Three Seals Viewed in Sequence

Three Seals Viewed in Sequence

Within the light screen of the Profound Dao Chapter, the Six Rectitude Seals encircled the Self-Preservation Seal. Of these, the three seals of "Body," "Mind," and "Speech" had all lit up, while the rest remained shrouded in darkness.

Beyond these Rectitude Seals were the three unread Seal Glyphs that had appeared after entering the Seal of the Great Dao: "Vitality," "Keen Thought," and "Roaring Voice."

Zhang Yu looked them over. His Divine Essence was sufficient now, so reading the three seals should pose no problem. But if he wished to seek out Heartlight, he could not simply follow his own wishes; he had to proceed according to the Seal Glyph regulations passed down by the Profound Residence.

First, he had to begin with the Vitality Seal, which belonged to the Seal of the Body.

He fixed his gaze upon it. Shortly afterward, a faint gleam bloomed atop the seal. At this point, he was not required to finish reading it in one go. Instead, he needed to stop and successively read the two Seal Glyphs, Keen Thought and Roaring Voice.

The thought that had entered his mind earlier had merely guided him to do this, without telling him why.

He guessed that it might be because the first Rectitude Seal he had sensed was the Seal of the Body. Thus, it was used as the foundation, with the other two seals taken in as branches, so they would no longer belong to separate Rectitude Seals but instead establish a connection with one another.

Fortunately, this was not particularly complicated. He only needed to grasp the proper measure while reading them and refrain from making arbitrary decisions on his own.

He would not question this carelessly. Even Old Cultivator practices had to follow strict steps at the beginning, much less a cultivation method like the Profound Dao Chapter, which clearly could not tolerate the slightest deviation.

Perhaps because he was still in the early stages of cultivation, the Seal Glyph method was not complex. Following the guidance, he quickly reached the final step. This part was slightly difficult, requiring him to read all three Seal Glyphs at once.

The key was to subdue his own heart and not let his thoughts drift about at will. Yet sometimes, the harder one tried and the more one sought to suppress them, the less the mind obeyed restraint.

This was not too difficult for him. The first step of Old Cultivator practice was to tame the heart's ape and rein in the mind's horse. Thus, he smoothly completed the simultaneous reading of all three seals.

Once this step was complete, the three Seal Glyphs blossomed with light at the same moment and shone down upon him. In an instant, he understood and mastered the methods of using all three seals.

However, although this reading had gone extremely smoothly and without the slightest error, the Heartlight Seal did not appear.

According to Fan Lan, finding it in a single attempt would naturally be ideal. If not, that meant he had to read more Seal Glyphs. But if Heartlight could not be found within a certain number of them, then it would never be found.

At that thought, he seemed to faintly grasp something, yet that lively thread of inspiration was like a swimming fish, impossible to seize completely for the moment.

After pondering fruitlessly for a long while, he decisively set it aside and returned his attention to what lay before him.

Now he needed to see just how much these Seal Glyphs could improve his combat ability.

He left the quiet chamber and arrived in the rear courtyard. Taking up a bamboo sword he normally used for practice from the stone bench, he casually swung it to the side and neatly cut down a high bamboo branch.

At the same time, he willed the Keen Thought Seal into action. In that instant, he felt his thoughts become incomparably swift, with hundreds and thousands of ideas racing through his mind in a flash.

As that section of bamboo branch fell, he still had the leisure to consider its length, color, cut surface, growth cycle, and many other matters.

The world outside also seemed to slow beneath the acceleration of his thoughts.

His gaze sharpened, and he swung his sword again, striking the bamboo branch with flawless precision and cutting it into two pieces.

At this moment, he discovered that while swinging his sword, he still had spare capacity to think about how to exert force and how to make his strikes more accurate. The only discord was that his body moved slightly slower than his thoughts.

But his outstanding physical condition allowed him to adjust quickly. He continuously struck the two bamboo pieces with the bamboo sword in his hand, keeping them suspended along the same horizontal line.

His movements were unhurried and graceful, every strike seemingly calm yet powerful.

After maintaining this for a little over ten breaths, he suddenly felt a wave of mental exhaustion. Only then did he withdraw his intent and leave that state.

The two pieces of bamboo finally fell to the ground.

He did not rest. Instead, he activated the Keen Thought Seal once more, then continued after feeling another bout of fatigue.

After several attempts in succession, he had determined that he could enter this state roughly three to four times consecutively. By the calculations of his previous life, that added up to around two or three minutes.

He could continue further, but the mental expenditure would be immense. Not only would it affect his normal performance and reduce his combat power, it would also inflict considerable harm upon both mind and body.

