When Yuanfeng emerged from the Southern Undying Volcano, the clouds above the crater were pushed back three hundred miles by the heatwave. The crimson lava in the magma pool sank simultaneously, and the fire crystals that had been dormant at the bottom of the pool for tens of thousands of years lit up for a moment. Now that the Phoenix Clan's Karma/Sin was completely cleansed, the blood and energy of the entire clan surged upwards the moment she emerged from seclusion, causing the southern sky of the Southern Continent of Jambu to glow with a layer of crimson gold.
As she trod upon the lava waves to reach the edge of the crater, Vermilion Bird, Jiu Feng, and Azure Luan were already waiting on the stone steps. Vermilion Bird was enveloped in crimson flames, and the Southern Bright Li Fire burned into lotus blossoms that never fell on her sleeves. Behind Jiu Feng, nine illusory images of colorful feathers rotated, each feather corresponding to a type of celestial fire. Azure Luan stood beside the steps, her body surrounded by flowing azure breezes, carrying the fragrance of paulownia leaves.
Yuanfeng took out the Phoenix Clan Command Flag from the stone box in the volcano crater and planted it in the ground. The flag unfurled, revealing an embroidered map of the five continents and the four directions of Chaos. She turned to the Human Dao, "The Supreme Lord Taiqing has issued a summons. It's time to collect the Pangu in Chaos. The Phoenix Clan has now cleared its Karma/Sin and is producing many powerful beings; it's time for us to contribute. This time, we'll go out to the Ten Directions Universe Worlds. I'll choose the largest one, and the three of you will each choose one. The remaining six will be collected by the other Primordial Daluo Golden Immortals of the Phoenix Clan in groups of two or three. Kong Xuan and Kunpeng will each lead one group, and the other four groups will be led by the Phoenix Clan elders."
Vermilion Bird gathered the fire lotus in her sleeve. "I'm heading due south. There's the aura of the Southern Bright Li Fire deep in the Chaos to the south; there should be someone cultivating the Li Fire Law inside that shell."
The Jiu Feng flapped their nine colorful feathers simultaneously. "I'm heading due east. There are traces of celestial fire burning in the Chaos to the east, which perfectly aligns with my Nine-Colored Heavenly Fire Dao."
Azure Luan changed her gaze. "I'm heading due north. The winds are strongest in the Chaos to the north; I'll go check it out."
Yuanfeng nodded, tucked the command flag into his sleeve, and headed west towards the Chaos direction. Before leaving, he added, "The Phoenix Clan should not hold back when they act, but taking over a world is not the same as destroying it. Keep any living creatures in the shell if possible. After the battle, save those who need saving and soak those who need soaking in the Luminous Fluid. Kong Xuan and Kunpeng, each lead a group. You two have enough cultivation, but don't rely on your high cultivation to sweep through everything. Those Dao Venerables in the shell have cultivated for tens of thousands of years, and each of them has a few trump cards up their sleeves. Be careful when you need to be, and don't be overconfident."
Kong Xuan concealed the Five-Colored Divine Light in his sleeve. "Mother, don't worry. Kunpeng and I will split up. When we encounter a hard shell, we'll first check the counterweight hole. If we can't find it, we'll come back and report."
Kunpeng spread his golden wings. "I'll head northeast, Kong Xuan will head southeast, and the remaining four groups of elders will each go in one direction to encircle the enemy."
Ten groups of people split into ten routes and entered the Chaos. In the Chaos, there were no up, down, or four directions; only world shells of various sizes floated in the hazy air currents. Some shells were as thin as cicada wings, shattering at the slightest touch; others were as thick as mountains, their surfaces covered with patterns of laws, resembling giant, rusty eggs from afar. When the Phoenix Clan's command flag was unfurled in the Chaos, the five continents and the four cardinal directions on the flag would slightly shift according to the direction each person was heading, and the corner of the flag would point to the point where members of the same clan would respond to each other.
Yuanfeng traveled due west for forty-nine days, collecting fifty-two Great Thousand Worlds and one hundred and seventy Middle Thousand Worlds. She didn't rush to break free of her shell along the way. First, she used the Nirvana Fire to examine the shell, checking if the laws and patterns on its surface were aligned, and then checking for any leaks through the counterweight holes at the bottom. For shells with aligned patterns, she simply placed a phoenix fire around the perimeter; if the Daoist within wished to submit, the world's framework would remain. For shells with reversed patterns, she then began searching for gaps. On the evening of the forty-eighth day, the command flag in her sleeve rolled up by itself, its corner shifting three inches due west. Yuanfeng went forward to see, and there floated a giant shell deep within the Chaos, its surface covered with gray-white phoenix feather patterns. The patterns radiated from the shell's core to the surface, each one a complete Nirvana Law. Every three zhang (approximately 13 meters) on the shell's surface was embedded a phoenix feather crystal, each crystal sealing a Nirvana Origin. From afar, it resembled the entire plumage shed by a phoenix that Eons.
Yuanfeng pressed her hand against the shell, and a tearing force from Nirvana surged through her palm. The phoenix feather patterns on the shell suddenly accelerated their rotation, converging on her palm from all directions. When they reached the center, they transformed into nine phoenix feather chains that wrapped around her five fingers, each chain pulling her Nirvana power outwards. She withdrew her hand, and a gray-white phoenix pearl appeared in her palm, containing a complete Nirvana Law. She crushed the phoenix pearl, and from the fragments floated an extremely deep and slow divine thought, "The Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas Venerable is here. Who comes?"
