Suppressed Senses

When Yaan woke up, he felt exhausted beyond belief, his body was afflicted with horrendous injuries, but he ignored all of this. His first action was to turn towards the Immortal Ancestor, staring at him with a severe, wary expression.

"Did I pass your test?" He immediately asked.

"You did." The white-haired man nodded lightly.

A feeling of relief swept over Yaan, wiping away the tension that was forcefully keeping him awake.

He lost consciousness immediately.

After waking up some time later, Yaan sat up and looked towards the Immortal Ancestor, but this time without so much uncertainty.

He succeeded…barely.

Honestly, he had been uncertain about whether or not the Immortal Ancestor would accept his success this time. Whilst Yaan had indeed formed his Vital Qi Core, stepping into the renowned Vital Qi Core Realm, he was covered in injuries and his foundation was anything but stable.

But, thankfully, it seemed that forming the core was good enough, so he could relax…for now.

"How long until your final test?"

"13 months." The immortal replied simply. "You only slept for a single month after forming your Vital Qi Core."

'Only…' Yaan thought bitterly to himself. It was at times like this that he realised just how far he had strayed from ordinary mortal life.

"Your injuries are quite severe, but with your current recovery rate, combined with the power of that elixir, you will heal naturally after a few months."

Yaan nodded slowly, he was glad to hear this. Of course, he would analyse his own internal condition later on just to confirm this, but there was no reason for the Immortal Ancestor to spout such an easily confirmed lie.

"Do you know what happened to the slaughterous power?" Yaan asked after a moment of silence.

"It was absorbed into your soul."

Yaan blinked. He thought that this might be the case, since the slaughterous power clearly never left his person, yet was no longer present in his body, Qi or his mind…but even so.

Yaan felt slightly chilled. That slaughterous power, the power that he was previously forced to maintain constant control over, was now contained within his soul?

"For now, you needn't worry." The Immortal Ancestor went on. "The power is laying dormant in your soul, but it will awaken after your soul ascends to a new realm. This situation is quite unusual, I do not know how this will affect your cultivation going forwards."

Although this was good to hear, Yaan looked at the white-haired immortal oddly. He was being more helpful than usual, this was unnerving…

"I will only intervene in your life once more prior to the 3rd test."

Hearing this, Yaan narrowed his eyes.

Whoosh!

With a wave of his arm, the immortal swept Yaan up from the ground, carrying him out from the mountain, and arriving on Black Peak, Yaan's own mountain peak, within seconds. Once again, Yaan felt slightly nauseated by the feeling of being pushed around at these horrendous speeds. Not only that, but the immortal's speed of movement seriously made him realise just how outmatched he was here.

Any thoughts of trying to escape were gradually fading from his mind…

This distance would take Yaan close to half an hour to travel, but an immortal could casually cross the distance in seconds. Even if his movement speed had improved thanks to the Vital Qi Core, Yaan was still no match for an immortal.

"This is…?" Yaan looked around uncertainly, before turning back to the Immortal Ancestor. He realised that he was in Black Peak, but he did not recognise this cave. Currently, he was being shielded from the endless darkness around them by the immortal, but even just looking at that darkness from afar made Yaan feel uneasy.

"This is the highest cave on Black Peak. At this height, the black fog is at its strongest. In this place, you will be unable to sense your body, your Qi, and even your mind will be rapidly subdued until your thoughts have been forced into obscurity."

After a moment of pause, the immortal spoke two final lines, before suddenly leaving without warning.

"Think of this as a minor test, but also as an opportunity to cultivate your dao heart…you must leave this place prior to the beginning of the 3rd test in 13 months if you want to keep your life"

After these words entered his ears, darkness immediately engulfed Yaan completely. In an instant, he was unable to feel his body. The sudden shock of being so thoroughly encompassed like this caused his legs to give out; he fell down to the floor and hit the ground, but he neither realised nor felt this.

'What…?!'

Yaan thought this single word, and then, there was nothing.

He could not sense his body, he could not feel his Qi…he could no longer feel the presence of his own mind.

Encompassed by darkness unexpectedly, no longer able to even think…

An unknown sense of terror crept into Yaan's heart.

Complete darkness. This was not just the complete cutting off of his senses, this was the absolute detachment from everything he had ever known!

He could not resist this sensation with his body or his Vital Qi. He had no control over himself or his environment, he couldn't fight this feeling, and he was unable to use his cultivation to assist him.

