On the Path to the Great Dao

The Fire Battalion had a total of one thousand two hundred heavenly soldiers and one heavenly general. In the case of the Three Purities’ Demon-Refining Well, more than ten heavenly soldiers had been killed or wounded. Quite a few replacements had arrived over the past several days, so the battalion was now back at full strength.

Their trip to Thunderclap Mystic Province was also part of a normal deployment. Accidents often occurred in various regions of the Earth Immortal Realm, and the Celestial Court needed to send people to investigate the truth, lest a minor disturbance develop into a major disaster.

“The Thunderclap Mystic Province we’re heading to is one of the three major provinces under the Thunder Ministry.”

Zhong Lin was, after all, the Tianji Scholar. He knew the geography of the Earth Immortal Realm and the structure of the Celestial Court like the back of his hand. Sitting aboard the star raft, he chatted casually with Chen Shi and the others.

“The three major provinces of the Thunder Ministry are Thunderclap Capital Province, Thunderclap Mystic Province, and Thunderclap Tai Province. None of these places can be considered especially powerful. The ones that truly hold authority are the Nine Offices beneath the Thunder Ministry. But whether it is the Nine Offices or the three provinces, they are all responsible for carrying out orders. Above them are the guardian deities, the Four Guardian Marshals, the Two Tortoise and Serpent Generals, the Four Divine Lords of the Spirits, and the Four Sacred True Lords.”

Chen Shi was startled. “The Thunder Ministry is that powerful?”

Zhong Lin said, “Those are only the guardian deities. Above the Thunder Ministry’s guardian deities are the Five Great Marshals of the Thunder Ministry, the Five Directional Thunder Kings, the Five Directional Thunder Emperors, the Thirty-Six Divine Generals, and the Twenty-Four Celestial Lords. Above them are the four great heavenly palaces of the Four Northern Saints, as well as the heavenly palace of the Thunder Ancestor. Each heavenly palace commands one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers, heavenly generals, and divine spirits.”

Chen Shi’s mind shook violently. Just how immense was the Thunder Ministry’s power? It far surpassed the heavenly soldier camps under King Li.

King Li’s status was supposedly second only to the Jade Emperor. It seemed there was a great deal of exaggeration in that claim.

But why, when the Thunder Ministry was so powerful, did they still need a heavenly soldier camp to investigate incidents whenever something went wrong?

“When immortals cultivate thunder techniques, they often need to borrow the power of the Thunder Ministry’s deities. When subduing powerful demons and monsters, they also need to borrow the Thunder Ministry’s strength.”

Zhong Lin said, “Most of the heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals in the Thunder Ministry are immortals as well. If they have nowhere better to go, they can join the Thunder Ministry as heavenly soldiers. The benefits are quite generous. The only problem is that the casualty rate is somewhat high.”

Chen Shi asked, “How high? Is it higher than the casualty rate of our heavenly soldier camps?”

“Not that high. The casualty rate of our heavenly soldier camps ranks first,” Zhong Lin replied.

The heavenly soldiers of the Fire Battalion revealed bitter smiles.

“Is the Thunder Ministry the most powerful military force in the Celestial Court?” Xiao Dulu asked.

“No. The most powerful is the Celestial Court’s Dipper Ministry. The Thunder Ministry is powerful, but its scale is still somewhat inferior to the Dipper Ministry.”

The group was horrified when they heard this.

Their star raft was at the rear. More than a dozen star rafts traveled ahead of them, maintaining an orderly formation as they passed through the star gate one after another.

The star rafts were troop carriers used by the heavenly soldier camps. Working together with star gates, they could quickly cross the starry sky by drawing upon starlight, and their speed was astonishing.

The Earth Immortal Realm was simply too vast. It contained all kinds of immortal islands, immortal seas, Star Seas, Abysses of Heaven, and heavenly chasms. If immortals relied on flight alone, they would not only move slowly, they might even exhaust themselves to death. Therefore, using star rafts and star gates to travel between different regions was essential.

The heavenly soldier camps’ star gate was located at the Heavenly River ferry crossing in the West Heaven Expanse. The power of the stars was especially dense there. The star gate itself was a copper gate with five layers of portals. Dragons were carved upon it and phoenixes were painted across it, while all kinds of strange Dao patterns were engraved into its surface. Whenever it absorbed starlight, the Dao patterns intertwined and continuously changed, creating a sight that was both profound and wondrous.

The water in the Heavenly River was condensed from starlight. With the river water, the star gate could be activated.

As for the star raft they were riding, it had been constructed from raft wood.

Raft wood grew along both banks of the Heavenly River, forming lush forests. When night came, the raft wood bloomed with starlight and became dazzlingly brilliant. Once this wood grew to a height of one thousand zhang, it was considered mature timber. The Master Craftsman felled the trees and carved pavilions, towers, and terraces into them, engraving various great Dao talismans upon their surfaces. These creations were known as star rafts.

