Covering the Sky: A Guide to Proving the Dao Without Cheats

More than ten days later.

In a quiet room in Yaoguang Stone Workshop, Luo Heng gently put down the "Undying Heavenly Art" in his hand, his expression becoming serious.

He glanced at the large amount of Originium stones scattered on the ground around the meditation room, then slowly closed his eyes and began to introspectively examine his own chakra.

The quiet room gradually quieted down, and Luo Heng sat there like a stone statue.

The Wheel Sea is the origin and source of all things, bearing the foundation of life's vitality, containing the essence of the whole body, and nurturing the Wheel of Life within it.

The Wheel of Life, for ordinary people it is for procreation, for Taoists it is for the growth of the body, and it is the foundation of cultivation. Its location is precisely at the most perfect dividing point between the upper and lower body of the human body—below the navel.

And time is like a carving knife, leaving a mark on the wheel of life every year, just like the annual rings of a tree. When a person's life comes to an end, the wheel of life will also be etched with the vicissitudes of time, until it completely crumbles.

Above the Wheel of Life lies the Sea of ​​Suffering. The Sea of ​​Suffering overlaps with the Wheel of Life; more precisely, the Sea of ​​Suffering submerges the Wheel of Life.

Not only does the passage of time constantly grind the wheel of life, but the sea of ​​suffering also erodes it day by day.

The first stage of spiritual practice is the realm of the sea of ​​wheels, which is further divided into four smaller realms: the sea of ​​suffering, the spring of life, the bridge of the spirit, and the other shore.

It begins in the "Sea of ​​Bitterness," which needs to be opened up and strengthened, as the Sea of ​​Bitterness overlaps with the Wheel of Life, through which one explores the Wheel of Life. Releasing the essence of life nourishes the whole body, strengthens the flesh, and initially transcends the mortal realm.

The wheel of life bears many scars with the passing years, and death comes when life ends. Only by opening the sea of ​​suffering and the wheel of life, and drawing out vital energy, can one prolong life.

Then one reaches the "Fountain of Life," where abundant life essence gathers into a liquid divine spring of life, and the eye of the Fountain of Life is carved in the Sea of ​​Bitterness to connect with the Wheel of Life. At this point, the cultivator possesses a source of power, can unleash infinite supernatural abilities, and ride rainbows to fly through the sky.

Next is the "Divine Bridge," where powerful cultivators, unwilling to be trapped in the Sea of ​​Bitterness, break through the shackles with the profound methods of the Daoist scriptures, allowing their physical bodies to transform and divine veins to grow in the Sea of ​​Bitterness. After going through hardships, they sublimate their Sea of ​​Wheels, forming the Divine Vein of Heaven and Earth, and releasing their potential.

Finally, upon reaching the "Other Shore," cultivators must possess unwavering resolve to achieve a dual sublimation of both body and spirit, breaking through shackles and transcending the self, using a divine bridge like a rainbow to forcefully cross the sea of ​​suffering. After reaching the Other Shore, the flesh, organs, and bones wither and decay, undergoing nine more transformations to be reborn.

These four realms are isolated from each other, and breakthroughs are difficult, requiring patient accumulation and reflection before a chance for transformation can be found.

At this moment, Luo Heng saw that in the very center of his green sea of ​​suffering, which was about half the size of a fist, there was a spring that was connected to the Wheel of Life below. The divine spring was gushing out, surrounded by a misty fog, and above it stood a magnificent divine bridge suspended in the air.

Looking at this small, desolate sea of ​​suffering, Luo Heng couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself.

He thought to himself that his current foundation in the Sea Realm was far inferior to that of the geniuses of the Big Dipper, let alone Elder Wu Qingfeng.

But there was no other way. In order to complete his plan in time, he only sought speed in his cultivation and did not take into account his foundation at all.

But all of that is in the past. From this day forward, he will defy fate and transform from a carp into a dragon.

With this in mind, he no longer hesitated and began to silently circulate the profound techniques recorded in the Devouring Heaven Demon Art.

