Merely entering the Dao

On South Hill Ridge, the might of heaven and earth did not manifest as Thunderclap in the sky. Yi Shuyuan lay unconscious on the ground, exposed to the wind and rain. Within his body and soul lay a sea of chaos, from which Inner Scenery took shape.

Rumble...

Thunderclap manifested within Yi Shuyuan's body.

The thunder of Awakening of Insects rang out; snakes and insects stirred, and venomous creatures emerged!

From Yi Shuyuan's hands, feet, head, and torso, inner evils emerged one after another, passing from illusion into reality. Within his Inner Scenery, countless snakes, scorpions, and venomous insects appeared, leaving his spirit nowhere to hide even if he tried to flee!

Within the dreamscape of his Inner Scenery, Yi Shuyuan's face was deathly pale. Thunderclap lit the dark sky as he stood atop a mountain, while below him, an endless black tide of snakes and insects surged up to engulf him.

He had hardly any time to think. In mere moments, myriad venomous creatures swallowed him.

Agonized screams rang out amid the horrific, relentless biting. Yi Shuyuan trembled all over. If only he could die at once, it would have been bearable, but the sensations in his body never ceased, as though his flesh could never be devoured completely.

This was more terrifying than the endless punishments of purgatory. Yi Shuyuan's will nearly collapsed; the pain made him long for death, yet he did not want to die like this.

Run. I have to get out of here!

Trapped amid the snakes and insects, Yi Shuyuan stood on the brink of collapse, seized by both an overwhelming desire to live and an overwhelming desire to die. Caught in that contradiction, he leaped from the mountaintop.

But the venomous creatures did not leave his body. Instead, more kept leaping from the surrounding mountainsides, wrapping Yi Shuyuan in a terrifying black cocoon made of venomous creatures.

And Yi Shuyuan kept falling, as though beneath that peak lay the bottomless Nine Netherworlds!

"If heaven's might has come this far to take my life, then take it!"

Yi Shuyuan roared, and countless venomous creatures tried to burrow into his mouth. At that moment, the stars shone in streams of radiant color, and Thunderclap, dancing like silver serpents across the sky, suddenly struck down, one bolt after another.

Rumble-! Rumble-! Crack-!

Thunderclap struck Yi Shuyuan squarely—or rather, the great cocoon of venomous creatures.

"Aaah-!"

Amid his screams, the lightning shattered the snakes and insects wrapped around Yi Shuyuan. Countless venomous creatures rained down, while lightning completely engulfed his body, as though he had plunged into a sea of fire...

"Yi Shuyuan, stop holding on! If this goes on, you truly will perish here-!"

At the summit, an immortal in splendid robes shouted. Through his blurred vision, the figure seemed to bear some resemblance to Yi Shuyuan himself.

"Yi Shuyuan, hurry and take my hand-!"

Halfway up the mountain, someone reached out a hand, surrounded by lavish treasures: gold, silver, fine jade, sumptuous food, and exquisite wine.

"Yi Shuyuan, farther down lies the Nine Netherworlds, where you will perish! No one will be able to save you then-!"

At the foot of the mountain, a man surrounded by wives and concubines possessed endless beauty and tenderness. He, too, wanted to save Yi Shuyuan, and there was something familiar about him as well.

Yet Yi Shuyuan kept falling. Amid hundreds of millions of venomous creatures, how could there be three such beautiful places...?

Within Broad South Mountain, the terrifying Thunderclap continued all night. In the latter half of the night, violent winds and torrential rain joined it, only gradually weakening before dawn.

Throughout that night, Yi Shuyuan lay asleep beneath the open sky on the mountain, battered by wind and rain. Only before dawn did the wind and rain begin to ease...

"Chirp-chirp~ Tweet~~"

Birdsong sounded from the treetops beside him. It sounded much like a hwamei, perhaps the same one from before.

Yi Shuyuan's eyelids fluttered, then slowly opened. Water dripped from the corners of his eyes and the tips of his hair. His clothes had long since become drenched and clung to his body. The dark clouds were rapidly dispersing, and when he propped himself up and looked east, the morning glow at the horizon had already brought a blush of red to the dim world.

