Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler

After discussing the Dao at Longevity Mountain for a thousand years, Qing Xuan and Qing Yi bade farewell to Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun.

Zhen Yuanzi needed to remain behind to refine the Western Earth Veins recorded within the Earth Book. Hong Yun no longer clamored to come along, merely taking out several freshly ripened Ginseng Fruits and stuffing them all into Qing Xuan's hands before the two left.

"Longevity Mountain has nothing else of worth. Take these fruits with you, fellow Daoists, and have a taste whenever you have nothing to do on the road."

Knowing Hong Yun's temperament, Qing Xuan did not stand on ceremony. Smiling, he put away the Ginseng Fruits before departing Longevity Mountain with Qing Yi for Buzhou Mountain.

Several Epoch Cycles later, the towering sacred mountain that pierced Heaven and Earth and reached straight into the Cosmic Star Sea once again appeared at the end of their sight.

Compared to when they had last departed, Buzhou Mountain now held far more newly born auras of life.

Yet the deeper they went, the heavier Pangu's pressure became. There were still very few living beings truly capable of walking within it.

Without disturbing anyone, Qing Xuan and Qing Yi returned all the way to the Innate Grand Formation where Qing Xuan had first been nurtured and taken form.

Everything within the formation was as it had been. Chaos Qi still flowed slowly along the ancient formation patterns.

Qing Xuan took out two Ginseng Fruits and handed one to Qing Yi.

Qing Yi accepted the Ginseng Fruit and sat down beside him.

"Staying here for a while first?"

"That was the plan."

Qing Xuan bit into the Ginseng Fruit. Just as he was about to agree, he suddenly looked beyond the grand formation.

Ever since entering Buzhou Mountain, he had vaguely sensed an unusual aura.

It was neither the Dao resonance actively released by a spiritual treasure nor the sign of some Innate Grand Formation about to open.

It was more like a scale stretching between Heaven and Earth.

The Qing Xuan of the past had never discovered its existence.

Only after attaining Great Luo and using the World Dao to bear the essence of mountains and rivers within the Western Earth Veins did that trajectory hidden in the Dao traces of creation truly reveal itself.

Following his gaze, Qing Yi asked, "Is there something outside?"

"I can't be sure yet."

Qing Xuan focused his senses for a moment, and a trace of interest gradually appeared in his eyes.

"But if it can hide within Buzhou Mountain and remain completely unnoticed by the former me, it should not be anything ordinary."

Upon hearing this, Qing Yi had already turned and headed outside the formation. "Then let's go take a look."

Seeing the girl's utterly decisive back, Qing Xuan could not help but smile before stepping after her.

The guidance of that celestial scale was exceptionally clear.

More than ten years later, the two stopped before a gray-white stone wall that stretched beyond sight.

There was no cave abode upon the stone wall, no formation patterns, and not the slightest sign of any spiritual treasure.

Only a straight trace extended upward from the deepest part of the mountain, as though at the dawn of creation, something had used this place as its starting point to measure the newly born Primordial World.

Qing Xuan raised a hand and touched that trace.

Boom—

A dull rumble rang out from deep within the entirety of Buzhou Mountain.

That creation trace, dormant for countless years, suddenly lit up. It raced upward along the mountain, crossing the boundless sea of clouds in an instant and plunging into the cosmic stars.

The world behind Qing Xuan manifested beyond his control.

Mountains, rivers, and earth spread out. Sun, moon, and stars rose. The boundless world reflected each other with the creation trace upon Buzhou Mountain.

The next moment, a violet-gold radiance flew out from the depths of the stone wall.

It was no more than three feet long and shaped like a longsword, yet it had neither edge nor blade. One side bore the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers; the other was wreathed in Black-Yellow merit. The instant it appeared, Heaven and Earth seemed to gain an immutable standard.

The ruler's phantom rose, but it did not immediately fall into Qing Xuan's hand.

It first swept across from one end of Qing Xuan's world to the other.

