Inside the cave, there was no sun or moon.
The crimson-gold divine light swirling around Li Qingshan gradually withdrew, and that surging tide of life essence and vast divine power
had come perfectly under his control, seamless and flawless.
His cultivation at the peak of the Life Spring Realm was completely stabilized.
He looked inward at his Bitter Sea. The crimson-gold Life Spring, thick as a dragon, still gushed forth with inexhaustible divine power,
pouring into the vast crimson Bitter Sea below, cycling endlessly, life begetting life without end.
"In the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm, the Bitter Sea is the foundation and the Life Spring the source. But to reach the Other Shore, one must build a Divine Bridge."
Li Qingshan's thoughts stirred, and the subsequent cultivation methods of the Sun True Scripture flowed naturally through his mind.
In the Divine Bridge Realm, one had to use one's own divine power and will to construct a Divine Bridge above the Bitter Sea, spanning it
in an attempt to connect to the elusive Other Shore.
For ordinary cultivators, this step was exceptionally difficult.
It required exquisitely precise control over divine power, as well as a powerful spiritual will to guide it.
If the Divine Bridge was unstable and shattered midway through its construction, the cultivator would suffer serious injuries at best, and damage to the foundation of their Dao at worst.
But for Li Qingshan, this hurdle-
"Condense."
He focused his thoughts and uttered a soft command.
Within the Bitter Sea, the divine power gushing from the Life Spring seemed to receive a supreme command and abruptly boiled over!
Boundless golden light shot into the sky, rapidly gathering and taking shape above the raging waves of the Bitter Sea!
A vast quantity of divine power was drawn out and infused with his spiritual will, transforming into a dazzling, indestructible rainbow bridge!
The process came as naturally as water flowing into a channel, without the slightest hitch.
His fine control and his formidable divine sense, tempered through two lifetimes, played a crucial role at this moment.
In just half a day, a crimson-gold Divine Bridge had formed, standing majestically across the Bitter Sea, radiating brilliant light and wreathed in runes!
The Divine Bridge was incomparably sturdy, seemingly a path to the Heavenly Gods.
However fiercely the waves of the Bitter Sea raged beneath it, however the lightning flashed and thunder roared, it stood unmoving.
Solar Dao patterns faintly emerged along the bridge, radiating a supreme intent of utmost yang and hardness, of crossing the entire Bitter Sea.
The Divine Bridge was complete!
"So this is the Divine Bridge Realm?"
Li Qingshan felt the changes within himself.
With the Divine Bridge successfully built, the Life Spring's divine power could circulate through his body more efficiently and swiftly,
raising his ability to wield power to a new level.
His divine sense also seemed to have been refined by the Divine Bridge, becoming more condensed and extending its range of perception.
Through the Divine Bridge, he could even faintly "see" that hazy, mysterious domain at the end of the Bitter Sea: the Other Shore.
"Next, I must cross the Divine Bridge and reach the Other Shore."
Li Qingshan's mind was as clear as a mirror.
The Other Shore Realm could not be reached by simply flying across.
This realm was profoundly mysterious. One had to see through illusion, understand one's heart and nature, and truly comprehend what "I" was before one could touch the Other Shore.
Countless cultivators were stuck at this hurdle, unable to break through in their entire lives-not for lack of strength, but because their hearts were unsteady, their intent unclear, and their true nature unseen.
However, for Li Qingshan,
he had lived through two lifetimes and his soul had transmigrated. He had witnessed the rationality of a technological civilization,
experienced the union of body and mind in the martial Dao of Guoshu,
felt the mysteries of Mind Cultivation,
and even ascended to the supreme martial realm of "break the void, See the Gods, Indestructible" in the Dragon and Snake World.
His understanding of himself had long since become utterly thorough.
The turmoil of the mortal world and the myriad phenomena of the heavens could scarcely shake his heart.
What others called illusion was as clear to him as a fire viewed across the river.
What others called the true heart, he had long since polished until it was crystal clear and firm as a rock.
He barely paused at all.
The instant the Divine Bridge stabilized, his will transformed into a light without form or substance, yet brilliant beyond compare.
He took a step and set foot upon the Divine Bridge!
His steps were firm, carrying him onward without hesitation!
Beneath the Divine Bridge, the Bitter Sea churned and illusions sprang up on all sides.
The once-calm Bitter Sea suddenly roiled. Its waves were no longer golden divine power, but towering, turbid waves of mortal dust that devoured resolve!
Countless illusions and heart demons surged toward him, accompanied by whispered demonic voices aimed straight at his Dao heart, seeking to drag him into their depths!
