Chapter 247 What is the bottleneck?

Eternal Night is the cleansing of mankind initiated by Haotian every thousand years. When Eternal Night comes and blocks out the sun, there is no light on earth. Extreme cold comes and the world is destroyed. Only a very small number of people can survive and start the next thousand years.

During the thousand years that Confucius lived, he was considered one of the earliest people.

Therefore, he was extremely wary of the eternal night, because his ancestors had told him about the horror of the eternal night before they passed away.

There are even descriptions of eternal night in Taoist scriptures.

But these descriptions are obviously not as clear as seeing with one's own eyes the tragic scene after the arrival of eternal night.

Once upon a time, the sky was blue, the sun shone on the earth, and all things were full of vitality.

However, that day, the sky suddenly lost its former brightness, and the thick clouds were like a huge curtain, completely blocking the sunlight.

The long night, like an endless abyss, quietly descended upon this land.

The long night did not come all at once. Instead, the darkness slowly swallowed the clear sky from north to south.

Even though everyone knows that eternal night is about to fall, there is nothing they can do. Those who are powerful and have high cultivation levels can stockpile firewood and food to get through this long dark night.

But civilians do not have this ability, and even if they stockpile firewood and food, they may not be able to survive the long dark night.

The food will be eaten up and spoil, and the disappearance of the night depends on Haotian's will. Although more people will bring the night under the jurisdiction of Hades, Hades is Haotian.

Countless people hid in the cellar, looking at the cellar ceiling, hoping that the clouds would disperse and the sun would reappear.

However, as time went by, the night seemed to have no end.

The temperature dropped sharply, the wind was cold and the earth seemed to be covered by a layer of frost.

Plants withered, animals died, and entire ecosystems were on the brink of collapse.

So the Xiling Temple, which believed in Haotian, took in some people, and the Taoist Zhishou Temple took in some people.

The Xiling Temple and the Taoist sect were constantly praying to Haotian, hoping that the eternal night would pass as soon as possible.

The faint light of Haotian God enveloped Taoshan. This was the result of the joint efforts of all the practitioners in Xiling Temple.

However, with the arrival of Pluto, they could no longer contact Haotian, so the power of Haotian's divine light was greatly reduced.

The barbarians in the Far North began to pray to Hades. They believed that Hades was both the destroyer and the bringer of new life, and that only by believing in Hades could they survive the eternal night.

The climate in the Far North is bitterly cold, so the people there are more resistant to the cold. However, under the prolonged cold, their numbers are still decreasing.

Civilians hid in cellars, using weak firelight to keep warm. After the firewood ran out, they could only rely on the warmth of the cellars to survive, but food was decreasing day by day.

At the same time, creatures on earth are also experiencing the test of life and death.

Some powerful creatures died in the darkness, while some highly adaptable creatures tenaciously survived.

They seek food in the cold and light in the darkness.

The existence of these creatures brings a glimmer of life to the earth.

Gongsun Ce and the Master appeared on a high peak, overlooking everything that was happening below.

"What a Haotian!" The Master roared, venting his inner dissatisfaction.

The gambler, the founder of Taoism, awakened Haotian in order to resist an irresistible crisis.

Gongsun Ce speculated that the gambler wanted Haotian to resist the meteorite.

After all, without the moon, the blue planet loses its protection and meteorites will hit it directly.

But the gambler was also afraid that Haotian's actions would gradually harm the human world, so he made a bet with Haotian and won the seven volumes of the Heavenly Book.

Gongsun Ce estimated that after the gambler won the bet, Haotian not only sent down seven volumes of heavenly books but also took the gambler's life.

After all, in Haotian's eyes, gamblers are mortals who offend God.

Moreover, the danger posed by the gambler, a master of the eighth level in the pure realm, holding the seven volumes of the heavenly book, is incomparable to that of a Taoist holding the seven volumes of the heavenly book.

Haotian has some of the essence of prudence and courage, otherwise he would not bring down eternal night every thousand years, taking the lives of ordinary people and practitioners, and then making them return the original power of heaven and earth.

The simple eternal night is naturally unable to kill the practitioner, and this is exactly the scene that the Master wants to see - Haotian eating.

In the silent darkness, an invisible and intangible chill quietly descended.

It is not as biting as the cold wind in winter, nor can it freeze water, but it carries a chill that can penetrate the soul, as if even time is solidified in this chill.

This cold air came from the past, carrying the power to destroy everything, and swept towards the practitioners in the world.

The practitioners were originally immersed in their own cultivation, avoiding the harm brought by the eternal night.

However, this sudden cold air was like an invisible sharp blade, cutting off their connection with the elemental energy of heaven and earth.

For a moment, the air was filled with fear and despair.

The practitioners tried to mobilize their mental power to control the energy of heaven and earth to resist the cold, but their efforts seemed to be in vain.

