Chapter 1215: This Human World

Chapter 1215: This Human World

Central Confucian Temple.
The Rite Sage and others looked toward the old scholar.
"Don't stop!"
The old scholar said resolutely, then softened his tone, "And we can't stop it."
When he said the latter part, he looked at the Rite Sage.
The Rite Sage nodded.
Zhou Mi's golden body was being dragged toward the mortal world, but his divine foundation remained tightly connected to the new heavenly court. The same was true for Chen Ping'an—his dharma form ascended, a single thread opened the heavens, and his dojo remained the mortal world.
There was no need to explain how powerful Chen Ping'an was at the moment. Just look at Zhou Mi, whom he had dragged out. Even after the three founding patriarchs scattered their Dao and Zhici ascended to heaven, they could only trap Zhou Mi, never suppress or kill him. In terms of true cultivation and killing power, Chen Ping'an was far inferior to Zhou Mi. But this "Heaven-Earth Connection" was formidable precisely because it was a hard-fought "narrow encounter." To use a somewhat inappropriate analogy: it was like a general from a long-established military family—strong, accomplished, and meritorious. But he was tricked, and one day, without any attendants, he walked into a narrow alley. His noble status meant nothing; his troops were nowhere to be seen. In the end, he was cornered in that shabby alley by a reckless youth wielding a blade. Just the two of them, life and death on the line!

Dong Fuzi, the leader of the Confucian Temple, asked, "Rite Sage, what was Chen Ping'an's original intention?"

The Rite Sage replied, "To create a Heaven-Earth Connection, forcibly drag Zhou Mi's divinity out of the heavenly court—at least separate his golden body from the new court as far as possible. Their respective 'half-Ones' would collide together, shattering their divinity into billions of parts, all to be distributed among the sentient beings of the mortal world. Using the entire mortal world as a dojo, sealing all the divinity of a single 'One.' As it stands now, Chen Ping'an will definitely perish body and Dao. As for whether Zhou Mi will have all his divinity shattered, it's hard to say—perhaps twenty to thirty percent will remain. The three founding patriarchs and Zhici will surely intervene."

Dong Fuzi asked, "Did Chen Ping'an have any pre-stream?"

Among human knowledge, the hardest was pre-stream.

The old scholar reached out, grabbed the two stacks of diagrams, and spread them out abruptly. They hung in the air, forming a circle: the geographical maps of Bottle Gourd Continent, North Julu Continent, and Parasol Leaf Continent; maps of the three major rivers; and a complete map of the nine continents of the Bright World.

The Second Sage directly crossed the world, descending in person to the Central Confucian Temple. He also summoned the classic scholar Xiping here for urgent discussion.

The Second Sage flipped through the manuscripts interspersed among the maps. As expected, they contained extremely meticulous long-term plans, involving far more than could be imagined.

The old scholar moved his fingers, tracing lines on the three-continent map. "There is. Look at this map."

The deputy leader of the Confucian Temple, Han Fuzi, flicked his wrist, copying all the manuscript text, and quickly skimmed through it several times. Suddenly he blurted out, "Fuck Yin Ji..."

But not wanting to waste a single moment, this old scholar, who had contributed to reshaping the Confucian orthodoxy, suppressed the urge to curse and spoke rapidly: "Yin Ji doesn't have that kind of brains. How deeply is the White Jade Capital involved? Rite Sage, don't tell me something like 'hard to say'... Old scholar, Chen Ping'an's manuscripts are intricately linked, clearly involving a very critical link of the Five Phases' mutual generation. There can be no mistake. Now Chen Ping'an is unreachable... Should we grab Zouzi and Lu Shen and interrogate them? Rite Sage, it's another 'hard to say,' isn't it?"

The Rite Sage glared. "Easy to say!"

The Second Sage tugged at his collar and said softly, "Then hurry!"

The Wen Sage patted the Second Sage's arm and smiled. "Don't panic. None of you panic."

Zheng Juzhong once told Chen Ping'an directly: "We don't need to overestimate the vast divine powers of the three founding patriarchs. Those close to the Dao are still not the Dao itself; there are things they cannot do. Establishing a sect and calling yourself a patriarch is the least free."

Speaking of the relationship between the whereabouts of a single night-sailing ship and the Central Confucian Temple in the Bright World, there were once two analogies: one was a commoner swatting a mosquito inside a house; the other was catching a fish in his own pond.

Zheng Juzhong had built a great formation of "belly within belly, heart within heart" at the ruins of Golden Kingfisher City, eventually joining forces with Chen Ping'an and Wu Shuangjiang to slay Jiang She there. The desolate wilderness never detected it.

It wasn't until Zhou Mi took Chen Ping'an's sword that the various continents of the Bright World began to reveal some hidden clues, which the Confucian Temple cleaned up by following the traces.

