Cultivating To Immortality

Chapter 750: Six Divine Powers

He played with the wooden figure for a long time, feeling a bit excited, before finally putting it down.

He then picked up another item, an ancient-looking scripture.

Song Yan carefully read through it. This was the Cultivation Technique Yuan Zhen had created himself, named Yin Yang Zen Body.

It not only contained a complete Cultivation Technique for Cultivation, but also meticulously recorded the Karma behind its creation.

Yuan Zhen claimed to be a genius of extraordinary talent, capable of independently deducing and completing a fragmented ancient Demonic Technique after merely observing its remnants, which had all crucial points erased.

He then combined the fragments with the Bright King Technique he Cultivated to "create" his own Cultivation Technique.

He even called this technique a "Saint Technique," completely likening himself to the Saints of various Daos who founded sects.

However, Song Yan was unimpressed when he read this Cultivation Technique.

How was this a self-created Cultivation Technique? It was a haphazard mess, patching together bits and pieces from here and there.

It was simply a crude stitching together of Buddhist and Demonic Techniques. How could this even be called a self-created Cultivation Technique?

If that were the case, then his previous use of Sword Qi to replace Spirit Qi to complete the Ethereal Bone Sculpting stage of his Dharma Body could also be called a self-created Cultivation Technique.

Nonsense.

Song Yan, of course, had no interest in this; he would never Cultivate such an inexplicable thing.

However, at the end of the Cultivation Technique, there was an additional section of content, seemingly added after he arrived in Chu.

This section mentioned something.

Divine Ability Relics.

In Buddhism, Relics are called Dhātu, or Sarira. Translated into the common terminology of the Daoist Path, they are called Spirit Bones.

Their existence is somewhat similar to the Golden Core, Nascent Soul, or even Primordial Spirit in the Daoist Path.

It’s just that their function and method of formation are slightly different.

During a Buddhist Cultivator’s lifetime, there is no concept of Relics.

Buddhist Disciples, through the practice of precepts, meditation, and wisdom, make grand vows and Cultivate boundless Buddha Power and Divine Abilities.

If such a great Buddhist Cultivator passes away, there is a certain probability that "Relics" will be left behind after his death.

Relics condense a portion of the Buddhist Cultivator’s Buddhist Cultivation or Buddhist Divine Abilities.

Buddhist Cultivators believe in the Karma of the Three Realms of Reincarnation, so most Relics are preserved by their Disciples, awaiting Reincarnation and re-Cultivation, to retrieve the Relics.

Some Buddhist Cultivators also designate Disciples and successors before their passing, allowing their Legacy to be passed down after their death.

Although Jingye Zen Temple is not well-known in the Central Region, it has produced several such great Buddhist Cultivators throughout its history.

Within the Zen Temple, there is a Relic Pagoda, enshrining the Relics of Venerable Xujing, the first abbot in the history of Jingye Zen Temple.

What greatly surprised Song Yan was... Yuan Zhen sensed that Wu Huaguo possessed the spiritual essence of a Divine Ability Relic.

It was precisely because Yuan Zhen had the good fortune to worship Xujing’s Relics and experience the unique spiritual essence of Relics up close when he officially entered the Realm of Desire Realm, that he could be so certain.

The aura of the Relic on Wu Huaguo was very faint, and Yuan Zhen speculated that it should be a fragment of some Divine Ability Relic.

However, even so, Yuan Zhen was extremely fanatical about it.

The reason is simple: the Six Divine Abilities of Buddhism, no matter which one, are Realms that ordinary Buddhist Cultivators can never reach in their entire lives.

"The Six Divine Abilities are: Heavenly Eye, Heavenly Ear, Others’ Thoughts, Past Lives, Divine Movement, and Ending of Afflictions."

They represent the six types of Divine Ability Buddha Power taught in Buddhism.

In the book that previously discussed the Buddhist Cultivation Realms, Song Yan had also thoroughly examined these six Divine Abilities.

Just as Undergoing Tribulation and Ascension are the eternal pursuits of all Daoist Path Cultivators.

Buddhist Cultivators must Cultivate Mahayana Buddhism.

Cultivating these Six Divine Abilities is one of the preconditions.

Actually, Yuan Zhen didn’t know which type of Divine Ability Relic fragment Wu Huaguo possessed, but he was highly self-regarded and extremely conceited.

He believed that a Qi Refining Cultivator could not utilize even a tiny bit of a Divine Ability Relic, let alone Wu Huaguo, who had no understanding of Buddhist teachings whatsoever.

Therefore, he completely disregarded this matter.

It was this very point that made Wu Huaguo and Rong Xiaofeng vigilant.

"From this, it seems that the so-called Divine Ability Relic fragment on Wu Huaguo should originate from this ’Others’ Thoughts’."

The explanation for this Divine Ability is profound and mysterious, involving many Buddhist principles and allusions.

In short, it means being able to know the thoughts of all sentient beings in the Three Realms and Six Paths.