Measuring mountains and rivers, weighing the sun and moon, defining the four poles.

For the first time, Qing Xuan's vast world, which had already neared completion, revealed clear boundaries beneath the ruler's phantom.

Yet after the Heaven-Measuring Ruler reached the end of the world, it did not stop there.

The ruler trembled lightly.

Beyond the formerly stable boundary of the world, a formless, shapeless, chaotic aura emerged.

It had not truly entered the world, yet it seemed to have always existed beyond Heaven and Earth.

The sun and moon, mountains and rivers, and even the World Dao Qing Xuan now cultivated were merely orders evolved from that Chaos.

Qing Xuan silently watched this scene without moving for a long time.

He had been nurtured and taken form from the remaining Origin of the Chaos Pearl. The Dao he had truly been born with should never have been merely one world.

It was only because the Origin of the Chaos Pearl he could initially manifest was incomplete, leaving him unable to truly cultivate the Chaos Dao, that he had used a world as his foundation and first embarked upon the World Dao.

Only now did he truly see clearly.

The world was born from Chaos.

And when a world reached its end, what it had to face was still the Chaos that gave birth to all things and could also return all things to annihilation.

Qing Yi had remained at his side all along.

Only when the ruler's phantom gradually drew back did she ask, "Have you seen your own path?"

"Only part of it."

Qing Xuan withdrew his gaze from that chaotic aura, a trace of true understanding appearing in his expression.

"I used to think that as long as I kept perfecting the world and expanding it, I could keep walking down this path forever."

"Now it seems that a world is more like a flower blooming from Chaos. The flower can keep growing, but its roots will always remain within Chaos."

Qing Yi looked thoughtfully toward the edge of his world.

"Then let this flower grow well first."

Qing Xuan neither agreed nor disagreed. "That's true."

A trace of the Chaos Dao had already revealed itself, but it was not a path he could forcibly step onto now.

This world remained the foundation upon which his Dao truly stood.

At that moment, the violet-gold ruler in the air also finished its measurement. It transformed into a streak of light and fell before Qing Xuan.

The Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler.

Formed from creation merit and Black-Yellow Qi, it was one of the Primordial World's only two acquired merit supreme treasures.

If the Heaven and Earth Mysterious Yellow Exquisite Pagoda possessed peerless defense, rendering one innately undefeatable beneath it, then the Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler was the corresponding supreme treasure of offense.

One strike of the ruler could sever mountains and rivers, split Space-Time, and kill without becoming tainted by Cause and Effect.

Now, the two of them both possessed spiritual treasures capable of attack and defense.

Qing Xuan no longer planned to immediately go roaming around. Instead, he dragged Qing Yi into seclusion.

Their Daos could reflect each other, and cultivating together in seclusion naturally brought swift progress.

Over the course of an Epoch Cycle, Qing Yi's comprehension left even Qing Xuan tongue-tied.

Had he not found another fragment of the Chaos Pearl, Qing Xuan felt that in terms of comprehension, there was a strong chance he would not measure up to Qing Yi.

A gentle breeze swept past the stone wall, lifting the hem of the girl's green dress. Once seclusion ended, she naturally leaned against Qing Xuan.

She took out a fruit, taking one bite herself and giving Qing Xuan the next.

"Where are we going next?" After finishing the fruit, Qing Yi casually used Qing Xuan's sleeve to wipe the juice from her lips.

Qing Xuan's mouth twitched. Somewhat helpless, he thought for a moment before saying, "Let's find a proper Daoist sanctuary suitable for us."

Buzhou Mountain would still be their ancestral court.

It had borne witness to Qing Xuan's nurturing and transformation, and it had also witnessed Qing Yi's transition from the Creation Green Lotus into a true Innate Divine Being.

But an ancestral court did not mean they had to regard this place as an unchanging Daoist sanctuary forever.

The spiritual treasures in their hands were growing more numerous, and they truly needed a place where they could settle down for the long term.