In addition to Gong Shouzhuo and Yan Hao, Zhou Yuanjue's old acquaintances from his ti in the Southern Boxing Three Capitals, such as Ding Jiutong, Wu Tianhe, and Dai Yisheng, also received the news simultaneously.
So were astonished, others were filled with admiration, and so even took him as their role model, redoubling their own efforts.
The impact of a young Saint Awakening's sudden ergence was by no ans small.
But the protagonist at the center of this storm was unconcerned with the outside world.
At that mont, Zhou Yuanjue was still at the temporary military base in Duoka City, located at the foot of Kunlun Mountain. Over this period, aside from guarding the Sealing Realm Image at the mountain's base and helping Daoist Bailong repair it, he had dedicated all his remaining ti to training.
His encounter with Zhang Dongwei in the Kunlun Immortal Palace had shown him the terrifying power that stood at the pinnacle of Saint Awakening. Every move Zhang Dongwei made altered the surrounding environnt, as if he were a Divine Spirit in command of Celestial Phenona. Such imnse power was beyond the imagination of ordinary people and enough to leave any Martial Artist shaken.
Lately, he had been constantly pondering Zhang Dongwei's words.
The Yin Yang Technique. One Yin and one Yang—this is the Dao.
Zhang Dongwei's Turtle and Snake Form was the perfect illustration of this principle.
The turtle is hard, the snake is soft. When the two combine, Yin and Yang are balanced, allowing for a shared ascent.
The ancient Daoist Family used to say, "Lone Yin cannot birth, lone Yang cannot grow." Thinking on it, there was a great deal of truth to that.
Everything in the world can be understood through the principles of Yin and Yang.
There is white because there is black; there is high because there is low. A palm has the "softness" of its center and the "hardness" of its back, which is why a hand can grasp anything and create miracles.
The Martial Dao is no different. Without death, how can there be life? It is in the harmony between life and death that the human body can gradually transcend the mundane.
During his previous cultivation, through the forging of the Heaven and Earth Furnace Technique, his body's magnetic field had changed, gradually developing scorching heat and fla-like properties. Throughout this process, his physical constitution had naturally been enhanced.
However, after more than a month of training, this enhancent quickly reached a saturation point. The changes in his body's magnetic field leveled off, and the growth of his physical strength slowed.
This was because the human body has a finite capacity for endurance. Exceeding that limit by too much would force a slower pace of advancent; otherwise, the body would be unable to bear the strain and suffer damage.
This was the principle that "what is too rigid is easily broken."
'But what if I used Zhang Dongwei's thod to harmonize my own magnetic field with Yin and Yang?'
The Black Tortoise is associated with water, and both the turtle and the snake in its form are related to water. Yet, with one being hard and the other soft, their individual sharpness is neutralized, making them easier to control and more readily accepted by the body.
If he could achieve that, his physical strength might experience another major breakthrough.
'The opposition of Yin and Yang within the sa attribute... positive and negative shaping each other, developing in tandem...'
After several days and nights of contemplation, Zhou Yuanjue had a vague idea of the path forward.
Static Fire and Active Fire.
Fire could be divided into active and static. Static Fire guarded its domain like a brightly burning candle that even a gale-force wind could not extinguish. It guarded the mysteries of the mind and illuminated the path forward.
It did not contend or seize, attack or invade. It was the fire of enlightennt, of transcendence, of the mind and the True Self.
The pri example of Static Fire was the Nirvana Fire—the faint, natural candlelight left in his Niwan Palace by the Lamp Burning Technique, which contained the will of his innermost self.
The purpose of this fire was to repair the body, clarify the mind, and guard one's life and nature.
On the other hand, in opposition to Static Fire, there was Active Fire.
Active Fire was extrely aggressive, its temperature scorching. Once unleashed, it seed capable of incinerating the heavens, piercing the firmant, and purifying all creation. It was a raging inferno, a sharp blade of slaughter. When Active Fire erged, it could scorch the earth for a thousand li.