To put it more simply, it means being able to know what others are thinking.

Wu Huaguo didn’t seem to have this ability; she could only simply determine whether someone’s words were true or false.

And there were actually many ways to circumvent it.

When Song Yan first witnessed this ability, he was truly astonished.

But looking back now, many of the investigative methods mastered by Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators could achieve similar results.

Of course, it doesn’t rule out the possibility that Wu Huaguo was hiding something, but this possibility is very small.

Song Yan temporarily had no intention of becoming a monk, so he naturally wouldn’t Cultivate Buddhism, nor would he harm Wu Huaguo for this matter.

He put away the Zen Body and tossed it into a corner of his qiankun bag.

There was nothing else worth mentioning.

He had briefly studied the ancient golden pages he got from Wang Ke but found no clue. He figured he couldn’t comprehend it in just one night, so he put it away for now.

After organizing everything, he stepped out of the room and into the courtyard.

After observing for a while, Sword Qi surged around him, and he summoned his Dharma Body.

Fortunately, the courtyard of this Shanyang Villa was large enough, and the residence was surrounded by an independent illusion array to conceal it. Otherwise, the appearance of such a unique skeletal Dharma Body would easily arouse suspicion from other Cultivators.

Suspicion would be fine, but if others mistakenly thought he was some kind of Demonic Cultivator, it would be a great injustice to a good person.

At this moment, the Dharma Body sat on the ground with its head bowed, its right leg bent, its right hand resting on it, and its left arm empty.

This battle with Yuan Zhen, besides the items in his wooden fish, yielded a significant gain: the Dharma Body.

Now, the Dharma Body’s right arm was completely covered in black skin and flesh, with faint, mysterious, gilded patterns subtly glowing.

This was even before completely refining all the Devilish Qi.

Song Yan roughly estimated in his mind that it would take about a month to completely refine it, and by then, it might cover a small portion of the body.

At the same time, he was also astonished by the enormous amount of Devilish Qi required by this Dharma Body.

One must know that the Devilish Qi contained in Yuan Zhen’s Demonic Path Dharma Body far exceeded the Qi Refining level; it would be no exaggeration to call it half-step Foundation Establishment.

Yet, it could only condense three to four tenths of this Dharma Body’s physique.

However, Song Yan was not in a hurry.

The need for more resources undoubtedly meant even greater power upon successful Cultivation.

Especially after this battle, he truly realized how strong the restraint of this Buddhist Dharma Body was against Demonic Path Cultivation Techniques.

The battle against the Demonic Path Clone was almost a one-sided affair.

Its combat prowess was so formidable that even Song Yan was astonished.

There were many gains, but losses were not entirely absent either.

At that time, the Dharma Body, in an emergency to protect its master, actually detached its left arm, transforming it into Sword Qi for manipulation.

Fortunately, the fully condensed right arm was not removed, and the entire Dharma Body did not collapse and dissipate because of this.

He just needed to re-condense a left arm for it.

However, to Song Yan’s surprise, the task of repairing the Dharma Body was not as simple as he had imagined.

To restore this part of the body to its original state, the amount of Sword Qi required was almost as much as completely reshaping a new Dharma Body.

Song Yan had no other choice but to honestly activate the Spirit Gathering Sword Array.

He also consumed some Spirit Stones and Medicinal Pills, spending a considerable amount of effort to condense and reshape its left arm.

The good news was that after repairing and reshaping the Dharma Body, its speed of refining Devilish Qi increased by several points.

The bad news was that Xiao Song was almost exhausted and collapsed in the courtyard, falling into a deep sleep.

Fortunately, Xiao Ju had been guarding by the courtyard, and seeing the situation, she sent him back to the room to rest.

In recent days, he had first experienced an all-out battle, then suffered damage from inadvertently forcing himself to comprehend the Cultivation Technique of the Dharma transmitting wooden figure, and now had drained the Sword Qi in his body to repair the Dharma Body.

This unconsciousness made him sleep incredibly deeply.

Song Yan slept straight past the agreed departure day, only waking up leisurely in the early hours of the third day.

He stretched his body and immediately felt refreshed and invigorated.

Immortals don’t have so many rules, nor do they need to make a big show of things.

Song Yan immediately took Xiao Ju and Snake Babe, called Wang Ke, and left Bei Ya Mountain City.

Out of the city, the four boarded the Red Dust Dipper and flew directly towards Xin’an Prefecture, which was the capital of Chu.

Earlier, as soon as the Chess Dao Tournament ended, Liang Feng and Hu Qing, unwilling to stay longer, returned to Lanxi Cave on their own.

Compared to when they arrived, the Red Dust Dipper now seemed much emptier.

With previous experience, Song Yan was much more skilled in flying the second time around.

After setting the general direction, there was no need for excessive attention; he only needed to slightly divert a wisp of Divine Sense to adjust the direction of the flying boat.

Inside the Red Dust Dipper, Wang Ke was still engrossed in his chess game.