The cold air mercilessly destroyed their sea of ​​qi and snow mountains, and shattered the mental power in their bodies.

Screams rang out one after another, and every practitioner was struggling in pain under the invasion of the cold air.

Their bodies began to stiffen, their energy dissipated in the cold, and finally turned into a wisp of green smoke and disappeared into the endless darkness.

Their lives are like frozen flames; although they are still beating, they have lost all their warmth.

Just after the practitioners died tragically, the Yuan energy of heaven and earth in their bodies seemed to have found a home and began to slowly return to heaven and earth.

These elements of heaven and earth were the elements of heaven and earth that practitioners unintentionally integrated into their bodies during their practice. Now they have returned to their starting point and become one with heaven and earth again.

The Yuan Energy between heaven and earth began to surge and gradually became abundant. Haotian seemed to be full, and He stopped the invasion of cold air.

The cold air gradually dissipated, and the energy between heaven and earth returned to its former calm.

Although those practitioners who died tragically lost their lives, the Yuan Energy of Heaven and Earth in their bodies turned into nutrients between heaven and earth, nourishing Haotian and making Haotian even more powerful.

After an indeterminate amount of time, the long-awaited sunshine finally appeared on the earth.

The sun shines through the clouds and onto the earth, bringing a touch of warmth and hope.

The few survivors walked out of their houses, basked in the sunshine, and felt the long-lost warmth.

They saw that although the earth was devastated, there was still life growing tenaciously.

Those who survived the disaster began to rebuild their homes.

As time went by, the dawn of civilization gradually illuminated the entire earth.

People began to relearn knowledge and skills to inherit and develop their own culture.

In the butcher's memory, Gongsun Ce and the Master saw the young Master and the temple master Chen.

Obviously, the butcher was very wary of these two younger generations, because the strength of the Master and the temple master Chen soon increased to a level that the butcher was afraid of.

A lawless person of the ninth realm, a perfect person who has mastered all the sixth realms.

"So that's how it is. This is Haotian's method of eating. Although it relies on Taoist methods, it is difficult to stop it." The Master couldn't help but sigh. Haotian's method was simple and effective.

It is even difficult for others to notice that it is Haotian who is devouring the practitioners.

The darkness, the cold, the breeze, everything seemed to be natural.

"The butcher's memory ends here, but I feel that the drunkard's memory may contain something very interesting. Do you want to continue reading it?"

In the memory world, Gongsun Ce can speak freely, thus saving the step of transmitting sound.

The Master nodded. He realized a problem. The drunkard was at the state of no distance and had mastered this path deeply. When facing the eternal night, the drunkard could have run away by himself. Why did he still take the butcher with him?

There must be something fishy going on here!
So Gongsun Ce waved his hand, and the scene in front of the two men changed, and the drunkard's memory replaced the butcher's memory.

Gongsun Ce and the Master were still standing on the highest mountain in the Ever Night world, watching everything that was happening below.

The butcher prefers the common people, so in his eyes, the proportion of common people and those in power is very important.

A drunkard is a pure practitioner. Although he loves to drink, he does not like to drink among ordinary people. His attention is focused on practitioners.

In this boundless darkness, a chill representing the state of extinction quietly spread and swept over silently.

The chill was sharp and icy, as if it could penetrate everything, mercilessly taking the lives of countless practitioners.

In this wilderness, the drunkard walked alone.

His face was pale and there was a hint of panic in his eyes.

He could clearly feel the power of the cold air, an invisible and intangible cold that penetrated deep into his bones and made him shudder.

The drunkard did not dare to slack off at all. He used his unlimited magical power to constantly shuttle through the night, avoiding the ubiquitous cold.

Every time he moved, he was very careful, fearing that he would be affected by the cold air.

However, the cold seemed to be everywhere, as if it could see through everything and always appeared where the drunkard was about to arrive.

The alcoholic can only keep changing direction, trying to find a safe haven.

While avoiding the cold, the drunkard began to look for the place with the least cold.

He looked around, using all his senses to explore.

Finally, he found a relatively safe place in the middle of a barren grassland.

Although the cold air there still existed, it had become much weaker, allowing him to at least catch his breath.

The drunkard was delighted and ran towards the grassy field.

However, just as he was about to arrive, he suddenly spotted a figure.

It was a young girl, she was standing in the far north, her whole body emitting a bright glow, as if she was standing in holy light.

The drunkard was stunned. He had never seen such a pure girl. Her existence seemed incompatible with the cold and desolate atmosphere.

However, at the moment he was stunned, he suddenly felt an even stronger chill.

He looked up and saw that the cold air that was originally wandering around had now gathered around the girl.

With her as the core, endless cold air swept across the earth, clearing out all the practitioners.

