Chapter 135: Opening the Palace of Niwan

The Roc was severely injured, and the wood-element mystic reservoir within its body surged outward, gushing forth boundless vitality to repair its wounds.

It draped a human skin over itself, wrapping its body tightly.

At that moment, a female Qi cultivator reached upward, plucked endless starlight from the void, and kneaded it into a giant starlight butterfly.

"Go!"

The starlight butterfly beat its wings, instantly stirring up layer upon layer of starlit waves. Rolling and surging with mighty force, it flattened mountains in its path and swallowed rivers in its wake, causing all things to perish and be reborn beneath the starlight.

This overwhelming wave of starlight directly slammed toward the Roc.

The Roc’s face was pale and wretchedly disheveled, yet facing this spell, it neither dodged nor evaded.

It sacrificed the human skin draped over its back, which possessed the might to blot out the sky and sun. With a single downward sweep, it captured the cascading waves of starlight, refining them into a wisp of starlight that returned once more to heaven and earth.

The six figures had already charged into the fray.

While they were engaged in a life-or-death battle, Xu Zhong had already covertly hidden himself.

He concealed himself within an unnamed mountain ravine, carving out a cave dwelling one foot square. Hiding inside, he deployed the constellation formations of the Black Tortoise, reversing life and death so that he remained extremely difficult to perceive. At the same time, he unleashed the Cloud-Swallowing Sword, setting up the Jade Pond Sword Array.

Behind the Jade Pond Sword Array were the Four Symbols Divine Banners, the Purple Jade Gourd, the Jade Ruyi, and a series of other magical treasures.

Xu Zhong was using one mind for three purposes.

While operating the sword array and controlling the magical treasures, his remaining thread of consciousness gathered its essence to maintain unity, turning its gaze inward to mirror the *Niwan* palace and illuminate the crown of the head.

Xu Zhong was preparing at this very moment to open up his own *Niwan* palace.

He sat cross-legged, gazing inward at the *Niwan*.

Using void divine thunder to pierce through the sea of chaos enveloping the exterior of the *Niwan*, he illuminated his soul.

The *Niwan* is the most mysterious region within the human body, ethereal and unfathomable.

The innate nature, acquired temperament, spirit, thoughts, and willpower of a human being are all concealed within the *Niwan*, and through the *Niwan*, they are manifested into real, existent entities known as the soul and spirits.

The three souls carry karma, life, and memory—namely the heavenly soul, the earthly soul, and the human soul. They also generate the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion, which sway the human heart.

The seven spirits carry emotions and desires, reflecting the seven emotions and six desires of the human heart. The seven emotions are joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hatred, and desire; the six desires are the desire for forms, the desire for appearances, the desire for deportment and posture, the desire for speech and voice, the desire for smoothness and delicacy, and the desire for human ideals.

To cultivate the divine spirit, one must merge the seven emotions, the six desires, and the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion into one—in other words, to fuse the soul and the spirits.

Yet how tremendously difficult it is to achieve this.

Xu Zhong could only attempt to subdue them bit by bit.

"I wonder if I can capture them!" Xu Zhong’s mind wavered in a trance.

Unlike the three souls, which are a trinity, unmoving and unchanging, the seven spirits are different.

They possess no physical form, shifting like the wind within the *Niwan*. They run wherever they please and transform into whatever they desire, unrestrained and completely free.

This is much like human emotions and desires, which are uncontrollable and easily guided.

The very moment the *Niwan* is opened, these seven spirits—symbolizing the seven emotions and six desires—might fly out from the *Niwan* and run wild, galloping unchecked across heaven and earth.

If Xu Zhong’s reaction is not swift enough and he fails to capture the seven spirits, opening the *Niwan* will be of no use. Without the seven spirits, he will be unable to condense his divine spirit, and his path to attaining the Dao will be completely severed right here.

Fortunately, he had previously undergone the experience of subduing his mind, capturing the spirited ape, and tethering the wild horse. Capturing the seven spirits should presumably be just like subduing the mind-ape and the will-horse; no matter how difficult it might be, just how hard could it truly be?

Xu Zhong maintained his true nature, then attuned himself to the human soul.

The human soul is transformed from human memories, differing utterly from the pure yin of the heavenly and earthly souls. Within the human soul, a trace of pure yang qi is mingled, and it is precisely because of this trace of pure yang qi that a Qi cultivator can sense and manipulate it before the *Niwan* is opened.

Under Xu Zhong’s manipulation, the human soul slowly stood up.

A surge of power spiraled out from within his body.

He gradually walked to the boundary of the *Niwan*.

Here, he came to a halt.

Xu Zhong let out a long breath! "I have made every possible preparation. Whether I succeed or fail depends entirely on the will of heaven."