A pri example of Active Fire was the offensive technique Zhou Yuanjue had used when, guided by his rage, he ford a wondrous Hand Seal and manifested his Mind Dharma Form. Its core Mystical Technique was, in fact, the Samadhi Fire.
This was Zhou Yuanjue's own summation of his abilities. After the battle in the Kunlun Immortal Palace and his conversation with Zhang Dongwei, he had gained a deeper understanding of Saint Awakening and of himself.
However, simply summarizing his abilities and finding the path forward did not an he could achieve his goal in a single leap.
After a period of experintation, he discovered that to truly comprehend the Yin Yang Technique, the most crucial elent, besides separating Yin and Yang, was a single principle: "unification."
The unification of Yin and Yang.
When Zhang Dongwei had used his power, it was the result of the two attributes of Yin and Yang rging.
Individually, a turtle and a snake are rely common creatures in the natural world, not even at the top of the food chain.
But when the aspects of the turtle and the snake rged, they ford the Divine Beast Black Tortoise—one of the Four Spirits—capable of summoning wind and rain, standing indomitably between heaven and earth, its every move triggering changes in the Celestial Phenona.
Therefore, without achieving this fusion, the separate aspects of Yin and Yang were nothing special.
Unfortunately, after several days of trying, Zhou Yuanjue discovered he could not rge Active Fire and Static Fire to be used simultaneously.
When he used Static Fire, his thoughts grew deep and restrained, his mind cald, and he focused on guarding his Niwan Palace. It was a feeling of entering ditation, almost like Nirvana, as if everything had faded into emptiness.
But when he used Active Fire, the flas ignited all the acupoints in his body, his temperature soared, hormones surged, and his spiritual state was filled with a sense of explosive power. It was the complete opposite of the state required for Static Fire. How could they possibly be rged and used at the sa ti?
Half Buddha, half Demon; to perform frenzied acts with a heart of utter tranquility—that state of being was the "Zen" that was so difficult to attain.
That was no easy feat.
Zhou Yuanjue felt he was in a bind. Despite days of exploration, and though he now understood the direction he needed to go, he had made no tangible progress.
The path of Saint Awakening was truly completely different from what ca before. No wonder that among the countless geniuses throughout history, so few had been able to advance further.
He was missing a necessary catalyst.
He stood atop a mountain not far from the temporary military base. A cold wind howled across the snow-covered landscape, and the air was thin.
Yet Zhou Yuanjue wore only a short-sleeved shirt, and in the frigid wind, his skin actually had a healthy, ruddy glow.
The heights are unbearably cold, but for him, that wasn't the case.
To climb high and gaze afar, to experience nature... within this state of True Self lay true aning.
"You're completely famous now, you know. The news is absolutely everywhere, yet here you are, climbing mountains in the snow. Aren't you the least bit curious what the outside world is saying about you?"
A deep, powerful voice sounded from behind him. It was Tu Junshan.
"What does that have to do with ? I'd only find them noisy."
Zhou Yuanjue replied, his expression calm.
"Sotis I think you're older than I am. You don't have an ounce of a young man's vigor. That's no good, no good at all."
Tu Junshan's towering figure ca to stand beside Zhou Yuanjue, and he chuckled. Having spent this ti together, he had co to understand Zhou Yuanjue's personality completely.
"A young man's vigor, you say..." Zhou Yuanjue glanced at him. "How about another fight? I've got plenty of vigor for that."
Tu Junshan was montarily choked, at a loss for words.
'These past few days, he and Lei Yi had decided to stop sparring with this guy. Not only did he fight like his life was on the line, but his injuries healed ridiculously fast afterward. They needed half a day to recover, while this monster was back on his feet and raring to go in less than half an hour.'
'Who could stand that? We can't keep up...'
"Did you co looking for for a reason?"
Zhou Yuanjue asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes."
Tu Junshan said, nodding.
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