Chapter 1061: Fake Invincible, True Invincible
Suichu Palace.
On the shore stood the Stork Tower; in the water lay the Dragon Resting Stone.
Wu Shuangjiang personally played host, coming out to greet the master and two disciples as they arrived quietly.
A Flying Ascension Realm sword cultivator, a female ghost immortal named Baolin, one of the ten candidates of the Green Obscurity World.
Walking together along the riverbank, Wu Shuangjiang had already deployed a means to seal off heaven and earth, preventing eavesdroppers. Of course, the “walls” were rather thick—on one side lay Suichu Palace, on the other, the White Jade Capital.
Baolin’s expression was calm as she said, “Palace Master Wu, these are my newly accepted disciples, Lü Yi and Qiu Yuyi. Over so many years, I’ve only taken these two as students. From now on, I entrust them to Suichu Palace.”
The two young sword cultivators gazed at the renowned Palace Master of Suichu Palace, their eyes full of curiosity.
They showed no fear, after all, they were Baolin’s direct disciples. Since their master dared to challenge that truly invincible one to duels time and again, as disciples, they couldn’t very well cower at the sight of a Fourteenth Realm grand cultivator.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled and nodded. “I will personally teach them the Dao. In the future, when they have the means to protect themselves, they can establish their own sects. I will set aside two mountain peaks and two Dao veins—one for sword cultivators, one for talisman formations. As for talisman and formation arts, I can barely claim to have entered the hall, but compared to the few mountain-top Dao officials who live off this craft, I am certainly inferior. Still, I can be considered among the world’s first-rate. That said, Qiu Yuyi is better suited to concurrent study of talisman formations, while Lü Yi can focus solely on swordsmanship.”
Baolin drew a treasured secret manual from her sleeve, one she had kept for many years, and said, “You must teach Qiu Yuyi all of this.”
Wu Shuangjiang took it and chuckled, “Let me be blunt first. Of course I can teach it, and I guarantee it won’t be inferior to if someone else taught him personally. But the problem is that with Qiu Yuyi’s talent, even exhausting his mind and the years of mountain cultivation, he may not be able to learn it all. Likely only seventy or eighty percent mastery. However, once he establishes his own sect later, the talisman formation lineage he passes down can take on a good disciple. If the direct disciple isn’t up to par, then hope for the disciple’s disciple.”
During the era when the White Jade Capital still had only three cities and six towers, there were four close friends in the Green Obscurity World who traveled the lands together.
Yu Dou, the “Muddy Daoist” Liu Changzhou who excelled in talismans, the formation master Xing Lou with the Dao title “Celestial Steps,” and the female sword immortal Baolin.
In the end, Yu Dou became the Second Disciple of the Dao Ancestor and eventually entered the White Jade Capital as the Second Teaching Master. And the former identity of the current Purple Qi Tower Master, Jiang Zhaomo, was Liu Changzhou.
Thus, the secret manual Baolin gave to Wu Shuangjiang today naturally contained the life’s work of the formation master Xing Lou.
Baolin asked via mind voice, “Wu Shuangjiang, you said last time that to shake the foundations of the White Jade Capital, we need at least three Fourteenth Realm cultivators with sufficient killing power, and they must be prepared never to return. Can you now tell me the truth—besides you and Sun Huaizhong of Xuandu Taoist Temple, who is the last one? Gao Gu of Huayang Palace? Like you, can he step into the Fourteenth Realm when necessary?”
Wu Shuangjiang shook his head. “Temple Master Sun is not among the three.”
The implication was that the Daoist with the title “Giant Mountain,” Gao Gu, was among them.
Baolin let out a faint sigh and asked, “For me, it’s a personal grudge. For you as well. For Temple Master Sun and Gao Gu… it seems the same.”
Wu Shuangjiang shook his head again. “Only you and I have that kind of pure personal vendetta. Senior Daoist Sun and Palace Master Gao are not the same.”
Baolin didn’t bother to dig deeper. Since her mind was made up, she wouldn’t quibble over such details.
Although Gao Gu had many disciples, he had never taken a Dao partner or had children. The one he placed the most hope in was his youngest disciple, who came from the Hongnong Yang Clan of You Province. Gao Gu had always treated him as his own.
As for the junior brother and grand-disciple of Senior Daoist Sun of Xuandu Taoist Temple—
especially the relationship between Senior Wang Sun and her junior brother—even Baolin, a sword cultivator who least liked to pry into mountain news, had heard rumors.
Though heaven and earth were sealed off, the river wind still brushed their faces, gently stirring the female sword immortal’s hair at her temples. Her autumn-water eyes showed an extraordinarily determined gaze.
Even as a ghost, this peak Flying Ascension Realm female sword immortal still deeply loved her Dao partner. Her heart had never wavered, and after a thousand years repeated, her feelings had not diminished in the slightest.
Wu Shuangjiang turned his head to watch the river flow east.
Military tactics resemble water. The form of water avoids heights and flows downward; the form of military avoids solidity and strikes at weakness.
When the world is no longer the world of one person alone.
Then whose world it will be next is hard to say.
The Dao Ancestor scattered his Dao; the Great Teaching Master Kou Ming had not returned; the truly invincible Yu Dou would oversee White Jade Capital affairs for a hundred years; Lu Chen had not yet awakened from his dream; the Dao Ancestor’s last disciple, Qingshan, could not command respect in a short time.
Not one of these conditions could be missing.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled. “If Yu Dou were not truly invincible, then all my years of elaborate scheming, my deliberate, meticulous plotting against him, while never daring to face him in a direct fight—would that not make me even worse than a jumping clown?”
Throughout the world, people constantly brought up the term “truly invincible” about Yu Dou, simply because the only thing they could criticize him for was this very title.
Moreover, the epithet “truly invincible” had originally been given to Yu Dou by outsiders, not self-proclaimed by him.
Sensing the celestial phenomenon beyond the heavens, Baolin’s expression turned complex. She asked curiously, “I know that Zheng Juzhong of White Emperor City is formidable, but is he really that formidable?”
“How formidable Zheng Juzhong truly is—unless you become his enemy on the Dao path, you will never know the truth.”
Wu Shuangjiang did not look up. He smiled and said, “Dao heart, Dao method. Combat heart, combat strength. Mr. Zheng excels at all of them.”
Baolin could only remain silent.
Wu Shuangjiang continued, “Fellow Daoist Baolin, since we are now allies in sincere cooperation, let me take you to a place. Inside Suichu Palace, over the years, aside from Xiao Bai, no one has ever been there. The threshold there is far higher than the Ancestral Hall or the Stork Tower.”
Baolin nodded. “It’s good to broaden my horizons.”
Wu Shuangjiang took the first step. Baolin followed, and amid a mist of white clouds, they arrived at a landscape secret realm. Within this small heaven and earth, there was not a trace of spiritual energy.
