The first thing Uchiha Yoru felt was the natural energy flowing through his meridians beginning to boil. The four spirits of natural energy that had long since fused together were showing signs of separating again.
Fire-aspected natural energy was the first to split away.
The scorching fire spirit gathered toward his legs, and a clear burning sensation appeared at the Yongquan points on the soles of his feet.
After that came wind-aspected natural energy, separating from his meridians. The lively wind spirit gathered toward his head, throwing his thoughts into chaos.
Then lightning-aspected natural energy separated as well, uncontrollably dispersing into the surrounding seawater. He could no longer sense it.
What was going on?
Why was the natural energy he had worked so hard to temper and fuse separating again?
Why were they acting beyond his control, either scattering or gathering on their own?
Uchiha Yoru's heart was filled with confusion. Faced with an unknown situation, fear naturally arose within him.
He knew very well that maintaining clarity of mind at this moment was extremely important, so he skillfully used his mental suppression technique, wanting to erase his fear.
But only now did he realize that as the natural energy separated and each acted on its own, even the earth-aspected natural energy left in his meridians was no longer under his control. There was no way to vibrate his dantian, no way to trigger the bell sound to cleanse his mind.
Uchiha Yoru immediately grew solemn.
He understood that during the coming breakthrough, he could only rely on his own will to maintain clarity of consciousness.
Damn it. How is this a breakthrough? This is clearly undergoing tribulation.
During my last breakthrough, I got struck by who knows how many hundreds of bolts of lightning. This time, will it hit me a thousand times, or ten thousand times?
Why is this so hard? Why is cultivating immortality in the shinobi world this hard? I've only just reached Foundation Establishment. I can't even fly yet, so why am I already undergoing tribulation?
The heavens of this place are really sinister—
Ow!
Uchiha Yoru's ninja shoes were suddenly burned through by flames. Only then did Uchiha Yoru discover that his vision had already recovered. He hurriedly tore the ruined shoes off his feet.
The moment the burning shoes left his feet, the flames were extinguished by the seawater. Uchiha Yoru discovered that it was not the shoes that had caught fire.
It was the soles of his feet.
More precisely, the Yongquan points.
At that moment, a passage he had read in his youth in his previous life surfaced in his mind. Every word, every punctuation mark, even the torn corner and page number on the book page, were incomparably clear.
That passage was written like this:
"Heaven will send a fire calamity to burn you. This fire is neither heavenly fire nor mortal fire. It is called Yin Fire. It rises from beneath the Yongquan point of the body, burns straight through to the Niwan Palace, turns the five viscera to ash, rots all four limbs, and reduces a thousand years of bitter cultivation to illusion."
Then two more passages also surfaced in Uchiha Yoru's mind one after another:
"Heaven will send a wind calamity to blow upon you. This wind is not the wind of east, south, west, or north, not gentle wind, golden wind, or northern wind, nor the wind of flowers, willows, pines, or bamboo. It is called Bi Wind. It blows in through the fontanelle, enters the six bowels, passes through the dantian, pierces the nine orifices, dissolves bone and flesh, and the body comes apart on its own."
"Heaven will send a lightning calamity to strike you. You must perceive your nature and clarify your mind, avoiding it in advance. If you avoid it, your lifespan equals heaven. If you fail, your life ends there."
Although he had long since proven that the immortal path of the shinobi world was different from what he knew, the awe-inspiring heavenly might described in these three passages still made Uchiha Yoru shudder.
Especially now that this smoldering Yin Fire had truly begun burning from the soles of his feet. The Yin Fire, which showed no outward flames, was spreading along the meridians of his legs toward his torso.
He panicked.
Just as he hesitated over whether he should cut off both legs and avoid the fire calamity through self-mutilation, the speed of the flames suddenly turned incomparably swift. They shot directly to the dantian in his lower abdomen, causing his entire lower body to enter a smoldering state.
The behavior of this flame was far too strange.
It was as though it could read Uchiha Yoru's thoughts.
After this sudden surge, the Yin Fire seemed to lose momentum. It settled within the dantian, unhurriedly accumulating heat.
Uchiha Yoru no longer dared let his thoughts run wild. He could only enter a state without thought or intention, quietly observing like a bystander.
No one knew how much time passed before Uchiha Yoru's spirit loosened slightly and a thought surfaced:
Is it over?
