The difficulty of cultivation was harder than reaching the sky!
Cultivating was like climbing to the sky. One would slowly climb up by stepping on an invisible and rugged path. The higher the cultivation level, the worse the cultivator would fall when they took a misstep one day.
Therefore, the greater the cultivator, the more cautious they would be in improving their cultivation. They were afraid that if they took a wrong step, they would fall into a bottomless abyss and be doomed eternally.
If a mortal who had not yet contacted the dharma wanted to cultivate, he would have to strengthen his own beliefs and pursue the “true dharma” between heaven and earth with all his might. He had to find a “real master” who could guide him into the cultivation world.
As for tho rookie cultivators who had already contacted the dharma, if they wanted to cultivate further, they would have to solve a big problem like that of ‘riches’. Even if they solved a big problem like that, they would still also have to continue to solve other big problems like ‘companionship’ and ‘prefectural land’.
Even if all the above problems were solved, they would still be faced with so many magical items in the cultivation world.
Each magic item had its own unique properties and characteristics, and the methods of subduing them were also different. Li Yundong had previously subdued the Fan of Seven Treasures and the Liuhe. It could be said that he had succeeded in one go and could achieve whatever degree he wanted. Therefore, he had relaxed his vigilance on the matter of subduing magic items.
After all, he had only been cultivating for a short period of time. When he had been subduing magic items, he hadn’t received any help from Zi Yuan, who had a lot of experience in practice, and he didn’t know what sort of situation would occur when subduing a famous Buddhist magic item like the burning thumb pot.
The burning thumb pot was the personal magical item of Fahai, a famous monk of Buddhism. Although Fahai had passed away in meditation, his magical item had been left to his descendants, but it was not without use. For generations, there had been countless famous monks who had used the burning thumb pot to subdue demons and evil spirits. One of the most famous users was Master Haideng, who was born in the 28th year of Guang Xu in the Qing Dynasty and was originally known as Fan Wubing!
After Master Haideng passed away in 1989, the Buddhist magic item finally ended up in the hands of Du Fei from the Quanzhen Sect. It had only been around twenty years since then, but not much of the Zhenqi in the item had dissipated. Furthermore, there was a big difference between burning the thumb pot and the Fan of Seven Treasures.
That was, after Emperor Xianzong in Tang Dynasty passed away, the Fan of Seven Treasures had never been used by anyone else. Therefore, the Zhenqi of this Buddhist magic item had always been in decline.
However, the burning thumb pot was different. It had been used in the Fahai for more than 30 years. The spiritual energy of the Fahai had protected and supported it for more than 30 years. Coupled with the close protection and use of the famous monks of each generation, the spiritual energy of the magic item had not weakened. Instead, it had only grown stronger as time went on. Each famous monk had left their imprint on the thumb pot in order to test the next user, thus preventing it from falling into the hands of bad people.
Besides, the burning thumb pot was made of colored glaze, while the coloured glaze was a Buddhist artifact, it was bright and pure both inside and out. Therefore, if a cultivator wanted to subdue such a pure magic item, he had to first be “total and pure”. Otherwise, it would cause the rebound of Zhenqi imprints left by eminent monks over the generations, and then the burning thumb pot could launch a fierce counterattack.
While Li Yundong had been talking with Master Puren and Master Xincheng in the Xiyuan Temple before, the suspenseful thoughts had raced in his mind. In addition, after leaving, he had encountered the rampant Japanese men, further increasing his rage.
Although Li Yundong held his breath and calmed down before sitting in meditation, after all, the negative emotions in the depths of his mind could not be expelled so easily. In such a situation, he subdued the burning thumb pot, and the hostility and anger in his body were detected by the burning thumb pot, so Li Yundong was judged as a “vicious villain”. The Zhenqi marks of the past eminent monks began to fiercely counterattack, pulling Li Yundong’s apparition into the spirit space of the burning thumb pot.
Although Li Yundong had been sitting in meditation at this time, his apparition was extremely clear. He could feel that he was in a boundless dark world. He seemed to be in a vast, illusory world, and it was like the real world has completely ceased to exist.
The physical body did not exist, and neither did Zhenqi!
It was as if he was only left with an illusory, non-existent soul!
But though none of these existed, he could still feel the existence of his own apparition. No matter what he did, he could not get out of this situation. This development shocked Li Yundong to the core.
He suddenly recalled what Su Chan had once said. “Cultivation has three great terrors. They are the great terrors between life and death, the great terrors between heaven and earth, and the great terrors between reality and illusion!”
Li Yundong had experienced these three terrors more or less. He thought that after he had experienced them, they would no longer bother him.
But what he had not expected was that the three terrors were the demonic plague of all cultivators in the world since ancient times. Countless cultivators had to suffer under these three terrors. As long as their minds were slightly relaxed, these three terrors would take advantage of the situation and pull them into illusions. They would make these high-ranking cultivators fall into the mortal world and become trash that was not even comparable to an ordinary person writhing in the mud.
When Li Yundong first reached Zhuji phase, he had encountered such a great horror between reality and illusion. At this time, his apparition had been dragged into the Spirit Space of the burning thumb pot. It was as if his apparition was imprisoned in another vast universe. He not only couldn’t distinguish between reality and illusion, but was also unable to break free from cultivating nothingness.
He was like a tiny speck of dust floating endlessly in the boundless universe. No one could know when he would reach the shore and when he would be able to escape.
While Li Yundong was trapped in this non-existent world, Su Chan returned to her room. She was lying on the bed, tossing and turning, her beautiful eyes wide open and her heart full of worries.
