Hidden moth

Chapter 200 The soul silently illuminates the night

He Kao didn't mean to break Lan Jiuwan's defenses. He just wanted her to speak out what she had been saying to herself over the years so that he could understand her current state of mind.

A third-level sorcerer's body has compensated for various acquired hidden dangers and can adapt to the enhanced senses. On this basis, he can cultivate a clear spirit, a state of almost pure consciousness.

What is pure consciousness? In human terms, it's the ability to directly affect matter, such as controlling objects through the power of consciousness. The so-called spirit is the primordial spirit, and consciousness is the way it perceives and acts.

The ability of consciousness to act on matter is something that ordinary people can do, so much so that we take it for granted and don't find it magical. However, it is a sign of the existence of intelligence. For example, a person can process a piece of stone into a statue, imbuing it with meaning that it originally did not possess.

Ordinary people achieve this with their hands and tools such as axes and chisels, but sorcerers seem to be able to skip this step and complete it directly with their spiritual consciousness, and may also use some applied magic.

But almost pure consciousness is not truly pure consciousness. The soul must rely on the furnace and physical body, and the power of consciousness must rely on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The so-called spiritual energy of heaven and earth is the vital energy of a person. A person is a heaven and earth. The so-called spiritual energy revival refers to the process of cultivation. The general process of third-level cultivation is to gather and refine vital energy and then to purify the primordial spirit.

If one wants to break through the third level of cultivation, he must face the inner demons directly. Either he must be determined and not be moved, or he must not be confused by his state of mind. Therefore, He Kao wants Lan Jiuwan to face the feelings that were difficult to let go.

Lan Jiuwan didn't know that she was actually teaching He Kao a lesson.

In the eyes of outsiders, now that Kucha was no longer a threat, it was time for Lan Jiuwan to reconcile with her parents. If her parents saw that she was no longer the rebellious girl and had returned to a normal life, they would surely be happy about it deep down.

But this is just the perspective of the neighborhood mediator.

In Lan Jiuwan's experience, there is no such thing as turning over a new leaf or returning to the right path. Meeting Ku Cha was her misfortune, but she never gave in to depravity, but tried her best to escape from the abyss.

Disguising herself as a rebellious girl and causing her parents to cut off ties with her, although this may seem childish now, it was the only correct choice she could make considering her age, ability, experience, and situation at the time.

Could someone else have done better? She had done nothing wrong, but had endured immense injustice alone. To whom did she need to apologize and repent?

This matter was beyond the understanding of the neighborhood committee mediator, but it was not beyond He Kao's understanding.

In fact, for sorcerers, many things about them are beyond the cognition of ordinary people and are difficult to explain clearly. How to face them with a natural state of mind is also part of the practice.

Let’s take Lan Jiuwan as an example. Even if she apologizes to her parents and says that she has changed for the better, as a sorcerer of the Yin Moth Sect, it will be impossible for her to live a life that meets her parents’ expectations and arrangements. What should she do then?
So there is nothing wrong with her attitude. Since she is not evil, there is no question of turning over a new leaf. The key is to return to a normal life and practice.

It would be natural for her parents to accept her as she is in the future. Lan Jiuwan's crying wasn't out of resentment towards anyone other than Kucha, but because she finally felt free to stop feeling wronged.

If there is anything that is hard to accept, it is not Lan Jiuwan's regret, but He Kao's own regret.

He Kao envies Lan Jiuwan's parents for being still alive, and believes that her relationship with her parents should be what he wants to see. This may be a kind of compensatory psychology - to make up for He Kao's own regrets.

He Kao was more or less aware of his own problem, so he didn't say anything, but just expressed his concern in silence, which gave Lan Jiuwan the opportunity to finally say what he had wanted to say for a long time.

However, the focus of the "lesson" that Lan Jiuwan taught He Kao was not these, but to answer a question.

Not long ago, He Kao asked Wei Luo a question: "As the saying goes, seeing and knowing are all obstacles. No one can see through all the fog in the world. What should we do?"

Lan Jiuwan's experience provides a very specific answer.

Lan Jiuwan, like Ye Liangcheng, was deceived by Ku Cha at the beginning, but in the process of carrying out the so-called mission, she gradually realized that something was wrong, and then secretly investigated and saw through Ku Cha's true face.

After realizing this, Lan Jiuwan has been trying to escape the abyss, but at that time she was still in a fog. She did not know the true identity of Kucha, nor had she heard of the Huimingshi family, let alone the existence of the Shumen.

Ku Cha was eventually lured to the clan hall by the hidden moth and killed by it. It had nothing to do with her. Can this be considered as her self-salvation?

The answer can be viewed from another angle. If she had chosen to go along with the crowd like Feng Zilong and Gao Chenshu, she would not have been able to get relief today.

Wei Luo once pointed out a problem in He Kao's practice, which was that his concentration was not deep enough and his thoughts were not pure enough, so he could not achieve the third level of perfection.

What is the reason for this? Perhaps it is because his mind is too meticulous, and he always seems to have various doubts and is always uneasy. He has not yet completely let go of himself and entered a deep state of concentration... But these are just appearances.

When a person cannot accept the world, it actually means that he cannot accept himself in this world. He thinks that he is not ready to face the world, but the truth is - no one can be fully prepared.

Compared to He Kao, Lan Jiuwan was the one who was truly hurt by this world. She was filled with insecurity and dared not trust anyone. However, she never gave up examining her inner self and always cared about what kind of person she was.