Star rafts accumulated starlight within them and could travel between star gates.

Beneath the star raft, starlight flowed like a river, carrying Chen Shi and the others slowly into the star gate. Suddenly, boundless starlight surged toward them. The star raft trembled slightly, then was pulled forward by the starlight and shot away with a howl. Its speed grew faster and faster. In the briefest moment, it surpassed the speed of these immortals and reached an unbelievable velocity.

Chen Shi and the others were utterly shocked, and they all craned their necks to look outside the star raft.

“Do not stick your heads out!”

The heavenly general guarding the star raft hurriedly summoned an immortal sword and swept it howling along the edge of the vessel, forcing everyone’s heads back inside. He shouted, “The star raft is moving far too quickly. If you stick your head out and starlight strikes you in the face, all your flesh will vanish in an instant. Your skull will be riddled with tiny holes and become so brittle that it will shatter at the slightest touch!”

The heavenly soldiers trembled with fear and did not dare look outside again.

The star raft sped through the starry sky toward Thunderclap Mystic Province.

“The starlight is so powerful. Can we collect some and refine it into a magic treasure?”

A sudden thought struck Chen Shi. He took out the Purple Heaven Gourd, raised it into the air, and began collecting the starlight flashing past outside.

His Purple Heaven Gourd had grown from the Purple Heaven Vine. The Purple Heaven Vine was of the highest grade among earthly treasures and spiritual roots. Before its lifespan was exhausted, it would use its remaining strength to produce a single gourd. After Chen Shi obtained this treasure, he ritual-refined it until he was thoroughly familiar with it. However, he had never known what function it served, so he had always left it in the small temple, nourishing it with incense offerings.

The Purple Heaven Gourd absorbed the starlight with a whistling sound, continuously drawing the starlight outside the raft into itself.

The gourd did not look very large, but its inner space was astonishing, almost like an entire world. Even though Chen Shi swallowed the starlight like a whale devouring a rainbow, the gourd was not filled for quite some time.

Seeing this, the others also raised their own magic treasures and tried to collect the starlight.

The heavenly general guarding the star raft merely sneered and did not stop them.

Suddenly, the magic treasures were pierced through by the starlight and battered until they were riddled with holes, as though they had been gnawed hollow by swarms of ants.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

“Bang!”

An immortal’s immortal artifact exploded and turned into dust.

Everyone felt their hearts bleed as they watched helplessly while their magic treasures became worthless scrap metal.

The heavenly general sneered. “The starlight outside the raft is Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance. Forget ordinary immortal treasures, even a Gold Immortal’s treasure cannot withstand it! And you still want to collect Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance? Stop dreaming in broad daylight!”

“How can his gourd collect it?” Everyone pointed at Chen Shi.

Chen Shi was still raising the Purple Heaven Gourd and gathering the Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance. After collecting it for quite a while, he still had not filled the gourd.

The heavenly general also grew somewhat hesitant. He thought to himself, “Could the gourd in his hand be a treasure belonging to a Tai Yi Golden Immortal? It has no particularly powerful Dao patterns, but it does not seem like an ordinary treasure either.”

Zhong Lin watched this scene and thought to himself, “The gourd produced by the Purple Heaven Vine, which was lost by the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord, seems somewhat similar to this gourd. Could Fellow Daoist Chen and Fellow Daoist Black truly be the bandit leader and second bandit leader listed on the Immortal Slaying List?”

He steadied his mind.

Bai Fangfang said, “Fellow Daoist Zhong, you are the Tianji Scholar and understand the workings of fate. Why don’t you tell us whether this trip will bring good fortune or disaster?”

Zhong Lin composed himself, performed a divination, and carefully examined the result. “The hexagram symbols show that this trip will be extremely unfavorable. As the saying goes, when a clay Bodhisattva crosses a river, it cannot even protect itself. We are investigating the Clay Bodhisattva Incident this time, so there is a great deal of danger and very little hope of survival…”

“Stop spreading nonsense and alarming everyone!”

Regional Commander Zhang Xian walked over and reprimanded him. “Fellow Daoist Zhong, you are the Tianji Scholar, but you act like some mysterious fortune-teller, calculating this and that. Yet you failed to calculate that even the Celestial Strategy would be destroyed! What use could those little tricks of yours possibly have?”

Zhong Lin said, “The Thunder Ministry has powerful soldiers and vigorous horses, with countless heavenly soldiers. The person in charge of Thunderclap Mystic Province is the Left Palace Immortal Elder of Supreme Jade Capital, Ge Hong, Master Ge. He is a Celestial Master from the Ancestral Land. How formidable must he be? With him here, why would they need us to investigate the Clay Bodhisattva Incident? Clearly, they have sent us here to die.”