In his private dojo at Fuyao Lu, Chen Ping'an, whenever he had a chance, would split his attention to observe the martial arts training and cultivation of the two groups of youths on Flower Shadow Peak and Warbler Song Peak. Later, when he became the Grand Preceptor, he simply refined the entire Preceptor's Mansion, precisely because he didn't have enough time and energy to watch every detail. As Zheng Juzhong said, when you hold a high position, matters become increasingly urgent and important.

Previously, the Central Confucian Temple didn't have specialized Dao officials like the White Jade Capital to sit in the great formation, monitor all the major cultivators in the Azure Azure World, record their travel routes, and accompany them with various deductions and calculations. But after the last council, the Confucian Temple clearly changed. Their restrictions and surveillance on major cultivators reached an unprecedented peak.

A middle-aged man with a wooden expression, and a handsome young man with a tall hat and broad sash, were "invited" here from Fallen Mountain's Heavenly Capital Peak by the Rite Sage.

Forget the Second Sage's true body—even the Rite Sage was present. Lu Shen quickly performed a salute.

Among the geographical maps slowly rotating in the air.

One map of three continents, from south to north, showed a new major river on Parasol Leaf Continent being excavated under the leadership of the Green Duckweed Sword Sect and Chen Ping'an.

There was also Bottle Gourd Continent's Qi Crossing, built with the full might of the Great Li dynasty under Embroidered Tiger Cui Chan, and Julu Continent's Ji Crossing.

The three eastern continents of the Bright World—these three new and old major rivers—all ran roughly east-west, cutting the continent in half.

Zouzi, however, looked straight up at the maps. He took a few of the manuscripts, which were somewhat obscure and deliberately used code names. After reading them, he counted on his fingers and silently calculated for a moment. Zouzi nodded to himself, then raised his head. He waved his hand, first stacking the maps of the eastern three continents of the Bright World one above the other in terms of height. Then he extended a finger and drew a red line from top to bottom between the maps of Bottle Gourd Continent and Parasol Leaf Continent. "After that 'Hundred Flowers River,' which hasn't yet merged its courses, Chen Ping'an wants to press forward and build a cross-sea bridge connecting the two continents."

Zouzi drew another long line with his finger, adding a line between North Julu Continent and East Bottle Gourd Continent.

That was a cross-sea bridge that once connected the two continents. Besides the continent-shifting and sea-moving work of the cultivators from both continents, Ruan Xiu, Li Liu, and Madame Danshui from Lu River Pit had all contributed.

But after the great war ended, under the personal supervision of Embroidered Tiger Cui Chan, this "bridge" was resubmerged into the sea, and the underwater dragon vein was cut into several sections.

After all, if the two continents were connected by this dragon vein, then East Bottle Gourd and North Julu would truly be one family. This involved the flow of qi transport across the nine continents of the Bright World—no joke.

Dong Fuzi, the leader, nodded. "Parasol Leaf Continent sank an entire continent. It's only been a few years of recuperation through the excavation of a major river, and it's still too weak. So this cross-sea long bridge between Old Dragon City and Clear Mirror Mountain must be a bridge in the literal sense. A weak dragon with deficient qi, to prevent the top from being too heavy and the walking unsteady. Naturally, Bottle Gourd Continent is accommodating Parasol Leaf Continent."

"As for this dragon vein backbone between North Julu and East Bottle Gourd, it's a strong dragon that crosses the sea, travels through water, and then climbs mountains. The qi of both continents is vigorous—nothing more."

Zouzi's gaze lifted slightly, and he reached out to outline the Zhongtiao Mountain range, which ran north-south on North Julu Continent, with a "cinnabar brush."

Dong Fuzi frowned slightly, then suddenly realized. "No wonder the Dayuan dynasty sent Crown Prince Lujun and Grand Preceptor Yang Houjue to the Great Li capital. Was it a secret agreement already reached between the two sides?"

Zouzi said, "Chen Ping'an had a two-pronged plan for arranging the three continents."

The two deputy leaders of the Confucian Temple exchanged a glance. Good heavens. No wonder this young Hidden Officer never came to the Confucian Temple to complain. He was coming straight with a plan to arrange three continents—an astonishing move?!

Mao Xiaodong, the director of the Li Ji Academy, had extremely complicated feelings. On one hand, his heart was surging with pride. On the other, filled with bitter grief. Why did his little junior brother have to abandon his plan midway? Turn it all into empty fantasy?!

Earlier, there had been some gossip among the mountain cultivators. They said this young Hidden Officer, overseeing both upper and lower sects, wanted to be the Dao master of Bottle Gourd Continent and also extend his influence to Parasol Leaf Continent, serving as the Dao master of both continents.

