At that instant, the white sky became filled with criss-crossing light. Some were as thick as rivers and others were as thin as hair, weaving together and reaching the end of his view, like a three-dimensional net enveloping everything.
The net was not unmoving. Instead, it constantly revolved, yet it also managed to achieve relative stillness in the process. It possessed an indescribable sense of rhythm and beauty.
The light were manifestations of laws, originating from his imaginations yet also forming reality.
Li Qingshan stood up and gazed down. The white ground was no different. He seemed to be standing in a colossal, boundless formation.
That’s right, was the world not a colossal formation?
The gales blew and the rain cascaded down as the lightning flashed and thunder roared. The rivers raged. All of the phenomena of nature were manifestations as a result of this formation.
The centre of the formation was “Dao”.
The Dao birthed one, one birthed two, two birthed three, and three birthed the universe, whether it was the myriad paths to enlightenment, the stars and the worlds, the gods, immortals, buddhas or demons.
Even on earth during his previous life, the vast cosmos was no different.
People studied the laws and made use of the laws, going from the stone age to the space age, constantly approaching the ultimate set of rules, understanding the laws and becoming rulers of the world.
They were just overly feeble as individuals, unable to accumulate and store energy, which was the only reason why a Gravity Emperor Newton never appeared, or someone impressive like Immortal Lord Einstein or the Red Light Buddha of Communism, Marx.
However, this world was different. Individuals could accumulate power and wisdom to become unimaginable existences.
As such, he understood what Human immortals were and what True Immortals were, as well as the existences higher up, like bodhisattvas, Great Emperors, and Great Sages!
Daoism split cultivation into four major realms—Refining Essence into Qi, Refining Qi into Soul, Forging Soul back into the Void, and Merging the Void with the Dao.
Refining Essence into Qi was straightforward. As he reached the peak of Origin Soul, he approached the limits of Refining Qi into Soul. He became a so-called “Human Immortal”.
He had not completely departed from his mortality yet, but he had already earned the word “immortal” in his title. He could finally acknowledge the existence of some of the laws, as well as see the Dao.
If he wanted to undergo the seventh heavenly tribulation and become a so-called True Immortal, he needed to Forge his Soul back into the Void.
The void was emptiness; emptiness was the void.
In other words, he would be approaching the Dao, using the Dao and enlightening to the Dao, so he could obviously achieve eternal life and bend nature to his whim. That was intrinsically different from techniques, as he only needed to “beckon” Dao, and Dao would obviously answer his call. It would be just like in the Formless realm, where his will was the law.
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Someone who achieved that would have transcended mortality. Regardless of whether they were human or daemon in the past, once they took that step, they only had one another afterwards. They could understand mortals, but mortals could not understand them.
However, this still was not the highest realm of cultivation. The eighth heavenly tribulation, Merging the Void with the Dao, was the final goal.
At that step, it was no longer a matter of using the laws, but directly becoming the embodiment of certain laws, serving as the representatives of a path, such as Mahe?vara’s path of great liberty, such as the Zhenwu Emperor’s path of xuanwu, and so on.
As long as the Dao remained, they remained. That was why the Great Sages could only be suppressed, not eliminated.
A small bird only needed to flap its wings to break free from gravity temporarily, yet even if humanity gathered everyone’s power, they could not eliminate gravity. They could only break free from the influence of gravity temporarily through the use of other laws like a bird.
Merging the Void with the Dao did not mean they became heartless and emotionless, or that would not be merging with the Dao, but assimilating into the Dao. It was just like how he could control the World of the Five Continents through his will the entire time and not become a part of the world’s will.
As a result, he realised very clearly that he would have to abandon his path of great liberty sooner or later. A path paved by a predecessor was easier to travel on for those who came after, but it also blocked them from taking the final step.
Great Sages, bodhisattvas, and Great Emperors were all people who paved a path themselves, which was why they earned the “Great” in their titles. The very meaning of bodhisattva was “person of great realization”.
He also understood why the Formless realm served as the last layer of the eighteen layers of hell. Here, all forms and appearances were lost. As such, the things that relied on it, sensation, perception, thought, and consciousness all lost what they relied on, so it was obviously a dream where everything was wrong.
He also rejoiced over the fact that he was not a true buddhist disciple, or he would have almost never attained the last Samāpatti of the four ārūpyasamāpatti, the attainment of Neither Perception Nor Non-perception.
The meaning of “neither perception” was to not think, but not thinking was also thinking, so he would still be unable to let go, to forget. He would obsess and thus cling onto the form. As a result, just “not thinking” was not enough. He had to achieve “nor non-perception” in order to free his mind and free himself from the notion of form.
The Four Dhyāna and Eight Samāpatti also lay in the range of “thinking”, so they were also forms.
To a buddhist disciple who whole-heartedly practised buddhism up to their current cultivation, getting them to let go of these teachings was even more difficult than getting a mortal to get over a hundred of their ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends. The more determined they were to let go, the more obsessed they would instead become and the less likely it was for them to connect with the Formless realm.
However, Li Qingshan did not face that obstacle. They were all just tools to him. If they were useful, then he would use them. If they were not, then he would set them aside.
All buddhist dharma and thus methods to enlightenment were just empty forms. There was no set path to enlightenment.
Then he felt great pity. He knew that once he left the Formless realm, he would lose everything he comprehended and his realm of comprehension would regress as well.
There was no other reason for this apart from the fact that he simply possessed insufficient power.
In the Formless realm, everything was in endless supply. There was neither birth nor death, neither increases nor decreases. It could easily support his realm of comprehension, allowing him to observe the laws as he wished.
If he were in the Form realm and still tried to maintain this realm of cultivation, then just a single instant of it would drain his lifespan.
If those eminent monks from his past life went three days without a wink of sleep, or were forced a litre of spirits down their throats, could they still meditate and find inner peace? If they spent all of their lives living in busy and noisy cities, toiling between the jianghu and the temple, could they still meditate and find inner peace?
The answer was of course not.
They needed to be free from human desires and passions, demonstrating rigid discipline, living off a simple diet and giving up all the joys of regular people, devoting all of their focus to cultivation. Only then could they maintain progress. If a beauty suddenly threw themselves into their arms during the dead of the night, they probably would not be able to control themselves either.
That was the limit of humans. A realm of cultivation without the support of power was just a sham. As long as they still possessed the bodies of mortals, they could forget about going on about something like great realisation or great enlightenment.
At the very least, he received a certain confirmation and answer. He knew what kind of direction to head off in. His efforts had not gone to waste.
Now, it was time to visit that “fifth brother”!
Li Qingshan suddenly looked back. All of the light vanished. Everything returned to pure-white.
A stone statue appeared before his eyes. It was a stone monkey with three heads and six arms, crouching on the white ground quietly.
The design of the stone monkey was quite peculiar—six monkey claws covered the eyes, ears, and mouths on the three heads—yet it was not particularly tall, only reaching up to his waist. It even seemed rather funny and adorable.
However, the feeling it gave off made it seem like a part of the Formless realm. It did not stand out at all.
Six words jumped out at him in his mind, Merging the Void with the Dao.
He exhaled and extended his hand, knocking the monkey’s head three times. Thunk, thunk, thunk!
The stone monkey suddenly moved, lowering the claw over its mouth and grinning. “Wukong, is that you?”
