The worldstartling zeniths, apex of creation; imperial throne assumed, the heavens part in fright. Old Lei was the spirit of the Spiritstartler Ring, one of the twenty-one imperial zeniths. However, in truth, he hardly knew anything about this powerful ring. Even he had only managed to avoid death and become the spirit of the ring by chance back then.
As such, Old Lei was just as surprised as Wun Fan at everything before them. He looked at the map on the ceiling and couldn’t help but be curious. To his knowledge, this map didn’t resemble anywhere in Heaven’s Martial World. Could it be a treasure map of some sort instead?
Suddenly, golden light appeared in the room, blinding and brilliant. Wun Fan could barely keep his eyes open and had to raise his hand to protect himself from the glare. Seven words were hidden within the golden light:
Sword Mantra of the Endless Crimson Dust.
Old Lei looked confused when he saw the name of the mantra. He couldn’t help but wonder to himself, Sword Mantra of the Endless Crimson Dust? Why have I never heard of this mantra?
However, names had power. The fact that this mantra dared to have the crimson dust itself in its name meant that it was something extraordinary. After all, ‘crimson dust’ was another term by which people called the worldly realms of mankind.
Back in the room, the golden light was still as blinding as ever. Wun Fan was getting dizzy. He could only look away to relieve the pain in his eyes. That was when he noticed something unusual about the murals.
The murals around him were of exceptional craftsmanship, painted with brushstrokes that captured the essence of their subjects. The golden light spilled all over the room, casting its brilliance on the murals and bringing them to life. The painting started to move, and the scene of a devastating war started playing out. Both sides had both humans and beasts amongst their ranks. The combatants charged, flew and even tunneled beneath the ground, unleashing the forces lightning, fire, wind, water and earth upon each other.
Suddenly, the sky shattered. Lightning rumbled, earth cracked, flames surged, dams burst. Blood ran like rivers as death filled the ground. The mortals could only watch as the gods and demons fought. There was nothing they could do. The sight of a war between such powerful beings stunned Wun Fan and rendered him speechless.
These people, are they really still just mere martial artists?
Wun Fan’s attention was drawn back to the golden light. The seven words had vanished and the blinding radiance had dimmed slightly. Suddenly, an aura erupted from the light and charged straight into Wun Fan’s mind. A passage appeared in his mind.
Sword Mantra of the Endless Crimson Dust, a mantra of only forty-one words.
Origin, the endless causes are extinguished. The weakwater flows through the crimson dust in endless forms, endless causes flowing for endless miles. Endless objects float; endless objects sink. Endless forces exist beneath the heavens, endless forces real and endless forces false.
Causes rise and cease to exist. Objects float and sink. False and real. These are the core tenets of the Sword Mantra of the Endless Crimson Dust that allows its user to absorb aether.
One is all and all is one. The Endless Crimson Dust Sword suggests that the endless is one, but its true nature is that one is endless. They who wield it is the sword. Sword and person are one. The sword is the mind and the mind is the sword. When the heart of sword is mastered, anything can be a sword. There are three levels to the Sword Mantra of the Endless Crimson Dust, each a wonder to the mantra’s power.
The three levels are as follows:
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When first you see the crimson dusts’ hundred acts, think as you may the mountains remain mountains.
Whilst trapped you roam the crimson dusts’ endless realms, calm as you are the rivers are no rivers.
At last you know the crimson dusts’ absent truths, mountains and rivers are but mountains and rivers.
Wun Fan hardly understood anything, but he recited two lines from the mantra anyway, “Origin, the endless causes are extinguished. The weakwater flows through the crimson dust in endless forms, endless causes flowing for endless miles. Endless objects float; endless objects sink.”
He suddenly felt a response from the soul energy in his body. They turned into a long and thin river and enveloped the blood vessels and meridians around his lungs. They started to slowly absorb the aether from his surroundings. Strangely enough, the impurities in the air were automatically filtered from the aether. The filtered aether easily attached itself to the soul energy and allowed itself to be absorbed.
“What? How is it so powerful?” Wun Fan was both shocked and overjoyed. Just two simple lines from the mantra had such tremendous effect. Wun Fan wasted no time and immediately drew his consciousness out of the ring and back into his body.
Again and again, he absorbed the aether, attached it to his soul energy and then cycled his soul energy directly into the Spiritstartler Ring. The ring purified the aether into its purest form and fed it back to Wun Fan to convert into soul energy.
Even Old Lei couldn’t help but be surprised by the power of this mantra. The average mantra was considered powerful if it helped increase the speed of aether absorption, let alone if it had the ability to filter impurities. If the existence of this mantra was known to the world, it would lead to a bloodbath.
Time passes quickly when one is meditating. Wun Fan didn’t know how much aether he had absorbed, but he had received plenty of purified aether from the Spiritstartler Ring. He had recovered all his soul energy and both his body and mind were in peak condition.
