Chapter 53 — The Strange Beast
劍問蒼天 · Page 4 of 6
At the same time, the giant tentacle outside pressed down without cease, as though it would crack his very bones. Alone in the darkness, at a loss, Zhang Qingyue's consciousness began to blur under the tremendous pressure.
And then, at this moment on the very threshold of life and death, passages of text suddenly flashed through his mind:
"...The heavenly image has no form; the Way is praised yet nameless. Therefore it is said: no self, no other, no beings, no lifespan—and thus one reaches the light. Hold to the one true Way, and within, realize one's own nature; heaven and earth take the root as their heart..."
These words seemed to light up from the depths of his being, echoing in his mind. This was the general outline from the first volume of the 'Book of Heaven,' which had once baffled him utterly—how could the Buddhist and Daoist methods of cultivation, fundamentally so different, ever be merged into one?
Yet at this very moment, in this place of extremity, his body on the verge of bursting, in a state of utmost suffering, some part of his mind, for reasons he could not fathom, began to grow clear—and heedless of the piercing pain, only those words deeply carved into his mind echoed on:
"...
Therefore when movement rests within the earth, the heart of heaven and earth is revealed.
Therefore there is neither substance nor void.
Therefore heaven and earth follow nature, doing nothing and creating nothing.
Therefore when things are not all present, they cannot be complete!
..."
The Dark Iron Staff, which he had held all this while but which had lost its luster, now suddenly began to glow once more.
A faint, dark-blue radiance slowly rose.
A cold, icy sensation coursed through his body.
Zhang Qingyue could see nothing in the darkness, yet his eyes were wide open, and his whole mind echoed with a single line: "Therefore when things are not all present, they cannot be complete! ... Therefore when things are not all present, they cannot be complete! ... Therefore when things are not all present, they cannot be complete! ..."
"Ah!"
He lifted his head, toward the heavens, and screamed—but his voice had gone hoarse.
"Therefore when things are not all present, they cannot be complete!"
The two qi of Great Brahma Prajna and the Taiji Mystic Clarity Way, which had been warring within him, suddenly surged like a mighty river pouring into the sea. After a violent collision, they burst forth from his right arm and were driven, raw and unyielding, into the black Dark Iron Staff.
In an instant the Dark Iron Staff blazed with light. Beneath its dark-blue halo, the body of the staff seemed to have been stimulated by something, and every vein and fiber on it grew clear, down to the last hair. Even those blood threads seemed infused with fresh vitality, faintly pulsing and throbbing, as though dark-red, hidden, uncanny blood flowed within them.
"Creak—creak—creak—creak—creak..."
Along with the strange phenomena of the Dark Iron Staff, peculiar sounds broke out all over Zhang Qingyue's body—not the sound of bones snapping, but something like a violent heartbeat, like boiling blood, like skin splitting open from within—and yet his body showed no abnormality at all!
Unwittingly, Zhang Qingyue regained his senses. He looked around, and before he could even grasp what changes had taken place in his body, he realized he was still bound by the giant tentacle—but now the Dark Iron Staff, after his moment of sudden enlightenment had forced the true arts of Buddhism and Daoism into it, radiated a light subtly different from before. Within the dark-blue glow there faintly drifted threads of golden light, and even those swaying, faint red traces of blood—ferocious, fearsome, and strangely vivid.