Chapter 137: Comprehending Cause and Effect, Stepping into Divine Separation

Chapter 137: Chapter 137: Comprehending Cause and Effect, Stepping into Divine Separation

Yan Ji had been taken away by the figure in the black cloak. While this disrupted Yan Qi’s plans, he was nevertheless thrilled for a long time.

’The God Slaughter Hall. What an incredible name.’

It sounded arrogant, but its principles seemed quite similar to those of the Red Blood Mansion. In fact, if Yan Ji had become the Saint Heir of some orthodox, prestigious sect, Yan Qi would have found it rather strange.

Saint Heirs are usually groomed as successors.

Yan Ji had been directly elevated to Saint Heir of the God Slaughter Hall, which meant he would undoubtedly have the authority that came with the position. As long as he maintained his current rate of advancement, his chances of one day becoming the Hall Master of the God Slaughter Hall were high.

’If I can develop the Red Blood Mansion until it has absolute authority in the Eastern Domain, and in the future, Yan Ji becomes the Hall Master of the God Slaughter Hall... then I can merge the Red Blood Mansion into it. At that time, wouldn’t the God Slaughter Hall become the undisputed top power in the entire world?’

How could Yan Qi not be excited at these thoughts?

’Looks like I’ll have to redouble my efforts. If the Red Blood Mansion prospers in the Eastern Domain, it will help my son become the Hall Master of the God Slaughter Hall in the future, won’t it?’

’It seems my previous plan was too conservative.’

The plan needed to be adjusted. He hurriedly convened all the Elders and Stewards of the Red Blood Mansion to discuss this important matter.

...

「Inside the Miracle Secret Realm.」

Chu Fan was still in a deep sleep, but Hui Ke had already been awake for several months.

In these few months, Hui Ke had traveled through almost every corner of more than half of the Secret Realm. He had even fully awakened the memories of two lifetimes.

His memories had awakened, but for some unknown reason, his former Cultivation had not returned. Still, thanks to the insights from his two lifetimes of memories, he was able to build upon the Cultivation he’d gained from the Drunken Immortal Brew—which had already brought him to the Nascent Soul Realm Peak—and directly break through the bottleneck into the Soul Emergence Realm.

Over the past few months, he hadn’t forgotten to cultivate while wandering the Secret Realm. The Spiritual Qi within the realm was abundant, and after months of accumulation, he had broken through to the Divine Separation Realm just yesterday.

One bowl of Drunken Immortal Brew could make a mortal drunk for three years, so Hui Ke naturally assumed he had been unconscious for that long. Adding the few months since he’d woken, he figured he had been in the Secret Realm for three and a half years.

But he found it strange. ’One bowl puts a mortal out for three years... so why isn’t Chu Fan awake yet?’

In reality, from the moment Chu Fan fell into his deep sleep, his soul seemed to have entered a world of chaos.

In that world, heaven and earth were a single color. There was no space, no time. His soul’s consciousness was like the yolk inside an egg.

In fact, Chu Fan’s consciousness had awakened long ago, even half a year earlier than Hui Ke.

It was just that his consciousness was bound by this chaotic world.

What he saw before him was a stretch of gray-white. He couldn’t even see his own conscious form, nor could he move an inch.

He couldn’t escape, so his consciousness was completely unable to reunite with his body. The only thing he could do was meditate, searching for a way out.

He pondered for a long time but could not find a way out, nor could he fathom the reason.

With no other choice, he continued to meditate on the things that had been interrupted by Hui Ke that day.

Namely, the Dao of Cause and Effect.

’Cause and effect are inherently inseparable. The only difference is the time of their existence. A cause must exist to produce an effect, but isn’t an effect also a new cause?’

’Cause and effect are part of a self-perpetuating, endless cycle.’

’It’s like the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Idle people have argued about it for countless years, but are those people truly just idle?’

’If one could truly understand this relationship of cause and effect, one would be glimpsing the very foundation of the Great Dao.’

For Chu Fan, his knowledge and experience were insufficient to grasp this fundamental truth. However, by contemplating the expansion of cause and effect, he could still arrive at many other realizations.