She had been thinking about the incident in the teahouse, and she repeatedly told herself, “When Yundong surrenders to the burning thumb pot, I will tell him about it.
“But… but what if Yundong gets angry? What if he dislikes me? He entrusted the teahouse to me, but I made such trouble for him.
“Would it be okay if I didn’t tell him? It seems like that guy didn’t come to make trouble!”
She couldn’t come to a decision. She tossed and turned in bed all night, not sleeping properly until the light of dawn broke.
After dawn, the noise of the little foxes came into the living room, and Su Chan groggily roused herself.
She stood up, raised her head and yawned, then walked over to Li Yundong’s room with sleepy eyes, dressed in a long nightgown and a pair of slippers.
She had been dreaming all night, thinking about the problem before going to bed last night, and now she could no longer stop herself from going to Li Yundong.
As she walked, she mumbled, “No, I have to Yundong soon, otherwise, it will torture me to death…”
Su Chan walked to the door of Li Yundong’s room. She put her ear to the door only to find that there was no noise coming from inside and no sound of movement at all.
She was slightly stunned, thinking to herself, “Is he sleeping? Or subduing the item?”
She then looked to the sky. “It’s already past eight in the morning. Hasn’t it been a whole night?”
Thinking this, she tentatively knocked on the door and called weakly, “Yundong, are you there?”
But her cry was like a stone sinking into the sea, eliciting no response. “What’s happened? If he was sleeping, he should be awake and have heard this sound.
”Cultivators have very shallow sleep. They just to meet the body’s need for rest. If they hear even a little shout, they will immediately wake up.
“Could it be that he’s really subduing the burning thumb pot? If he’s really subduing it, I can’t interrupt him. What if he’s caught in illusions?”
Thinking of this, she tiptoed away from the door of Li Yundong’s room. She walked to the bathroom with a sad face and looked at herself in the mirror, seeing that her hair was a little loose and messy. She rubbed at it anxiously and muttered, “Oh, I hate this. I feel so uncomfortable holding a secret in my heart!”
At this time, Li Yundong, who was drifting endlessly in the illusory world, seemed to hear a soft, familiar voice calling his name from the other side of the distant world.
He was suddenly refreshed, like someone had straightened him out. He suddenly swam in the direction of the sound.
But in this vast spirit space, no matter how he swam, he could not reach the other shore. After a long time, he almost stopped in despair. He gazed into the endless darkness in front of him in horror and thought to himself, “No, I may never reach the other side this way!”
But he suddenly came to a realization. “I clearly heard Chan’er’s voice on the other shore. She must be there! How can I leave her alone?
“In this world, no one can stop me from being with Chan’er. Even if the Buddha stands in my way, I will kill Buddha. If God stands in my way, I will even kill God!
“How can this spirit space stop me?”
Li Yundong’s determination suddenly arose in his heart, and all of the Zhenqi in his body seemed to suddenly surge. He could feel that his illusory body had become tangible again. In an instant, he turned into an Immovable Wisdom King with superhuman powers. As he raised his hand, the thunder made a big splash, and the lightning was crackling with anger!
At this time, Li Yundong was violently struggling within the spirit space. At first, all the power he had released had been absorbed by the vast dark chaotic world, but as time went by, his anger became more and more intense. He seemed to have turned into a furious Immovable Wisdom King, and both heaven and earth were shaking from his anger!
Slowly, the spirit space began to shake violently. The originally lifeless dark chaos world began to be stirred by a flowing wind, as if an eggshell of darkness had been smashed by Li Yundong’s power. As a result, there was a crack in the world, and the light of the outside world began to leak in bit by bit.
He could see that there were more and more lights appearing around him. He struggled ever more crazily to vent his anger, as if he wanted to completely smash the cage that was trapping him.
But just as he was about to smash the spirit space, Li Yundong suddenly heard a distant and majestic voice slowly booming, as if the Buddha himself was speaking from the west. “What is the meaning of cultivation?”
Li Yundong was stunned when he heard the question. He stopped destroying the spirit space and looked around with his eyes wide open, as if he was looking for the source of the voice. “Cultivation refers to cultivating the mind!” he called out.
The voice quickly boomed again from all directions. “Then what is the cultivation of mind?”
Li Yundong replied impatiently, “Cultivating the mind is the fundamental principle of being immobile, not irritable, not happy, not greedy, not hateful!”
The voice continued, “Since you know what cultivation of the mind is, you should know that your heart is full of obsession. An obsession is an unwarranted thought, and you are a person with wild fantasies, so I can’t let you go. “
Li Yundong couldn’t help but yell angrily, “F*ck! Why do you cultivate Buddhism? Isn’t it because you want to become a Buddha one day? Isn’t that kind of wish also an obsession? Is this kind of obsession to become a Buddha also an unwarranted thought?”
After a moment of silence, the voice continued, “Amitabha, you’re right, but also wrong. Anyway, you can go ahead and see how far your obsession will take you.”
After that, the voice did not sound again even after Li Yundong had waited for a long time. Finally, he waved his fists and violently released the lightning in his hands, shooting it toward the spirit space.
With a rumbling sound, the spirit space in the darkness was instantly smashed by Li Yundong, and his eyes suddenly shone with light, as if he had come from a world of the polar night to a world of polar day.
Li Yundong squinted slightly, and after adjusting to the harsh light, he took a closer look.
After seeing what was before him, he was utterly shocked.
