by <unknown>
“Your bloodline is so low that I can barely detect it, did the Fuxi celestial race wane to such an extent?” the voice from the lamp said with deep emotion.
Fuxi celestial race? Is it talking about me? Zhong Yue wondered.
He moved closer to look at the lamp, but there was nothing abnormal under the lamp cover. The lamp flame was faint and vague – only a finger high. He could not tell where the voice came from.
Suddenly, he gazed right at the lamp flame. It was not a lamp flame, it was a big-headed doll the height of a finger!
The big-headed doll was white-skinned, and wearing exquisite golden-yellow clothes. Its hair was red and if one did not pay attention, it was easy to mistake it for a lamp flame!
Such a peculiar living being exists in the world?
Zhong Yue blinked and looked at the lamp flame child curiously. The lamp flame child was irritated by his gaze and said furiously, “Youngster of the Fuxi celestial race, I’m asking you which Fuxi reigns over the land, you have not yet answered my question!”
“Fuxi?”
Zhong Yue recovered his thoughts before he smiled and said, “You speak of the Xi Sovereign? The Xi Sovereign is in a class by himself, he is the Earthly Sovereign Heavenly Monarch. He is the only one, where do these others come from? Furthermore, I am not of the Fuxi celestial race, I am a human.”
“No! No!”
The child jumped furiously like a flame wobbling vigorously in the lamp, “This is so wrong! Fuxi is an appellation, not an individual’s name. It is the reign name for the Earthly Sovereign, the Taihao Heavenly Monarch! Before I sunk into deep slumber, there were already nine reigns of Fuxi! The first Fuxi became the Heavenly Monarch, ruled for eighteen thousand years, then he passed the throne to the second Fuxi Yi Yi. Yi Yi held the crown for fifteen thousand years and the throne was then inherited by Shi Yi, then Tai Hao, then Hao Yi, Shao Yi, Ji Jie, and lastly Xi Hao. There were nine reigns of Fuxi!”
Zhong Yue was dumbfounded by these words. He had once heard from the elders of Swords Gate that Fuxi was the Earthly Sovereign Heavenly Monarch during ancient times. They said he was the one and only, but now this weird lamp flame child said there were nine of them?!
The lamp flame child walked back and forth in the lamp as he mumbled, “How long have I been slumbering? How can this brat not know what Fuxi is? He is definitely of the Fuxi celestial race, although the bloodline in him is a little low and thin. However, he said that he is a human, what in the world is this human race? Why have I not heard of it before?”
The lamp flame child jumped out of the lamp and up the arms of Zhong Yue, as it walked along Zhong Yue’s shoulders it left burning sensations. The lamp flame child muttered again, “There must be something that happened in between, something that I don’t know of? What is the time, what year is this? All the years I have been sleeping, what era have I awoken to….”
Zhong Yue interrupted his diatribe, “I hear that the time of Xi Sovereign was tens of thousands of years ago, the saintly sovereign from the ancient era. Now we are in the era of the Human Sovereign … Oh yes, what are you exactly?”
Zhong Yue scratched his head, he was a little hesitant to call the lamp flame a kid. At this time, the lamp flame child said with a heavy heart, “My name is Xin Huo, during the time of Sui Sovereign…. Nevermind, forget about it, you don’t even know what Fuxi is exactly, it is a waste of time telling you. Bring me out of here, I need to find and pass down the flame and heritage of the ancient teachings to a new successor. In exchange, I will give you a bit of benefits!”
The child disappeared suddenly. Just as Zhong Yue was puzzling over it and looking around in confusion, he heard the voice of Xin Huo coming from his mind, “This is the soul nourishing art you practice? As one of the dignified Fuxi celestial race, you dare to practice such a primitive and petty cultivation technique, you are a disgrace and a living humiliation to the Fuxi! Stop looking around, I am in your psyche ocean, you only have to concentrate your psyche and imagine a sea of stars hidden in your meixin. That is the space between your eyebrows, you can find me there. I will teach you, follow my instructions….”