Wrong? No. Chen Ping'an really did have such "ambition." Right? Not necessarily, because they still underestimated the new Grand Preceptor of Great Li, the little junior brother of Embroidered Tiger Cui Chan!

One prong: use the major river on Parasol Leaf Continent, plus Qi Crossing on Bottle Gourd Continent, and Ji Crossing on North Julu Continent. Add the dragon vein connecting Bottle Gourd and North Julu, plus Zhongtiao Mountain.

With two horizontals and one vertical, forming the character "Earth." So no matter what, Chen Ping'an always had a backup plan he could substitute at any time.

In the mortal world, he created the character "Earth."

Lu Shen nodded. "Earth governs the four seasons, binding the beginning and end. Azure, Vermilion, White, Black—each dwells in one direction. All receive from the Central Palace, the work of Wu and Ji. The human body and appearance mirror Heaven and Earth. With Earth as the center, it unifies the four directions."

Three teachings as one: Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Military.

There was absolutely no way to cultivate a life-bound character, which meant that no matter how many Confucian qi-gathering methods Chen Ping'an cultivated, his upper limit was finite.

Because of his life experiences, Chen Ping'an had been close to "Bodhisattvas" and Buddhism since childhood. But on his travels, he mostly used this to calm his mind and subdue the monkey of the mind and the horse of the will.

The Military school had already succeeded in usurpation with Wu Shuangjiang and Zheng Juzhong, reaching an insurmountable peak.

So what paths remained to greatly enhance cultivation? This was also what Shi Zhouren had meant earlier: "You've finally taken the initiative to approach the Daoist path."

Among Daoist schools, some liked to compare the body to a state. For example, the orderly ranks of officials correspond to the unimpeded qi of the internal organs. They cultivated body and mind according to the laws of governing a state.

If body and state were isomorphic, and one attained the Dao and ascended, then serving as the Grand Preceptor of Great Li would allow him to arrange the three continents with even greater ease—killing two birds with one stone.

Zouzi said, "His second prong was to create the character 'King.' Earlier on Lotus Root Blessed Land, Chen Ping'an had already formed a rudimentary Dao of 'arranging the mortal world.' That was both a method of governing a blessed land to find the greatest common divisor for the word 'freedom,' and a 'military drill' for a rainy day. That was correct. But Chen Ping'an also had a third prong."

Lu Shen was stunned. The few Confucian Temple leaders were also deeply shaken.

Embroidered Tiger Cui Chan had assisted the Great Li dynasty, helping the Bright World turn the tide.

And as this new Grand Preceptor of Great Li, he wanted to devote himself to assisting the Great Li Emperor—whether the current one or the next—to become the Human Dao Master of the Bright World!

Whether mountain cultivators witnessed it with their own eyes or ordinary mortals read about it in books, real history and worldly affairs always had a part, then a missing part, then another part.

If you try to do many things, you might fail at that one thing. But if you do that one thing well, it's like accomplishing many things. That is probably the greatest difference between people.

Zouzi suggested, "Classic scholar Xiping, use your body to perform the Dao. Let's first see the effects of these two prongs."

Classic scholar Xiping looked at the Rite Sage. The Rite Sage nodded. "It's feasible."

The mountains, rivers, and lands of the three continents came alive as if awakened. Chen Ping'an still chose to ascend, confronting Zhou Mi. But behind him, he dragged countless threads of "human nature" to prevent the victory of Zhou Mi's twenty to thirty percent divinity... After a moment, classic scholar Xiping said, "Sixty percent certainty."

Zouzi shook his head regretfully. "Forget sixty percent certainty. Even ninety percent means little. The more involved, the more variables. No one can afford to gamble."

Zouzi looked somewhat weary. "The third prong was to convince your Confucian Temple to align with him in leaning toward Daoism—still with the upright qi of Bright World as the foundation, using the eight continents as the eight trigrams, and the Central Divine Continent's Grand Dao to evolve the Taiji giving rise to two forms, two forms giving rise to four symbols. The fourth prong was to create a 'Great Five Phases,' encompassing the Bright World, the Azure Azure World, the Western Buddhist Kingdom, the Five-Colored World, and the Desolate Wilderness World. This prong was the most likely to succeed, but the difficulty—you all should know it best."

Lu Shen murmured, "Fated to perish body and Dao. The more you do in this time, the more objections and curses you'll face. If you fail, you'll be a sinner for millennia. What exactly are you after?"

Classic scholar Xiping said, "A gentleman says: learning never ceases. I am adept at cultivating upright qi. The world cannot be shaken. In life I abide by this, in death by this."

A moment of silence.

Mao Xiaodong suddenly jumped up, red-eyed, pointing at a director of the academy. "Fuck you. Who said it was improper for Ning Yao, as the master of an entire world, to wander around the Bright World for so long?"

