Carving a Human King Statue to Attain the Dao?

"Visualize the ancient Human King Sui Ren. With a spark of heartfire, evolve the Fire Era Dao Palace; ignite the fire of light, manifest Sui Ren's aspect, and suppress all evil!"

Yang Huai gazed at the beast-hide scroll with astonishment. At a single glance, he was drawn in by the appended illustration of Sui Ren's sacred aspect.

It depicted a saintly Human King holding the Sui Ren Staff in his right hand and a precious lamp of light in his left. His eyes shone with spirit, as though he had been transformed from the utmost point of light between heaven and earth. Holding a spark of radiant flame, he had led countless clansmen through innumerable disasters and brought them hope.

After looking at it only briefly, Yang Huai immediately felt as though a point of light had sprouted deep within his sea of consciousness, illuminating the void and the myriad worlds. Beneath that radiance, dark and stray thoughts had nowhere to hide.

Yet after staring at it for too long, several terrifying burning sensations arose within his mind. He hurriedly lowered his head, not daring to look again.

After a while, once his state of mind had settled somewhat, Yang Huai turned his attention back to the secret scroll. He read it section by section, studying this secret art for suppressing the spirit. This was the first secret art he had properly obtained, and he devoted himself to researching it with the heart of a pilgrim.

He also knew that this concerned whether he could gain a firm foothold in Slaughter Hall.

After a moment, he gradually lowered the secret scroll in his hands and mused inwardly.

"According to the secret scroll, to visualize Sui Ren's spiritual aspect, I must first commit the Human King's divine bearing to memory. Only once Sui Ren's spiritual aspect is entirely complete can I attempt to visualize the Sui Ren Staff and the Sui Sovereign Lamp in his hands, forming the Fire Era Dao Palace!"

After adjusting his condition slightly, he used the power of his soul to attempt to visualize a sacred Human King aspect deep within his sea of consciousness.

But the instant that wisp of thought emerged, Yang Huai felt a heart-searing, bone-piercing pain rise from the depths of his soul, as if he were being scorched by countless blazing flames. He forcibly endured the pain as a mass of light gradually appeared behind his soul—a light condensed from flames. It slowly began to evolve into a human form.

Yet halfway through its evolution, beneath that extreme agony, Yang Huai felt the power of his soul dim and lose all luster. Moments later, the faint halo that had appeared behind him dispersed.

"Huff, huff!!"

Yang Huai's chest heaved violently. Both hands braced against the ground as he nearly collapsed.

"No. If I force myself to continue visualizing it, I fear the Sui Sovereign's fire will burn me alive!"

He sucked in air laboriously while steadying his breathing rhythm. He circulated the Heavenly Circuit Heart Method, nourishing his spirit with vital essence and gradually restoring the power of his soul.

But this recovery came at the cost of severely draining his own abundant qi and blood. Once his spiritual awareness had recovered somewhat, he took out the dried beast meat with its heavy bloody stench and swallowed it, using it to replenish his depleted vital essence.

Only after half an hour did he feel somewhat better, finally having the leisure to continue pondering this secret art for suppressing the spirit.

"Could it be that I have yet to grasp the intent of the spiritual aspect?"

Yang Huai secretly speculated.

According to the secret scroll, comprehending the intent of the sacred image could reduce the difficulty of visualization.

Yang Huai turned his gaze once more to the spiritual aspect of the ancient Human King Sui Ren. This time, he vaguely saw countless incomparably blazing runes deep within Sui Ren's spiritual aspect. Runes seemed to flow through every line of the image, forming innumerable ancient cloud patterns, their various artistic conceptions a chaotic jumble.

"It's too chaotic. How am I supposed to visualize this?"

Yang Huai felt his head swell.

"No, the scattered cannot compare to the refined. Why not select one independent artistic conception as the core to visualize? The runes deep in this spiritual aspect are disorderly, but there must be one core cloud pattern!"

His thoughts flashed like lightning, and Yang Huai became increasingly convinced he was right. His gaze fell upon the Human King's spiritual aspect again. Looking closely, he gradually discovered some clues. The cloud patterns formed from those countless runes were each extraordinary in their own way. Every cloud pattern seemed to be an independent vortex-like artistic conception. Like lotus lamp wicks—like the petals surrounding a lotus lamp wick—they guarded a mass of ultimate radiance at the center.

