Qingfeng Boy Taken In Early

Now that this breeze had encountered Zhen Yuanzi again, how could it be willing to let him go? It acted cute and made itself pitiable, following closely behind him.

Seeing this, Zhen Yuanzi was even more delighted. A divination upon his fingers revealed that he and this boy had some destined affinity, so he took him in and named him Qingfeng Boy.

After offering him further enlightenment, that breeze transformed into a little boy, pink and tender, with a face like white jade, silver eyes, and gleaming teeth. His features were delicate and handsome. He bowed brightly and said, "Teacher above, this boy Qingfeng pays his respects."

Zhen Yuanzi patted the boy's head again and gave him the Nine Autumn Sword, making him a sword-attendant boy.

Nailing watched enviously from the side. It would not do to leave him empty-handed, so Zhen Yuanzi gave him the silk ribbon from the Fire Luan's neck and made him its luan-driving attendant.

The two stood steadily at attention, truly bearing the air of an immortal household.

Nailing was the mountain god of Tang Mountain, an Earthly Dao deity, born of the innate. His origins were far from ordinary. Though Qingfeng's birth was humble, he had been touched by merit and purified water, making him even more spiritually wondrous and refined, with extraordinary fortune.

At present, his cultivation was merely shallow, but with proper nurturing, he might yet shoulder great responsibility. In later ages, Zhao Gongming had suppressed the Twelve Golden Immortals with a single steel whip, yet his origins were no more than those of an innate breeze.

But this was only the beginning of heaven and earth, and Qingfeng Boy had already been taken in so early. That was unlike later ages, and Zhen Yuanzi could not help pondering it in secret.

The Dao of Heaven turned unpredictably. Would taking Qingfeng in so early disrupt the heavenly secrets? But then he recalled that his calculations had shown he and this boy were fated for this affinity. Presumably, the Dao of Heaven had permitted it. Could it be that his own early birth had altered the heavenly secrets?

He thought no more of it. With a casual wave, he scattered a little purified water and spiritual essence over the place, replenishing its origin.

He had Nailing mount the Fire Luan, while Qingfeng Boy climbed onto its back as well. The two stood attendant at the side.

They traveled straight on for more than thirty thousand years before they finally saw Five Villages Temple. From afar, they could see that the area around it had become lush and spiritually beautiful, changed beyond recognition from before.

As they drew nearer and nearer to Five Villages Temple, Zhen Yuanzi's anticipation deepened, perhaps because the journey had been too long, or perhaps because the travel had been exhausting.

Before long, the group arrived. Zhen Yuanzi stepped forward and opened the restrictions he had previously laid down, leading the two of them and the bird into Five Villages Temple. The Ginseng Fruit Tree had grown even more magnificent, its trunk thick and massive, its canopy dense and shadowy. Within it, several Ginseng Fruits could vaguely be seen appearing and vanishing from sight.

Nailing and Qingfeng were so startled that their hearts trembled. How could they ever have seen such an innate spiritual root, such a treasure of the world?

Zhen Yuanzi immediately plucked two Ginseng Fruits with a casual gesture and gave one to each of them. The two were so delighted that they hurriedly kowtowed without end.

He then arranged for Qingfeng to tend the spiritual roots within the temple, while Nailing became its protector, patrolling the grounds. Though it was called Five Villages Temple, it was in truth a blessed Cave-Heaven, filled with countless spiritual treasures. Birds and beasts roamed and raced, all living things flourished, and harmony prevailed. Thus, he had Nailing patrol the temple grounds and oversee its living creatures.

After instructing them for a while, he began considering their future paths. If he had them follow him in cultivating the Earthly Dao, the path would be smooth, yet there would be no future in it. If he let them explore on their own, he feared they would stray onto crooked roads.

After some thought, he decided to forge a well and cast into it his own understanding of the Dao, along with the Daos of all living beings he had encountered on his journey, for the two of them to use as reference.

What was seen possessed form; what lay within the heart possessed no form.

He transformed the myriad Dao laws, vast as mist and intricate as stars, into drops of crystal-clear water and carefully gathered them within a deep well.

The well water was like a miraculous mirror. At times, it became utterly muddy, as though it bore all the troubles and dust of the world; at other times, it was as clear and transparent as crystal, reflecting the deepest purity and goodness in a person's heart. The wonder of its transformations depended entirely on the observer's own state of mind and breadth of vision.

It had to be said that this was a superb idea! Though his own knowledge might not be boundless, this method of guiding others toward their own realizations was far subtler than direct instruction, and it held limitless possibilities.

After all, every person's understanding of the Dao was unique. Only through personal experience and reflection could one truly comprehend its essence.

If, in the future, he could cause all the myriad beings of the Primordial World to blend their own Dao into this well, what astonishing and wondrous sight would it become?

Then all living beings would rise and sink within the well like fish in water, while the Great Dao would leap and surge at its bottom like joyous swimming fish.

Thus, Zhen Yuanzi began without hesitation. First, he condensed the Earthly Dao laws he had mastered, drop by drop. Then he gradually studied the Heaven-Earth Dao of the Heaven-Earth Daoist. Even Hongjun Daoist's unfathomably profound Great Dao was not spared; he carefully pondered them all, earnestly accumulated them, and continually refined them.

Afterward, he unleashed his divine ability beneath the earth, drawing upon the tangled and intricate power of the earth veins and gathering it into a deep, mysterious well.

Next, he slowly poured those refined droplets of Dao laws together into a spring, letting it fall into the bottom of the well.

He then sat down cross-legged beside the well, his five centers facing heaven, and once more entered into enlightenment of the Dao.

Within that boundless, hazy void lay the unique Dao of countless living beings.

Zhen Yuanzi sat firmly atop the Dao Fruit of the Earthly Dao, his entire body exuding an imposing, solemn aura that brooked no offense as he quietly observed the paths walked by the beings he had once witnessed.

From time to time, he would become immersed in them and find it difficult to pull himself free. At such moments of danger, the Dao Fruit would always tremble, shaking his mind and allowing Zhen Yuanzi to withdraw.

And so he comprehended and comprehended, watched and watched, with no end in sight.

Nor could he see the road by which he had come.

Another epoch passed.

Nailing managed all the affairs within the temple in perfect order, without the slightest mistake. Qingfeng Boy had also become friendly with the Ginseng Fruit Tree and the other spiritual roots in the temple. Even the Ginseng Fruit Tree occasionally allowed him to cultivate beneath its branches, showing just how fond it was of him.

**Crack—**something seemed to shatter...