The two young sword cultivators, like a perfect pair of jade, were left in place.
There was a small mountain, not tall, shrouded in clouds and mist. At its foot stood a shop, where an old man with a radiant complexion but dull eyes sat by a table, basking in the sun and smoking a long-stemmed pipe.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled and explained to Baolin, “This mountain is called Matchmaker Mountain, and this shop is the Marriage Shop—the first of its kind in the mortal world, with quite some history.”
Inside the house was an exquisitely crafted, extremely ornate canopy bed. Wu Shuangjiang personally crafted a small component for it every year, meticulously carving it; there was no rush. It was part of his daughter’s dowry.
Wu Shuangjiang greeted the old man with a smile. “Mr. Cai, this distinguished guest beside me is the sword cultivator Baolin.”
The old man surnamed Cai glanced at Baolin, let out a soft sigh, and his eyes showed pity as he slowly said, “A woman with such deep-rooted emotions as you is rare.”
Baolin was momentarily at a loss for words.
She was not a broadly learned Dao cultivator; she had spent her entire life solely focused on practicing swordsmanship. So, things like Matchmaker Mountain, the Marriage Shop, or this old man surnamed Cai—knowing about them or not made no difference to her.
Wu Shuangjiang took a silk pouch glowing with treasure light from his sleeve and gently placed it on the table. “The White Jade Capital has been keeping a closer eye on things in recent years, so the harvest has been average.”
The old man glanced at the pouch and nodded. “It’s fine. As long as there are women’s jet-black hairs from the Five-Colored World, it will do. The essence of black silk has never been about quantity.”
With that, the old man raised his eyes and looked at Baolin’s hair bun. His originally murky gaze suddenly shone brightly, as if seeing a priceless treasure.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled and said, “Fellow Daoist Baolin, would you be willing to cut a strand of black hair to give to Mr. Cai?”
Baolin, without the slightest doubt about Wu Shuangjiang’s intentions and without asking what use the hair would serve, simply pressed two fingers together, cut off a lock of black hair, and placed it on the table.
One must know that a Dao cultivator’s soul, flesh and blood, even hair and nails, if they fell into the hands of an enemy, could easily lead to unexpected calamities that were hard to guard against.
Wu Shuangjiang and Baolin sat at the table. The old man had already put away the silk pouch full of women’s hair and Baolin’s lock of black hair.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled faintly. “Mr. Cai was once an ancient god who presided over the scroll of mortal marital fate. His divine rank was not high, but his duty was to tie the red strings—whether that is important to us mortal men and women goes without saying. And women’s black hair is the embodiment of passionate thoughts, one of several key materials Mr. Cai uses in Matchmaker Mountain at the Marriage Shop to refine red strings. The deeper a woman’s love, the higher the grade of the black hair, and of course, the better the red string produced.”
In truth, Wu Shuangjiang had not elaborated enough. For the lovelorn and resentful of the world, whether love turned to hate, hair could be refined into red strings. However, men’s hair was inferior in quality to women’s.
Furthermore, “passionate thoughts” have a vintage. The deeper the love and the longer the years, the higher the grade.
But there was a paradox here. First, a mortal’s lifespan of a hundred years was already exceptionally old. Second, how could one ensure that a feeling of love and attachment would not fade from strong to weak over time? Third, cultivators on the mountain often had pure hearts and few desires. For men and women who became Dao partners on the mountain, the depth of their love was not necessarily deeper just because they were immortals; in fact, it might not even match that of ordinary city folk. Thus, cases like Baolin, or Cheng Quan who was currently practicing swords at the Dragon Resting Stone, were truly rare.
Mr. Cai seemed to want to speak but hesitated.
Wu Shuangjiang nodded and smiled. “If I had obtained Fellow Daoist Baolin’s black hair earlier, that matter of tying the red string back then could have been done covertly, and maybe I would have succeeded by luck.”
Baolin asked in confusion, “Palace Master Wu and Mr. Cai, were you originally trying to tie a red string for those two great cultivators?”
Wu Shuangjiang, with a smile, said via mind voice, “The female Daoist with the Dao title ‘Great Yin,’ Wuzhou, and the Daoist with the title ‘Pure Yang,’ Lü Yan.”
One was a Fourteenth Realm female cultivator renowned for her killing power in the Green Obscurity World; the other was a wandering Daoist from outside who had voluntarily withdrawn from the Fourteenth Realm.
Mr. Cai glanced at Baolin’s hair bun, twitched the corner of his mouth, and seemed to want to say something but held back.
Wu Shuangjiang couldn’t help but chuckle. “If we were to take such a risky action, I’m afraid Fellow Daoist Baolin would have to stay indoors for at least a decade or more.”
Baolin didn’t find this objectionable. She was just curious. “Why didn’t you tell me directly back then?”
Wu Shuangjiang replied, “First, it was a risky endeavor. I mentioned ‘by luck’ earlier—one misstep and we would make enemies, ending in a miserable failure where we overreached ourselves. Offending either Wuzhou or Lü Yan would be unpleasant, let alone both at once. Second, back then we were not yet allies, and I was unwilling to owe you a great favor. Moreover, you are a sword cultivator with shallow scheming and a weak point in concealing heavenly secrets. Suichu Palace and I could easily lose the big picture for small gains.”
Baolin smiled. “Palace Master Wu, you could just say I’m stupid.”
Wu Shuangjiang nodded. “Sword cultivators don’t need to be too smart; those who are too smart can never become pure sword cultivators.”
Baolin sighed in admiration. “Palace Master Wu, you really dare to think!”
She had only heard some unverified rumors about the Daoist named Pure Yang, Lü Yan. But as for that woman Wuzhou, her temper was known throughout the world. And you, Wu Shuangjiang, dare to scheme against her? Aren’t you afraid Suichu Palace will be pounded to pieces by a rain of magic treasures?
Wu Shuangjiang smiled slightly. “Cultivating the Dao on the mountain has always been about the bold eating well and the timid starving. There are occasional exceptions, but as long as we don’t become the exception, it’s fine.”
If the deed was already done, the Pure Yang Daoist Lü Yan, with his firm Dao heart, might still be able to cut the emotional ties with a wisdom sword and not take Wuzhou as his Dao partner.
But the female Daoist Wuzhou might not be willing to sever this marriage herself. She might even have to hold her nose and thank Wu Shuangjiang for playing matchmaker and tying the red string.
Baolin said helplessly, “It’s fine for you to say such things.”
Wu Shuangjiang said, “Yu Dou is simply too high in Dao power; he never stoops to intrigue.”
Baolin felt a twinge of discomfort.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled faintly. “They say prolonged illness makes a physician. Similarly, prolonged enmity makes the two sides know each other well.”