Each of these petal-like cloud patterns seemed independent, yet they also appeared connected to one another.

Yang Huai had initially wanted to discard the petals and directly visualize the core, but he vaguely felt that something was wrong. At that moment, a tangled mass of thoughts flooded in, making his eyes bloodshot. Affected by the strain on his mind, the qi and blood throughout his body began to churn as well.

For a moment, he nearly fell into madness.

But then, a spark of inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind.

With that thought in his heart, he went straight to the kitchen.

Two Daoist attendants were on duty in the kitchen at the time. One was Chang Geng; the other was a Daoist attendant covered in white fur, broad-backed and bear-waisted. He resembled an ape and seemed either to have been transferred to the kitchen from elsewhere or to be an old attendant who had spent many years in the depths of the kitchen. Yang Huai had never seen him before.

When Chang Geng saw Yang Huai arrive, he was slightly startled before respectfully saying,

"Senior Brother Qingli!"

The white-furred Daoist attendant glanced at Yang Huai, somewhat unwillingly. But recalling the information he had heard, he too cupped his hands in greeting.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Qingli!"

Yang Huai was slightly taken aback, and a strange feeling rose in his heart.

Without realizing it, he had endured long enough to become a senior brother himself.

He immediately waved a hand.

"You two carry on. Don't mind me!"

He stepped into the firewood shed. After sweeping his eyes around for a moment, he selected a piece of greenwood heartwood that emitted intense spiritual radiance.

It was an excellent wood-element spiritual material, yet it had been piled everywhere in the kitchen.

Yang Huai casually picked up the fine piece of greenwood heartwood. A small carving knife appeared in his hand, and he began to carve slowly. He had prepared this knife long ago; it was the livelihood tool used by carpenters.

Usually, he only used it to carve dragons and phoenixes, flowers, strange beasts, and the like. This was his first time using it to carve a human figure.

Since he could not determine the relationship between those petal-like cloud patterns and the central lotus wick, he would use the materials at hand to carve all of them out. By studying them carefully, he would surely discover the connections between them.

This was the method he was best at.

But it was still his first time carving a human figure, and his hands were somewhat unfamiliar with it.

He did not go anywhere else. Squatting at the entrance of the firewood shed, he used the carving knife to slowly shape the heartwood in his hands. His hands moved swiftly, and before long, a humanoid wooden carving appeared in his grasp. He then selected the spiritual-aspect charm contained within one of the petal-like cloud patterns and imbued it into the carving.

But his first attempt still ended in failure.

Looking at the Human King wooden carving in his hand, now turned into an indescribable monstrosity, Yang Huai shook his head slightly. He casually replaced it with another piece of spiritwood. These spiritwoods were used as firewood anyway, so he did not fear wasting them.

Soon, the second and third damaged wooden carvings appeared in his hands one after another, but they were still failures.

On the second day, Yang Huai continued squatting at the entrance of the firewood shed and carving from morning until night. Although he could carve out the complete form of a Human King wooden statue that day, he always felt that it lacked divine bearing.

On the third day, Yang Huai still kept watch at the kitchen entrance. Yet his carving speed was slower than it had been on the second day. The wooden carvings emerging from his hands, however, were each filled with divine bearing. Then, at dusk on the third day, as the carving in his hand took shape, an intangible radiance suddenly blossomed from within it, as though a vast and majestic aura had burst forth in an instant.

This immediately drew the attention of others.

The several fire-worker Daoists in the kitchen had noticed Yang Huai's presence long ago. At first, they did not care about what he was doing. But when Yang Huai successfully completed a Human King wooden carving for the first time, Cloudmist Daoist, who was chopping firewood, swept his gaze over for the first time.

He noticed a fleeting trace of compassionate Dao charm upon Yang Huai's successful carving—blazing but not tyrannical, carrying an intense air of sorrow for heaven and pity for mankind. To his eyes, this Dao charm was extraordinarily special.

As this Human King wooden carving took shape, a great surge of spiritual energy between heaven and earth was suddenly stirred by the standing Yang Huai. It passed through the cloud-patterned wooden carving in his hand and flowed into his body. The dharma power deep between his brows instantly swelled by seventy to eighty percent.