Hanging Upside Down to Observe Heaven, Seeing the Source Clearly, Heavenly Fire Burning the Body

"Wait, is this really possible?"

When he heard Ao Ding's request, Lu Xiu was dumbfounded.

"Hang you up? You want me to hang you up?"

"Yes-"

The three stood beneath the Xuanjia Immortal Tree. Ao Ding pointed at the crown high above. "You need to hang me from a branch at least ninety feet up."

Lu Xiu looked utterly bewildered. There were actually people in this world who made requests like this?

Old Daoist Sun, however, looked perfectly composed.

After reaching the ultimate realm, cultivators glimpsed heaven's secrets and comprehended all manner of bizarre methods of advancement. Some cultivators fathomed the mysteries and buried themselves underground for three years to escape tribulations. Others leaped into seas of fire, using the raging flames to burn away their old forms and attain immortal bodies...

Ao Ding's practice of hanging himself upside down was hardly a rarity.

"Senior, I also need your help drawing water-I need to see a pool beneath the Xuanjia Tree."

"That is simple enough-I will imitate the Xuanjia spirit repository and draw upon the Ninefold Essence Divine Water to create a lake for you."

Sun Chen submerged himself in the Innate Divine Spring again and used the Golden Jade Bowl to draw out a drop of water.

With a gentle flick, that drop of Ninefold Essence Divine Water flew to the roots and became a lake stretching as far as the eye could see.

Its spiritual radiance was boundless, its primal energy abundant.

When Lu Xiu hung Ao Ding upside down from the branch, Ao Ding gazed straight at the clear, shimmering water by the roots, looking at the other "self" reflected within.

"Ah-so that is it." Sun Chen understood. "Using reflection to glimpse the true nature of heaven and earth."

"The true nature... of heaven and earth?" Lu Xiu asked in confusion.

"The path of cultivation is a process of discarding the false and seeking the true. If we regard the 'external world and its mountains and waters' as illusory appearances, then let me ask you: once you close your eyes, are those 'external mountains and waters' real or illusory?"

"The world outside is still there. Mountains are still mountains, and water is still water. If they were illusory to begin with, they would still be illusory with my eyes closed."

Sun Chen shook his head and sighed at that. "You-if you could sincerely say, 'Everything the open eyes behold is illusion; all the mind perceives with eyes closed is truth,' why should I not write you a letter to Golden Court Mountain afterward? Alas... you are a mortal fellow after all!"

He patted the Xuanjia Tree beside him and smiled. "Cultivating truth, cultivating truth-what we seek is that one word: 'truth.'"

How to discard the false and seek the true was a matter of the six immortal sects' methods. Some immortal sects studied myriad arts, comprehending the root through three thousand Daoist methods. Some opened spiritual realms of heaven and earth, using illusory realms to discern the true world and attain the rank of True Lord. Some cultivated inner elixirs and refined outer elixirs, using the Dao of Alchemy to attain the golden core...

"'Everything the open eyes behold is illusion; all the mind perceives with eyes closed is truth' is a method of inverting yin and yang. Young Ao Ding hung himself up for the same purpose. If the mountains and waters we see while standing on the ground are all illusions, then by turning ourselves upside down, making heaven earth and earth heaven, would we not also invert the world's ordinary principles and laws?"

These were the rituals and procedures of the immortal sects.

Through methods such as meditating with closed eyes or hanging upside down to observe a mirror, they inverted the mysteries of heaven and earth to glimpse reality.

But how could Lu Xiu, a youth from a martial arts family, know any of this?

He scratched his head and merely gave a simple, guileless smile.

Sun Chen felt rather moved.

Compared with someone like Lu Xiu, who had stumbled into an immortal opportunity and possessed profound good fortune, someone with Ao Ding's insight and talent was the true seed of immortal cultivation among their kind.

Without anyone teaching him, Ao Ding had grasped the path of "Hanging Upside Down to Observe Heaven, Water-Mirror Observation of the World" on his own.

Whoosh, whoosh-

Strong winds blew past Ao Ding. Hanging upside down from the treetop, he swayed with the wind, his expression unruffled.

It was just that, with his head pointing downward, his blood surged down with it, making his head feel swollen.

But Ao Ding had no attention to spare for that now. His mind was wholly immersed in the "other self" within the spring water.

The me within the water stands upon heaven!

As ripples spread, Ao Ding dimly saw densely packed golden trails appear in the sky beneath his other self's feet.

They were the mysteries of the Heavenly Dao's workings, the constant principles of all phenomena in heaven and earth, a kind of profound and wondrous cloud-script talismanic writing.

And as he observed with his left eye, he discovered that the body of that "self standing upon heaven" was growing smaller and smaller.

From his current fourteen years of age, he gradually shrank to twelve, then ten... then eight.

Eight-the year I transmigrated!

His left eye glimpsed himself six years ago and also saw what he had experienced upon first transmigrating.

