When it came to Fu Xi, he truly lived up to his reputation as the creator of the Innate Bagua. In just a few short years, he had mastered it completely.
He was even preparing to use it to divine his own future, but Qing Xuan stopped him. "Think carefully, Daoist Fu Xi. Once you cast this divination, no matter the result, you'll be plagued by worries."
"I'm living proof. Do you really want to follow in my footsteps, Daoist Fu Xi? To fight with all your might to change something, only to find yourself powerless against the Heavenly Dao's force of correction?"
"If you're worried about your future, Daoist Fu Xi, then when you have a decision to make, simply cast a divination to find out which choice you should make."
Fu Xi nodded. "Thank you for enlightening me, Daoist Qing Xuan. Otherwise, I would have made a grave mistake."
After that, Fu Xi began discussing the Innate Bagua with Qing Xuan. Drawing on his memories of the future, Qing Xuan was able to hold his own in the conversation.
Their discussion went on for a full forty-nine years, and Qing Xuan gained a deep understanding of the Innate Bagua.
Compared to Fu Xi, who had already comprehended the Great Dao Deduction Law, however, Qing Xuan's insights were insignificant.
When their discussion reached an especially lively point, Fu Xi took out the Fu Xi Qin and played a tune. He infused the music with his insights into the Dao of Innate Deduction.
One day, Fu Xi was still playing the zither beneath the Gourd Trellis. Qing Xuan was utterly captivated by the music, and the Gourd Leaves seemed to dance in the breeze.
Nuwa, who had left Phoenix Perch Mountain hundreds of years earlier, finally appeared before Fu Xi and Qing Xuan again. Her face was bright with unconcealed joy.
Nuwa ignored Fu Xi as well and ran straight to Qing Xuan. She gave the Pure Bottle in her hand a little shake and asked him, "Little Gourd Vine, do you know what I brought back for you?"
As she spoke, Nuwa turned the Pure Bottle upside down. Drops of Three Lights Divine Water fell from it, nourishing the Gourd Vine.
At the same time, Nuwa took out a portion of Nine Heavens Breathing Soil and buried it around the Gourd Vine's roots like fertilizer. Then she poured all the remaining Three Lights Divine Water from the bottle over it.
"To get the Three Lights Divine Water and Nine Heavens Breathing Soil, I spent a full two hundred years at the Ancestral Witch Hall."
"Finally, without using any Magic Treasures, I fought Houtu to a draw. Only then did Houtu and Gonggong agree to give me the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil and Three Lights Divine Water."
"But this is all I could get. If you ask me to find more, I wouldn't know where to look."
Qing Xuan was truly moved. The Twelve Ancestral Witches were all battle fanatics. Even Houtu, who was a little gentler than the other eleven, was still beyond comparison with members of any other race.
Thinking about what Nuwa must have gone through over those two hundred years to defeat Houtu, Qing Xuan felt a pang of sympathy.
A tendril of the Gourd Vine slowly reached down from above. One of its Gourd Leaves fluttered gently, fanning Nuwa to show its gratitude.
Seeing the Gourd Leaf fan her, Nuwa beamed. Only then did she finally notice Fu Xi standing nearby.
"Brother, you've finally come out of seclusion?"
Fu Xi looked helpless. He rolled his eyes at Nuwa and said, "I came out of seclusion two hundred years ago, when you brought Daoist Qing Xuan back."
"Not only that, I even greeted you. But you had eyes only for Daoist Qing Xuan and didn't pay me any attention."
Seeing Nuwa's embarrassment, Qing Xuan smiled and said, "So you're Nuwa. You really did fool me terribly."
"If I'd known you were Nuwa, I never would've come back with you. Now I've walked straight into a tiger's den."
Nuwa looked perplexed. "Weren't you the one who kept saying you wanted to meet Nuwa, the Primordial First Beauty? Now that you've met her, why do you look so hopeless?"
Fu Xi led the pouting Nuwa over to a stone bench beneath the Gourd Trellis. Then he told her about everything that had happened between him and Qing Xuan over the past two hundred years.
When Nuwa heard that the Gourd Vine would lose its last chance of survival in her hands, tears nearly spilled from her eyes.
"I don't care about Great Merit. I only know that Little Gourd Vine is willing to talk with me, and even wants to give me everything it has. So I won't let anything happen to him."
