I Am Loaded With Passive Skills

Chapter 3664: Chapter 1784: Two Forms

"Bazhun’an, what lies beyond sword cognition?"

Half a year ago, when the Ghost Buddha Realm first stirred, Xu Xiaoshou posed this question to Bazhun’an, who smiled: "I’ve pondered for a long time."

"Is there a conclusion?"

Bazhun’an shook his head: "Penetrating Divine Senses has an ’above,’ but sword cognition does not, or rather the ’above’ of sword cognition is to return to its essence, back to the ’name.’

Name... Xu Xiaoshou’s questions always hit the mark: "Have you achieved it?"

Bazhun’an shook his head again, his words tinged with a sense of reflection:

"Name is like the Path, too elusive and intangible."

"Even I can only borrow the concept of sword cognition, taking advantage and assimilating it, obtaining only its form, not its essence."

Name is like the Path... Xu Xiaoshou nodded and mused, indicating understanding, because he also felt the same: "It’s like scratching an itch through a boot."

"Exactly!"

Bazhun’an agreed, continuing:

"My Path was birthed from the name and realized through sword cognition."

"Thus, in relation to the name, I once pursued and attempted it, yet my path was completed in sword cognition and trapped within it."

"Imagine..."

At that time, he was at the Holy Mountain Ruins, beneath the Ghost Buddha, pointing ahead with his finger, yet his gaze was set on the Southern Region where this journey began:

"My road has been traveled eight to nine tenths."

"The Ancient Sword Technique has achieved me, sword cognition has achieved me, yet it has constrained my thoughts within ’eight to nine,’ long forgetting the initial reflection on the essence of ’name.’

He lowered his head, shaking it with a sigh: "If I were to let go of everything, dissipate everything, perhaps I could touch the essence of the Great Path and gain enlightenment, but I have no time."

Raising his head, he looked at the Ghost Buddha: "If I were to disperse my skill and retrain now, perhaps the Path is waiting ahead, but they will not wait for me; I can no longer turn back."

Xu Xiaoshou understood this feeling all too well.

When one is caught in the midst, pushed along by the grand force, who can remain unscathed?

Not to mention Bazhun’an cannot turn back, even his own present thoughts and concerns are vastly different from the various ideas he had when he first started cultivating.

But he knew that Bazhun’an would not stop his pace.

If achieving the name is impossible, there are other roads to the Great Path, so he asked: "Then, after sword cognition, what have you cultivated these past thirty years?"

As soon as he spoke, various images from the Divine Relics flashed through his mind, and Xu Xiaoshou already had the answer.

Sure enough, Bazhun’an nodded and said:

"Sword, I."

Sword I?

No, this fellow Lou Bat, not only employs flowery language, but the subtleties reveal the true essence.

Just now, when he said those two words, he clearly paused...

"Sword I?"

"Or ’sword’ and ’I’?"

This seems the same question, yet has fundamentally different implications.

Bazhun’an smiled, neither affirming nor denying, then shifted the conversation: "The Divine, did he teach you ancient martial arts?"

Xu Xiaoshou nodded silently.

Then Lou Bat took the initiative to say:

"I have also discussed ancient martial arts with The Divine, and have gained much."

"If the Path lies in spirits, myriad flowers bloom; if the Path lies in the sword, the third realm opens."

"In both cases, a choice must be made, and among the three thousand Great Paths or the Nine Techniques of the Ancient Sword, one must choose a narrow path, a small technique to cultivate to its extreme, becoming Gods and Ancestors."

With a pause, his tone turned more admiring:

"Yet if the Path lies in ancient martial arts, it is extremely pure, requiring no excess thought, merely following the steps, reaching the end where the position of Ancestral God is easily obtained."

"Then, what is the path of ancient martial arts?"

This question, Xu Xiaoshou truly knew.

Because The Divine had also explained to him, he replied, "Nine Palaces, Eight Gates, Seven Constellations, Six Paths, Four Abodes, Three Realms, Yin and Yang, One Venerable."

Bazhun’an nodded to supplement: "Five Deficiencies, Wuji."

Indeed, there are also these two things.

"Five Deficiencies is the fist, the Five Deficiencies Fist."

"Supreme Limitless is merely an elusive concept left by the War Ancestor for the further advancement of the path of ancient martial arts."

"These two, we shall not discus for now."

Returning to the sequence of "Nine Palaces" to "One Venerable," Bazhun’an explained:

"And by reducing nine to one, this ’One Venerate’ is the realm the War Ancestor aimed for, equivalent to become Gods and Ancestors."

"When later cultivators pursue the Path, no matter how confident, they should not aim too high or comprehend the Path with the Path—this is like comprehending name with name, too easy to go astray."

"Thus, it should be like using sword cognition to cultivate name, taking skill into the Path, then returning to its true origins. Though it may be constrained therein, it is the safest route."

"And my Path, after exchanging insights with The Divine, I adopted the concept of ’Two Forms’ and decided to cultivate ’Sword I.’

So that’s it... now Xu Xiaoshou fully understood.

"Sword I" is two forms.

"Sword" and "I" are the black and white within the two forms, opposing yet mutually fulfilling?

Lou Bat’s ambition is indeed not small!

Bazhun’an is truly not a person at ease.

Returning the talk of ancient martial arts back to "Sword I," when Bazhun’an speaks again of the previous topic, it becomes quite straightforward:

"Name is like the Path, name is like One Venerable."

"The Way of Name is too elusive and contradicts with me."

"Name is passively acquired, while my sword, no matter how circuitous it becomes, is always actively striking out."

It is apparent that Bazhun’an likes "name," yet he severs it cleanly: "Obtaining only its form, not its essence, force is futile, I willingly give it up."

Bazhun’an cherishes the name but cannot attain it.

His words heavily pierced Xu Xiaoshou’s heart.

Indeed, sometimes in discussions of the world, the sentence that truly penetrates the heart is only some nonchalant phrase:

"Name is passive..."

Xu Xiaoshou felt touched.

After careful consideration, that "feeling touched" suddenly evolved into "feeling deeply touched."

"Xu Xiaoshou, your visit to me must not only be to ask ’what lies beyond sword cognition’?" Bazhun’an interrupted his thoughts.

"Indeed, I want to cultivate the Path..."

"What Path do you want to cultivate?"