Chapter 42: The Three Methods Sharing a Common Origin

Zhang Xiao opened the jade box containing the Soul-Dividing Fruit, and a bizarre blue fruit appeared in his palm. With a flick of his finger, a sliver of silver light gently cut a small opening on the fruit, and pale blue juice welled up from within.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiao quickly placed the Soul-Dividing Fruit atop the Baihui acupoint on the crown of his head, allowing the pale blue juice to flow from the fruit down onto his head.

A chilling aura coursed down from the Baihui acupoint and rushed toward Zhang Xiao's sea of consciousness. Zhang Xiao's body trembled as he hurriedly circulated the spiritual energy within his body, sinking his divine sense into his sea of consciousness.

Droplets of pale blue light poured into his sea of consciousness. Using his divine sense, Zhang Xiao gathered all these light specks together and pushed them toward the avatar sitting cross-legged atop the golden lotus within the sea of consciousness.

The avatar trembled, and the entire sea of consciousness began to shake. As more and more blue light burrowed into the avatar's body, the shaking of the sea of consciousness grew increasingly violent. The blossoming golden lotuses that had previously expanded within the sea began to wither and decay in the blink of an eye, and the golden sea of consciousness fractured all over, clearly on the verge of collapse.

If it were anyone else, seeing such a scene unfold in their sea of consciousness would likely frighten them into stopping immediately. After all, the sea of consciousness is the foundation of a person's existence; the collapse of the sea of consciousness would result in a fate similar to Baturu's—a shattered true spirit leaving behind a mere walking corpse.

However, far from stopping, Zhang Xiao accelerated the infusion of the blue light pouring into the sea of consciousness, pushing it deeper into the avatar's body. "Boom!" A deafening roar resounded within the sea of consciousness, and massive cracks continuously spread across the area.

Zhang Xiao felt a stabbing pain in his divine sense, but he clenched his teeth tightly and persisted. At this moment, he had no way out. If he failed, even if he didn't become a fool, his cultivation level would inevitably plummet from the late Soul Formation stage down to the Nascent Soul stage, with no possibility of ever advancing to the Soul Formation stage again. Without madness, how could one attain transcendence?

"Boom!"

With another explosive sound, sections of the sea of consciousness collapsed and shattered. Zhang Xiao felt as if his brain was being subjected to a thousand cuts, and he nearly fainted from the agony. Yet, having experienced the sorrow of parting and the pain of death, his heart had long since hardened like stone. Gritting his teeth, he managed to endure through sheer willpower.

As the sea of consciousness began to collapse and shatter piece by piece, a halo of golden light emerged behind the avatar—the true form of the Buddha's golden halo. Threads woven from pure Buddha light could be seen entangling the Buddha's golden halo, and under the influence of the Soul-Dividing Fruit, these threads were now snapping one by one.

"Snap, snap, snap, snap."

A series of snapping sounds echoed as the avatar's figure detached completely from the Buddha's golden lotus. Seeing this, Zhang Xiao let out a furious roar, manipulating the avatar to charge toward the primordial crystal floating above the sea of consciousness.

It was precisely at this moment that the surrounding sea of consciousness accelerated its shattering. Seeing this, Zhang Xiao's expression turned cold, and he shouted, "Manifest the power of faith!" Following his roar, a beam of light suddenly shot forth from the attribute panel on Zhang Xiao's wrist, pouring into the space between his brows. Subsequently, the crumbling sea of consciousness around him gradually stabilized, causing Zhang Xiao to finally let out a sigh of relief.

Although he now had the reinforcement of the power of faith, Zhang Xiao did not dare to lower his guard. He hurriedly circulated the primordial crystal in his sea of consciousness, merging it with the avatar.

Time flew by; years and springs repeated in a grand cycle of the four seasons. Zhang Xiao sat cross-legged in the seclusion chamber, appearing calm on the surface, but upon closer inspection, one could notice that his body was trembling at an extremely high frequency.

The sea of consciousness was completely empty and void, utterly devoid of the previous scenery of a golden sea and lotus pool. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiao's originally pure golden primordial crystal now resembled a withered, abandoned stone, devoid of any luster.

This phenomenon had persisted for several years, until finally, a soft "snap" echoed abruptly within the dim and desolate sea of consciousness. The crisp sound was exceptionally clear in the empty and ruined expanse.

Immediately afterward, the crisp sounds grew louder and louder. Cracks began to appear across Zhang Xiao's previously dim primordial crystal, and with a "whoosh," a faint golden light surged out from the fissures.

"Lama-mi-lai-ou-duo-lai-ke," chants of Buddhist scripture resonated from within. With a loud explosion, the entire primordial crystal suddenly burst apart, erupting with boundless golden light. A male figure with a seven-zhang-tall golden body slowly walked out from within, taking a step forward as blooming golden lotuses grew beneath his feet.

In the void of the sea of consciousness, the golden light emanating from the man grew increasingly brilliant. Wherever the golden light shone, golden lotuses blossomed, pagodas rose up, and the chanting of Buddhist scriptures echoed continuously.

In the blink of an eye, countless golden lotuses and Buddhist pagodas filled Zhang Xiao's sea of consciousness. The man sat serenely in the center, and a massive golden lotus grew from beneath him, lifting him high into the air.

