisted the temptation.

Suddenly, the scene changed again: the world around him erupted into slaughter, a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. He was surrounded by a forest of blades and spears on the battlefield.

Hong Yi steadied his mind again, sat still, formed the seal, and turned his attention inward, imagining starlight entering his brain.

That final sensation of ascending to heaven was the illusion at the last hurdle.

Heaven and earth remained as they were.

A simple mat lay on the ground, and Hong Yi sat cross-legged upon it. He looked up at the sky, watching closely and committing it to memory. After half a stick of incense, it seemed he had memorized the entire starry sky. He abruptly closed his eyes and imitated the Buddha seated in the Amitabha Sutra, clasping his hands before his abdomen, thumbs facing one another, and forming the Amitabha Seal.

At the same time, having studied the Daoist Classic, he knew that the fundamental method of cultivating the soul was visualization—making the false seem real.

After the heavy snow came several clear days. The clouds dispersed, revealing a sparse scattering of stars in the night sky, though nothing like the brilliant Milky Way that filled the summer heavens.

For four or five nights in a row, Hong Yi practiced the visualization method in the Amitabha Sutra.

Hong Yi tried to move his soul beyond the circle of light from the incense.

I can't just sleep out in the courtyard, or I'll freeze to death.

Bright sunlight streamed through the window.

Hong Yi felt his mind was sharp and his whole body refreshed, so much so that he wanted to sing at the top of his lungs.

The soul that had been about to leave his body and ascend to heaven instantly settled down.

Suddenly, the sensation changed again. Evil ghosts crowded before him, with asuras, yakshas, and demons encircling him, all about to pounce and devour him, drinking his blood.

This Buddha was precisely the one painted in the Amitabha Sutra.

Sure enough, when he imagined the starlight entering his skin, a cool breeze once again seemed to swirl around him, leaving him comfortable and at ease.

At last, he had reached the Realm of Night Roaming.

At this critical moment, that Buddha—who seemed to be from his past life—appeared once more in the starry sky.

He paid it no heed, keeping his mind firmly guarded.

Having learned from experience, Hong Yi ignored it and focused on steadying his mind, continuing his visualization step by step. Sure enough, after the starlight entered his brain and seeped through his skin, the vision changed again. His whole body began to ache, his head felt ready to split apart, and then a thousand flavors—sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy—surged through him.

There was no starlight entering his body. It was all an illusion.

The moment his soul left his body and touched the outside world, Hong Yi felt like someone who had just learned to swim and glimpsed the water—a powerful urge to plunge in and swim freely.

He felt his soul rise and sink inside his body, like someone struggling as they drowned.

Hong Yi sat for the time it took to burn a stick of incense, contemplating the method until he gradually entered the proper state.

Forcing himself to stay upright, Hong Yi practically crawled into his room. He lay on the bed, pulled the covers over himself, and immediately fell asleep.

He sank into a deep slumber.

When the illusory starlight entered his brain and reached his skin, Hong Yi abruptly felt cool all over, as if he were bathing in a gentle breeze. His pores seemed to breathe in pure air, and his whole body floated as if he were an immortal, blissful beyond measure.

He silently read through the passage once, feeling that he had fully understood its meaning.

Hong Yi once again kept his mind firmly guarded.

The sensation was so blissful that Hong Yi felt his whole body wanted to moan with pleasure. It seeped into his very bones, like the "longevity paste" that the Caotang Notes said certain nobles of the former Great Zhou dynasty had smoked.

Forget the Buddha: the figure had already reached the pinnacle of painting, a realm on par with a Human Immortal in martial arts or a Yang God in the immortal arts.

Hong Yi continued to guard his mind with all his strength.

He had spent the whole day studying it and had broadly understood the scripture's most basic method for strengthening the soul.

At midnight, with no one around and everything silent, Hong Yi stood in the middle of his courtyard and looked up at the sparse stars. He studied them closely, then shut his eyes and recited the cultivation method from the scripture.

Hong Yi sat down again and tried the visualization method once more.

But Hong Yi knew that if he hadn't visualized Amitabha in time, he might truly have lost himself in the sensation of the cool breeze entering his body, perhaps going mad and raving from that day on.