The scene before him abruptly changed, and the Divine Bridge vanished.
In its place was a night in the modern city of his previous life, both familiar and strange.
He was sitting in a cozy, brightly lit home.
Steaming dishes covered the table, and his "parents," their faces blurred but feeling incomparably dear, asked after his well-being.
A lighthearted program played on the television.
Everything was filled with peace and the mundane yet real warmth of everyday life.
A voice full of temptation sounded in his heart:
"Come back. Why pursue the elusive dream of immortality so relentlessly? The warmth here is what's real.
Come back and enjoy the happiness within your reach."
Li Qingshan's steps paused slightly, and a trace of recollection flashed in his eyes, only to turn into deeper resolve.
He said softly, "Flowers in a mirror, the moon in water-they only disturb my heart.
Though this affection is warm, it is not my Dao."
Before his words had faded, the light of his will passed straight "through" the cozy scene without stopping.
As though he had passed through a curtain of water, the illusion instantly shattered and dispersed.
That brief pause had not been hesitation, but a final farewell.
The scene changed again. He stood at the summit of the starry sky, the myriad races kneeling in submission at his feet.
With a wave of his hand, stars crumbled and vanished; his words became law.
Once-powerful enemies prostrated themselves and trembled, while peerless goddesses and saintly consorts cast admiring glances at him.
He felt the supreme authority to command all living beings and decree life or death with a word.
A trace of mockery curled Li Qingshan's lips:
"False authority, and you think you can shake my Dao heart?"
He did not even slow down. The illusion of the starry sky's supreme ruler burst before him like a bubble.
The scene turned gray. He "saw" himself in the future, possessing great power yet ultimately unable to withstand time.
His blood and Qi had withered, he was nearing the end of his life, and he faced the despair of death.
At the same time, a voice quietly echoed in his heart, showing him a carefree vision of living as long as heaven and earth after crossing to the Other Shore.
The two extreme visions intertwined, stirring fear of death and an overwhelming longing for immortality, pulling fiercely at his mind.
"Between life and death lies great terror, but also great opportunity."
Li Qingshan's gaze was clear, his steps steady as a mountain.
"Only by fearing death does one become shackled by an obsession with immortality.
I cultivate to seek truth and transcendence, not merely because I fear death and cling to life." Once again, he stepped through the illusion.
The space ahead of the Divine Bridge suddenly turned pitch-black, filled with an indescribably eerie presence.
It was as though countless pairs of eyes were staring from the darkness, and roars capable of corroding the soul came from within.
Beyond the halo of the Other Shore, fragments of a terrifying future faintly appeared: mountains of corpses and seas of blood, a Red-Haired Monster flickering in and out of sight, and the collapse of the Great Dao.
They hinted that crossing to the Other Shore might bring an omen more terrifying than death.
"Even if ten thousand tribulations lie ahead, I will break them all with my own strength!"
The light of Li Qingshan's will instead grew more brilliant, that fearless edge in his martial will piercing through every illusion.
He quickened his pace of his own accord and plunged into that dark terror like a sharp sword.
All manner of heart demons and delusive thoughts surged toward him like a tide, only to crumble at the first touch of his crystal-clear, rock-solid Dao heart, unable to slow him in the slightest.
The temptations of mortal life in his previous world,
the loss of self amid a surge in power,
the longing for eternal life,
the fear of unknown dangers-
all manner of heart demons and delusive thoughts tried to disturb his steps.
But Li Qingshan's gaze was clear and bright, without the slightest fluctuation.
"Nothing but illusions."
Though the Divine Bridge was long, beneath his unwavering Dao heart, he seemed to cross it in an instant.
The end was near, and the mysterious domain beyond the hazy halo was clearly visible.
"The Other Shore is right here!"
He murmured to himself, his steps never stopping, growing faster still!
Just as he was about to touch the halo,
"Hum!"
The entire Bitter Sea suddenly shook violently! It was not the rumbling that preceded a breakthrough, but a sense of still extinction, of everything collapsing inward and returning to the void!
The once-brilliant Divine Bridge dimmed, the surging Bitter Sea instantly fell still and even began to solidify, and the Life Spring's gushing nearly stopped.
The nine lives and nine deaths of the Other Shore Realm came one after another.
Still extinction began.
This was no illusion, but a hurdle that had to be faced when cultivating in the Other Shore Realm: withering silence and rebirth.
The flesh decayed and the Dao Fruit fell dormant, before being washed by the essence of heaven and earth to complete its remolding.
Thus, nine lives and nine deaths repeatedly tempered the source, each death bringing a more powerful awakening.