The drunkard was shocked, and he finally understood the source of the cold air. It turned out that all this was caused by that girl!
The drunkard immediately thought of the legend of the Son of Hades. It was said that every thousand years, Hades would send down the Son of Hades to take his place in the darkness of the world.

Although he didn't understand why the Son of Pluto was all light, he didn't dare to stop for a moment and turned around and ran immediately.

However, the cold air seemed to have locked onto him. It formed a huge vortex in the air, wrapping the drunkard inside.

The drunkard felt an unprecedented pressure and tried his best to break free from the vortex.

However, the chill was like a thorn in the flesh, tightly entangling him.

He felt his vitality was slipping away, as if it would dissipate in the cold air at any time.

Just when the drunkard was about to despair, he suddenly found that the girl was looking at him.

Her eyes were full of indifference and ruthlessness, as if she was looking at an insignificant ant.

However, at that moment, she seemed to reveal a hint of surprise and confusion.

What surprised Haotian was the drunkard's realm and the aura of the sixth realm, but Haotian had never noticed the drunkard.

The Wuju Realm is a powerful weapon to avoid Haotian's gaze, so Haotian has never found the drunkard. She even thinks that except for Xiling Temple and Taoism, there are no practitioners in the world.

The drunkard didn't know what the girl was thinking, but he knew this was an opportunity.

He tried his best to break free from the vortex, and then used the infinite realm to quickly leave the Far North.

He didn't dare to stop for even a second and could only run forward desperately, trying to escape from this dangerous place.

However, as he continued to avoid the cold, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure.

That's the butcher!

He was using his strong physique to resist the cold, but it was obviously difficult to continue.

His face was as pale as paper and cracks had begun to appear on his body.

The drunkard's heart moved, he realized this was an opportunity.

If he took the butcher with him when he ran away, he could use the butcher as a shield to resist the danger when it came.

So he rushed over without hesitation, helped the butcher up, and took him away from the dangerous place.

They kept moving back and forth in the darkness to avoid the pursuit of the cold.

Every time they were surrounded by danger, but they relied on their firm belief and tenacious perseverance to finally hold on until the day came.

When the first rays of sunlight shone on them they finally breathed a sigh of relief because they knew they had successfully escaped the eternal night.

Gongsun Ce finally understood why the butcher had no memory of him meeting the drunkard.

It turned out that the butcher was trying so hard to resist the cold that he could no longer bear it.

After reading the drunkard’s memories, the Master finally saw what he wanted to see—the Son of Pluto.

He couldn't help but feel that Haotian was just trying to cover up his mistake. Pluto was actually Ming Wang, a very simple pseudonym, but it had deceived generation after generation of people.

Gongsun Ce pushed the Master with one hand, and the Master was pushed out of Gongsun Ce's memory. Then Gongsun Ce began to comprehend the butcher's understanding of the immortal realm.

That was before the arrival of eternal night. There was an inconspicuous meat stall hidden on the edge of the bustling market.

The sunlight shines through the mottled eaves, onto the bluestone slabs, reflecting a faint halo.

The butcher was a burly man, wearing greasy and twisted clothes, but the gleam in his eyes could not be concealed.

The knife in his hand was much heavier than an ordinary butcher's knife. It looked like an ordinary piece of iron, but it seemed to have life in the butcher's hands.

Every time the sword was swung, it was accompanied by a dull sound of breaking wind, as if it could tear the air apart.

Gongsun Ce noticed that the butcher's swing of the knife was not just a simple chopping, but contained extremely high skills and wisdom.

He raised the knife seemingly casually, but in fact, every bit of strength was controlled just right.

Every time you chop, you can cut the meat on the chopping board accurately without damaging the board at all.

This method of cultivation is simple and direct, yet subtle. Gongsun Ce secretly admired it in his heart, thinking that this has reached the realm of making light of heavy tasks.

The butcher's knife swung faster and faster, as if forming a series of gray afterimages.

Through the butcher's memories, he could feel the butcher's gradually strengthening aura.

This aura has both a sense of power and an indescribable calmness and heaviness.

Every moment he swung the sword, he was training his body and will.

This kind of day-to-day training allowed the butcher's physique to gradually surpass the sixth level of the demon realm and begin to approach the seventh level of the immortal realm.

However, Gongsun Ce also understood that if he wanted to truly reach the seventh level of immortality, it was far from enough to rely solely on day-to-day training.

This requires deeper understanding and higher wisdom. Although the butcher has reached a very high level, his path of practice seems to have encountered a bottleneck.

Gongsun Ce felt something in his heart, as if he saw the shadow of his own path of cultivation.

He has also experienced countless setbacks and difficulties, but he has never given up his determination to pursue higher levels.

The butcher's method of practice gave Gongsun Ce some inspiration, that is, to strengthen the body, to strengthen the body continuously until the physique exceeds the limit, and then to absorb enough energy from heaven and earth.

