Chapter 21: Body as a Vessel
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Qingshan had no recollection of this female disciple who admired him.
After receiving the items the other party had brought, he returned to the bamboo hut and placed the books and manuscripts down.
He thought to himself, “Little Nine is about to break through the Grandmaster Plane and enter the Distant Shore Plane. Based on her current cultivation rate and root bones, she will need at least another two months, maybe even three to five months. She won’t be coming for a while.”
“However, that is also fine. Once her cultivation has improved, she can defend herself. That way, I do not need to worry about her. In the meantime, I will continue living quietly,” he said as he thought about Little Nine.
As for the female disciple who had sent him the books, he had already forgotten about her.
Li Qingshan inspected the manuscripts and discovered that Little Nine was genuinely thoughtful. She feared that he would get lonely and bored, so she prepared various genres for him to spend his time on.
He picked up a manuscript that contained information on cultivation.
Before this original body was crippled, his cultivation was on the Ascension Plane. He had not reached the Distant Shore Plane yet. He knew little about the cultivation planes beyond that.
Now, Li Qingshan was already on the Distant Shore Plane. The knowledge of cultivation stored in this body could not keep up with his progress anymore.
He needed to gain more knowledge about cultivation.
Based on his understanding, cultivating past the Distant Shore Plane was like crossing seas.
He needed to cross nine great seas to reach the next plane.
However, how one chooses to cross these seas is their own choice.
The way each person crossed these seas varied. When Li Qingshan seriously studied books on this matter, he discovered that two main methods were recorded.
The first was used by major sects. They would provide a ‘ship’ that carried the Distant Shore Plane cultivators across these seas. The storms they faced throughout the process were weathered by this ‘ship.’
To use this method, the sects needed to have a certain level of ability. While cultivating, they would construct a ‘ship’ in the seas of the Distant Shore Plane. They would regularly maintain it and keep it in good shape.
This was a mandatory criteria to be considered a top sect. Only by establishing a ‘ship’ could the sect protect their disciples as the latter broke through to the
Distant Shore Plane. That way, the sect could develop even more Distant Shore Plane experts.
It was common for cultivators to break through to the next plane using this method. However, they would not experience many trials and tribulations in the process as they were protected very well by the ‘ship.’
The second method was for a single person to ride a ‘boat’ to traverse the seas.
Cultivators who chose this method were on their own. They would traverse the bitter seas of the Distant Shore Plane alone in their own ‘boat.’
With their efforts, they would reach the distant shore and catch a glimpse of the Venerable Plane.
Exceptionally few people choose to do so. The danger was too great, and it was also a time-consuming endeavor. After all, how could a one-man ‘boat’ compare to a ‘ship’ when traversing the seas?
This was also why individual cultivators could not compare to disciples from major sects.
When Li Qingshan finished reading the book, he fell into deep thought.
He muttered, “The books all talk about having a vessel to traverse the Distant Shore Plane, but I don’t have one.”
He was swimming in the waters of the Distant Shore Plane alone just like that.
Be it a sect’s ‘ship’ or a one-man ‘boat,’ Li Qingshan had neither.
He speculated, “It might be that I did not know of such details when I broke through. Hence, I ended up soaking naked in the seas of the Distant Shore
Plane.”
The original host of this body had only reached the Ascension Plane. How could he have known about such things? It was even less likely for the current Li Qingshan to have known.
Thus, he was now faced with such a predicament.
Li Qingshan pondered seriously for a moment and said, “The world is a great sea of suffering, and I can only escape it by reaching the distant shore. Others use ‘ships’ and ‘boats’ as tools. Why can’t I use my flesh?”
No one else chose to traverse the seas of the Distant Shore Plane with their bodies because there were limits to human power. If the cultivators expended their energy on the waters, they would be consumed by them.
Even with a small ‘boat,’ they could still rest, alleviating their stress and fatigue.
Only an absolute hulk (read: super idiot) would attempt to traverse the seas with their body as a vessel.
Yet, that was precisely what Li Qingshan was planning to do.
Since it had come to this, he would not look back.
He thought, “The world is a sea of suffering. At sea, our bodies are our vessels, and our souls are the passengers.”
“My vessel will carry its sole passenger toward the Distant Shore Plane. I can train my flesh and strengthen the vessel until I reach the distant shore of this sea of suffering.”
“I can also train my soul so that the passenger can swim. That way, I can cover all bases and grow both my body and soul.”
“That way, when I arrive at the distant shore, I will surpass others who have also made it there.”
Li Qingshan was resolved and did not waver. However, he still chose to be shirtless in the sea and swim toward the distant shore.
Once he set his eyes on his goal, he continued to cultivate and wipe the steles.
Each day, he got up in the morning to wipe down the steles. Then, he would return to the bamboo hut and cultivate. At night, he would read books and enjoy the scenery.
A beautiful day would pass just like that.
Of course, he still set aside time to feed the little fox in between all this.
However, the little fox continued to ignore Li Qingshan. She would run far away each time he went to feed her and did not allow him to pose a threat to her.
Over the next few months, the little fox did not get any closer to him.
However, she now stayed away for a much shorter time. Once Li Qingshan placed her food down and left, the little fox would return.
Previously, she needed to wait quite a while to be sure that there was no danger before she slowly and carefully went over.
This was considered an improvement.
Whenever Li Qingshan thought of this, he would shake his head with a bitter smile on his face.
Just like that, three months quietly passed.
Other people sent goods over two separate times, but Little Nine did not come even once in the three months.
Li Qingshan did not mind. As long as she was okay, he could be at ease.
He was more at ease with no one bothering his cultivation.
For the past three months, he had been using his body as a vessel and his soul as its captain to traverse the three seas of the Distant Shore Plane.
This caused his abilities to become even more terrifying.
However, it did not feel like that to him. So now he was spending even more time each day in the Stele Forest.
As his abilities improved, he ventured deeper into the Stele Forest and saw a whole new world.
That day, Li Qingshan got up bright and early. After washing up, he headed toward the Stele Forest.
Over more than a year, with his bamboo hut as the center, he had comprehended all the steles in a ten li radius.
He would continue to go deeper into the Stele Forest now.
This was the first time Li Qingshan ventured past the ten li boundary and looked deep into the Stele Forest.
Repentance Cliff, also known as the Million Stele Forest, had an extensive area. Li Qingshan was alone here, so he was not in a rush to go anywhere, taking things in stride.
After comprehending the steles along the outer perimeter, he pushed beyond the boundary a bit. He knew that he needed to take things slow.
When he left the ten li boundary, Li Qingshan saw even larger steles stuck deep in the ground. Some of them were overgrown with moss and vines, having been exposed to the elements for so long. The writing on some steles had already faded. One could imagine how long they had been standing here.
“These steles beyond the ten li boundary are at least from 2,000 years ago for them to be in such a state of ruin,” he mumbled as he gazed at the condition of these steles.
A stele close to him was dozens of meters tall. However, its corners were already chipped and had fallen off. Other parts of this stele were covered in tangled vines. When Li Qingshan saw this, he cut down the vines and tidied them up. Only then could he see the image on the stele.
It was the image of the Four Sacred Beasts..
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