But without question, this Seal Glyph was extremely useful in battle. It could greatly elevate his combat ability. If he had possessed this technique while fighting Su Kuang, then perhaps he could have accurately judged the opponent's general route of attack without relying on Xia Sword's Heart-Lake Reflection.

Of course, Su Kuang was exceedingly fast. Even if his thoughts could keep up, that did not mean his body could react in time.

Yet everyone had strengths and weaknesses. Combat was far from a simple comparison of strength. Whoever could better exploit their strengths and avoid their shortcomings would grasp more chances of victory. Therefore, without actually fighting, no outcome could be predicted.

After regulating his breath briefly, he tried the Roaring Voice Seal. As a low chant emerged from his mouth, a strange resonance rang within his eardrums. At once, he felt his heart surge with lofty vigor, and his entire spirit became exceptionally aggressive and enterprising, as though no negative state could affect him and nothing could stand in his way.

This state lasted considerably longer. After testing it, he found that with his physique, maintaining it for one or two quarters of an hour would pose no problem, perhaps even longer.

But he felt this was unnecessary. Remaining calm in battle was best; if one was overly influenced by emotion, one would instead be controlled by emotion itself.

A cultivator should be the master of emotions, not their slave.

However, if he encountered an enemy capable of affecting the mind, or found himself in an environment that suppressed emotions, then this Seal Glyph would become exceptionally useful.

Next, he tried activating the Vitality Seal to see whether it could replenish the expenditure from before.

As the seal was triggered, he immediately felt vigorous life force spreading into every corner of his body. His entire person became full of vitality, as though he possessed inexhaustible strength.

This was no illusion. He could clearly feel that his strength was slightly greater than usual, as if his whole body were burning. Evidently, when there were no wounds or deficiencies, activating this Seal Glyph would replenish his energy.

At the same time, however, he discovered that this Seal Glyph could not directly nourish depleted mental energy. It merely aided recovery, yet this action also slightly accelerated the growth and even aging of his body.

Using Seal Glyphs was not without cost; everything was rooted in his own body.

At this point, he could not help thinking: since breaking through the first Seal meant shattering the body's limits, then accumulating vital energy at this stage was undoubtedly the correct approach. Yet the Profound Residence was teaching them these things now. Were they not afraid the students would overconsume their vital energy, damage their bodies, and be unable to continue onward?

Perhaps the Profound Residence believed their aptitude surpassed that of other disciples, which was why it had arranged things this way?

Or was there some other reason?

After thinking for a while, he set these matters aside. Whatever the reason, as long as he constantly observed his own condition, there would be no problem. And now that he had finished reading the three Seal Glyphs, he could visit the Profound Residence again at the beginning of next month to see how he should proceed.

Within a quiet chamber in the inner residence of Fortune-Link Apothecary, Bai Qingqing sat on a couch, holding a packet of black medicinal powder in his hand. This was the secret medicine he had painstakingly prepared at immense cost according to that secret method.

Whether it truly worked, whether it was merely his own wishful thinking or genuinely a secret medicine that assisted cultivation, could only be known after testing it.

Yet with the moment at hand, he felt somewhat nervous.

He took several deep breaths in succession to calm his mind. Then he took out the Brilliance-Collecting Pill and swallowed one. After sitting quietly for a moment, he began breathing and circulating energy according to the method taught by the Profound Residence.

Very quickly, he felt Divine Essence gradually gathering within him. It was far faster than his usual simple meditation and accumulation, clearly showing that the pill was taking effect.

But as time passed, the effect slowly weakened and returned him to his normal state. At the same time, he felt dizzy and lightheaded, while waves of weakness welled up within him.

He knew his body had suffered depletion, so he poured the packet of medicinal powder into warm water and slowly drank it in small sips. Before long, he felt much better. As the medicinal power gradually spread, a gentle warmth enveloped his entire body, and that feeling of weakness immediately vanished.

Gritting his teeth, he picked up a second Brilliance-Collecting Pill and swallowed it, then continued gathering Divine Essence.

Yet this time, even after the Brilliance-Collecting Pill's medicinal power had completely run its course, he did not experience any weakness. He remained full of vigor. Out of caution, he examined himself several times, but found no problems at all.

"It really works!"

His expression immediately became wildly excited. This meant that so long as neither medicine ran short, he could continuously refine Divine Essence, read more Seal Glyphs ahead of time, and leave everyone else far behind.

A towering ambition surged within him. With this secret method, what were the students of the Profound Residence? What were the prodigies of the past? I, Bai Qingqing, would surely raise my arm to hold up the azure sky and stand above all of them!