Chapter 1144: Hongmeng Universe Beach, Era of Sculptural Art

Chapter 1145: The Essence of Cultivation

Author: Three Hundred Jin's Smile

Last Updated: July 16, 2020

Chapter Word Count: 5,224 words

The world subtly surged, as if something new had been born.

Winds stirred and clouds gathered; countless grand dao laws trembled in resonance.

Streaks of breathtaking rainbows, connecting heaven and earth, flickered across the sky. A figure, shrouded in sacred light, stood with an imposing aura, green light shimmering in its eyes, as if looking down upon the entire world.

Countless members of the Yi Mang tribe put down their sculptures, quickly knelt, and cried out repeatedly.

"Yi Mang!"

They cheered, gazing at their leader, who was enveloped in a radiant glow, as if beholding the one true god of heaven and earth.

In this ancient, chaotic Primordial Cosmos, the concept of a "god" had never existed. It was as if, at this very moment, the concept of god began to take form.

"How interesting..."

Xu Zhi took a bite of an apple, gazing down at the fish pond below with a faint smile. "He's actually reached the first stage. And this kind of breakthrough, the cosmic upheaval it caused, is comparable to the energy vortex created by a god's breakthrough on a planet..."

This was no divine grace, mysterious blessing, or cosmic reward for the first cultivator in the world—such notions were laughable.

The universe itself was unconscious.

It was just there, like Earth.

What was happening was merely a part of a natural phenomenon, just as ancient humans, upon seeing lightning, believed the sky gods were enraged, when in reality it was simply a natural occurrence.

Otherwise, if Xu Zhi were truly a parasitic tumor, he would have been struck dead long ago.

Such a disturbance was due to the Primordial Cosmos's rules being too unstable and easily influenced. The chain reaction caused by a first-stage breakthrough, absorbing energy, was thus exaggerated.

"After ten thousand years, even without knowing soul cultivation methods or martial arts cultivation methods... in a young, strong body that doesn't age, the strength of the soul and body will naturally grow with unintentional daily exercise, eventually reaching that threshold... After all, an immortal pig would also enter the first stage over such a long period."

'Moreover, sculpting consumes physical and mental energy, and day after day of focused effort is similar to meditation. Meditation also involves concentrating on visualizing an image, which subtly aligns with the path of soul cultivation and martial arts!'

Bloodline cultivation methods were too complex and were naturally not practiced.

As expected, the first cultivation methods to emerge were the fundamental paths of soul and martial arts.

As for this universe's rules, could they be altered through enlightenment, making cultivation not about the bloodline grand dao?

How could that be?

The overture of the universe's grand dao, the core set of laws that fragmented upon its birth, had already set the fundamental tone. All paths of cultivation were predetermined. Just like in the present era of the greater universe, the rules of the universe used bloodlines as a medium, hidden within living beings. All living beings cultivated the bloodline path, unearthing the potential within their bloodlines...

"However, it also seems fated."

Xu Zhi smiled faintly, looking down at the entire Primordial Cosmos. "Without immortality, it would be almost impossible for cultivation methods to appear so quickly."

The idea of the universe opening, primordial gods being born with inherent knowledge, understanding cultivation from birth?

A joke!

Those were all mythical tales, glorified by later generations.

In this nascent primordial universe, not only did various concepts of laws not exist, but the concept of "cultivation" had also never existed. If it wasn't recognized by the natives of this era, it wouldn't exist. Would you actively try to cultivate something that doesn't exist?

This was a cognitive barrier, a limitation of the era.

Xu Zhi sighed with emotion. All of these developments were within his expectations, yet they were also entirely logical, even an inevitable historical progression.

Devoting too much energy to studying statues.

Then, with immortality and the increase in lifespan, breakthroughs would naturally occur.

Soon, the cosmos became clearer in Yi Mang's eyes. He felt as if he had discovered a new world, realizing his life level had elevated.