“Imagine and visualize the psyche ocean? That requires a profound state, there are not many outer disciples who can do this! The method you are going to teach me, does it really allow me to see and visualize the psyche ocean?”
Zhong Yue was very doubtful, but he followed the instructions given by Xin Huo. Suddenly, his view changed. He could see himself at a strange place, and he was floating on a lake of water!
The lake was crystal clear, it had a radius of a hundred feet, and a Sword Gate was floating above the lake.
The Sword Gate was shaped like a sword split in half.
Zhong Yue was shocked, now he could really see his own psyche ocean!
He had not seen his psyche ocean with his own awareness, even after years of cultivation and visualization. The main reason was he was not at that level yet. He had not really thought that under the teachings of Xin Huo, he would be able to do so instantly!
Such a rapid cultivation speed, no one would believe him even if he shouted it out loud!
Xin Huo flew around like a small flame in front of Zhong Yue in his psyche ocean and said, “This Sword Gate, this is the technique you use to nourish your soul? Pitiful, so petty, a dignified descendant of the Fuxi and you don’t even have a proper and decent cultivation technique. Instead, you only practiced this inferior technique. In addition, the time you have cultivated is not short, but your psyche ocean is still so small. This is clearly because the technique you cultivate is so low-level!”
Blood rushed into Zhong Yue’s face and he flushed red from embarrassment. Zhong Yue argued back, “This is the【Sword Gate Visualization Art】. Although it isn’t one of the best, it surely isn’t inferior, this is already the best cultivation technique that I can learn!”
To be a Qi Practitioner, one must first refine and nourish their soul.
Swords Gate treated all of its outer disciples equally, the cultivation technique they all learned was the same — the【Sword Gate Visualization Art】.
By practicing this soul nourishing cultivation technique, a Sword Gate would be formed in the practitioner’s psyche ocean. As long as the soul could break free from the Sword Gate, it would be able to leave the body.
“The best soul nourishing art?” Xin Huo sneered. “Practicing this soul nourishing art is useless, you wouldn’t even know what a soul is. The wind blows and it disperses, the sun shines and it melts, the lightning flashes and it turns into ashes. This kind of soul is the weakest, burns in fire, mixes with water, petrifies on ground—it is very dangerous. A true soul nourishing technique imagines and visualizes the sacred saints. It strengthens the soul and it can soar above the high clouds and travel deep beneath the ground. Wind can’t disperse it, light and heat can’t melt it, lightning can’t strike it down, water can’t absorb it, fire can’t burn it, and earth can’t petrify it. This is the true and authentic way to cultivate a soul!”
Zhong Yue was tongue-tied. Xin Huo was right; the Qi Practitioners in the Cloudless Hall had said so, too. The step to free the soul from the body was extremely dangerous, it must be done in the Cloudless Hall. In the Cloudless Hall, there were no skies, lands, or any objects of the five elements. Otherwise, the soul might scatter and disperse if it came into contact with any one of the five elements. It was very dangerous!
“The authentic way of cultivation, how do you practice it?” Zhong Yue was unreconciled.
“I will teach you!” Xin Huo sat on Zhong Yue’s mental shoulder and said proudly, “It is fate that you have found me. Normally you would be the next Xin Huo successor, but sadly the bloodline in you is too low. Your existence will disgrace me if people learn about it. Hence, you will help me find a pure-blood member of the Fuxi celestial race and I will teach you the authentic ways of cultivation. Your soul is not weak at all, you can barely practice the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】
.”
“Xin Huo, I am not one of the celestial race. People around me are like me, they can’t possibly be from the celestial race, right?”
Zhong Yue scratched his head, “Can humans also practice the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】?”
Xun Huo laughed and said, “Although I don’t know what happened to the Fuxi celestial race that it would wane to this extent, but you are truly one of the celestial race, you can practice my visualization art.”
------
Not long later, Zhong Yue had to admit that the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】was way better than the【Sword Gate Visualization Cultivation Art】.
The【Sword Gate Visualization Cultivation Art】used the Sword Qi to cut the link between the soul and the body so that the soul could be freed. But by doing it this way, a great burden would be placed on both the soul and the body.
