Chapter 39: Cannon For A Gunslinger

There are three aspects to a human, soul, body and Qi or mist. The purpose of the soul is to log life’s experiences and shelter the most fundamental part of a human, the spirit.

The spirit is also known as the Self of a person. It is sealed inside the soul, unable to physically come out, but it can emit a portion of itself past the barrier encompassing it. That portion is its consciousness, awareness. Awareness that control the three aspects, awareness that comes to be when a cultivator manifest himself or herself in their sea of consciousness, awareness that is like a separate piece of the spirit and when it pulled back, willingly or as a defensive response mostly due to a trauma, until being sent out by the spirit again, it either enters a slumber or strenuously influence the spirit, typically to easily review the annals of the soul.

There is also one more case relating to the awareness spirit ... situations when the awareness unable to cross the barrier of the soul and, opposite from the spirit, locked outside.

Zax is an example of such case. In the past, as his soul got stronger, he could more freely make one of the spirit and its awareness. However, at some point something changed and he grew remote of the concept of returning to the spirit. He did not notice it and was even more unruffled by this issue since he lacked the need for joining his spirit.

Thus, when strode onto the new path he somewhat perceived, he was oblivious to his spirit’s reaction.

‘What is it?’ A voice echoed in a void of darkness and blackness.

‘Where is it?’ It did not sound from a mouth, but every direction.

‘What am I doing here?’ A trace of loss was slowly becoming distinct.

‘I am ... Zax’. Himself he remembered, but everything else was dulled by the surrounding.

Forgetting about his closed doors training, attempt for comprehending new path, the loved ones waiting for him, enemies he must face, Zax’s awareness indolently drifted in the void, not caring for answers.

Sometimes he was sinking deeper into the state of idleness, other times a glint flickered in his eyes, that could not be seen or found in the void, and for a brief moment an aimless effort was exuded.

Overall it was peaceful and it remained like this day in day out.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Loud banging rang in his sea of consciousness, yet the land, sky and sea of his Inner Panorama maintain a placid state.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Ceaselessly and rhythmically they repeated.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

As time passed they continued in the same loudness but growing, sort of emotional, intensity.

From the first day of training, the moment it placed a shady palm on the soul and shivered; Zax’s spirit clenched its fist and punched and punched and punched.

Its awareness was gone, but the happening etched to the soul and various experiences on his cultivation path aroused something imperceptible that initially was embryotic, like the black buds he discovered when he reached the state of Warood Meditation and his Inner Panorama appeared, and metamorphosed along the Inner Panorama after every comprehended bottleneck of insight.

Now, as his awareness was pacing on the thin line of success and above the abyss of failure, his spirit, driven by something that through the years fostered in it, restlessly beat the soul for him to awake up, while desiring to this time partake the journey along its awareness on the new path.

‘What’s ... this noise?’

‘Who is it?’

‘Who... ? What... ? Where... ?’

The wondering in the void was carefree and as far as he was concerned could go on forever. He had the sense that regardless how long it would last, everything could and should wait and that it was reasonable thinking.

It stopped being contenting and even became displeasing with every annoying interruption that reverberated louder than his sluggish thoughts.

‘Enough’.

‘I ... Zax ... want it to stop’.

‘But ... how?’

‘Where it comes from... ?’

‘How do I get to it... ?’

‘Where am I?’

The more he was disturbed, the more brilliant and frequent the glint of effort in his invisible eyes was and the cohesive his thoughts returned to be.

It was gradual, but in the void it was hard to determine whether a breath or an eon passed. Eventually, something shone and illuminated the blindness of the void, a speck of light.

‘The sixth spark of light!’ The instant he realized a crack appeared on the vista of the void.

‘The last bottlenecked of insight!’ He fully perceived and the cracks began to spread. Nevertheless, he did not seek to approach it, much less comprehend.

‘The path beyond the blockade!’ This was his original aim and he staked his all on striding it. The sixth bottleneck of insight was a welcomed byproduct, but should he digress for it, he had the feeling that he will lose everything.

BANG!

He could not tell if it belong to the ongoing bashing that provoked him or the shattering of the void.

‘Dark, black!’ Two words resonated and fused with his very essence, all three aspects and without his knowing, his impatient spirit, too.

The fragments of the void rained as everything, including his naked manifested self, resumed to be in his Inner Panorama. Wherever they touched, the land, sky or sea, they merged. Meanwhile, a black glow has floated prominently in between everything, the sixth bottleneck of insight.

As for Zax? He also floated, unmoved or reactive. When he uttered the two words “Dark” and “Black” he fell into profound contemplation. Not too fast or slow, as his three aspects and spirit continuously transformed, he was digging deeper to an epitome understanding of the dark attribute.

“Let us in, Anet, I’m begging you!” Laylen pleaded with Marco beside her and little mob of Zax’s close family members and friends.

“Go home mom, dad. Everyone, don’t make me block you by force!” Zetsa, holding Jingrow who appeared a bit older than Zax would have remembered, stood at the threshold of her brother’s home alongside Anet.