The old scholar shouted angrily, "Shut up! No quarreling!"

Mao Xiaodong immediately shut his mouth. The academy director bowed to him. Mao Xiaodong sighed and helped him up. "Actually, it's not your fault. I was out of line."

The Rite Sage suddenly said, "The Western Buddhist Kingdom has agreed. Yu Dou of the White Jade Capital and Yao Qing of the Military school both said there was no problem. Ning Yao said she would immediately return to the Five-Colored World. But Bai Ze refused to nod."

The Second Sage said, "I'll go talk to Bai Ze."

The old scholar waved his hand. "No need. This isn't something that can be settled after a few years of truce between two worlds. Bai Ze will absolutely refuse. The closest to divinity... is it human nature? No, it's actually bestial nature—the pure 'evil' that neither you nor I ever hit the mark on, and which neither side dares delve deep into. Bai Ze has finally returned to the wilderness and actively chosen to shoulder the survival of an entire world."

Lu Shen said, "Rite Sage, I am willing to forcibly merge with the Dao, cooperate with Mr. Xiping, and lend Chen Ping'an a hand, giving the three founding patriarchs and Senior Zhici more opportunities. For this matter, Mr. Xiping and I are actually the most suitable candidates."

Classic scholar Xiping smiled. "Xiping thanks Lu Daoyou for the recognition."

Zouzi said, "This Heaven-Earth Connection is merely a battlefield of two 'half-Ones.' Since Chen Ping'an didn't open this great formation himself, even if Lu Shen merges with the Dao, even if you reached a pseudo-Fifteen Realm, it would be of minimal significance. Be careful not to add fuel to the fire and end up being exploited by Zhou Mi."

Lu Shen said calmly, "Shut up."

The Rite Sage said, "Liu Xiang says to wait and see. He wants to confirm one thing first. He says it seems Chen Ping'an, in league with Cui Chan, even fooled him."

Zouzi said, "We can wait and see. Qi Jingchun and Cui Chan allowed Ruan Xiu to devour Li Liu's divinity and let her ascend through that Ascension Platform right under their noses. I've been deducing this for years, and I'm still baffled. They must have left a contingency plan."

Heaven and Earth finally connected.

The two golden lights—one splitting the heavens, one sinking into the earth—finally collided.

A torrential rain of fire fell between heaven and earth, the "raindrops" dissipating midair.

Shi Zhouren looked up, dazzled and shaken. To witness this sight was enough for a lifetime.

The Daoist felt an immense relief and joy, a feeling of "In the morning I hear the Dao, in the evening I can die content."

Outside the high platform, there still existed a layer of Dao barrier isolating heaven and earth, as if deliberately preventing anyone from coming here.

Zhou Haijing's expression shifted uncertainly. Suddenly she caught sight of the iron spear planted on the ground. Her face hardened. "Formation, set!"

She grabbed the iron spear, a relic of the patrol envoy Su Gaoshan from the battlefield. "Good, I won't disgrace you! And it's not only you big men who can be heroes!"

Zhou Haijing muttered to herself, "Today, old lady here will make her name in history. For millennia to come, the world will forever remember the martial artist 'Zhou Haijing'!"

She looked around and grinned. "But let me be clear: I'm not paying for this losing deal!"

North Julu Continent.

In the night, it was as if a sword sacrifice was taking place.

Liu Jinglong of the Taihui Sword Sect was the first to ascend with his flying sword.

The flying-sword cultivator Bai Shang, a Flying Ascension cultivator, also ascended with his sword. Even though he and Chen Ping'an had once had a argument over the Dao.

Streaks of sword light rose high from dojos, mountains, palaces, markets, seas...

More sword cultivators followed the "sword sacrifice," not knowing the cause of the collision between the two "golden threads." But everyone felt their Dao hearts tremble, experiencing a momentary suffocation.

It was impossible to imagine: how high a realm must the two sides in this duel be to have such power?

A young sword cultivator hastily ascended on his flying sword, coincidentally bumping into an acquaintance from a neighboring country who had just breached a sea of clouds. He turned his head and asked curiously, "Where are you going?"

The old man replied irritably, "You don't even know where you're going? In a hurry to reincarnate?"

The young sword cultivator said as if to himself, "I'm asking you. Your realm is a bit higher than mine. You must know something, right?"

The old man couldn't be bothered to argue about the difference of two realms being just "a bit higher." He just concentrated and said, "I just feel that the golden thread above is menacing, not like something good. The one below is Chen Hidden Officer. Which is good and which is bad—do I need to teach you?"

Young sword cultivator: "Oh."