"I've grown stronger..."

Yi Mang found his strength significantly increased and began to gather his tribesmen to study the changes in his body.

He discovered that by carving stones, he could exercise his body and hone his spirit, leading to his transformation.

"This method, I name it... Cultivation."

Standing atop a massive sculpture, he looked down at his vast, sea-like tribe and declared, "Cultivating the mind and body is what 'cultivation' means. Training your consciousness and body can strengthen your physique and accelerate our bodily growth."

He spoke very simply.

"Cultivation?"

They were perplexed.

"What is the essence of cultivation?" someone asked.

"The essence of cultivation is to accelerate the body's growth, allowing us to move from adulthood to grand-adulthood."

Yi Mang's words left the entire tribe bewildered.

Even Xu Zhi was slightly stunned, struggling to grasp the meaning of this statement, and instinctively watched to see how Yi Mang would elaborate.

Yi Mang earnestly spoke to those below: "For every one of us, below ten years old is childhood, twenty years old is adulthood, and ten thousand years leads to grand-adulthood... According to my current physical perception, there's further bodily growth beyond grand-adulthood, leading to great-grand-adulthood... Based on our normal bodily growth, it would take us fifty thousand years to reach that point."

Xu Zhi trembled slightly, as if some fundamental understanding of the world in his mind had been unveiled.

Yi Mang continued: "And the essence of cultivation is to accelerate our maturity, allowing us to reach physical strength in a shorter amount of time!"

"Cultivation! So *this* is cultivation!"

They cried out excitedly, "It allows us to shorten the time, to make our bodies enter adulthood, great-grand-adulthood... We want to cultivate! We want to cultivate!"

"Chief, you're ten thousand years old, and grand-adulthood is truly so powerful? We're also approaching ten thousand years, so we'll soon enter that stage of physical growth!"

This moment was destined to be recorded in history.

For the first time, beings in the universe grasped the concept of cultivation.

The essence of cultivation: to prematurely accelerate the natural growth of life.

Xu Zhi's mind reeled, and looking at this scene, he felt as if he was witnessing the epic beginning of the universe. "So, *this* is the true essence of cultivation!... Our previous understanding of the essence of cultivation in the universe was fundamentally flawed!"

In the era of primordial gods and devils, their lifespans were infinite. Even without cultivation, their bodies could naturally reach such realms with the passage of time.

Furthermore, they didn't need to cultivate their bloodlines; their bloodlines would also naturally reach perfection with time.

The only difference was that the natural growth period required was extremely long.

After ten thousand years, simply by eating and drinking, one could reach the first stage.

Theoretically, given sufficient lifespan, hundreds of millions of years of growth, completely ignoring the grand-grand-grand... adult life stages, could naturally lead to a Ninth-Stage Dao cultivator, or even a Tenth-Stage Ultimate!

"The essence of cultivation is to accelerate the natural growth stages of life... Because their lifespans are infinite, the primordial gods and devils of the Primordial Cosmos, theoretically, would become Tenth-Stage Ultimates once they naturally reached adulthood!"

"Their use of cultivation was merely to accelerate their own maturation!"

The primordial ancient gods of the Primordial Cosmos, with infinite lifespans, were born sacred. Once they matured, they would become the universe's most powerful Ultimates.

This fully explained everything.

"But from our later perspective, our lifespans became limited. Cultivation isn't about accelerating the life cycle anymore; it's a race against time, a struggle against destiny!"

Xu Zhi had a sudden realization, understanding the fundamental truth of the universe more thoroughly within his heart. Scenes from history reopened before him, and he couldn't help but pick up his pen again to write a line in 'Genesis':

"In the Primordial Aeon, the Era of the Great Explosion, deities delighted in sculpture, through which they observed the universe's vastness. After merely ten thousand years, a being named 'Yi Mang,' at the age of ten thousand, first entered the First Stage and witnessed the true method of cultivation."

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