The sun was a big ball of fire emitting heat waves and spreading hot air. Thus, it formed wind, rain, thunder, lightning and everything else in the world. With fire, human would be unable to cook food, melt ores, refine metals and create tools, and eventually develop into a mechanical society of innovation.
Fire was indeed the source of all things.
Streams of meanings about fire passed into Jiang Li’s heart, making his comprehension of fire increase to another level. Fire represented the start of a civilization and not merely only combustion and destruction.
Without fire, there would be no civilization and humans would still be barbarians. The fundamentals of the Emperor Fire Seal revolved around this concept.
Rumble!
The middle aged man started to contemplate, passing on his knowledge of the Emperor Fire Seal. Above his head, the brain of the universe shimmered as his brain cells operated to the max. Subsequently, sparks started to appear.
At the start, it was the fire of wisdom. Then, it was all sorts of fire that covered the universe. Some fires existed in a huge ball floating in the sky. These were stars. Some fires were small sparks, like beetles that flew around, seemingly insignificant but able to ignite and create more fires.
There were fire dragons, fire horses, fire cows….. all sorts of miraculous bodies of fire appeared.
This was a world of fire. Even fire giants appeared, until at last, a fire god was born from it! It harnessed the fire dragon with its bare hands and stood upon the fire elephant. Wherever it went, planets, black holes and even dark matter became a world of fire.
As he contemplated this, the white-clothed man made all sorts of poses. He was like a gust of burning fire, fire even rose from his hand signs.
After an unknown amount of time, a set of Emperor Fire Seal was finally finished and passed on to Jiang Li. Jiang Li woke up from his dream and just felt extremely dizzy.
In order to begin the cultivation for the Emperor Fire Seal, he had wasted too much spiritual energy. In thirty days, he wouldn’t be able to do anymore contemplation or there would be permanent damage done to his brain cells.
“Is this the Emperor Fire Seal? I need to ask Wang Kurong about his way of cultivation. The Taoist have the cultivation for San Mei true fire. That is also a type of contemplation. Even that [Monkey Hearth Contemplation] method contains fire contemplation. My understanding for these types of cultivation is a far cry from Wang Kurong’s. It would be suitable for me to ask him.”
Jiang Li slept peacefully. The next morning, he contacted Wang Kurong and came to the highest peak of the Safety Corporation’s mountain.
“Hm? What happened to you, have your brain cells withered?” As soon as they met, Wang Kurong discerned Jiang Li’s weak spiritual state.
“This is because I opened the cultivation for a seal called Emperor Fire Seal.” Jiang Li didn’t hide it. Wang Kurong knew about the dimension inside his opaque stone: “Today I came to you to ask about the cultivation of fire. What are some of the key aspects of contemplation of fire?”
“Let’s sit down.” Wang Kurong’s temperament underwent fundamental change. He wore a lose set of yoga clothes, pure white, and he seemed at peace. Wang Kurong as a person seemed like a book; in front of him there was the Buddhist text, The Great Sutra of Mercy. It was a book made from ancient paper.
Wang Kurong himself didn’t seem the slightest bit old. His skin was smooth and even changed from that of an old person to a middle aged person. He seemed to be becoming youthful again. That one moment of enlightenment brought about immediate difference. Even his body started to change.
Jiang Li sat down with his legs crossed. He didn’t know why but when neared Wang Kurong, he had a feeling of serenity. Even his spiritual weakness felt a lot better.
This was Wang Kurong using his boundless spirit to help Jiang Li recover his spirit.
“I have already seen your Emperor Lightning Seal and Emperor Wind Seal. It is indeed an unimaginable martial art, never seen before. Now you have opened the cultivation for the Emperor Fire Seal. The Taoist have the five lightning cultivation method as well as the San Mei True fire cultivation method. All in all, the contemplation of fire was existent since the ancient times. The Middle Eastern civilization had a fire-worshipping religion. An admiration of fire would appear in any religion. The power of fire was too great and far greater than what man could control.” Wang Kurong said: “As for the understanding of fire, people understand it differently. Some understand it as light, some understand it as wisdom, some understand it as destruction, and some understand it as civilization….. it encompasses everything but they all end up in the same place. The Shi Jia Mu Ni Buddha once served the burning lantern Buddha. The burning lantern shines on the three realms. The San Mei true fire you talked about before, in Sanskrit, San Mei, is called the san mo earth. Translated, that means set/fixed. San Mei true fire is to be emit light and disperse the darkness in your heart in a fixed state.”
“How should I cultivate it?”
Jiang Li asked a simple question. He knew that Wang Kurong could definitely give him the best explanation. He was in the state of eternal stasis and everything was controlled in his heart.