The old man laughed angrily. "Oh your grandpa. With your realm, get the hell back. Leave some sword heritage for North Julu Continent. Don't let All-Arhat Continent steal the character 'North.'"

Young sword cultivator said, "No worries. I have two disciples. They just reached the Third Realm. Not bad. Besides, I still have an ancestral master who's been in seclusion for years... Hey, Ancestral Master, you're here too."

The higher they ascended on their flying swords, the closer they got to that "golden thread," the more they were shocked by the enormity of that "single thread." It was of multicolored glass, magnificent like the legendary pillar supporting the heavenly court.

Bai Shang was the first to unleash his flying sword, slashing at the golden thread above. It returned without effect—not even a scratch on the "golden thread." Bai Shang lightly wiped his bloody nose, astonished. He retrieved his sword and saw clear notches.

If even a Flying Ascension sword cultivator like Bai Shang was like this, what about the others?

It seemed purely to let them prove that they had indeed, without hesitation, regardless of gain or loss, done something for this world.

It was like... a final gentleness given to the human world.

Bai Shang suddenly waved his sleeve, sweeping a large group of sword cultivators from the continent to his side. The rain of fire had changed, sweeping horizontally, scorching the formless heaven and earth into countless tiny vortices. This was the legendary sight of ancient high-ranking deities using divine blades to cut off and slice through the River of Time.

Liu Jinglong's expression was solemn. Standing beside Bai Shang, he communicated with his mind: "The outermost layer of multicolored glass is just some residual divine aura from the golden thread's 'divinity' grinding against the flowing stream of time."

Bai Shang frowned. "Then how do we break the formation?"

Liu Jinglong was silent for a moment. "We must do something. I'll set up the formation; Bai Shang, you..."

He hesitated, finding it hard to speak. Bai Shang laughed freely. "I'm willing to offer one sword strike, consuming all the Dao expertise I've accumulated since reaching the Flying Ascension realm. But if my life-bound flying sword breaks or shatters, causing me to drop in realm, I truly cannot do that..."

Liu Jinglong smiled. "That's enough."

Bai Shang warned, "Don't be impulsive."

Liu Jinglong said, "We'll see. First, set up the formation."

On the high platform, Shi Zhouren had only his eyes and forehead remaining.

But he saw an unexpected visitor. Shi Zhouren gathered his last true spirit, using a wisp of qi to create sound: "Mr. Zheng, I finally see you."

Zheng Juzhong, dressed in a snow-white robe, had a vague gray shadow beside him. Shi Zhouren didn't bother to figure out what it was. On his deathbed, being able to chat with this great demon Zheng Juzhong a few times made his life worthwhile.

Seeing that Zheng Juzhong showed no intention of speaking, Shi Zhouren took the initiative: "Self-serving people who resent the world can never bear anything beautiful. Beauty is like the scorching sun, dazzling their eyes. But flaws in beautiful things can blind them with a single leaf, bringing them sudden joy. Mr. Zheng, what do you think the world will be like in ten thousand years? The hearts of people then?"

Zheng Juzhong said, "Go die."

Shi Zhouren fell silent. The Daoist's thoughts were unknown. Finally, he dissipated.

The shadowy blur seemed to sneer at Zheng Juzhong. This was the master of White Emperor City, who left nothing uncalculated? This was the so-called "first to disdain the world"?

Zheng Juzhong reached out and traced the name of a female sword cultivator in the air. Then he took a few treasures from his sleeve and crushed them all.

In an instant, his figure shrank across mountains and rivers. He swept the shadow into his sleeve and directly crossed worlds, heading to the Desolate Wilderness.

The Desolate Wilderness, the heartland.

A green-robed old man, an outsider, stood on a mountaintop. Bai Ze stood by a river tens of thousands of miles away.

They had been in a standoff for a long time.

But for some reason, Chen Qingliu had already drawn his sword and hadn't sheathed it yet. The two were in a battlefield, yet it seemed to have no effect on the surroundings.

Before this, any Desolate Wilderness demon that had heard the dao name "Azure Lord" and encountered Chen Qingliu were all dead.

The reason was simple: he couldn't be bothered to find Bai Ze; he wanted Bai Ze to come to him.

Chen Qingliu wanted to use his three-thousand-year sword technique to weigh the ten-thousand-year Dao power of Bai Ze.

Senior Sister Xie was right: one should challenge to a sword duel early.

Any later, and Bai Ze's Dao power would truly be out of reach. Carelessly, he would become the first Fifteen Realm after the three founding patriarchs scattered their Dao. How would one fight then? Definitely a loss.

Xie Shiji stood far off. Besides this burly woman, there were Bai Ze's two helpers: Fei Ran and Guike—the greatest Dao couple in the Desolate Wilderness, no less. But they hadn't fought with Xie Shiji; in fact, they had become quite familiar.