Ordinary cultivators, upon later hearing about the contest between Zheng Juzhong and Yu Dou, might even joke that the truly invincible one, wearing a feathered robe and carrying a sword, had finally taken a long journey but had no standing—he had once stopped at the Inverted Mountain’s Catch-and-Release Pavilion, not daring to go to the Sword Qi Great Wall to see Chen Qingdu. Now even a junior on the mountain like Zheng Juzhong, with three thousand years less Dao age, dared to provoke and spar with him.
But it was precisely people like Wu Shuangjiang, who were destined to fight Yu Dou to the death, also at the Fourteenth Realm, who were instead extremely cautious and had been plotting for a long time.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled. “In my spare time from cultivation, I once played a few little games of addition and subtraction.”
Baolin said, “I’m all ears.”
Wu Shuangjiang did not keep her in suspense.
He said that in the Barren Wastes World, the most recognized existence among mountain cultivators was, first and foremost, Bai Ze.
But the second was more interesting: not any old Throne Great Demon, nor the common lord Feiran, but the sword cultivator Shou Chen.
However, because many admired Bai Ze and many hated him, after adding and subtracting, the resulting number—or ratio—could not separate itself far from Shou Chen.
As for the Grand Alliance World, the one who won the most “hearts” among mountain cultivators was even more amusing.
It was not even Li Sheng, but Zheng Juzhong of White Emperor City!
Just think how many wild cultivators not listed in the genealogy sincerely regarded White Emperor City as the only holy land in their hearts?
As for those who hated Zheng Juzhong, there were very few in the entire Grand Alliance World. Even among registered cultivators who truly disliked White Emperor City and Zheng Juzhong, there were still not many.
But Li Sheng—it wasn’t hatred, but there were naturally many cultivators who detested those trivial formalities and numerous rules. This internal rejection of rules and the Confucian Temple naturally all had to be charged to Li Sheng’s account. This caused Li Sheng, ranked second, to lag far behind Zheng Juzhong.
In the Green Obscurity World, after the Great Teaching Master Kou Ming disappeared, there was no Dao official who commanded such unanimous support as Zheng Juzhong or Bai Ze.
Lu Chen could rank first, but the gap between him and the next nine was not too large. It could be said that the latter together could roughly match Lu Chen, the Teaching Master of the White Jade Capital.
Baolin asked doubtfully, “What’s the point of calculating this?”
Wu Shuangjiang laughed. “That’s why I said it’s just a little game to pass the time.”
Although Cai Daohuang appeared expressionless, his emotions were extremely complicated.
A little game?!
Back then, in half of the hometown, the Lizhu Cave Heaven, it was roughly such a little game that determined who would be the number one!
It decided who would be the last person left at the gambling table set by the Qingtong Celestial Lord.
But at that time, the old man who ran a wedding shop in the small town did not dare, under the watchful eye of the Qingtong Celestial Lord, to reveal this celestial secret to his grandson Hu Feng. All blessings and fortunes had to be obtained by oneself.
Every newborn child in the town had a natal porcelain item fired in the dragon kiln.
First, they drew lots.
This already distinguished between good and bad fate.
But this did not determine the final result.
One also needed a strong fate.
Before the Lizhu Cave Heaven descended to the ground, there was a small test.
After descending, connecting with heaven and earth, that was the great test.
When cultivators achieved the Dao in the human world, they could Dao-transform countless spells, divine powers, and marvelous phenomena, affecting the hearts of the world with varying degrees of “Dao power.”
Then, wouldn’t the hearts of the people push back and “merge with the Dao as one”?
If not, then why did the Leap Month Peak’s hard work, the Barren Wastes World’s “Woman’s Sundial,” and the ferryman from the Grand Alliance World—who once disagreed with the Supreme Sage on the Dao—exist?
Baolin asked, “After achieving Dao Fusion at the Fourteenth Realm, what is the scenery like?”
Wu Shuangjiang smiled faintly. “It is not something to be spoken of to outsiders.”
Baolin pressed further, “Is there only one path to Dao Fusion?”
Wu Shuangjiang pointed upward and asked in return, “There is a ready example beyond the heavens. What do you think?”
Baolin asked again, “True body, Yin Spirit, Yang Spirit, outer bodies—at most, can one walk three paths to the summit simultaneously?”
Wu Shuangjiang shook his head. “That only means at most three ‘selves’ at the Fourteenth Realm. If one builds a bridge between two great paths, one can still merge the Dao. It can also be described as the ‘joining of rivers’—the convergence of two streams. I have even suspected that this is the earliest meaning of ‘Dao Fusion.’ So the more paths that align with the Dao, the better. For example, the Cavern Master Bixiao cannot be classified into a single category of Dao Fusion. The geographical advantage path of Dao Fusion is considered the lowest of the three methods, not only because it is the most restricted, but also because of one fatal point: once on that path, it is difficult to switch to align with the heavenly season or with human harmony.”
“The reverse is not necessarily true.”
“But for each Fourteenth Realm cultivator, the number of paths they can walk has no absolute relation to their killing power after Dao Fusion.”
“Paths of Dao Fusion also have old and new distinctions.”
Among the ten great figures of ancient times, there was a female cultivator named Lan Qi, who was the founding ancestor of all refiners in the world. Hence, there was a later saying, “The weapons of the armory are stored in Lan Qi.”
Lan Qi was a female cultivator, and Wuzhou was also a female cultivator. This female Daoist actually refined herself into a natal object, “human in appearance but empty in heaven,” with a form between a perfected being and a god.
Among the ten great figures, there was also one who pioneered the ghost path among cultivators. He was the first ghostly being in the human world.
And Xu Jun was a ghost. Good fortune brings its own “heavenly appearance.”
It was like at the end of a certain path, there was a vacant seat waiting for some later cultivator to sit in.
For example, Zhou Mi voluntarily gave way to Li Gou.
Baolin asked, “Senior Cai, if I may be so bold, how did you view this heaven and earth back in your day?”
Even a female sword immortal ranked among the world’s candidates, today’s Baolin seemed more like a child finally encountering two old scholars, full of questions, wanting answers and understanding.
“There’s no impertinence about it.”
The old man said self-deprecatingly, “But unfortunately, this question of yours is like asking a blind man for directions.”
Baolin grew even more puzzled.
The old man had to explain, “My divine rank was low back then. I couldn’t see that infinite.”
Baolin found it strange and couldn’t help asking, “Can one even see the ‘infinite’ in its entirety?”
Wu Shuangjiang smiled. “First, we should be grateful that the entire human world is not a book where ‘a single character is worth a thousand gold.’”
If anyone could change one word, they would be rewarded a thousand gold.
The old man hesitated, then said, “I can only say that the higher the divine rank, the closer one’s thoughts and vision approach the infinite. But…”
Wu Shuangjiang warned, “Mr. Cai, no ‘buts.’ In today’s situation, saying more is useless.”