Yuanfeng flicked away the fragments. "Yuanfeng, the phoenix feathers on your shell are quite nice. They can spin on their own and even actively entangle people's hands. It's a pity that what's entangled is your own Nirvana. Even if I crush it, you'll sink even deeper."
A long phoenix cry emanated from within the shell, and the phoenix feather patterns on its surface simultaneously exploded, transforming into a greyish-white phoenix phantom that enveloped the giant shell. From within the phantom emerged an old man in a greyish-white phoenix robe, surrounded by nine phoenix pythons, each holding a spinning phoenix pearl in its mouth, each pearl sealing a complete Nirvana Law. The Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas Venerable spoke, his voice like the clear cry of a phoenix rising from the ashes, "This shell of mine is covered with ninety-nine million phoenix patterns, each one formed from a wisp of Nirvana I released. For every phoenix pearl you crush, I will release ten more wisps of Nirvana."
Yuanfeng didn't reply. As the master of the Nirvana Dao, she knew best that the crucial moment of Life and Death Cycle wasn't about brute force, but about finding the source of life. She walked halfway around the shell, noticing that although the phoenix patterns were dense, they all converged towards the center of the shell; the tightlyest point, however, left a sparse patch the size of a palm, the shell underneath dark, as if something had thinned it from the inside. She pointed to the sparse patch, and a drop of Yuanfeng's Origin Nirvana blood seeped from her fingertip. As the blood fell, a small section of the shell collapsed, revealing a bottomless phoenix cave, from which came a muffled groan from the Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas Venerable.
"All ninety-nine million phoenix patterns on your shell are connected to the 'Ten Thousand Nirvanas Pool' at its core." Yuanfeng withdrew her finger. "You release Nirvana to nurture the patterns; the more patterns, the larger the pool, and the larger the pool, the more Nirvana you can release. But there's a 'Nirvana Eye' at the bottom of your pool. When the Nirvana Eye is blocked, the pool can hold Nirvana; when the Nirvana Eye opens, all the Nirvana in the pool leaks out. I just dripped a drop of Yuanfeng's Origin Nirvana blood onto your Nirvana Eye, and now it can't be blocked anymore."
Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas Venerable's expression changed, and a gurgling sound of leaking Nirvana came from inside the shell. The phoenix patterns on the shell peeled off layer by layer from the center outwards, and fine cracks crawled all over the shell. Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas Venerable pressed nine phoenix pythons onto the shell, and the phoenix pythons transformed into nine phoenix pillars to support the shell; but the phoenix pillars could support the shell, but not the Nirvana eye, and the Ten Thousand Nirvanas Pool was still leaking. Yuanfeng slapped the peeling part of the shell, and a crack appeared. She crawled into the crack and landed on the edge of the Ten Thousand Nirvanas Pool.
Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas Venerable was squatting on the bottom of the pool, trying to plug his eyes with his hands. He would plug them once and then leak two times, then two times and four times.
"Don't block it." Yuanfeng squatted down by the pool and looked down. "That Nirvana eye is the counterweight hole of the shell. It's a counterweight hole on the debris that Pangu threw out when he created the world. You built the shell into the Ten Thousand Nirvanas Pool, and the counterweight hole became the Nirvana eye. The leakage of Nirvana through the Nirvana eye is the shell's self-regulation—if there are too many Nirvanas in the pool, the shell becomes too heavy, so the shell opens the Nirvana eye to release Nirvanas and reduce its weight. You blocked the Nirvana eye, no wonder the shell collapsed."
Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas Venerable looked up. "Then what should we do?"
"Open the Nirvana Eye halfway, and let half of the Nirvana reside in the pool; the weight of the shell is just right. Don't cover all those phoenix patterns on the shell surface; leave 30% inside as the Nirvana reservoir, and 70% on the surface is enough. Use 70% of the shell surface to block Chaos, and 30% inside to nurture the pool. With the pool eye half-open and half-closed, the shell won't suffocate itself."
Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas Venerable squatted on the bottom plate of the pool for a long time, then released his grip. The Nirvana Eye leaked for a while and then stopped on its own. The Nirvana Plate in the pool decreased from full to half full, and the phoenix patterns on the shell decreased from one billion to sixty million. The shell stopped falling off, and the phoenix patterns stopped going crazy. He jumped up from the bottom plate and handed the nine phoenix pearls to Yuanfeng: "You can take this world. But I'll go back with you, and I'll borrow your method of adjustment for three days. I cultivated the Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas for tens of thousands of years, and in the end, I turned my shell into a leaky pool. I don't even know when I blocked it."
Yuanfeng accepted the Phoenix Pearl: "I'll lend you the method. You collect the worlds. Once you've collected them all, go to City of Ten Thousand Crafts to find Yin Xi and break through the first ten thousandth level, the 'Naturalness Pass.' When you can adjust the weight of the worlds without using the Nirvana Eye, you'll have graduated."
When Dao of Ten Thousand Nirvanas Venerable handed over the World Seal, Yuanfeng casually infused the "Counterweight Hole - Pool Eye - Three-tenths Inner Treasury" method into the command flag. With a shake of the command flag, the method transformed into a crimson-gold Golden Phoenix message, spreading outwards along the ten paths of the Phoenix Clan blood and qi within the Chaos. She wasn't trying to pave the way for others, but rather to help them avoid detours: if the law patterns on the shell surface were spinning wildly, first find the sparse patterns in the shell's core; if the pool eye was blocked, first check if the shell's weight was unbalanced; to take over the world, first let the world learn to breathe on its own.
