Immortal’s Inscription

Book 7, Anchan City. Chapter 22, Immortal's Inscription.

Every single disciple of the Black-White College who viewed the Black-White Diagram for the first time would gain some insights. Their accumulated experiences and their previous comprehension of the Dao would, upon viewing the ‘Black-White Diagram’, naturally coalesce into something new.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”

As Ji Ning sat there in meditation, Water-Fire Lotuses began to condense around him.

Layer upon layer of lotus leaves surrounded Ji Ning.

A full six layers of lotus leaves appeared… then suddenly the six layers dissipated entirely, reforming into four layers. These four layers of Water-Fire Lotus leaves were even more condensed, appearing almost real.

Time flowed on.

Half an hour later, the scene shifted once more.

Whoosh.

The four largely-real lotus leaves also dissipated, reforming into two layers. One layer was a red lotus leaf; the other was a green lotus leaf. The two looked like genuine lotus leaves.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…” The lotus leaves spun, and the grinding force between the two layers grew increasingly powerful. The two leaves became clearer and clearer. Veins, just like those on a real lotus leaf, could be seen on the green leaf. Even upon close inspection, one would think it was a naturally grown lotus leaf.

“Mm?”

Ji Ning snapped out of his reverie.

“Extraordinary insight born from accumulated experience,” Ji Ning said to himself with a slight nod. “It seems my current comprehension of the Dao has reached a bottleneck in how I integrate Water, Fire, and Wind.”

He glanced over at Mu Northson.

Mu Northson was still completely immersed, utterly entranced.

“I have the aquatic palace’s Starseizing Hall. Although the Black-White Diagram helps me, it helps Northson even more.” Ji Ning turned and walked towards the other stone wall nearby. This stone wall was covered in words left behind by various Immortals of the past ages.

Line after line of text.

“The path of Immortal cultivation is the path of great struggle. —Left by Wuchou!” The overwhelming, powerful will emanating from the text made Ji Ning feel as if he could see an Immortal cultivator advancing endlessly, struggling against the Heavens, against the Earth, against men, against demons…

“Hold a cautious heart, yet walk a path of bold action.” The invisible ruthlessness contained within that maxim was palpable.

“Where the heart directs, one is invincible.” That arrogant confidence, that path set by the cultivator’s own Dao-heart, would permit no obstacles. All who stood in the way were to be slain.

“The mortal world may rot and decay; all I seek are two words—long life.”

Some passages were domineering.

Some were arrogant.

Some were cold and harsh.

Some were carefree.

Some were indifferent.

Some were plain.

The words left behind by the generations of Immortals of the Black-White College allowed Ji Ning’s Dao-heart to undergo a baptism. It was as if he could see, across the long river of time, countless cultivators, each holding fast to their own Dao-heart, setting forth on their own paths.

“Such formidable Dao-hearts. Such steadfast Dao-hearts. Such pure Dao-hearts,” Ji Ning murmured to himself.

Formidable. Steadfast. Pure.

That was Ji Ning’s first impression after reading the various Immortal inscriptions. One could not reach the Immortal level without first illuminating the heart, knowing what one truly sought! Their Dao-hearts were incomparably pure and resolute, immune to the temptations of heart demons. The tempering of endless years had also rendered their Dao-hearts incredibly formidable.

But if those Immortals’ Dao-hearts were ever shaken, if their faith collapsed, even a thousand-year-old Dao-heart could be lost in a single day! In the worst case, they might lose control of their boundless power, resulting in instant death.

All of this illustrated the truth. The path of Immortal cultivation was a difficult path of challenging fate.

“What I seek in my heart is only great freedom, great unrestraint. I seek only to hold my own destiny in my hands.” As Ji Ning looked at these words, his own Dao-heart became even purer.

The pain of illness in his past life had made him unwilling to submit to fate, unwilling to be manipulated by destiny.

The death of his parents in this life had only intensified Ji Ning’s desperate desire to escape the shackles of fate.

And to transcend the control of fate, one needed immense power! To become stronger. Only then could one achieve true great freedom and true great unrestraint!

Ji Ning continued reading the Immortal inscriptions. After finishing one wall of text, although cultivators read quickly, it was already well past midnight.

“Mm?” Ji Ning turned his head to look at Mu Northson.

Mu Northson was still sitting there in the lotus position, staring at the Black-White Diagram. The natural energy of the world around him was converging to form countless components. Countless parts would fit together to create a shape, then separate again. In an endless stream, various beasts of all types—dragons, tigers, snakes, turtles—and even strange creatures were formed and unformed.

“Extraordinary insight born from accumulated experience. Junior apprentice-brother Northson’s previous insights are now exploding forth,” Ji Ning silently praised. He himself had only comprehended for less than an hour, but Mu Northson had been studying the Black-White Diagram for far longer.

“The other wall.” Ji Ning turned to look at the third stone wall.

The words left by the Immortals of past ages were, in fact, a tempering of the Dao-hearts of later generations. Even if a disciple was feeling unstable, coming here to look at the words of their predecessors could have a polishing effect. Thus, although the Black-White Diagram was the foundation of the sect, these Immortal inscriptions for tempering the Dao-heart were also a pillar that allowed an ultra-top-tier sect to endure for endless ages.

This was the true heritage.

In the night sky above.

A short, old man dressed in tattered beggar’s robes rode the clouds, drifting over. He carried a gourd of wine, looking relaxed and content.