The old man nodded.
Above Bottle Gourd Continent, there was an Autumn Wind Shrine that had yet to find a master.
Enter my Autumn Wind Shrine, enter my door of longing.
To become the master of the Autumn Wind Shrine, one must be a true pair of lovers.
That was why the Autumn Wind Shrine had appeared in the world for years and still no one could claim it.
And this Autumn Wind Shrine was actually built by Wu Shuangjiang and Liu Qi, together with the “Moon Lord” Cai Daohuang—who had lost his divine rank but retained a copy of the marriage scroll—on the basis of an ancient shattered secret realm. Even if a careful person deduced this matter, they could at most trace it back to Liu Qi and no further. Besides, Liu Qi was no easy character; the great demon Yang Zhi experienced this most deeply.
Baolin said generously, “Do I need to shave my head? It doesn’t matter to me at all.”
She touched her hair bun, found the idea amusing, and imagining the scene was even more comical. Baolin laughed heartily all on her own.
She had forgotten how many years it had been since she had laughed so freely.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled and shook his head. “One lock of black hair represents a complete set of passionate thoughts; the quantity of hair doesn’t matter.”
Cai Daohuang suddenly glanced at him.
Wu Shuangjiang narrowed his eyes and smiled, interlacing his fingers. After a moment’s thought, he understood the reason.
Wu Shuangjiang of Suichu Palace, who had once personally killed his Dao partner, had his Dao Fusion located in a line: “May all lovers in the world finally be united.”
Tongye Continent.
A secret realm that had only recently had visitors come and go.
Inside the secret realm, there was only a small hillside. At its summit stood an ancient stone tablet. The most peculiar thing was that the tablet had the character “Earth” on top and “Heaven” on the bottom.
The tablet bore a line of vertical ancient seal script: “Never to turn over for all eternity!”
At the top of the tablet lay a rusty coin sword.
This tablet and sword together suppressed all the baleful energy within the secret realm, trapping it within the hillside so it wouldn’t leak out. Without this suppression, not only would this secret realm be affected, but the tens of thousands of miles of mountains and rivers on Tongye Continent outside would be “washed clean” by this vast baleful energy, like floodwaters bursting through a dam and sweeping across countless landscapes.
A burly man with a blurry figure, dressed in coarse linen clothes, arrived at the foot of the hillside and slowly climbed, step by step.
The seal script on the ancient tablet shone brightly. The man waved his sleeve to scatter the golden light repeatedly. The coin sword’s sword qi surged violently, starting to bounce on top of the tablet. The man raised his hand and pressed down, forcing the ancient sword flat against the “ground” on top of the tablet.
At the summit, another blurry figure appeared, that of a woman, carrying a bamboo-woven basket.
Like the time before, when she had encountered the ghost Zhong Kui who had stumbled into this secret realm, she felt she should remember something, but she just couldn’t. This strange feeling that clung to her mind and wouldn’t leave still made her frown slightly today. She tilted her head again, thinking, but still got nothing. So she wanted to retreat. The writing on the tablet showed no trace of wear or fading, but the Dao meaning within it had been diminishing year by year. Last time, she had wanted to reach out and take that coin sword, but she couldn’t.
As long as her fingertip touched the ancient sword, heaven and earth would “catch fire,” and the blazing flames would flow away like water, covering the sky and hiding the earth.
Back then, it was a “scholar” who helped clean up the mess and even told her that she could leave soon, maybe in half a year or a year?
The man stared at her blankly. She looked back at him in bewilderment.
This was a reunion ten thousand years later.
The man tried to keep his voice gentle. “I’ve missed you all this time.”
The woman shook her head, frowned, and stared at the strange man. For some reason, she felt sad and guilty. She murmured, “I don’t remember you.”
The man smiled. “It’s fine. I will always remember.”
She asked, “Why didn’t you come find me earlier?”
The man said softly, “I thought you were gone.”
After a moment of silence, he raised his hand, made a fist, and pressed it against his chest. His voice hoarse, he said, “I thought you could only be here in my heart.”
The woman, carrying the bamboo basket, stood on tiptoe, reached out her hands, and touched the man’s face.
The man grasped her slightly cool, slender hands, held them in his palms, and gently rubbed them warm. He murmured to himself, “It doesn’t matter how you treat me. I am your man, after all.”
Ten thousand years ago, if he was lacking in skill and his plans failed, he would suffer whatever consequences came. The man never complained about this matter.
A man who stood upright between heaven and earth could endure a little grievance.
If he was to be jointly beheaded, so be it.
It didn’t matter if he lost his mind, if his soul was incomplete, his memory in chaos, or his physical body scattered in different places.
But after the joint beheading, he had been in a state of chaos for a very long time. Before that, he had made an agreement with the three teachings’ founders that they must not implicate his Dao partner, and they had agreed.
Later, when he had recovered some clarity of spirit and soul, he learned that she had gone mad with cultivation and had caused a great disaster in the human world—specifically, in the spirit world. Afterward, she had voluntarily dispersed her own soul and left the world. He did not suspect this was any scheme of the three teachings’ founders. Moreover, the Little Master and the Mr. Three Mountains and Nine Marquises could both attest that there was no conspiracy in this matter. So he only asked about her “whereabouts,” but neither the Little Master nor Mr. Three Mountains and Nine Marquises gave any answer.
In truth, he knew well that the higher the realm of a cultivator, the more irreversible it was when they dispersed their soul and left the world.
The man looked down at her. “But the fact that you suffered—that makes me very sad.”
She gave a charming smile. “I suppose there were always difficulties.”
For instance, being able to see you—a man she still couldn’t remember who he was—was probably thanks to this forbidden ground that seemed full of murderous intent and heavy punishment.
Without this place to dwell, there would be no foothold for her anywhere in the human world, whether in the yang realm or the yin realm.
The man said in a deep voice, “I don’t care about any of that. No matter how many reasons they have, I don’t care.”
The woman lifted the arm carrying the bamboo basket and said softly with a smile, “I don’t know why, but there’s always a single drop of water in this basket. I don’t know how many years have passed, but it never increases or decreases.”
The man suddenly trembled. He focused his gaze. Even with his high cultivation, he still needed to stare intently to see that there was indeed a single water droplet inside the basket.
The man carefully reached out, gathered that droplet onto his fingertip, and lightly tapped it on her brow.
A single drop of water, at the center of her brow, scattered like a blooming lotus.
In an instant, her figure swayed. The man reached out to steady her and let her sit on the ground to rest for a moment.
The man stood up, took a deep breath, faced west, pressed his palms together, and bowed his head in reverence. He murmured lowly, “Thank you, Bodhisattva, for your great compassion, saving the suffering and the afflicted.”
Green Obscurity World, You Province.