Forty-nine days, Vermilion Bird traveled due south, collecting forty-four Great Thousand Worlds and one hundred and thirty-five Middle Thousand Worlds. On the evening of the forty-eighth day, the command flag shifted three inches due south. Deep within the Chaos floated a gigantic shell, its surface covered with gray-white patterns of Li Fire. These patterns, arranged in a flame-like pattern from the shell's core to its surface, each represented a complete Li Fire Law. Every three zhang (approximately 10 meters) on the shell's surface was embedded a Li Fire Crystal, each crystal sealing the Origin Li Fire. From a distance, it resembled a sea of fire that Eons.
Vermilion Bird pressed her palm down, Li Fire tearing force of fiery energy surged forth. The patterns on her palm spun rapidly, converging into nine chains of Li Fire energy that bound her five fingers, pulling her Li Fire power outward. She withdrew her hand, and a grayish-white fire bead appeared in her palm. She crushed the fire bead, and from the fragments floated an extremely intense and scorching divine thought, "Dao of Ten Thousand Li Venerable is here. Who comes?"
Vermilion Bird flicked away the fragments. "Vermilion Bird, the Li Fire on your shell is quite impressive. It can burn on its own and even actively entangle itself in people's hands. Unfortunately, what gets entangled is your own Li Fire. Even if I crush it, you'll have to burn it again."
A deafening roar of flames erupted from within the Li Fire patterns bursting open and transforming into a gray-white fire cloud that enveloped the giant shell. Emerging from the cloud was an old man in a gray-white fire robe, his hair and beard entirely red, coiled around him by nine fire pythons, each holding a spinning fire pearl in its mouth. Dao of Ten Thousand Li Venerable spoke, his voice like the explosive roar of Li Fire inferno, "This shell of mine is covered with ninety-nine million fiery patterns, each formed from a Li Fire I have released. For every fire pearl you crush, I will release ten more wisps of Li Fire."
Vermilion Bird ignored him. She controlled the Southern Bright Li Fire, knowing that the fiercer the fire, the more crucial it was to observe its path. She traced the shell's surface, discovering that while the fiery patterns were intense, they all curled towards the center; at their tightest point, a small, palm-sized patch remained, the shell beneath it grayish, as if thinned by the fire from the inside. She pointed to this patch, a drop of Vermilion Bird's Origin Li Fire blood seeping from her fingertip. As the blood fell, a small section of the shell collapsed, revealing a bottomless fire cave. From within the fire cave, Dao of Ten Thousand Li Venerable groaned, and the nine fire pythons simultaneously recoiled.
"All ninety-nine million Li runes in your body are connected to the 'Ten Thousand Li Pool' at the core of your shell." Vermilion Bird withdrew her finger. "You release Li Fire to nourish the runes; the more runes, the larger the pool, and the larger the pool, the more Li Fire you can release. But you have a 'Li Eye' at the bottom of your pool. When the Li Eye is blocked, the pool can hold the Li Fire; when the Li Eye is open, all the Li Fire in the pool leaks out. I just dripped a drop of Vermilion Bird 'Origin Li Fire blood onto your Li Eye, and now your Li Eye can't be blocked anymore."
Dao of Ten Thousand Li Venerable's expression changed, and a rumbling sound of leaking fire came from inside the shell. The Li patterns on the shell peeled off layer by layer from the center outwards, and fine cracks crawled all over the shell. Dao of Ten Thousand Li Venerable pressed nine fire pythons onto the shell, and the fire pythons transformed into nine pillars of fire to support the shell; but the pillars of fire could support the shell, but not the Li eyes, Ten Thousand Li Pool was still leaking. Vermilion Bird slapped the area where the shell had peeled off, and a crack appeared. She crawled into the crack and landed on the edge of Ten Thousand Li Pool.
Dao of Ten Thousand Li Venerable was squatting on the bottom of the pool, trying to plug his eyes with his hands. If he plugged them once, two drops would leak out; if he plugged them twice, four drops would leak out.
"Don't block it." Vermilion Bird squatted by the pool and looked down. "That 'Li Eye' is the shell's counterweight hole. It's a counterweight hole on the debris that Pangu threw out when he created the world. You built the shell into the Ten Thousand Li Pool, and that counterweight hole became the 'Li Eye.' The 'Li Eye' leaking fire is the shell's self-regulation—if there's too much Li Fire in the pool, the shell becomes too heavy, so it opens the 'Li Eye' to release the Li Fire and reduce its weight. You've blocked the 'Li Eye,' no wonder the shell is collapsing."
Dao of Ten Thousand Li Venerable looked up. "Then what should we do?"
"Open half of the shell, and keep half of the Li Fire in the pool. The weight of the shell is just right. Don't spread all those fire patterns on the shell surface. Leave 30% inside the shell as a fire reservoir, and 70% on the shell surface is enough. The 70% on the shell surface blocks the external fire, and the 30% inside the shell nurtures the fire in the pool. Once the fire path is clear, the shell won't explode."
Dao of Ten Thousand Li Venerable squatted on the plate at the bottom of the pool for a long time, then let go. The leaking Li eye stopped on its own after a while, Li Fire in the pool dropped from full to half, while the Li patterns on the shell decreased from one billion to sixty million. The shell stopped falling off, and the Li patterns stopped going crazy. He jumped up from the plate at the bottom of the pool and handed the nine fire pearls to Vermilion Bird: "You can take this world. But I'll go back with you, and I'll borrow your adjustment method for three days. I've cultivated the Dao of Ten Thousand Li for tens of thousands of years, and in the end, I turned my shell into a leaky pool. I don't even know when I plugged it up."