’For example, when many causes are entangled, do they produce a single effect, or an accumulation of many effects?’

As he meditated on the nature of Cause and Effect, Chu Fan truly discovered a principle. It was just as he had long suspected: was it not possible, at a certain critical point and according to certain rules, to deduce the past and the future?

This principle was, of course, very complex, and Cause and Effect was one of its components. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

’Since I’ve comprehended such a principle, why is my consciousness trapped here?’

’What cause has led to this effect?’

’Is it the Drunken Immortal Brew?’

’Because of the Drunken Immortal Brew... when I was so severely injured I couldn’t heal, my clavicles pierced and bound with iron chains, a single bowl of it not only healed all my injuries in a short time but also raised my Cultivation from Nascent Soul Realm Tier Six directly to the Nascent Soul Realm Peak.’

’Hui Ke and I even managed to turn the tables and kill those people.’

’Then, I fell into a drunken slumber, and when my consciousness awoke, I was here.’

’The cause was the Drunken Immortal Brew, so the effect should have just been a three-year slumber.’

’So, my consciousness coming here is most likely due to my Realm.’

’For an ordinary Cultivator, the stage after the Nascent Soul Realm is the Soul Emergence Realm.’

’What exactly is the Soul Emergence Realm? In the Soul Emergence Realm, the Nascent Soul has matured into a Primordial Spirit, which can emerge from the body to wander far and wide.’

To use an analogy, Chu Fan’s Spiritual Power was currently Level 26. Even if he shut off all his senses, he could perceive any disturbance for ten li in every direction using only his consciousness and Divine Thought.

After the Primordial Spirit emerges, if it travels far from the body, one can still perceive any disturbance within a ten-li radius of the Primordial Spirit itself.

’Has my Nascent Soul matured into a Primordial Spirit that can leave my body?’

In truth, Chu Fan didn’t know at this moment.

After all, he had faced a great enemy right after drinking the Drunken Immortal Brew and knew he would soon fall into a deep sleep. He’d had no time to use Introspection on his Dantian. He fell unconscious immediately after killing his foes, and his consciousness had woken up here.

’I’ll set that question aside for now.’

’According to the Miaolian Celestial Stabilization Technique, the Realm after the Nascent Soul Realm isn’t the Soul Emergence Realm. It skips the Soul Emergence Realm entirely and goes straight to the Divine Separation Realm.’

’So what exactly is the Divine Separation Realm?’

The Divine Separation Realm is the separation of the Primordial Spirit and the physical body. The Primordial Spirit can even exist independently of the body. As long as the Primordial Spirit is not destroyed, even if the physical body is annihilated, the Primordial Spirit can reconstruct a body and be resurrected.

Of course, in the Divine Separation Realm, although the Primordial Spirit can leave the body, it is still very weak at this stage. Moreover, when the Primordial Spirit is not inside the body, even though the Cultivation Realm is high, one’s actual Combat Power is greatly diminished.

’How does one reach the Divine Separation Realm?’

’According to the Cultivation Realm’s descriptions of the Realms, the Primordial Spirit is something new that is born from the Yin Yang Struggle.’

’Yin Yang Struggle?’

At that very moment, a flash of inspiration struck Chu Fan.

’According to the letter left by Zhegu Slave’s master, I have a Chaos Body.’

’Chaos?’

’What is chaos? Chaos is the state before Yin and Yang have separated.’

’If you compare chaos to an egg, chaos is the state of the egg while it’s still inside the chicken, before it even has a soft shell.’

’My consciousness seems to be within this chaos right now. So... has it already separated into Yin and Yang?’

’If consciousness is yin, then everything in this chaos is yang. If consciousness is yang, then everything in this chaos is yin.’

’A struggle between Yin and Yang?’

’Is it like the yolk in an egg constantly absorbing the white to grow? Is that actually a fusion of Yin and Yang?’

And just as Chu Fan thought of this, a white light flashed in his consciousness. The chaos before him split into two energies, two colors: Yin and Yang.

Then, his consciousness returned to his body, and his Realm naturally advanced into the Divine Separation Realm.