Chapter 130 - 88: Top-Grade Dharma Aspect, Sea of Consciousness

Chapter 130: Chapter 88: Top-Grade Dharma Aspect, Sea of Consciousness

In Jiang Ningzhi’s bedroom.

Li Yinsheng sat cross-legged. The Jade Scroll inscribed with the Six Interpretations of Life and Death rested in his hand, emitting a faint, pulsing glow.

Before long, the glow on the Jade Scroll gradually dimmed until it completely faded away.

Li Yinsheng opened his eyes, rubbing his temples as a flash of awe passed through his gaze.

The Cultivation Technique and the copious annotations inscribed within the Jade Scroll were now firmly committed to his memory.

He thought to himself, "As expected of an Immortal Dao Lineage. This Cultivation Technique is far beyond anything the Qingxuan Scripture can compare to."

The Six Interpretations of Life and Death was also a balanced and peaceful Cultivation Technique, but unlike the Qingxuan Scripture, it heavily favored the Wood Element and contained concepts from the Path of Yin and Yang.

Although the Buddhist Sect also had the concept of the Dual Trees of Life and Death, the Six Interpretations of Life and Death had nothing to do with it. Its meaning of "withering and thriving" was primarily derived from the Wood Element itself.

The Cultivation Technique consisted of only six layers, divided into the Withered Realm and the Rong Realm, each possessing three layers.

The order of cultivation began with the Withered Realm. After completing a layer in the Withered Realm, one would cultivate a layer in the Rong Realm, followed by another layer in the Withered Realm, repeating this cycle.

After Three Witherings and Three Thrivings, one would reach Great Success.

However, mastering just the First Layer of the Withered Realm was enough to become a Daoist. Once the First Layer of the Rong Realm was also mastered, a Cultivator could step into the Divine Travel Realm. After two witherings and two thrivings, they could condense their Dharma Aspect and become an Imperial Decree Daoist. Anyone who could master the Three Witherings and Three Thrivings would be an extremely formidable existence even among Imperial Decree Daoists, possessing enough power to attempt breaking through to become an Immortal.

Compared to the Qingxuan Scripture, the Six Interpretations of Life and Death shared a very similar trait: both were characterized by a solid foundation and profound Magical Power. Every time one cultivated the Withered Realm, it solidified and expanded their foundation. Consequently, when cultivating the subsequent Rong Realm, the quality and quantity of their Magical Power would naturally increase dramatically. Furthermore, their lifespan would be thirty to forty percent longer than other Cultivators in the same realm. Moreover, for every successful cycle of withering and thriving, they would gain a miraculous ability similar to the Qingxuan Divine Light, albeit much stronger.

The drawbacks were equally obvious. First, because half of the Cultivator’s effort went into accumulating their foundation, the Six Interpretations of Life and Death was incredibly slow to cultivate. Second, since the entire Withered Realm focused solely on tempering the foundation and enhancing latent potential, Cultivators at this stage were not known for their combat prowess. Their lifespans wouldn’t even be longer than those practicing ordinary Cultivation Techniques. Only after advancing to the Rong Realm, where the focus shifted primarily to cultivating Magical Power, would their strength see a massive leap.

Therefore, despite its power, the Six Interpretations of Life and Death demanded exceedingly high innate talent from a Cultivator. Those with poor talent might fail to master even the First Layer of the Withered Realm, highly likely ending up killed in Magical Combat or dying of old age first.

However, to Shangguan Ling’Er—who had brought out the Six Interpretations of Life and Death for Li Yinsheng—this was naturally nothing to worry about. No matter how much talent the Cultivation Technique required, it was easily met by a prodigy who had managed to become a Grand Daoist in his twenties. In fact, her own talent was sufficient to cultivate the Six Interpretations of Life and Death. However, her Root Device was unique and perfectly synchronized with the Five Elements. This was why she had joined the Zhengyang Dharma Vein and chose the Five Elements Reincarnation Scripture as her Major Cultivation.

"How is it? Have you memorized it all?" Shangguan Ling’Er asked, taking back the Jade Scroll.

"Every single word," Li Yinsheng nodded. "It truly is an exquisite Immortal Dao Lineage. Thank you, Fellow Daoist Shangguan."

"Verbal thanks aren’t enough. I’ll inevitably have to wrangle with my family over this in the future," Shangguan Ling’Er huffed softly. "You’d better remember that you owe me a favor."