Hearing Nuwa's words, Qing Xuan felt somewhat reassured. It seemed that his efforts to win her over back then had paid off.
At the very least, he was already a friend in Nuwa's heart—and the kind of close friend she was willing to give everything for.
Just as Qing Xuan was about to thank Nuwa, he suddenly felt a force tugging at his Nascent Soul. It began spreading through the entire Gourd Vine, beyond his control.
The process brought a tearing pain to Qing Xuan's Nascent Soul. The Gourd Vine began shaking violently, nearly toppling the Seven Gourds from their Jianmu tray.
This left Nuwa worried, but a smile appeared on Fu Xi's face. He took out the Three Lights Divine Water he had gathered from the Gourd Vine during this time and handed it to Nuwa.
"Little Sister, if I'm not mistaken, Daoist Qing Xuan's Nascent Soul has begun merging completely with his original body."
"He needs powerful nourishment to support him now. Hurry and pour this Three Lights Divine Water over his roots. It will help him complete the fusion of his Nascent Soul and his original body."
Nuwa accepted the Three Lights Divine Water, but didn't immediately do as Fu Xi had instructed. Instead, she hesitated before speaking.
"Brother, Little Gourd Vine is a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Root. If he really merges his Nascent Soul with his original body, Form Transformation will become even more difficult."
"Even Daoist Zhun Ti couldn't do that. Since the beginning of time, only Old Ancestor Yang Mei has managed it, using his original body, the Empty Heart Willow, as the basis for his Form Transformation."
"Why not use this opportunity to let Little Gourd Vine use one of the gourds he grew as a vessel? He could send his Nascent Soul out of his original body and borrow the gourd's body to transform."
Nuwa was right. Daoist Zhun Ti's original body was also one of the Ten Great Innate Spiritual Roots, known as the Geng Jin Bodhi Tree.
Unfortunately, he hadn't used the Bodhi Tree as the vessel for his Form Transformation. Instead, he had chosen a Bodhi Seed from the tree, and only then had he managed to transform successfully.
That was also why Daoist Zhun Ti had the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree. It had been refined from the Bodhi Tree.
So Nuwa naturally hoped Qing Xuan would follow Daoist Zhun Ti's example. That way, his chances of successfully transforming would be greater, and the process would be safer.
Fu Xi, however, had a different opinion. He shook his head at Nuwa and said, "Although Daoist Zhun Ti transformed with the help of a Bodhi Seed, he's the weakest among the Great Luo Golden Immortals."
"If he hadn't refined his original body, the Geng Jin Bodhi Tree, into the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree, he wouldn't even have been able to protect Mount Sumeru in the west."
"Do you really want to watch Daoist Qing Xuan cripple his own foundation and become someone others can bully?"
Nuwa shook her head. "Brother, you don't know that the Seven Gourds are about to mature. Once they do, Little Gourd Vine will lose seventy to eighty percent of its essence."
"When that happens, no matter how good Little Gourd Vine's Roots are, he won't have any chance of undergoing Form Transformation. Besides, with me here, I'll never let anyone bully him."
Qing Xuan was beginning to feel tempted too. In his memories, of the seven gourds he had grown, only six had ripened. The last, the Purple-Black Gourd, had never matured.
Of the six ripe gourds, five had been refined into Supreme Grade Innate Spiritual Treasures. Only the Purple Yellow Gourd that Tongtian obtained had developed a spark of intelligence and been transformed by Tongtian into the Water Fire Boy.
Had the Innate Gourd Vine really chosen this path in the original Primordial World Trajectory? And was the Water Fire Boy the Innate Gourd Vine?
Was this the Innate Gourd Vine's fate? Was it impossible to change, even for someone like me who had traveled here from another world?
What if I split my Nascent Soul into seven parts and attached each one to one of the Seven Gourds? If the seven gourds merged afterward, could I successfully undergo Form Transformation?
At that moment, a scene from Qing Xuan's childhood appeared in his mind. He had already transformed into the Diamond Gourd Baby, wearing a white undershirt and shorts.
Qing Xuan hastily banished the impractical idea, then began seriously considering what choice he should make.
After all, one wrong move, and his journey through this world might come to an end.
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