Above The Sky-Chapter 1875 - 385: The Immortal Nature

Turning mud into stone, Dust Fog Technique, Gathering Dust into Stone. Ian freely wielded these three Earth Origin Quality skills.

It seemed ordinary, but it made Yisen Gard widen his eyes, for he saw that Ian only used his soul’s calculating power, with a mere trace of power—successfully condensing a ’Primordial Seed’ that even an apprentice not yet a First-Level Sublimator could easily use—to affect the natural Origin Quality in the space-time around him, achieving these delicate and intricate skills!

With one part power, mobilize one hundred parts of power!

If Ian were to fully employ all Second Energy Level Origin Quality to resonate with the natural Origin Quality of the surrounding space-time and even utilize ’Fighting Spirit Douqi’, he would likely be able to unleash destructive power comparable to that of the Second Energy Level driving an Aether Armament!

"At the Second Stage of the Arcane Pathway, this ability of ’self-mastery’ emerges. You can call it ’minute mastery’ or ’complete realm’. Ordinary Terra Second Tier is merely soil, at most a rock, but those reaching the realm of ’self-mastery’ in the Second Stage of the Arcane are like iron stones."

"Then what about the Third Stage?"

Hearing this, Yisen Gard concentrated intensely, for he was in this ’Second Stage’.

Through prolonged practice of the Meditation Technique and direct guidance from Ian, he had already achieved complete mastery over his ’body’ and ’soul’, which was why he had been able to suppress the power of Eclipsing Light Refining Dragon and Sunbird within him for so long.

Because it was not that the power controlled him, but that he controlled the power.

And now, standing at the boundary between the Second Stage and Third Stage, Yisen Gard was eager to know what to do next.

"Next, the Third Stage is to fuse soul and body into one."

The metallic figurine in Ian’s hand turned into a solid piece of iron under the influence of powerful electric currents, yet due to the intense currents, the figurine’s body became incredibly pliable, able to assume various postures and even be molded into different forms: "At this stage, it is about understanding dreams, governing body and soul, and coalescing into Heart Light."

"At this step, it is no different from Terra’s Third Energy Level, but in the Arcane Pathway there is an additional step, a step that completely transcends the old system."

Thus spoke Ian, as he lifted his head, his gaze intensely fixed on Yisen Gard: "Yisen, what do you think you are? Where does your ’self’ reside?"

"Is it your brain and spinal cord? Or is it your soul? Or maybe your memory?"

"This..."

Yisen paused slightly; he was stumped by the question.

For common humans, without a brain and spinal cord, they would certainly be more thoroughly dead, but if they had a soul, they could still preserve memories and even regenerate the brain and spinal cord. Thus, in the Terra Universe, the brain and spinal cord are not the dwelling place of the self.

The soul also, for ordinary humans, even without a soul, possesses cognitive abilities; losing the soul merely means severe damage and dispersal of power, but not death. It evidently is not the dwelling place of the self either.

Then, memory?

Without memory, even if both body and soul are the original person, they ultimately differ... yet memory is so ephemeral, unable to exist independently, how can it be called the self...

"Heart Light."

As if perceiving Yisen Gard’s doubts, Ian emphasized in his tone: "Heart Light Body, the culmination of Primal Aether, the fusion product of body and soul."

"It is our tangible ’self’, the vessel of our memories, our unchanging and eternal ’heart’."

"The Sublimation Path of Terra, in the civilization of the previous era, had already reached this step. They were still exploring the next path but were forced by the Calamity of Heavenly Fall to deviate towards ’destructive power’, halting self-sublimation." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Present Terra Ascendants view the Heart Light Body as the source of their new Life Spirit Energy, the nucleus of their future Aether True Body, yet have failed to consider why the Heart Light Body can become the nucleus of this ’real body’ of the Aether True Body?"

"Because it is our true heart! Beyond brain and spinal cord, beyond body and soul, encompassing our memories, dreams, and motivations, shattering the ’mind’ itself of heart demons!"

"Our memories thus become engraved in the Aether; our will can simultaneously affect both the Domain of Void and the physical world!"

Thus spoke Ian, as the steel figurine merged into unity melted in extreme high temperature, and the golden-red molten iron hovered in the air, its radiant glow piercing through the two worlds.

"This is an insight I’ve recently realized. If not for the journey to the New Continent and the experience with the Crystal Dragon Body, I wouldn’t have comprehended all of this."

Gazing at the golden melted sphere in his hand, Ian remarked thoughtfully: "At this step, every Third Stage Arcane Path Practitioner should carve out a part of their own ’Subspace’. This Subspace is our Heart Light Body, the place where our true body should reside."

"Our soul and body are merely the carapace within which our true body, the Heart Light Body, walks in the material world and the Domain of Void!"

"From this point forth, whether the body is destroyed or the soul fractured, neither is a fatal wound—as long as one of them still exists, we can quickly restore the other. Only if both body and soul are destroyed simultaneously, will our Heart Light Body be unable to perceive the Domain of Void and the material world due to losing its ’anchor point’, thereby being ’banished’. But this is not death; with prior preparation, the Heart Light Body can still manipulate other pre-arranged carapaces to continue acting."