All Dharmas Are Equal, None Higher or Lower (6k7)

"Damage the body and claim lives..." Yu Tunzhou murmured to himself.

Just moments ago, Xie Linchuan had explained the origins of the [Spark Instruction] to Yu Tunzhou.

Its origins sounded extraordinary: it had actually been created for the human race by the Human Sovereign of High Antiquity!

However, cultivation arts had undergone countless refinements in later generations, improving in many respects over those of High Antiquity. Thus, in the present age, this Qi Ingestion art could barely rank among the Higher Vehicle.

Besides that, it was excessively fierce and damaging to the body.

After hearing Xie Linchuan's explanation, Yu Tunzhou's heart was as clear as a mirror. That Chen fellow had most likely harbored ill intentions when he traded the [Spark Instruction] to him.

"According to my clan's records, the Human Sovereign created the [Spark Instruction] based on the constitution of humans in High Antiquity. Humans today cannot adapt to it."

"In the present age, if not for the name of the Human Sovereign of High Antiquity, this Qi Ingestion art would long since have been classified among demonic arts that produce rapid results."

Xie Linchuan snapped his paper fan shut and said thoughtfully, "This Qi Ingestion art has been lost for a long time. Only incomplete copies remain in the world. I never expected the Northern Chen imperial family to have the complete art..."

Yu Tunzhou thanked him. "Thank you for your help on this trip, Brother Xie!"

If Xie Linchuan hadn't suddenly appeared and volunteered to play along as a shill, Chen Xuanye might still have traded with him, but he would never have been such a sucker as to produce a Higher Vehicle Qi Ingestion Instruction.

At that thought, Yu Tunzhou's smile grew even brighter.

To him, this was already an immense surprise.

Seeing that Yu Tunzhou hadn't been frightened in the least by the prospect of injury or death, Xie Linchuan couldn't help raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you even a little afraid?"

"It's not that I'm not afraid. It's just that I'll die if I don't cultivate it. The calculation is simple enough," Yu Tunzhou explained.

Xie Linchuan silently put away his fan. He couldn't help feeling that the young man before him spoke with a certain clarity.

"You don't need to thank me. My grand martial uncle sent me to lend you a hand, to repay you for the extra dragon fish."

Xie Linchuan changed the subject and looked at Yu Tunzhou, an unusual hint of complicated feeling entering his gaze.

"The [Spark Instruction] is indeed fierce and damaging to the body, and I can guess what Chen Xuanye was plotting. But there's one thing he failed to account for!"

"No matter how fierce and damaging the Spark Instruction is, you've had the good fortune to eat dragon fish for three years. Your constitution is beyond that of an ordinary person, so getting through it shouldn't be a problem."

Yu Tunzhou's eyes lit up. So that was it. No wonder Xie Linchuan had hinted that he should quit while he was ahead.

In that case, the [Spark Instruction] really was the Cultivation Method best suited to his present circumstances.

If it had been a Higher Vehicle Method Formula without side effects, Chen Xuanye probably wouldn't have been willing to part with it in a trade.

He asked Xie Linchuan how to use the jade pendant, then asked him about the standard for calming the mind and entering meditation.

"Are you really planning to enter meditation on your own?"

Xie Linchuan gave him a strange look, then shook his head.

"Still, I suppose so. You could trade for a Qi Ingestion art, but there's no chance of trading for a visualization diagram. If you want to enter meditation, you can only rely on yourself."

Seeing Yu Tunzhou's confusion, he explained:

"Visualization diagrams concern Primordial Spirit cultivation. They're among each school's cultivation secrets, ranking alongside their core divine arts. Their importance is beyond anything a Qi Ingestion art can compare to."

There was something else he left unsaid, for fear of discouraging Yu Tunzhou.

Even if Yu Tunzhou mastered the [Spark Instruction] and entered meditation on his own, his future Qi Ingestion efficiency would still fall short of that of his peers in town who had used visualization diagrams to forge their Primordial Spirit inner forms.

Xie Linchuan asked, "Now that you've sold your dragon fish, aren't you going up the mountain to study the [Spark Instruction]?"

Yu Tunzhou said, "I've already waited three years. There's no need to rush now. I promised an elder I'd help clean an old residence in town."

"Clean an old residence?" Xie Linchuan asked in surprise. "Which one?"

"The one at the northernmost end of town."