Vermilion Bird accepted the fire pearl. "I'll lend you the method. You collect the worlds. Once you've collected them all, go to City of Ten Thousand Crafts and find Yin Xi. Break through the first ten thousandth level, the 'Naturalness Pass.' When you can adjust the weight of the worlds without taking your eyes off them, you'll have graduated."
Jiu Feng traveled due east for forty-nine days, collecting forty Great Thousand Worlds and one hundred and twenty-eight Middle Thousand Worlds. On the evening of the forty-eighth day, the command flag shifted three inches due east. Chaos was a gigantic shell, its surface covered with gray-white fire patterns. The patterns were arranged in a nine-colored wheel from the core to the surface, each pattern representing a complete Heavenly Fire Law. Every three zhang (approximately 10 meters) on the shell's surface was embedded a Heavenly Fire Crystal, each crystal sealing the Origin Heavenly Fire. From a distance, it resembled a nine-colored sea of fire that had burned for Eons.
Jiu Feng pressed her palm down, and celestial fire tore through her. The nine-colored patterns spun faster, converging into nine chains of celestial fire that bound her five fingers, pulling her celestial fire power outward. She withdrew her hand, and a grayish-white fire bead appeared in her palm. She crushed the fire bead, and from the fragments floated an extremely intense and scorching divine thought, "The Dao of Ten Thousand Heavens Venerable is here. Who comes?"
Jiu Feng flicked away the fragments. "Jiu Feng, the heavenly fire on your shell is quite impressive. It can spin on its own and even actively wrap around people's hands. It's a pity that what gets wrapped around is your own heavenly fire. Even if I crush it, you'll have to spin it again."
A deafening roar of nine-colored flames erupted from within the shell, the celestial fire patterns bursting open and transforming into a gray-white, nine-colored fire cloud that enveloped the giant shell. Emerging from the cloud was an old man in a gray-white fire robe, his hair and beard both nine colors, coiled around him by nine fire pythons, each python holding a rotating fire pearl in its mouth, each pearl sealing a complete Heavenly Fire Law. The Dao of Ten Thousand Heavens Venerable spoke, his voice like the clear ringing of the Nine-Colored Heavenly Fire as it spun. "This shell of mine is covered with ninety-nine million celestial patterns, each pattern formed from a wisp of celestial fire I have released. For every fire pearl you crush, I will release ten more wisps of celestial fire."
Jiu Feng did not force her way in. She wielded the Nine-Colored Heavenly Fire, and the order of its rotation was of utmost importance. She discerned that although the nine colors of the Heavenly Pattern were complex, one color moved first, followed by the other eight; the color that moved first slowed down at the core of the shell, where a sparse pattern accumulated. She pointed to the sparse area, and a drop of Jiu Feng's Origin Heavenly Fire blood seeped from her fingertip. As the blood fell, a small section of the shell collapsed, revealing a bottomless fire hole, from which came a muffled groan from Dao of Ten Thousand Heavens Venerable.
"All ninety-nine million celestial patterns on your surface are connected to the 'Ten Thousand Heavens Pool' at the core of your shell." Jiu Feng withdrew her finger. "You release celestial fire to nourish the patterns; the more patterns, the larger the pool, and the larger the pool, the more celestial fire you can release. But there's a 'Heavenly Eye' at the bottom of your pool. When the Heavenly Eye is blocked, the pool can hold the celestial fire; when the Heavenly Eye opens, all the celestial fire in the pool leaks out. I just dripped a drop of Jiu Feng's Origin celestial fire blood onto your Heavenly Eye, and now your celestial eye can't be blocked anymore."
Dao of Ten Thousand Heavens Venerable's expression changed, and a rumbling sound of leaking fire came from inside the shell. The celestial patterns on the shell peeled off layer by layer from the center outwards, and fine cracks crawled all over the shell. Dao of Ten Thousand Heavens Venerable pressed nine fire pythons onto the shell, and the fire pythons transformed into nine pillars of fire to support the shell; but the pillars of fire could support the shell, but not the Heavenly Eye, and the Ten Thousand Heavens Pool was still leaking. Jiu Feng slapped the peeling part of the shell, and a crack appeared. She crawled into the crack and landed on the edge of the Ten Thousand Heavens Pool.
Dao of Ten Thousand Heavens Venerable Zun was squatting on the bottom of the pool, trying to block the Heavenly Eye with his hand. If he blocked it once, two drops would leak out; if he blocked it twice, four drops would leak out.
"Don't block it." Jiu Feng squatted by the pool and looked down. "That eye of time you have is the counterweight hole of the shell. It's a counterweight hole on the debris that Pangu threw out when he created the world. You built the shell into the Ten Thousand Heavens Pool, and the counterweight hole became the Heavenly Eye. The Heavenly Eye leaking fire is the shell's self-regulation—if there's too much heavenly fire in the pool, the shell becomes too heavy, so the shell opens the Heavenly Eye to release the heavenly fire and reduce its weight. You blocked the Heavenly Eye, no wonder the shell collapsed."
Dao of Ten Thousand Heavens Venerable looked up. "Then what should we do?"
"Open half of the Heavenly Eye, store half of the Heavenly Fire in the pool, and the weight of the shell is just right. Don't cover all those Heavenly Patterns on the shell surface; leave 30% inside the shell as the Heavenly Treasury, and 70% on the shell surface is enough. The Nine Colors Rotation cannot be entirely pressed onto the shell surface; seven colors on the shell surface block external fire, and two colors inside the shell nourish the pool fire, only then will the rotation be smooth."
