Chapter 855 - 256: On Reincarnation
Chapter 256: [The Theory of Reincarnation] (6000)
Chu Keqing detected the complex sentiment in Chen Yan’s words and looked at him puzzled.
Chen Yan gazed into Chu Keqing’s longing eyes but recalled instead the barren and dangerous environment of Evil Land Mountain... and the bloodshed beneath Snow Cliff Pass!
Human slaves used as food were slaughtered one by one and thrown into large pots.
The blood stained the ice and snow red, filling the air with a stench...
Screams and wails echoed...
·
After pondering, Chen Yan shook his head, sighed, and said solemnly, "When the opportunity hasn’t arrived, don’t dwell too deeply."
Chu Keqing hurriedly composed herself and nodded obediently, "Yes!"
Afterwards, Chen Yan asked Chu Keqing to find some books for him.
"Journey to the West? Investiture of the Gods?" Chu Keqing was stunned.
Why would a senior cultivator like Chen Yan want to read these mythical tales written by ordinary people?
Chen Yan laughed, "Actually, the ancient mythological stories from Dragon Country may not be entirely fictional. Cultivators have always existed in this world, and far earlier than you might imagine.
Some records in these stories also contain traces left by ancient cultivators from this world. Although ninety-nine percent is fabricated, occasionally one or two parts are true."
Chu Keqing took this to heart and nodded solemnly, secretly deciding that she would also buy some ancient mythological storybook novels to read!
·
The Academy has many ancient collections from various schools, but no mythical novels.
Fortunately, there is a bookstore nearby, where Chu Keqing sent her assistant to shop, and soon returned with a large bag of books.
Chen Yan casually picked a few out, then told Chu Keqing to leave as he needed to shut himself in for training.
Chu Keqing lit a sandalwood incense stick for Chen Yan, then respectfully left.
Chen Yan casually set up a small isolation array, cutting off sound from inside and outside the room.
He first took out a piece of source fruit seed, nipped off a small fragment the size of a fingernail, swallowed it, and meditated to digest it using primordial qi.
He experienced another bout of expansion in the realm of intent and divine sense, nurturing and strengthening the divine sense.
The pain coupled with pleasure, after a few trials, felt quite good.
After a session of cultivation, the effect of the source fruit seed dissipated, and Chen Yan took a nourishing god pill to nurture the primordial spirit.
The divine sense grew even stronger—but it was large yet lacked density.
Now Chen Yan had discovered a method to cultivate the primordial spirit.
He never uses any cultivation technique related to the primordial spirit.
The source fruit seeds from the flower demon can expand and grow the primordial spirit.
Then, using the "Sharpening" method, he rigorously hones the primordial spirit.
This repeated back and forth allows his primordial spirit to grow, and the resulting primordial spirit is denser than that of the regular cultivators in the domain realm!
Actually doing so... seems a bit wasteful!
Because the growth of divine sense brought by the source fruit seeds often gets honed away by five or six-tenths in a round of "Sharpening"!
Although it densifies the divine sense, it leaves only about four or five-tenths.
If he didn’t use the sharpening method, Chen Yan’s level of cultivation in the primordial spirit would likely increase by more than twice as fast!
But, after brief consideration, Chen Yan resolutely abandoned that approach.
He’d rather consume a bit more to ensure the primordial spirit and divine sense are dense and robust!
That immense yet fluffy divine sense may be large, but it lacks strength.
What happens when a big pile of cotton and a small blade collide is self-evident!
By the end of the morning, Chen Yan had finished cultivating his primordial spirit.
Without having lunch, he simply began reading the novels.
Journey to the West, Investiture of the Gods...
Chen Yan skimmed through randomly, only pausing to closely examine and reflect when he encountered certain specific Chapters.
What Chen Yan focused on was one aspect of the content.
Reincarnation Tribulation Crossing!
Or... completing some great task through reincarnation!
·
Actually, there’s an obvious example of reincarnation in Journey to the West:
Tang Monk, Master Tang Xuanzang.
Tathagata Buddha’s disciple [Golden Cicada]—the form reincarnating through nine lifetimes!
The reincarnation of the Golden Cicada wasn’t actually "tribulation crossing" but meant to fulfill a great vow.
However, this detail isn’t crucial.
Chen Yan realized that whether it’s tribulation crossing or a great vow, it’s essentially just a goal.
Once the goal is achieved, reincarnation is regarded as complete.
And then...
Many mythological stories, especially those from the primordial era, follow a fixed plot pattern:
A Great Power, calculating their coming disaster, starts preparing for Yingjie.
At this time, after arranging everything, they even proactively face the disaster head-on.
But when the disaster arrives, they’ll have left a trick, preserving a trace of spiritual consciousness—almost like creating a backup of memory and personality.
Then, amidst battle or war, they die composed.
Yet, after dying, that piece of spiritual consciousness is preserved, reincarnating as someone else.
Then they begin anew, cultivating and seeking the path, experiencing various encounters until one day, a particular event occurs...
This event becomes very intriguing.
It might involve encountering a specific plot, such as avenging a foe with murder or undergoing a major incident and obtaining a certain item (triggering memories of a past life).
All in all, it completes a certain obsession.
Or, it could be meeting a particular person, perhaps other cultivators or Great Powers, who enlighten them.