The White Tiger Clan Renders Meritorious Service

When the White Tiger rose from the deepest part of Geng Metal Mountain in the Western Extremity, all the gold veins of the entire Geng Metal Mountain lit up for a moment simultaneously. That light was neither fire nor thunder, but rather the Dao marks etched by the powerful figures of the White Tiger Clan throughout history with their killing intent, awakened by a single breath. The Dao marks lit up layer by layer from the foot of the mountain to the summit. When they reached the peak, the myriad gold marks converged into a pillar, intertwining gray and sharp gold, shooting straight into the sky. An extremely fine hole was pierced through the sky. There were no stars or clouds in the hole, only the rough edges of Chaos that had been illuminated.

After the White Tiger Clan's Karma/Sin was completely eradicated, their clan's fortune was already on the rise. That fortune was quiet, like a beast waking up and stretching its limbs. As soon as the White Tiger stood up, the entire Geng Metal Mountain's aura shifted from its grimness to a faint vitality, like a drop of dew condensing on a blade. The younger members guarding the mountain felt their knees go weak, not out of fear, but because something long dormant in their bloodline suddenly rose and bowed slightly towards the figure on the mountain peak.

He stepped onto the golden sand steps and ascended to the mountaintop platform. Five of his clansmen were already standing there. The Metal White Tiger was enveloped in a grayish-white, sharp metallic aura, with a golden scale between its fingers, the scale reflecting the outline of the entire Geng Metal Mountain; the Wood White Tiger had a grayish-white iron tree phantom floating behind it, its roots piercing through the void, new shoots sprouting from the cracks in the rocks; the Water White Tiger had a grayish-white water ring around its feet, its surface occasionally flashing with a blade-like light; the Fire White Tiger had grayish-white fire patterns wrapped around its wrists, the fire not burning its flesh, but only leaving fine white marks as thin as hair in the air; the Earth White Tiger stood the heaviest, its feet leaving a very shallow indentation on the stone surface beneath its feet.

The White Tiger took out the White Tiger Clan Command Flag from the stone box on the platform and planted it in the ground. The flagpole was inserted three inches into the stone, and the flag was unfurled, fluttering but without wind, embroidered with a map of the five continents and the four directions of Chaos. As the auras of the five White Tiger approached, the flags tilted to their respective sides, as if recognizing relatives or calling out names.

"The Taiqing Being has issued a summons." The White Tiger turned around, its voice not loud, yet loud enough to drown out all the echoes below the golden sand steps. "It's time to collect the scraps from Pangu in the Chaos. Though called scraps, they are actually fragments of shells thrown out during the creation of the world, which didn't have time to grow into a proper world. Inside the shells are pools, eyes, patterns, living beings, and even Dao Venerables who have cultivated for tens of thousands of years. The White Tiger Clan has now cleared its Karma/Sin and is full of powerful figures; it's time for them to contribute. But contributing doesn't mean brute force. The Way of Slaughter is all about 'killing,' and it's also all about 'killing': it can kill, and it can also kill. Collecting the world is not about destroying it; the living beings inside the shells should be preserved if possible; after the battle, those who need saving should be saved, and those who need to be soaked in the Luminous Fluid should be soaked in the Luminous Fluid."

He raised his hand, and the five continents on the command flag lit up in turn. "This time, we'll go out into the Ten Directions Universe Worlds. I'll choose the largest one. You five, each choose one, and proceed according to the direction. The remaining four, let the other Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal of the clan collect them in groups of two or three. Remember three things: When the patterns on the shell are spinning wildly, don't try to cut them; look for the sparse patterns in the core; don't press too hard on the hand blocking the eyes on the bottom plate; leave it half-open and let the shell breathe; leave 30% of the inner treasury, and only cover 70% of the shell surface. Don't wear all your treasures on your body. The world shell is not an inanimate object; it's a living, heavy weapon. Heavy weapons will breathe if they're pressed down for too long, and if they can't breathe, they'll crack; when they crack, the first to die won't necessarily be the enemy, but more likely the creatures inside that can't escape."

