Chapter 46

Ximen Shuai thought for a while: "Many people ask this question. As far as I know, the ascetics have no desires or thoughts, like a stone. During the great battle of the evil path, the ascetics of the righteous path and the demon sect did not resist at all. They sat quietly and let enemies of much lower realms cut off their heads. However, ascetics are also divided into different levels. Some who have just started their asceticism may still feel fear, have a will to survive, and even anger or resistance. It's quite ironic that cultivation is for longevity, but in the end, these ascetics are not afraid of life or death."

Lin Fan asked, "If that's the case, why become an ascetic?"

"Haha, that's a very basic question," Ximen Shuai laughed. "Ascetics don't deliberately become ascetics. Take Nangong Wuhen, for example. He had a brother named Nangong Wuyuan, who also participated in the great battle of the evil path 300 years ago. His wife and children all died in battle. He felt very lonely and helpless, and gradually became lazy about using weapons. Slowly, he rarely went out and did not take on any miscellaneous tasks. After thirty years, he became a true ascetic."

Lin Fan said, "My sect leader says that ascetics are those who have gone astray."

Ximen Shuai thought for a while and nodded, "Sanzhen said well. In Buddhism, there is the concept of karmic obstacles, which is similar to the heart demons in Daoism. From my perspective, there are several types of ascetics. One type is those whose hearts are like dead ashes. They immerse themselves in their true selves, viewing the world through their true selves, seeing the hustle and bustle of the world as nothing more than that. Another type is those who are too smart, whose cultivation has not kept up with their enlightenment, enjoying this tranquil thinking and immersing themselves in it, seeing all things around them like grass and trees. The last type is those who have transcended life and death, not fearing life or death. They have already found answers in their hearts about life and death, and when they look at the world again, they see it as nothing more than that."

"Then how can one avoid becoming an ascetic?" Lin Fan asked.

"You fear becoming an ascetic, so you won't become one, because you have fear. My master told me that the fear of death is normal. The day you neither seek life nor death is when you have gone astray. In the demon sect, there is also the concept of fearing death but not being afraid of it. It means that the fear of death is normal, but you should not be afraid of death. For example, the thousand-year-old fox also fears death, which is why she uses the hearts of young men as ingredients for her elixirs. But when faced with a choice between righteousness and death, she is willing to choose death."

Lin Fan nodded, seemingly understanding but not fully.

After leaving the pass, the population became sparse. Except for mining areas and places rich in medicinal herbs, there were usually only one or two villages within a hundred miles, and the villages were not very populous. However, due to the vast and sparsely populated land, people lived relatively well-off. Because of this, many were unwilling to move to the unfamiliar areas within the pass. As for the existence of demons, people generally had a侥幸 (lucky) attitude.

Here, the number of demon sect disciples began to increase, partly for daily patrols and partly because many disciples entered the Cangmang Forbidden Land for training. Due to the second reason, a buffer zone of a hundred miles emerged between Xizhou and the Cangmang Forbidden Land. This area, without any sects, was covered in eternal snow and was known as the Great Snow Mountain.

The Great Snow Mountain had a specialty not found in the other twelve continents: spirit beasts. Most were ice spirits, which had formed over ten thousand years, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth and transforming into spirit beasts. They sometimes gathered in groups and sometimes appeared alone, attacking any non-spirit beasts that approached them without hesitation. Since ice spirits were excellent materials for refining elixirs, weapons, and swords, many experts searched for them in the Great Snow Mountain. The righteous and evil paths often clashed over this, leading to immediate battles.

...

"Is that an ice spirit?" Lin Fan looked at a palm-sized snowflake dancing in the cold wind a hundred paces ahead.

"Today's luck is good; it's a lone one," Ximen Shuai took out a cloth bag from his spatial ring. "Wait a moment."

Ximen Shuai held the bag in his left hand and drifted past the ice spirit from the left. The ice spirit immediately crouched on the snow, hiding itself. When Ximen Shuai was close enough, it suddenly shot a spiral of ice at him. Ximen Shuai was prepared and blocked it with his ancient sword, then quickly rushed towards the ice spirit. The ice spirit, not feeling afraid, shot another spiral of ice. Ximen Shuai dodged it by stepping on the spatial ring. After dodging the third spiral, Ximen Shuai was already in front of the ice spirit. He opened the bag and covered the ice spirit inside.

Is that it? Lin Fan curiously looked at Ximen Shuai's bag.

Ximen Shuai said, "It still needs some time to refine the spirit and attach it to something, like if you want to refine a sword, you can attach the spirit to cold iron and then refine the sword. The sword's power will greatly increase, with endless uses."

Lin Fan asked, "Why are they called spirit beasts?"

"Stones, ice, and other things originally have no spirit. They gain a spirit by absorbing the essence of heaven and earth. They have only the spirits of heaven and earth, but not the spirit of life. Humans have seven spirits: joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire, but they do not have these spirits."

Lin Fan knew this. The three spirits are the spirits of heaven, earth, and humanity, with the human spirit also known as the spirit of life. After a person dies, the spirit of heaven returns to heaven, the spirit of earth returns to the grave, and the spirit of humanity returns to the underworld. The spirits of heaven and earth do not get lost, but the spirit of humanity can. Without the spirit of humanity, one can eat, drink, and sleep but cannot think. The spirit of heaven has different levels, determining a person's reaction speed, judgment, and logical thinking. The spirit of earth determines likes and dislikes. The same woman may be liked by some and disliked by others. The spirit of earth creates the diversity of people in the world.

Ximen Shuai was generous and taught Lin Fan the method of capturing spirit beasts, which was essentially using the principle of the five elements. Ice spirits are water, and the cloth bag is earth, so they can be captured directly. Lin Fan cut a piece of his robe to make a cloth bag and quietly approached a lone ice spirit. Then Lin Fan was caught off guard.

He didn't expect there to be another ice spirit on the ground, attacking from both sides. Lin Fan was caught off guard and hit by a spiral of ice, a cold current rushing to his dantian, causing his true qi to rapidly deplete and his body to become immobile. Seeing this, Ximen Shuai quickly threw out the Seven Break Flags and shouted, "Break the qi!"

The Seven Break Flags swept over, dispelling the cold current in Lin Fan's dantian, and Lin Fan hurriedly fled. Ximen Shuai retrieved the flags and caught up to Lin Fan, "I thought you were smart, but you almost lost your life in one encounter."

Lin Fan felt a chill, "The cold current is so powerful."

"Of course, these are all thousand-year-old ice spirits. Their cold current is not something a late-stage Golden Core cultivator can resist. But it's simple; just don't let them hit you."

As he spoke, a cultivator on the mountain a hundred paces away suddenly flew up, and dozens of ice spirals shot up from the ground in pursuit. One ice spiral hit the cultivator's foot, and he immediately turned his sword to cut off his foot. But he still couldn't escape. In the moment he paused, dozens of ice spirals hit him, and his expression froze. He then fell straight down from the air, motionless.