Chapter 241

Chapter 241: The Secrets of the Integration Realm

Lin Qing Ling narrowed her eyes. She could faintly sense something, but she did not dare confirm it. This was two years, not twenty.

Li Shuang started to answer, but Lin Qing Ling raised a hand and spoke gently: “Do not talk yet. Let me check on my own.”

“Yes.” Li Shuang relaxed her mind and stood quietly.

Lin Qing Ling probed carefully, and her expression grew even stranger.

She thought she was mistaken, so she checked again.

Then she fell into a long silence.

She wondered if she had mixed up the days. Had the Sword Sect been covered by some secret art of time? It looked like two years had passed, but had it actually been twenty?

If not, how could she explain Li Shuang’s realm now?

Before closing up, Li Shuang was only at the Golden Core Stage.

Two years later, her qi cultivation had already reached the Divine Transformation Stage.

That alone would be shocking. But even more amazing was her soul cultivation. Lin Qing Ling, who was in the Integration Stage, could not even probe how far Li Shuang’s soul had gone.

Either Li Shuang had trained in some top secret art that hid her soul, or her soul realm was already not below Lin Qing Ling’s own.

Either way, it made Lin Qing Ling question her life.

She finally managed to speak, her lips trembling: “Very good… you are very good.”

Her heart grew anxious. [By the Heavenly Dao, this is the first time in my life I have met such a monster, and she is my disciple. I hope I do not hold her back.]

“Master, my cultivation has hit a small bottleneck,” Li Shuang said.

Lin Qing Ling steadied herself. Good. At last she could do something a master should do.

“Tell me,” she said at once.

“My soul realm has been stuck at Peak Divine Transformation for a long time. I think I am missing something,” Li Shuang said with a slight frown.

Lin Qing Ling asked softly, almost testing: “How long have you been stuck?”

“Half a year. For a full six months, my soul realm has not moved at all. It is very strange.”

Lin Qing Ling fell silent. [Half a year is strange? I have been stuck at Mid Integration Stage for over a hundred years, and I said nothing.]

She forced a smile: “Going from Divine Transformation to Integration is indeed a hurdle. At this point, simple hard work no longer works. Do you know what the Integration Stage is meant to fuse?”

Li Shuang answered: “Books say the Integration Realm means soul and body become one. But I have not seen any detailed method.”

Lin Qing Ling smiled and waved her hand. In the air, a phantom river appeared.

She formed a small boat from her spiritual power and set it drifting on the river.

She spoke warmly: “The path of cultivation is like a great river. Everyone rows against the current, trying to reach the far shore. Some people rush ahead at first, but their boat breaks apart halfway. Some start slow, yet they reach the far shore. Cultivation is a very long road.”

Li Shuang lifted her eyes, a little dazed as she watched that tiny boat rocking on the vast water.

That boat was you.

It was me.

It was every cultivator fighting to cross.

“Before the Integration Stage, a cultivator carefully steers the little boat and struggles against the wind and waves. If you fail to endure the storm, your path ends.”

“But once you reach the Integration Stage,” Lin Qing Ling said with a small laugh, and she waved her hand.

Before Li Shuang’s wide eyes, the little boat suddenly sank to the bottom.

Her pupils tightened. The boat had flipped just like that.

Yet in the next instant, the boat that had sunk rose again into the wind and rain.

The storm kept raging. The boat kept sinking and rising.

At last, it moved freely through wind and rain and was no longer affected.

Li Shuang stared, lost in the scene. [So the secret to breaking through is hidden here.]

“Before Integration,” Lin Qing Ling continued, “Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul all build the boat so it can face the storm and cross the bitter sea. But when you reach the Integration Realm, you must let the boat sink on purpose, again and again. Through repeated tempering, the soul and the body merge completely. And they also merge with this heaven and earth.”

“Integration is not only the fusion of soul and body. It is the fusion of the soul with the world.”

“You created the Breathing Method. You know that all things have spirit. Merge with all things and feel all under heaven. That is Integration.”

Her words fell.

Li Shuang kept watching that little boat moving through wind and rain, deeply absorbed.

Lin Qing Ling finally let out a quiet breath. Good. At least she had not embarrassed herself in front of her disciple.

These words had been spoken by the Sect Founder when guiding disciples. She had not fully understood them back then, but she had memorized them. Now she herself had entered the Integration Stage, but she still did not dare to say she truly understood.

Merge with all things and feel all things. It sounded simple.

When she broke through the Integration Stage, she had only grasped one thing and used that to break through.

If someone truly understood all things under heaven and then merged with them, how terrifying would her cultivation be? Lin Qing Ling did not dare imagine it.

“If you still feel confused about Integration, I suggest you use one of your chances for guidance from a Supreme Elder,” Lin Qing Ling said.

“Elder Ling?” Li Shuang blurted out.

Lin Qing Ling was a bit surprised: “How did you know?” Then she nodded. “Elder Ling uses embroidery to stitch the flowers, beasts, and all things of the world. She has gone very deep down this path. If you go to her, you should gain a lot.”

With both Su Mu and Lin Qing Ling recommending the same person, Li Shuang had no reason to hesitate.

She said at once: “Please help send a message, Master. Your disciple wishes to seek Elder Ling’s guidance.”

Lin Qing Ling nodded.

A playful smile tugged at her lips. With the speed of Li Shuang’s growth, even the Supreme Elders would be shocked, right? That was good. Then she would not be the only one shocked.

Li Shuang looked puzzled, but Lin Qing Ling only smiled and said: “Do not worry about it. I will go tell them now. We should have an answer very soon.”

“Yes,” Li Shuang replied obediently.

Half an hour later, Lin Qing Ling led Li Shuang to the top of a mountain.

Elder Ling was already waiting there.

She looked at Li Shuang, light flashing in her eyes. Just as Lin Qing Ling had said, Li Shuang was already at the bottleneck before the Integration Stage.

This was truly unbelievable.