bookrandom Chapter 235 The Inheritance Stone Wall, A Mayfly's First Life
Chapter 235 The Inheritance Stone Wall, A Mayfly's First Life
The cliffs rise one after another, and a path leads up to the clouds.
Ancient trees and moss grow side by side in the ravine, their shadows cast by the clouds, a solitary sight that surpasses even the secluded bamboo grove. (Note 1)
On the stone steps, an old man sat cross-legged in solemn silence.
Although his posture was slightly hunched, his breathing was steady and his eyes gleamed with a sharp light.
He watched coldly as the woman below drew closer, her steps never faltering, and a deep sense of dread arose in his heart.
The old man was secretly surprised. How many years had it been? This ancient land of Mist Mountain seemed to have existed for one or two hundred years without such a powerful outsider challenging it.
While feeling apprehensive, he couldn't help but secretly speculate about the woman's identity and background.
He glanced at the woman's young and beautiful appearance, but didn't care.
Upon entering the Innate Realm, cultivators can control their own Qi and blood, reverse the universe, and achieve miraculous things such as teeth growing back, white hair turning black, and skin becoming smooth. The so-called "rejuvenation" is also easy for them.
However, this approach requires a significant expenditure of energy and vitality, making it more showy than practical, and ultimately a burden. Therefore, not many people are truly willing to do it.
Therefore, in the old man's view, this strange woman who was climbing the steps, although she looked like a young girl, was probably an old monster who had cultivated for many years. Perhaps she was secretly enshrined by some secular country, or she had luckily obtained a lot of the legacy of her predecessors.
Such examples are extremely rare, but they do exist.
Now that he has come to Wushan, and has even run into him on the Cold Stone Steps, it is a chance encounter. As a native of Wushan, he naturally cannot show his fear and let outsiders look down on Wushan.
Chu Lengyu walked briskly and had already reached the 1,260th step. Seeing that the unfamiliar old man in front of her was still sitting cross-legged and motionless, she knew that he was in a difficult situation.
Whether it's spiritual cultivation or worldly life, many principles are interconnected.
Everyone is fighting for the same path.
Unfortunately, no one can stop her from taking the path she's on.
As she drew closer, the elderly stranger grew increasingly wary.
He secretly channeled his inner power, and his aura instantly became heavy. He intended to teach this outsider a lesson and let her know that the Misty Mountain was not a place she could trample on at will.
Chu Lengyu had already raised her hand and sucked in her palm.
The old man was as if bound by invisible ropes, unable to move.
He was terrified, but found that he had no power to resist at all. In an instant, he was lifeless and compressed into a blood-red pill, which contained his life's cultivation and vital energy.
Chu Lengyu waved her hand casually, and the blood-red pill fell like a shooting star, embedding itself deep into the ground and serving as fertilizer for this land.
She had long realized that these cultivators in Wushan, having entered the Dao through martial arts, possessed qi and blood many times greater than ordinary people. Even if they were killed, they could not be wasted; they would be excellent as fertilizer.
After doing all that, she acted as if she had casually swatted a fly, and returned to her serene demeanor, continuing her climb.
Meanwhile, deep in the misty mountains, inside the Bai Family Ancestral Hall.
Click!
A wooden spirit tablet placed at the head of the altar suddenly shattered, making a crisp sound that startled everyone in the ancestral hall.
They looked at each other, their hearts filled with unease.
The shattering of this soul tablet signifies the fall of a powerful member of the Bai family, which is undoubtedly a huge blow to the Bai family in its current state.
Chu Lengyu naturally knew nothing about these things, nor would she be interested in knowing them.
Although the spiritual energy on this cold stone staircase is shallow, it is noticeably denser than in other places.
As she walked through it, she felt refreshed and relaxed. No wonder some people meditate and cultivate themselves here.
As she walked, she patiently observed her surroundings. She saw symbols and patterns carved on both sides of the stone steps, and if she looked down, she could also discover some arrangements hidden beneath the stone steps.
As Chu Lengyu climbed, she carefully recorded these ingenious designs.
Perhaps, these cold stone steps are the greatest reward of her trip.