By then, Gongsun Ce will break through to the seventh level of immortality.

Once he achieves the immortal realm, Gongsun Ce can try to break through to the realm of unity between man and nature.

After further studying the realm of Apocalypse, Gongsun Ce felt that he could begin to realize the true meaning of the realm of purity.

Gongsun Ce suddenly opened his eyes. The Master looked at him with a smile and asked, "Have you realized it, young friend?"

Gongsun Ce took out the butcher's knife from his sleeve and waved it in front of the Master.

The butcher and the drunkard were still immersed in the joy of escaping danger and did not notice that the butcher's knife was missing.

Gongsun Ce felt that the knife was indeed heavy. If he had not used his mental power to lift it, the ox cart would probably have been crushed by the knife.

"With sincerity, even metal and stone can be broken. Cultivation is just like this, especially for the butcher, whose cultivation is just this simple. So how do you think we can break through to the immortal realm?"

"Exercise your body and surpass your limits." Gongsun Ce said in a concise voice.

"That's right." Then the Master shouted to Li Manman, "Manman, find a place with beautiful mountains and clear water. My friend needs a quiet place to complete the breakthrough."

"Okay, I'll go find it right now."

After saying that, Li slowly stopped the ox cart and began to search for a quiet place using the state of no distance.

Soon Li Manman returned to the ox cart and continued driving.

"Master, Mr. Gongsun, I have found a suitable place and will be there soon."

Li drove the ox cart slowly and soon arrived at a small waterfall.

Li slowly stopped the ox cart. Gongsun Ce got off the cart and looked around. He found that this place was picturesque, hidden among the mountains, and most importantly, quiet.

Gongsun Ce's practice was frighteningly smooth compared to others. The fact that Xunzi, Bei Mingzi, Donghuang Taiyi and Guiguzi were able to achieve half a step of unity between man and nature was enough to show the talents of these four people.

Even the youngest Donghuang Taiyi reached this realm after he was over fifty years old, let alone the other three.

However, Gongsun Ce had already achieved half a step towards achieving unity between man and nature when he was less than thirty years old.

The same is true in the world of Ever Night. People of Gongsun Ce's age who can break through the realm of knowing destiny are already top talents, not to mention those who can break through to the fifth realm.

The greatest difficulty in achieving immortality is breaking through bottlenecks.

Rely on pure training to break through the bottleneck of the physical body again and again. When the physical body has reached the point where it can no longer be improved, absorb a large amount of the energy of heaven and earth in one breath and break through to the immortal realm.

Therefore, the reason why the Butcher was stuck in the Half-Step Immortal Realm was very simple. It was not because his potential had been exhausted, but because he did not dare to absorb enough Yuan Energy from heaven and earth.

The principle of the twenty-three-year cicada is the same as the principle of breaking through the immortal realm, which is to accumulate strength and soar into the sky.

However, the power accumulated by the cicada over the past twenty-three years is slower, making it more difficult for Haotian to detect.

After Gongsun Ce got off the ox cart, he placed the Sun-Covering Sword and the Dragon Scale Sword on the cart and carried the Tianwen Sword on his back.

Gongsun Ce immediately activated the "Gen" and "Kun" characters on the Tianwen Sword. He suddenly felt like he was carrying a mountain on his back, which made him bend down unconsciously.

Gongsun Ce felt this tremendous force, but he did not feel the slightest bit of panic in his heart.

He knew that this was a test of his physical strength and also the only way for him to reach the realm of immortality.

Gongsun Ce began to do frog jumps. Although his movements were clumsy, every time he landed, it was like a huge hammer hitting the ground, leaving deep footprints on the ground.

The ground shook under his feet, as if it couldn't bear his strength.

However, Gongsun Ce was not satisfied with this. He knew that a truly strong person should be able to restrain his strength and make light work of heavy tasks.

So he began to try to control his strength. With each frog jump, he tried to make the sound of his landing as small as possible.

The process was not easy, but he did not give up. He kept trying and adjusting until he was able to land silently.

A month passed, and Gongsun Ce's frog jumps had become as fast and silent as ghosts.

During this period, Gongsun Ce continued to increase the weight of the Tianwen Sword.

His physical fitness was also greatly improved through this extreme training.

He could feel his muscles expanding and growing stronger, as if an infinite power was surging in his body.

Gongsun Ce knew that his physical strength had reached

He put down the Tianwen Sword and began to frantically absorb the energy of heaven and earth.

Gongsun Ce opened his meridians, allowing the energy of heaven and earth to flow into his body continuously.

His body seemed to have turned into a huge whirlpool, constantly devouring the surrounding energy.

The speed of this absorption was astonishing. The heaven and earth energy that had almost condensed into substance formed a huge halo around his body.

His clothes were rustling in the wind from his Yuanli, and his whole body seemed to be shrouded in a layer of light.

(End of this chapter)