Dao of Ten Thousand Heavens Venerable squatted on the bottom plate of the pool for a long time, then let go. The Heavenly Eye stopped leaking on its own after a while, and the Heavenly Fire in the pool decreased from full to half, while the Heavenly Patterns on the shell decreased from one billion to sixty million. The shell stopped falling off, and the Heavenly Patterns stopped raging. He jumped up from the bottom plate and handed the nine Fire Pearls to Jiu Feng: "You can take this world. But I'll go back with you, and I'll borrow your adjustment method for three days. I've cultivated the Wan Dao of Ten Thousand Heavens for tens of thousands of years, and in the end, I turned my own shell into a leaky pool. I don't even know when I plugged it up."
Jiu Feng accepted the fire pearl. "I'll lend you the method. You can collect the worlds. After you've collected them all, go to City of Ten Thousand Crafts to find Yin Xi and break through the first ten thousandth level, the 'Naturalness Pass.' When you can adjust the weight of the worlds without using your Heavenly Eye, you'll have graduated."
The Azure Luan traveled due north for forty-nine days, collecting thirty-eight Great Thousand Worlds and one hundred and twenty Middle Thousand Worlds. On the evening of the forty-eighth day, the command flag shifted three inches due north. Chaos deep within the chaos was a gigantic shell, its surface covered with gray-white wind patterns. The patterns swirled from the shell's core to its surface, each one a complete Wind Law. Every three zhang (approximately 10 meters) on the shell's surface was inlaid with a wind pattern crystal, each crystal sealing the Origin the wind law. From a distance, it resembled a giant wind field spanning countless Eons.
Azure Luan pressed her palm forward, and a tearing wind surged forth. The wind patterns spun rapidly, converging into nine wind chains that bound her five fingers, pulling her wind power outward. She withdrew her hand, and a grayish-white wind bead appeared in her palm. She crushed the wind bead, and from the fragments floated an extremely light and swift divine thought, "The Dao of Ten Thousand Winds Venerable is here. Who comes?"
Azure Luan flicked away the fragments. "Azure Luan, the wind patterns on your shell are quite nice. They can spin on their own and even actively wrap around people's hands. It's a pity that what gets wrapped around is your own wind channel. Even if I crush it, you'll have to spin it again."
A long howl came from within the shell, the wind patterns exploded, transforming into a gray-white cloud that enveloped the giant shell. Emerging from the cloud was an old man in a gray-white wind robe, his hair and beard entirely black, surrounded by nine wind pythons, each holding a spinning wind pearl in its mouth. The Dao of Ten Thousand Winds Venerable spoke, his voice like Gale sweeping through a canyon. "This shell of mine is covered with ninety-nine million wind patterns, each formed from a wisp of wind I release. For every wind pearl you crush, I release ten more wisps of wind."
Azure Luan did not follow the wind patterns. She controlled the wind, knowing that the eye of the wind was not where the wind was strongest, but in the "void" where the wind swirled. She circled the shell three times, and sure enough, she saw the wind patterns swirl to the vicinity of the shell's center, where a thin, backward-flowing stream suddenly split off, revealing a palm-sized patch of sparse patterns beneath it. She pointed to the sparse area, and a drop of Azure Luan's Origin wind blood seeped from her fingertip. As the blood fell, a small section of the shell collapsed, revealing a bottomless wind cave, from which came a muffled groan from the Dao of Ten Thousand Winds Venerable.
"All ninety-nine million wind patterns of yours are connected to the 'Ten Thousand Winds Pool' at the core of your shell." Azure Luan withdrew her finger. "You release wind channels to nurture the patterns; the more patterns, the larger the pool, and the larger the pool, the more wind channels you can release. But there's a 'wind eye' at the bottom of your pool. When the wind eye is blocked, the pool can hold the wind channels; when the wind eye opens, all the wind channels in the pool leak out. I just dripped a drop of Azure Luan's Origin wind blood onto your wind eye, and now it can't be blocked anymore."
Dao of Ten Thousand Winds Venerable's expression changed as a whooshing sound of air leaking out came from inside the shell. The wind patterns on the shell peeled off layer by layer from the center outwards, and fine cracks crawled all over the shell. Dao of Ten Thousand Winds Venerable pressed nine wind pythons onto the shell, and the wind pythons transformed into nine wind pillars to support the shell; but the wind pillars could support the shell surface, but not the air gap, and Ten Thousand Winds Pool was still leaking. Azure Luan slapped the area where the shell had peeled off, and a crack appeared. She crawled into the crack and landed on the edge of Ten Thousand Winds Pool.
Dao of Ten Thousand Winds Venerable was squatting on the bottom of the pool, trying to block the airflow with his hands. He would block it once, and then it would leak twice; he would block it twice, and then it would leak four times.
"Don't block it." Azure Luan squatted by the pool and looked down. "Those 'wind eyes' are the shell's counterweight holes. They were counterweight holes on the debris that Pangu threw out when he created the world. You built the shell into the Ten Thousand Winds Pool, and those counterweight holes became the wind eyes. The wind eyes leaking air is the shell's self-regulation—if there are too many air channels in the pool, the shell becomes too heavy, so the shell opens the wind eyes to release air and reduce weight. You've blocked the wind eyes, no wonder the shell is collapsing."
Dao of Ten Thousand Winds Venerable looked up. "Then what should we do?"
