"The Path of Dispassion can be directed towards oneself, but it can also be directed externally towards others. Likewise, affection and love can be directed both towards oneself and towards others."
Jiu Wen stared at Lu Yin with a growing intensity. "Cultivating the Path of Dispassion is both vast and profound. It cannot be summed up in a simple line about actions or mental states. If you truly want to elevate your mental state with the Path of Dispassion, twenty years is not enough. 200 years or even 2,000 years still would not be enough. At the end of the Nine Ramparts era, Hong Xia betrayed the Second Rampart. At that time, this old man was only a young, slightly talented cultivator, yet I was able to keep my own mental state intact despite Hong Xia’s influence for countless years. Do you know why?"
Lu Yin shook his head. "Please enlighten me, Senior."
"Because of shock."
"Shock?"
"Some things, once you have seen them, last for a lifetime. You cannot forget them, no matter what. Mr. Lu, do you want to see it?"
Lu Yin’s eyes brightened. "Please show me, Senior."
"Alright, look." Jiu Wen said, his expression growing complicated. "Perhaps this scene will allow you to see the true Path of Dispassion."
A karma spiral shot towards the Blood Tower from Lu Yin’s fingers. It passed through the Blood Tower, piercing Jiu Wen’s body and revealing multiple scenes from his past.
At this moment, whatever Jiu Wen remembered, karma would reveal.
Jiu Wen lifted his head to look at his past revealed by karma. "This is... the Crimson Lotus Tomb."
***
It was a shattered land. Broken swords stabbed into the ground. Both the sky and the ground were completely red. Broken umbrellas drifted and danced about as the smoke of war rose in all directions.
Someone strode across the land, alone and barefoot as they stepped across shards of broken swords, leaving a trail of blood. He was climbing a mountain.
All along his path were fragments of broken swords. Some of the broken blades were still attached to severed limbs. Blood dyed the entire mountain red.
Atop the mountain there were two silhouettes: one a woman, the other was a long spear.
The long spear had been driven into the woman’s body, completely piercing her. The shaft had been driven deep into the mountain. Her blood ran down the shaft, flowing from the mountain to the land below.
In the dark-red sky, three Plume Immortals wheeled through the air, letting out cheerful screeches as in a mocking, toying manner.
From time to time, razor-sharp streaks swept past, knocking the man who was climbing up the mountain back down and tearing away great swaths of his flesh. Yet he did not give up. His focus remained fixed on the woman at the top of the mountain as he moved closer to her, one step at a time. Shattered blades tore his feet open as both heaven and earth tried to stop him. Even so, step by step, he climbed the mountain with unwavering resolve.
He fell again and again, but he resumed climbing again and again. His flesh withered away, but his eyes never changed in the slightest.
Flames burned the sky and scorched the land, and yet the man climbed with stoic resolve. At last, he reached the woman. He raised a hand, grabbed hers, and without any hesitation, forced his body upon the spear, driving it through him so that he could embrace her. A blissful smile appeared, and then their mixed blood dripped down the spear.
At that moment, a storm surged through the sky and across the land. Flames were instantly extinguished. Red rose up from the land, piercing the sky and spreading through outer space, freezing the entire universe, as well as the three Plume Immortals flying through space. Finally, everything turned into a dark-red crystal that glittered brilliantly within the endless darkness of the Aevum Inch.
***
Lu Yin stared at the scene in shock, forgetting everything around him. His eyes only beheld the lone figure climbing the mountain with unwavering resolve and the figure who remained standing despite being pierced by the long spear.
"Is that... the Crimson Lotus Tomb?"
Jiu Wen exhaled heavily. "A tomb that buried three Plume Immortals, while also bringing release to our predecessors. That is the culmination of the final, fathomless essence of the Path of Dispassion.
"That land was called Crimson Lotus, and thus it became the Crimson Lotus Tomb."