Zhang Xian glared at him, but he also knew that Tianji Scholars often possessed extraordinary abilities. He could not help feeling uneasy.

“Could it be that we failed to clean up properly after the previous incident, and the higher-ups suspect us? Perhaps they deliberately exiled us here to die?” he thought to himself.

Chen Shi finally filled the Purple Heaven Gourd. Although what was inside the gourd was Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance and appeared to have no weight, the sheer amount he had collected made it surprisingly heavy.

Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance was spilling from the gourd’s mouthpiece. Chen Shi forcibly suppressed his urge to lean over and take a look inside. The Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance was incredibly powerful. One glance would probably blind him, and it might even bore a hole straight through his head.

“Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance can be used to refine Profound Heaven Sword Qi.”

He thought to himself, “The Primordial Chaos Sword Qi in the sword box given to me by the Celestial Court is decent, but it is barely usable. If I refine the Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance inside the Purple Heaven Gourd into sword qi, its power will certainly surpass that of the sword box by far!”

He sat down and raised the gourd, letting it float before him. Then he activated the Primordial Chaos Sword Scripture and continuously struck the Dao patterns of the sword scripture into the gourd, attempting to condense Profound Heaven Sword Qi.

His attainments in the Primordial Chaos Sword Scripture were extremely high. Looking across the entire Earth Immortal Realm, he could still be ranked among the very best. In only a short while, Chen Shi sensed that the Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance was gradually condensing under the support of the Dao patterns from his sword scripture. His heart filled with delight.

Before he realized it, the star raft arrived at Thunderclap Mystic Province. Its speed gradually slowed before it came to a stop inside a star gate.

Chen Shi had already refined one strand of Profound Heaven Sword Qi, but the sword qi was still crude and possessed little sharpness. It looked more like a club.

If he wanted to refine the sword qi until it could cut through anything, he would need to prepare several more strands inside the gourd and allow them to temper one another. Only then would their sharpness gradually increase.

“At least two strands of sword qi are needed, one yin and one yang.”

Chen Shi carefully sensed the contents of the gourd and discovered that a great deal of Profound Heaven Extreme Radiance remained, enough to refine another strand of sword qi. Only then did he relax.

The radiance inside the star gate gradually faded.

Several warriors came over and hooked onto the star raft, pulling it toward the shore.

Everyone flew off the raft. More soldiers of the Thunder Ministry came forward and asked, “Are you the Fire Battalion of the Chen Character Guard’s Chen Character Office?”

Zhang Xian stepped forward. “That is correct. I am Zhang Xian, Regional Commander of the Fire Battalion.”

He handed over his military tally.

The Thunder Ministry soldier took out another military tally and compared it with Zhang Xian’s. After confirming the identity of the arriving commander, the two men put away their tallies. The Thunder Ministry soldier said, “I am Wu Xie, a Military Affairs Assistant in Thunderclap Mystic Province. By order of the province’s divine lord, I have come to receive you.”

Zhang Xian thanked him and asked, “We are immortals who have come to this treasured land. It would be proper for us to pay our respects to Master Ge.”

The Thunder Ministry soldier Wu Xie said, “Unfortunately, Master Ge is cultivating immortal techniques and has been in closed-door cultivation for many years. During all this time, the divine lord has been managing the affairs of Thunderclap Mystic Province.”

The Thunder Ministry also followed the path of joint rule by immortals and divine beings. Some official positions were held by immortals, and Celestial Master Ge Hong served as a Celestial Lord in the province.

Chen Shi had very much wanted to meet this Celestial Master from the Ancestral Land. Upon hearing that Celestial Lord Ge was in closed-door cultivation, he could not help feeling disappointed.

Wu Xie led them away from the ferry crossing toward the site of the Clay Bodhisattva Incident. “Everyone, this Clay Bodhisattva Incident is extremely dangerous. We even used an Evil-Repelling Banner refined by a high god of the Northern Polar Evil-Repelling Institute, but it had very little effect. Instead, the Evil-Repelling Banner itself was contaminated by the great Dao.”

Zhang Xian felt a chill in his heart. “Contaminated by the great Dao?”

Zhong Lin also grew tense. “Could it be a great Dao anomaly?”

“Fortunately, it is not,” Wu Xie said, shaking his head. “If it were a great Dao anomaly, the casualties would already have been disastrous. The level of this incident is far lower than that of a great Dao anomaly. However, although its level is not high, it is extremely troublesome. The Clay Bodhisattva Incident first occurred in a temple in Feng’an Commandery of Thunderclap Mystic Province. The temple worshiped the Bodhisattva of Great Strength. The people of Feng’an Commandery were deeply devoted to Buddhism and had molded a Golden Body for the Bodhisattva.”

Chen Shi followed them while concentrating on refining the second strand of sword qi.