He could sense that the soul energy in his body was different from the average person’s. It contained an unusual power. He could feel a strange, inexplicable feeling of…death?
This death aura was incredibly similar to the aura he experienced during his aura tribulation. If he could make use of this death aura in combat, it would be a devastating weapon.
Wun Fan was just about to ask Old Lei a question when a heavy cape was wrapped around his body. A pair of tiny hands pulled the cape over itself and wrapped Wun Fan tightly under the cloth. The ‘ambushed’ Wun Fan chuckled, his shoulders shaking in turn as he said, “Siu Lan, you’re awake?”
“You sound like an old man.” A sweet and clear voice replied in a tone that perfectly conveyed its owner’s disdain.
“Hmph! Mean as usual.” Wun Fan didn’t open his eyes. He continued adjusting his breathing as he funnelled more aether into the Spiritstartler Ring. He knew that he would not have survived the tribulations on that day if it had not been for the ring providing him with a near-endless supply of aether. Even hundreds of thousands of extra lives would have meant nothing.
What he had to do now was replenish the aether the ring had lost and continue to do so from now on. There was nothing wrong in being prepared. Wun Fan saw Old Lei’s condition. He believed that it was closely related to the lack of aether inside the Spiritstartler Ring. Old Lei might not have mentioned it, but Wun Fan was smart enough to figure it out on his own.
He was an attentive kid, after all.
“You’ve been unconscious for the past few days. Can’t you at least eat a little before you go back to training?” Wun Siu Lan seemed to have thought of something when she saw the snow stop. She hastily took out a bamboo basket from her storage ring. She opened the basket and steam rose into the air, along with a sweet and fragrant smell. Wun Siu Lan lifted the basket in front of Wun Fan’s face and said softly into his ear, “I made caramelized white pork rice for you. Wanna do me a favor of tasting it?”
Wun Siu Lan felt a strange impulse in the middle of the night earlier. She woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep again. She had a feeling that Wun Fan had woken up and she knew him well enough to know that he was probably going to be training. That was why she prepared food ahead of time.
At the very least, there won’t be a starved corpse found in the back mountain now.
Wun Fan was already feeling hungry and the smell only made it worse. He immediately opened his eyes and saw a pair of white hands holding a white ceramic plate. Sumptuous glutinuous rice rested on the plate, with twelve pieces of pork belly placed around it, nine fatty pieces of meat and one skinny cut. Every single slice of the pork belly was incredibly fine, made with exceptional knifework. The fragrant smell of the rice, the sugar and the lard mixed together in perfect harmony. The dish didn’t lack in any aspect at all.
Wun Fan couldn’t help but swear, “Damn! Since when were you so good at cooking?”
“Hehe, you can’t wait to dig in, can you?” Wun Siu Lan smiled mischeviously as she touched her chin and said, “First cook the meat until it’s rare, then slice it into two-millimeters-thick pieces. Add red bean paste and rock sugar and cook at high heat until the sugar turns into syrup. Pour it over the meat. Then, cook the glutinuous rice that has been soaking for four hours with the syrup until it is half-done.”
“Lastly, place the pork belly on a plate with the half-done rice on top. Steam the whole team until it’s done and there you have it. Hehehe,” Wun Siu Lan said proudly, her shoulders shaking as she chuckled. It was clear that she was very smug about it.
Wun Fan looked at the rice on the plate and couldn’t hold back his hunger anymore. He snatched the ceramic spoon from the basket, took the white plate and dug in. His mouth was stuffed full of meat and rice as he mumbled, “When did you wake up?”
“Two days ago. I woke up after being in a coma for two days.” Wun Siu Lan took out a mat from her ring and placed it on the ground. She sat down and motioned for Wun Fan to join her. However, her face quickly turned red when she remembered the dozens of lives she had spent with Wun Fan inside her inner demon tribulation.
She said awkwardly, “That said, I had a very unusual inner demon tribulation…”
“What happened?” Wun Fan was busy eliminating the food and didn’t notice Wun Siu Lan’s abnormal behavior.
“I went to a strange world filled with Sacred tools that could carry hundreds of people across the sky. The earth was crowded with royal palaces that went straight into the heavens. Everyone wore strange clothes in the streets and held strange rectangular Sacred tools that could emit light and sounds. The tools could even capture your likeness and preserve it for a long, long time,” Wun Siu Lan recalled the contents of her inner demon tribulation earnestly. It had left a deep impression on her, but what happened in the inner demon tribulation would slowly fade once the tribulation was over, until nothing was left.
“Speaking of which, I learned the recipe for the caramelized white pork rice from that rectangular Sacred tool.”273Please respect copyright.PENANAVjl6AvTTTH