Chapter 85 – The Prenatal True-One Spirit

Ascending the steps, the scenery below grew hazy and indistinct. Higher still, only a vast white expanse remained, along with the staircase before her.

Zhan Changfeng glanced at the wisteria-flower tracking mark on her wrist, and felt not the slightest relief in her heart. The one who had cast this mark was many realms above her, and she had never studied the art of breaking or removing such a curse — for now, there was nothing she could do about it.

But it remained a grave threat. Zhan Changfeng did not for a moment believe the Gongsun Clan would leave her alone once she reached Cangyun Ravine.

At last, the staircase came to an end. The clamor of voices swelled as the cultivators who had traveled alongside her jostled their way out.

Outside was the hall of a tower, its great doors flung open, revealing a Street busy with people coming and going.

The moment she stepped out, the elemental energy of heaven and earth washed over her, and her whole body felt refreshed and at ease. The density of elemental energy here was at least ten times that of Shenzhou.

The registration official inside the tower called out, “All newcomers must first register their name and place of origin, and receive a transit jade certificate before officially entering Cangyun Ravine.”

The registration official held a round mirror in one hand and a vermillion brush in the other, writing each newly arrived cultivator’s name and origin on the mirror’s surface. He then held the mirror up before the cultivator’s face and gave it a brief wave.

The cultivator felt as though the mirror pricked him with invisible thorns. Looking again, he was astonished to see a figure identical to himself within the mirror, accompanied by information about his background. “Sir, what is this thing? Why am I inside the mirror? Surely this mirror hasn’t absorbed my soul?”

He had nearly drawn his blade to hack apart the sinister object, but restrained himself only out of deference to the fact that this was Cangyun Ravine.

The registration official was unperturbed, having seen such reactions before. “This mirror retains your vital essence, spirit, and image.”

As he spoke, he pressed a jade tablet three inches wide against the mirror’s surface. The two objects shimmered briefly with a floating light, and he then handed the tablet to the cultivator. “This is your transit jade certificate — all your information has been imprinted within it. You may use it to travel to any city, so guard it carefully. Without a transit jade certificate, you are an unregistered person, and those cities and towns will not let you in.”

Retaining one’s vital essence and spirit?

That was truly formidable — even if one changed their appearance, they could still be identified.

If the transit jade certificates could be put to good use, they would be a tremendous help in maintaining order and upholding the law. Zhan Changfeng thought instinctively.

She had previously looked into the structure of Cangyun Ravine.

In its earliest days, Cangyun Ravine had only the Six Academies. Only later did outside cultivators migrate in, and ordinary mortals eventually came to be born here as well. So the heart of Cangyun Ravine’s governance was the Council of Elders, established by the Six Academies to manage the ever-growing number of settlers.

Cangyun Ravine had no centralized authority. Almost all cities were built by individuals, but the construction of any city had to receive the Council of Elders’ approval. The laws enacted within could not violate the Council’s statutes. Cities were also required to pay taxes to the Council and to accept the oversight of the Bureau of Patrol.

Luoying City was directly under the Council of Elders and also served as the Bureau of Patrol’s headquarters. She had specifically inquired with the Bureau of Patrol about the rules of Luoying City, and learned that fighting within the city was strictly prohibited, and that discipline was relatively strict.

This was extremely advantageous to her current situation.

Nearby, the sour-faced cultivator’s expression shifted sharply. He raised the back of his hand — the purple bauhinia flower upon it was sending out a faint signal.

The tracking mark had been cast by the Gongsun Clan’s Patriarch. However, since the Gongsun Clan was still under observation by the Bureau of Patrol, the Patriarch could not act personally, and so had transferred the mother-mark to the sour-faced cultivator, ordering him to give chase and capture the target.

The sour-faced cultivator was not the true caster, after all, and his perception of the mark was limited by distance — which was exactly why he had not left Luoying City all along.

“I thought she would hide for three years, yet she couldn’t hold out and made her move so soon.” The sour-faced cultivator sent a sound transmission to his companion while rushing out onto the Street at speed. As the signal grew stronger and stronger, he finally spotted a silhouette he would recognize even if reduced to ash, sauntering leisurely ahead.

“Senior Brother, what do we do now?” asked the Tiger-Stone Daoist, who had come upon receiving the message.

The sour-faced cultivator, mindful of the city patrol guards, did not act directly. “Don’t startle the snake for now. Wait for an opportunity and strike from the shadows.”

The two tailed Zhan Changfeng, only to see her walk straight to the area beside the Bureau of Patrol headquarters and rent a stone chamber — she was clearly prepared to dig in until the end of time!

The Tiger-Stone Daoist was indignant. “It seems she came prepared and intends to outlast us!”

“That’s a prime location — how long can she possibly afford to rent it!” The sour-faced cultivator curled his lip slightly. “She’ll have to come out eventually. We’ll find an opportunity to lure her out of the city.”

Zhan Changfeng had paid a steep price to rent the stone chamber beside the Bureau of Patrol, and while her own safety was certainly a consideration, the greater reason was that she was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Not a breakthrough of her life-soul or physical body, but a breakthrough of her earth-soul.

Starting from the foundation of the Hundred Ghosts’ Pure Yin power, she had endured the baptism of the nine-tiered lotus platform, refined her Pure Yin Bones, fully mastered Pure Yin power, and after a further year of accumulation, her earth-soul cultivation had reached Peak Postnatal.

Now, stimulated by the dense elemental energy of Cangyun Ravine, she was on the verge of breaking into the Prenatal realm!

The Prenatal realm was an entirely new stage — not a progression of cultivation, but a transformation of the mind. Only by passing through this phase could one begin to seek one’s true self, providing a path toward establishing one’s Dao foundation.