"Naturally," Li Yinsheng replied with a smile. Among the four essentials of cultivation, technique ranked first. He firmly etched this favor into his mind.

Shangguan Ling’Er said, "You got a massive bargain. The Six Interpretations of Life and Death is already one of my family’s finest Cultivation Techniques. Even if a Cultivator has no other advantages whatsoever, simply cultivating the Six Interpretations of Life and Death is enough to condense an Upper Grade Dharma Aspect when breaking through to the Dharma Image Realm."

Even though he had already learned the Cultivation Technique and understood its various profundities, Li Yinsheng still couldn’t help but be surprised to hear that this single technique was enough to help someone condense an Upper Grade Dharma Aspect.

Shangguan Ling’Er naturally noticed the astonishment in his eyes, making no effort to conceal the smugness on her face.

She continued, "If you only rely on the Six Interpretations of Life and Death, the resulting Upper Grade Dharma Aspect would only barely qualify as such. It wouldn’t be as good as Ningzhi’s Dustless Sword Spirit Dharma Aspect, but it’s still something eighty percent of Daoists could never dream of achieving.

"Besides, you have a profound Body Refining Foundation, your Lifebound Treasure, and your Sword Technique...

"I imagine that when you condense your Dharma Aspect, it will be even stronger than the Dustless Sword Spirit that Ningzhi had originally envisioned."

"Is there a higher grade above the Upper Grade Dharma Aspect?" Li Yinsheng asked.

Shangguan Ling’Er explained, "Some tyrannical Dharma Aspects that far surpass other Upper Grade ones are referred to as Top-Grade Dharma Aspects. However, this is more of a descriptive term.

"The division of Dharma Aspects into Upper, Middle, and Lower Grades is a clear and distinct evaluation standard that the entire Taihao Immortal Sect—and several other Daoist Sects—only arrived at after cataloging and researching a massive number of Dharma Aspects.

"Meanwhile, so-called Top-Grade Dharma Aspects are exceedingly rare. Because their possessors are the prospective Immortals of major factions, they aren’t easily offered up for research.

"Therefore, there is no universally recognized standard for just how strong a Dharma Aspect must be to be considered Top-Grade."

She covered her mouth and chuckled softly. "Some Dharma Aspects that aren’t even considered very strong within the Upper Grade get hyped up as Top-Grade Dharma Aspects by sycophants. Consequently, when they encounter a genuinely powerful Dharma Aspect, they end up getting beaten so badly they flee for their lives."

Li Yinsheng couldn’t help but chuckle as well.

Shangguan Ling’Er pondered for a moment. "However, if we must make further distinctions within the Upper Grade... A Dharma Aspect formed solely by relying on the Six Interpretations of Life and Death would be in the lower tier of the Upper Grade. If Ningzhi successfully condenses her Dustless Sword Spirit, it would be considered the middle tier of the Upper Grade."

"I don’t think it’s merely middle tier; I’ve been continuously perfecting the Dustless Sword Spirit!" Jiang Ningzhi retorted.

Shangguan Ling’Er looked Li Yinsheng up and down. "As for you, based on your current abundant foundations, if you also learn the condensation method of the Dustless Sword Spirit from your Martial Uncle and stack all these advantages together...

"Then your Dharma Aspect would probably be the absolute pinnacle of the Upper Grade."

Li Yinsheng looked thoughtful. Although the "Top-Grade Dharma Aspect" Shangguan Ling’Er mentioned lacked a clear standard and definition, he still wanted to try for it. He had plenty of time now anyway. Furthermore, whether it was his Celestial Cyan Sword, his Body Refining Cultivation, or his Array Dao Mastery, there was indeed still a great deal of room for improvement.

He thought to himself, "I should at least elevate all of these further before considering the matter of condensing a Dharma Aspect, shouldn’t I?"

"Alright, alright. You can take your time asking Ningzhi about Dharma Aspects," Shangguan Ling’Er said, patting Li Yinsheng on the shoulder. "You’ll have plenty of opportunities to consult her in the future anyway."

Junior Martial Uncle Jiang nodded. "Yinsheng, I’ll teach you all the crucial secrets regarding the Dustless Sword Spirit Dharma Aspect as soon as possible.

"However, your aptitude is even greater than mine. The Dustless Sword Spirit is only meant to serve as a reference for you. Ultimately, you should condense a Dharma Aspect even stronger than it."

