Chapter 74 The State Of Completely Forgetting Oneself (Part One)


    "Zen was foolish to ept Leo''s challenge! If I were him, I wouldn''t have epted Leo''s challenge,


    and I would''ve kept quiet!"


    "Well, he''s probably arrogant enough to think he''s invincible. You know he just ranked first ce in the


    entrance exam and became an outer disciple. People like him usually end up paying with their blood!"


    "That''s not what I heard. I heard Zen deliberately approached Leo and challenged him. What a hostile


    man!"


    The fight was the newest and hottest gossip that spread like wildfire through the Drizzle Peak! Zen and


    Leo were going to fight each other!


    Sitting on his bed, Zen, indifferent to the gossip, was meditating to continue practicing the Spiritual


    Thorn.


    His engagement with Leo was days away. Since he epted the challenge, Zen knew that if he


    backed out, he would bebeled a coward.


    ''If I can master the skill of turning my soul into a thorn, ording to the Spiritual Thorn, I will have a


    better chance of prevailing in the battle ring, '' determined Zen silently.


    ''Turning a soul into a thorn... '' he murmured to himself.


    ''So then how do I turn my soul into a sharp thorn?''


    The soul was a formless disembodiment of a person''s perception of himself.


    Therefore, people usually unknowingly recreated their soul as their physical form during meditation.


    So, Zen''s soul appeared as Zen looked in reality.


    In this way, unless Zen forgot himself, his soul would remain as he was, and couldn''t change into


    something else, not even a thorn.


    ''Only through fully forgetting myself will my soul be transformed into another form, '' he reasoned


    inwardly.


    As he reasoned the puzzle out in his mind, the startling thought mmed into him.


    "I see! So, the key to mastering this skill is to disregard how I see myself!" he cried excitedly.


    ''But, how do I achieve that state? Topletely abandon how I see myself? How is that even


    possible?''


    Zen''s brows were furrowed as he weighed the concept thoroughly.


    Then, he shut his eyes, attempting to forget himself.


    More than an hour passed and he sensed nothing but waves of weariness.


    Zen was frustrated and growing depressed. He was d to have two top-grade refinement methods,


    but unfortunately, he didn''t seem to have the wit to learn either of them, which was a severe blow to his


    ego.


    Feeling glum, Zen left his room and trudged up the steep trail in the Drizzle Peak.


    It was well before five o''clock in the morning, and the sun hadn''t risen. There was aplete, utter


    stillness.


    About sixty-five feet down the trail, he came to a sheer cliff that stretched out to form a natural tform


    for people to enjoy the scenery.


    Using the natural features, the expert craftsmen of the Cloud Sect built an borate pavilion into the


    tform.


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    There was no one in the pavilion at the moment.


    Zen strode into the pavilion, gazing out at the view stretching in front of him as far as the eye could see.


    A sea of unbroken clouds surrounded the rolling peaks in the distance.


    The peak closest was the Jeweled Peak which ranked in twenty-first ce, while the Azure Peak which


    was fifth ce, was farther away...


    These mountains had stood in the universe for thousands or even millions of years. Regardless of how


    outstandingly gifted the disciples were, for these peaks a disciple''s existence was a passing show.


    Standing among the majestic peaks, Zen felt as insignificant as a grain of sand in the ocean.


    Suddenly, Zen felt his heartstrings being tugged as he looked out at the magnificence of the


    spectacr mountain range.


    Sitting there, Zen closed his eyes and slowly imagined himself shrinking even smaller. First to dust


    since it was smaller than sand, and then even smaller...


    Slowly, Zen felt himself bing small enough to be ignored, into nothing...


    With an internal crash, a huge golden door swung open in Zen''s mind.


    At this point, Zen found his way to the sphere of nothingness. When people felt gonepletely, they


    were within reach of forgetting themselves!


    When Zen opened his eyes, the scene he had been looking at was no longer in view. When he


    imagined himself as a tree, it was as if he were one, and when he perceived himself as a de of


    grass, he was able to be the grass. In short, he sensed that he could turn into anything in the


    world.


    In that fleeting moment, Zen decided to test a theory about his purpose in mastering the skill of turning


    his soul into a thorn, as described in the refinement method, ''the Spiritual Thorn.'' With a brief thought, a


    sharp, translucent-gray thorn thrust out from the middle of his browline.


    Finally! He did it!


    He was sessful in transforming his soul into a thorn. Because the sharp translucent thorn was


    manifested by Zen''s soul, it was invisible to all but Zen. Therefore, there was no way for others to


    guard against it absolutely.


    For a short time, Zen practiced the Spiritual Thorn moves. The range of his attack using the thorn was


    only about three feet, which fell short of what he''d read, ''People within three thousand feet are unable


    to defend themselves against it, '' in the refinement method. Zen had crossed a bridge of sorts by


    attaining the state of forgetting himself, and now his way would be much easier.


    Zen couldn''t help smiling proudly. The matching up in three days had been concerning him, but


    now he was looking forward to it.


    The next three days flew by.


    At Drizzle Peak,peting in the battle ring was always a significant affair.


    The audience was able to watch the actual battle along with the energy that was seldom experienced


    during ordinary refinement practices in the ring.