Dao Origin Grand Gathering, Five Thunder Orthodox Method

"The reigning Sacred Emperor is enlightened, and the Imperial Court is fair in its rewards and punishments. Since our Truth-Seeking Abbey contributed so much to relieving the people's suffering on this journey down the mountain, the imperial envoy made a promise on the Imperial Court's behalf:

"At next year's Dao Origin Grand Gathering in Fengyang Commandery, as long as our Truth-Seeking Abbey's performance isn't too mediocre, we'll be granted two places."

At this, Xuanming briefly lifted his gaze from the scripture, surprise showing on his face. This was certainly unexpected.

This world was unusual.

Spiritual energy abounded, cultivation lineages stood in profusion, and cultivators were numerous.

Martial artists of the wandering world could cleave mountains with a punch; Daoist True Lords could send their spirits roaming ten thousand miles; Buddhist arhats possessed invincible golden bodies; Confucian sages could turn spoken words into soldiers; Mohist wandering knights appeared and vanished like ghosts...

To prevent cultivators from breaking the law or using their strength to bully the weak, and to deter the world's demons, monsters, ghosts, and fiends,

five thousand years ago, the Imperial Court and the various cultivation lineages had joined forces to create the Investiture of the Gods List. They had issued laws and established offices such as the Heaven and Earth Academy, the Bodhi Hall, the Pantheon, and the Heaven and Earth Tower, sharing authority with the Imperial Court, assisting in the investiture of gods, and governing the cultivation world.

Even after the realm splintered, and the Great Sheng Divine Dynasty broke apart into the three great Divine Dynasties of Great Jin, Great Xuan, and Great Qian, along with numerous smaller states, this cooperation remained unchanged. The world had been divided into three, and after chaotic wars among the nations, the three powers had stood like the legs of a tripod for a thousand years.

The Truth-Seeking Abbey lay in Fengyang Commandery of the Great Xuan Divine Dynasty. The Dao Origin Grand Gathering was an event jointly hosted by the Great Xuan court and the Daoist Tradition once every ten years, intended to select outstanding Daoist talents to serve and cultivate at the Heaven and Earth Academy.

The true and ultimate Dao chose no one over another.

What did it care for high or low, rich or poor?

The Daoist Tradition placed little importance on rigid ranks and grades.

Cultivation lineages large and small, as well as rogue cultivators, could all attend the gathering.

Yet minor lineages and rogue cultivators had shallow reserves and foundations, making it difficult to distinguish themselves amid fierce competition.

Over the past century, only one member of the Truth-Seeking Abbey had successfully entered Great Xuan's Heaven and Earth Academy: Chang'anzi's master, Xuan Ye.

He was Xuanming's senior brother.

Brilliant beyond compare, he had possessed the potential to become a True Person.

He had been the Truth-Seeking Abbey's most outstanding disciple in a hundred years.

Yet he had suddenly perished ten years ago. Although the academy had provided an explanation, the Daoists refused to believe it, feeling there must be another reason behind his death. After all, Senior Brother Xuan Ye had always been steady and cautious. How could he have died so abruptly?

This had remained a knot in Chang'anzi's heart. His state of mind had regressed, and he had fallen into despondency. He had secretly left the mountain to seek the truth, only to meet with an accident and suffer grievous injuries.

Although he had been saved, his cultivation had fallen.

The lad might seem flippant and carefree, but in truth, he had shared a deep bond with Senior Brother Xuan Ye.

Now that an opportunity had arisen, he certainly would not want to miss it.

Glancing at the excited Chang'anzi, Xuanming asked a question whose answer he already knew. "You want to attend next year's Dao Origin Grand Gathering?"

Chang'anzi nodded solemnly. "Yes!"

He did not wish to lie to this martial uncle he cared for so deeply. He also knew that, in the entire Truth-Seeking Abbey, only Xuanming could help him.

"A teacher for a day is a father for life."

"I grew up without a father or mother. Master raised me. I want to enter the Heaven and Earth Academy and uncover the truth behind his death."

"Martial Uncle, I beg you to help me."

With a sweep of his sleeve, Xuanming sent out a strand of magical power to support Chang'anzi, whose knees were bending as he prepared to kneel and kowtow. Xuanming said impatiently:

"I hate having people kneel to me."