Difei Mountain, Huayang Palace.
Near the Ancestral Hall at the mountain peak, a Daoist with a youthful appearance had lived here for many years in a thatched hut, writing books behind closed doors. As a youth, he had personally planted a pine tree, whose bark had long since turned into dragon scales.
Today, this Daoist, who had preserved his youthful looks, summoned his three direct disciples. The eldest of them had a Dao age of nearly three thousand years; the youngest had a real age of only a hundred years.
Their names were Yin Xian, Nan Qiang, and Gao Fu.
Yin Xian was an Immortal Realm cultivator and the palace master of Cuiwei Palace, the largest palace aside from the main Huayang Palace on Difei Mountain.
Nan Qiang, a female Daoist, was the palace master of Damu Taoist Temple, a Jade Purity Realm bottleneck, and a sword cultivator.
Gao Fu was the youngest and had the lowest realm, but he had been stuck at the Nascent Soul Realm for many years. He held no worldly position or title on Difei Mountain or in Huayang Palace.
However, when Gao Fu formed his golden core, his master led him to the mountain peak and personally planted a young pine tree, which at that time was only as tall as a person.
In addition to the three direct disciples, there was an outsider.
A tall, young Daoist who walked out of the book tower on the other side of Huayang Palace’s Ancestral Hall.
The tower housed ten thousand volumes; for three thousand years, the mountain’s history was read within.
The book tower was called Ten Thousand Volumes Tower. It was the reading place of the first-generation ancestor of Huayang Palace. Having ten thousand volumes might be considered a rich collection in the mortal world, but on the mountain, it seemed nothing special.
However, the books stored in the tower were all spiritual manuscripts and secret texts from the mountain. Of course, most were different editions of the same content, but nevertheless, it was still quite impressive. Hence, the plaque hanging read “A Magnificent View of the World,” and it was well deserved.
Moreover, the top floor of the Ten Thousand Volumes Tower was also the entrance to that sixth cave heaven. So this unfamiliar face on Difei Mountain, as repayment for reading the books, acted as the door-keeper.
But in truth, who would dare to trespass on Difei Mountain? Even if someone dared, how many could walk alive to the mountain peak and stand outside the book tower?
From this, it was clear that Palace Master Gao Gu did not treat this outsider as an outsider at all.
Under the shade of a pine tree, at a stone table.
The four people each sat on one side.
The three, Yin Xian and the others, were seeing this tall Daoist for the first time.
Since their master did not reveal his identity, no one dared to ask or probe.
He wore the most ordinary cotton Daoist robe, something even the so-called permanent residents of an anonymous small Daoist temple who had not yet received their ordination could afford.
Gao Gu said calmly, “He was a Daoist of the former Virtual Annotation Temple, using the alias Mao Zhui, with the Dao title ‘White Bones.’”
The three direct disciples were immediately alarmed, their nerves tightening.
Although the number of candidates on this term’s list of ten for the Green Obscurity World was indeed a bit large, no one thought any of the Daoists on the list lacked weight.
In fact, many of this term’s candidates had historically been ranked among the official list of ten, or were widely recognized as strong enough to be selected but for various reasons had not been evaluated.
And the only candidate on this list whose real name was unknown, only a Dao title, was White Bones True Man.
The most interesting point was that the entire Green Obscurity World, indeed all worlds, knew that this White Bones True Man was one of the five dreams of Lu Chen, the Teaching Master of the White Jade Capital!
Gao Gu got straight to the point. “Mao Zhui, which of these three do you think is suitable to be the next mountain lord?”
Mao Zhui replied calmly, “Mountain lord? Not the palace master of Huayang Palace?”
Gao Gu said, “It is the mountain chief.”
“If it’s only to be the mountain lord of Difei Mountain, Nan Qiang is relatively suitable.”
Mao Zhui said bluntly, “Gao Fu has sufficient talent—in fact, he is better than Nan Qiang. But unfortunately, Gao Fu’s Dao heart is too weak. It cannot withstand the slightest breeze. Fall into the hands of that surnamed Lu, and after a little probing, his Dao heart would shatter. Or if he meets that surnamed Wu from Suichu Palace, it would be even more pitiful—he probably wouldn’t even know who he is anymore.”
Yin Xian cautiously glanced at his master. Was it really all right for an outsider to speak about the youngest junior brother like this?
The female Daoist Nan Qiang, upon hearing that the legendary White Bones True Man “recommended” her to be the mountain lord, did not have much fluctuation in her Dao heart. She was simply curious: could this guy using the alias “Mao Zhui” be trying to become her Dao partner? Otherwise, a Jade Purity Realm to be the mountain lord of Difei Mountain? How reckless could you be?
“As for Yin Xian, his age is too great, his realm too low. Apart from respecting his master and revering the Dao, at least in my view, he is good for nothing.”
Yin Xian breathed a sigh of relief. If Mao Zhui turned his attention to saying a few unpleasant words about him, that old celestial lord didn’t mind at all.
But then Mao Zhui started belittling the youngest junior brother again.
“Gao Fu’s cultivation is so poor—that’s because you, his master, have been too negligent. You’re always absent-minded, unwilling to carefully carve and polish him. You hit him too rarely. Gao Fu has only heard about and seen the storms outside; he is young and arrogant, with his eyes on the sky. After a hundred years of cultivation that has gone too smoothly, and with too many people sucking up to him, he has lost all sense of proportion. In fact, despite his young age, he is already full of a rotten aura, like a piece of stinky tofu. He doesn’t think Zhang Fenghai of the White Jade Capital is anything special, or that the Hidden Official Chen of the Sword Qi Great Wall may not live up to his reputation. He doesn’t know the heights of heaven or the depths of earth. If he really encounters those two and makes enemies of them, without the protection of being Gao Gu’s last-disciple identity, meeting them on a narrow path—even if he were at the same realm—he would still die without knowing how. If he could return to the mountain alive, I, Mao Zhui, would kowtow a few times and apologize. From then on, whenever he walks out, I would lie on the ground and pave the way with my hands. If his boots get even a speck of dust, it would mean my apology lacked sincerity.”
“In times of peace, it doesn’t matter much. Just hide in the mountain and cultivate steadily, occupy a cave heaven as a Dao field, reach the Flying Ascension Realm, then go out to suffer losses. It wouldn’t be too easy to die. But if a chaotic era comes and he becomes the mountain chief, being killed by a single slap would be the best outcome. I fear he would implicate the entire Difei Mountain and Huayang Palace and turn them into a page of old history.”
“Gao Gu, I’m just puzzled—what are you thinking? Why do you always like to compare him with that other disciple? How can you compare a living person with a dead one?”
After saying this, Mao Zhui smiled. “I’ve said my piece. Can I go back to reading now?”