"Dustless Sword Spirit..." Li Yinsheng murmured thoughtfully. "Martial Uncle, when I entered your Sea of Consciousness, I felt an unusual power within your soul. Could that have been the embryonic form of your Dharma Aspect...?"

"Sea of Consciousness!!!" Shangguan Ling’Er sprang to her feet, staring at Li Yinsheng with absolute disbelief. "You’ve been inside Ningzhi’s Sea of Consciousness!?"

Jiang Ningzhi’s cheeks instantly flushed with a beautiful rosy hue. Her eyes darted wildly around the room as her fingers tightly clutched the corner of her blanket. If escaping was an option, she would have liked nothing more than to bury herself under the brocade quilt and ignore everyone.

Li Yinsheng looked blankly at the suddenly agitated Shangguan Ling’Er, utterly bewildered. "I went in once. It was so Martial Uncle could give me a wisp of Sword Intent for protection..."

"You! Entered! Ningzhi’s! Sea of Consciousness!!!" Shangguan Ling’Er’s face remained a mask of disbelief. Her gaze darted from Li Yinsheng’s face to Jiang Ningzhi’s face, then back again, pacing back and forth between them.

"Elder Shangguan, is there something inappropriate about entering another Daoist’s Sea of Consciousness?" Li Yinsheng asked in confusion.

Shangguan Ling’Er’s eye twitched as she spoke. "Did you really not know? For a Daoist, the Sea of Consciousness is a forbidden area that is almost never opened to outsiders. Even Dao Companions won’t enter each other’s Sea of Consciousness outside of divine communion.

"Dual Cultivation between ordinary Cultivators is already an extremely intimate act, but compared to divine communion, it seems incredibly distant.

"And the very first step of divine communion is for one party to enter the other’s Sea of Consciousness..." By the time she finished speaking, even Shangguan Ling’Er’s earlobes felt a little hot.

Li Yinsheng froze, letting out a sound of pure bewilderment. "Huh?"

"Shut up!!!" Jiang Ningzhi shrieked. Glaring at Shangguan Ling’Er, she lost all of her usual cool elegance as she hissed, "What kind of nonsense are you spouting about divine communion?!

"I didn’t let Yinsheng’s soul enter my Sea of Consciousness! I only let his Divine Sense in... It’s completely different!"

Li Yinsheng let out a sigh of relief. He knew it. He hadn’t felt anything strange when he entered his Martial Uncle’s Sea of Consciousness.

"Oh, his Divine Sense. Well, that’s fine... like hell it is!" Shangguan Ling’Er hissed right back. "That’s still more intimate than what a lot of Dao Companions do!"

Li Yinsheng intervened, "Fellow Daoist Shangguan, you must have misunderstood. When I entered Martial Uncle’s Sea of Consciousness, it was merely to retrieve a wisp of Sword Intent.

"This... *ahem*, divine communion you’re talking about never actually happened."

"That doesn’t matter! The point is that entering the Sea of Consciousness itself is..." She stared at Li Yinsheng and massaged her temples. "Ugh, I can’t explain it to you!"

"Enough!" Jiang Ningzhi interrupted. "Let’s drop this. At the time, I didn’t know Yinsheng was already a Grand Daoist, and he lacked methods for Magical Combat. Naturally, his safety was more important than anything else.

"Desperate times called for desperate measures. Giving him a wisp of Sword Intent for protection was a last resort."

Having offered her explanation, she leveled a searing glare at Shangguan Ling’Er. "This matter is over. Don’t ever bring it up again!"

"But..." Shangguan Ling’Er still wanted to argue, but met with her best friend’s intimidating glare, she swallowed her words.

Li Yinsheng, on the other hand, remained fairly calm the entire time. When he entered his Martial Uncle’s Sea of Consciousness, he truly hadn’t felt that anything untoward was happening. He just took a wisp of Sword Intent. What was so intimate about that?

He even cast a somewhat skeptical glance at Shangguan Ling’Er.

He thought to himself, "Could it be that a filthy mind sees filth in everything?"

The blush on Jiang Ningzhi’s cheeks gradually faded, and she shot her best friend a vicious glare.

She thought angrily, "What nonsense are you spouting?

"I was originally planning to invite Yinsheng back into my Sea of Consciousness so he could personally observe and experience my half-completed Dharma Aspect!"