"The northernmost..." Xie Linchuan soon recalled it, and his expression shifted slightly. "The Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple? Of course. A grandmaster ranked among the top five on the Earth Ranking finally emerged from that lineage a few years ago. It's about time they reclaimed what was theirs..."

"The Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple?" Yu Tunzhou asked curiously.

Xie Linchuan seemed to be pondering something and gave a brief answer:

"The Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple belongs to the Daoist School and has some connection to the Nanhua Sect. The founder of its lineage first gained his art by observing a Kunpeng in the Northern Darkness. He discerned the divine form of the Heavenly Peng and comprehended the entirety of its yang and unyielding True Intention. He was a Dharma Form expert who created the [Heavenly Peng Dharma Form]."

Yu Tunzhou clicked his tongue. A Dharma Form expert-that put him in the same class as an immortal on land.

Xie Linchuan suddenly asked, "Brother Yu, do you know how to reach the top of this mountain? Is there a pavilion up there?"

Yu Tunzhou pointed to the side. "There's a little path that way. There is indeed a pavilion; I go there often."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Yu Tunzhou waved a hand. "But I wouldn't recommend going today. The mountain path is muddy and hard to walk."

"It's all right. I'm in no hurry either," Xie Linchuan said with a smile. "I'll go with you to have a look at that old residence."

The two went down the mountain together.

On the way, Yu Tunzhou asked Xie Linchuan about the standard for entering meditation.

"The standard for entering meditation..."

Xie Linchuan couldn't help finding it strange.

Didn't Grand Martial Uncle explain it to this fellow in detail?

He considered his wording and said,

"In our Daoist School, entering meditation through stillness begins with bringing the body to stillness, then entering meditation through stillness, and finally giving rise to wisdom through meditation."

"Bringing the body to stillness means shutting out external distractions. This step is the simplest; even ordinary people can do it."

"The sign that the body has become still is a mind free of stray thoughts and breathing that grows long, even and pure, gradually reaching a state where it is 'deep, fine, continuous and soft, its sound inaudible.'"

"After that comes entering meditation through stillness, what we usually call 'entering meditation': leaving behind the simple constraints of the body and entering a state where the mind acts independently."

"The reason you're uncertain about the standard is that you don't have a visualization diagram."

"Usually, martial artists use a visualization diagram as the core to shape their Primordial Spirit inner form, entering a deep meditative state through visualization. But you don't have a visualization diagram..."

Xie Linchuan hesitated.

"I don't know how to enter meditation that way either. I only know that such people do exist, and for them, entering meditation... is simply entering meditation! It's as natural as breathing."

"No one goes around studying how to breathe."

"But if I had to describe it, someone in meditation has no attachment to the self. Their breath can enter and leave through their pores, and they can look within themselves and 'see' inner Qi naturally forming in their meridians, flowing like a stream, endlessly renewing itself."

"If you haven't witnessed those various phenomena, then you probably haven't entered meditation."

Yu Tunzhou nodded, having learned something. "Have you entered meditation already, Brother Xie?"

Xie Linchuan opened his paper fan and smiled faintly.

"I completed meditation and visualization long ago and forged my Primordial Spirit inner form. I began practicing my Qi Ingestion art a week before entering town. I've now derived it to the third level and fully comprehended fifty percent of its True Intention."

"Impressive, Old Xie," Yu Tunzhou praised him, offering him plenty of emotional support. "What's True Intention?"

Xie Linchuan smiled reservedly, yet a subtle, unfamiliar feeling arose in his heart. He quickly noticed it and couldn't help wondering.

He had grown up bathed in praise from his clan's elders and had long since become numb to compliments. Why, then, did a single word of admiration from the fellow before him please him so much?

He pondered it to himself. Was it because Yu Tunzhou was someone his grand martial uncle regarded differently?

"All Cultivation Methods and Divine Abilities are influenced by the intent and State of Mind with which their creators devised them. Together, those two things are called 'True Intention.'"

"Take the [Spark Instruction], for example. Legend has it that the Human Sovereign created it while standing on a battlefield of the myriad races. Seeing the land strewn with the wailing and the blood flowing deep enough to float oars, he was moved by how faint the flame of humanity had become."

"If later cultivators lack the State of Mind and breadth of vision the Human Sovereign had when he created it, they will naturally struggle to derive this Qi Ingestion art to its highest level and will be unable to bring out its full power. That's also why later generations haven't held the [Spark Instruction] in high regard."

