Chapter 533: My Dao Is Complete
Chen Yindu glanced at him and said, "If you truly have an expert whose kindness you can never repay, someone who would risk their life to fight the Celestial Venerable, then I can find the Celestial Venerable's Dao Unification site. However, this expert must truly possess the strength to force the Celestial Venerable to use his full power."
Chen Shi's eyes flickered. "He can have it, and he must have it. Grandpa, wait for my news."
He rose and left.
Chen Yindu set down his work and watched him go, unconsciously recalling the first time he had held Chen Shi in his arms.
He rarely returned home, only visiting occasionally, and at most just checking on Chen Tang's cultivation progress.
When Chen Tang passed the Xiucai examination, he wasn't home. When Chen Tang passed the provincial examination, he still wasn't home.
Later, when Chen Tang got married, he hurried back upon hearing the news, but by the time he arrived, Chen Tang had already bowed to Wu Qingyu in the wedding ceremony.
During that period, he sometimes returned home once every two or three years. He always had so much to do, and after coming home, he would leave again quickly. Chen Tang's dissatisfaction did not escape his notice.
But he always felt that family affection was a shackle, binding him, tripping him up, preventing him from devoting himself wholeheartedly to studying Dao techniques and divine abilities, to unraveling the lost secrets of antiquity.
Until one day, Chen Yindu returned home and saw Wu Qingyu walking out holding a child, letting the babbling infant call him Grandpa. Chen Yindu suddenly realized, belatedly, that he had a feeling of having a home.
That feeling was indescribably wonderful.
When he had carried Chen Tang back to Huangpo Village all those years ago, he hadn't felt a sense of home, only that the family was shattered.
But the moment he picked up Chen Shi, that warm feeling filled his heart, making him feel for the first time that family affection was not a shackle or a burden.
He began returning home more often, frequently coming back to see Chen Shi.
After Chen Shi died, he exhausted every means, every ounce of wisdom, to resurrect Chen Shi.
After Chen Shi woke from death, he cared for him meticulously, all to preserve this family affection, this feeling of home.
But now, Chen Shi had grown up. It was time to let go.
Chen Yindu smiled. Chen Shi had grown up, like another Chen Yindu, a Chen Yindu living a different life from his own.
Chen Shi arrived at Sky Measuring Cliff, and while activating the Purple Heaven Vine, he calmed his mind and repeatedly ritual-refined the Yin Yang Qi Bottle.
In recent days, the Purple Heaven Vine had been absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, growing to about a thousand zhang. Three strands of purple qi hung from the vine, with the third strand not yet fully formed.
Chen Shi planned to cultivate on Sky Measuring Cliff this time, leaving only after the third strand of purple qi was complete.
Chen Shi examined the Yin Yang Qi Bottle. The yin-yang technique contained within this bottle was nearly at the level of the Dao, far more refined than the yin-yang technique of the Tianluo Blood-Transforming Divine Blade.
The yin-yang qi of the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade was merely supplementary, not fundamental. Slaughtering all living beings to refine the Blood Sea Hell was the blade's true foundation. But the Yin Yang Qi Bottle was an immortal's magic treasure refined with yin-yang technique as its very foundation. Earlier, Chen Shi had only observed the bottle and comprehended the principle of yin-yang harmony. Now, holding it in his hands and studying it closely, his understanding deepened even further.
Despair Slope had a unique rule: they only worshiped the Celestial True God, refusing to worship anything else. Therefore, on Despair Slope, no one offered incense to the Yin Yang Qi Bottle. Chen Shi found it extremely smooth to ritual-refine this treasure, encountering no resistance whatsoever.
Despair Slope had obtained the Yin Yang Qi Bottle from the True King, knowing nothing of its origins. Later, when Feng Ruotong discovered that the Yin Yang Qi Bottle could draw out the blade poison of the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade, the treasure gradually gained attention.
But no one had imagined that the Yin Yang Qi Bottle's power would be this formidable!
"What exactly is the origin of this bottle?"
Chen Shi examined the Yin Yang Qi Bottle closely. In its ordinary state, it was only a palm's height, just a jade bottle. Peering into it, one could see a Taiji pattern at the bottom, an apparition formed by the mutual circulation of yin and yang qi.