The entire world around him seemed to revolve around him, everything obeying his command. That natural, absolute sense of control… it gave this short old man an absolutely terrifying presence, no less than that of ‘Beishan Blacktiger’, and perhaps even more frightening. But if one moved just a bit farther away, one could no longer feel his pressure.

“Having overcome the Nine Tribulations, what a joy, what a joy!” The short old man shook his head, feeling immensely pleased with himself. “Another nine hundred years of good living ahead.” He tilted his head back and began gulping down large mouthfuls of Immortal wine.

“Ooh.” The short old man suddenly stopped, looking down at the Black-White Diagram below.

“Two youngsters?”

The short old man nodded slightly. “I suppose today is also the day our Black-White College accepted new disciples. These two must be the new arrivals. I should take a good look.”

“That white-robed lad… he walks the path of puppetry? Not bad, quite talented. It seems that while I was in seclusion, the quality of our Black-White College’s disciples hasn’t dropped.” The short old man nodded in satisfaction. Then his gaze shifted to Ji Ning, who was looking at the stone inscriptions. “And that fellow in beast fur… he’s reading the inscriptions? Has he already finished with the Black-White Diagram? I wonder how long he spent looking at it, and just what his true potential is.”

The longer one could study the Black-White Diagram, the greater the harvest.

Ji Ning was looking at the inscriptions on the stone wall.

Each inscription represented the Immortal cultivation path of a single Immortal.

Of all those who had left inscriptions, only one was a Celestial Immortal. The rest were Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals. It showed just how difficult it was to truly leap out of the Three Realms and escape the Five Elements.

“Mm?”

Ji Ning looked at a new line of text. As soon as his gaze fell upon it, he felt as though a sword was pointing at his eyes.

“In hand, a three-foot sword; slay all that is unjust! —Left by Beixing!”

A very simple sentence.

When Ji Ning saw this line left behind by the Immortal called ‘Beixing’, he could vaguely sense the immense aura within the words. As Ji Ning carefully investigated with his soul, a powerful aura directly transmitted from that line of text, filling his sea of consciousness.

Within his mindscape, a silver-haired old man stood in the void, gripping a sword.

Swish!

The old man erupted with a sky-piercing sword-intent, so strong he seemed to have transformed into a single, enormous sword.

“Such a sharp sword.” Ji Ning felt as if the silver-haired old man was himself a sword. It was a sword of supreme yang, of ultimate hardness, a sword that nothing could stand against. Ji Ning felt as if nothing in the world could stop this silver-haired old man.

Ji Ning had studied the sword since he was a child.

The sword was the weapon in his hand. His father had taught him personally, and by now, Ji Ning had fully developed the heart of a true swordsman. When he saw this figure, the ultimate goal of every swordsman, the longing within his heart and his utmost sincerity towards the sword began to resonate with that aura.

“Mm? That kid in beast fur…” The short old man in the sky stared down from his cloud, surprised. “What’s this?”

Down below, on the training ground, Ji Ning stood before the huge stone wall. The line on the wall, ‘In hand, a three-foot sword; slay all that is unjust. —Left by Beixing!’ began to glow. Each character emitted light, and a powerful sword-intent was completely contained within those words.

Ji Ning stood there, his entire body faintly radiating a sword-intent of his own.

The two began to resonate. Ji Ning’s own sword-intent was naturally far, far weaker than the vast, profound sword-intent contained in that line of text. But without a doubt, the sword-intent in his body was resonating with the sword-intent within the words.

“He’s actually… actually causing the sword-intent of Senior Beixing to fluctuate?” The short old man stared in shock at the scene below. ‘Immortal Beixing’ was a Loose Immortal, but his status within the Black-White College could match that of a Celestial Immortal; his influence was perhaps even greater. He had lived for over a million years, finally perishing under the ever-strengthening Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations.

A Loose Immortal living a million years was absolutely legendary. A Loose Immortal living for a hundred thousand years was already extremely powerful. The longer they lived, the harder it was to survive. A Loose Immortal living two hundred thousand years, three hundred thousand years… each one was entirely different. The older they grew, the more terrifying their power.

A Loose Immortal at the million-year level was completely on par with a Celestial Immortal.

Although their foundation of Yuan power was clearly weaker than that of a Celestial Immortal, they could match a Celestial Immortal because their Dao comprehension, their insights, and their techniques were even stronger! Only then could they, as Loose Immortals, fight on par with Celestial Immortals.

“Sword-intent?”

“Such powerful sword-intent fluctuations?” The short old man’s eyes went wide as he stared below.

Within Ji Ning’s sea of consciousness.

When the resonance between the two sword-intents reached a shocking level, the image of the silver-haired old man that had formed in his mindscape began to move. He started to execute a sword-art, and as he did, he sang out loud:

“A life in this world, what is it for?”

“To seek one thing, and one thing only: satisfaction.”

“Kill, kill, kill.”

“Slay all that is unjust!”

“Slay all who deserve death!”

“Only then can one live a life of unrestrained joy.”

“As a Loose Immortal, there is no path to long life.”

“And yet…”

“A single day of joy is better than a hundred years of misery.”

“My sword is the sword of freedom, the sword of satisfaction, the sword that slays all injustice. This sword-art is called the ‘Three-Foot Sword’.”

The voice of the silver-haired old man echoed through Ji Ning’s vast, empty sea of consciousness.