"The times have changed. Who today could possess the Human Sovereign's State of Mind?"

Xie Linchuan shook his head. This was also why he believed that even if Yu Tunzhou cultivated this art, he would still fall far short of the disciples of other households.

An intact inheritance of a lineage would necessarily include the inheritance of its True Intention.

How could Yu Tunzhou, who hailed from the countryside, come to understand the Human Sovereign's State of Mind back then?

Of course, no matter what, a Higher Vehicle Qi Ingestion art was still far beyond anything of the Lower Vehicle. That was the underlying reason he had urged Yu Tunzhou to quit while he was ahead.

After all, there was always a chance, however slim.

What if Yu Tunzhou really did manage to comprehend something?

Yu Tunzhou silently committed the words "True Intention" to memory.

The cultivation system of this world was even more arcane and extraordinary than he had imagined.

The two made their way to the northern end of town. When they arrived, the place looked empty at first glance. Even the doors were gone, and the vermilion paint on the lintel had almost entirely peeled away.

They crossed the threshold into a courtyard where weeds had grown taller than a person. One wall of the inner courtyard had collapsed, and vines covered the broken bricks and tiles. The whole place was a picture of decay.

Xie Linchuan stepped lightly and leaped to the top of the wall, his body as light as a feather. He looked into the distance and immediately frowned.

"Brother Yu, are you really going to clean up this old residence?"

Although the [Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple] couldn't compare to their [Evergreen Mountain], this "ancestral residence" still covered no small area.

At a glance, he saw that the courtyard had a rather classic layout, with its buildings arranged in order along a central axis. Covered walkways, corner pavilions, rockeries and running water were all present.

If one person had to clean all this up...

To the side,

Yu Tunzhou was eager to get started, his eyes shining. An ancestral residence this large and old could reasonably have a treasure or two overlooked somewhere, couldn't it?

Luck came and went in waves. He had just obtained the [Spark Instruction], so this was the time to press his advantage while his luck held.

"Brother Xie, you should head back first. Leave this place to me."

Xie Linchuan had originally wanted to lend a hand and use the chance to observe Yu Tunzhou's character some more, but now all he could think about was turning around and leaving.

In the end, Xie Linchuan took a deep breath and decided to stay and see how things went first.

Yu Tunzhou didn't rush to begin. He made a circuit of the old residence.

He didn't know how many years the place had been abandoned, and weeds grew everywhere. Fortunately, the water in the channels was running water, and an underground channel led straight to the river outside town. The channels only needed a simple cleaning.

More troublesome were the weeds covering the ground as thickly as a vegetable garden, along with the cobwebs and dust under the eaves.

Xie Linchuan followed beside him, and as they walked, a question suddenly occurred to him.

The Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple's inheritance was said to be supremely yang and unyielding, so why did the layout of this residence feature so much water?

There was a lotus pond in the front courtyard, and even a small lake in the middle courtyard. Numerous open channels of running water lay between them, their courses clearly defined.

In the Daoist School, the highest good was like water, and water was close to the Dao. But it was also supremely soft and yin, the exact opposite of the supremely yang and unyielding Heavenly Peng Dharma Form.

Was it meant to create harmony?

While he was wondering, Yu Tunzhou finished his circuit and formed a general plan for the cleaning. He rolled up his sleeves and got straight to work, starting from the high places rather than rushing to tackle the ground.

Seeing this, Xie Linchuan braced himself and went forward to help.

The two worked from the afternoon until dusk.

Xie Linchuan couldn't be said to be tired, but he was a mess all the same. He had never done such menial work in his life...

He pulled open his collar, took his paper fan from behind him and fanned himself vigorously. Looking at the vast area still left uncleaned, he reckoned they might not finish even in a month.

He couldn't help asking:

"Brother Yu, are you coming back tomorrow?"

Yu Tunzhou crouched beside a water channel, scooped up clean water and washed the dust from his face. He nodded.

"Yes. Thank you for your help, Brother Xie. I can manage on my own tomorrow."

Xie Linchuan's face twitched. How long would that take?

After spending the afternoon together, he was certain there was a reason his grand martial uncle regarded Brother Yu differently.

At the very least, Yu Tunzhou was a notch above him in patience and attentiveness.

The two parted at the entrance, and Yu Tunzhou walked up the mountain through the gathering dusk.