Between Chen Qingliu and Bai Ze, in the vast region, there were occasional faint sounds of celadon shards.

Guike only knew the danger: the battlefield, separated by ten thousand miles, was all dead matter. Even the mountains and rivers were frozen in the "frozen" River of Time.

Chen Qingliu stood with his hands behind his back, looking relaxed. He looked up at the Heaven-Earth Connection phenomenon, twitched his lips, and said, "Bai Ze, just send word. Whoever you want to stop, or whoever you want to help, that's your freedom."

Then I, Chen Qingliu, can follow the vine to find the melon.

Azure Azure World, White Jade Capital, Lingbao City.

Pang Ding stood leaning on the railing for a while, then turned and walked into his dojo. Through layers of profound restrictions, the old man—once the somewhat flustered lord of Lingbao City during the ritual battle—walked forward step by step, as if crossing several "mirrors," leaving behind shadows of different forms: an aging face, a twilight scene, a middle-aged Daoist, a young Daoist, a youth, a child... then from child back to youth, young man... Finally, Pang Ding arrived at a Taiji Fish altar, ascended the steps, sat cross-legged on a cushion, folded his hands over his abdomen, and gently exhaled a turbid breath. With a smile on his face, his vow was fulfilled—Fourteenth Realm.

Ten thousand years ago, Chen Qingdu and two close friends, Dragon Lord and Guanzhao, together challenged Tuoyue Mountain with their swords.

The former incarnation of Guanzhao, later "Li Zhen," saw something in this life. How far that sight reached, no one knew. What "mainstream" he saw, and why the rivers changed course—all remained mysteries.

In the remote, barren land with thin spiritual qi in the southeast of the Desolate Wilderness, among the mountains was an insignificant nameless cave dwelling.

Back on the night-sailing ship, Chen Ping'an had revealed some of Zhou Mi's hidden methods across two worlds. The ones in the Bright World had all been cleaned up by the Confucian Temple.

But on the Desolate Wilderness side, Zhou Qinggao, the closed-door disciple of Wenhai Zhou Mi, and the female sword immortal Liu Bai seemed to have sensed something. They had hidden themselves. Except for their senior brother Shou Chen personally guarding them, even the new throne demons had lost track of them.

Inside the cave, three disciples sat around a stone table.

The female sword cultivator from the Jia Shen account, Liu Bai, had been wearing a fishtail cave-heaven robe all these years.

Shou Chen said calmly, "Junior sister, you are the master's greatest 'blank space' in the human world. And of course, I and Zhou Qinggao are also such blanks. Whatever happens next depends on the master's plan."

Liu Bai lowered her head. Zhou Qinggao sighed gloomily, frowning. "I was still hoping to have a rematch with the Hidden Officer."

Shou Chen stared at his junior sister. "It's not that you have no choice—none of us have a choice."

But Shou Chen, a Flying Ascension sword cultivator at the level of a new throne demon, was equally unaware that outside the cave at this moment, a white-robed man was waiting, ready to make the final move.

After the collision of the two threads, Heaven and Earth manifested.

A great fire filled the sky, illuminating the night as if it were day.

It was as if the Heavenly Dao was descending, beginning to press down on the human world.

The entire Bright World was slowly sinking at a speed undetectable even by cultivators.

The rivers, lakes, and seas of the nine continents were like a human body, emitting a subtle pulse, rising and falling gently, strong and prolonged.

In the Desolate Wilderness, Guike chose to stand by and watch. In the Five-Colored World, Feng Yuanxiao was bewildered, completely unclear why his Dao heart was unsettled. The consummate martial artist on Leap Moon Peak, Xin Ku, had the will but not the power. He was the one most severely suppressed by the Dao among all the worlds. Guike, though severely suppressed by Zhou Mi in the past, could only transform into a pure martial artist. But it was the Bright World, the least aligned with the Dao, where Liu Xiang—who could even "stand as an equal" with the First Sage—chose to stand beside a reader within the Confucian orthodoxy, resisting that new divine path.

Preceptor's Mansion. The sable-hatted girl finally made a move. Her form was like a rainbow. The entire Great Li capital shook with a rumble, dust flying. Bai Jing held a short sword and also revealed her "true face," ascending into the sky.

On the city wall, the youth in the yellow hat and blue shoes moved, intercepting Bai Jing's sword strike.

Two incredibly fast figures were about to meet at the boundary of heaven and earth, near the Bright World's celestial curtain. Bai Jing, a Flying Ascension cultivator, suddenly accelerated tremendously, making Xiao Mo, a Fourteenth Realm, unable to catch up. Xiao Mo immediately unleashed a life-bound flying sword, pulling a star from beyond the sky.

