My Way Has Never Needed More Words

After reading it, Yang Xuan left the group chat.

He continued his journey.

Seven-colored radiance glimmered beneath his feet as he transformed into a streak of rainbow light and vanished beyond the horizon.

Suddenly, a towering mountain range appeared in Yang Xuan's eyes.

Its peaks were entirely unlike the other peaks of the Kunlun Mountains, carrying an indescribable, ineffable "aura."

The summit was blanketed in gleaming white snow. Below the snowline stretched an emerald pine forest, where streams murmured between the trees and spirit deer drank at their banks.

A cluster of palaces could vaguely be seen halfway up the mountain. Their appearance was ancient and elegant, suffused with a natural, uncontrived charm.

Yang Xuan's heart tightened. He immediately halted his escape light and landed at the mountain's foot.

He sent his divine sense forward, only for it to be gently repelled by a soft force.

Yang Xuan then raised his head toward the summit. The palace flickered in and out of sight amid the clouds and mist.

There seemed to be several words on the palace plaque, yet even with his eyesight, he could not make them out.

Those characters contained the power of some Great Dao. His cultivation was insufficient, so he could not discern their meaning.

Yang Xuan hesitated for a moment before stepping toward the mountain.

Since he had come, he might as well settle in.

Anyone capable of establishing such a barrier here had to be a great power of the primordial world.

If the other party had not wished to see him, he would never have reached the mountain's foot at all.

Since he had been allowed to arrive here, it meant the other party was willing to meet him.

Stone steps rose layer upon layer, extending from the foot of the mountain to its waist.

Mountains and rivers, vegetation and flowers, birds and beasts, wind and rain, thunder and lightning... images of all manner of things flashed before Yang Xuan's eyes.

After walking for an unknown length of time, boundless illusions flooded his mind, reflecting countless bizarre and grotesque scenes.

He forgot his own existence and became an ordinary man, living each day by chopping firewood, watching the sun rise and moon set, until he finally died alone in a dilapidated thatched hut.

At times, he became a wisp of clear breeze, only to be torn to pieces by the violent power of the Great Dao in the next instant.

Who knew how much time had passed.

"Who... who am I?!"

Just as Yang Xuan was about to sink completely into "delusion," a clear and melodious bell suddenly pierced through layer upon layer of illusion and exploded deep within his sea of consciousness.

"Dong—"

The bell's toll was ancient and desolate, instantly shattering the sky full of falsehoods.

Yang Xuan shuddered, and clarity returned to his eyes.

He raised his head and discovered that, at some unknown point, he had already arrived before the palace complex halfway up the mountain.

Those stone steps that had seemed boundless and endless had somehow already been traversed.

And the palace whose plaque he had never been able to see clearly now stood quietly before him.

The three large characters on the plaque emitted a faint golden glow, no longer blurred—

"Western Queen Palace."

At the sight, countless thoughts surged through Yang Xuan's mind.

Queen Mother of the West.

The foremost among female immortals, a top-tier great power of the primordial world.

In the legends of the primordial world, Queen Mother of the West's status was no lower than that of the Three Pure Ones. She governed the female immortals of the world and held the Peaches of Immortality and the elixir of immortality in her hands.

He had never expected that he would stumble into Queen Mother of the West's sacred ground by sheer accident.

"Since you have come, enter."

Hearing this, Yang Xuan walked inside without changing expression.

This was the first time since his rebirth that he had met one of the primordial world's top great powers face-to-face, but there was nothing to worry about.

The vermilion gates slowly opened. Beyond them was not the deep darkness he had imagined, but a dazzling immortal radiance that made his heart tremble.

In an instant, the scene before him opened up completely, as though he had crossed from the mortal world into the heavenly realm in a single step.

Before his eyes lay a vast, boundless expanse of azure water—the Jade Pool.

The pool water was crystal clear to the bottom, yet unfathomably deep. Its surface was calm as a mirror, reflecting nine-colored clouds flowing across the firmament.

The pool bottom was covered in brilliant, multicolored divine stones. Each one radiated dense innate spiritual qi, and as the water rippled, they refracted dreamlike halos of light.