The human soul of Xu Zhong opened its eyes, grasped the spiraled power within the yin, and refined it into a sword.

At the same time, the human soul shifted its form, transforming into a yellow dragon to guard the *Niwan* and control all directions.

In addition to the defenses within the *Niwan*, there were also defenses on the outside.

A faint, illusory hand-drum hovered behind the back of Xu Zhong’s head, standing guard against the seven spirits.

The moment his seven spirits lost control, at the slightest opportunity, he would shake the hand-drum.

A single chime would scatter the seven spirits and shake the three souls.

Two chimes would blast the three souls and seven spirits entirely out of the physical body.

He had to make every possible preparation to guard against any situation that might arise at any moment.

Wielding the sword, he slashed toward the sea of chaos.

***

In an instant, the sword radiated a majestic aura of pure yang.

This surge of pure yang qi pierced through the chaotic sea, and a fissure a thousand miles long appeared within the sea of chaos. At first, it was only as thick as a finger, but it slowly expanded outward to both sides, and so did the length of the fissure.

A thousand miles, two thousand miles, three thousand miles!

The chaotic sea was nine thousand miles thick.

Accompanied by the opening of the *Niwan*, Xu Zhong’s mind seemed to plummet into a pitch-black, boundless world. This world possessed no light and no sound, as if nothing whatsoever existed.

This was the *Niwan*.

Because it had not yet been completely opened, he could see nothing within the *Niwan*.

Yet at this moment, Xu Zhong suddenly sensed that within this dark world, a strand of his own sword intent existed.

This sword intent pierced through the darkness, giving rise to a wisp of light, incomparably sacred.

Beneath the illumination of this light, sounds emerged within the surrounding dark world.

"Sizzle, sizzle" sounds echoed endlessly, like boiling oil bubbling up and down.

The darkness was melting away; the *Niwan* had already been opened.

That wisp of light was like the primal light of the very beginning, tearing an opening into the chaos.

Then the clear qi ascended and the turbid qi descended, separating heaven and earth.

For a moment, before Xu Zhong’s eyes, the scene of the creation of the world was reenacted.

The clear elements ascended to become heaven, and the heavenly soul rested above.

The turbid elements sank to become earth, and the earthly soul rested below.

Xu Zhong had no time to rejoice in his heart, for he saw seven clusters of black light emerging from within the *Niwan* heaven and earth, spewing black smoke—these were various kinds of dark baleful qi.

At this moment, the seven spirits attempted to flee.

Yet how could Xu Zhong allow them to escape from the *Niwan*?

"Suppressed!" The human soul opened its mouth, transforming its body into a yellow dragon.

This yellow dragon coiled within the *Niwan*, shifted its tail, and overawed the seven spirits.

Yet the seven spirits struggled incessantly, transforming all manner of emotions and desires into dark baleful qi that drifted outward from the *Niwan*.

In an instant, smoke billowed from Xu Zhong’s seven orifices. These wisps of dark baleful qi intertwined, transforming into numerous small goblins.

These goblins crawled all over Xu Zhong’s body, whispering in low voices, opening their mouths to emit bizarre magical sounds. Every word and action flashed with demonic light and swirling demonic runes.

These demonic lights sullied Xu Zhong’s pupils, and the demonic runes branded themselves into his ears, turning into the booming sound of great bells and gongs, shattering the consciousness Xu Zhong had gathered with such difficulty.

In an instant, the sword array scattered, and all sorts of magical treasures fell uncontrolled to the ground.

The yellow dragon manifested by Xu Zhong’s human soul was also shattered, and the seven spirits were temporarily liberated.

In an instant, Xu Zhong’s body was left hollow and empty.

All manner of ghosts and monsters wandering between heaven and earth began to enter his body, attempting to seize his physical form.

These ghosts and monsters hovered between yin souls and inner demons; they were not naturally born.

Rather, they were a composite of various thoughts, consciousness, grievances, hatreds, slaughter, desires, and all other dark facets left behind after the deaths of Qi cultivators.

They possessed substance yet lacked form, resembling a breath of vital energy whose gathering and dispersing were inconstant. They drifted between heaven and earth—scattering upon encountering the wind, igniting upon encountering fire, dissolving upon encountering rain, and vanishing like smoke into ashes upon encountering supreme thunder and lightning.

However, if they encountered a body like Xu Zhong’s—where the consciousness had been shattered and reason entirely obliterated—it presented an opportunity for them to be reborn. They would desperately force their way into the other person’s body to devour every bit of nourishment.

They devoured Xu Zhong’s magical power, refining their own bodies bit by bit, and thereupon devoured one another to accelerate their growth.

Xu Zhong saw all of this in his eyes.