In stark contrast, the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】refined and nourished the soul. When the soul was strong enough, it could free itself from the body and the burden would not be so great. In addition, when the soul was strong, it would not need to rely on external forces and the danger would be much smaller.
“Psyche ocean is where your psyche gathers, the stronger your psyche is, the bigger and wider your psyche ocean will grow, and the easier it will be to imagine and visualize.”
Xin Huo stood on Zhong Yue’s shoulder and his eyes shot out two flashes of lights that intertwined into a magnificent pattern a dozen feet in front of Zhong Yue. Xin Huo said, “This is the first Sui Sovereign of the Fire Order Palace, he was known as the Heavenly Sovereign Heavenly Monarch. He created the era of the Fire Order, and there were a total of thirty two reigns of the Sui Sovereigns! If you want to imagine and visualize a sacred saint, then you will have to visualize one of the Heavenly Monarchs that ruled the lands and created a new era! Now, imagine yourself as the Sui Sovereign, living in the Fire Order Palace, ruling all of the lands and races!”
Zhong Yue looked carefully at the art. It was made up of three layers, the first of which was the Sui Sovereign. He was a man or creature with a dragon head, human body, and snake tail. He had dragon horns on his head and dragon scales all over his body, which formed a series of patterns and lines like a holy tome. It contained profound principles and orders that were difficult to comprehend.
The first layer was already hard enough, the cultivation technique required visualizing the spirit, psyche, and soul of the Sui Sovereign. Then he needed to visualize the charm and aura of this supreme leader that started a new era of the Flame Order. This existence was respected as the Heavenly Sovereign Heavenly Monarch, visualizing this was extremely difficult!
The second layer was the Flame Order Palace, the godly palace of the Heavenly Monarch. The art that was projected by Xin Huo was already a simplified version, but it was still very complex to Zhong Yue. Furthermore, a palace that was so magnificent and majestic was simply hard for him to visualize.
The third and last layer would be the Fire Tree that was in front of the Flame Order Palace. The tree crowns covered an area of a million hectares. It was so tall that it was unreachable by an ordinary man. Clouds and mists wound around the tree crowns and peculiar massive birds nested on the top of the tree.
Every single leaf was different from one another. One could tell how hard it would be to imagine and visualize the whole tree.
The difficulty of the whole【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】was a thousand and million times more than the【Sword Gate Visualization Art】!
The complexity would also be a thousand and million times more intricate!
Zhong Yue watched the art carefully. In his heart he was thinking, If I want to imagine and visualize the art wholly with every detail, it will be impossible. The only way is to imagine the personal charm of the Sui Sovereign, the majestic aura of Flame Order Palace and the awe-inspiring grand Fire Tree. I will have to grasp firmly the spirit, psyche, and soul of the three, and from there I will slowly complete them. This is the only right way to do it.
As his thoughts came to this stage, he closed his eyes and concentrated his thoughts, imagining he was the Sui Sovereign, sitting in the middle of the Flame Order Palace.
His psyche ocean trembled and surged chaotically. His soul grew bigger, the legs were no more, replaced by a snake tail. His head turned into a dragons, and he looked like the Sui Sovereign in the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】!
Not only that, but amidst this chaos, his psyche ocean formed the outline of a palace around him. It was the Flame Order Palace. At the same time, there was a Fire Tree that grew in the front of the Flame Order Palace!
Xin Huo, who was on Zhong Yue’s shoulder, was shocked, How did he imagine and visualize the Sui Sovereign, Flame Order Palace, and Fire Tree out so quickly?, Xin Huo pondered. Although his lineage is a little low, this brat of the god race has a great perception, comparable to the pure-blood Fuxi god race I have met in the past….
Chapter 3: Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace |
Zhong Yue wanted to open his eyes when he felt the rapid changes in his psyche ocean. The Sui Sovereign Art that was built up in his mind was also trembling so hard that it might crumble soon.
“Stay focused!” Xin Huo shouted. “Your efforts will in vain if you get distracted and it will pose a serious threat to your psyche. It would be even harder to build up the Sui Sovereign Art in your psyche ocean again. Now, stay focused and complete your cultivation in one shot!”