The moment this thought emerged, before even vigilance or regret could arise, the Yin Fire became like a pot of oil splashed with cold water. The flames suddenly erupted, instantly burning through the dantian.
The Yin Fire rose inside Uchiha Yoru's body, burning straight through his abdomen and chest like a pillar of fire. It paused slightly near the Scarlet Palace in his chest.
Just as Uchiha Yoru reacted and tried to do something, the Yin Fire erupted again. After violently bursting forth, it rushed through his throat and finally stopped between his brows.
Here, the flames received an epic enhancement.
A noble and gorgeous purple qi merged into the flames, allowing the originally invisible and traceless fire, which could only be sensed through heat, to manifest within his perception.
Uchiha Yoru found this purple extremely familiar.
In the next thought, he remembered.
Was this not the morning sun purple qi he had painstakingly accumulated?
With merely a flicker of thought, the purple fire transformed from Yin Fire suddenly exploded. It was like an explosive tag had detonated inside his head, blasting his consciousness into pieces.
Uchiha Yoru completely gave in.
He did not move at all, not raising a single thought. His focus was one thing:
I'm not moving. I'm lying flat. Are you still going to erupt?
No one knew how long passed before Uchiha Yoru's thoughts began stirring again.
After all, he was still alive.
How could a living person truly have no thoughts at all?
After several attempts, Uchiha Yoru discovered that there was no problem. No matter how active his thoughts became, the purple fire no longer erupted. Only then did he finally relax and begin examining himself boldly.
At this moment, Uchiha Yoru's condition was extremely strange.
He clearly remembered that he had split apart during the purple fire's final eruption. Yet his consciousness had not vanished. Instead, it had become even sharper and clearer.
He seemed able to sense an even broader world.
But this world was a mass of chaos, containing nothing.
This made Uchiha Yoru feel deeply strange.
In his perception, this world clearly had nothing at all, so why was he receiving such a strong feedback of "clarity"?
It was truly contradictory.
Suddenly, Uchiha Yoru saw purple fire.
Within this chaotic world, it leapt out, and what followed was a great explosion like the creation of heaven and earth.
Under Uchiha Yoru's conscious gaze, the gorgeous purple fire opened up a world within the chaos.
A world that was small, yet complete enough.
As the temperature of the purple flame in the void gradually decreased, the color of the fire also changed into pure white.
Countless things were born within the pure white flame.
Matter, energy, rules, gravity.
Uchiha Yoru suddenly realized that all this was not being born naturally. It was following his own understanding of the world.
Curious, he tried imagining mythical structures from legend, such as the Heavenly Court, the Southern Heavenly Gate, Kunlun, and the Moon Palace. He even imagined the Thirty-Three Heavens, Mount Olympus, Yggdrasil and the Nine Realms, and all kinds of immortal worlds.
Unfortunately, Uchiha Yoru's efforts to fantasize about mythology and the immortal path were meaningless.
The newborn world still completed its construction according to the absolutely real world.
Uchiha Yoru shook his head regretfully, then nodded in satisfaction.
The real physical world presented by the newborn world reflected the underlying logic of his own worldview.
Although it was very regrettable that he could not use imaginary rules to cheat on the path of immortal cultivation, he was still very satisfied that he could confirm his essence remained materialist.
As the world finished its construction, Uchiha Yoru suddenly discovered that his four major heart-aspects had actually appeared here. Even the porous octopus, Xiao Ke, had appeared in this world.
The fact that the heart-aspects could appear in this new world might prove that this was his mental world.
At least, it once had been.
After the purple fire joined it, the mental world had undergone replacement and transformation, evolving into a new world.
After appearing in the new world, the four major heart-aspects no longer stood in a square, nearly facing one another in confrontation. Instead, each occupied one corner of the world.
The Heart Ape occupied the volcanic stone forest in the south. The Lung Tanuki ran through the desert in the west. The Liver Toad appeared and disappeared within the swamp in the east. The Spleen Boar stood proudly upon the central plains.
The heart-aspects merged with their respective environments, forming powerful auras that confronted one another from across the distance.
The small hole-covered octopus Xiao Ke had somehow slipped into the northern lake, hiding motionlessly at the deepest point underwater.
Suddenly, the sky of the new world collapsed.
Endless heavy rain poured down from above, covering the entire world like the Heavenly River bursting its banks.
