novelraw Chapter 249 242: The Second Shackle
Chapter 249 242: The Second Shackle
Unrestrained, inexhaustible, wildly powerful, and utterly unstoppable. Once unleashed, it would devastate all things.
It was like a natural disaster—the great power of nature, nearly infinite.
"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... So it really is Celestial Power. But isn't this a bit too exaggerated?"
Feng Xun lowered his arms. He was covered in blood and grime, a truly wretched sight. As he coughed, large mouthfuls of fresh blood spilled from his lips. His injuries were clearly severe.
In his long life, he had fought First Generation Celestial Demons before. But even power on the First Generation Level could not be wielded so wantonly. In fact, even the First Generation had great reservations when mobilizing power on the level of a Celestial Phenomenon. After all, they still inhabited human bodies, and the human body had its limits. Repeatedly using Celestial Power placed an immense burden on the body.
To wield this degree of power so wantonly, as Zhou Yuanjue had just done, was something he could scarcely imagine. Even his own body, tempered through countless trials of Horizontal Hard Training, would struggle to withstand the backlash.
'Immortal Bird... That guy's ability is truly terrifying.'
Meanwhile, Zhou Yuanjue was equally astonished by Feng Xun's strength. Though the man looked wretched and was clearly heavily injured, his voice still carried a distinct power. The terrifyingly swollen state of his body hadn't subsided either, which meant he still had strength in reserve.
'After unleashing Endless Soaring with an all-out burst of power, I'm now in a state of exhaustion. In this condition, it's hard to say who's stronger between me and Feng Xun.'
'In other words, if this were a true battle to the death, I probably wouldn't be his match unless I used the self-limit release state, which surpasses my limits but damages my body's magnetic field.'
'The White Tiger of the North, considered the strongest overall among the Four Symbols Form, one who broke through the limits using Horizontal Hard Training... his reputation is well-deserved. His physical constitution is so terrifying that I suspect ordinary firearms and bombs would hardly be an effective threat against him. You'd probably need heavy, mass-destruction weapons like missiles.'
"I've truly seen it for myself now. Celestial Power is truly formidable. According to the data, for an ordinary human to reach this state, they must comprehend the mysteries of Yin and Yang. At your young age, you've already touched the threshold. I'd like to be so bold as to ask... how does one comprehend the mysteries of Yin and Yang? Of course, it's fine if it's not convenient for you to say."
Feng Xun's body rapidly shrank, and he soon reverted from a terrifying behemoth back to the form of a handsome, white-haired old man. After taking a moment to regulate his breathing, it seemed that even his severe injuries no longer had a significant effect on him.
"There's nothing inconvenient about it. The ancient masters were limited by their eras. They lacked the relevant knowledge, and on top of that, they were constrained by archaic concepts of tradition. As a result, their phrasing became deliberately abstruse. They could only use metaphors to describe certain phenomena, which left later generations completely baffled."
"Take Saint Awakening, for example. The ancients spoke of it in terms of being 'Holy and Bright' and to 'Awaken and Guard It.' They talked of 'inverting life and death.' It was all so cryptic. I pondered it for a long time without understanding, and I took many detours. But in reality, the secret of Saint Awakening lies in suppressing the body's instincts to unlock its limitations. The so-called 'inverting life and death' actually refers to the will transcending the instinct for survival. Survival is the body's most powerful instinct. If you can transcend even that, you can naturally suppress all others."
"Controlling instinct, liberating the mind, and thus breaking free from one's shackles to access the external forces that are both dangerous and infinitely beneficial to the human body—that is the essence of Saint Awakening."
"And the so-called mystery of Yin and Yang within Celestial Power is also related to instinct. Most people live their lives without being the masters of their own bodies. This is true even for a Saint Awakening. Our consciousness can only control a minuscule part of our body. The vast majority is controlled by instincts imprinted in our very genes. If you compare the body to a ship, we are merely passengers, not the captain. The only difference is that, compared to an ordinary passenger, a Saint Awakening is like a wealthy merchant who can use money, threats, or other means to make the captain steer the ship to a specific destination. But ultimately, we are not the ones truly in control of the vessel."
"Without this 'captain,' we wouldn't even know how to start the ship, how to manage its every detail, or how to pilot it to its destination. The human body's 'instinct' is that captain. What we must do now is learn how to operate the ship, perhaps even learn how it's built, and replace the 'captain' of instinct to become the vessel's true master."
"On the surface, Yin Yang Unity is about fusing two forces with similar characteristics but opposing natures within the body to increase its tolerance. But in essence, it's about us completely replacing our instincts and becoming the body's true sovereign. At that point, never mind just containing two opposing forces within the 'ship' of your body; it wouldn't be impossible to find ways to modify and rebuild the ship itself—turning a yacht into a super-liner, or a super-liner into an aircraft carrier."
"The mind suppressing instinct, breaking through the fetters of the self, allowing the spirit to move from the finite to the infinite... that is the first shackle of humanity. No one has yet explored the limits of the path that lies beyond breaking it. But now, I believe I see the next step: understanding the body, replacing instinct, becoming the body's master, and then fundamentally changing the body itself to achieve a breakthrough from the finite to the infinite. This is humanity's second shackle!"
Zhou Yuanjue explained slowly. This was the personal understanding he had reached after experiencing the self-limit release and comprehending Yin Yang Unity.
Comprehending Yin Yang Unity was an extremely important turning point for him.
Previously, after his breakthrough to Saint Awakening, it was as if the path ahead had vanished. He had felt lost, unsure of where to go.
Later, Liehong Mountain had taught him the method of controlling magnetic fields. Then, during the Kunlun incident, he received guidance on the mystery of Yin and Yang from Zhang Dongwei—a titan of the Donghua Martial Arts Realm and quite possibly the first Donghua Martial Artist ever to break through to the Celestial Realm.
But even so, he remained uncertain about the path forward, unable to see a clear objective as he had when he was aiming for Saint Awakening.
However, after the battle at Songyang University, he had comprehended the turning point of Yin Yang Unity while in that peculiar state of self-limit release. It allowed him to see many things with new clarity. The obscure path ahead seemed to part, allowing light to shine through.
At the same time, he finally understood why Zhang Dongwei had said that the realm beyond the Celestial Phenomenon might once again return its focus to the body.
Now, his goal was to fully reach the Celestial Realm, achieve perfect control over every minute detail of his body, and glimpse the true mysteries it held.
The second shackle!
Zhou Yuanjue's words struck Feng Xun's mind like a clap of thunder.
'Mind, instinct, body, control, shackles...'
In all his years of practicing the Martial Dao, he had never heard such an explanation. In an instant, questions that had lingered in his mind for years seemed to connect, and the answers slowly began to surface.