To an outside observer, his presence abruptly fell to its lowest point, his skin lost its luster, and his hair turned dry and yellow.
Like ordinary plants passing through a harsh winter, he began to wither.
His surging blood and Qi withdrew and fell silent, and his powerful life fluctuations became almost imperceptible, as though he had died.
His flesh and Dao Fruit sank into a withering silence unlike anything before.
Within the Bitter Sea, in absolute silence, no one knew how much time passed. Perhaps it was an instant, perhaps a thousand years.
A faint point of crimson-gold light, like a spark remaining in ashes, stubbornly lit up in the deepest part of the completely solidified Bitter Sea, at the source of the nearly dried-up Life Spring.
The Sun True Scripture circulated of its own accord, frantically absorbing the boundless life essence from Mount Kunlun's earth veins.
It transformed into a gentle yet vast stream of source Qi and quietly washed over the parched "riverbed" like the first rain of early spring.
Rebirth through nirvana!
"Boom!"
The solidified Bitter Sea began to surge again, and the dimmed Divine Bridge shone once more, more substantial than before!
Li Qingshan's flesh radiated stronger vitality, and his dry yellow hair turned glossy black again.
His body glowed with a soft radiance, like a withered tree revived by spring, bursting with vitality far greater than before!
The source of his life had completed this cycle of "life and death."
But this was only the beginning.
Dao Fire burned his body.
Dao Fire inexplicably ignited within the Bitter Sea. It was no illusion, and it scorched his divine power and will, seemingly intent on burning them into nothingness.
Li Qingshan held his mind steady, using his will as a boat to endure the agony of being burned until the Dao Fire gradually died out, leaving behind a purer source.
The Divine Spring's refinement.
The Life Spring gushed forth divine spring water like sweet rain, washing over the "scars" left by the Dao Fire and nourishing all things, imbuing his divine power with a trace of immortality.
The primordial spirit frozen in ice.
An intent of extreme cold froze his divine sense, bringing his thoughts nearly to a halt, as though he were trapped in ten-thousand-year profound ice.
With the spiritual perception of "the way of utmost sincerity grants foreknowledge" within his martial will, Li Qingshan kept a spark of his true spirit from being extinguished.
The light of wisdom shone everywhere.
The ice shattered, his divine sense was cleansed, and his speed of thought and comprehension rose sharply. He gained a clearer understanding of his own "Dao."
All transformations returned to the void.
This was the most complete silence of all. The Bitter Sea, Life Spring, Divine Bridge, and even his will seemed to dissipate completely, returning to "nothingness."
Everything disappeared, and even the concept of "I" grew indistinct.
This was the ultimate test of his understanding of his "true self."
In this absolute "nothingness," his true self had passed through eight cycles of life and death, polished until it was crystal clear and indestructible.
Like the first ray of light in chaos, it shone forth naturally, heedless of space and time, heedless of existence and oblivion.
"What makes me myself is not borrowed from without.
Only what remains unground by tribulation reveals its true nature."
Understanding dawned.
Chaos opened for the first time!
"Rumble!!!"
This time, the upheaval far surpassed the previous eight combined! The Bitter Sea did not merely resume flowing; it began to expand!
The Life Spring erupted like a volcano, and the quality of his divine power underwent a qualitative leap!
The Divine Bridge stretched across, growing ever more solid, with ten thousand rays of golden light and a thousand streams of auspicious Qi, reaching straight to that incomparably clear "Other Shore"!
Outside his body, the essence of heaven and earth in a part of Mount Kunlun formed a vortex, surging into the cave and pouring into Li Qingshan's body.
His withered body instantly revived. His blood and Qi roared like a dragon, and his flesh shimmered with precious light, as though cast from divine gold.
A feeling of flawless perfection, unfettered freedom, and mastery over his own fate welled up in his heart.
The Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm had reached grand completion: the Other Shore Realm, nine lives and nine deaths, perfection at its utmost!
Li Qingshan slowly opened his eyes. Their depths seemed to hold stars being born and dying, and a vision of the universe's first dawn flashed past. He gently clenched his fist, feeling the vast divine power surging ceaselessly through him, far surpassing what it had been before, and his source, now incomparably refined and nearly immortal after nine cycles of life and death.
"So this is the utmost Other Shore. Only through nine lives and nine deaths can one see one's true self."
His lifespan had grown significantly.
From opening the Bitter Sea to the Life Spring's eruption, then the Divine Bridge spanning the sky, and finally reaching the Other Shore.
Those four stages would take an ordinary person decades, a century, or even a lifetime to pass.
