Chapter 2 Enlightenment by the Pond

Ji Ning ran at top speed with a body movement that achieved unity of man and nature, swift as the wind. After leaving Dongshan Swamp, he continued his frantic escape, dashing through the mountain forests for perhaps a thousand li before finally stopping. By then, the Golden Crow had completely set, though the western clouds were still red, casting a faint light upon the earth.

"Whoosh!" Ji Ning wiped his head, drenched in sweat.

"First I ran three hundred li over water, then another thousand li through the mountains. And all at top speed—I've never run like this before. I didn't expect that even with my physique, I'd work up a sweat." Normally, when Ji Ning ran a thousand li over Dongshan Swamp, he didn't even break a sweat, but that was never at full speed.

Weariness washed over him. Ji Ning strolled forward until he came to a pond, where lotus flowers bloomed in profusion. The lotuses rose unsullied from the mud, their stems straight, and a fragrance of lotus filled his nostrils. With a weary smile, he sat down heavily by the pond's edge.

"I've escaped disaster for now." Ji Ning flipped his hand and produced a bamboo tube filled with clean water. He tilted his head back and took a couple of gulps.

"I wonder how that little green snake is doing," Ji Ning sighed softly. "Little green snake, don't blame me. I couldn't save you. I only regret that I've never reached the Xiantian stage."

"Xiantian!"

The thought brought a trace of melancholy to Ji Ning's heart.

As the foremost divine-arts body-tempering technique, the "Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens" was immensely powerful, but its difficulty was equally immense. Even with his talent, he found it hard to break through. How could he achieve the 'union of yin and yang, the fusion of water and fire'? How could he merge the lunar and solar forces within his body into one?

"How exactly do I break through?" Ji Ning pondered deeply.

Whoosh!

A breeze blew, the cool summer evening air refreshing. The wind stirred the lotuses in the pond, some swaying left and right, others with leaves spinning gently, first left, then back right.

Ji Ning had already achieved unity of man and nature with his Windshadow Steps, so his mind naturally merged with the wind of heaven and earth. When the wind blew on the lotuses, he could clearly feel it...

"Hmm?" Ji Ning showed a curious expression. "The wind blows the lotuses, spinning left and right!"

Something stirred in Ji Ning's heart.

"If a leaf is blown by the wind, it will only be tossed about chaotically—because it has no root."

"If a small sapling is blown by the wind, it merely sways left and right—because it lacks large, round leaves."

"But when a lotus leaf is blown, it can spin left and right, deflecting the force."

Ji Ning looked up at the sky. Though it wasn't fully dark yet, the moon was already faintly visible. "The Golden Crow sets, the Moon Rabbit rises!"

"Spinning left, counter-spinning right!"

"Day contrasts with night. It is because there is day that night is thrown into relief!" Ji Ning murmured to himself. "In pitch darkness, a single point of light is dazzlingly bright. The lotus leaf spins left and right—two opposite directions—and thus deflects the wind's force, remaining as it always was."

Ji Ning closed his eyes.

His body and mind merged with heaven and earth, feeling the wind, feeling the lotus leaves by the pond.

He faintly sensed a great principle, a mystery that had existed in this world since time immemorial... This mystery was the Dao. The wind contained the Dao, unfathomable and elusive, but when the wind blew on the lotus leaves, Ji Ning saw the shadow of the Dao on them, caught a trace of its rhythm, its true meaning!

Ji Ning sat cross-legged quietly by the pond, completely immersed, savoring the trace of the Dao's rhythm he could perceive from the swaying and spinning of the lotus leaves.

...

Enlightenment is a matter of chance, not something to be sought.

Only when mind, thought, and environment perfectly align in a single moment can one touch a trace of the Dao. And to touch the Dao, the prerequisite is first to achieve unity of man and nature—only by fully merging one's spirit with heaven and earth can one reach the eternal Dao.

"Gurgle, gurgle..." The pond water trickled slowly through a small stream hidden by weeds.

"Croak, croak!"

Night fell, and frogs croaked in the jungle.

Gradually...

Strands of light began to gather around the cross-legged Ji Ning. First, specks of watery light coalesced, forming huge lotus leaves of water that surrounded him, unfurling and swaying slightly in the wind.

Then, specks of fiery light gathered, forming lotus leaves of flame, equally huge, also encircling him.

Two layers of lotus leaves.

One layer of water lotus leaves, one layer of fire lotus leaves. Each layer had three petals.

"Whoosh!" Where water and fire met, wind arose from nothing.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

The wind generated between the two layers of leaves set them both spinning: the lower water lotus leaves turned to the left, the upper fire lotus leaves turned to the right. The two layers rotated in opposite directions... slowly, gently. Ji Ning exerted no personal force at all.