Zhong Yue quickly recovered and refocused on his cultivation. As he did this, the Flame Order Palace and the Sui Sovereign stopped trembling as well. They became even more complete and stable.
------
After a long time, Zhong Yue opened his eyes when he felt that his psyche was completely exhausted; he looked at the Flame Order Palace around him in awe. He then looked down at himself in disbelief!
“There’s nothing unbelievable about this. It is just a scene created with your psyche and it exists only in your psyche ocean at the will of your psyche. However, it is your soul that will receive the training,” Xin Huo said proudly as it stood on his shoulder. “【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】is not like those rubbish techniques you practiced last time. Those rubbish techniques may have some little effect on nourishing your soul, but they have no use for training your psyche at all. The【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】I pass onto you can not only train your soul, it can also train your psyche, making your psyche stronger and stronger!”
Zhong Yue stood up. He wanted to walk out of the Flame Order Palace to look at the view outside. Suddenly, he heard a loud noise as the Flame Order Palace crumbled and the Fire Tree melted. Not only that, the Sui Sovereign body that he had agglomerated also disappeared, exposing his soul’s true form.
“This is?” Zhong Yue asked in confusion.
“If you walk out of the Flame Order Palace, then your soul is liberated from your body,” Xin Huo laughed. “No matter the Flame Order Palace or the Sword Gate, they all symbolize one door each. Inside these doors is your inner body, and outside these doors is the outside world. It doesn’t matter if you step out of the Flame Order Palace or the Sword Gate, but once you are out, it also means that your soul is liberated from your body. But now, considering you just got in touch with【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】, what you have achieved so far can be considered as a great accomplishment.”
“Really?” said Zhong Yue happily.
Xin Huo’s face immediately stiffened and he walked with his hands behind his back on Zhong Yue’s shoulder. He coldly said, “Descendant of Fuxi, do not get so cocky and proud. You are nothing when compared to the pure-blood inheritors of Xin Huo. With only one look, these pure-blood inheritors would have already built up the entire visualization art completely, but you could only built up a rough figure. You still have a long way to go!”
&n
bsp; However, Zhong Yue was positive about this matter and he replied, “The pure-blood celestial race is that strong? Although they are of the celestial race, while I’m just a human, it is natural that I can’t match up with them. However, everything will be fine if I work very, very hard. I believe that I won’t be any worse than them.”
Xin Huo’s face blackened upon hearing Zhong Yue’s words, and he silently complained, Using hard work to replace talent? You’re already smarter and more talented than the others and now you want to be even more hardworking than the others? Are you trying to outsmart the entire world?
Although Zhong Yue’s talent was only at an average level compared to the previous inheritors of Xin Huo, those inheritors that Xin Huo had taught were all pure-blood members of the Fuxi celestial race!
Xin Huo was surprised that Zhong Yue was able to reach the level he was at now.
“Your psyche is too weak now, it takes only one visualization to exhaust your psyche completely and you have to take a rest. A few more practice sessions, and your psyche will gradually become stronger. When you can actualize your psyche, then it means you have slightly mastered this technique,” Xin Huo said after checking Zhong Yue’s depleted psyche.
Zhong Yue was startled and said, “What? Actualizing my psyche to the point that it is visible to the naked eyes is just the beginner level? Can I really achieve what the Qi Practitioners can do?”
Suddenly, an extreme dizziness struck Zhong Yue, bringing with it a wave of fatigue; he eventually fell asleep. The visualization just now had exhausted his psyche greatly.
Xin Huo then walked out of Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean and returned to the weathered lamp. There were still loud noises coming from the thick black mist that surrounded them. The child-like figure that was only the size of a finger looked at both Zhong Yue and the black mist with a confused expression. Xin Huo said, “How long have I been sleeping, how did the Fuxi celestial race become something like this? What happened? And what is this black mist? This little celestial race brat said that it is now the era of the Human Sovereign, what kind of era is this Human Sovereign era….”
