Back when he was at the West Ocean, Jing Jiu's Cultivation state was very low. His body was many times stronger than a regular Cultivation practitioner's, but it was still not perfect. As a result, he was almost cut in half by Jian Xilai's full-powered sword.
Since then, he hadn't suffered such a severe injury. A piece of his earlobe fell off during the fight with Nan Qü, and another piece of his earlobe fell off during the fight with Bai Yuan.
His earlobe was the only defect on his perfect body, and it was also the weak point.
Moreover, the prominent ear could be easily grabbed.
As such, it was easy to tear it off.
In fact, this movement didn't produce any sound, but the people on the beach seemed to have heard a tearing sound, as if a tough object had been torn to pieces forcefully; they all shuddered in fear.
Jing Jiu tossed the half ear to the ground like a piece of waste paper.
Next, he tore off the other ear.
His movement was very coherent, and it looked casual, but it gave off a sense of seriousness.
Neither the pale-faced Zhao Layue nor the cold-faced Tong Yan had time to do anything, like asking him to stop.
Two thin streams of blood trickled down from the broken ears.
They looked like a stream in the mountain.
The blood was not much, but it was mixed with some crystal particles.
It didn't look bloody, but it had a strange sense of beauty, like some scenes in the Buddhist scripts.
The green rope of light representing the Inherited Heaven Sword moved from Jing Jiu's wrist to his arm, and now it was on his neck, replacing the Thoughtless Sword.
As his arms were chopped off and his ears were torn off, the green rope of light grew dimmer.
The purpose of the Inherited Heaven Sword, regardless of whether it was a sheath or a program, was to control the All in One Sword. If the All in One Sword was destroyed, it would be useless.
Philosophically and logically, this was the simplest and most unstoppable way to defeat the Inherited Heaven Sword.
The question was, would Jing Jiu be able to survive after this perfect body was completely destroyed?
"You've indeed come up with this wicked method," said Zhao Layue while looking at his pale face.
Jing Jiu looked at her and explained seriously, "This method is a little difficult to do, but your body is really good."
The All in One Sword's body was, of course, not bad. Even though his right hand was the edge of the All in One Sword, the sharpest thing in the universe, it was still difficult for him to cut himself.
"But you should remember that my body has some other weaknesses."
Jing Jiu raised his right hand and pointed at the corner of his eye with his fingertip.
Zhao Layue's expression changed slightly. She wanted to stop him, but she didn't know what to say.
There was a very small crack at the corner of his eye, much thinner than a strand of hair. It was very difficult to see with the naked eye.
Even among the people on Shenmo Peak, probably only Zhao Layue knew about this.
Jing Jiu's finger went to the corner of his eye.
A sword light emerged from the tip of his finger and entered the tiny wound.
His fingers slowly slid down from his temples to his chin, and then down again.
Blood flowed from his fingertips, glistening in the sunlight.
Jing Jiu's fingers didn't stop there. They went down to his neck, chest, and abdomen, and went deeper and deeper.
Splash! Splash!
The sea was still frozen, so it was not the sound of waves.
Some internal organs that looked like gems and chalcedony flowed out from his right hand.
His expression was still calm, and no pain could be seen in his eyes.
Everybody knew that it must have been an extreme pain.
Even if the body didn't feel pain, how could the spiritual soul escape from it?
…
…
"I seem to have seen this scene in a story."
Shen Yunmai's voice trembled slightly.
Zhuo Rusui said, "It seems that a child in ancient times violated the law of heaven and implicated his family. As a result, he had to cut off his flesh and restore his bones."
Shen Yunmai said in a trembling voice, "I remember it now, but … it looks completely different."
"Yes," Zhuo Rusui said after a moment of silence.
The climax of the story was the scene where the flesh was cut off to restore the bones. It was particularly tragic and even tragic.
Jing Jiu was doing the same thing, but his actions and emotions were calm and even a bit mechanical.
Tong Yan suddenly recalled the feeling when she and Jing Jiu played Go for the first time at the Plum Meeting in Zhaoge City many years ago.
Jing Jiu was such a person.
Regardless of whether he was playing Go or doing anything else, he would have a clear goal and a precise procedure even at the moment.
He didn't destroy his body because he was annoyed by these things; he must have some other idea.
"Enough!" Shen Yunmai said icily while looking at his father, "Don't you understand what he meant?"
