Creating a Meditation Method

The two exchanged cultivation insights for a while, and it was already past five o'clock. Downstairs, Kamiya Koromo had started cooking.

Naturally, it was impossible to cultivate now, so the two simply went downstairs and waited for dinner.

A little after six, Kamiya Hiromi returned, but he was completely drunk, reeking of alcohol.

"Dear, this..." Kamiya Koromo's expression soured. "Are you eating?"

"I've already eaten, you all eat yourselves!" Kamiya Hiromi waved his hand and went off to sleep on his own.

Kamiya Koromo sighed and called the two children to eat.

The siblings ate quite happily, mainly because Kamiya Hiromi wasn't around.

After the meal, the two returned to Kamiya Keiyun's room.

"This room is a bit small. Let's tidy up the empty room next door, and we can cultivate in there from now on," Kamiya Keiyun said.

The main issue was that there was only one bed here, which felt a bit awkward.

"Alright. You go to school tomorrow, I'll clean it up. By the time you get back, it'll be ready!" Kamiya Sanyō said.

"Mm!" Kamiya Keiyun nodded.

The two closed their eyes and began cultivating on their own.

Kamiya Sanyō still hadn't mastered generating chakra at will, while Kamiya Keiyun was thinking about creating a meditation method.

Meditation was merely calming the mind and settling the breath, but a meditation method was different.

An excellent meditation method should have the following functions:

One: Calm the mind and settle the breath.

Two: Restore the spirit.

Three: Strengthen the spirit.

Kamiya Keiyun believed that since spiritual power existed in this world, there should be techniques to cultivate it—namely, meditation methods!

However, he came from a commoner background and had no such methods. He didn't know if the school taught them, but if it didn't, it didn't matter—he would create his own!

He wasn't completely without a foundation. Taoism's Classic of Purity and Tranquility was itself a meditation method, though much might have been lost due to history and war.

And in various novels, visualization methods were always mentioned alongside meditation methods—the two were always paired, like the Nuwa Visualization Method or the Pagoda Visualization Method.

Kamiya Keiyun could use the Classic of Purity and Tranquility as a foundation, combined with visualization, to create a meditation method.

Generally, the things one visualized should possess great divine powers. For example, visualizing Nuwa could grant the blessing of Nuwa's power.

But Kamiya Keiyun had no portrait of Nuwa. The protagonist of this world was Gundam, but Gundam hadn't even been born yet!

However, he had something else—the World Lotus!

The World Lotus was the lotus that bloomed when the World Seed blossomed. Since it was a flower that bloomed by absorbing the power of the world and could bear the World Secret Treasure, Kamiya Keiyun believed this flower must possess extraordinary abilities.

And the lotus held a special status in both Taoism and Buddhism. Even when Pangu created the heavens and earth, he stood on a lotus.

So visualizing this lotus was definitely fine!

Another important point: the World Lotus was not from this world, so in the future, no one could learn this method without his permission.

The secrecy was excellent!

He closed his eyes and began to recite silently in his mind.

The Great Tao has no form; it gives birth to heaven and earth. The Great Tao has no emotions; it moves the sun and moon. The Great Tao has no name; it nurtures all things. I do not know its name, so I call it Tao by force. The Tao: there is clarity and turbidity, movement and stillness. Heaven is clear, earth is turbid; heaven moves, earth is still. Male is clear, female is turbid; male moves, female is still. Descending from the root to the branches, it gives birth to all things. Clarity is the source of turbidity; movement is the foundation of stillness. If a person can constantly be clear and still, heaven and earth will both return to him.

The human spirit loves clarity, but the mind disturbs it. The human heart loves stillness, but desires pull it. If one can constantly expel desires, the mind will naturally be still. If one clarifies the mind, the spirit will naturally be clear. Thus the six desires will not arise, and the three poisons will be eliminated. The reason some cannot do this is that the mind is not clarified and desires are not expelled. Those who can expel them: looking inward at the mind, there is no mind; looking outward at the form, there is no form; looking far at things, there are no things. When these three are understood, only emptiness is seen. Observing emptiness, it too is empty; emptiness empties itself. What is emptied has no existence; non-existence also has no existence. When non-existence has no existence, it is serene and eternally still. When stillness has nothing to be still, how can desires arise? When desires do not arise, that is true stillness. True constancy responds to things; true constancy attains nature. Constantly responding, constantly still—constantly clear and still. With such clarity and stillness, one gradually enters the true Tao. Having entered the true Tao, it is called attaining the Tao. Though called attaining the Tao, nothing is actually attained. To transform sentient beings, it is called attaining the Tao. Those who can awaken to this may transmit the sacred Tao.

As he recited, he tried with all his might to construct a lotus in his spirit.

This was different from the visualization earlier. Back then, chakra actually existed; his visualization had a concrete object, and he only needed to shape it.

But now, he didn't know if a meditation world existed, or if the visualization would succeed. All he could do was believe that Heaven Rewards Diligence.

He didn't notice that the Classic of Purity and Tranquility, which he had been reciting dryly, was gradually taking on a special cadence. And in that pitch-black spiritual world, a lotus of chaotic color, tinged with red and white, was slowly being born.

An aura of purity, stillness, ethereality, and the bearing of all things began to emanate from Kamiya Keiyun, growing from nothing to something, from weak to strong.

Kamiya Sanyō beside him had grown somewhat irritable. She had long mastered the ability to instantly refine chakra after forming hand seals, but generating chakra without hand seals had always eluded her.

She had been trying all afternoon!

But then she thought again—this was related to her own future excitement—and she gritted her teeth and persisted!

Suddenly, a tranquil aura drifted from Kamiya Keiyun beside her. For some reason, her heart suddenly calmed down.

Then, at will, chakra smoothly arose within her body, without the slightest obstruction!

She had succeeded!

After struggling all afternoon, Sanyō should have been ecstatic, but instead, she felt her emotions were very calm.

Like an outsider, she watched her own chakra, perceived its changes, its movements, its dissipation, as it turned into two streams of energy and merged back into her body.

Opening her eyes, Sanyō looked at her younger brother beside her with curious, beautiful eyes. She silently stood up and moved a little farther away. As if crossing some boundary, the suppressed excitement inside her surged up, and she even wanted to hug her brother and share the joy of her success with him.

But when she took another step forward, she felt that her achievement just now was nothing special—she should maintain a normal heart.

"This... Younger Brother, is it because of you?" Sanyō marveled at the change, sensing clearly that this shift in mood came from her brother Keiyun.

"Is this the charm of ninjutsu? It's almost like a deity! Even more so than a god." Sanyō startled herself—such a thought was utterly blasphemous.

I am Inari's most loyal Miko—how could I harbor such a sacrilegious notion toward the divine?

But then, Sanyō unconsciously recalled the words Keiyun had once spoken.

There never was a savior, nor do we rely on gods or emperors.

Inari cannot change my future, but Keiyun can!

And thinking back on all the inexplicable phenomena surrounding Keiyun...

Could he be some deity descended to the mortal world?

Sanyō sat down properly, propped her chin on her hand, and gazed at her brother with curiosity—who could he be?

Ame-no-minaka?

Takemikazuchi?