Everything arose naturally.

"Swoosh!" A gray-furred wolf burst from the jungle, its green eyes fixed on the fur-clad youth in the distance. The huge lotus petals, several zhang across, surrounding the youth puzzled it slightly, but as a beast of low intelligence, its instincts told it that those spinning water and fire lotus leaves were merely part of heaven and earth—like clouds, nothing to heed.

The gray wolf bared its fangs at the fur-clad youth.

It was hungry!

And the youth sat there motionless, as if asleep, surely defenseless. Besides, this human boy looked tender and must taste good. The wolf could already feel its mouth watering.

No hesitation!

"Swoosh!" The wolf dashed forward swiftly, then leaped, jaws wide, aiming to bite the fur-clad youth.

But the moment it jumped into the area covered by the two layers of lotus leaves...

"Sss!"

The wind generated where the two layers met, carrying a grinding force imbued with the power of heaven and earth, instantly shredded the wolf into fragments. Blood trickled along the ground, some seeping into the soil, some flowing into the pond.

...

Night.

Tiemuzhan and the black-robed man, his beast-tamed great demon, followed an ice bee through the mountains.

An ice bee was, after all, just a bee—not a large bird or a great demon. Its flying speed was pitiful, less than a tenth of Ji Ning's running speed.

"That Ji kid can really run." Tiemuzhan's face was dark. "He ran out of Dongshan Swamp and kept fleeing..."

The black-robed man quickly said, "Master, the ice bee flies much slower. If that Ji kid keeps running nonstop all the way to any of the five prefectural cities of the Ji clan, we'll have no way to deal with him."

"Run all the way to the five prefectural cities?" Tiemuzhan shook his head. "Too far. Dongshan Swamp is on the border of Ji territory. Running from the border to the five prefectural cities in one go? That kid shouldn't run that far." He said this, but inwardly he worried. If Ji Ning really reached any of the five prefectural cities, Tiemuzhan, confident as he was, wouldn't dare charge into the enemy's lair.

"We'll chase slowly."

Tiemuzhan said, "The ice flower liquid left a special scent that lasts three days. We can't smell it, but the ice bee can. As long as that Ji kid doesn't reach the five prefectural cities, he's dead!"

"Right, dead!" the black-robed man echoed.

"He ruined my plans and will bring me a great enemy in the future." Tiemuzhan thought of the void-shifting green snake roaming outside, growing strong, and returning as a Zifu-level old demon... He couldn't help but fear, and his hatred for Ji Ning deepened. "I'll skin him alive and pull his sinews!"

"Right, skin him alive and pull his sinews!" the black-robed man bared his teeth.

...

The Golden Crow rose in the east; dawn had come. Tiemuzhan and his beast-tamed great demon were still tracking slowly, both fuming. That Ji kid was too cautious—after leaving Dongshan Swamp, he'd run at least another thousand li.

An ice bee flying a thousand li was also exhausted; fortunately, it was an exotic insect.

"Master." The black-robed man's eyes lit up as he pointed into the distance.

"Hmm?" Tiemuzhan, mentally weary, followed the direction and vaguely saw a figure by a pond in the distance. His spirits lifted.

Tiemuzhan's eyes gleamed. He licked his lips and communicated mentally, "Let's go over."

A master and his spirit beast could maintain mental communication at close range. The distance depended on the strength of their souls. Ordinary Xiantian beings and their spirit beasts could barely communicate within ten meters.

They advanced cautiously, trying not to make a sound.

But even if he made noise, Tiemuzhan wasn't afraid. He was a late-stage Xiantian being, possibly faster than Ji Ning when running, and he carried 'speed talismans' and other ordinary talismans. There was no way Ji Ning could escape.

"What a fool. Even though I'm careful, I still make some noise, yet he shows no alertness. He's supposed to be training in divine-arts body-tempering, with keen senses. Hmph, no experience—probably asleep." Tiemuzhan sneered. "Good, makes it easier for me. Otherwise, I might have to waste a speed talisman."

Tiemuzhan and the black-robed man continued forward.

Gradually...

They could see clearly.

"What?" They both froze.

The sun had risen, and under its rays, the huge fire lotus leaves and water lotus leaves appeared somewhat translucent. After all, these lotus leaves were not real; they were formed by the power of heaven and earth. Under sunlight, they became semi-transparent.

Two layers of enormous lotus leaves slowly rotated in opposite directions, carrying a strange rhythm. In the center, surrounded by the two layers, Ji Ning sat cross-legged.

"What... what is this?" Tiemuzhan, though well-traveled, had never seen such a sight. "Is it true essence externalized into shapes?"

"But even if he broke through to Xiantian, he'd only be at the initial stage, probably without any magic treasures." A cruel grin spread across Tiemuzhan's face.