The Metal White Tiger closed the golden scales between its fingers. "I'm going due west." The Iron Tree phantom behind the Wood White Tiger swayed. "I'm going due east." The Water White Tiger's feet swirled with water. "I'm going due north." The Fire White Tiger's wrist crackled with fire. "I'm going due south." The Earth White Tiger pulled its foot out of the dent. "I'm going to the center."

The White Tiger nodded, tucked the command flag into its sleeve, and headed southwest into the Chaos. Before leaving, it added, "Those Dao Venerables inside the shells have cultivated for tens of thousands of years; each has their trump card. Don't think you can just sweep through everything just because you've cleared your Karma/Sin. Be careful when you need to be. Before you make a move, observe the patterns and lines on the shell's surface; don't smash it to pieces with one claw. We're going to collect, not destroy; only by restraining ourselves can we restrain the world."

The six White Tiger split into six groups and disappeared into the Chaos. Within the Chaos, the hazy, gray currents surged endlessly, indistinguishable from top to bottom, oblivious to the passage of time, with only world shells of varying sizes floating and sinking within. Although each White Tiger Clan member carried a command flag in the Chaos, the five continents and the four cardinal directions on the flag would slightly shift according to the direction they went; the six strands of the White Tiger Clan blood energy transformed into extremely faint gray-white and sharp gold lines within the Chaos, allowing them to sense the location of their clan members even from a great distance through the command flags.

The White Tiger traveled southwest for forty-nine days. Along the way, he collected fifty-six Great Thousand World and one hundred and eighty Middle Thousand World. The Lesser Thousand World had thin shells and shallow patterns, with many interconnected pools. He would simply shine his command flag on them; if the Daoist within was willing to open the door, he would take out the World Seal and place it in a corner of the flag. If not, he would not forcibly take it, but would simply send in the clan's message, leaving room for future discussions in City of Ten Thousand Crafts. On the evening of the forty-eighth day, the command flag in his sleeve rolled up by itself, and the corner shifted three inches to the southwest. The White Tiger went forward and saw a giant shell floating in the depths of Chaos, three times larger than any shell he had seen along the way. The shell was covered with gray-white killing patterns, arranged in a tiger-striped pattern from the core to the surface, each pattern a complete Slaughter Laws. Every three zhang (approximately 10 meters) on the shell was embedded with a killing pattern crystal, each crystal sealing an Origin killing power. From a distance, the entire giant shell resembled the shed skin of White Tiger that Eon, the patterns still alive, the Killing Intent still warm.

The White Tiger pressed his hand against the shell's surface, a tearing, murderous force emanating from his palm. The tearing didn't extend outwards, but rather pulled inwards, like ten thousand needles pulling back along the lines of his palm. The killing patterns on the shell suddenly accelerated their rotation, converging on his palm from all directions. When they reached the center, they transformed into nine chains of killing patterns, binding his five fingers, each chain pulling his killing power outwards. This was a welcome, a test, and a possession attempt. If it were someone with a shallow foundation, a single press would have torn their killing path away to feed the shell. The White Tiger didn't struggle, letting it pull until the nine chains were taut, then gently withdrew. A grayish-white killing bead appeared in his palm, containing a complete Slaughter Laws. He pinched it between two fingers, shattering the bead into fine fragments. From the fragments floated an extremely sharp and profound divine thought, "The Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable is here. Who comes?"

White Tiger flicked away the debris. "White Tiger."

A moment of silence fell within the shell, followed by an extremely sharp tiger's roar. Simultaneously, the killing patterns on the shell exploded, transforming into a gigantic, greyish-white tiger phantom that enveloped the shell. From within the phantom emerged an old man in a greyish-white killing robe, surrounded by nine killing pythons. Each python held a rotating killing bead in its mouth, each bead sealing a complete Slaughter Laws. The Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable spoke, his voice like claws scraping through iron. "My shell is covered with ninety-nine million killing patterns, each one formed from a wisp of killing I released. For every killing bead you crush, I release ten more wisps of killing. White Tiger? Very well. A fellow killer has arrived in the path of killing."

