Chapter 359: Enlightenment

「The next day, 7:00 AM.」

At the summit of the Main Peak, a sea of clouds churned.

Ten figures stood before Wenda Hall, quietly awaiting its opening.

Liang Cheng stood sixth in line, his gaze falling upon Li Jianfeng in front of him.

After a night’s rest, Li Jianfeng’s aura was still faint. Though the bleeding from the sword gash on his chest had stopped, the wound was deep enough to expose bone—an injury that could hardly heal overnight.

“Second Senior Brother, you…”

Li Jianfeng waved a hand dismissively, breaking into a grin.

“I’ll live.”

He paused, then looked at Liang Cheng, his eyes filled with a complicated expression.

“Thank you for this, Little Junior Brother.”

Liang Cheng shook his head.

“Your strength earned you a place in the top ten, Senior Brother.”

Li Jianfeng paused at his words, then gave a wry smile.

“Shen Du is about as strong as I am. Is he standing here with us now?”

Liang Cheng didn’t reply.

He raised his head to look at Wenda Hall.

Its doors were tightly shut, ancient and mottled.

“Inquiry Cliff…”

Liang Cheng murmured to himself.

Just then—

RUMBLE!!!

The doors to the hall slowly swung open.

A primordial, ancient aura rushed out to greet them.

Yun Zhonghe’s voice rang out:

“You will have three months on the cliff. You are on your own.”

The ten of them stepped forward in unison, filing inside.

…

Inside Wenda Hall was a world unto itself.

The moment Liang Cheng stepped inside, he felt heaven and earth flip upside down.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in another world entirely.

The sky was a hazy gray, holding no sun, no moon, and no stars—only endless nothingness.

A solitary cliff hung suspended in the void.

Inquiry Cliff!

Atop the cliff stood a stone stele.

It was hundreds of feet tall and pitch-black, standing in utter silence.

No writing.

No carvings.

There were only faint wisps of Dao Rhyme emanating from the stele, weaving and flowing through the space between heaven and earth.

Like strands of silk.

Like wisps of smoke and mist.

The Enlightenment Stele.

The ultimate sect-guarding treasure of the Penglai Sect. Before passing away, generations of sages and Great Powers had branded their lifelong insights into the Martial Dao upon it, leaving them for disciples of later generations to comprehend.

What one could comprehend from it depended entirely on their own personal fortune.

Liang Cheng stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing at the stele.

One by one, other figures appeared beside him.

Bai Wuchang, the Iron Head Monk, Zhou Yuanqing…

All ten Disciples from the Nine Peaks were present.

No one spoke.

Everyone was staring at the stele.

Their eyes were filled with fervent desire.

Three months.

Three months for Enlightenment. How much fortune each could obtain depended entirely on their own destiny.

Liang Cheng took a deep breath and stepped forward.

He didn’t rush toward the stele. Instead, he sat down cross-legged at the edge of the clifftop.

He closed his eyes.

He calmed his mind.

His Divine Sense slowly spread outward.

The others did the same. Without a word, they each found a suitable spot and sat down cross-legged.

Liang Cheng quieted his mind to perceive his surroundings. At first, nothing happened.

The hazy gray space was utterly silent.

Only the Dao Rhyme continued to flow slowly through the void.

Liang Cheng wasn’t anxious.

He regulated his breathing, his consciousness sinking inward.

The Ice Soul Scripture began to circulate.

The Heaven-Burning Scripture began to circulate.

The Crossing the Sea True Intent Full Chapter began to circulate.

As the Cultivation Techniques circulated, his Martial Dao True Intents emanated. The three True Intents, though each distinct, faintly resonated with one another.

Just then—

DONG—

A bell tolled in his Sea of Consciousness.

It was faint.

And distant.

As if from the edge of the horizon.

Liang Cheng’s mind jolted.

DONG—

The second toll.

Closer than the first.

DONG—

The third toll.

Right beside his ear.

DONG—DONG—DONG—

The tolling was incessant, like the monastery bells at dawn and dusk, striking against his Divine Soul.

Liang Cheng felt as if he were in an ancient temple. Distant bells tolled in his ears, and fragrant incense smoke curled before his eyes.

But his consciousness grew increasingly blurry.

As if caught between waking…

And dreaming.

A golden ocean surged with turbulent waves.

The drop of Divine Soul Liquid hovered above his Sea of Consciousness, silently radiating light.

Suddenly, the golden light erupted!

The drop of Divine Soul Liquid, like a miniature sun, burst forth with a blinding radiance!

Its light illuminated the entire Sea of Consciousness, bathing every inch of his Divine Soul!

At the same time, at the foot of the Enlightenment Stele, the chimes of the Dao grew more frequent, and the Dao Rhyme grew richer!

The strands of Dao Rhyme, as if alive, surged toward Liang Cheng and seeped into his Sea of Consciousness!

Within his Sea of Consciousness, the sealed information he had obtained from the Lin Wu City Secret Realm now seemed to have found its key.

BOOM!!!

The information burst open!

Countless images and insights flooded into his consciousness like a raging torrent!

It was the understanding of the Martial Dao, the comprehension of heaven and earth, and the insights into life and death from the master of the Lin Wu City Secret Realm.

These memories had lain dormant, but now, drawn by the Dao Rhyme and illuminated by the golden light of the Divine Soul Liquid, they fully merged with Liang Cheng’s Divine Soul!

From this moment on, they were no longer something foreign to him.

They were now Liang Cheng’s own.

Liang Cheng’s consciousness felt as if it were floating in an expanse of Chaos.

There was no sky, no earth, no sense of direction.

Only endless emptiness.

Suddenly—

A light appeared.

Growing brighter, drawing closer.

It was like the beginning of Chaos, when the pure separated from the turbid.

In a daze, Liang Cheng saw the formation of heaven and earth and the birth of all living things. He saw the orbits of the sun and moon, the changing of the four seasons, and the endless cycle of life, death, and reincarnation.

All of this was the Dao.

The Dao is omnipresent.

The Dao is eternal.

The Dao is formless and intangible.

The Dao is indescribable.

A line suddenly surfaced in Liang Cheng’s mind:

‘The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name.’

‘He didn’t know why he recalled this line, but there it was, like a fundamental truth of the universe.’

‘The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth; the named is the mother of all things.’

‘Thus, to be constantly without desire is to see the sublime. To be constantly with desire is to see the manifest.’

‘These two are the same, but diverge in name as they issue forth. To be the same is called profound.’

‘Profound and again profound, the gateway to all wonders.’

He closed his eyes, allowing his consciousness to drift in the Chaos.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Perhaps it was an instant.

Perhaps it was ten thousand years.

He opened his eyes.

Before him, there was still only Chaos.

The Dao was in heaven and earth.

The Dao was in all things.

And the Dao was also within him.