Yet at this moment, he was utterly powerless.

His seven spirits were out of control; the very moment the *Niwan* was opened, they had influenced him, shattered his reason, and rendered all his thoughts useless.

These seven spirits wandered back and forth within the *Niwan*, while those small goblins moved around outside.

These goblins were the reflections of the seven spirits and the manifestation of their power.

For the time being, they had not found the path leading out.

Xu Zhong continuously gathered his thoughts, placing his sole hope upon the hand-drum.

The seven spirits had already found the path, and thus, overjoyed, they happily scrambled out of the *Niwan* through the seven orifices.

The moment these seven spirits left Xu Zhong’s body, they acquired physical form, each one turning into yet another Xu Zhong.

"Hehehe..."

"Hehehe..."

The seven spirits laughed slyly, looking about the external world with curiosity and wantonly venting Xu Zhong’s emotional desires.

Some laughed wildly and uproariously, their laughter causing rocks to roll down and rattle loudly.

Some wept miserably, wailing incessantly, their cries stirring up the rumbling sound of thunder.

Some were consumed by greed, gathering up the scattered magical treasures and swallowing them all into their own bellies, causing their bellies to look large and distended. In the end, even when they could no longer walk, they crawled toward the back of Xu Zhong’s head to snatch that hand-drum.

Xu Zhong’s inner mind was turbulent; his heart-mirror was foul and murky, and so was the *Niwan*.

Yet his thoughts condensed, regaining a sliver of control.

Thus, he manipulated the hand-drum and gave it a twist.

"Clang!"

A muffled sound rang out.

In an instant, the seven spirits went "bang" and exploded, transforming into billowing black smoke.

Xu Zhong’s three souls were likewise affected; the heavenly soul plummeted, and the earthly soul shook.

Only the human soul held fast to itself at this instant, gathering its essence to maintain unity, and took control of the physical form.

With a loud roar, the human soul transformed into a yellow dragon that soared out from between Xu Zhong’s brows.

Clawing and baring its fangs, it gathered up all the seven spirits and finally returned into the *Niwan*.

The yellow dragon reverted into the human soul. It extended its hand and conjured a sword array out of thin air, locking the seven spirits within it.

The seven spirits dashed back and forth, but failing to break through the sword array's seal, they could only wander and roam about.

Xu Zhong felt a lingering fear.

Had it not been for the hand-drum, those seven spirits truly would have departed from his body.

Xu Zhong closed his eyes, and the scenery of the *Niwan* manifested directly before his eyes, no longer requiring the mediation of his heart-mirror.

The *Niwan* was vast, and the divine palace was towering.

The *Classic of Bai Ze* blanketed the heavens, and the thirty-three-layered divine pivot azure firmament thunder pagoda rotated leisurely, possessing the supreme might to suppress all things and destroy all things.

The Dao-demon manifestation opened its eyes and looked toward Xu Zhong.

This was the first time Xu Zhong had seen the true appearance of the Dao-demon manifestation.

It looked immensely tall and profoundly sacred, and behind it, thirty-three layers of karmic rebirth grotto-heavens resembled thirty-three minor worlds, filled to the brim with all manner of demonic entities.

These demons peered outward through the karmic rebirth grotto-heavens.

In an instant, every single demon manifested his own face.

Xu Zhong merely glanced at them hastily before withdrawing his gaze.

"I have finally opened the *Niwan*."

Although ninety-nine percent of this *Niwan* palace was used to seal the Dao-demon manifestation, leaving a space of less than ten miles as his own dwelling place.

With a thought in his mind, the Cloud-Swallowing Sword within the purple jade gourd drifted flutteringly into the *Niwan*.

The moment it appeared, it instantly transformed into a towering peach tree, taking root and growing right there.

The main body of Xu Zhong’s sword was a thousand-year-old peach tree branch; though it had undergone trials and baptisms, transforming long ago, its essence remained peach wood.

On either side of the peach wood were two white dragons, corresponding to the energies of Geng metal and Xin metal, serving as the sword embryo.

The Cloud-Swallowing Sword was planted here, nourished by the heavenly, earthly, and human souls.

Having finished all this, Xu Zhong was finally willing to withdraw his gaze.

The commotion in the outside world was no longer as violent as before.

He hesitated for a moment, then collected the magical treasures scattered on the ground and departed from the cave dwelling.

The moment he left, the entire mountain mass began to fracture and collapse.

It was not caused by Xu Zhong, however.

Rather, a meteor-like flash of light and shadow had swept past.

The collapse of the mountain startled Xu Zhong; he hastily turned around, and thereupon saw a limping, desiccated corpse walking out from within the mountain. Its features were indistinct, draped in nothing more than a human skin.

The Roc?