"Those of the same kind have different fates." The White Tiger did not strike directly. He was a master of killing, and knew best that killing intent was sharp and swift, but where there is speed, there is bound to be stagnation. The real killing move is not speed, but speed that allows for a turn back. He circled half of the shell and saw that although the killing lines were dense, they all converged towards the center of the shell; where they converged the most, a sparse line the size of a palm was left, the lines so sparse that they resembled a white dot in the center of a tiger's head, the shell underneath was dark, as if something had thinned it from the inside. The shell is meant to protect the heart, but the heart is the thinnest part; this is not a coincidence, but a sign of illness.

He pointed to a sparse area, a drop of White Tiger's Origin killing blood seeping from his fingertip. As the blood fell, a small section of the shell collapsed, revealing a bottomless killing hole; from within came a muffled groan from the Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable, and the nine killing pythons simultaneously raised their heads. "Your ninety-nine million killing patterns are all connected to the Pool of Ten Thousand Slaughters at the heart of your shell," the White Tiger withdrew his finger, "You release killing patterns to nourish them; the more patterns, the larger the pool, and the larger the pool, the more killing you can release. It sounds like an endless cycle, but in reality, it only takes in and doesn't give out. But there's a killing eye at the bottom of your pool. When the killing eye is blocked, the pool can hold killing; when the killing eye is open, all the killing in the pool leaks out. I just dripped a drop of White Tiger's Origin killing blood onto your killing eye, and it can't be blocked anymore."

The expression of the Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable changed. Immediately, a gurgling sound of killing energy leaking out came from inside the shell. The killing 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 Slaughters Venerable pressed nine killing pythons onto the shell, and the killing pythons transformed into nine killing pillars to support the shell; but the killing pillars could support the shell, but not the killing eyes. The White Tiger slapped the area where the shell had peeled off, creating a crack, and crawled into it, landing on the edge of the Pool of Ten Thousand Slaughters.

The killing intent in the pool wasn't water, yet it knew better than water how to find the lowest spot. At the bottom of the pool, the Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable was squatting, trying to plug the killing eyes with his hands. One plug, two leaked; two plugs, four leaked. His hands, nurtured for tens of thousands of years, now resembled a child trying to plug an anthill, growing more panicked with each attempt. Seeing him enter, the Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable didn't pretend to be a superior being; he simply looked up and asked, "Then what do we do?"

"Don't block it." The White Tiger squatted by the pool and looked down. The killing eye wasn't big, round with a gap, and the edges had the rough texture unique to Pangu's fragments. "That killing eye is the balancing hole of the shell. When Pangu created the world, the fragments he threw out carried the remaining weight; the fragments grew into the world's shell, and the balancing hole became the pool's eye. You've built the shell into Pool of Ten Thousand Slaughters, and the balancing hole has become the killing eye. The killing eye leaking killing isn't bad; it's the shell adjusting itself. Too much killing in the pool makes the shell too heavy; by opening the killing eye, the shell releases killing and reduces weight. If you block the killing eye, it's no wonder the shell collapses."

"Self-regulation?" The Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable seemed to hear some foul language. "I have cultivated the Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters for tens of thousands of years, it is about keeping everything outside the shell, it is about using the word 'kill' to suppress all directions. You call it self-regulation?"

"The word 'kill' can suppress external enemies, but it can't suppress one's own power," said the White Tiger. "With the killing eye half open and half the killing power stored in the pool, the weight of the shell is just right. Cover the shell surface with seventy percent of the killing patterns to block external enemies, and leave the remaining three-tenths inside as a killing reservoir to nurture the blades. Only when the killing eye is half open and half closed will the shell not collapse. If you cover all ten percent of the killing patterns on the outside, it may seem imposing, but in reality, you're exposing your vital point to the heavens. The heavens don't need to attack you; as long as you continue to unleash killing power, the shell will crack on its own."

The Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable squatted on the plate at the bottom of the pool, pondering for a long time. The sound of the leaking killing intent gradually slowed down, then became less frequent. He slowly loosened his grip, first loosening a finger, then a palm, and finally removing his entire hand from the killing eye. The killing eye leaked for a while, then stopped on its own. The killing intent in the pool decreased from full to half full, and the killing patterns on the shell surface went from growing wildly to converging, decreasing from tens of millions to sixty million when counted; no more falling off, no more exploding, even the nine killing pillars became idle, transforming into killing pythons and resting back on his shoulder. The Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable looked at the half-pool of killing intent and suddenly felt that the half-pool was heavier and more obedient than when it was full. He jumped up from the plate at the bottom of the pool and handed the nine killing pearls to the White Tiger: "You can take this world. But I will go back with you, and I can borrow your method of adjustment for three days. I have cultivated the Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters for tens of thousands of years, and in the end, I have turned my shell into a leaky pool, but I don't even know when I blocked it."

The White Tiger accepted the Killing Pearl: "I'll lend you the method, and you can take over the world. Taking over doesn't mean stealing your Dao, it means teaching you not to use your Dao to kill or commit suicide. After you've taken over, go to City of Ten Thousand Crafts to find Yin Xi and break through the first ten thousandth barrier, the Naturalness Pass. You'll only be considered a master when you can adjust the weight of the world without using the Killing Eye."

The other five groups ventured deep into the Chaos, encountering different symptoms in the giant shells, but sharing the same root cause: the shell's surface patterns swirled wildly, and the pool's opening at the bottom was blocked by the Dao Venerable himself. The Dao Venerable preferred to turn the world into a leaky pool rather than let it be taken away. The five White Tiger stopped their forceful attacks, first finding the sparse patterns in the shell's core, dripping their Origin blood inside to make the pool's opening half-open; then they persuaded the Dao Venerable to leave 30% of the inner treasury and only cover 70% of the shell's surface. The five Dao Venerables— Dao of Ten Thousand Metals Venerable, Wan Mu, Ten Thousand Waters, Wan Huo, and Wan Zhong—released their grip one after another, and the laws within the pool decreased from full to half-full, the shell's surface patterns stopped growing wildly, and the World Seal was handed over. The four groups of the White Tiger Clan elders went in different directions, encountering several hard shells along the way: Wind, Thunder, Ice, and Life and Death. Initially, they tried to forcefully attack them, causing the shell's surface patterns to swirl wildly; later, following the instructions of the Command Flag Clan, they changed their methods, leaving the Wind eye half-open, the Thunder eye with a gap, and the Ice eye with a sliver, allowing the Life and Death energies to be stored separately, and the four shells returned to their respective positions.

After the ten routes were collected, the ten great worlds within the Chaos returned to their respective positions. The White Tiger planted its command flag back on the southwest giant shell, and the five continents and the four-directional map on the flag lit up simultaneously. Ten streams of the White Tiger Clan blood energy converged from all parts of the Chaos, forming a complete ten-directional universe map on the flag. The moment the map was completed, the ten giant shells paused slightly, like ten breaths exhaled at the same time. The six Dao Venerables— Ten Thousand Slaughters, Dao of Ten Thousand Metals Venerable, Wan Mu, Wan Ten Thousand Waters, Wan Huo, and Wan Zhong—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 the small worlds inside the shells. Seeing that the White Tiger Clan had not destroyed their worlds, they slowly relaxed. The four groups of elders also returned, each leading the world seals of Wind, Thunder, Ice, and Life and Death. The patterns on the world seals no longer spun wildly, leaving only slowly flowing light.