With his supreme accumulation, supreme cultivation art, and blessed land on an immortal mountain,
Li Qingshan had completed the entire Sea of Bitterness path in one unbroken effort, in just four days!
Had a Big Dipper cultivator been there, the sight would have scared their soul out of their body. They would have regarded it as a myth, utterly impossible!
"So this is the Other Shore."
Li Qingshan slowly opened his eyes, feeling his own flawless, perfect state.
He gently clenched his fist, and the air exploded with a crack.
Power! An unprecedented sense of power filled his whole body!
He was several times stronger than he had been in the Life Spring Realm!
He felt that if he faced the guardian battle puppet again now, he would not even need to maneuver around it as he had before.
With his immense divine power, he could crush it head-on!
"Hiss, hiss?"
Xiaobai, at the cave entrance, was startled once again. Xiaobai keenly sensed that Li Qingshan's presence had changed again.
It had become deeper and more restrained, but also more terrifying.
It was like a primordial behemoth lurking beneath a calm sea; once it erupted, it would surely shatter stone and shake the heavens.
Xiaobai cautiously slithered inside and tilted a little head, green eyes full of curiosity and inquiry.
"It's nothing. I made a little breakthrough."
Li Qingshan was in an excellent mood and explained with a smile,
while once again gathering a tiny, even purer speck of life essence at his fingertip and feeding it to the little contributor.
Xiaobai absorbed it happily, body growing pleasantly warm, scales gleaming with an ever more lustrous sheen.
After feeding Xiaobai, Li Qingshan immersed his mind within himself again.
Completing the Sea of Bitterness meant he had taken an incomparably solid first step on his path of cultivation in this world.
But it also meant he needed to begin considering the next crucial question: refining an "artifact."
The Sun True Scripture stated that cultivators in the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm could begin tempering an "artifact" with their own Divine Markings.
An "artifact" was the vessel of a cultivator's Great Dao. It grew alongside the cultivator and was of vital importance.
A powerful "artifact" could not only greatly increase one's combat strength, but also affect one's future path of the Dao.
What form should my "artifact" take?
Li Qingshan fell into thought.
A sword? Master of slaughter, pressing ever forward.
A saber? Fierce and forceful, cutting through everything.
A bell? Weighty and grand, suppressing the heavens.
A cauldron? Encompassing all things, refining heaven and earth,
or perhaps a tower, a mirror, a seal, or a furnace?
Many forms flashed through his mind.
He recalled his own experiences.
Traveling through the heavens, seeking the Great Dao.
An unusual physique, seemingly in harmony with the Dao.
Mastery of the Sun True Scripture, utmost yang and utmost force.
His goal was that supreme realm.
"A bell."
Li Qingshan's eyes grew brighter.
"A bell is round in form, an image of heaven, its sound shaking the universe.
It has the sound of creation and the power to rouse and warn,
the ability to suppress and the capacity to encompass."
"At the beginning of chaos, when primordial chaos first divided, might a bell have rung out long and clear?"
"I seek the Great Dao and journey through the heavens. I should have a bell to protect my Dao, to ring throughout the myriad worlds and expound my Dao!"
The more he thought about it, the more he felt this form suited him.
Having settled on refining an artifact, Li Qingshan hesitated no longer.
First, following the method recorded in the Sun True Scripture, he calmed his mind and completely immersed his consciousness in the Sea of Bitterness.
Hum.
At the center of the Bitter Sea, the Life Spring gushed forth, and strand after strand of innate divine patterns most attuned to him and bearing the source of the Sun's sacred power,
like swimming dragons of crimson gold, were drawn out by his divine sense from the depths of the Bitter Sea and around the Life Spring.
These Divine Markings were a partial manifestation of his life source and his comprehension of the Great Dao.
They were the most fundamental, most essential "embryo" for tempering an "artifact."
"Condense!"
Li Qingshan used his spirit as a hammer and his thoughts as a mold, guiding the crimson-gold Divine Markings as they interwove, coiled around one another, and fused.
At first, they were only an irregular mass of light.
But under the control of Li Qingshan's powerful divine consciousness, guided by the incomparably clear Dao resonance of a "bell" in his mind,
the mass of light slowly began to take shape.
A bell's knob, crown, body, and mouth-the outline of a small crimson-gold bell, somewhat blurry but structurally complete,
gradually formed above the Bitter Sea and beneath the Divine Bridge.
It was composed entirely of Li Qingshan's own Sun divine patterns. Its cultivation was bound to his life, and its presence was wholly one with his.
As it gently rose and sank, it resonated with the Life Spring and the Bitter Sea, giving off waves of faint Dao sound.
