Chapter 516: Chapter 516: Snow Willow Devil Sovereign Ning Fan raised his head and looked at the moon. Then, he lowered his head to stare at the water.
The moon in the night sky was as bright and shiny as usual. Its reflection in the water, however, was unclear due to the ripples of the water created by the cobblestone...
The bright moon in the sky above him remained unmoving at its original spot. That was why it should be real.
The moon’s reflection in the water, however, scattered because of the ripples on the water. Thus, it could only be a shadow, something that was fake and unreal...
As for the reason why the fake moon’s reflection would appear, it was exactly because of the bright moon up in the sky.
"What is void? ’Void’ is the reflection of ’true’. It exists because of ’true’... This is the insight I got from these past few days. By understanding this idea, my comprehension of the word ’void’ can be considered to have truly reached the standard of the Void Glimpse Stage... But..."
The ripples on the water gradually diminished and the water became calm and tranquil again. Standing on the bridge, Ning Fan lowered his head and stared at the moon’s reflection that had reappeared as well as his own reflection in the flowing water.
When he stared at his own reflection, it was also staring right back at him, then their eyes met.
In just an instant, another enlightenment struck Ning Fan’s mind, causing him to suddenly lift his head. He seemed to have gained new comprehension but he could not fully grasp it yet.
Ning Fan turned around and looked at the area behind him. The color of the moon was clear and bright and was shining down on him with its brilliant light, forming a dark shadow behind him.
The reflection in the water was fake but the shadow behind me truly exists...
"Fake shadow... True shadow..."
He calmed himself down and looked at the night sky above this area. He was no longer in the mood to think. Only a faint blankness filled his eyes.
"What is void...?"
He gently raised this question to himself once again.
This time, however, the meaning he was looking for was completely different from when he had first asked this question.
During the first time he asked himself ’what is void’, he was trying to understand what was fake and unreal. And the answer Ning Fan came up with was that every reflection produced from a true object was fake.
However, when he noticed his reflection in the water, he was at a loss for a while. When he saw his own shadow behind him, he became even more confused. Thus, he raised the same question for the second time.
In his second attempt at asking this question, the ’void’ he was trying to understand was not regarding ’void’ but ’true’.
When he and his own reflection in the water stared each other in the eye, multiple thoughts instantly surfaced within his heart.
"When you are standing on the bridge and staring at the flowing water, your reflection in the water is also staring back at you. You might think that he is your reflection but he thinks that you are his..."
"While you are thinking whether or not your reflection is fake, your reflection is probably also thinking whether or not you are real."
"When you cast a cobblestone into the water which disturbs it and causes tiny ripples, the reflection shatters. That’s why you think the reflection is fake."
"However, from the perspective of the reflection, he also cast a cobblestone into the water that is beneath his feet... In the reflection’s eyes, your figure is also being projected in the lake and scattered by the ripples..."
"Is that reflection truly fake...?"
"As for the world that I am currently in, does it truly exist in reality...?"
"Which is the reflection?!"
"Which is the true body?!"
"Who is the shadow?!"
Standing on the small bridge, Ning Fan gazed into the dark night sky with various feelings welling up within him.
He slowly felt that he could no longer clearly distinguish which truly existed between him and his reflection. However, it was because of this that his comprehension about ’void’ suddenly increased by a great deal!
Everyone born in this world would without a doubt think themselves as real and true existences while their shadows were all fake.
This was merely prejudice.
However, none have ever thought that they might be the shadow, while the mirror world in the water was the real existence.
Ning Fan’s second question touched upon deep and profound comprehension. It contained the supreme principle of Dao Truth which was not something the current him could grasp.
Ning Fan had unknowingly come into contact with the Heavenly Dao in his second question which was something he could not comprehend at the present...
He recalled the past where he was learning under Immortal Sovereign Zi Dou... At that time, he undoubtedly thought that the realm Immortal Sovereign Zi Dou was in was merely a dream, an illusion, an illusory fake world that does not really exist.
Therefore, he also considered the life he spent there together with his mother and Zhi He as part of a dream.
However, when he thought about it now, he could not help but ask himself: could Zi Dou’s illusory world be the true world while the Four Heavens and the Nine Worlds that I am currently living in are mere illusions...?
Ning Fan sighed softly. He wanted answers for all these questions but he could not make sense of it.
He vaguely understood that the reason why the cultivators at the seven cultivation realms of the First Step of Dao Cultivation pursued longevity and the cultivators of the Second Step who had clearly obtained immortality would still struggle in seeking the Dao Truth...
Cultivators at the First Step of Dao Cultivation desired eternal life.
Cultivators at the Second Step of Dao Cultivation yearned to attain Dao Truth. Perhaps it was the only way they could avoid the fate of becoming a shadow or reflection of someone else!
"In the Void Glimpse Stage, one sees the void as void... In the Void Inquiry Stage, the void that one sees isn’t void..."
Ning Fan muttered to himself. He could not provide an answer to his second question but his void comprehension had truly reached the standard of the Void Inquiry Stage because the void he saw was not truly void. It was truly different from the time where he accidentally unlocked the great gate of the Void Inquiry Stage’s bottleneck in the Star Palace which allowed him to control a void network.
Now, he wanted to use his eyes and heart to feel the void network without relying on any opportunities and chances or pills that could help him sense the void.
At this moment, Ning Fan gazed into the sky of total darkness. His eyes became so deep it was as if he could tear apart the space and see the void space beneath them.
Every trace of void power carried a unique network.
One could freely manipulate void power by sensing the different networks in every different trace of void power.
Then, according to the different void networks, one could connect millions of traces of void power together and form the ocean of void.