As for Gao Fu, whom Mao Zhui had described as more worthless than his senior brother Yin Xian, he was not angry. He just looked away from the mountain, a face full of grievance.
Yes.
He was not a fool. Of course he knew that Mao Zhui’s words about his master’s absent-mindedness were absolutely true. His master always liked to compare him with that dead junior brother, from the very first day he came up the mountain to cultivate. That was how it had been from the start.
So many of the small mistakes Gao Fu made were intentional. He just wanted to have a few more words with his master, even if it meant a scolding, but not so much that his master would be disappointed in him.
Mao Zhui was about to stand up.
Gao Gu said, “Then let Gao Fu be the mountain lord.”
Mao Zhui laughed in exasperation. “Fine, Gao Gu. Since you had already decided in your heart, you wasted my saliva?”
Gao Gu smiled. “It never hurts to listen to an outsider’s finger-pointing.”
Mao Zhui stood up, gave Gao Gu a thumbs-up, and said, “Surnamed Gao, if you ever want me to let out another fart in the future, even if I, Mao Zhui, am a fool.”
Gao Gu smiled slightly. “The mountain lord candidate has been chosen. As for the new palace master of Huayang Palace, Palace Master Mao, won’t you sit and chat a bit more?”
Mao Zhui stared hard at Gao Gu. After confirming the other was not joking, he plopped back down and asked softly, “Why go this far?”
Gao Gu stood up. “You three continue chatting. I still have things to do. Yin Xian, come down the mountain with me. We’ll talk as we walk.”
Yin Xian’s eyes turned red. He stood up, made a Daoist salutation, and said, “Disciple obeys master’s decree.”
Master and disciple walked down the ancestral peak together.
Yin Xian said in a trembling voice, “Master, it is this disciple’s stupidity that even now I have not been able to prove the Dao and ascend.”
Gao Gu said indifferently, “It’s meaningless for a Daoist to only talk about realm levels. Over so many years, both inside and outside Difei Mountain, you have been the one managing everything. You’ve made mistakes, but you’ve done more good things. Having a disciple like you is my fortune.”
Yin Xian would rather not hear these warm words. Even if it were decades or centuries later—even if he, Yin Xian, never heard such words in his lifetime, and even if the disciple were gone while the master remained—that would be better.
Gao Gu smiled and lightly patted his disciple’s arm a few times. “I’m just such a cold-faced, blunt-tempered person, always at odds with myself and others. You disciples can only bear with it a bit more.”
In an instant, Yin Xian’s old tears streamed down uncontrollably. His emotions overwhelmed him, making it hard to walk. He was about to steady his Dao heart and muster his spirits to accompany his master down the mountain.
But then Gao Gu patted his disciple’s shoulder and sat down first on the steps, smiling. “Yin Xian, sit with me and take a look at the old scenery.”
Gao Gu patted his knees lightly, looked up, and smiled. “A human body is hard to come by; a good sword does not finally rot in its scabbard. Eyes as wide as the sky; on a moonless, windy, dark night, cover your nose in the stinking world.”
“Yin Xian, never let this Difei Mountain become a place that makes passersby cover their noses. The spirit of cultivation, the immortal aura of attaining the Dao—of course you must have them. Chivalry, a warm heart—these are also indispensable. But you must also be willing to roll a few times in the muddy pit outside—that vulgar spirit and courage—and cherish those fools, protect their Dao, and let these Huayang Palace Daoists reach higher realms, even higher.”
Difei Mountain was a widely recognized excellent Dao field. It was not only the foremost of the seventy-two blessed lands but also possessed one of the thirty-six minor cave heavens, the Sixth Cave Heaven.
Outside the mountain, spiritual energy gathered into rolling clouds, contracting and expanding like human breath. However, what it inhaled and exhaled was not pure or turbid—it was all the essence of spiritual energy and Dao energy between heaven and earth.
The Celestial Masters’ Residence on Dragon-Tiger Mountain in the Grand Alliance World was as famous as Huayang Palace on Difei Mountain in the Green Obscurity World.
Both were unique in their respective worlds, producing many true immortals and gathering clouds of Daoist priests.
On Difei Mountain, there were palaces, towers, altars, thatched cottages, Daoist courtyards, alchemy wells, bridges, and various structures of all sizes. According to records, there were over eight hundred places, with a total of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine rooms.
During temple fairs, the number of pious men and women who came to pray for blessings and eliminate disasters, burn incense and fulfill vows, often reached several hundred thousand.
The current mountain lord of Difei Mountain and palace master of Huayang Palace was one of the ten of the Green Obscurity World, with the Dao title “Giant Mountain,” Gao Gu.
In fact, in the history of Difei Mountain, there had been cases where a guest overshadowed the host. A certain Daoist temple once overpowered Huayang Palace and snatched the title of mountain lord.
It was only after Gao Gu took over as palace master that he recaptured the mountain lord title for his own Dao lineage.
Today, on Difei Mountain’s territory, a great gate had opened. Entering it was like stepping into another Difei Mountain.
It was a small world transformed by Gao Gu’s mind’s appearance, so realistic that it could pass for the real thing.
In this cave heaven and blessed land within the gate, it seemed as if tens of thousands of Dao officials had all moved away. Except that the Ancestral Halls of the various temples and palaces on the mountain did not exist, everything else—architecture, scenery, and even the orderly flow of heaven and earth’s spiritual energy—was indistinguishable from the truth. If a cultivator practiced energy cultivation here, it would have real effects. But once they walked out the gate, everything would be like drawing water with a bamboo basket—not a single trace of spiritual energy would remain, all of it returning to Gao Gu.
On this day, cultivators from outside Difei Mountain passed through the gate one after another, ascending the mountain in a mighty, continuous stream. Roughly estimated, there were several thousand people.
Before ascending the mountain, the Huayang Palace Dao officials at the entrance would give each outsider a pill. Of course, they could refuse, but regardless of status and realm, almost all Dao officials from far away would silently accept the pill, then make a Daoist salutation as thanks and courtesy to Huayang Palace.
Since the founding of Huayang Palace on Difei Mountain by its first-generation ancestor, a rule had been established in the Ancestral Hall: every sixty years, successive mountain lords must hold a Dao assembly. Cultivators of any status, as long as they were not extremely vicious individuals, could come to Difei Mountain to hear the palace master of Huayang Palace transmit the Dao.
At the same time, every external cultivator entering the Difei Mountain territory would receive a free, rare pill specially made by Huayang Palace.
Therefore, in history, many cultivators from the fourteen provinces of the Green Obscurity World—especially wild cultivators of low realms and Dao officials from small states—would come to Difei Mountain solely for that pill, which was invaluable to them. At the same time, there were also Dao officials with good talent who only lacked a certain immortal opportunity; after hearing the Huayang Palace master’s Dao transmission on Difei Mountain, they would overcome difficulties on their cultivation path, break through bottlenecks, and advance with unstoppable force.