"Open half the wind eye, and store half the wind channel in the pool; the weight of the shell is just right. Don't spread all those wind patterns on the shell surface; leave 30% inside the shell as a wind reservoir, and 70% on the shell surface is enough. The 70% on the shell surface allows external wind to pass through, while the 30% inside the shell allows for return wind. Once the return wind turns around, the wind eye won't be blocked."
Dao of Ten Thousand Winds Venerable squatted on the plate at the bottom of the pool for a long time, then let go. The leak in the wind eye stopped on its own after a while, and the wind channels in the pool decreased from full to half, while the wind patterns on the shell decreased from one billion to sixty million. The shell stopped falling off, and the wind patterns stopped running wild. He jumped up from the plate at the bottom of the pool and handed the nine wind beads to Azure Luan: "You can take this world. But I'll go back with you, and I'll borrow your adjustment method for three days. I've cultivated the Dao of Ten Thousand Winds for tens of thousands of years, and in the end, I turned my own shell into a leaky pool. I don't even know when I plugged it up."
Azure Luan accepted the Wind Pearl: "I'll lend you the method. You collect the worlds. Once you've collected them all, go to City of Ten Thousand Crafts to find Yin Xi and break through the first ten thousandth level, the 'Naturalness Pass.' When you can adjust the weight of the worlds without the eye of the wind, you'll have graduated."
Kong Xuan traveled southeast for forty-nine days, collecting forty-six Great Thousand Worlds and one hundred and forty Middle Thousand Worlds. On the evening of the forty-eighth day, the command flag shifted three inches to the southeast. Floating deep within the Chaos was a giant shell, its surface covered with gray-white five-colored patterns. The patterns were arranged in a five-colored cyclical pattern from the core of the shell to the surface, each pattern representing a complete Five Elements Law. Every three zhang (approximately 10 meters) on the shell's surface was embedded a five-colored crystal, each crystal sealing the Origin the Five Elements. From a distance, it resembled a five-colored sea of light spanning countless Eons.
Kong Xuan pressed his palm down, and the Five Elements tore apart. The five-colored patterns spun faster, converging into nine five-colored chains that bound his five fingers, pulling his Five Elements Power outward. He withdrew his hand, and a gray-white five-colored bead appeared in his palm. He crushed the bead, and from the fragments floated an extremely steady and profound divine thought, "The Dao of Ten Thousand Elements Venerable is here. Who comes?"
Kong Xuan flicked away the fragments. "Kong Xuan, the five colors on your shell are quite nice. They can spin on their own and even actively wrap around people's hands. It's a pity that what wraps around you is your own Five Elements. Even if I crush it, you'll have to spin it again."
A deep, five-colored burst of light emanated from within the shell, causing the five-colored patterns to explode and transform into a gray-white, five-colored cloud that enveloped the giant shell. Emerging from the cloud was an old man in a gray-white robe, surrounded by nine five-colored pythons, each holding a spinning five-colored bead in its mouth. The Dao of Ten Thousand Elements Venerable spoke, his voice like the muffled thud of the Five Elements rotating. "This shell of mine is covered with ninety-nine million Daoist patterns, each pattern formed from a wisp of the Five Elements that I release. For every five-colored bead you crush, I will release ten more Five Elements."
Kong Xuan wielded the Five-Colored Divine Light and was most familiar with the interactions of the Five Elements. He didn't rush to step on the shell, but first used the divine light to illuminate its surface. He saw that the areas where the five-colored patterns interacted were extremely dense, while the areas where they interacted had a thin gap. The gap converged at the center of the shell, forming a sparse pattern. He pointed to the sparse area, and a drop of Kong Xuan's Origin five-colored blood seeped from his fingertip. As the blood fell, a small section of the shell collapsed, revealing a bottomless cave. From within the cave came a muffled groan from the Daoist Dao of Ten Thousand Elements Venerable.
"All ninety-nine million of your elemental runes are connected to the 'Ten Thousand Elements Pool' at the core of your shell." Kong Xuan withdrew his finger. "You nurture your runes with the Five Elements; the more runes you have, the larger the pool becomes, and the larger the pool, the more Five Elements you can store. But there's an 'Movement Eye' at the bottom of your pool. When the Movement Eye is blocked, the pool can hold the Five Elements; when the Movement Eye opens, all the Five Elements in the pool leak out. I just dripped a drop of Kong Xuan's Origin five-colored blood onto your Movement Eye Movement Eye, and now it can't be blocked anymore."
Dao of Ten Thousand Elements Venerable's expression changed, and a gurgling sound of leakage came from inside the shell. The patterns on the shell peeled off layer by layer from the center outwards, and fine cracks crawled all over the shell. Dao of Ten Thousand Elements Venerable pressed nine five-colored pythons onto the shell, and the five-colored pythons transformed into nine five-colored pillars to support the shell; but the five-colored pillars could support the shell, but not the Movement Eye, and the Ten Thousand Elements Pool was still leaking. Kong Xuan slapped the area where the shell had peeled off, and a crack appeared. He crawled into the crack and landed on the edge of the Ten Thousand Elements Pool.
Dao of Ten Thousand Elements Venerable was squatting on the bottom of the pool, trying to block the Movement Eye with his hand. If he blocked it once, two drops would leak out; if he blocked it twice, four drops would leak out.