Upon closer inspection, one could also see the Seven Treasures diagram on the inner wall, the Eight Trigrams diagram, and the twenty-four solar terms of the Heavenly Cycle.
These markings were imprints of the Great Dao.
The power of such Great Dao imprints was extremely formidable, something Chen Shi had never seen before!
"The master of the Yin Yang Qi Bottle was incredibly powerful!"
After examining it, Chen Shi sensed the terrifying power within the Great Dao imprints, and his heart stirred: "Why did this treasure fall here with the Ming Dynasty's warriors? Where did its master go?"
He tried to activate the Yin Yang Qi Bottle. The yin-yang qi within the bottle began to circulate, and not only did water and fire harmonize, but the Eight Trigrams also merged with each other, forming a terrifying spectacle of eight hexagram symbols working in concert.
"Brilliant, truly brilliant!"
Chen Shi couldn't help but admire it. Anyone controlled by this treasure, even a Tai Yi Golden Immortal who had leaped beyond heaven and earth and transcended the Five Elements, would be reduced to pulp as long as they couldn't escape yin and yang!
"However, this treasure seems to lack the transformation of all things through the evolution of yin and yang."
He quickly spotted the deficiency of the Yin Yang Qi Bottle and murmured, "If one could use yin-yang qi to evolve a world within the bottle, this treasure's power could be unleashed to its maximum. Anyone taken into the bottle, even if they tried to flee, would be refined into pulp before they could fly out of the bottle's world."
Chen Shi's spirits lifted. The immortal who had refined this treasure probably wasn't skilled in the evolution of all things through yin and yang, or perhaps entirely lacked this understanding. That was why the internal space of the Yin Yang Qi Bottle wasn't very large.
If someone taken into the bottle was too powerful, they might be able to shatter the bottle and escape.
"Fortunately, I have comprehended this principle. Perhaps I can complete the missing principle of this treasure."
He acted on his thoughts immediately, activating the Yin Yang Qi Bottle.
Above his head, his Realm of Emptiness emerged. Within the thousand-li void was hidden a complete world, with sun, moon, stars, rivers, lakes, wind, clouds, thunder, and lightning, everything one could imagine.
Within his Dao Field, the sun and moon revolved, the twenty-four solar terms cycled, heaven, earth, water, fire, wind, thunder, mountain, and lake corresponded to the Eight Trigrams transformations. Among the wilderness, the Seven Treasures were produced: gold, silver, glassy glaze, coral, conch shell, red pearls, and agate. It was even more complete than the Yin Yang Qi Bottle.
Suddenly, the thousand-li Realm of Emptiness descended into the Yin Yang Qi Bottle, and soon the entire realm had fallen into the bottle.
The Realm of Emptiness was Chen Shi's Dao Field. As the realm entered the bottle, the Great Dao rules contained within the Dao Field were imprinted on the bottle's walls.
Given his cultivation level, he originally shouldn't have possessed the ability to add imprints to the Yin Yang Qi Bottle. But in recent days, studying the shamanic ritual markings of the Great Shang Era had deepened his understanding, and he actually managed to add Great Dao imprints of sun, moon, stars, mountains, and rivers onto the bottle's walls.
Although the shamanic ritual markings of the Great Shang Era were meant to be imprinted on bloodlines, if they could be imprinted on the human body, then they could also be imprinted on magic treasures!
Chen Shi had comprehended so many shamanic ritual markings that his knowledge of them was second only to Wu Qi's.
He sat in silent meditation on Sky Measuring Cliff, refining the magic treasure. Meanwhile, in the imperial capital of Xinxiang, Buddha Light shone brilliantly, Dao resonance lingered long, as the abbots, Celestial Masters, and sect leaders of Baoguo Temple, Water Moon Holy Land, Bodhi Monastery, Celestial Master Mansion, and Tai Shang Hao Yuan Palace came to pay respects to the new king.
Hu Feifei searched everywhere for Chen Shi but couldn't find him, so she pushed Little Duan Immortal to the forefront.
Little Duan Immortal, as the True King's Consort, came from the Great Shang royal family, honored as a princess and an immortal. Facing the leaders of the five sacred grounds, she showed not the slightest fear. On the contrary, the leaders of the five sacred grounds felt the waves of immortal majesty emanating from the consort and trembled inwardly.
Little Duan did not make things difficult for the five sacred grounds. She offered a few words of encouragement and then bestowed rewards upon them.