It was a past different from what Ao Ding knew, yet one that had truly happened in this world.

The boy wore ill-fitting clothes, his face and body covered in wounds.

He fled through the woods in panic, a large pack of vicious wolves chasing behind him...

Until people from the Seven Spirits Sect's kitchen garden rescued him. Then he did odd jobs in the kitchen garden and secretly learned immortal arts...

A light breeze blew past, and Ao Ding's body kept swaying as he hung upside down from the branch.

He gazed at the scenes from six years ago, his expression utterly solemn.

All along, Ao Ding had believed he had transmigrated into the body of a dying child. By a great coincidence, that child resembled him when he was young. Wasn't that how plenty of transmigration novels went... after transmigrating, one entered the body of a dead person in another world with the same name, and even the same appearance?

Until this moment, when he looked back upon this scene from six years ago.

Only when he personally saw the boy fleeing the mountain forest covered in wounds, wearing a loose, oversized short-sleeved shirt and long trousers, did Ao Ding understand.

There had never been any "native boy." That dying boy had been him from beginning to end.

Those ill-fitting clothes were what he had worn before transmigrating.

I-didn't transmigrate as a soul!

I transmigrated in my own body!

My body shrank when I first transmigrated!

Through the reflection, the true vision of his left eye dimly saw the very first moment of his transmigration.

Space twisted, and an innocent mortal from another world appeared in this one out of thin air.

In an instant, his body exploded into bloody froth as the laws rejected it.

But under the influence of some power, his body reassembled into human form. Only, in that span of destruction and rebirth, his body shrank into that of an eight-year-old child.

And Ao Ding now understood why this change had occurred.

In the place he had accidentally transmigrated to, there had been a great Dao true nature lying dormant for countless years.

"That was my left eye-my left eye's innate wonders did not come from me. They came from a spiritual treasure of this world that had yet to be born. When I first arrived in this world, its laws should have erased me. But my essence blood touched that unborn spiritual treasure and drew its great Dao true nature into my body."

Great Dao true nature was the source a living being possessed from birth. Each living being had only one source.

Yet as Ao Ding hung upside down and cast his reflection, he discovered two fused true natures within himself.

One came from himself, the essence of his identity as "Ao Ding." The other lay hidden in his left eye.

"This True Person's eye of mine is, in essence, a spiritual treasure of heaven and earth that has yet to be born."

Why did I never suspect anything?

Ao Ding silently questioned himself.

Because being hunted by wolves when I first transmigrated caused me to lose my memories.

Because after I woke up in the Seven Spirits Sect, I was younger, covered in wounds, and even my clothes had been changed by Auntie Wang and the others.

As for the similar appearance, having read too many transmigration novels, I assumed I had transmigrated into my counterpart in another world-didn't plenty of transmigration novels give the body's original owner the same name to save trouble?

That was why I failed to realize it at once-

The wind still stirred the treetop.

Ao Ding continued observing his past.

"The two great Dao true natures fused with each other, but that fusion still had flaws. The shaping of my body when I first transmigrated was incomplete because of the vicious wolves' interference. And while fleeing for my life, I exhausted a great deal of innate vital essence. My loss of the memory of the moment I transmigrated was also connected to that 'incomplete birth.'"

As understanding dawned on Ao Ding, light suddenly flashed through his left eye, and from the "reflection standing upon heaven," he discerned a secret art.

"Back then, when I first came into being, my blood spilled onto the treasure embryo. Through the destruction of that treasure embryo, my birth was accomplished. Now, I must perform this method again and let myself truly be born into this world."

Holding his wooden staff, Ao Ding cut open his palm. Drop by drop, essence blood soaked into the wood's core, and a roaring fire suddenly blazed up.

Soon, the flames spread from the wooden core onto Ao Ding's body. He watched the flames rise over him as he silently circulated the Golden Light Method...

Meanwhile, Lu Xiu was asking Sun Chen about the cultivation world.

"The Daoist traditions beneath heaven fall into no more than six lineages: immortals, buddhas, gods, ghosts, demons, and devils. Of these, the immortal path is divided into six sects. Apart from one each in the Eastern Wasteland and Southern Wasteland, the ancestral seats of the remaining four gather in the Central Wasteland: the Guangfa, Jade Cauldron, Purple Yang, and Golden Court sects."

"The Heavenly Stone Sect you are going to is a branch of the Jade Cauldron Sect. Though the Jade Cauldron Sect is renowned for the Dao of Alchemy, its mastery of the mysteries of the human body also means that the immortal sects' nine-revolution body-refining art originated in this lineage. As for the way of the sword, the Jade Cauldron Sect also leads the six sects-not bad. It suits you quite well."

Daoist Sun pointed at Ao Ding and smiled. "He will be going to the Guangfa Sect in the future, so the two of you can travel together-but the Jade Cauldron Sect's next immortal examination is still five years away... what do you plan to do in the meantime?"