Yi Shuyuan's headcloth had been swept away by the wind and rain. With his hair loose and disheveled, he rose somewhat unsteadily, wrung the water from his long hair, tossed the wet strands behind him, and stood gazing east.

At the far edge of the earth, the sun was rising. Its rays pierced the heavens and illuminated South Hill Ridge. Yi Shuyuan's pupils narrowed slightly in the sunlight, and white vapor began rising from his entire body.

The white vapor billowed like mist. In this almost unconscious state, Yi Shuyuan's clothes dried in mere moments. He looked down at himself in a daze, sensing that the sunlight had brought a layer of hazy flame that ordinary people could scarcely ever see, flowing and leaping over him like water.

Now, in Yi Shuyuan's eyes, the mountains held not only the sunlit freshness left after the rain, but also a layer of hazy spiritual mist. It entwined with everything in the mountains, stirred like faint waves, and changed in response as the sun slowly rose.

Some patches were thick, others thin; now strong, now weak, with a faint sense of surging tides.

"So this is what they call spiritual qi..."

Murmuring to himself, Yi Shuyuan truly could not tell anymore. He could not tell whether he was a twenty-first-century independent content creator who had crossed into another world, or that mad son whose soul had dreamed of another realm.

"If heaven had feelings, heaven too would grow old; the true path of the mortal world lies in seas turning to mulberry fields."

Though his past left him bewildered, Yi Shuyuan was certain of one thing: he was here now. He was himself, his interests unchanged, his dreams unchanged!

"I, Yi Shuyuan, have no intention of becoming Cangjie, though I may unwittingly do something Cangjie once did. Heh, my spirit roamed myriad worlds, gathering fragments of the Dao. Since I've rendered the service of completing the Heavenly Dao, surely I can't be told to kill myself? All I seek is a clear conscience!"

In my former world, the Dao was complete, but heaven and earth were damaged. In this world, heaven and earth are whole, but the Dao is incomplete. One fall into a river exchanged heaven and earth. If I've now helped make the Heavenly Dao whole, does that not count as tremendous merit? In exchange, I ask only to enter the Dao and cultivate. Am I qualified?

As Yi Shuyuan murmured, he questioned both his own heart and heaven and earth.

Just then, Yi Shuyuan suddenly sensed something and turned. The Broad South Mountain God was already standing behind him, studying him with a frown. His expression was strange, somewhat incredulous, and even a little at a loss.

"It really is you? You didn't die?"

Yi Shuyuan smiled. You've always been so unfathomable, Mountain God. I never thought I'd see that expression on your face.

"Clearly, heaven refused to take me!"

At that very moment, a dense power of heaven and earth entwined around Yi Shuyuan. Mist lingered about him like pale thunderclouds, within which lightning seemed poised to flicker, as though his tribulation had yet to pass.

But once Yi Shuyuan finished speaking, every trace of that aura swiftly dispersed. The mist vanished, the lightning became no more than an illusion, and even the blue-green threads in his eyes returned to normal. Once again, he became a scholar who seemed entirely mortal, so familiar yet so unfamiliar in Huang Hongchuan's eyes.

"Can there truly be someone in this world who attains the Dao in a single day?"

Huang Hongchuan was so agitated that even his body trembled slightly. With something that overturned his understanding of the world happening before his very eyes, even he, the god of Broad South Mountain, could not remain calm.

"Attains the Dao in a single day?"

Yi Shuyuan looked bewildered and murmured to himself.

"How could it have been a single day... Besides, I've merely broken through the barrier of the heart and entered the Dao..."

As he spoke, Yi Shuyuan smiled at Huang Hongchuan.

"Lord Mountain God, you must be joking. It was only thanks to your guidance yesterday that I gained a rough understanding of the Inner Scenery within my heart and a sense of the 'Dao.' But when it comes to understanding the mysteries of this world, I remain nothing more than an ignorant scholar. I still need wondrous cultivation methods to rely on before I can manifest the Dao within my heart."