"Since when did you become so sentimental, lad? Hurry downstairs. Don't disturb my scripture reading."

With that, he drove the lad straight off the second floor.

At the entrance to the second floor, the dejected Chang'anzi had just started down the stairs when something struck the back of his head.

"Ow!"

Crying out in pain, he clutched the back of his head and turned.

He saw a jar of ointment hovering before him. A voice immediately sounded in his ears:

"Lad, I won't go easy on you when I teach you. Get up tomorrow at the hour of the Hare and fill every water vat in the abbey first. You may not use magical power, and you certainly may not give up halfway. Otherwise, don't blame me for being harsh."

"This disciple obeys!"

Chang'anzi's spirits rose at once. He glanced toward the second floor, grinned, and reached out to take the jar, muttering softly:

"Sharp-tongued, softhearted old man."

Time flowed like a river. Half a month passed.

On Floating Cloud Mountain, thunder roared and lightning flashed, shaking the layers of forest.

The white-haired old Daoist leaped and darted about. Whenever he raised his hand, Thunderclap surged in his palm, black, white, red, blue-green, and yellow weaving together.

A thirty-foot boulder shattered beneath the Thunderclap, turning into dust that scattered through the air.

The Thunderclap coiled like snakes within a tiny space, moving at the old Daoist's will. His control was so precise that not a trace of energy escaped.

Mountain winds swept past, making his Daoist robes snap.

His body stood tall and straight, his white hair streaming.

The old Daoist resembled a deity presiding over punishment, commanding Thunderclap with majestic, imperious dignity, supreme and exalted.

This old Daoist was none other than Xuanming. After testing the Thunderclap's might, he waved away his Magic Power. Looking at the deep crater that was all that remained in the ground, he stroked his beard with a smile.

During his second reading of the "Jade Scripture of the Yellow Court's Outer Radiance" to contemplate the Dao, besides refining the Primordial Unity Qi Formula, he had comprehended two other arts: the Five Thunder Orthodox Method and the Yin-Yang Diagram Record.

One came from contemplating the Thunderclap that opened heaven.

The other came from contemplating the twelve deities of the sun and moon.

Both were arts for protecting oneself, one hard and one soft, fully expressing the principles of heaven and Earthly Dao and revealing the wondrous mysteries of Daoist arts.

Thunderclap was fierce and domineering, foremost in slaughter.

Yin and Yang generated and restrained one another, offering both offense and defense.

Over the past half month, besides studying scriptures, comprehending the Dao, and carrying out his daily cultivation, Xuanming had been practicing these two arts. Now, he had finally crossed their thresholds.

With these two arts at his disposal, he had gained a greater ability to protect himself in this world and could cultivate the Dao and explore its mysteries with more composure.

In no hurry to return to the Truth-Seeking Abbey, Xuanming bent down and picked up a pebble. He walked some distance, then raised his hand and flung it in a particular direction.

An incense stick's worth of time later, a pheasant was roasting golden over a campfire, its skin glossy with fat. He deftly turned it over, sprinkled on seasonings, and continued roasting.

Roaming among mountains and waters, experiencing nature, and savoring mountain delicacies was also a way to cultivate the heart.

Good food brought delight.

Beautiful scenery inspired admiration.

Xuanming had already begun to integrate cultivation with everyday life. Once walking, standing, sitting, and lying down all became cultivation, he would break through his bottleneck, advance to Qi Refining, and become a Daoist Tradition True Person.

Having filled the temple of his five viscera, Xuanming deftly extinguished the fire and rose to leave. His toes touched the ground lightly, and each bounding stride carried him a thousand feet, as though he rode the wind through the Void. His robes fluttered, his bearing free and graceful.

He studied scriptures and contemplated the Dao, cultivated and practiced his arts, tasted tea and practiced calligraphy, and guided Chang'anzi and Chang Ning. In his leisure, he wandered Floating Cloud Mountain, enjoying its mountains and waters and taking nature as his teacher.

He watched grass grow and flowers bloom, waterfalls plunge, birds spread their wings, and beasts multiply.

