Mysteries Amid Reversal

Deep within chaos, boundless currents of chaotic energy surged and roared, as though billions upon billions of invisible giant pythons were wreaking havoc through the void.

There was no distinction of up, down, east, west, past, or future here. Violent chaotic energy devoured all who entered at every moment.

Queen Mother of the West stood upon the void, gentle radiance of the Great Dao flowing around her and keeping the chaotic currents, capable of dissolving all things, three feet away.

She halted and gazed toward the end of chaos, her tone turning solemn and grave:

"Yan Zhen, I can only escort you this far."

Hearing this, Yang Xuan immediately composed himself and bowed deeply to Queen Mother of the West. "Thank you, Senior, for protecting me all the way here. On the road ahead, this junior will naturally spare no effort."

Queen Mother of the West nodded slightly and raised a hand to point at the chaotic, disorderly void ahead.

"Purple Cloud Palace is where the Great Dao manifests. It cannot be compared to ordinary blessed grotto-heavens. It drifts beyond time and space, hidden between the laws. Even Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals may lose their way amid these endless chaotic currents and ultimately dissolve into nothingness."

At this point, she paused. Her gaze upon Yang Xuan gained an additional layer of meaning.

"Though I can sense the location of Purple Cloud Palace, if I forcibly take you there, I will become entangled in karma. I fear the opportunity meant for you will no longer be yours. Thus, you must rely on your own Dao heart and fortune to seek the rest of the way."

As her words fell, Queen Mother of the West swept her sleeve. A vast, gentle force lifted Yang Xuan and softly sent him beyond the bounds of her protective domain.

In an instant, the violent chaotic currents pounced like starving tigers!

Yang Xuan felt a tremendous crushing force pressing in from all directions, as though heaven and earth themselves were trying to grind him to dust.

He did not dare slacken. The Golden Immortal mana within him began circulating wildly.

The origin of the Primordial Gourd Vine swayed gracefully within his sea of consciousness. A faint seven-colored halo instantly covered his body, firmly blocking the chaotic energy that could corrode all things.

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior!"

Yang Xuan called out loudly, his voice somewhat ethereal amid the chaos.

Queen Mother of the West's figure gradually blurred within the chaotic mist.

Only her airy voice pierced through layer upon layer of currents and rang clearly in Yang Xuan's ears:

"There is no need to seek Purple Cloud Palace... Go."

As the final word faded, Queen Mother of the West's aura vanished completely into the depths of chaos.

At this moment, Yang Xuan was the only one left between chaotic heaven and earth.

All around him was chaos, woven from deathly silence and frenzied roars.

Yang Xuan took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.

Just as Queen Mother of the West had said, in this chaos where time and space were distorted, all that the naked eye saw was illusion.

At once, his form transformed into dazzling seven-colored divine light, spreading outward without restraint.

Outside, it might have been no more than the flick of a finger, but within chaos, Yang Xuan seemed to have endured endless ages.

At first, Yang Xuan could still struggle onward by relying on the divine sense of a Golden Immortal and that faint, indistinct perception of Dao rhythm.

But the deeper he went into chaos, the blurrier that unseen guidance became, until it was completely severed.

There was nothing around him but gray, murky currents of chaos.

Within chaos, direction and time had vanished. It even began gradually eroding his memories and understanding.

"Could it be... I'm lost?"

An unprecedented agitation surged within Yang Xuan's heart.

In this absolute void, even the origin of the Primordial Gourd Vine had no point of reference for direction.

He became a streak of colored light and charged recklessly through chaos, trying to break apart the mist through brute force. Yet in the end, he merely spun uselessly in place.

Just as his Dao heart was about to be crushed by the endless solitude and confusion, the chaotic currents ahead suddenly parted to either side.

Two figures, one before the other, slowly approached with profound steps.

The Daoist Jieyin walking in front wore a splendid brocade kasaya that shimmered with flowing light, a faint golden radiance emanating from his body.

Though his face was somewhat gaunt, it carried the solemn majesty of a treasured appearance. His entire person was bright and imposing, with extraordinary bearing.

The Daoist Zhunti following behind him was even more high-spirited. The vertical eye between his brows was half-open, half-closed, circulating divine light that seized the soul.

His Daoist robe was spotless, untouched by the slightest speck of dust, and his whole body exuded the confident spirit of one at the height of his ambitions.

At this time, they had yet to suffer their disastrous defeat in the Myriad Immortals Formation, nor had they gone about everywhere, begging and pleading in pursuit of sainthood. They were seekers of the Dao most certain of their own paths, filled with ambition for the future.

When Zhunti saw Yang Xuan appear, his vertical eye opened slightly as he examined the seven-colored halo flowing around Yang Xuan's body.

Yang Xuan merely found fate a wondrous thing.

These two would take two of his gourds in the future. Did that count as fate between them?

Yet they did not speak with Yang Xuan. The two seemed to be planning something more important and disdained to waste time on a mere Golden Immortal.

At the instant they passed one another, the solemn-faced Daoist Jieyin, who had remained silent all this while, suddenly paused slightly.

He did not turn around. It was as though he had merely casually spoken a gatha to this chaos, yet his voice clearly pierced the violent currents and fell into Yang Xuan's ears:

"Let go."

The voice was not loud, yet it struck Yang Xuan's heart like a heavy hammer.

Then, the two resplendent candidates for sainthood vanished into the vast chaos.

"Let go?"

Yang Xuan stood frozen in place, those two words echoing continuously in his mind.

Let go of what?

Let go of mana? Let go of divine abilities? Or let go of this obsession with finding Purple Cloud Palace?

In a flash of lightning and flint, Yang Xuan suddenly recalled Queen Mother of the West's parting words.

"There is no need to seek Purple Cloud Palace."

At the time, he had taken it only as Queen Mother of the West being unfathomable.

But now, combined with the words "let go," a flash of insight abruptly tore through the fog in his sea of consciousness!

"I was wrong... I was wrong from the very beginning!"

Yang Xuan abruptly closed his eyes and dispersed the seven-colored divine light protecting his body.

He no longer circulated mana to resist the crushing pressure of the chaotic currents, allowing himself to float within this void.

"Purple Cloud Palace is not in the depths of chaos, nor beyond time and space... It is within the heart of every seeker of the Dao!"

So-called seeking was nothing more than chasing outward.

The more desperately he wanted to find Purple Cloud Palace, the heavier the distracting thoughts and obsessions in his heart became, and the farther he moved from the Great Dao.

Jieyin had told him to "let go." What he needed to release was precisely this delusional obsession with "seeking."

When the heart held no hindrance, there was no fear. Mystery lay only amid reversal...

The heart was the Dao, and the Dao was the palace!

Boom—!

At the instant Yang Xuan comprehended his original heart, the chaotic mist before his eyes did not disperse.

Yet within his perception, a magnificent and ancient palace, emanating the rhythms of the boundless Great Dao, appeared before him!

Purple Cloud Palace arrived without seeking; only the heart could see it.

Yang Xuan took a deep breath, a relieved smile curling at the corner of his lips.

He took one step forward, as though crossing the boundary of some dimension.

The next instant, the clamorous chaotic currents vanished, replaced by a tranquil and harmonious land of effortless stillness.

He was already standing before the main hall gates of Purple Cloud Palace.