Although cleaning the residence had yielded nothing today, it was only the beginning.

By the time he returned to the mountain, it was dark. In the courtyard, he scooped water from the jar and gave himself a quick rinse.

It was early spring, and the brief warmth had given way to cold again, but he didn't feel cold. It seemed the three years of eating dragon fish really had done him some good.

Yu Tunzhou counted the dried fish hanging beneath the eaves. One, two, three...

Only seventeen were left.

Old Mo had given him extra on past occasions, and he had saved them up. He had borrowed some salt, cured the fish and hung them there.

"Dingguang, light the fire!"

Once dinner was ready, Yu Tunzhou asked Dingguang about Chen Xuanye and his companions at the table.

Chen Xuanye had plainly come up the mountain to visit Master Xuanku and Daoist Shouxin.

Dingguang shovelled rice into his mouth and mumbled, "You saw them too, Senior Brother? The one in front was dressed quite richly, but his face was deathly pale. He looked awful. I thought someone in his family had died and he'd come to ask Master to pray for them."

Deathly pale and awful?

Yu Tunzhou was taken aback.

Was he talking about Chen Xuanye?

He remembered the fellow looking quite pleased with himself before he left.

"Senior Brother, what sound does a fox make, anyway?" Dingguang suddenly looked up, his cheeks puffed out. It was hard to tell whether he was angry or had his mouth full of rice.

For some reason, Yu Tunzhou found the question a little familiar. It seemed Dingguang had asked him before.

How did I answer him then?

"Punch one next time, and you'll find out what sound it makes."

"Oh!" Dingguang blinked. For some reason, he felt those words contained the kind of "wisdom" his master often spoke of.

"What did those people want with Master Xuanku?" Yu Tunzhou continued.

Dingguang scratched his head. "They wanted to ask Master to become their Attendant after he goes down the mountain, but he refused."

Yu Tunzhou was startled. "Master Xuanku is going down the mountain?"

"Yes. I asked Master about it. He and that old ox-nosed Daoist next door were only stationed here temporarily to guard the place. When their turn is up, someone else will replace them."

Dingguang suddenly lifted his little face and said pitifully, "Senior Brother, Master says I can't leave yet. Once he's gone, you and I will have to depend on each other."

"Master Xuanku isn't taking you with him when he goes down the mountain?" Yu Tunzhou asked in surprise. Then he shook his head helplessly. "I can't stay with you for long either. From what I found out before, in six months I'll either leave town alive or be buried on the back mountain."

Dingguang put down his bowl and chopsticks, pressed his palms together and chanted, "Buddha, please bless Senior Brother and let him leave town safely and smoothly. I'll go to the temple and offer two more sticks of incense later."

Yu Tunzhou looked gratified.

"Dingguang."

"Yes?"

"Let's use less salt when we cure fish from now on."

"Praise Buddha. Senior Brother, you've finally found your way back from the wrong path."

After dinner,

Yu Tunzhou sat alone in his room and carefully took out the jade pendant containing the Spark Instruction, gripping it tightly in his hand.

This was a Cultivation Method, the key that separated ordinary people from cultivators!

Chen Xuanye regarded it as "poison" and had traded it to him, but for Yu Tunzhou, it was the beginning of a change in his fate.

The Human Emperor of High Antiquity...

Over the past three years, Yu Tunzhou had borrowed books from two neighboring households, giving him a passing familiarity with the Daoist canon and Buddhist scriptures.

Those Daoist and Buddhist texts contained only scattered fragments about High Antiquity, but the name of the Human Emperor was revered by all living beings.

According to Xie Linchuan, what he held was a memory jade pendant, made specifically to carry Cultivation Methods. It could also record exactly how a Cultivation Method circulated, making it much faster to pick up and learn the basics.

Yu Tunzhou pressed it to the center of his forehead.

The words [Spark Instruction] were the first to enter his mind.

Immediately afterward, a Method Formula ten thousand words long flooded into his mind like a tide, imprinting itself there, hard to forget.

At the same time, a crack gradually appeared in the jade pendant in his hand.

He did not know how much time had passed.

Yu Tunzhou slowly opened his eyes. His head felt swollen and sore, and he had a strong sensation of something foreign lodged inside, as though something had been forcibly stuffed into it. It took a long while for the feeling to gradually fade.

