Xu Wuyi "watched" this scene, and a sudden realization dawned in his mind.
Fire is motion.
’Then what is the motion of these sparks?’
He stopped thinking. Instead, he imrsed his entire Heart and Spirit into it, to feel, to observe, to experience.
...
Ti flowed by in the silence.
Xu Wuyi remained in his cross-legged position from afternoon to dusk, and then until night fell.
The smart-brain quietly delivered dinner. Seeing him imrsed in his practice, it didn’t disturb him, gently placing the food box by the door before leaving.
Late at night, the only light in the bamboo house was the faint moonlight filtering in through the window.
Suddenly, Xu Wuyi opened his eyes.
Deep within his pupils, a dim golden glimr flashed and vanished.
He rose and walked to the *Celestial Bird Bathing in Fire Painting*. This ti, he didn’t look with his eyes. Instead, he slowly extended his Spiritual Perception to touch the painting’s surface.
In an instant, the familiar scorching heat returned.
But this ti, within that scorching heat, there was a trace of... liveliness.
The Fla in the painting seed to co alive. It was no longer made of static brushstrokes, but was truly burning, flickering, and breathing.
The gaze of the Divine Bird also seed to hold a certain indescribable quality.
It was not the pain of being incinerated by the Fla, nor the pleasure of bathing in it, but sothing more fundantal.
Acceptance.
The Fla was a part of it, and it was a part of the Fla.
Xu Wuyi suddenly recalled the Fla Venerable’s words.
"I am the fire."
He hadn’t quite understood it then, but now he felt he was faintly touching the edge of that concept.
Fire was not an external object, not a tool, not a ans to an end.
Fire was the self.
The mont this thought arose, the Mountain Peak Great Sun Realm in his sea of consciousness trembled violently.
The light of the great sun surged, and the surrounding dim golden sparks spun faster, beginning to generate a faint gravitational pull between them.
Xu Wuyi hurriedly reined in his Heart and Spirit, not daring to delve any deeper.
He understood the principle that too much is as bad as not enough.
He took two steps back, drew a deep breath, and suppressed his churning Qi and Blood and Spirit.
He walked to the door and picked up the food box. Inside was still-warm stewed at and flatbread, along with a pot of clear tea.
He ate slowly, feeling the food transform into Energy that nourished his body. Then he washed up and rested.
Cultivation wasn’t a desperate struggle, but a long and steady process.
...
The next day, Xu Wuyi resud his regular routine.
He rose at five in the morning and practiced the *Basic Body Refining Technique* in the garden. Every movent was precise and perfect, his Qi and Blood circulating with an efficiency far surpassing that of an ordinary person.
After two rounds of the Body Refining Technique, he began his spear practice.
The teor Iron Long Spear danced in his hands as he executed the Silk Binding Force of the Wind-Settling Spear, the Spiritual Cold Radiance of the Shocking God Spear, and the Soul Suppressing intent of the Eight-direction Soul Suppressing Spear, one after another.
Finally, he integrated all the Spear Techniques, reducing them to the simplest, most direct thrusts, sweeps, upward flicks, and smashes.
There was nothing flashy, only what was practical.
This was a lesson the Star Realm Battlefield had taught him: in a life-or-death battle, all superfluous Techniques were openings for the enemy.
An hour had passed by the ti he finished his spear practice.
Steam rose from Xu Wuyi’s entire body, and his training uniform was soaked with sweat.
He returned to the bamboo house, took a cold shower, and changed into clean clothes before finally sitting down in front of the *Celestial Bird Bathing in Fire Painting*.
His observation began.
This ti, he no longer tried to "understand" anything; he just watched quietly.
Watching how the Fla burned, how the Divine Bird stretched, how the ntal Realm contained within the painting flowed.
Ti passed, second by second.
Xu Wuyi’s breathing gradually beca long and slow, his Spirit completely imrsed in the painting.
In a trance, he seed to hear the CRACKLING of the Fla, feel a heat that was scorching yet not violent, and even sll a fragrance similar to sandalwood.
And the Divine Bird, it seed, turned its head and glanced at him.
Its gaze was calm, profound, as if it could see straight through his soul.
Xu Wuyi felt neither shock nor fear.
He simply t its gaze openly, laying bare his understanding, his doubts, and his path without reservation before that stare.
Then, he "heard" a voice.
It was not a sound heard with his ears, but one that echoed directly in the depths of his consciousness.
The voice was ancient and majestic, yet it also carried a trace of gentleness.
"What is fire?"
Xu Wuyi blurted out, "Fire is motion."
"What else?"
"Fire is connection."
"What else?"
"Fire is resonance."
The voice fell silent for a mont before asking again, "And what of you?"
Xu Wuyi froze.
"Is fire you?" the voice pressed. "Are you fire?"
Xu Wuyi could not answer this question.
’Am I fire?’
He controlled the Undying Fla, comprehended the Fire Realm, and could even articulate understandings like "fire is motion."
’But am I fire itself?’
’Clearly not.’
He was a man, he was Xu Wuyi, he was a Martial Artist.
Fla was rely a power he controlled, a path he understood, a part of his ntal Realm.
To beco fire itself—this was the Fla Venerable’s understanding, but it was not his.
He could accept this understanding, he could use it as a reference, absorb it, and digest it into his own realization, but he would not accept it wholesale.
’But... is it really just that?’
On the Star Realm Battlefield, when those Flas connected, resonated, and ultimately ford a "concept" that incinerated everything, he had clearly felt as if those Flas had beco an extension of his body, a manifestation of his will.
At that mont, the boundary between fire and himself had blurred. It was sowhat similar to "I am the fire," yet fundantally different.
Xu Wuyi sank into deep thought.
The voice did not sound again, as if it had never been there at all. The bamboo house was silent, save for the occasional birdsong from outside the window.
After an unknown amount of ti, Xu Wuyi slowly opened his eyes.
His gaze was sowhat dazed, as if he had just awoken from a profound dream.
His gaze fell upon the *Celestial Bird Bathing in Fire Painting*. The painting was still the sa painting; the Divine Bird was still in the Fla, its expression calm.
But Xu Wuyi knew that the conversation he just had was not an illusion.
It was the remnant of the ntal Realm left in the painting, or rather, a wisp of a spiritual brand left behind by the artist to communicate with those who ca after.
"Am I fire?" Xu Wuyi asked himself in a low voice.
He had no answer.
But he knew that this question was the direction he needed to pursue next.
...
The third day, Xu Wuyi maintained the sa rhythm.
Body Refining, spear practice, observation.
But today, his observation took a new turn.
When his Spirit once again imrsed itself in the painting, the Divine Bird seed to co to life.
It wasn’t an illusion, but a true "aliveness"—its wings beat gently, its eyes shifted, and the Fla surrounding its body leaped and surged, as if it would fly out of the painting at any mont.
Xu Wuyi did not resist. Instead, he proactively opened up his Spirit, allowing that ntal Realm to envelop him.
In a trance, he felt as if he had transford into the Divine Bird.
’No, not transford. Rather, my consciousness has achieved a kind of resonance with the consciousness of the Divine Bird.’
He felt the temperature of the Fla, the stretching of his wings, and that wondrous Realm of being transcendent and detached, yet also one with the Fla.
Fire is motion.
Fire is connection.
Fire is resonance.
’So then, what about fire and life?’
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