This bell of Divine Markings was the true root of his "artifact," the foundation for its future growth.
As for materials,
he immediately thought of the unremarkable pieces of dark red metal he had obtained beneath the enormous charred tree during his earlier exploration.
Even then he had felt their substance was extraordinary, containing a trace of fire power. Now, examining them closely with the divine sense of the Other Shore Realm, he found them even more remarkable.
"Though they aren't peerless divine materials, their properties lean toward yang, and their substance is adequate.
They're just right to melt into this Divine Markings bell's embryonic form, giving it an initial physical body and increasing its power and stability."
"Once I find better Immortal Gold and divine materials in the future, I can reforge and elevate it then."
He did not immediately begin refining it. Instead, he kept his eyes closed, thoroughly consolidating his Other Shore Realm cultivation on one hand,
while repeatedly working through the bell's form and structure, as well as the method of tempering it, in his mind.
The artifact-refining methods contained in the Sun True Scripture were also top-tier and extraordinary, more than sufficient for his use.
Silence descended on the cave once more.
Only the deep, grand rumbling of Li Qingshan's immense blood and Qi and divine power as they circulated within him
faintly matched the pulse of the land of Kunlun.
Xiaobai lay coiled to one side, digesting that speck of pure energy and keeping silent watch.
Xiaobai's presence, too, was growing slowly but steadily, unnoticed.
Evening on the fourth day.
Li Qingshan abruptly opened his eyes. Deep in his pupils, the phantom of a great, ancient-looking bell seemed to flash past.
He opened his palm, and the pieces of dark red metal appeared in it, rising to float within a wrapping of divine power.
"Sun True Fire, refine!"
With a low shout, he forced a wisp of dazzling golden flame, utmost in force and yang, from his fingertip!
This was Sun True Fire produced by the divine power of the Sun True Scripture. Its temperature was already extremely high, enough to melt gold and iron!
Hiss! Hiss!
Under the true fire's scorching heat, the dark red metal quickly glowed red-hot,
then began to soften and melt. Its impurities were refined out bit by bit, turning into wisps of smoke that dissipated.
Li Qingshan focused completely, using his powerful divine sense to control the flame's temperature and the changes in the material's form.
This was delicate work, extremely taxing on his mind and divine power.
Sweat seeped from his temples, only to be immediately dried by the heat surrounding him.
Time passed bit by bit.
The pieces of metal finally became a fist-sized mass of translucent, crimson liquid, like molten lava,
giving off scorching heat and fluctuations of pure energy.
"Take shape!"
Li Qingshan's gaze sharpened. Using his divine sense as a hammer, he began to forge the liquid metal into shape!
Ding! Ding! Dong! Dong!
Somewhere in the unseen, the sound of invisible hammer blows seemed to echo through the cave.
Under the precise control of Li Qingshan's divine sense, the liquid slowly stretched and changed, gradually taking the form of a small bell.
The bell's body, knob, and mouth began to emerge in detail.
This process was even harder than melting the metal, and consumed an immense amount of divine sense.
Li Qingshan's expression did not change. His gaze remained sharp as a blade, fixed on the gradually forming bell embryo.
At last, when more than half his divine power was nearly spent and his mind felt slightly weary,
a small bell, only three inches tall, crimson-gold throughout and ancient in form, with indistinct Dao patterns faintly visible on its body,
floated quietly above his palm.
The bell hung a little heavily, giving off a faint warmth and a soft glow.
"It's done."
Li Qingshan let out a long breath. He could hardly hide the fatigue on his face, but he looked gratified as well.
Although this was only the crudest artifact embryo, with not even its "Dao patterns" truly engraved, and could only be considered an embryonic form,
the first step was always the hardest, and he had finally taken it!
With a thought, the dark red bell embryo turned into a streak of light
and vanished into his Bitter Sea, where it rose and sank above the Life Spring, nourished and washed by divine power.
From now on, he would need to temper it day and night with his own divine power, find more and better materials to fuse into it,
and engrave Dao patterns upon it. Only then could it grow step by step and unleash earth-shaking power.
"I'll call you the Dao Bell."
Li Qingshan gave it its name, investing it with his hopes for his future path of the Dao.
The Dao Bell had taken its initial form, and the Sea of Bitterness was complete.
Feeling the little bell rising and sinking in his Bitter Sea, constantly absorbing divine power,
and the immense power of his own Other Shore Realm, Li Qingshan felt a surge of heroic spirit.
His gains from the journey to Kunlun had far exceeded his expectations!
The Dao Palace Secret Realm was already before him.