Xuanming balanced effort and relaxation. His cultivation deepened by the day, his Magic Power steadily increased, the principles in his heart grew clearer, and his foundations became ever richer. Yet the Dao resonance about him gradually drew inward, giving him something of the air of one returning to simplicity and truth.

Chang'anzi and Chang Ning also progressed rapidly.

The former had already crossed the threshold of the New Eight Trigrams Sword Art, while what the latter studied was indeed the Yin and Yang Foundation Establishment Manual.

The little girl had good comprehension and was clever and shrewd. Despite her young age, she had thoroughly read more than two hundred volumes of Daoist Scripture. Although this was because her prolonged inability to reach the Second Realm had left her with no choice but to read scripture to pass the time, it had also laid a profound foundation for her.

She could infer three things from one and grasped the Yin and Yang Foundation Establishment Manual quite quickly. At this rate, although she would not be able to master the art completely, understanding seventy percent of it should be enough. By borrowing the yin and yang powers of the sun and moon, she could remedy her innate deficiency, break her shackles, enter the Second Realm, and establish a Superior Dao Foundation without much difficulty.

As for the mountain's mundane affairs, Xuanming ignored them entirely.

Even when his junior brother, the abbey master, came to ask him to take an important post, he flatly refused.

Power, fame, and profit were floating clouds to him.

Having lived a full sixty-year cycle, Xuanming had long since learned to take them lightly.

His heart held only the Great Dao, with perhaps a little room for the Truth-Seeking Abbey. Unless something serious happened, he wished only to be an idle old Daoist in ordinary times.

Reading scriptures, contemplating the Dao, planting flowers, and tending grass.

At sixty, he should not be battling on the front lines. He ought to devote himself to enjoying his retired life.

As for his other junior brothers and sisters, they were not much younger than him, but fifty was precisely the prime of life.

Besides, there were so many disciples and granddisciples. There was no need for an unremarkable old Daoist like him to weary his mind and body.

Since his senior brother was unwilling, Xuanxu had no choice but to let the matter drop.

He did not wish to force this elder. It certainly was not because he could not beat him in a fight; he was merely respecting his elders.

After fresh rain in the Emptiness Mountains, autumn came with the evening air.

The Bright Moon shone among the pines; clear springs flowed over stones.

Summer departed and autumn arrived. Floating Cloud Mountain donned a robe of mingled red, yellow, and green. After several autumn rains, the summer heat vanished completely, and a chill began to rise.

At the Truth-Seeking Abbey, in the Path-Seeking Courtyard.

Unaffected by either heat or cold, Xuanming still wore a thin Daoist robe, looking all the more ethereal in the rustling autumn wind.

Over the past year, having absorbed the Dao resonance released during Xuanming's cultivation, the gnarled old pine had grown lush with branches and leaves, remaining green through all Four Seasons.

Its trunk had thickened, and its crown had doubled in size, spreading like a ceremonial canopy over the entire Path-Seeking Courtyard.

Today, unusually, he had not entered the Scripture Pavilion to read. It was all because of the young female Daoist sitting cross-legged beneath the tree.

After three months of instruction, Chang Ning was finally about to establish her foundation. Xuanming was both surprised and unsurprised by the speed of her progress.

He was unsurprised because Junior Sister Xuan Su treasured this daughter of hers like a precious jewel. She regularly fed her all manner of miraculous pills and medicines, and had nourished her for years with Spirit Chicken and Spirit Eggs. A vast amount of energy had accumulated in her body.

Over these three months, under his guidance, the little girl had cultivated tirelessly, absorbing the spiritual energy of the sun and moon every day. Xuanming occasionally supplied a wisp of Yin and Yang energy to assist her, and Chang Ning's innate essence had strengthened considerably.

What surprised him was that she had repaired her deficiency in a mere three months. That was rather too fast.

If the deficiency could truly be remedied so easily, why would Junior Sister Xuan Su have spent more than a decade fretting over it?

The more Xuanming considered it, the more he felt something was strange.

Having Chang Ning break through in the Path-Seeking Courtyard would make it easier for him to guard her, but Xuanming also wanted to see whether the process might reveal something unusual and resolve his doubts.

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