Shedding the Mortal Coils

Deep within an unknown mountain range, on top of the highest summit, a young man sat on bare rock looking at the the horizon. He was completely naked, showing his soft white skin and lithe barely noticeable muscles. His pitch black hair cascaded down his back covering his skinny ribs that began showing after weeks of starvation and dehydration.

A seemingly endless number of black shadowy mountains surrounded him. They contrasted with the young man's body, showing just how insignificant he was. However, the young man may look small especially with his skinny ribs showing due to weeks of starvation, Li Zhenhai ( meaning "Ocean Suppressing"), who was a mix between Chinese, Korean, and Swedish, had a strong spirit that seemed to gleam through his crisp blue eyes.

Years ago, his grandfather had obtained an unmade Buddhist manual from a temple in the midst of a raid by followers of the great leader, Mao Ze Dong. It was a powerful technique designed to strengthen the spirit and eventually separate it from the body in order to achieve nirvana although no definite results have been noted. At the time his grandfather felt that it was too risky to cultivate this manual for the great leader had an agenda against the cultivators. Besides as a soldier he was not the sharpest knife in the box and he definitely did not have the money or time to commit.

Li's father was a businessman who having not grown up in the time before Mao did not believe in the supernatural, instead focusing on entrepreneurship. The manual was eventually passed onto Li, who being the young scion that he was and second son of the family, chose to cultivate and after savoring the fruits of his labor decided to go all the way to the end.

Of course due to his lacking foundation in dharma he had to practice like a wandering monk and travel the world doing good deeds and saving lives for merit.

During his time traveling the world he donated every cent he had to charity, subdued criminals, and practiced as a wandering voodoo doctor. Using the immense merit he obtained from saving lives he refined his spirit, saving decades of work if he had instead meditated in a cave somewhere like a legitimate monk.

Although he had no formal training and was thirty years old he looked as if he had not aged since his high school years. This was due to both his spiritual cultivation and the sheer amount of herbs he obtained from his father. But now at the age of thirty five he could finally reach the nirvana or so he hoped. After weeks of meditation in the unknown mountains he had successfully reached the the tipping point. He had sacrificed his tiger like body that took over twenty years to build in order to cultivate his golden figurine spirit that swelled deep within his mind and body, glowing with and aura of golden light signifying immense merit.

He stared as the the bright yellow sun began to appear in the horizon. The sun, the literal embodiment of yang they gave life and substance to the world to grow. It was the final trial he would face. By burning the vitality within his body day and night week after week under the cold yin moonlight and burning hot sunlight, the purest form of yin and yang, he could cultivate his spirit like a piece of steel forged within a fiery furnace. Today would mark the end of his secluded cultivation for once the sunlight hits his skin he would complete the refinement creating a powerful spirit like a pure gold statue exploding out from a furnace.

Once the sunlight touched his foot, his skin, bones, and blood began combusting. As the light travelled up his body, it began burning his blood and merit, creating a small layer of crimson and gold fire that covered his skin and penetrated through his bones into his organs.

Li was taking a huge risk. Honestly with his previously strong body and powerful mind he could definitely make it big in the secular world. In addition, he was not also risking his life, he was also suffering immense pain that burned him in body and mind, only protected by the immense merit in his spirit. Although his body was being destroyed his spirit flowed with even more intensity. Rays of golden light left his eyes. His body turned black and suddenly the fire blazed with great intensity. The sheer excitement and determination allowed him to power through the refinement process. His spirit left the body, shedding its mortal coils in order to reach a higher state of being!

He left behind a black charcoal like body. The body with nobody to run it and no energy to left began to slumped over but not fall to the ground. Perhaps in a few decades when his body began decaying, the surrounding area with flourish with plants and animals feeding off the nutrients and luck that remained in his body.

As for Li, his solid gold but now dim spirit shot upwards at an unfathomable speed, ignoring gravity and air resistance, piercing the exosphere and disappearing into the unknown.