The White Tiger retrieved the command flag and Human Dao: "The world is now under control, and the shell is stable. You Dao Venerables have cultivated for tens of thousands of years, only to have your own shells become leaky pools. The root cause isn't a lack of strength in the laws, but a lack of understanding of the word 'nature.' Nature isn't weakness, nor is it indifference to killing; it's about killing when necessary and stopping when necessary; opening the pool's openings when appropriate and closing them when necessary; covering the shell's surface seven-tenths of the way, leaving the remaining three-tenths for the inner treasury to breathe. Yin Xi City of Ten Thousand Crafts explained this principle in more detail than I have. You will all come with me to City of Ten Thousand Crafts to break through the first barrier, the Naturalness Pass. If you succeed, you will each manage the world yourselves; if you fail, spend a few more days soaking in the Luminous Fluid in City of Ten Thousand Crafts to loosen the knots in your minds."

City of Ten Thousand Crafts sits on a stable piece of land in the southeast of Chaos. Its foundation rests on three fragments of Pangu, the fragments interlocking and carving out a base that won't be tossed about by the Chaos currents. The city walls are studded with fragments of various world shells: cracked lines, extinguished flames, dried-up pools, and even half-shells preserved intact. Yin Xi stands behind the city gate stele, dressed in blue robes, wearing a wooden hairpin, and carrying a bundle of bamboo slips. Seeing White Tiger leading six Dao Venerables and four groups of elders back, he doesn't exchange pleasantries, but unfolds the bamboo slips. "Leave the world seal behind, and proceed to the gate. The first gate, the ten-thousandth gate, Naturalness Pass doesn't test magical power, only three things: whether the pools are half-open and half-closed, whether the inner treasury retains 30%, and whether the shell's weight adjusts itself. Those who fail will soak in the pool of Luminous Fluid; those who pass will return to their shells as Dao Venerables, and stop trying to block the counterweight holes with their hands."

The Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable was the first to enter the gate. Inside was a miniature Pool of Ten Thousand Slaughters, the killing eyes on the bottom plate opening and closing intermittently, the killing patterns on the shell sometimes dense and sometimes sparse. Yin Xi, standing beside him, only reported the numbers, "The pool is three-tenths full, the shell weighs seven-tenths; the killing eyes are two-tenths open and one-tenth closed; the inner treasury is three-tenths full, the shell is seven-tenths full." At first, the Dao of Ten Thousand Slaughters Venerable habitually reached out to block them, but withdrew his hand halfway, instead using his killing energy to support the bottom plate of the pool, letting the killing eyes open and close on their own. The first time, they opened too wide, the killing energy leaking out painfully; the second time, they closed too quickly, the shell immediately tightened; the third time, he remembered the pain and the tightness, making the killing eyes breathe like a beast. The killing energy in the pool rose and fell, and the killing patterns on the shell expanded and subsided accordingly, and they no longer cracked. He tried nine times, and on the ninth time, he didn't use his hands to press, but only used his divine sense to guide the killing eyes to open and close, and the shell's weight stabilized itself. Yin Xi nodded. "Passed. The Venerable Master of Killings knows how to restrain himself, only then can he be considered to have entered the gate."

The other Dao Venerables entered the pass in turn. Dao of Ten Thousand Metals Venerable Wan Jin was impatient to open his Metal Eye; the golden patterns on his shell swirled erratically. Remembering that sharp points always have gaps, he stopped forcing them down and instead left a thin line at the point of conflict. Dao of Ten Thousand Trees Venerable was hasty to close his wooden eye as soon as he opened it. Yin Xi reminded him, "Wood is inherently active; don't close the pool's root too." He then left 30% of his wooden path inside his shell as a storage chamber, covering only 70% of the shell's surface. Dao of Ten Thousand Waters Venerable was the quietest to enter the pass; his water eye was half-open, and the water channels in his pool swirled into eddies. When he emerged, he inscribed the four characters "Deep Abyss, Self-Suffocating" on a bamboo slip, carving them very shallowly. Dao of Ten Thousand Fires Venerable was the most lively to enter the pass; as soon as his fire eye opened, fire... The pool surged upwards with a roar, and he almost reached out to press it down again. Yin Xi shouted, "Fire is intense; you can't press it down!" He forcefully put his hand behind his back, changing it to a half-open, half-closed position. Dao of Ten Thousand Centers Venerable was the slowest to enter the pass. After his central eye was half-open, the central earth element fluctuated, and the shell weight was always slightly off. Yin Xi told him to adjust the inner treasury from 30% to 35%, the shell weight from 70% to 65%, and close the central eye halfway again. He tried three times and finally understood that the central palace wasn't still, but rather moved half a beat slower than others. When he emerged from the pass, he pondered, "Stability must have vitality; dead stability is not stability. Earth can breathe; that's what makes it earth."

