Chapter 279: Why Undertake Experience
Regarding the stagnation of her cultivation, Hua Changxi had experienced it several times before. Based on her past experiences, she could roughly guess the reason.
In simple terms, it was insufficient experience, and her state of mind could not keep up with the speed of her cultivation.
Even she herself felt that the speed of her cultivation had indeed increased quite rapidly during this period.
As for how to improve her state of mind, Hua Changxi only knew of one method: to go out and gain experience. Besides that, she didn’t know any other way.
And the only place she knew for gaining experience was the Nine Netherworlds.
From this aspect alone, it exposed a serious shortcoming of Hua Changxi all along. She was clearly a cultivator at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, and by all rights, should be considered a strong cultivator, yet the world of cultivators she had come into contact with was pitifully small.
It could be said that this was a severe lack of experience.
Hua Changxi also realized her problem. However, compared to the past, she now knew a few more cultivators.
She felt that she could maintain long-term relationships with Tong Yao, Jing Le, and Yan Zhenzhen, with whom she had collaborated several times.
“Perhaps I can find Tong Yao and the others to exchange cultivation insights?”
With this thought, Hua Changxi sent a message to Tong Yao, inquiring about the refining of the Display Spiritual Artifact and if he had time to meet.
Soon, Tong Yao replied, arranging to meet on the first day of August at their usual restaurant.
Time quickly turned to August.
On the first day of August, Hua Changxi arrived at the restaurant where she often met Tong Yao early in the morning. She thought she had arrived quite early, but to her surprise, Tong Yao, Jing Le, and Yan Zhenzhen were already waiting at the restaurant.
“Benefactor Hua, after several months apart, you have become even more unfathomable.”
As soon as Hua Changxi entered the room, Jing Le’s eyes felt a surge of heat. He hadn’t activated his mystic eyes, but the sharpness of his special eyes still made him sense something unusual.
At this moment, Hua Changxi appeared to him like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
Hua Changxi listened, then looked at Jing Le. Seeing his clear eyes and serious expression, and that he was merely stating what he saw without any intention of prying, she smiled.
“My cultivation has stagnated, it’s a mess and completely chaotic, so isn’t that unfathomable?”
As she spoke, she glanced at Tong Yao and Yan Zhenzhen.
“Have you encountered this situation before?”
Tong Yao heard this and said, “You’ve reached a bottleneck in your cultivation.”
Hua Changxi walked up to the three of them and sat down, “How do I break through the bottleneck?”
Yan Zhenzhen looked at her in surprise, somewhat astonished that she didn’t even know this, “The simplest method is to take a Mirror Breaking Pill.”
Jing Le shook his head and interrupted, “This humble monk believes this is the most inadvisable method.”
Yan Zhenzhen looked at him, “Do you think all cultivators have the same high talent and comprehension as you? Ordinary cultivators who don’t take a Mirror Breaking Pill will never break through their bottlenecks in their lifetime.”
Jing Le did not argue with Yan Zhenzhen. He looked at Hua Changxi and said, “The main reason cultivators encounter bottlenecks is usually insufficient accumulation.”
“A cultivator’s accumulation consists of two parts: the accumulation of daily cultivation, and the comprehension and improvement of their state of mind.”
“Observing Fellow Daoist Hua’s situation, it’s mostly that her state of mind cannot keep up with the speed of her cultivation.”
This point was the same as Hua Changxi’s guess. She quickly asked, “How do you all improve your state of mind?”
Tong Yao spoke, “The fastest way to improve one’s state of mind is through enlightenment, but enlightenment depends on opportunity and cannot be sought.”
Jing Le nodded, “The improvement of one’s state of mind ultimately comes down to the little things in daily life. A fulfilling life is not found elsewhere, but in every present moment.”
Seeing Hua Changxi’s confused expression, Tong Yao smiled and said, “Jing Le means that we should go out and gain more experience.”
Hua Changxi thought for a moment and asked a question she had always wanted to understand, “Why can gaining more experience improve one’s state of mind?”
Yan Zhenzhen replied, “With more experience, one encounters more things. When one experiences more, their horizons naturally broaden; once a person’s horizons broaden, they develop a sense of perspective; when their perspective grows, their state of mind naturally improves.”
Tong Yao nodded in agreement, “That’s right.”
Seeing that Hua Changxi’s brow was still furrowed, Jing Le also shared his view.
“Going out for experience is to allow oneself to feel the world, and in the collision with the world, to constantly recognize people and things.”
“By continuously interacting with people and things, one examines what they want, what they can obtain, and what they can control, thereby understanding their own limitations.”
“Only when a person knows their limitations can they find their way of existence. In the choice of acting or not acting, they find their foothold.”
“Once a person has a foothold, they will know how to interact with the world, and everything they encounter thereafter will be used for their benefit.”
Jing Le’s explanation was more straightforward and easier to understand than Yan Zhenzhen’s. Hua Changxi felt she had gained a lot and quickly asked, “Then how can one quickly recognize their own limitations?”