The four heart-aspects released their full auras, firmly protecting their own territories and forcefully blocking the rain that filled the sky.
With nowhere to go, the stormwater ultimately gathered in the north.
The lake became an ocean.
In an extremely short period of time, the new world experienced a flood disaster.
But after the disaster, the new world seemed to have filled in its final missing piece. The world clearly became much more complete.
The four heart-aspects did not stop their eruption. They even joined forces and exerted pressure on the northern sea with all their might, causing the newborn ocean to become restless, with violent winds and giant waves rolling endlessly.
The stronger the pressure, the more intense the ocean's turmoil became.
Only when a powerful aura was born from the sea and forcefully pushed back the four auras did the wind and waves of the ocean finally calm.
A new heart-aspect had been born.
Uchiha Yoru was overjoyed.
He had already guessed that the heavy rain and flood just now were the manifestation of water-aspected natural energy within his mental world.
This represented that without his participation, his body had automatically and successfully absorbed the water spirit.
His breakthrough had succeeded.
Even the fifth heart-aspect had been born smoothly under the pressure of the other four heart-aspects.
Although this breakthrough had been burned painfully by Yin Fire and frightened him badly, the process had been surprisingly smooth.
It could even be said that other than eating that unknown fiber, Uchiha Yoru had done nothing. Everything had naturally fallen into place.
This was very reasonable.
For every previous breakthrough in the Foundation Establishment realm, none had involved as much preparation time as this one.
Especially during the final four-plus months, when Uchiha Yoru could not find the breakthrough opportunity, he still persisted every day, maximizing the tempering of himself and refusing to overlook even the smallest detail.
The current smoothness proved that every bit of his effort had not been wasted.
I have to thank Might Duy and Might Guy. It was their extraordinary perseverance and persistent effort, as well as the future radiant bloom of Father Guy and Emperor Guy, that gave me endless confidence.
For me to persist until today, to persist until success, the examples set by those two strange species contributed greatly.
Calculated this way, I owe father and son a huge debt of gratitude.
The grace of a single drop of water must be repaid with a gushing spring.
But this is the grace of attaining the Dao. A heavenly great karma. I need to think carefully about how to repay this kindness in order to settle the karma.
Uchiha Yoru thought bitterly for a long time, yet still could not find the key.
What could he give?
Money, ninjutsu, senjutsu, taijutsu… none of them were enough. No amount of money could balance the grace of attaining the Dao.
Should I kill them both?
Once people are dead, everything ends. No karma remains.
The moment this evil thought surfaced, Uchiha Yoru himself laughed.
Who knew which great genius had invented this evil path?
It looked satisfying, but in truth, it was a heavenly pit.
So-called karma was not some external thing. The Heavenly Dao would not strictly restrain every immortal cultivator like national law.
Karma existed only in the immortal cultivator's heart. It was the belief from one's original heart that one owed a debt.
Repaying the debt was the simplest and most effective method to settle karma.
Could killing someone truly make one's original heart feel that everything was over?
How could it be that easy?
If he could truly accomplish that, he would not need to kill anyone. He could simply forget this karma.
What I think becomes what it is.
That was complete control of the original heart by the self-will. It was the divine ability of the Great Supreme Forgetting Emotion at great completion, the highest pursuit of all immortal cultivators.
Even if one could achieve it, forgetting emotion itself required a price.
Thus, if Taishang Laojun became entangled in karma, he would repay the debt with Nine-Turn Golden Pills, settling karma through repayment a hundredfold over, rather than forgetting that karma.
So killing people could definitely not be used to settle karma.
Uchiha Yoru tried hard to recall what the Might father and son lacked.
Recognition from everyone?
Yes, Might Duy and Might Guy very much hoped to obtain the recognition of Konoha shinobi.
But even without others' recognition, they still persisted in their efforts.
Useful, but not enough.
Finally, Uchiha Yoru thought of it.
The Might family still had a regret they could not let go of.
The continuation of life.
After Might Duy's brilliant bloom ended in death, would Might Guy not feel regret?
Might Guy became famous and accomplished, yet in the end, he passed his spirit and inheritance to Rock Lee. Would he truly not regret failing to leave behind a son with the surname Might?
I will preserve Might Duy's life and let him die of old age naturally, allowing him to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren before he dies.