What is the Prenatal realm? It all comes down to the Prenatal True-One Spirit.

Entering through the space between the eyebrows: one inch in lies the Bright Hall, two inches in lies the grotto Chamber, three inches in lies the Upper Cinnabar Field. The Upper Cinnabar Field, also called the Purple Palace, is a void aperture one inch and two fen in circumference, within which dwells the Prenatal True-One Spirit. The Prenatal True-One Spirit is the bridge between the cultivator and the universe, and also the prototype of the Dao seed.

Thus the Prenatal realm has three tiers, spoken of as: embrace stillness and guard the void, sit within the Bright Hall; pass through the Purple Sovereign’s spirit gate, enter the grotto Chamber; then knock upon the heart of heaven and summon the True Spirit — ask of my Dao path, whence it begins today.

When cultivators were out and about and needed to cultivate, ordinary inns were not particularly safe. As cultivators moved more and more, stone chamber rentals became increasingly common. Stone chambers were generally built underground, equipped with barriers at the door — even if someone set off an explosion inside, it would not affect the neighbors, and conversely, nothing from outside could disturb you. They offered exceptional protection.

Zhan Changfeng paid six hundred spirit stones for a one-month rental. She then spent some time arranging Soul-Mark restrictions, swallowed a Fasting Pill she had purchased a short while ago, and settled into emptiness and stillness. The Fasting Pill was a marvelous thing she had only recently discovered — from now on, she need never worry about finding food again.

Her thoughts and actions were perfectly aligned. The direction of her heart was natural and clear. Even when troubled, she would resolve it on the spot. Thus her state of mind had always been exceptionally clear and open — just as birth and death, in her eyes, were both something utterly straightforward.

One step into the Bright Hall. Two steps into the grotto Chamber. The third step was taken, and her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hands and feet, and body all vanished.

This was even more terrifying than being stripped of the five senses, because her consciousness itself was also dissolving into void. At first she still knew she was cultivating, still knew her own name — but in the end, nothing remained. She could only feel her own existence.

The only thing she could be certain of was her own existence.

Gradually, a drifting voice began to sound within her heart. She tried her best to “listen,” but could never quite make it out. She lost interest in listening, cast aside the incomprehensible words, and wandered aimlessly through the void. She felt this place was somewhat familiar, yet it seemed as though something was missing.

What was missing?

She felt pain — as though someone was tearing at her soul, trying to stop her from remembering. But the more this happened, the more she refused to relent. The sense of familiarity grew stronger, and she instinctively moved in one direction.

She lay there, her sleeping form utterly serene.

Before, she had always seen her in dreams, never knowing that she dwelt within the Purple Palace.

The Purple Palace was where the Prenatal True-One Spirit resided — and also where the soul resided, where consciousness resided. When she thought about it this way, her being here was entirely fitting.

Yi Changsheng was gentler than Zhan Changfeng, and also more ruthless than Zhan Changfeng. Otherwise, how could she have awakened her only to fall back into slumber on her own? Zhan Changfeng thought aimlessly.

That ethereal voice sounded again, each utterance clearer than the last, each one more earth-shaking and deafening than the one before.

Who are you, where do you come from, and where are you going?

Who are you, where do you come from, and where are you going?!

Zhan Changfeng was silent for a long while, then laughed freely and openly. “All things are but creations of the mind!”

The Buddha said: “The Dharma is originally without dharma; no-dharma is also dharma. Now, when no dharma is transmitted, dharma to dharma — what has ever been dharma?”

The Dao said: “The reason one cannot achieve this is that the heart has not yet been clarified, that desire has not yet been relinquished. For those who can relinquish it: look inward at the heart — the heart has no heart; look outward at the form — the form has no form; look far at all things — things have no things. Once these three are understood, one sees only emptiness. Observe emptiness, and emptiness too is empty; emptiness has nothing to be empty of. Since that which is empty is already nothing, and nothing itself is also nothing — once nothing too is nothing, there is only a clear and constant stillness. In that stillness there is nothing to be still about — how then can desire arise? When desire no longer arises, that is true stillness.”

Both the Buddha and the Dao spoke of nothing more than the cultivation of the heart. What a pity that she had studied Daoist scriptures with the Long-bearded Daoist for so long, and listened to the Buddhist teachings of the high monks of the mountain temple for so long, only to finally understand it now.

Who am I, where do I come from, and where am I going?

Does it matter?

I am my parents’ child, I am the Heir Apparent of a dynasty, I am one of all living beings, I am a speck of dust in the universe, I am the past and the Future — I am whoever I believe myself to be.

I come from Shenzhou, I come from the land of dreams, I come from times gone by — perhaps I never came from anywhere at all. I come from wherever I believe I come from.

I am going to the Six Academies, I am going to the upper realms, I am going to ten thousand worlds, I am going to the birth of the cosmos, I am going to the destruction of the world, I am going to the unknown place that has existed since eternity — wherever I wish to go, there I shall go!

This was her heart!

Wherever the heart points, go there entirely!

A thread of spiritual luminance rose sharply upward. Heaven and earth revealed their teachings. The Prenatal True-One Spirit descended. The Dao embryo was initially formed. The abilities of distant sight, far sight, and penetrating sight all manifested together.

— The Bright Hall, grotto Chamber, and Upper Cinnabar Field are adapted from Daoist alchemical scriptures.

— The sayings of Buddhism and Daoism are respectively sourced from: The Scripture of Constant Clarity and Stillness as Spoken by the Supreme Old Lord, and the Dharma-Transmission Verse of the World-Honored Shakyamuni.

(End of Chapter)