481: Chapter 497 The Three Realms of Dao Heart, Freedom of Heavenly Heart!

When all the dust settled, a burst of information suddenly exploded in Lu Ming's mind.

It wasn't text, nor was it sound, but a form of enlightenment that reached directly into his Soul.

It was as if these truths had always existed within his heart and were only being awakened now.

As Lu Ming sensed the content, he couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"The Dao Heart Realm actually has three stages? I thought Golden Core Perfection was the end of the road."

But it made sense upon further thought. Terms like 'Dao Heart Perfection' or 'flawless and without lack'...

They sounded impressive, but in terms of practical utility, they were too weak—constantly failing at critical moments!

Luckily, I was clever enough this time not to go down a dead end.

Otherwise, I probably would have been played to death by the Heart Demon I created myself!

Lu Ming grumbled under his breath, but his mind was busy contemplating the newly acquired knowledge.

To summarize, the Dao Heart is categorized into three Realms.

The first Realm is 'Heart Demon Imperviousness,' where no evil can disturb, no thought can waver, and neither inner nor outer demons can enter.

The second Realm is the 'Celestial Heart of Freedom,' where one is not trapped by external things nor disturbed by internal thoughts.

One does not rejoice because of Karma, nor grieve because of fate; no matter the path ahead or what destiny holds, one can face it calmly and proceed with composure.

And the third Realm is 'Unwavering Grand Dao'.

As the saying goes: though heaven and earth collapse, the heart does not shake; though all things wither, the will does not change.

Where the Dao lies, though thousands oppose me, I shall go!

Lu Ming stood in place, pondering the information in his mind, lost in thought.

The first one goes without saying; it's just another description of Dao Heart Perfection.

But as for this Celestial Heart of Freedom...

Lu Ming recalled a concept he had faintly touched upon while comprehending the Dao of Karma.

That is, those whose cultivation is high enough, or who have delved extremely deep into the Dao of Karma, can influence others' Dao Hearts by manipulating the threads of fate and Karma, making them act according to their wishes without even realizing it.

This isn't control, nor is it Possession; it is 'guidance'.

It's like... being shrouded in tribulation qi, where the mind is clouded and the Dao Heart is covered in dust.

You think it's your own choice, but in reality, it's an ending someone else has already pre-set for you.

Such methods are impossible to guard against.

Even Dao Heart Perfection cannot withstand it.

Because you aren't being attacked at all; you're just doing what you want to do.

And the Celestial Heart of Freedom is the sharp blade that severs this influence, an anchor that stabilizes one's own Karma and destiny.

It prevents one from being moved by external things or being tethered by the Karma of others; no matter how others guide you, you will not deviate from your own path.

"This is f*cking..."

Lu Ming almost cursed out loud as he suddenly thought back to what he had just experienced.

Just moments ago, he had vowed with certainty that every decision he made came from his own heart and wasn't influenced by external factors.

But now, he felt a bit hesitant to say that.

"Could it be..."

Lu Ming immediately cast that damn thought aside. Regardless, he decided that everything he did was of his own volition!!

"But then again, this 'Celestial Heart of Freedom' really came at the right time. It probably has something to do with my recent experience!"

It was the reward for clearing the trial—not just information about the three Realms of the Dao Heart, but also the cultivation methods for them.

However, there were only cultivation methods for the first and second Realms.

As for the third, 'Unwavering Grand Dao'...

There was no way to explain it, because it wasn't something that could be achieved through Cultivation alone.

Instead, it required a certain opportunity and Comprehension Ability to potentially achieve.

In any case, it wasn't something the current Lu Ming could master; he would likely need his cultivation to reach the Nascent Soul or even Incarnation Realm to even come into contact with it.

After all, in 'Unwavering Grand Dao', the focus wasn't on 'Unwavering', but on the 'Grand Dao'!

Right now, he was just a little rookie playing with the prototype of a Law. To consider the Grand Dao now would be a bit too ambitious.

Better to work on achieving the 'Celestial Heart of Freedom' first!

Lu Ming made a rough estimate. Reaching the Realm of the Celestial Heart of Freedom wasn't actually difficult, but it would require a bit of time to polish his Dao Heart.

Regardless, putting the cultivation on the agenda was a priority.

He currently felt a chill down his spine, as if someone were constantly watching him.

"It seems I'll only feel secure once I've mastered the 'Celestial Heart of Freedom'."

He knew this was a lingering effect of what he'd just gone through, making him a bit paranoid.

But for now, it certainly wasn't the best time to Cultivate.

There were still more trials to clear. Only after finishing everything here could he Cultivate in peace.

As for whether there was a mastermind behind that karma golden book...