He Kao suddenly became the Hidden Moth passively. The magical ability surprised him, but the identity of the Hidden Moth also brought him danger at all times. He enjoyed it but also felt uneasy, and didn't know what it meant?
But upon seeing Lan Jiuwan, He Kao suddenly realized that he still had doubts and reservations about his identity as a Hidden Moth. He hadn't yet fully grasped the self-awareness of becoming a Hidden Moth, merely enjoying the conveniences it afforded him. Regardless, He Kao was already a Hidden Moth. Could he accept himself as he was? If so, then he only needed to consider what kind of Hidden Moth he would become, not dwell on anything else.

This is the self he accepts, not the hidden moth described to him by Old Man Jiang and others. He is either the legend from a thousand years ago or the He Kao of today.

He Kao left Nanhua with this state of mind. He sent an email to Ye Liangcheng, informing him that Lan Jiuwan would come to find him and then appear in the Gushan Secret Mansion.

This cave hall in the mountain is his secret base, where all the good things are kept. On one side of the cave hall is a shrine enshrining the "Picture of Tan Xian Holding a Cane".

This painting is usually rolled up and placed on the altar, otherwise he would not be able to activate the power of the hidden moth under the gaze of Master Tan.

Feeling moved today, He Kao came to the altar, hung up the painting, lit a pair of white jade candles, and offered three incense sticks to Tan Xianren to wake him up.

There was nothing cluttered on the altar, and no verses were chanted; it was simply a simple act of worshipping the ancestor. In the candlelight, Immortal Tan's expression appeared gentle, as he looked down at him with a half-smile.

After lighting the awakening incense, He Kao sat upright in the cave hall. When his body and breath were at peace, he continued to practice the fundamental principle of the Yin'e technique - "See me as I see it."

A stick of incense would burn out in about two hours, while a white jade candle could last for twelve hours. When He Kao came out of his trance, the candlelight still illuminated the cave hall, but he frowned slightly.

This place is deep in the mountain, so deep that there are not even bats. The temperature and humidity are basically constant. It is dark and silent all year round. There is almost no disturbance, but it is also difficult to sense the vitality of all things in the world.

For He Kao, a third-level explorer of the Yin Mo Sect, this is not a suitable place for cultivation. The reason why He Kao did this is because this place is absolutely hidden and no one can find it.

He Kao knew that he had chosen the wrong place and understood why. He stood up, bowed in the direction of Immortal Tan, turned around and walked out of the cave hall.

He did not take down the painting and roll it up, because that would be disrespectful to the ancestor. When entering and leaving the cave hall, he would just walk a few more steps through the outer passage.

The next moment, he appeared in the canopy of the large sycamore tree outside the Pugang Town farmers' market. He had once built a seat from wooden planks on a branch of the tree, and used this place as one of his "cave dwellings" for cultivation.

The so-called cave residence does not necessarily mean a hole dug somewhere, but a place where the spirit can sit, that is, a place for practice.

He Kao not only has three burrows, he also has five "caves". In addition to the crown of the Wutong tree and the secret residence in Gushan, there are also a house in Guanliu Community, an apartment on Sesame Street, and a small building in his hometown.

For him, distance doesn't matter; he can be anywhere at any time.

He had occasionally practiced in the crown of the paulownia tree before, and recently he had mainly been training his spiritual consciousness, but the real in-depth practice of concentration had mostly been done in the Gushan Secret Mansion during this period.

In fact, the crown of the paulownia tree is the best place for cultivation. It is not only the spiritual center of the earth's energy within a radius of dozens of miles, but also the place where the magic circle is set up by the geomancer Gu Chun.

With such a wonderful cave, why did He Kao choose to hide in the belly of the mountain? Because he always felt uneasy and unsafe, unable to fully let go of himself.

Although few people could see him in the treetops, he felt as if he was exposed in broad daylight. Surrounded by the densely populated town, he seemed to be constantly at risk of being disturbed and spied on.

But with the magic circle, he could use the magic power left by Gu Chun to operate the magic circle when necessary. What was he worried about before? Was he afraid that he would lose his balance and fall from the tree?

At midnight, He Kao sat in the treetops. The street lights in the distance shone through the gaps between the branches and leaves, and tiny spots of light fell on his face. In the hot season, there were people enjoying the cool air in the open spaces around at night.

The leaves rustled in the wind, and someone whispered beneath the tree. The night market barbecue a few blocks away was still open, and cars passed by from time to time on the nearby road...

But He Kao completely relaxed his mind and entered a clearer state of concentration, as if only in this noise could he better experience true clarity, and then all the noise ceased to exist.

Because He Kao "gave up" all his senses, only his primordial spirit was silent and clear... Everything in the world, including himself, clearly existed, but He Kao could not perceive it. This was also a state of concentration, and it was the ultimate state of concentration that could be achieved by the third-level cultivation.

It's easy to say, but when you can't do it, you really can't do it! How can I describe it? At this moment, he is like a brain in a vat with all the data cables unplugged.

When awake, a person's consciousness will not be empty, otherwise it is called losing consciousness. At least it cannot be done by those below the seventh level. However, in such a clear state of concentration, a very wonderful phenomenon will occur.

When the primordial spirit is still and clear, many other things will naturally emerge.

If the consciousness is not empty, there will be other things to fill it. People will see many scenes and hear many sounds, which seem like an invasion of consciousness. They all emerge from the illumination of the primordial spirit, but seem like real sights and sounds.

This is an illusion and also a magical world.

**
(End of this chapter)