But looking up, he saw the familiar smiling face of a girl, only slightly frozen. Xiao Mo's "sword strike" was a fraction slower.

Bai Jing glanced down at him, grinned, and said, "Xiao Mo, I like you."

Finally, a cultivator of the mortal world managed to forcibly break into that golden pillar of light.

The price: she instantly fell to the Immortal realm, scattering seven types of Dao, then Jade Pu, then scattered twelve types...

In terms of magical techniques and divine powers, no matter how high your killing power, you couldn't break the outermost layer of glassy radiance. Only by using an ancient Dao vein against the divine path.

When one hair is pulled, the whole body moves. In an instant, the golden rays rising from the mortal world finally halted the declining momentum and began to rise slowly.

Beyond the sky, a rainbow light arrived like thunder from the Azure Azure World. It was a bizarre "dharma form" that seemed to be shattered everywhere yet possessed complete Dao.

Its features were those of a very heroic woman.

Bai Jing looked at her. The latter said bluntly, "Azure Azure, Wu Continent."

Wu Continent instantly manifested a majestic six-armed dharma form, each hand holding a divine weapon—artifacts forged by the ancient heavenly court—and hacked at this new divine path.

I've long been fed up with Zhou Mi.

Xiao Mo grabbed Xie Gou, cast a spell, and sent her back to the mortal world, simultaneously taking Bai Jing's place.

Jiang Shangzhen, at the White Funeral Ferry, smiled at the anxious white-robed youth beside him. "Brother Cui, from now on, I'll rely on you to protect me."

Cui Dongshan snapped back to reality and immediately grabbed Jiang Shangzhen's arm, hastily urging, "Don't sacrifice that willow leaf. It's meaningless. Listen to me..."

But Jiang Shangzhen had already unleashed his newly repaired life-bound flying sword, "Willow Leaf." In the mortal world, a green leaf-like boat appeared, soaring straight up beyond the sky.

Cui Dongshan was silent.

Jiang Shangzhen smiled. "I've fought against True Lords, throne demons, sword technique Pei Min, Fourteenth Realm Wu Shuangjiang, Jiang She, the first ancestor of the Military school. It's hard to go from luxury to frugality. I'm used to fighting only these tough, desperate, and doomed battles!"

Beyond the sky, a flying sword shattered on the spot.

It wasn't entirely for Chen Ping'an and Fallen Mountain, nor even for the human world. Jiang Shangzhen just couldn't help but say to himself and the world: Jiang is certainly no good bird, but he's done some good things. Whatever the future world looks like, whatever kind of human world it becomes, I don't care.

Jiang Shangzhen didn't bother to wipe the blood off his face. He murmured, "If the human world can indeed survive this catastrophe, countless clever people will laugh at us for not dying earlier, not getting hurt earlier."

Fallen Mountain.

The young Daoist suddenly moved, busying himself for a while. Finally, he crouched on the ground, hands in his sleeves.

A pile of sand. A stone. Divided into upper and lower.

Two piles of sand of different sizes. Divided into left and right, with a twig across the middle like a boundary. A single grain of sand was placed on the twig.

The Daoist with a wooden hairpin stared blankly, as if he couldn't see anything, couldn't find an answer.

Chen Lingjun inexplicably came to the mountain gate. Seeing the immortal retainer squatting, he ran over to join the fun.

The immortal retainer explained, "This is probably the heaven and earth in Zouzi's eyes."

Chen Lingjun asked cautiously, "Who? What name? Which damn egg?"

Hope it wasn't Zouzi from the very beginning of the *Collection of Passersby*.

The immortal retainer smiled. "It's exactly the Zouzi you think it is."

Chen Lingjun acted as if he hadn't heard, rubbing his chin and looking at the scene on the ground. "Immortal Retainer, what does it mean?"

The immortal retainer pointed at the stone. "Zouzi thinks this stone could fall at any time, crushing, pushing away, or rolling over the sand. For a mortal world of sand, any trace is a huge cost—like many people dying."

Chen Lingjun nodded. "Mm-hmm, makes sense. It makes sense."

The immortal retainer smiled. "You think it makes sense too?"

Chen Lingjun said, "It must make sense. A stone that big, if it moves even a little..."

The simple-minded green-clad boy pointed at the picture and corrected, "If you use the human world as a metaphor, it's not just the sand below. The whole area around the stone is soft sand. Not just rolling, but even a slight shake leaves traces."

The immortal retainer sighed. "Yeah."

Chen Lingjun laughed. "Easy to handle!"

The immortal retainer was puzzled. "Easy?"

The green-clad boy patted his chest, gave a thumbs-up, winked, and asked with a smile, "Immortal Retainer, do you think I'm loyal or not?"

The Daoist smiled softly. "You are. Very loyal."