However, this time, Song Yan also had a chessboard in front of him.

He held the golden page in his left hand, and with his right hand, he picked up the chess pieces, placing them one by one on the chessboard.

Although the Red Dust Dipper flew steadily, Cultivating during the journey was still somewhat unrealistic.

It wasn’t that it couldn’t be done, but in case of any unpredictable disturbances, the Cultivation Technique would still be affected, and if the impact was significant, it would not be worth the trouble.

Xiao Ju was familiarizing herself with the Red Dust Dipper’s controls, hoping to free up Song Yan to do his own things in the future.

When Song Yan first set up the chessboard and took out the golden chess score page, Wang Ke was also curious for a while.

He didn’t know what this item was for, so he wanted to see if it would change or be different in someone else’s hands.

Strangely, this Daoist Song also seemed to not know what it was used for.

He seemed to have been interested in the name that day.

Snake Babe, a bit bored, slithered around Song Yan’s body.

"Yan Yan, are you playing chess against yourself?"

The little snake poked her head out of his sleeve, looking at the black and white pieces on the chessboard, and asked.

Song Yan shook his head.

"No, but I don’t know what this is either." He stroked the little snake’s head: "Let’s just pretend I’m playing with it."

Black and white pieces filled the chessboard.

Song Yan couldn’t discern any profound mysteries within it.

If it was a chess game, it indeed was a chess game, but because there was no particularly subtle strategy or commendable skill, it naturally failed to impress Wang Ke.

"Why are you setting it up if you don’t know what it is..."

Xiao He slid out of his sleeve, transformed into her human form, and sat by the chessboard, mumbling.

Propping her face with her hand, she looked at the chess game.

Song Yan was deep in thought when he saw a fair, small hand reach into the edge of the chessboard.

A small finger circled above a certain spot on the chessboard.

"This area looks like Xiao Gu Mountain."

Xiao Gu Mountain? That deep mountain north of Qingshan. That’s where Xiao He used to live.

Song Yan looked left and right, but he couldn’t see any resemblance.

However, he had no right to speak, as Xiao He was more familiar with Xiao Gu Mountain.

Perhaps the chess formation and progression made her feel it resembled Xiao Gu Mountain from a certain angle, who knows.

"Hmm..." Xiao He continued to point: "This area looks like Qingshan."

Qingshan wasn’t actually called Qingshan; it was originally called Kongshi Mountain.

It’s just that for most villagers, the name was too difficult to pronounce, so later, when they wanted to refer to it, most villagers simply called it "that mountain."

But calling it that all the time wasn’t a solution, so the scholar in Shiliang Town came up with a compromise name, Qingshan.

It had a name, and it wasn’t too difficult to pronounce.

Song Yan stroked his chin: "Qingshan..."

"How did you see that?"

"Because it’s in the middle of the chessboard."

"..."

Song Yan chuckled, not minding it.

But now that he thought about it, that Xiao Gu Mountain was indeed square in shape, with a stable terrain, aligning with the Earth element.

It really did resemble this chess formation on the board.

Just as Song Yan was pondering, he suddenly sensed something.

He looked up and glanced outside the flying boat.

Everyone inside the Red Dust Dipper also looked outside.

They saw several streaks of light cut across the distant sky, like fleeting meteors, leaving transient trails on the firmament.

Most of those were flying Spiritual Artifacts controlled by other Cultivators, or the escape lights of Foundation Establishment Realm Seniors.

They were colorful, moving swiftly or slowly, heading in different directions.

The previous flight was relatively short, mostly over barren mountains and wilderness, with only an occasional flying Demon Beast. He had never seen anything else flying in the sky.

However, as the Red Dust Dipper continued its flight, the nearby escape lights appeared more and more frequently, and he could even vaguely discern the appearance of the other party’s flying Spiritual Artifacts.

Many of them were eye-opening for Xiao Song, with the giant jade gourd spewing clouds and the bronze carriage pulled by flying beasts being the most captivating.

During this time, a Cultivator, seemingly in the Foundation Establishment Realm, also flew past. He stepped on a feather fan, his robes fluttering, exuding an aura of Immortal Qi.

Song Yan picked up the control jade talisman and said, "We are very close to Chu Capital."

The Red Dust Dipper vibrated slightly, its speed slowing down.

Xiao He leaned towards the edge of the flying boat, looking into the distance.

On the horizon, the continuous outline of a city was faintly visible, with towering city walls like a coiled python, glinting with a cold, bluish-gray light under the sun.

As they got a little closer, they could already clearly see the situation on the ground.

Official roads stretched in all directions, and carriages and pedestrians were just tiny black dots.

"Wow—"

Snake Babe’s black hair was disheveled by the wind. Looking at the situation in the sky and on the ground, she gasped in surprise.

Xiao Ju also saw such a sight for the first time, and she couldn’t help but be amazed and admire it.

Approaching Chu Capital, even before landing, the faint, indistinct sense of worldly hustle and bustle seemed to surge in like a tide.