I will ensure three generations of the Might family live in peace and health, their descendants continuing onward. I will use this to repay the grace of attaining the Dao… That is enough.
Uchiha Yoru instantly felt enlightened, as if a thousand-jin burden had been half lifted away. His entire being felt much more relaxed.
With the change in his mood, a large fish leapt from the northern sea of the new world.
An especially, especially large fish.
Alright, in truth, this fish was not that large. It was roughly ten times the size of the second-largest heart-aspect, the Spleen Boar. But for some reason, when Uchiha Yoru saw this fish, he felt that it was special.
Furthermore, the phrase "who knows how many thousands of li" kept surfacing in his mind.
Uchiha Yoru understood.
This fish was no ordinary fish.
It was—
Kun.
Water belonged to the kidneys, so this was…
The Kidney Kun.
Five spirits complete.
Five forms whole.
Uchiha Yoru was overjoyed.
This was Foundation Establishment completion.
Full of joy, he followed the method of leaving the mental world and suddenly leapt upward. Sure enough, his consciousness began rising. Very quickly, he broke free from the new world.
As his consciousness continued rising, the full appearance of the new world appeared in Uchiha Yoru's eyes.
It was a planet wrapped in purple fire.
His speed of departure grew faster and faster. The new world grew smaller and smaller, rapidly becoming a point of light, until the light point completely vanished and his consciousness suddenly leapt back into the familiar world.
Uchiha Yoru woke up.
He firmly remembered the change in perspective after returning, finally confirming that he had emerged from between his brows. The new world was within the Niwan Palace between his brows.
That was the Purple Mansion.
As expected, the new world…
No.
The Purple Mansion was his mental world.
In his understanding of immortal path knowledge, another point corresponded to the shinobi world's immortal path. Uchiha Yoru was extremely happy. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, revealing a smile.
But the movement of lifting the corners of his mouth actually triggered intense pain.
Uchiha Yoru's smile froze. Then even greater pain surged toward him like a tsunami, instantly drowning him.
Pain.
His head hurt, his face hurt, his neck hurt.
His arms, his whole body, his head…
Everywhere hurt.
The purple fire that had opened the Purple Mansion had not extinguished. It still maintained the characteristics of Yin Fire, burning everywhere throughout Uchiha Yoru's body.
The purple fire used his body as material for tempering. His self-healing ability rapidly restored the body that had been burned full of holes, then the purple fire tempered it again.
Over and over.
Through this repeating process, Uchiha Yoru's body was continuously strengthened. But the pain it produced also appeared repeatedly without end.
This pain did not weaken because it lasted long enough. Nor did any numbness appear.
Because aside from organs, bones, and muscles, even his nerves were within the scope of the purple fire's tempering.
The continuously renewed and strengthened nerves gave Uchiha Yoru faster reactions, as well as sharper and more delicate senses.
Yes.
That meant it hurt even more.
Just as Uchiha Yoru was in so much pain he could not endure it, the purple fire finally began to retreat.
Still starting from the Yongquan points on the soles of his feet, it rapidly withdrew upward, passing through the dantian, retreating from the Scarlet Palace, and finally fully returning to the Purple Mansion.
Is it over?
Uchiha Yoru sensed the body tempered by the purple fire.
His bones were solid and tough. His organs were full of vitality. His muscles were full and resilient. His nerves were sharp and delicate. Compared to before the breakthrough, he was more than ten times stronger.
He smiled and tried to move his body, only to discover that his body was abnormally stiff. Every joint was like a rusted bearing, making creaking sounds but completely unable to rotate.
This physical state could only prove that the breakthrough had not been completed.
Only the first stage had been completed.
Thinking of the wind-aspected natural energy gathered at the Baihui point, as well as the lightning-aspected natural energy dispersed into the surroundings, Uchiha Yoru immediately felt his scalp go numb.
Could it be that this final breakthrough requires something like the Yin Fire tempering enhancement two more times?
Even beneath the sea, he still sucked in a breath of cold air.
Before this breath of cold air was fully inhaled, the wind-aspected natural energy within the Baihui point indeed erupted.
Just as Patriarch Subhuti had said when frightening the monkey, Uchiha Yoru felt the wind-aspected natural energy change.
The wind spirit transformed into an indescribably strange wind, moving from the Baihui point all the way downward, pouring into his organs and bowels, taking the dantian as the center of the storm, and finally passing through his nine orifices.
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