The green sea of ​​bitterness gradually turned black, and as time went on, the entire green sea of ​​bitterness turned completely black.

After an unknown amount of time, a strange wind suddenly arose in the quiet room, howling and spinning rapidly around Luo Heng.

Upon closer inspection, the eye of the storm was indeed his sea of ​​suffering—it seemed to have transformed into a black hole, dark as an abyss, with occasional leaps of pitch-black lightning.

If someone can look inward into their sea of ​​suffering, they will see that the once calm, black sea of ​​suffering is beginning to slowly rotate in reverse.

As time passed, the calm water surface gradually transformed into a rapidly spinning whirlpool, frantically devouring everything around it.

After an unknown amount of time, the light in the quiet room gradually dimmed, and the wind grew stronger.

The source stones placed on the ground glowed slightly, and strands of pure primordial energy were drawn out from them, flowing like rivers into the sea, into Luo Heng's dantian, where they were swallowed and absorbed by his black hole-like sea of ​​bitterness.

At first, I thought it was just that the sky was getting dark naturally, but upon closer inspection, I found that the sky outside was still as normal.

Only by focusing one's gaze on Luo Heng can one perceive that the closer one gets to him, the dimmer the light becomes, as if he is gradually swallowing up even the light.

At this moment, his sea of ​​suffering was like a deep black hole, frantically devouring the vital energy in the quiet room.

Fortunately, Luo Heng had prepared enough source stones in advance; otherwise, the spiritual energy he absorbed during this cultivation would probably have attracted the attention of other cultivators in the divine city.

Luo Heng continued his cultivation in this way, and three days passed in the blink of an eye.

When he felt he had reached his current limit and finally stopped, he looked at his current sea of ​​suffering and life spring, and couldn't help but gasp, his heart filled with amazement.

The once green sea of ​​bitterness had turned pure black, and in the center of it was a huge black whirlpool spinning rapidly. Despite its extremely high speed, the surface appeared unusually calm.

Just one glance at the vortex gave Luo Heng a feeling of unease akin to thalassophobia.

In the center of that enormous vortex, there was an unusually calm area where the Life Spring was able to gush forth, its flow even dozens of times stronger than before.

According to the Devouring Heaven Demon Art, the whirlpool in this sea of ​​suffering will gradually expand as he cultivates, until it devours the entire sea of ​​suffering. That will be the time when he reaches the perfection of the Sea of ​​Suffering realm.

Above that deep and majestic vortex, a dazzling divine bridge stretches across the sky like a rainbow, shimmering with captivating and radiant light.

Luo Hengjing observed the interior scene and murmured to himself, "The Ruins of Return?"

He recalled the names of the strange phenomena in the Sea of ​​Bitterness recorded in the *Devouring Heaven Demon Art*, and also the description of "Returning to the Void" in *Liezi: Tang Wen*, finding it truly apt:

"East of the Bohai Sea, for countless miles, lies a great chasm, truly a bottomless valley, its depths unfathomable, named Guixu. The waters of the eight directions and nine fields, the flow of the Milky Way, all pour into it, yet it neither increases nor decreases."

In the original novel "Covering the Sky," there are roughly two ways to obtain extraordinary phenomena:

One type is innate, which naturally awakens as one's cultivation progresses;

The other is acquired through cultivation, achieved through one's own enlightenment.

Some ancient and special scriptures, during their practice, often give rise to unique phenomena. The "Return to Nothingness" phenomenon that Luo Heng exhibited in his practice of the "Devouring Heaven Demon Art" was just such a case.

The "Return to the Void" phenomenon is positioned similarly to the iconic golden sea of ​​suffering of the Ancient Sacred Body. Both are phenomena that assist in cultivation and are not directly used for attack, but they are the foundation of their respective paths.

Especially for the Devouring Heaven Demon Art, "Return to the Void" is a direct reflection of its fundamental characteristic of devouring and refining all origins, and is an indispensable core of the technique's operation.

Thinking about all this, Luo Heng raised his hand and released the corpse of the former Holy Son of Yao Guang.