"Don't block it." Kong Xuan squatted down by the pool and looked down. "That 'Movement Eye' you have is the shell's counterweight hole. It's a counterweight hole on the debris that Pangu threw out when he created the world. You built the shell into the Ten Thousand Elements Pool, and that counterweight hole became the Movement Eye'. The leakage of Movement Eye's is the shell's self-regulation—if there are too many Five Elements in the pool, the shell becomes too heavy, so the shell opens the Movement Eye' to release the Five Elements and reduce its weight. You've blocked the Movement Eye' completely, no wonder the shell is collapsing."
Dao of Ten Thousand Elements Venerable looked up. "Then what should we do?"
"Open half of the 'Movement Eye,' store half of the Five Elements in the pool, and the weight of the shell is just right. Don't spread all your 'movement patterns' on the shell surface; leave 30% inside the shell as a 'reservoir,' and 70% on the shell surface is enough. The five colors generate each other and flow on the shell surface, while the five colors restrain each other and are hidden inside the shell. When generation and restraint are balanced, the Movement Eye' will not leak."
Dao of Ten Thousand Elements Venerable squatted on the bottom plate of the pool for a long time, then let go. Movement Eye leaking water stopped on its own after a while, Five Elements in the pool decreased from full to half, while the number of lines on the shell decreased from one billion to sixty million. The shell stopped falling off, and the lines stopped malfunctioning. He jumped up from the bottom plate and handed nine five-colored beads to Kong Xuan: "You can take this world. But I'll go back with you, and I'll borrow your method of adjustment for three days. I've cultivated the Dao of Ten Thousand Elements for tens of thousands of years, and in the end, I turned my own shell into a leaky pool. I don't even know when it got blocked."
Kong Xuan accepted the five-colored bead. "I'll lend you the method. You collect the worlds. Once you've collected them all, go to City of Ten Thousand Crafts to find Yin Xi and break through the first ten thousandth barrier, the 'Naturalness Pass.' When you can adjust the weight of the worlds without using your Movement Eye, you'll have graduated."
Kunpeng traveled northeast for forty-nine days, collecting forty-two Great Thousand Worlds and one hundred and thirty Middle Thousand Worlds. On the evening of the forty-eighth day, the command flag shifted three inches to the northeast. Floating deep within the Chaos was a gigantic shell, its surface covered with gray-white gale patterns. The patterns spiraled from the core to the surface, each one a complete Swift Wind Law. Every three zhang (approximately 10 meters) on the shell's surface was embedded a gale crystal, each crystal sealing the Origin gale energy. From a distance, it resembled a giant wind field spanning countless Eons.
Kunpeng pressed his palm forward, and a gust of wind tore through him. The wind patterns spun rapidly, converging into nine chains of wind that bound his five fingers, pulling his wind power outward. He withdrew his hand, and a gray-white wind bead appeared in his palm. He crushed the wind bead, and from the fragments floated an extremely fast and intense divine thought, "The Dao of Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Venerable is here. Who comes?"
Kunpeng flicked away the fragments. "Kunpeng, the gale on your shell is quite impressive; it can spin on its own and even actively entangle people's hands. Unfortunately, what gets entangled is your own gale. Even if I crush it, you'll have to spin it again."
A swift whistling sound came from within the shell, the wind patterns exploding and transforming into a gray-white cloud that enveloped the giant shell. Emerging from the cloud was an old man in a gray-white wind robe, surrounded by nine wind pythons, each holding a spinning wind pearl in its mouth. The Dao of Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Venerable spoke, his voice like Gale sweeping across the sea. "This shell of mine is covered with ninety-nine million wind patterns, each formed from a wisp of wind I release. For every wind pearl you crush, I release ten more wisps of wind."
The Kunpeng spread its golden wings and circled its shell once. It controlled the wind, and was most adept at finding the slowest point within the fastest speed. Although the wind patterns were fast, there was a point of hesitation at the end, where a palm-sized sparse pattern was revealed. It pointed to the sparse point, and a drop of Kunpeng's Origin wind blood seeped from its fingertip. As the blood fell, a small piece of the shell collapsed, revealing a bottomless wind cave, from which came a muffled groan from the Dao of Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Venerable.
"All ninety-nine million of your swift runes are connected to the 'Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Pool' at the core of your shell." Kunpeng withdrew his finger. "You release swift winds to nurture the runes; the more runes, the larger the pool, and the larger the pool, the more swift winds you can release. But you have a 'Swift Eye' at the bottom of your pool. When the Swift Eye is blocked, the pool can hold the swift winds; when the Swift Eye is open, all the swift winds in the pool leak out. I just dripped a drop of Kunpeng's Origin wind blood onto your Swift Eye, and it can't be blocked anymore."
The Dao of Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Venerable's expression changed, and a whooshing sound came from inside the shell. The rarity patterns on the shell peeled off layer by layer from the center outwards, and fine cracks crawled all over the shell. The Dao of Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Venerable pressed nine wind pythons onto the shell, and the wind pythons transformed into nine wind pillars to support the shell; but the wind pillars could support the shell, but not the rarity eyes, and the Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Pool was still leaking. Kunpeng slapped the area where the shell had peeled off, and a crack appeared. He crawled into the crack and landed on the edge of the Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Pool.
Dao of Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Venerable was squatting on the bottom of the pool, trying to plug his eyes with his hands. He would plug them once and then let two more leak out, then two more and four more leak out.
"Don't block it." Kunpeng squatted by the pool and looked down. "That 'Swift Eye' is the counterweight hole of your shell. It's a counterweight hole on the debris that Pangu threw out when he created the world. You built the shell into the Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Pool, and the counterweight hole became the 'Swift Eye.' The 'Swift Eye' leaks air because the shell is self-regulating—if there's too much wind in the pool, the shell becomes too heavy, so the shell opens the 'Swift Eye' to release the wind and reduce its weight. You've blocked the 'Swift Eye,' no wonder the shell is collapsing."