“Everyone has their own way.” Wang Kurong replied almost without thinking: “For example, [Monkey Furnace Cultivation] uses the body as a furnace and contemplates fire entering your body, refining the heart monkey within you. This sort of contemplation is in accordance with the human body’s internal secretion. When you contemplate fire, your internal secretions will warm your organs and therefore probably adjust your body. This makes your body stronger. In the long run, your body becomes a furnace that is able to melt all matter. This is why in the ancient times, some people could even swallow stones and use their stomach to digest it.”
“I understand.” Jiang Li said: “What other tricks are there in the ancient culture about fire cultivation?”
“There’s contemplation of fire dragon, fire hawk as well as the fire god, the sun. Regardless of Taoism or Buddhism, they all have a fire god. The Big Sun Ru Lai is what the Buddhist contemplate.” Wang Kurong waved his hand and immediately, all sorts of fire gods started to appear in front of Jiang Li. A Big Sun Ru Lai appeared in space, emitting thousands of miles of light. The blinding golden light rendered him unable to open his eyes while the golden fire continued to stimulate his body.
Right now, Wang Kurong could conjure up all sorts of gods with the wave of a hand and deeply imprint them in a person’s spirit. He could control spirits with great ease.
Immediately, Wang Kurong waved his hand, showing all sorts of contemplation illusions to Jiang Li. All sorts of gods appeared; it was almost like creating countless gods from one thought. Even the western fire god and the ancient greek sun god appeared…
At the same time, he also explained the relationship between contemplating fire and the human body. For example, I think fire arises from one part of your organ, where the blood would gather there and create heat making that organ stronger. But the balance between fire and water was very important or one may destroy oneself in fire.
“Fire’s reputation for destruction appeared due to the contemplation of fire. It means that you didn’t control your heart fire properly and therefore is headed towards self destruction. So you must be careful. No matter what fire you cultivate, you must keep that consciousness in the depth of your heart.” Wang Kurong reminded him carefully: “I have helped you recover your withered spirit. You may begin cultivating.”
“Of course.”
Jiang Li felt that as he spoke with Wang Kurong, his spirit was no longer fatigued. A source of power seemed to have been injected into his brain cells, making his spirit very lively. In the ancient time, there were enlightened monks who could use true words to transform a withered patient into an energetic person. Now, this was what Wang Kurong did.
“This is really amazing! I wonder when I will be able to reach this state.” Jiang Li praised.
“This state is very painful. On planet Luo Sha, I ate humans for survival, can you bring yourself to do that?” Wang Kurong said calmly: “At that time, I have already fallen into the asura path. I’ve become a demon. In the long run, I would get worse and become the demon amongst demons, eventually turning into an existence similar to that of Luo Sha beasts. You were the one who saved me from hell. After coming here, I used hypnosis to help people and was finally enlightened. From eating people to saving people, this process is the struggle in the sea of pain. Eating people isn’t a sin, much like how saving people isn’t a good deed. Everything is fate. Rest assured, when I fell, you saved me from the sea of pain. When your heart is lost, I should help you too.”
“I save you, then you save me…” Jiang Li seemed to have gained a deeper level of enlightenment. He understood that Wang Kurong did indeed step foot into another state. He changed from an asura into a Buddha.
“In the Diamond Sutra, it is said that from human to Buddha is just that instant of change in thought. If evil will is born, you are a demon. When your righteous will is born, you are a Buddha.” Wang Kurong looked at the sutra: “The reason that Guan Yin Buddha ascended from elementary states to that of Buddha was because he told the people that when your heart is enlightened, the heavens and earth change instantly. Go, if you have any more troubles in cultivation we can discuss it together again.”
“Yes, I’ll be off!” Jiang Li nodded and got up to leave. He understood Wang Kurong’s heart. Kurong had entered a state that he could not comprehend. If it was up to him, he probably would be unable to change from being a cannibal to a good samaritan. However, he could find another pathway to achieving the enlightenment of a Buddha.
Next, he started cultivating the Emperor Fire Seal continuously. He practiced every single stance and contemplation. As expected, after a period of practice, his appetite increased! He needed about a kilogram of nutritional serums each day and twenty or so bottles of solar and lunar essence.
A normal master only needed tens of grams of nutritional serum each day. His body started digesting nutrition at an incredible rate. The spirit chi stored inside his body was also refined to life force in large quantities. In the short time span of two months, his life force had reached 2.5!
Aside from this, his mastery of the wind and lightning seal had also improved.
This was because the fire seal greatly increased his ability to digest nutrition, making his life force improve even more. This also boosted the speed of his wind and offensive power of his lightning.
The entire earth worked in a similar way. Without the energy from the sun, wing and lightning cannot exist. Therefore, fire was the root of all things.
ED Carolin Cao