Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City.
Deep within the Sky-Blasting Gang's headquarters, in a secluded, elegant little building, wisps of incense rose from a tiger-headed burner, aiding quiet contemplation and meditation.
Yang Ming sat cross-legged on a cushion, his eyes tightly shut. His chest rose and fell with the rhythm of his breathing, while the soul power within him circulated through his limbs and bones according to the annotations in the Indestructible Scripture. With every full circuit, his soul power fluctuations grew more settled and solid, like a towering mountain slowly rising higher.
A fine rain drifted down, rustling against the leaves.
Yang Ming remained unmoved on the soft cushion indoors, letting the wind and rain batter the world outside. His mind sank ever deeper into the Indestructible Scripture, a supreme cultivation method from Perfect World. As he continued to interpret and ponder it, a faint understanding arose in his heart. He began learning to listen to the natural voices of heaven and earth, becoming extraordinarily tranquil.
Had anyone been in the room, they would have been astonished to discover that Yang Ming's presence kept diminishing throughout this process. Even though he was sitting right there, they would have unconsciously overlooked him.
No!
Rather than his presence diminishing, it would have been more accurate to say that Yang Ming seemed to be "uniting with the Dao," gradually becoming one with heaven and earth.
It was a wondrous journey of profound mystery, one Yang Ming had experienced only once before, back at the Dragon God's Ruins. While undergoing the Dragon God Nine Trials and fighting the Black Dragon Di Tian Clone, he had briefly become one with the world controlled by his Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan.
However, the world controlled by the Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan was not a real world, after all. It fell