Lu Ming didn't know, but he knew that one day, he would find the answer.

Without thinking further, Lu Ming withdrew his gaze and stepped toward the stone door.

The moment he stepped out of the stone door, he felt his vision suddenly go dark.

It wasn't that he had entered a deep corridor, but rather that his perception had been shielded by some kind of power.

He couldn't see, hear, smell, or touch; he had lost all five senses, leaving only his consciousness functioning.

He tried to take a step, only to find that his body was also disappearing.

It wasn't death, but a fading of his 'sense of existence'.

His limbs, torso, and head vanished bit by bit, merging into the darkness.

Finally, only a wisp of consciousness remained, drifting in the endless Void Realm.

This space seemed to have no up or down, left or right, front or back; everything around was a void.

No time, no space, no direction.

"An illusion?"

As the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy.

Having gone through the previous trials, Lu Ming instinctively assumed this was another illusion.

After muttering that it was boring, he intended to activate 'Wuwang True Vision' to look around and break the illusion to clear the trial as quickly as possible.

However, he soon found himself in an awkward position. Currently, he was only a wisp of consciousness and couldn't mobilize his magic power to activate this Divine Ability.

"Fine, whatever will be, will be."

Based on the experience of the first two trials, he guessed this was another test of Heart-Nature or willpower.

If that were the case, he just needed to maintain a calm mindset.

With this in mind, Lu Ming didn't rush; he simply moved forward at a steady pace.

However, to keep from getting too bored, Lu Ming began counting the steps of his conscious form.

One step, two steps, three steps...

A hundred steps, a thousand steps, ten thousand steps...

But as he counted, his thoughts began to grow muddled.

Mainly because the numbers after ten thousand were too long, and he was having trouble keeping track...

Fortunately, Lu Ming started to empty his mind, stopping himself from thinking about where he was, forgetting how much time had passed, and not caring how much further he had to go.

He just moved forward, and forward again!

Just like that, an unknown amount of time passed.

Perhaps it was a day, perhaps a year, perhaps even longer.

His consciousness began to blur, his memories became chaotic, and he began to lose track of whether he was Lu Ming or someone else, whether he was in a Secret Realm or in a dream.

He just walked forward mechanically, hoping for a glimmer of light to appear ahead.

"Give up."

A voice echoed in his heart.

It was very light and soft, sounding like his own thought.

But Lu Ming didn't stop. He knew this wasn't his thought.

"Your body has decayed, your Lifespan has been exhausted, you are dying."

The voice spoke again, but Lu Ming still didn't stop.

However, in his perception, this 'body' of his—or rather, this remaining wisp of consciousness—had indeed become very weak.

Like a candle in the wind, it could go out at any moment.

But Lu Ming knew in his heart that this wasn't real.

Everything was still fine; his Lifespan was still plentiful.

Ignoring the somewhat noisy voice,

He continued to drift aimlessly.

Perhaps a year passed, or ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years?

His consciousness grew weaker and weaker, and his memories became more and more blurred.

He could no longer remember who he was, why he was walking, or how long he had been walking.

He only knew one thing: keep going forward!

Perhaps ten thousand years passed, perhaps even longer.

His consciousness had become so weak that he could barely perceive anything; moving forward was now pure instinct.

Finally, just as his consciousness was about to be completely extinguished, a faint glimmer of light suddenly bloomed in this eternal, boundless darkness.

He saw the light. It was very weak at first, like a tiny firefly in the dark. But it truly existed!

He walked toward that light, step by step, bit by bit.

The light grew brighter, his consciousness began to recover, and his memories started to return.

He remembered who he was, recalled why he had come here, and remembered what he had to do.

Finally, he reached the light source, and the radiance swallowed him instantly.

When Lu Ming opened his eyes again, he found himself standing at the end of the stone chamber.

Behind him was that deep corridor, now shrouded in a thick mist, obscuring the path he had come from.

Ahead of him was a stone door slowly opening.

"Phew~"

Lu Ming let out a soft breath of turbid air. That feeling just now had been too real.

It was as if he truly believed he had walked for thousands of years, truly believed he had decayed and withered, and truly believed he was going to die there.

And if he hadn't persisted then, what would have happened?

Lu Ming didn't know, but he did know that he had successfully passed another trial!

"I wonder what the reward is this time."

With the previous two rewards being so excellent, Lu Ming held great expectations for this one.

However, after a moment, he didn't seem to feel any flow of information like the previous two times.

"Eh? Nothing?"

Lu Ming was somewhat puzzled and instinctively sensed his current state.

As a result, he was stunned to find that his Divine Soul was now much, much more solid than before.

That feeling was hard to describe.

If he had to say, if his Divine Soul was a cloud of mist before, it was now a droplet of water formed from condensed mist—denser and more resilient.