The youth answered honestly, "My family were originally outer disciples of the Heavenly Stone Sect, a remnant lineage of the Jade Cauldron Sect. My father wrote me a letter and told me to cultivate in the Heavenly Stone Sect. If I achieve something within a few years, I can go on to the Jade Cauldron Sect."

"A sound approach." The Daoist smiled. "The four sects alone dominate the Central Wasteland, their Daoist domains stretching for tens of millions of miles. Ten continents and a hundred kingdoms select talented people to enter the four sects' lower establishments. Competition in those academies of talent is fiercer even than savage demons slaughtering one another. Rather than muddle along there, it is better to find a remnant or surviving lineage, use it as a foothold, and gain a recommendation from those lineages."

Hearing this, the youth hurriedly asked for the full details.

Intending to guide the younger generation, the Daoist spoke freely. "The six immortal sects have only three ways of transmitting their arts and accepting disciples. One is true discipleship: direct-lineage members of the six sects go out to seek those with the right affinity and take them into the fold. Such disciples enter the mountains from childhood and cultivate before their masters. Theirs is the most honored and unsullied position. Another is selection: talented people are chosen from various places to cultivate in the six sects' lower academies, following the rules of the various Daoist lineages and traditions. Once they achieve success in cultivation, they may enter the main sect. The last is internal recommendation. Usually, lineages outside the six sects' own teachings recruit worthy talents and send them into the six sects for further study and secluded cultivation. All those remnant and surviving lineages seek is to keep the bond of incense offerings unbroken and preserve their orthodox origins."

The Daoist paused, then continued, "As the saying goes, an immortal affinity is hard to find. Waiting for some True Person to come to your door and accept you as a disciple is far too rare an occurrence. Do not entertain that idea. As for selection, never mind that you would have to wait several more years for the next intake. Someone of your background would gain little by muddling along in an academy of talent."

Thinking of the Pure Tenuity Sect's lower academies in the Eastern Wasteland, he silently shook his head.

Those with unblemished backgrounds who had never cultivated from childhood could naturally begin from nothing in the lower academies and be assessed gradually from the qi-seeding stage onward. But martial practitioners like this youth, who changed paths halfway through, entered a different lower academy, though it bore the same designation. Everyone there brought prior skills when seeking a master, just like the youth. Most were sent by various Daoist lineages or rogue cultivators. Competition there was too fierce, and the atmosphere far too foul.

As one of Sun Chen's senior brothers had put it, they could raise those little children with clean backgrounds from scratch. But who knew how many bad habits of rogue cultivators and outside lineages those talents who joined halfway through brought with them, making endless trouble in the lower academy?

Daoist Sun had later made inquiries himself.

Among the youths of clean backgrounds in the academies of talent, over seventy percent entered the sect. Of those disciples who joined the academies halfway through, only thirty percent could hold fast to their original hearts and remain unaffected by their surroundings.

Thinking of his plans for Ao Ding's entry into the Guangfa Sect, Daoist Sun likewise disdained this selection route and had no intention of letting him take it. His plan was to leave Ao Ding several letters and have him choose an opportunity to stay with an orthodox Daoist lineage established by a certain True Person of the Guangfa Sect. Through the personal connection represented by his letters, he would have that lineage help contact the Guangfa Sect and take the path of internal recommendation.

"All Daoist traditions beneath heaven originate from the six sects. The six sects divide traditions outside their own teachings into five ranks: true lineages, orthodox lineages, remnant lineages, surviving lineages, and the unregistered. A tradition passed down by a True Person is a true lineage. If no True Person appears for three generations, it is demoted to an orthodox lineage. If no True Disciple emerges for four generations, it is reduced to a remnant lineage. If another three generations pass with nothing transmitted, it is reduced to a surviving lineage. If a surviving lineage continues for four generations without a successor, it is removed from the jade registers entirely and becomes unaffiliated with the immortal sects. Of the hundreds upon thousands of sects in the Central Wasteland today, more than half struggle between remnant and surviving status."

Sun Chen smiled. "The Seven Spirits Sect, where Ao Ding came from, is a remnant lineage. If no one succeeds in cultivation and reports to the Guangfa Sect within three generations, it will be demoted further. The Heavenly Stone Sect you are going to is better off. The Heavenly Stone Sect-I recall it is still among the orthodox lineages."

Just then, a scorched smell drifted over from afar.

The two looked up.

They saw a mass of raging fire hanging from the treetop, with a human figure faintly visible inside.

Lu Xiu cried out in alarm, "He-how did he catch fire?"

Shock and delight mingled on the old Daoist's face. A host of feelings welled up within him, finally turning into a sigh, while a trace of envy entered his eyes. "Concentrating the qi and attaining softness, can one become an infant? He has entered the Dao-he has burned his way into the mystic gang realm."

And it was no ordinary mystic gang realm.

Heavenly Fire Burns the Dao, refining back into a scarlet infant.

For a cultivator, this was an immense blessing!