Jing Le shook his head, “Benefactor Hua, there are no shortcuts in cultivation, and there are no shortcuts to understanding oneself. However, you can discover your limitations more from external obstacles.”
Hearing this, Hua Changxi suddenly felt a sense of sudden enlightenment.
In the face of joint resistance and opposition from Prince Shou and others, her limitations were indeed exposed. Compared to the overwhelming numbers of Prince Shou and his allies, she was isolated and helpless.
Jing Le looked at the back of Hua Changxi’s right hand and reminded her, “The function of the Awakening Mark is not for anything else, but solely for reminding and warning.”
“In the future, when the Awakening Mark appears, Benefactor Hua can carefully feel your state of mind at that moment. Where the mind stops, the true self is revealed.”
Seeing Hua Changxi in deep thought, Tong Yao added, “Experience is very important; it is an indispensable process for understanding oneself.”
Jing Le said, “The primary task in life is to have self-awareness, and then comes everything else.”
Yan Zhenzhen interjected, “Actually, it’s not that complicated. It’s just that during experience, it’s easier to figure out what you should do and what you shouldn’t do, and why you should make such choices.”
Jing Le nodded in agreement, “Cultivators value karma. Things have roots and branches, events have beginnings and ends. Knowing the order, karma becomes clear. Bear what you must bear, and be true to the Buddha and to yourself.”
Hua Changxi understood the meaning of the three. She summarized it in one sentence: experience is essentially the process of investigating things to gain knowledge, and it is the process of moving from chaos to clarity.
Before, she had been narrow-minded, thinking that diligently cultivating and increasing her cultivation level was all that mattered.
Now, her cultivation was not low, yet she was restricted everywhere in the Medical Affairs Department. She had been puzzled for a long time, but now she understood some of the underlying reasons.
She had her limitations: physical limitations, mental limitations, and limitations in influencing others. The most direct manifestation was that just because she was powerful, it didn’t mean others would listen to her or like her.
Unless she used martial force to intimidate them into submission.
However, acting tyrannically and being a tyrannical person was not what she wanted.
Perhaps she didn’t understand herself as well as she thought. Was her current self-definition merely a one-sided, self-indulgent imagination?
Jing Le looked at Hua Changxi and reminded her again, “People are very prone to self-deception and arrogance. Going out for experience is a process of self-correction.”
Hua Changxi nodded. Regardless, she really needed to go out and gain more experience in the future. Then, she looked at the three of them and sincerely thanked them, “Thank you, three Fellow Daoists, for resolving my confusion.”
Tong Yao smiled and said, “If we can help you, we are also very happy.”
Yan Zhenzhen said, “Discussions between cultivators are very necessary. Cultivating alone can easily lead to a dead end. We should exchange ideas more in the future.”
Hua Changxi smiled and agreed, “By the way, where do you usually go for experience?”
The expressions of Tong Yao and the other two paused, and after a moment of silence, Tong Yao spoke, “Fellow Daoist Hua, each Sacred Land has its own exclusive Secret Realm for experience. Doesn’t the Dan Sheng Hall have one?”
Hua Changxi’s eyes widened, “Exclusive Secret Realm for experience?”
Yan Zhenzhen looked at her suspiciously, “Yes, successors of Sacred Lands can enter and exit the Sacred Land Secret Realms for experience with a token.”
Hua Changxi was silent for a moment, “Whether the Dan Sheng Hall has such a Secret Realm, I really don’t know.”
Yan Zhenzhen confirmed again, “You’re really not a successor of the Dan Sheng Hall?”
Hua Changxi replied, “I’m not entirely sure.”
Yan Zhenzhen was speechless, “Do you know that it’s being rumored among the major Sacred Lands that you are the number one person in the Dan Sheng Hall? And now you’re saying you’re not a successor of a Sacred Land, it’s really…”
Tong Yao looked at Hua Changxi, “Successors of Sacred Lands have tokens.”
Hua Changxi quickly asked, “What token?”
Tong Yao hesitated for a moment, looked at Jing Le and Yan Zhenzhen, and then the three of them simultaneously took out small wooden swords, about a palm’s length.
Tong Yao’s sword was a small fiery red sword, Jing Le’s was a small golden sword, and Yan Zhenzhen’s was a small black sword.
Yan Zhenzhen explained, “As long as one is a successor of a Sacred Land, they will receive a Divine Wood Sword like this. The Central Sacred Land’s is earth-yellow, and the Dan Sheng Hall’s is green.”
Hua Changxi was certain she didn’t have such a small sword.
Seeing her reaction, Tong Yao and the other two wisely didn’t ask further, but their eyes were filled with confusion.
Hua Changxi was not a successor of the Dan Sheng Hall, yet the major stirrings in the Dan Sheng Hall were almost all caused by her. What was the reason for this?
Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Yan Zhenzhen quickly broke the silence, “By the way, Tong Yao, how is the refining of the Display Spiritual Artifact going?”
Speaking of this, a smile appeared on Tong Yao’s face, “It’s almost done. We will be able to deploy the Display Spiritual Artifacts to various places before August 15th.”