Around the Jade Pool, exotic flowers and rare herbs competed in splendor. Many were primordial spirit roots that had long vanished from the world.

Peach trees of immortality grew in orderly clusters along the poolside, their branches and leaves luxuriant, laden with unripe green or rosy fruits. A refreshing fragrance permeated the air.

At the center of the Jade Pool stood a majestic palace carved from a single block of white jade. It was translucent throughout and radiated a soft moonlit glow.

The palace's soaring eaves and interlocking brackets were magnificent. The two characters "Jade Pool" on its plaque danced like dragons and coiled like serpents, containing the supreme laws of the Great Dao of yin and softness, making one afraid to look directly at them.

Within this entire space, time seemed to flow exceptionally slowly. An air of eternal stillness and nobility washed over him.

Yang Xuan stood upon the white jade steps by the pool, his robes fluttering gently in the wind.

As he gazed upon this breathtaking immortal realm, beautiful beyond compare yet concealing endless Dao essence, he secretly marveled.

"This junior, Yan Zhen, has rashly intruded upon Senior's sacred ground. I beg Senior's forgiveness."

Yang Xuan stepped forward a few paces and respectfully bowed.

As Yang Xuan bent in salute, ripples suddenly spread across the Jade Pool's mirror-still surface.

"Yan Zhen..."

An ethereal, drifting voice came from deep within the white jade palace, as though it had traversed eternity itself to resound directly in the depths of Yang Xuan's soul.

No joy or anger could be heard in that voice, nor could one distinguish whether it belonged to a man, woman, elder, or youth. Yet it carried a supreme majesty that made heaven, earth, and all things bow their heads.

Then, from behind the tightly shut palace gates, an unparalleled figure slowly emerged.

Yet when Yang Xuan instinctively looked up, his pupils abruptly contracted.

He could not see the visitor's face at all!

Above that magnificent divine robe, shimmering with flowing light and embroidered with the sun, moon, stars, and nine-radiance turtle patterns, where her features should have been, there was only a haze of chaotic Great Dao laws.

That ball of light was sacred and majestic. At times, it became the phantom of a peerless female immortal, graceful and regal; at others, it faintly took on the form of the ancient totem described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas—a leopard's tail, tiger's teeth, and dominion over punishment and slaughter.

She seemed to be the origin of yin and yang, the supreme sovereign of the ultimate hidden yin.

In Yang Xuan's eyes, what stood before him at that moment was not a particular living being at all, but the incarnation of the "Great Dao" itself.

Her true appearance could not be glimpsed in the slightest!

Merely gazing at that indistinct figure of light, Yang Xuan felt as though his eyes were about to be scorched by those vast laws, while the Dao within his body trembled and submitted beyond his control.

Even the Great Dao he controlled was being suppressed. Was this the foundation of a top-tier great power of the primordial world?

The figure did not walk upon the water, yet the azure pool beneath her feet rose of its own accord to support her as she drew closer to Yang Xuan step by step.

With every step, the innate yin spirit qi emanating from her body grew denser, while the surrounding peach trees of immortality swayed softly, as though welcoming their true master.

"I am Queen Mother of the West."

The indifferent voice came once more from the haze of light, devoid of the slightest trace of mortal warmth.

"My Jade Pool is separated by three thousand miles of Weak Water. None but those fated may cross it. Since you were able to pass through the Delusion Stairway and reach this place, you are a guest of Kunlun."

She stopped ten paces away from Yang Xuan.

Though Yang Xuan could not see her face, he could clearly feel a faint divine sense sweeping over his entire body, examining him in detail from flesh to soul.

After a moment, that suffocating pressure receded somewhat.

Queen Mother of the West raised a hand slightly. A point of jade-white light gathered at her fingertip, and a hint of amusement entered her tone.

"You bear the source aura of my Kunlun lineage within you, yet you are also tainted by the karmic threads of an anomaly not belonging to this world... Fellow Daoist, who exactly are you?"

"My Way has never needed more words; clouds in blue skies, water in the bottle." Yang Xuan made a Daoist salute.

He did not answer Queen Mother of the West's question directly.

Instead, he told her that they were both seekers of the Dao who had happened to meet.