According to Xie Linchuan, memory jade pendants had both benefits and drawbacks. If a person had not formed the inner aspect of his Primordial Spirit, his mind would inevitably suffer damage when a Cultivation Method was instilled into it.

Fortunately, his condition was not as severe as in the examples Xie Linchuan had given. He recovered after resting for just a short while.

Did that also mean his mind was stronger than an ordinary person's?

Yu Tunzhou calmed his mind, and the ten-thousand-word Method Formula flowed through it, passage by passage.

Just then, a string of golden characters that had lain dormant for three years rose into the air, shining brilliantly. They stirred up a thousand manifestations, and all manner of strange phenomena sprang forth!

Eight characters in particular shone as brightly as a blazing sun suspended in the sky-

[All methods are equal; none is higher or lower]

The next moment.

In Yu Tunzhou's "eyes," the golden characters plunged into the ten-thousand-word Spark Instruction like roaming dragons.

Then came deletions, revisions, additions, and remolding...

It was like shedding one's mortal body and forging new bones.

But it was not a person being transformed, it was a Cultivation Method!

Yu Tunzhou's mind also slipped into a realm of profound mystery. Like a little fish leaping onto a green lotus, he saw a vast world of ages past-

Across the boundless land, ten thousand races coexisted, demons danced in chaos, and all grew wild. Humanity was the weakest of all in those days, both sacrificial livestock and food...

This was High Antiquity!

The High Antiquity of which even the Daoist canon and Buddhist scriptures held only scattered fragments!

In that turbulent age, humanity was not yet the master of this world. Then the Human Emperor emerged from the mountains and wilderness, blazing a trail through hardship and cutting through thorns and brambles. He led humanity in defiance of Heaven itself and subdued the ten thousand races!

But in Yu Tunzhou's eyes at this moment, this world of High Antiquity, which did not yet belong to humanity, was pitch-black, a wilderness. It seemed the Human Emperor had yet to appear, and the fire of the Human Dao had yet to be lit.

Suddenly.

Hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of tiny flames lit up one after another across the land, countless as fireflies. They gathered together and became rivers and seas, like innumerable stars shining over the wilderness of the mortal world.

Though trickles are few, they swell into rivers.

Though sparks are faint, they can set the wilderness ablaze.

Understanding gradually dawned in Yu Tunzhou's heart.

This was the true [Spark Instruction].

In High Antiquity, the fire of the Human Dao had been weak, and even the systems of cultivation had not been unified. The Human Emperor created this Cultivation Method and named it Spark, hoping that the humans who cultivated it would spread like sparks until they became a fire sweeping across the plains, rising in defiance to strike at Heaven!

And at that very moment.

Amid that fire sweeping across the plains, amid the vast tide of history, an emperor standing at the very forefront of the battle line stopped, leaning on his sword. He abruptly looked back and saw the little fish that had leaped out of the lotus pond...

In the Daoist temple, the old Daoist Shouxin suddenly opened his eyes, his expression grave. His mind, small as a mustard seed, expanded in an instant to encompass the entire grotto-heaven. He fixed on the man at the foot of the mountain who called himself Mo Laoliu and confirmed that he was not the one causing trouble.

In the neighboring monastery, an old monk woke with a startled "Aiyo!" He pressed his palms together. "Amitabha, Amitabha. Buddha, protect me, and please don't frighten this poor monk."

At the foot of the mountain, the man who had been eagerly climbing a wall to get a look at the future female sword immortal started as if someone had suddenly appeared behind him. He fell flat on his back, then sprang to his feet with a carp's kip-up and gazed fervently toward the mountaintop.

Besides the three of them, some of the town's many hidden recluses also sensed something amiss. Tonight, a gaze had come from no one knew where, open and upright, radiant and majestic. In a mere instant, it had swept across the mountains and rivers of this grotto-heaven!

After looking over the grotto-heaven, that gaze went beyond it in the blink of an eye.

Luofu Grotto-Heaven, Northern Chen, the Central Continent, the territories of the various lands, the Savage Wilderness beyond the borders...

In but a flash, it looked over the vast world, then traveled to the boundless heights above.

An immensely grand presence of the imperial Dao connected past, present, and future. It erupted in an instant, drawing a blurry figure that looked down upon the world across the ages.

Just as the figure was gradually becoming solid, several terrifying forces descended and cut off the source of the imperial Dao's presence in the boundless heights just in time, causing the blurry figure to gradually dissolve.