"Swish, swish, swish," golden waves resembling a small river surged endlessly from below. Upon the golden lotuses and pagodas, lines of scriptures materialized, transforming into illusory figures of Buddhas that bowed in reverence toward the man seated atop the golden lotus, while continuous recitations of scriptures filled the air.

Zhang Xiao, sitting cross-legged in the seclusion chamber, slowly opened his eyes. The aura around him steadily rose, and behind the back of his head, a three-colored halo of light ascended. The previously dim Buddha halo was now exceptionally bright.

A golden lotus bloomed upon the Buddha halo, burning with the Bifang Divine Flame. Meanwhile, the silver Dao halo revealed a giant axe, upon which the fierce visage of a Yazi baring its fangs was carved, radiating an overwhelming might. Beside it, the demonic halo was inscribed with the ancient shield of the Xuanwu.

His three transformations corresponded to three treasures. Of course, these treasures were still superficial in form and far from sufficient for actual combat, but Zhang Xiao was nonetheless overjoyed. He had finally successfully refined his avatar into a second divine soul, harmonizing it completely with his own origin.

This allowed his three cultivation methods to originate from the same source and be born as one, clearing all obstacles from his path henceforth. With a flick of his mind, a black flame manifested on Zhang Xiao's left hand, while a golden Buddha flame danced on his right, and a silver runic mark emerged between his brows, radiating a pure and unadulterated Yang energy.

Years of hardship and the agonizing pain of tempering his spirit and soul had ultimately not been in vain. Zhang Xiao reined in his aura entirely, closed his eyes, and continued his cultivation. Since the three methods were now fully integrated with his essence, qi, and spirit, it was the exact moment for him to make his breakthrough into the Integration stage.

The Soul Formation stage primarily focuses on refining the divine sense. Once the divine sense is tempered and solidified, it is reunited with the physical body. Taoism teaches that the divine soul is the person, and the physical body is the vessel.

Zhang Xiao, however, had fused his essence, qi, and spirit into the three methods. To break through to the Integration stage, he had to merge his essence, qi, and spirit into a single, unified entity.

Therefore, Zhang Xiao's attempt to break through to the Integration stage was many times more difficult than that of ordinary cultivators. Spring passed and autumn came, and over a decade elapsed in the blink of an eye. Zhang Xiao had yet to emerge from seclusion. In the Xuantian Cave Mansion, Ziyan gazed at the closed stone gate of the seclusion chamber and thought to herself, "Seventeen years have already passed. Young Master, when will you finally emerge?"

"Sister Ziyan, daydreaming about our young master again?" A man wearing a long robe and holding a folding fan walked out from behind Ziyan. The man's expression was unspeakably wretched, especially his shifty, thievish eyes, making him look for all the world like a greasy uncle from a television drama.

Without turning her head, Ziyan replied, "Heizi, have you finished your lessons?" Hearing Ziyan's words, Heizi straightened up instantly, patted his chest, and proclaimed, "I've already cultivated the thirty-two scriptures of righteousness to the twenty-seventh layer!"

With that, Heizi deliberately showed off a trick. With a gentle wave of his carefree fan, a rainbow bridge stretching fully tens of thousands of meters long unfurled across the other end of the Xuantian Cave Mansion.

This single feat of materializing a rainbow bridge was enough to prove that Heizi's cultivation had reached the late Integration stage. This was hardly surprising; Heizi's innate talent was exceptionally high, and coupled with the supreme-grade cultivation method from an ancient righteous sect bestowed upon him by Zhang Xiao, under Ziyan's constant supervision, Heizi's progress had naturally been thousands of miles a day.

"Heh, not bad. Let's go; the young master is unlikely to emerge today." Ziyan waited here every day, often for dozens of hours at a stretch. If it weren't for the fact that the array formations within the Xuantian Cave Mansion required Ziyan to occasionally inspect and maintain them, she would probably have preferred to wait right outside the seclusion chamber at all times.

It was precisely at that moment that the entire Xuantian Cave Mansion suddenly began to shake violently. A towering, overwhelming aura surged out from Zhang Xiao's seclusion chamber. Seeing this, Heizi immediately stepped in front of Ziyan and spat out a seven-colored mist-gauze.

The gauze conjured a cloud of seven-colored mist to shield the two of them. This seven-colored mist-gauze was a natal magical treasure that Heizi had refined using the tip of his own tail combined with the thirty-two scriptures of righteousness.

Even among ninth-grade magical treasures, it was a top-tier existence capable of both offense and defense. Coupled with Heizi's full-strength exertion of his late Integration stage cultivation, it was formidable beyond compare.

Yet even so, the aura emanating from the seclusion chamber made it difficult for Heizi to resist, and the spiritual energy throughout his body even began to stall in its circulation.

Fortunately, this aura came and went swiftly. In the blink of an eye, the terrifying presence was abruptly reined in and vanished without a trace.

"Thud, thud, thud!" The stone gate, which had remained unopened for seventeen years, slowly creaked open. Ziyan's eyes were fixed intently on the parting doors.

Catching sight of Zhang Xiao's figure, Ziyan's eyes turned red. She hurried over to him, threw her arms around his waist, and cried out, "Young Master!"