"Crying, throwing a tantrum, and threatening to hang yourself?"
Shen Aoyama said to Jing Jiu in a mocking tone, "It's interesting to threaten me with such a shrewish method."
"I really don't want this body anymore." Jing Jiu went on, "And I want to know one more thing. Do you want to obtain my body to save the world, or do you want to subdue me to maintain your authority to rule this world?"
"What's the difference?" asked Shen Aoyama.
"If it's the former, how are you going to ignite the permanent star and save the humans if I destroy this body?" asked Jing Jiu.
Shen Aoyama said to him expressionlessly, "This body doesn't belong to you. You're merely a guest."
There was a saying that had been repeated many times: Every living being was a passerby in heaven and earth.
There was also a similar saying: Heaven and earth are the reverse journey of all living beings.
The Reverse Journey here meant that it was an inn.
They were all expressing the same opinion: They were all guests.
If the All in One Sword was a container or a carrier, then the spiritual soul of Jing Jiu living in it was a guest.
What reason did the guest have to deal with the Inn, regardless of whether it was sold or destroyed?
"It's not yours either," said Jing Jiu.
Shen Aoyama said, "Even if you don't agree that this sword was given to me by god, you should at least admit that it belongs to Ping Yong-Ka. Don't forget that he is the true sword spirit. Why did you destroy the All in One Sword without his consent?"
"The All in One Sword is like a mother's womb, and he is the child of the sword, just like the relationship between Qing 'er and the Green Sky Mirror. How can you say that this sword belongs to him?"
Jing Jiu said, "All things are ownerless, and you and I are merely passerby. But I'm living here now, so I have the final say."
Was the soul a passerby of the body?
No, it was more accurate to say that it was a passerby of the material world.
"Is that why you threaten me with suicide?" demanded Shen Aoyama while staring into his eyes.
"Why do you think I'm threatening you with suicide? I wouldn't do such an unaesthetic thing. "
Jing Jiu asked while looking at him, "You said that you had read my book; do you still remember the plot at the end?"
The book titled "The Path Toward Heaven" was written in the apartment on the Mingsheng Street on the Stargate Base.
The story stopped at the moment of his ascension.
Before he ascended from Chaotian, all the Cultivation sects in the Cultivation world came to Aoyama and took part in the meeting.
Before he left Chaotian, he told the Cultivation practitioners three stories.
The first story was about Cao Yuan's life, which stated that one had to be "open-minded" in the Cultivation world.
The second story was about Su Ziye's life, which stated that one had to be "open-minded" in the Cultivation world.
The third story was about Su Ziye's life, which stated that he would "take off his clothes".
There were two similar examples in the original story.
He gave up his Dao body.
He threw away the stick.
…
…
The three stories were the last words left behind by Jing Jiu before his ascension. The Cultivation sects in Chaotian regarded them as the ultimate truth. They had studied them for hundreds of years, and had come up with many theories based on them.
Hearing Jing Jiu's question, Tong Yan, Liu Shisui and the others recalled the three stories and many original words in the story, for instance, "I'll give up my Dao body one day."
Thinking of the meaning of this statement and looking at Jing Jiu covered in blood, the group was stunned speechless.
Zhao Layue was the most shocked of all.
One hundred years before her ascension in Chaotian, she had discussed with Liu Shisui, Tong Yan and Zhuo Rusui what to do after her ascension. She thought that Jing Jiu would have conflicts with those fairy masters of the past due to his temperament.
Recalling that Jing Jiu said in the battleship that he had thought of a way to kill the Great Grandmaster before his ascension, she realized that it was true. He had been wary of the Great Grandmaster at the time, and had thought of a way to deal with him.
His spiritual soul was inseparable from the All in One Sword, so he couldn't separate his sword ghost from his body like Nan Qü could. What if he encountered someone who could control the All in One Sword after his ascension? The Inherited Heaven Sword in Chaotian had been destroyed by him, but the Inherited Heaven Sword was forged by the Great Grandmaster; couldn't he forge another one? Even if the Great Grandmaster was not here, could the other fairy masters of the past Aoyama forge another one?
It turned out that he had realized the hidden danger of this perfect body earlier than anybody else.