The four Dao Venerables—Wind, Thunder, Ice, and Life and Death—brought by the four elders, entered the seclusion one by one. The Wind Dao Venerable learned to half-open the Wind Eye, so the whirlwinds outside the shell no longer tore at it; the Thunder Dao Venerable learned to leave a gap in the Thunder Eye, so the Thunder Pool inside the shell no longer exploded; the Ice Dao Venerable learned to leave a sliver in the Ice Eye, so the ice patterns on the shell no longer crumbled. The Life and Death Dao Venerable and Death Dao Venerable faced the most difficulty, as the withered and flourishing energies clashed again inside the seclusion. Yin Xi instructed him to leave three-tenths of the Life Treasury to nourish the root and to open half of the Death Treasury to expel the turbidity, only then did the Life and Death patterns slowly rotate. When the Life and Death Dao Venerable emerged from the seclusion, he only said one sentence, "Half withered, half flourishing, so it is natural."

The Ten-Direction Worlds was imprinted in a circle on the walls of City of Ten Thousand Crafts, the Ten Directions Universe Map on the flag echoing the fragments of the city wall. Grayish-white and sharp- Jinguang flowed slowly along the three fragments of Pangu at the city's foundation. The White Tiger stood atop the city wall, watching the still-floating world shells deep within the Chaos. Some shells had their patterns beginning to spin wildly, red light shining through the cracks; on the bottom of some shells, people were covering their eyes with their hands, their knuckles turning white; and in others, hordes of creatures clung to the shell walls, as if clinging to the last layer of skin. He He planted the command flag atop the city wall, its corner pointing deeper into the Chaos, and addressed the five White Tiger and the four elders. "The first batch is finished, and the lessons have been taught. From now on, anyone who tries to block the counterweight hole again will be sent to City of Ten Thousand Crafts to be soaked in the Luminous Fluid. Remember, we are taking away worlds, not corpses; we are saving lives, not saving face. The White Tiger Clan is ruthless, and precisely because of this, we must be half a step slower before acting. That half-step slower is not out of fear, but to leave others a way to avoid death, and to leave ourselves a way to avoid regret."

The wind swept through the remnants of the city wall, carrying the old scents of various worlds. Gold carried the metallic tang, wood the bitter buds, water the deep chill, fire the scorched sweetness, earth the dusty stillness, and at the boundary between life and death, there was an indescribable dampness, like spring snow melting on a grave. The five White Tiger responded in unison, and the four elders noted down the locations of the command flags. Yin Xi put away the bamboo slips behind the stone tablet at the city gate and glanced up at the sky. Chaos had no sky, but at this moment, everyone felt as if a sliver of light had appeared.

White Tiger smoothed his sleeves, the command flag nestled against his wrist, warm but not scalding. He knew that the removal of Karma/Sin was not a talisman, but a death knell; the clan's current prosperity was not a guarantee of victory, but a reason to avoid defeat. The Ten-Direction Worlds was just the first batch; there were still many scraps of Pangu, shells within shells, patterns within patterns, eyes within eyes. He turned his gaze to the direction the flag pointed, his voice echoing in the blood of every member of his clan. "Returning to City of Ten Thousand Crafts is only halfway. Save those who need saving, soak those who need soaking in the Luminous Fluid, break through those who need breaking through, and remember what needs to be remembered. Tomorrow, when we emerge from Chaos again, we'll treat the sick first, and leave a way for those we encounter. The White Tiger Clan's contribution has only just begun."