In an unknowable place.

A cold, furious command rang out as though it had fallen from the nine heavens:

"Investigate thoroughly!"

"Who unearthed the ruins of the Human Emperor of High Antiquity and drew his gaze here?!"

That night.

Someone borrowed Yu Tunzhou's eyes and saw humanity's flourishing age after sparks had set the plains ablaze. And in that person's eyes, Yu Tunzhou saw a wilderness, an entire era-

In the endless wilderness, many people groped their way forward in the dark, with neither light nor a spark to kindle it. Then someone appeared with a faintly glowing spark, tearing a gap in the darkness, and it went on to kindle more sparks.

This was the story of High Antiquity.

Those who came first cut through thorns and brambles.

Those who followed passed the flame from one generation to the next.

Humanity had blazed its trail through hardship to this day, and now a few sparks could set the plains ablaze.

Yu Tunzhou closed his eyes. Everything around him quietly faded away, leaving only his mind sinking into a realm of perfect clarity.

Deep in his mind, an ancient, unadorned imprint slowly rose and fell. Within it lay a concentrated spirit that was almost eternally undying, and he could dimly sense its vast, surging power.

It was the spirit of self-strengthening and sacrifice that cut through thorns and brambles and went willingly to death;

It was the grand undertaking of the Human Dao, passing the flame from generation to generation so that humanity's fire might flourish;

And still more, it was the utmost impartiality and selflessness of one who held all living beings in his heart and sought to secure ten thousand years of peace for humanity...

The union of this spirit was the True Intention contained within the [Spark Instruction], as well as the State of Mind in which the Human Emperor had created the method that day.

At this moment, so long as Yu Tunzhou set his heart right, was sincere in his intentions, and was willing to inherit the Human Emperor's will, he could receive it all.

But the difficulty lay precisely in setting his heart right and being sincere!

After a brief silence, the youth, who still did not know what had happened, felt inexplicably ashamed before such a vast and magnificent spirit. Yet he still murmured from the bottom of his heart:

I do not understand the grand designs of the Human Dao, nor do I know what humanity's great undertaking is. The world is too vast, and all living beings are too far away. Yu Tunzhou only wants to stay alive.

When the words fell.

The ancient imprint abruptly stopped and sank into deathly silence.

The world was too vast, and all living beings were too far away.

Those so-called great causes and affairs of household, nation, and world, those lofty principles of absolute selflessness, perfect sincerity, and freedom from desire...

To a youth for whom even staying alive was a struggle, they were all nonsense.

He did not know how much time had passed.

The imprint responded to Yu Tunzhou again. There was no fury or reproach, only the slightest trace of disappointment, directed not at the youth, but at the state of the world.

Even though they had struggled all their lives and swept away their enemies, were there still so many descendants who worried about staying alive?

Even without foreign enemies bearing down on them, could humanity still not escape endless internal strife and conflict, never knowing a day of peace?

Since later generations remained the same, this tiny spark ought to be kindled anew in this age.

And so the imprint began to cut away at itself.

It cut away the things that were still "distant" in the youth's eyes, leaving only the original "root"-

The vigorous spirit that cut through thorns and brambles and strove ceaselessly to grow stronger.

Immediately afterward, a thought entered Yu Tunzhou's mind, telling him a truth as vast as the heavens:

Everyone, the Human Emperor included, had begun by wanting only to stay alive.

Boom! A clap of spring thunder exploded.

It startled countless hibernating insects in the mountains and wilderness.

Yu Tunzhou jolted out of his strange state, his lips dry. It felt as though something had churned through his mind, leaving him in unbearable pain.

Has my mind been injured again?

This time, he sat on the bed for a long while before he recovered even a little.

He recalled what had just happened, and a guess gradually formed in his mind.

Then a brand-new [Spark Instruction] surfaced in his mind.

At this moment.

This Qi Ingestion method had shed its mortal body and forged new bones. Even the Cultivation Method's True Intention had been replaced, and now a single sentence could run through it from beginning to end:

As Heaven moves with vigor, so must we strive ceaselessly to grow stronger!

It was like... the earnest exhortation and heartfelt hopes of those who had come before for the younger generations.

This True Intention suited Yu Tunzhou's own heart exactly.

Thus, although Yu Tunzhou had yet to learn the basics of the [Spark Instruction], he had already grasped its True Intention in full.