The leaders of the five sacred grounds each bowed in thanks to the True King's Consort, a great weight lifted from their hearts.
They had contributed nothing in the campaign to annihilate the Twelve Great Clans, so they had naturally been uneasy. Now that the situation in the realm was settled, if they didn't come to pay respects to the True King, their sacred grounds might not survive.
The True King's Consort's rewards stabilized hearts and prevented the five sacred grounds from entertaining wild thoughts.
However, Chen Shi's rewards to Tai Hua Qingyang Palace far exceeded those to the five sacred grounds.
In this campaign to eliminate the Twelve Great Clans, Tai Hua Qingyang Palace had sent out all their experts, even summoning the ancestral spirit, braving fire and water for the new dynasty and rendering distinguished military service. Therefore, their rewards were greater, something the other sacred grounds could only envy.
"Where has His Majesty gone?" Little Duan asked Hu Feifei.
Hu Feifei knew nothing either, saying, "I am also looking for His Majesty. Currently, Red Mountain Hall is eliminating remnants of the great clans across the land. In many places, there are those declaring themselves kings and emperors, mostly from the great clans, but also some powerful cultivators who must be eradicated. Memorials are being submitted from all regions. Although my Cabinet has approved them, His Majesty still needs to review them."
Little Duan Immortal's heart stirred. "I'll go find him."
Hu Feifei said, "Your Ladyship, when you go to find His Majesty, don't stay away too long. If anything else happens, we will need Your Ladyship to return and take charge."
Little Duan nodded and went to the underworld. She asked Daoist Willow but got no answer. She also made a trip to the Heavenly Pool Kingdom but found no trace of Chen Shi.
She went to Huangpo Village, but Chen Shi wasn't there either. She then went beneath the mulberry tree, still finding nothing.
Little Duan Immortal saw Chen Yindu beneath the tree and asked him about it. Chen Yindu said, "He came here earlier, but he left again."
Little Duan Immortal, imitating Chen Shi's actions, held up incense offerings and asked the spirits of Qianyang Mountain. The spirit of a great tree told her that Chen Shi had gone to Sky Measuring Cliff.
Little Duan Immortal thanked the tree spirit and hurried toward Sky Measuring Cliff.
Sky Measuring Cliff was located at the center of the Qianyang sacred ground, the source of ancestral energy. Chen Shi had only recently named the cliff, so few people knew of it.
Little Duan Immortal had visited Qianyang Mountain a few times, but she wasn't familiar with the mountain terrain. After searching for a while, she found the surrounding mountain formations growing increasingly strange and unfamiliar.
"Did I take the wrong path?"
She flew up into the sky and looked around, but all she saw was a vast, boundless sea of clouds, with countless mountain peaks rising above the cloud surface.
Little Duan Immortal looked down and saw that the mountains and rivers were completely different from the Qianyang Mountain she remembered.
"I really am lost! Where exactly is this place? Why have I never been here before?"
She flew in one direction, trying to escape this unfamiliar world, when suddenly a blazing great sun rose from the sea of clouds and hung in the sky.
To the west of the sun hung a silver disc-like moon. Because it was daytime, it appeared pale and illusory, very unreal.
"Wrong, wrong! This isn't the Western Ox New Continent!"
Little Duan Immortal's heart jolted. The sun and moon of the Western Ox New Continent were the eyes of the Celestial True God, but the sun and moon before her looked like real sun and moon!
"Have I fallen into a cultivator's Realm of Emptiness?"
She immediately accelerated, flying toward the distance. A cultivator's Realm of Emptiness, even at the Great Ascension Realm, was only a thousand li. Even at the Ascension Realm, it was only a few thousand li. A true immortal's was at most a hundred thousand li. At her speed, she could quickly reach the edge of the Realm of Emptiness!
Little Duan Immortal sped forward like wind and lightning, covering tens of thousands of li in just a short moment, which made her heart sink: "Have I mistakenly entered a Celestial Immortal's small world? No, where would a Celestial Immortal come from in this world? Could it be a Celestial Way Immortal from Despair Slope?"
She continued flying forward, but new heavens and earths kept forming ahead of her, as if endless.
Little Duan Immortal remained calm in the face of danger. Instead of flying forward, she shot straight upward.
