The reasons were of no importance to them. What mattered was that they saw Ning Beichen and Yang Qianrou were only two people, and they were bringing two valuable Beast Kings, which naturally stirred their greed.
This time, Ning Beichen didn't bother to make a move. He issued a command to the Rhino King. The Rhino King, having no such scruples or second thoughts, immediately unleashed "Flying Rhino in the Sky," a powerful move that annihilated the group in an instant.
They truly treated the Beast Kings as mere rabbits. Only Ning Beichen could easily crush Beast Kings like the Rhino King and the Golden Lion, so what were these people?
In less than a minute, the scene was washed clean with blood. Ning Beichen descended, stripped the valuable items from these individuals, and then, riding the Golden Lion with Yang Qianrou, swaggered away.
They encountered such incidents multiple times along the way. Without exception, they all perished at the hands of the Golden Lion and the Rhino King. Only one fellow, a master, was fortunate enough to escape from the Golden Lion, but he couldn't evade Ning Beichen's follow-up. With a single move, "Hundred Miles Piercing Heart," he was brought down and swallowed whole by the Golden Lion.
A few days later, Ning Beichen and Yang Qianrou arrived at a secluded area in the mountain range, where Ning Beichen carved out a simple cave dwelling. However, Ning Beichen wasn't here to live in seclusion or evade trouble; rather, he sensed that his realm was about to advance. Perhaps it was due to the abundant spiritual energy in this world, but cultivating for one day here was equivalent to ten days of cultivation in his original world. This caused Ning Beichen's cultivation to skyrocket uncontrollably. He had felt this sensation for some time but hadn't been able to settle down. Now, he seized the opportunity to focus and elevate his realm.
With everything prepared, Ning Beichen said to Yang Qianrou, "Yang Qianrou, I will be in seclusion for a while and won't have time to look after you. If you need to go out, remember to bring the two Beast Kings."
"Boss, I understand," Yang Qianrou nodded obediently.
Next, Ning Beichen contacted Haitang and Liu Yilin, chatted with them about the situation here, and then informed them that he would be in seclusion for a period, asking them not to rush to contact him.
Once all preparations were complete, Ning Beichen entered the cave dwelling, sealed himself inside, and began his seclusion.
The "Crossing the Sea of Suffering to the Other Shore" cultivation technique was Ning Beichen's primary method. Although he didn't know its origin, based on his judgment, it was a highly advanced technique, possibly from the ancient era of great cultivation or even from a higher dimension. Ning Beichen began accumulating power during his seclusion. Only when his internal strength was full could he break through to a higher realm. This was a natural progression, not something to be rushed, which was why Ning Beichen had to go into seclusion.
As days turned into nights, five days passed since Ning Beichen began his seclusion. He finally managed to fill his dantian with internal energy. Next, Ning Beichen had to enter the Heavenly Cycle Path. In the "Crossing the Sea of Suffering to the Other Shore" technique, the end of the Heavenly Cycle Path led to the Sea of Suffering, and for a cultivator, crossing the Sea of Suffering was actually about crossing oneself to reach the other shore.
However, this was extremely difficult. Ning Beichen was still in the first stage, "Suffering Lotus Body Transference," and now he was to advance to the second stage, "Body Transforms into Lotus, Sea of Suffering is Boundless." "Body transforms into Lotus" meant transforming oneself into a lotus boat to cross the Sea of Suffering.
Ning Beichen skillfully entered his Heavenly Cycle Path. To enter the Heavenly Cycle Path, one had to reach a state of life-and-death critical juncture. The Heavenly Cycle Path was also the key to breaking through to the unity of heaven and man. However, without experience and firm resolve, entering the Heavenly Cycle Path was very dangerous. If one lost the distinction between reality and illusion, they would turn from life to death, essentially killing themselves – a form of suicide.
But for Ning Beichen, who had already achieved the unity of heaven and man, this was no longer an issue. He easily arrived at the Heavenly Cycle Path. Within the Heavenly Cycle Path, there were still many monsters, but with Ning Beichen's current strength, he feared none of them and could easily slay them.
Not long after, Ning Beichen reached the end of the Heavenly Cycle Path. Before him lay an endless expanse of blood sea, which was the Sea of Suffering. Liu Yilin had once proposed a hypothesis: the Heavenly Cycle Path was the meridians of the great circulation, and the Sea of Suffering was the blood vessels of the body. This was not a random guess by Liu Yilin. If one magnified a single cell, they would find that within a minuscule cell lay a vast and boundless world. In modern terms, human cultivation was essentially human self-evolution.
Ning Beichen stood at the end of the Heavenly Cycle Path, gazing at the red sea with a sigh of helplessness. He had just attempted to enter the Sea of Suffering, intending to swim across. The moment he entered, he began to sink, and the blood sea began to devour his consciousness. He had to quickly retreat. The Sea of Suffering was not calm; on the contrary, it was turbulent, with surging waves. Forget crossing it, even looking at it was terrifying. Ning Beichen had no confidence in whether he could cross it.
"The Sea of Suffering is boundless... I know the Sea of Suffering is boundless! Do I really have to turn back and find the shore?" Ning Beichen muttered, looking at the rough and stormy Sea of Suffering with a sigh of helplessness, unable to think of a way to cross.
After a while, Ning Beichen gathered his thoughts. As the saying goes, nothing is impossible for a willing heart. He refused to believe he would be trapped here. To cross the sea, a boat was necessary. In the "Crossing the Sea of Suffering to the Other Shore" technique, there was a line: "Body transforms into Lotus, Sea of Suffering is Boundless."
"Could it be that I have to transform my body into a lotus?" Ning Beichen pondered, thinking it unlikely that he should literally turn into a lotus, and that there must be another meaning.
"Lotus..."
"Body transforms into Lotus..."
"I understand, it's a lotus boat!"
Ning Beichen suddenly recalled a Buddhist allegory, and his face lit up. The lotus didn't refer to the flower itself, but to the act of self-transcendence. "Body transforms into Lotus to cross the Sea of Suffering" meant that oneself is the boat, not transforming into a lotus.
Having understood the meaning, Ning Beichen became excited and immediately began to transform himself into a boat with his will. If this were in reality, Ning Beichen wouldn't be able to do it, but here, in a space dominated by consciousness, it was not difficult. Ning Beichen used his will to imagine himself as a boat, and sure enough, his own body transformed into a boat. Then, Ning Beichen floated steadily on the Sea of Suffering, no longer sinking as before. This made Ning Beichen ecstatic, not because he had transformed into a boat, but because he had figured it out with his own intelligence.