The green-clad boy cupped his hand by his mouth. "I'm the only one who doesn't have to be rigidly loyal to the Mountain Lord. Heh, there used to be a Lu Number Three. Maybe because he couldn't beat me in a fight, he tried to use 'righteousness' to suppress me, urging me to leave Fallen Mountain. Guess what? I said something like: even if I act against righteousness once or twice, the Mountain Lord won't blame me. Lu Number Three was dumbfounded, stunned like a wooden chicken, completely convinced. He never tried to persuade me to travel far away again."

Chen Lingjun pointed at the stone. "So my method is simple: let the Mountain Lord do it. He's a good person and has plenty of patience. Then everything's fine."

The young Daoist suddenly understood. "I see."

Chen Lingjun asked, "Immortal Retainer, your fortune-telling is always off. How about doing a fortune for our Mountain Lord? Can he become a Fourteenth Realm sword cultivator, and when?"

The immortal retainer's expression was complicated. "It seems too late."

Chen Lingjun was puzzled. "You need to pee or poop? Don't hold it. It won't take long to do a quick fortune. We're brothers. I won't laugh even if you shit your pants..."

The Daoist immortal retainer felt helpless, waved his hand, and sent this tactless Lord Chen back to his original spot in the mountain.

A little girl in black also came here. Like the green-clad boy, she was carefree and didn't ask why she had suddenly appeared at the mountain gate.

Mi Li crouched down, took out some melon seeds from her sleeve, and offered them. The young Daoist waved his hand. Mi Li didn't eat them herself either; she just squatted with the immortal retainer, looking at the ground.

The immortal retainer asked, "Mi Li, do you think there really is such a good person in the world who would sacrifice themselves to save the world?"

Mi Li nodded without hesitation. "Of course there is. There are always more bad people in the world, but there are also many good people. Bad people have strength but no heart. Good people have heart but no strength."

Mi Li scratched her face, showing a grin. "Good people suffer more grievances, so they worry."

The Daoist pointed at the two piles of sand respectively.

"This bigger pile is called disappointment."

"This smaller pile is called hope."

Mi Li immediately saw the twig. She asked curiously, "Immortal Retainer, what's this guy's name?"

The Daoist hesitated a moment, then said, "It's called despair."

Mi Li scratched her face again. "Ah? It's so pitiful. I don't dare find it a friend. What should we do, Immortal Retainer?"

The Daoist kept his hands in his sleeves and smiled. "I don't know either. That's the worry."

Then the Daoist immortal retainer saw Mi Li secretly start scooping the sand into her own pockets. He smiled and asked, "What are you doing?"

Mi Li chuckled. "If I take more disappointment, that'll be fine."

The immortal retainer hesitated repeatedly, then said, "That good Mountain Lord of yours might not come home."

Mi Li was stunned for a moment, then asked carefully, "How long until he returns? A few days? A few months? A few years?"

The immortal retainer was silent.

Mi Li, who was "moving" the "disappointment" bit by bit, hesitated for a moment, furrowing her pale, egg-yolk-like brows with effort, and kept a straight face. After a moment, she suddenly brightened up and continued stuffing the "disappointment" into her pockets and sleeves. She shook her head, adorable and innocent, her eyes foggy, muttering to herself, "No, he won't. A good person gets good rewards. Heaven helps the good. The good Mountain Lord will be home soon..."

The Daoist reached up and adjusted his wooden hairpin. Instead, it tilted further. He was silent for a long time, then nodded with a faint smile. "Let's hope so."

On the vast earth, the endless green mountains and rivers of the mortal world seemed to slowly reach out, wanting to gently embrace a wandering traveler far from home, guiding him back.

Azure Azure World, Ru Prefecture. A nameless temple in a spiritual realm.

A small hill, a small gate. The sound of a pine forest. A dim oil lamp was lit inside a room. Finally, the story of the landscape had been told to the young man Chen Cong. The youth rubbed his chin, having made up his mind: he didn't want to be the protagonist—too much trouble, especially having someone like Cui Chan as a guardian. What kind of grudge was that, to mess with his little junior brother's Dao heart like that... The youth suddenly suggested, "Uncle Chang, the story wasn't very spicy. Change it. Make the protagonist still a teenager, but let my appearance be more handsome and dashing, let me speak more boldly, act more arrogantly..."

Uncle Chang just picked up a peanut, tossed it into his mouth, chewed slowly, then raised his hand, two fingers pressed together, leaving only a line.

Chen Cong grinned brightly. "I know. Isn't it just saying that his two lines—good and evil—have been close since childhood? Hah, who am I? I read carefully, and especially listen to stories attentively!"

The old man nodded and asked the youth a question. "So the question is: in your opinion, what is imprisoned inside him—the divinity, or the humanity?"