By the time it passed to Gao Gu, the scale of the Dao assembly had expanded and had categories. For cultivators of the lower five realms, middle five realms, and upper five realms, there was a Dao assembly every sixty years.
Thus, within sixty years, Gao Gu would personally preside over a Dao assembly every twenty years. However, the most peculiar aspect was Gao Gu’s method of transmitting the Dao, which had an air of being indifferent to human feelings.
Because when Gao Gu transmitted Dao methods to lower-five-realm cultivators, he only spoke about cultivation techniques for the middle five realms. When he transmitted to middle-five-realm cultivators, he spoke about the scenery of upper-five-realm cultivation. And when he “imparted knowledge and resolved doubts” for upper-five-realm cultivators, he would turn to the key points of lower-five-realm cultivation. In the early days of Gao Gu becoming the master of Difei Mountain, because of this offbeat approach, Huayang Palace attracted countless criticisms. But over time—
plus the fact that each Dao assembly offered unique secret pills of different grades—
even if the transmitted Dao method was empty and useless for one’s own cultivation, the pills were real. Even if one didn’t need them, they could be sold or given to juniors, which was fine.
Fortunately, Gao Gu was recognized as the foremost alchemist in the Green Obscurity World. Otherwise, just the loss of these pills would be unaffordable for any top-rank sect except the White Jade Capital itself.
When Gao Gu sat on the steps,
in truth, there was also a Yang Spirit outer body of Gao Gu standing in the corridor on the top floor of the Ten Thousand Volumes Tower, leaning on the railing with another White Bones True Man.
Since he was already in the Fourteenth Realm, in recent years, when Gao Gu occasionally traveled outside, it was never with his complete true body of both Yin and Yang spirits.
Gao Gu said, “The Second Sage once said of himself, ‘I skillfully cultivate a vast, righteous qi.’ That is why the swordsman A Liang was able to improve and create the Eighteen-Stop Sword Qi.”
The Second Sage had traveled in the Green Obscurity World for many years and finally brought back Yuan Pang from here.
White Bones True Man nodded. “Just in terms of energy cultivation alone, the Second Sage is a top expert. And even if it’s made public, the higher the realm of a cultivator—excluding Confucian scholars—the harder it is to learn. I wonder how A Liang managed to make it learnable for sword cultivators.”
White Bones True Man asked curiously, “Your method of Dao Fusion doesn’t rely on alchemy, does it?”
Gao Gu said, “It does and it doesn’t.”
White Bones True Man gently stamped his foot and asked doubtfully, “Could it be that you actually refined this?”
Gao Gu’s Dao title was “Giant Mountain.”
In the Green Obscurity World, the mountain “fortune” far exceeded the water “fortune.”
Taking Difei Mountain as a main dragon mountain range, he refined Difei Mountain and the many branch veins that spread out from it.
Gao Gu smiled. “If I really made such a big commotion, would the White Jade Capital just let it happen?”
Seeing that he didn’t want to elaborate, White Bones True Man didn’t press further.
After all, for Fourteenth Realm cultivators, the less outsiders knew about their Dao Fusion paths, the better.
Gao Gu asked, “If you wanted to cut off Lu Chen’s path to the Fifteenth Realm and become yourself without any lingering worries, what would you do?”
White Bones True Man reached out to stroke the railing, was silent for a moment, and slowly said, “I would follow the example of the old great sword immortal and the old blind man in the Barren Wastes World. Step into the Fourteenth Realm at Leap Month Peak, relying on the martial artist’s hardship to obtain an unreasonable Dao protection, steadily stabilize the realm, continuously Dao-transform the surrounding heaven and earth, form a climate, and create an unwieldy situation—like a scar on a beautiful face. Various sects would rise up within the fourteen provinces of the Green Obscurity World, continuously break away from the Dao official genealogy, establish independent sects, and completely draw the line with the White Jade Capital. By doing this…”
He seemed to want to find the most appropriate metaphor.
Gao Gu continued, “Cut the world apart.”
Earlier, under the bright moonlight, the Cavern Master Bixiao had had an openhearted review and discussion with “Senior Disciple” Lu Chen.
To kill Lu Chen was extremely difficult.
One person’s Dao method splitting into five dreams and seven mind aspects—what a magnificent sight.
But even earlier, Chen Ping’an’s seemingly casual remark about “proofreading books” happened to hit Lu Chen’s weak spot.
For three thousand years, relying on the White Jade Capital, the Teaching Master Lu Chen had always stood transcendent above heaven and earth. The Green Obscurity World was like a Daoist book. Lu Chen, going with the flow, could look through the book’s contents at will, and he could also close it at will.
This was the advantage of the book-turner. But once Lu Chen had to personally enter the game, as if becoming a writer who tirelessly wrote, Lu Chen’s situation would be a... being lured into a trap!
It would be as if the entire Green Obscurity World became a muddy pit from which Lu Chen could not extricate himself.
No matter how high Lu Chen’s Dao methods or how many means he had, everything he did would be wrong. This unsolvable deadlock was unsolvable because even if the general trend of the world could be pacified, only Lu Chen’s Dao heart could not be pacified.
In the marketplace, some people had cleanliness obsessions, or a very strong, self-imposed compulsion.
For cultivators, the pursuit of a flawless Dao heart was actually the biggest cleanliness obsession.
The female Daoist Wuzhou, Gao Gu, Sun Huaizhong of Xuandu Taoist Temple, Wu Shuangjiang of Suichu Palace, the sword immortal Baolin—these great cultivators who were at odds with the White Jade Capital all actually had good relationships with Lu Chen.
Lu Chen had no real enemies in this world.
Yu Dou could kill to stop killing, correct errors, and with his unimpeded Dao heart, he could wear a Dharma robe, carry an immortal sword, appear in the fourteen provinces, or sit in the White Jade Capital. He might even pacify the great chaos with this very method, achieve perfect merit, and step into the Fifteenth Realm.
But only Lu Chen could not do this; this path was the most unsuitable for him.
If one said that the Great Teaching Master Kou Ming’s non-action was a state most in harmony with the Dao Ancestor’s “acting through non-action,” yet Lu Chen and his master the Dao Ancestor actually had a very subtle Dao disagreement.
Once the world fell into chaos, as long as Lu Chen’s Dao method height could not surpass that of his master the Dao Ancestor, Lu Chen would still ultimately be a Dao official of the White Jade Capital. With war raging everywhere and the fourteen provinces engulfed in mundane turmoil, Lu Chen would inevitably be immersed in countless causal entanglements. How could he then merge the Dao at the Fifteenth Realm? How could he smoothly fill the void left by the Dao Ancestor?