After 1,300 steps, palm prints and knife marks gradually appeared on the steep mountain wall.
These marks were not left from a battle, but were deliberately placed there.
She stopped and observed these marks, each one embodying the life's work and insights of a practitioner.
They did so either to leave behind their own insights, lest they vanish without a trace after death; or to inspire those who come after them, allowing them to learn from their own experiences and achieve a comprehensive understanding.
This is inheritance.
A sense of respect welled up in Chu Lengyu's heart, and she marveled at how much effort these seniors had put into their work.
She experienced the spiritual realm contained within, which was profound, magnificent, or delicate, making her feel as if she were in different worlds of cultivation, experiencing the joys and sorrows and cultivation journeys of those predecessors.
Of course, some traces have lost their spiritual essence over time.
Some have become incomplete due to the erosion of wind, frost, rain, and snow, and can no longer fully present the original artistic conception.
This made her sigh at the ruthlessness of time and the vicissitudes of life.
Those who can leave their mark here are already among the strongest small group of humans.
They were once full of vigor, climbing the stone steps and leaving their mark here, hoping that future generations could glimpse their past glory.
Now, a cracked fist mark and a worn sword scar represent the life of such a top expert, which is quite poignant.
With this comparison, Chu Lengyu suddenly cherished her lifespan and quietly suppressed the slight sense of pride she felt after breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.
If one cannot attain immortality, what is the point of a thousand-year lifespan at the Nascent Soul stage? Compared to the vastness of the universe spanning billions of years, it is but a fleeting moment, the life of a mayfly.
But she remembered someone saying in her past life: Once you have a goal, the difficulty is secondary; just persevere.
This path is one of success or failure, not of hardship. (Note 2)
Chu Lengyu wholeheartedly agreed with these words.
She touched the marks on the stone wall and then stepped up again.
The spiritual energy in this world is scarce, making the path of cultivation extremely arduous.
Our predecessors groped their way forward in the vast darkness, eventually reaching the first realm of innate cultivation. They used martial arts to enter the Dao, tempering their physical bodies and refining their spirits, seeking inspiration in order to break through the innate realm and embark on the true path of cultivation.
A cultivator of average talent usually breaks through to the Innate Realm around the age of thirty.
The innate realm allows one to reshape one's own qi and blood, prolong life, and live to about 120 years old if free from illness and disaster, but very few people can achieve this.
After attaining the Innate Realm, due to the limited spiritual energy and scarcity of spiritual objects, people feel even more eager and have no choice but to risk entering certain deep mountains and forests to search for rare spiritual herbs or to kill spiritual birds that have undergone a slight mutation to aid their cultivation.
The journey was fraught with danger and peril, with many losing their lives or being forced to withdraw due to injuries.
After all, the Innate Realm is roughly equivalent to the Qi Refining Realm of cultivators. If one only has one or two levels of cultivation, one is only slightly better than an ordinary person, but not by much.
They will be hungry and thirsty, they will be injured when facing swords and spears, and falling off a cliff is almost always a matter of life and death.
Chu Lengyu thought that perhaps this was why marks were only allowed to be left after the 1,300th step.
The weak are not even qualified to leave their mark here for future generations to admire and learn from.
Before she arrived, Master Lu had not mentioned the cold stone steps to her.
Perhaps even someone as knowledgeable as him didn't know that there was such a heritage stone wall after the 1,300 steps, where one could leave their own insights and imprints.
Because he is too weak.
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Note 1: Layer upon layer of towering cliffs. A path leads up to the clouds. Suddenly, a flat plain appears, several feet wide. Sitting on a rock, facing the wind and forest. —Zhang Zi, *Qing Ping Yue*
Ancient moss and trees, clinging to each other along the ravine's edge; yellow ivy and maidenhair vines, reaching for the wind and clouds. — Huang Tingjian, "Five Poems Written at the Rocky Cliff: Lingchun Terrace"
Note 2: From the novel "Xian Liao". I unexpectedly discovered that this book also uses the setting of entering the path of immortality through both acquired and innate means, so I read some of it. Some of the passages were very inspiring, and I am only quoting them here once.