"This sword is the water in the pond warmed by the sun, and I'm the frog. This sword is the clothing, and I'm the woman who loves beauty. This sword is the stick, and I'm the flame that doesn't dare leave. It takes a great deal of courage to jump out of the pond, take off my clothes, and burn the stick … "
Jing Jiu continued while looking at Shen Aoyama, "You've done a good job. You've forced me to take this step, and you've given me the courage to give up. I'd like to express my gratitude to you."
…
…
If the perfect body transformed by the All in One Sword was the clothing, then he would take it off.
He had helped the Snow Girl leave Chaotian, Qing 'er leave the Green Sky Mirror, and Ping Yong-Ka leave the All in One Sword.
All of them had done the same thing.
However, the Snow Girl, Qing 'er, and Ping Yong-Ka were all born with spiritual bodies, so they could exist independently.
He was a human, so his spiritual soul couldn't be separated from the All in One Sword. What should he do then?
There was nothing that couldn't be separated.
Once the body was destroyed, the only thing left behind was the independent and free soul.
Hua Xi, who was by the pond, suddenly lifted her head and shot a glance in his direction.
"Take off your clothes and go … I think I've heard this before."
Shen Aoyama continued after some thought, "But how can a free soul last long?"
Neither the sword ghost nor the yuanying could leave the body of the Cultivation practitioners for a long time, and they were very weak outside the body, like a candle in the wind that could be extinguished at any moment. It was how Lo Huainan died back then.
Shen Aoyama had said that Nan Qü employed the method of leaving the body of the sword ghost because he thought he was near the end of his life. What Jing Jiu intended to do now was to destroy his body completely, leaving only his spiritual soul. How could he continue living then?
Jing Jiu said, "The path toward heaven has reached this point, and no one has ever walked it before. All we can do is wait and see."
"You're lucky enough to transfer your spiritual soul to the All in One Sword, but you're going to leave it now? If you leave the All in One Sword, where will you go? Possession? No body can withstand your spiritual soul. "
Shen Aoyama pressed, "Or, are you going to enter the Green Sky Mirror or the Grand Nirvana? By then, you'll become a resentful ghost controlled by the spirit of the Green Sky Mirror or the Joyous Monk. What's the difference between that and what you're most afraid of? "
Shen Yunmai's voice rang out, sounding more serious than ever.
"I think you should be more cautious. This old man is as afraid of death as you are, and he has done a great deal of research on the soul, even more so than the Joyous Monk. Do you remember the pair of fairy men in black on Mars? And Tong Yan, you've seen those duplicates in the old house. He has done many experiments, hoping to transfer the soul perfectly or exist forever, but he has failed. "
Jing Jiu knew that Shen Aoyama's warning and Shen Yunmai's warning were both reasonable. There were spirits like Qing 'er in Chaotian, and those resentful ghosts. Yet, those were not the real independent spiritual souls. In the entire history of the Cultivation circle, Jing Jiu was the only one who had attempted to transfer the spiritual soul, save for the reincarnation of Zen Master.
His Big Brother Taiping Zhenren's total transformation had a serious problem, so it couldn't be counted as a success. Zen Master retained some memories of his previous life after reincarnation, but he wasn't sure if he was the same person. Jing Jiu couldn't accept these two states.
The All in One Sword was nonetheless special.
And Jing Jiu had never thought of reincarnating his spiritual soul.
…
…
The sword wills filled the sky like the ocean. The rain and wind arrived.
He arrived in this world where everything was quiet.
Jing Jiu's body emitted a brighter metallic glow, as if it would swallow the wheelchair under him. The fresh blood and the terrible wounds on his body were nowhere to be seen.
The All in One Sword appeared gradually.
"It's an unparalleled sword," Shen Aoyama remarked sentimentally, "I haven't seen it for many years."
Taiping Zhenren had said something similar back then.
Jing Jiu's right hand could be vaguely seen falling down amid the scorching sunlight.
Would this unparalleled sword be destroyed in such a way?
"A person can't stand up by holding his own hair; how can a sword cut himself in half?"
Looking at the spot, Shen Yunmai said in a perplexed and excited manner, "I'd like to know what will happen in the end."
Nobody could see the end, because the sword light was too bright and dazzling.
A figure walked out of the ball of sword light.
The figure was not tall, and it was a child. However, it was hard to see his face clearly, and it was hard to tell his gender.
Was this the spiritual soul of Jing Jiu?
The child's bare feet landed on the sand, and he took a step forward clumsily, as if he had just learned how to walk.
This was probably the first step of a child.
And it was also the most important step for humans.
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