Due to the suppression, it was impossible to calm himself down with his rational mind. He could not rationalise his circumstances. He was unable to plan…he was unable to even think.

Without the help of his cultivation, he was almost like a mortal, but further than that, he was like a mortal without any of their five senses, a mortal without the capacity to think, but the full capacity to feel.

All that remained was his heart.

All he could feel was the terror that came with completely losing control.

Yaan lacked all thought, but his heart understood the danger of the situation, because the immortal's words from before had been the last thought on his mind, before he was robbed of the chance to think of anything else.

He understood, without needing to think, that if he did not escape, then he would die.

He understood that he was trapped, and that he could not use any of his usual abilities to assist him.

Perhaps if Yaan were able to think rationally, he could calm himself down, he could relax and assess the situation. But he could not think, he could not find an answer, only terror remained. Without the capacity to analyse his circumstances, how could this feeling even change?

An instant of fear, an eternity of fear, it was as if there was no difference between the two.

How long had passed? Yaan did not know, but with each passing moment, the unease in his heart only grew stronger.

He had the distinct feeling that, if he did not escape, then his life could be forfeit at any moment!

He lacked the ability to properly process the passage of time, but it felt as if countless years had passed by…

Suddenly, Yaan's heart became tranquil. In an instant, he no longer felt fear.

It was difficult to explain this change which came about for seemingly no reason. It was simply a change in the state of his heart.

This change was like a realisation - why worry so much?

Indeed, why was he so worried?

He would either escape and live, or fail and die.

So why worry?

Death…was that something to fear?

The change in Yaan's heart was brought about by a very simple idea, one that did not need to be conceived within his mind, but could simply be felt in his heart. The change was simply a matter of no longer fearing failure, or fearing death.

All life in this world innately feared death. Many individuals claimed to hold no fear towards death, and in their day to day life, this might be true. Most people held some lingering anxiety when they thought about death, but there were also those who felt no fear when they thought about such things.

But when you came face to face with your own death, in that moment, could your heart still remain unmoved?

In almost all cases, it could not.

If a person was suddenly and unexpectedly attacked, receiving a fatal injury, who could possibly remain calm? If the ground opened up beneath a person's feet and they found themselves plummeting to their death, who would feel not a trace of fear?

Even Yaan was no different.

And yet, right now, he felt as if he had touched on something…

That something was the tranquility of the heart, the ability to remain unmoved even in the face of death. It was only a temporary state that Yaan was experiencing in this moment - this sort of enlightenment would not last forever, though it would certainly plant a seed of inspiration for the future.

Gradually, within this dark and empty cave which was filled with nothing but endless black fog, an illusion began to spread outwards. This illusion was centred around Yaan himself and it did not spread out far, but it covered a few feet around his body.

At first, the illusion had no physical appearance, but the emotion within, this serene empty feeling, caused imagery to gradually appear.

For imagery to appear within this darkness was truly incredible!

The imagery lingered above Yaan's head. In this image, a child donned a red robe, looking out across the horizon…

The child stood atop the world, standing above many different places, looking out across many different horizons.

A small village, surrounded by a dark forest. The village was peaceful and bright…until the village became stained with blood and darkness encroached.

A mountain with a cultivation sect located upon it. The mountain peak was prosperous, but the villages below were desolate. After a few moments, both the top and bottom of the mountain became soaked in crimson blood, and the sense of desolation encompassed all.

A city, filled with vibrant life. Many people were going about their lives, all with their own ideals and ambitions, many with nefarious schemes, others with upstanding characters. The city gradually faded away after a lonely desolation swept through…

An inheritance site, soaked in blood from start to finish.

An illusory world. Somehow, it looked both identical and completely different to the scenery from before.

Another sect…a deep loneliness exuded from the red robed child in this moment…

Gradually, the sect faded away, replaced by a black mountain peak. As the red robed child was drawn towards the mountain cave, he gradually began to overlap with Yaan.

When the two figures fully overlapped, Yaan opened his eyes.

He stood up, then took a single step, leaving the cave. By the time he exited the cave, the illusion had already dissipated entirely.

"How long?" Yaan spoke calmly. After speaking, the Immortal Ancestor appeared directly behind him, staring at him with a serious gaze.

He was waiting for Yaan to lose consciousness, but he did not do so.

"You took a quarter of an hour to leave the cave."

"Haha…" Yaan laughed and shook his head in wonder. "Only a quarter hour, huh…"

That was, without a doubt, the longest quarter hour of his life.