“The Bodhisattva would occasionally descend into the Golden Body. Every descent caused a tremendous commotion.”

Wu Xie led them across the mountains and rivers of Thunderclap Mystic Province until they arrived outside Feng’an Commandery.

The group looked toward Feng’an Commandery. Although it bore the name of a commandery, it could actually be described as a landbound divine kingdom. Its territory was vast, stretching over one hundred thousand li in length and breadth. The region was filled with majestic mountains and steep ridges, while immortal mountains and divine mountains floated in the sky.

The immortal mountains held the residences of immortals, where immortal qi drifted like mist. The divine mountains held the palaces of divine beings, where incense offerings swirled thickly. The two were easy to distinguish.

If the immortal mountains and divine mountains in the sky were included, the territory of Feng’an Commandery extended far beyond one hundred thousand li.

“For this temple fair, the Bodhisattva of Great Strength was also supposed to descend into the Golden Body and bestow blessings upon the people,” Wu Xie said. “But an unusual incident occurred right before the descent.”

His expression became strange. “The Bodhisattva’s Golden Body suddenly turned into a body made of clay. This Golden Body of the Bodhisattva of Great Strength had been placed in Thunderclap Mystic Province to absorb incense offerings for more than one hundred thousand years. It had long since been refined until it was comparable to a peak Gold Immortal, making it incomparably powerful. Its sudden transformation into a clay body was both a loss and a humiliation for the Bodhisattva. The incident occurred right under the watch of our Thunderclap Mystic Province, so we could not escape responsibility. We therefore sent many people to investigate. After that, another strange incident occurred.”

Bai Fangfang grew somewhat nervous and hurriedly asked, “What strange incident?”

“Nearly everyone in Feng’an Commandery turned into clay figures.”

Wu Xie’s expression became even stranger. “The heavenly soldiers, heavenly generals, and divine beings we sent to investigate also turned into clay figures after entering Feng’an Commandery. Fellow Daoist Long Huang, Fellow Daoist Long Huang!”

He called out once. The clouds in the sky parted, revealing a divine being with a dragon’s head. It looked down and said, “So it is Fellow Daoist Wu. Why have you called for me?”

“These people came from the Celestial Court. They are fellow Daoists from the heavenly soldier camps, ordered to investigate the Clay Bodhisattva Incident.”

Wu Xie said apologetically, “You have entered Feng’an Commandery before. Come and explain the dangers to them.”

That dragon-headed divine being said, “The heavenly soldier camps? King Li’s subordinates? Aren’t those fellows a bunch of newly ascended recruits? Why were they sent to investigate this matter? Could they have offended someone?”

As he spoke, he descended from the clouds. Only then did everyone notice that auspicious clouds filled the sky. Numerous heavenly soldiers, heavenly generals, and fully armored divine beings stood upon the clouds, densely packed and completely motionless. The atmosphere was grim and murderous.

They were soldiers of the Thunder Ministry. After the Clay Bodhisattva Incident occurred, they had been ordered to guard this place to prevent the contamination of the great Dao from leaking out.

The treasure they had raised into the sky, covering the entire territory of Feng’an Commandery, was a Mirror of Clarity. It resembled a sun hanging high in the sky, radiating pure yang light that illuminated the whole of Feng’an Commandery.

This treasure served one purpose by preventing anyone from escaping. If anyone tried to flee, it would immediately trigger pure yang Dao fire and burn them to death. It served another purpose by using pure yang Dao power to suppress the contamination of the great Dao.

The dragon-headed divine being Long Huang descended from the clouds and said, “Everyone, take a good look at my face.”

The people of the Fire Battalion all looked toward him. They saw that half of Long Huang’s face had collapsed, as though someone had slapped him so hard that his face had been knocked out of shape.

“My face was not damaged by someone hitting me. I merely touched my own face, and it became like this.”

Long Huang said, “There were three hundred immortals and divine beings who entered Feng’an Commandery with me to investigate the Clay Bodhisattva Incident. We did not sense anything unusual at all. Someone felt an itch in his nose and picked at his nostril. His nose immediately fell off. The others checked their own bodies and suddenly discovered that, without knowing when it had happened, all of us had turned into clay figures.”

He sighed. “I also carelessly turned my own face into this. Our physical bodies and Primordial Spirits all turned entirely into clay. It was extremely dangerous. Once I sensed that something was wrong, I immediately led them in a charge toward the outside. But at that moment, it began to rain…”

The skin on his face trembled. “Their bodies were soaked by the rain, becoming soft and rotten before sticking together. Because I am a dragon god and my cultivation was higher than theirs, I still retained part of my magical power and managed to avoid the rain and escape.”

Black Pot’s eyes widened. He tugged at Chen Shi’s clothes. Chen Shi gently nodded and said in a low voice, “The Ghost and God Domain.”