Every word Yi Shuyuan spoke was sincere, but inwardly he was by no means as calm as he appeared. He was filled with excitement and exhilaration. Yet the feeling from the previous night still lingered, making every word he spoke seem to drift beyond the heavens.

Yi Shuyuan wanted to cultivate, and he still needed methods to follow. But even though he had yet to step through the gates of cultivation, he already understood the foundation within himself. He was no longer lost, and had even formed ideas about how to manifest that foundation.

Huang Hongchuan, meanwhile, also struggled to settle his emotions. He had indeed shared food and drink with Yi Shuyuan, but ultimately he was still the god of a mountain. Although he admired Yi Shuyuan's character, he had retained something of a deity's attitude toward a mortal. Today, however, he dared not entertain the slightest dismissiveness.

As for the "foundation" Yi Shuyuan spoke of, Huang Hongchuan found that explanation hard to believe, yet could not rashly question him. His thoughts were in turmoil, and all the words crowding his lips turned into a rueful smile.

"I dare not place myself above you, sir. Calling me 'Lord Mountain God' at every turn-are you making fun of me?"

"I meant nothing of the sort. In that case, shall I call you Elder Huang?"

Yi Shuyuan remembered that ordinary people also addressed the Broad South Mountain God this way.

Huang Hongchuan nodded slightly. He was just about to speak when Yi Shuyuan's expression suddenly changed. With a cry of "Oh no!" he hurried off in one direction.

Huang Hongchuan did not understand, but after a brief pause he followed. Moments later, the two arrived beside the stream where Yi Shuyuan often fetched water.

Halfway there, Huang Hongchuan had already realized what had happened. As the Mountain God, he should have noticed before Yi Shuyuan, but yesterday's heavenly lightning had slightly unsettled his golden body, and this morning's overwhelming shock had thrown his thoughts into disarray.

The two stopped beside the stream, their gazes fixed on the rock that still bore traces of ink. The stream trickled on as before, but beneath the rock, there was no longer any sign of life.

Judging by the scorch marks nearby, a thunderbolt had struck here last night as well.

Yi Shuyuan closed his eyes, then slowly opened them. He crouched and lifted the rock. The ink in the hollow on top looked as fresh as ever, but when he turned it over, there was only a smear of blood on the underside. The little fish was gone.

"It was caught up in my trouble..."

At Yi Shuyuan's words, Huang Hongchuan's lips parted slightly, horror rising within him. His gaze focused on the ink in the hollow, and a vague suspicion formed in his heart. He even felt a considerable pang of lingering fear, for just moments ago he had nearly failed to restrain his urge to ask what Dao Yi Shuyuan had comprehended.

But now Huang Hongchuan dared not ask. Could this Dao provoke heaven's jealousy? Could heaven refuse to tolerate it? Then why was Yi Shuyuan still alive?

"Elder Huang, you're wondering why I, Yi Shuyuan, am still alive, aren't you?"

Hearing Yi Shuyuan suddenly say this, Huang Hongchuan's heart trembled. He hastily said, "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare! I dare not know!"

Huang Hongchuan was truly afraid. He had thought that, as the Broad South Mountain God, he was sufficiently free-spirited and accepting. Only now did he realize that he, too, knew fear-that he had grown so accustomed to standing high above others that he had forgotten certain fears.

Yesterday's Thunderclap had seemed merely like a somewhat more powerful bolt of natural lightning, yet it had frightened Huang Hongchuan badly, because it had hardly seemed like a coincidence!

"Please don't be like this, Elder Huang. You helped me enter the Dao. If I achieve success in cultivation someday, I will certainly repay you!"

Yi Shuyuan stopped teasing Huang Hongchuan. After speaking, he merely gazed absently at the rock in his hand, on which neither the blood nor the ink would fade.

Wawa seemed to have been scattered by heavenly lightning, but Yi Shuyuan had found a slender chance of survival and passed the Awakening of Insects Tribulation. Wawa had, in effect, accompanied him through the same tribulation. Could there truly be no slender chance of survival left for Wawa?