In the Moonlight Dao Field, the Cavern Master Bixiao had once made a Dao deduction. Threads of cause and effect interlinked, from points to lines, from lines to surfaces.
If one followed the old temple master’s thread, the entire Green Obscurity World in Lu Chen’s heart would be like a once peerless beauty who woke up and found her face covered with pockmarks.
In the end, on a single chessboard, besides Gao Gu and this group of great cultivators destined to wrestle with the White Jade Capital and Yu Dou, there were also Leap Month Peak’s hardship, Yashan Forest Jiangxian, Mountain and Sea Pavilion Yang Qing, Xu Mian, Mi Thief remnant Wang Yuanlu, Zhang Fenghai who broke away from the White Jade Capital and stood on his own, the Elegant Minister Yao Qing of the Green God Dynasty, and Zhaoge with the Dao title Fukai... they would all become enemies of the White Jade Capital and Lu Chen. If this chessboard were raised like a wall, it would be a “wall of scabs” that was frightening to behold and disgusting to the heart, standing right in Lu Chen’s path that he could not bypass. Unless Lu Chen smashed the wall, he could not continue his Dao journey.
“Almost no one can support their biggest idea with their actual strength.”
“They have high aims but low abilities. For example, I am, and you are.”
“Those who can make their thoughts come true, in ten thousand years of history, are very few. Zhou Mi of the Barren Wastes, meticulous in his thinking, used every possible means, starved the world to fatten his own Dao, and then ascended to heaven, yet he still managed to give back to the Barren Wastes. Zheng Juzhong of White Emperor City, who openly claims to walk the demonic path, will probably soon accomplish a feat never seen in ten thousand years. The Brocade Tiger Cui Chan pushed enterprise and merit to the extreme. If Cui Chan had even a little selfishness, the consequences would be unimaginable. Among the younger generation, it seems only Feiran and Zhang Fenghai are left. Xu Jun can only be counted as half; he relies more on fortune than himself.”
White Bones True Man finally interjected, “Isn’t there also the very famous last Hidden Official, Chen Shiyi? He doesn’t make it into your view?”
Gao Gu shook his head with a smile. “He is too soft-hearted and overly compassionate. Of course, in this world, the more characters like him, the better. But of course, he is still very young—far too young. So what he will become in the future, how high his achievements will be—Friend Daoist, you can wait and see.”
“The White Jade Capital: its success is Yu Dou, its failure is also Yu Dou.”
“In the Green Obscurity World, Yu Dou is right and Yu Dou is wrong.”
“What a hero.”
“In the past ten thousand years, and in the next ten thousand, the Dao Ancestor, Yu Dou, and some yet undetermined person—only these three are true heroes.”
White Bones True Man sighed. “Yu Dou is indeed invincible. If Lu Chen were replaced by Yu Dou, I would obediently return to the White Jade Capital to be at his disposal.”
Gao Gu smiled faintly. “To be his enemy is to not have lived this life in vain.”
Inside the book tower, White Bones True Man, together with Mao Zhui under the pine shade, almost simultaneously said, “Why go this far?”
But Gao Gu did not give an answer either. He just changed the subject and said something that could be considered a prophecy.
“Mao Zhui, I have chosen a first disciple for you. His surname is Mao, as in ‘top of the list’ or ‘thatch grass.’ He has not yet come to Difei Mountain to cultivate, so you just wait patiently.”
White Bones True Man nodded gently. “Gao Gu, once you leave, the human world will become even more lonely.”
Gao Gu said with a carefree smile, “Palace Master Mao, learn from me. Today, do not speak of tomorrow’s affairs, unless it is a good thing worth looking forward to, where thoughts become reality and beautiful dreams come true.”
White Bones True Man said helplessly, “I can’t learn that. I am relatively pessimistic.”
Gao Gu said, “Friend Daoist, you are not human either; you’re just a frame of white bones.”
White Bones True Man grew even more helpless. “Gao Gu, that joke isn’t funny.”
Gao Gu nodded. “Indeed, humor is not my forte.”
White Bones True Man glanced downward and teased, “Not short either, what a pity.”
As soon as he said this, White Bones True Man took a sleeve strike and was sent flying horizontally. His skeleton true body nearly shattered on the spot. When he finally managed to steady himself, all his joints creaked.
This Dao assembly, as per custom, was for Gao Gu to transmit Dao methods to lower-five-realm cultivators.
First, he spoke about the soul learning of common people and cultivators.
Second, he spoke about the opening and arrangement of the “Reserve Lord Mountain” energy palaces within a cultivator’s small heaven and earth.
Third, he spoke about the White Jade Capital Teaching Master Lu Chen’s “Discussion on Swordsmanship” and “On the Equality of Things.”
This seemed different from Gao Gu’s usual Dao transmission.
The content of this Dao assembly seemed applicable to cultivators of all three realms.
Gao Gu sat on a cattail mat at the mountain peak. Before him was an incense burner. Before transmitting the Dao, Gao Gu leaned forward, lit a stick of mountain incense in the copper burner inscribed with the characters “Xuande” at its base, and the fragrant smoke rose in wisps.
Several thousand Daoists could choose any spot within Difei Mountain to sit. Their identities varied. On this one Difei Mountain, those listening to Gao Gu’s transmission included immortals, spirits, ghosts, strangers, and all manner of beings.
“For mortals below the mountain, the human body harbors three souls and seven spirits, which should be as close as glue and lacquer. In the deep night, one should not dwell on certain matters, for it is easy to seize the spirit. In the daytime, one should not stare at something, for it is easy to harm the spirit.”
“The heart stores spirit, the liver stores soul, the lungs store ethereal soul. Thus, the soul must not fly, and the ethereal soul must not descend. For cultivators, the small heaven and earth of the human body is originally no different. We who cultivate the Dao have guarding the heart, refining qi, climbing the mountain to cultivate. The Dao is not in height, but in the heart, under the feet, on the path. The difference from common people lies in doing the opposite. Hence, there is the fast of the mind, there is sitting in forgetfulness, there is holding the breath and focusing the spirit, inhaling and exhaling spiritual energy, turning external things into one’s own use, connecting the two heavens and earth, forming the golden core, sculpting the nascent soul, the soul flying outside the body as beyond the heavens, the Yin spirit leaving the body to travel afar, the ethereal soul descending to the heel as a true person’s separate orifice breathing, the Yang spirit connecting with the earth vein, returning to simplicity, raising a bridge to ascend to heaven, and attaining longevity.”
But the opening of today’s transmission was only like the wedge of a text.
On the fake Difei Mountain, thousands of Daoists listened with rapt attention. Some, who had originally come only for the pills, began to focus.
On the real Difei Mountain, Gao Gu, who had been sitting on the steps with his disciple, stood up, a smile on his face, and murmured.
“To anticipate five hundred years of new ideas, yet after a thousand years they feel stale again.”
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