Dao of Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Venerable looked up. "Then what should we do?"
"Open half of the Swift Eye, store half of the Swift Wind in the pool, and the weight of the shell is just right. Don't spread all your Swift Patterns on the shell surface; leave 30% inside the shell as a Swift Wind reservoir, and 70% on the shell surface is enough. Fast winds travel on the shell surface, slow winds nourish the inside of the shell; when the fast and slow winds are connected, the Swift Eye won't explode."
The Dao of Ten Thousand Swiftnesses Venerable squatted on the bottom plate of the pool for a long time, then released his grip. The swift eyes leaked for a while and then stopped on their own. The swift wind in the pool decreased from full to half, and the swift patterns on the shell decreased from one billion to sixty million. The shell stopped falling off, and the swift patterns stopped running rampant. He jumped up from the bottom plate and handed the nine wind pearls to Kunpeng: "You can take this world. But I'll go back with you, and I'll borrow your method of regulation for three days. I've cultivated the Dao of Ten Thousand Swiftnesses for tens of thousands of years, and in the end, I turned my own shell into a leaky pool. I don't even know when I plugged it up."
Kunpeng accepted the Wind Pearl: "I'll lend you the method. You can collect the worlds. Once you've collected them all, go to City of Ten Thousand Crafts and find Yin Xi to break through the first ten thousandth level, the 'Naturalness Pass.' When you can adjust the weight of the worlds without using your quick eyes, you'll have graduated."
The remaining four groups of the Phoenix Clan elders split up and went in different directions, encountering several hard shells along the way. Some shells were covered with lightning patterns, some with water patterns, some with earth patterns, and one shell was even covered with a half-life, half-death pattern of withered growth. At first, the four groups of elders tried to pry it open by their own strength, causing the patterns on the shell to become chaotic. The Daoist within the shell was also stubborn, preferring to block the pool's eye rather than let the world be taken away. Later, the crimson-gold Golden Phoenix message from the Yuanfeng in the command flag arrived, and the four groups of elders... Instead of forcibly prying it open, they first looked for the sparse patterns in the core of the shell, then for the counterweight holes at the bottom of the pool. They explained the method of "half-opening the pool eye, three-tenths of the inner chamber, and seven-tenths of the shell surface," and the Daoist inside the shell released their grip on its own. Some Daoist masters handed over their World Seals on the spot after hearing this, while others still tried to argue, saying, "I have cultivated the laws for tens of thousands of years, and yet a phoenix teaches me how to breathe." But despite their stubbornness, once the pool eye opened and the shell became stable, the patterns on the shell surface stopped growing wildly, and they had nothing more to say.
After the ten routes were collected, the ten great worlds within the Chaos returned to their respective positions. Yuanfeng planted the command flag back on the giant shell in the due west direction. The five continents and the four-directional map on the flag lit up simultaneously. Ten streams of the Phoenix Clan blood energy converged from all parts of the Chaos, forming a complete ten-directional universe map on the flag. The six Dao Venerables Ten Thousand Nirvanas, Ten Thousand Li Ten Thousand Heavens, Ten Thousand Winds, Ten Thousand Elements, Ten Thousand Swiftnesses, stood under the flag, followed by the remaining Dao Venerables and beings of their respective worlds. Some of these beings were still soaking in the Luminous Fluid and had not yet fully awakened, while others peeked out from their small worlds inside the shell. Seeing that the Phoenix Clan had not destroyed their worlds, they gradually felt relieved.
Yuanfeng put away the command flag and Human Dao, "The world has been taken over, and the shell is stable, but taking over the world isn't as simple as just putting the shell away in your sleeve. You Dao Venerables have cultivated for tens of thousands of years, yet you've turned your own shells into leaky pools. The root cause isn't a lack of strong laws, but a lack of understanding of the word 'nature.' The pool's openings should open when they should open, and close when they should close; the shell surface should be covered to seven-tenths, leaving three-tenths for the inner treasury to breathe. Yin Xi of City of Ten Thousand Crafts explained this principle in more detail than I have. You will come with me to City of Ten Thousand Crafts to break through the first ten thousandth barrier, the 'Naturalness Pass.' If you can break through it, you will be in charge of the world yourselves from now on; if you can't, you will spend a few more days soaking in the Luminous Fluid in City of Ten Thousand Crafts to loosen the knots in your minds."
The six Dao Venerables responded in unison. Vermilion Bird, Jiu Feng, Azure Luan, Kong Xuan, Kunpeng each led their respective World Seals back to the flag, and the four groups of elders also presented the World Seals they had collected. Yuanfeng pressed the Ten-Direction Worlds Directions World Seal onto the command flag, and crimson- Golden Phoenix fire rose three zhang high on the flag, illuminating the depths of Chaos. She glanced back at the direction of the Undying Volcano in the south. The Phoenix Clan's blood and qi still glowed crimson-gold in the sky. The clan's fortune was at its peak after the removal of their Karma/Sin, but prosperity was not enough to justify a complete sweep. There were still plenty of scraps from Pangu in the Chaos, and the Ten-Direction Worlds were only the first batch. She rolled up the command flag and said, "Return to City of Ten Thousand Crafts. Save those who need saving, soak those who need to be soaked in the Luminous Fluid, and help those who need to break through their cultivation barriers. The Phoenix Clan's contribution has only just begun."