And his Divine Soul had already far exceeded that of an ordinary Golden Core; now, it had been further sublimated.

He himself didn't know what level his Divine Soul state currently belonged to.

It wasn't quite at the Nascent Soul level, but he estimated it wasn't far off.

Regardless, this was definitely not a bad thing.

As the saying goes, a Heart set on the Dao can crumble mountains and fill the vast seas.

This must be the reward for the third trial!

After slightly adapting to his current Divine Soul strength, Lu Ming didn't delay any longer and continued forward along the corridor.

As he walked, a decaying scent wafted toward him.

It wasn't just a simple musty smell, but an indescribable stench of rot mixed with blood and rust, making one instinctively frown.

Even more bizarrely, as he went deeper, the scent didn't dissipate but grew more intense, as if countless rotting corpses were buried ahead.

Lu Ming's brow furrowed slightly as a hint of vigilance rose in his heart.

He slowed his pace, secretly gathering magic power in his palm, ready to respond to any sudden situation.

And just as he took his seventh step, the air in the center of the stone chamber suddenly began to distort.

A cloud of black mist rose from the ground, churning and condensing until it gradually took on a humanoid shape.

The figure was about eight feet tall, with a burly physique and a hideous face.

His skin was a strange grayish-blue, a pair of curved horns grew from his forehead, and two sharp fangs protruded from the corners of his mouth.

His eyes were crimson, with no pupils, only a bloody light like two burning ghost fires.

The aura of a Mid-stage Golden Core radiated from the figure.

Looking at that face, which was ugly to the point of discomfort, Lu Ming's frown deepened.

This thing... is really ugly!

But why does it look a bit familiar?

Studying the monster before him, Lu Ming quickly searched his memory.

He was certain he had never seen such a creature, yet it definitely looked familiar.

With his current Divine Soul strength, flipping through past memories was a breeze, and he soon remembered.

"Isn't this the appearance of the Asura Clan as recorded in the Asura Tribulation Prison Scripture!"

The Cultivation Technique he practiced contained a large number of records regarding the Asura Clan.

The characteristics of this race, their appearance, habits, fighting styles, and even the circulation routes of the magic power within their bodies.

Because many key points in the technique required understanding the traits of the Asura Clan, Lu Ming had paid special attention to them at the time.

And the figure before him was clearly in the form of an Asura.

The males were ugly while the females were beautiful; the men were hideously ugly with ferocious faces, horns on their foreheads, and exposed fangs.

The women were extremely seductive, with graceful figures, exquisite faces, and innate charm.

This description matched the thing in front of him perfectly.

But hadn't the Asura Clan gone extinct long ago?

After that great ancient war, this race had vanished from the world, leaving only some remnants recorded in ancient texts.

So why was there an Asura here?

And a living one at that?

Lu Ming observed for a moment and noticed something was wrong.

The figure's eyes were hollow, lacking intelligence, and its movements were stiff; it didn't seem like a living being, but more like a Puppet controlled by some power.

Although its Physical Body was still alive, the consciousness within had long since dissipated, making it like a living corpse.

What was the situation? Was it a sealed remnant soldier? Or the product of some corpse-refining technique?

Lu Ming couldn't guess for the moment, but he knew he couldn't pass without dealing with this ghostly thing.

Even as he was thinking, the Asura had already lunged at him.

Its speed was startlingly fast, and its strength was absurdly great.

With a punch, the air was compressed into a solid mass, letting out a sharp sonic boom.

More bizarrely, the surface of the fist was wreathed in a layer of dark red light; the moment that light touched Lu Ming's protective spiritual light, it actually began to corrode his magic power.

"It has this ability too?"

Lu Ming sidestepped to avoid it and struck out with a palm.

"Bang!"

The Asura's figure was sent flying, crashing into the stone wall and smashing a deep pit into it.

Debris flew and dust filled the air.

But it just shook its head and stood back up, as if nothing had happened.

The dark red light circulated around its body once, actually repairing most of its injuries.

"So thick-skinned and it can heal?"

Lu Ming muttered, also feeling quite surprised.

One must know that although he wasn't using magic power or the Tiangang Law,

Even with just the physical strength of his Golden Core Perfection body, he hadn't managed to blow it into a pile of mangled meat with one punch.

This showed how strong the opponent's defense was.

Thus, Lu Ming no longer held back.

With the Tiangang Law added, a golden fist-aura condensed on his knuckles.

He threw a punch, striking the Asura square in the chest.

"Boom!!"

The sound of a sonic boom rang out.

This time, it finally couldn't stand up again.

The golden fist-aura blew it into fragments, which then turned into black mist and dissipated.