Whether it was a cultivator's Realm of Emptiness or an immortal's small world, the starry sky was all illusory. If she could pass through the starry sky, she could escape!
She flew into outer space, but stars emerged in endless succession, as if infinite, and she could never fly out.
Little Duan Immortal began to panic. Just then, the starry sky around her suddenly began to contract. Immeasurable space simultaneously converged toward one direction, dragging her body involuntarily along.
She hastily stabilized herself and flew against the flow of stars. Suddenly, the massive earth came rushing toward her face, and mountain ranges brushed past her!
This bizarre world was rotating. The inverted, surging ocean rushed overhead.
Little Duan Immortal, shocked and uncertain, struggled to control her body, but she saw the great earth, mountains, rivers, lakes, all surging toward the same direction. The vast outer space, the sun, moon, stars, the brilliant Milky Way, all flowing toward that direction as well.
At that moment, a jade bottle gradually came into focus, swallowing this bizarre and magnificent world like a whale drinking a rainbow, sucking it into the bottle!
The jade bottle was over a hundred zhang tall. Its walls gradually turned from transparent to white as it absorbed heaven and earth into the bottle. Immediately, Great Dao imprints of sun, moon, stars, rivers, and lakes appeared on the bottle's walls. Though they were on the inner walls, they remained clearly visible!
Little Duan Immortal stood in place as the jade bottle grew smaller and smaller, gradually descending.
Below was Sky Measuring Cliff, the very place Little Duan Immortal had searched for so long without finding.
The jade bottle quickly shrank to the size of a palm and landed in a hand on the cliff.
The man on the cliff withdrew his hand, met Little Duan Immortal's gaze, and said in surprise, "Wife, how did you come here?"
"I came looking for you."
Little Duan Immortal flew down to Sky Measuring Cliff and saw Chen Shi holding the Yin Yang Qi Bottle in one hand, with small temples floating behind his head. The Purple Heaven Vine was climbing the sky before the central temple, absorbing ancestral energy, and gradually a fourth strand of Grand Supreme Purple Qi was beginning to hang down.
Little Duan Immortal withdrew her gaze and looked at the jade bottle, saying, "Your Majesty, is this treasure the immortal's magic treasure of the Three Purities lineage? It's truly formidable. When I fell into its space, I couldn't find the end of it and nearly became lost."
Although she was an immortal, and the Great Shang Era had practiced immortal cultivation, it wasn't true immortal cultivation. After the Shang people were defeated in battle, they had converted shamanic ritual markings into immortal cultivation, which was different from the Three Purities lineage's immortal cultivation.
From childhood to now, Little Duan had never seen what true immortal cultivation looked like. Seeing the might of the Yin Yang Qi Bottle now, she was both shocked and awed.
"This treasure might not be of the Three Purities lineage."
Chen Shi said hesitantly, "When I was ritual-refining this treasure, although I sensed yin-yang qi, the method of refining and activating it doesn't match the Daoist sect's methods. It seems more like the Buddhist lineage."
Little Duan Immortal was stunned. "Buddhist?"
In the Great Shang Era, there was no Buddhist Sect at all. Although she had met the leaders of the three major Buddhist sacred grounds in the Western Ox New Continent, she hadn't thought their Dao techniques were particularly impressive. But just now, the Yin Yang Qi Bottle's evolution of heaven and earth had truly startled her.
Chen Shi laughed. "Although this treasure is immensely powerful, it lacks the Daoist principle of 'two gives birth to three, three gives birth to all things.' I just used my own understanding to complete that missing piece."
Earth Immortal Realm, at the foot of Spirit Mountain.
Suddenly, ten thousand zhang of radiance shot up from the ground. A demon king opened his eyes from his meditative trance and laughed, saying, "The calamity waves surge darkly, with no way to cross; the jade bottle platform stands empty, revealing true reality. I sent the Yin Yang Qi Bottle into the mortal world to be tempered all these years, and finally I have achieved the true fruit, borrowing another's wisdom to complete my Dao technique. My Dao is complete!"
He burst into thunderous laughter, and suddenly golden wings spanning ten thousand li sprouted from his back, shaking wind and thunder.
"This Opening the Calamity, I have no more worries!"
- Zhai Zhu is off to write the second chapter, which probably won't be finished until very late. Don't wait up, everyone. If it gets done, it will be posted at noon on a schedule.