"In ten days, a Supreme of the human race will expound the scriptures!"
The Lunar Essence Quasi-Emperor's decree hung high in the heavens, wreathed in a faint imperial majesty. Every word rang like a great bell, deep and resonant, conveying an unsurpassed will.
The decree's message was truly astonishing. Countless cultivators were shaken to their cores. Though they did not know which Supreme of the human race the Lunar Essence Divine Church meant, they were still overwhelmed with awe and longing.
In this era, "Supreme" was synonymous with a practitioner of the Extreme Dao. From the azure heavens above to the Yellow Springs below, nothing could bar their way, and they held an incomparably exalted position among every race.
When the ten days were up, countless cultivators had already gathered at the Lunar Essence Divine Church's central cultivation grounds. They had come from all across Ziwei Ancient Star, and even though the church had used Heaven and Earth Array Patterns to expand the space, it remained packed, with cultivators everywhere.
This was, after all, the Primordial Era. The world brimmed with vital energy, and the Great Dao manifested openly. When the two Quasi-Emperors of the Lunar Essence and Sun God sects arrived, they found no fewer than seven Great Saint-level cultivators gathered there, along with over twenty Saint Kings, dozens of Saints, and even more Dao-Slaying Kings, Immortal Two cultivators, and others.
"A pity this is limited to Ziwei Ancient Star. Had the decree been sent out across the starry heavens, quite a few Quasi-Emperors would likely have come."
The old woman from the Sun God Sect surveyed the cultivators below, her expression unexpectedly warm and kindly. Nearly everyone who had come to hear this discourse was a human cultivator, reflecting, to some extent, the current strength of Ziwei's human race.
Many of these traditions had already developed sufficiently complete inheritances. In the future, they would all become foundation stones for the rise of the human race.
Chime!
Suddenly, a clear note of the Dao rang out from high above, like an immortal spirit beyond the nine heavens striking a jade chime, or a divine maiden of the Longevity Realm shaking a silver bell. Its lingering echoes touched the heart of every cultivator present.
Everyone looked up toward the source of the sound. At some unknown moment, dense mists of chaos had enveloped that place. Amid the mists, a twelve-leaved black lotus blossomed in the wind, an ink-black qilin gazed into the starry heavens, and a giant kun flicked its tail, stirring heavenly radiance that surged into the skies...
Then, surrounded by those visions, a powerfully built young man appeared, striding out of the Lunar Essence Immortal Light.
He seemed the embodiment of the yin of all Daos, taking great strides upon blossoming black lotuses. His robe, woven from moonlight, was untouched by dust, and his face was indistinct beneath a shroud of chaotic radiance.
In his hand was a ruler of mingled black and red, forged from the purest immortal gold. Not a trace of the mortal world clung to it, and a Dao resonance that transcended reincarnation emanated from within.
"We pay our respects to the Supreme!"
At that moment, every cultivator present, including the two Quasi-Emperors, bowed deeply, expressing their reverence for a practitioner of the Extreme Dao.
Whoosh!
Yuangeng alighted upon the jade dais at the highest point of the grounds, his hands clasped behind his back. With a slight movement of his will, every vision behind him dispersed, leaving only the young man's figure looking down through the luminous mists of chaos.
"Beginning today, I will expound the scriptures for one year."
His voice was calm and measured. Accompanied by the ripples of the Dao, it echoed beside every cultivator's ears, bringing reverence to their faces as they bowed respectfully to the young man on the jade dais.
"The earliest origins of the human race are now difficult to trace. Epochs rise and fall, and the tides of great ages surge. In this epoch, the Lunar Essence Human Emperor established his teachings on Ziwei, while the Solar Essence Saint Emperor protected the human race. This is truly a blessing for our people."
"Today, I shall speak of yin and yang."
As Yuangeng began to speak slowly, every word resonated with the myriad Daos. Those who listened felt their primordial spirits grow hazy, as though they were being drawn unwittingly into an enlightenment state.
Above the jade dais, the heavens where Yuangeng stood seemed to have been cleaved in two. In one half, a blazing sun hung aloft, its fierce solar essence immortal flame burning through the universe. The other half was dark and deep, with a pitch-black sun hanging high, spilling boundless cold, death, and stillness.
As he expounded the scriptures, Yuangeng also employed an Immortal Ancient Method. It came from the Six-Eared Immortal Ape back in his homeland, and was said to have been casually created by the venerable Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit while imparting the sacrificial spirit method throughout the worlds. It could stir the thoughts of living beings and help them comprehend the Dao.
When he spoke of Lunar Essence, Yuangeng naturally expounded his own Dao. After more than five hundred thousand years of tempering, those two words held almost no secrets from him. Every word he spoke pointed straight to the essence, concise and clear.
When he spoke of Solar Essence, Yuangeng, after careful consideration, chose to blend several passages of scripture he had learned from the Golden Crow Clan in the Immortal Domain. They originated from several Golden Crow Supremes. Yuangeng had refined and expanded them to suit the human race, offering a broad perspective and lucid explanations of the many transformations of the Solar Essence Dao.
Thanks to the widespread dissemination of the two Mother Scriptures of the Human Race, Lunar Essence and Solar Essence, almost every human cultivator present had some grasp of the Daos of yin and yang. Listening to Yuangeng expound the scriptures, many felt an immense, delighted surprise. His teachings were not obscure: even cultivators as weak as Immortal One experienced the clarity of sacred nectar poured over their heads, while those as powerful as Quasi-Emperors could also gain profound insights.
Meanwhile, as Yuangeng expounded the scriptures, he inscribed characters in the void. Every stroke made heaven and earth resonate together. Golden and black lotuses blossomed simultaneously in the void, while golden crows and giant kun illuminated one another within the Great Dao.
What Yuangeng wrote was not the script of Immortal Ancient or any other era, but runes of the Great Dao. They naturally communed with the cosmos, articulating certain supreme laws of the Dao.
Soon, the year was over.
Chime!
Just as the cultivators were contemplating, comprehending the Dao, working through deductions, and rejoicing amid Yuangeng's discourse, another pleasing note of the Dao rang out from the jade dais. Every cultivator was roused. They looked up to see that, within the mists of chaos, the unreachably exalted man had lightly flicked the Dao Ruler in his hand with a finger, bringing clarity to their primordial spirits.
Above Yuangeng, a string of runes had appeared at some unknown moment. There were eighteen in all, each seemingly evolving into a Divine Form that reached into the heavens. Nine shone with dazzling golden light, bright and blazing; nine glimmered with shadowy black radiance, dark and cold.
"I leave behind Nine Yin and Nine Yang. Apart, they are methods; together, they are the Dao. I leave them for those who come after. They will disperse in a hundred years."
His calm voice drifted through the air. When they looked again, Yuangeng's figure had already vanished, leaving only the nine characters of yin and the nine of yang, shedding profound and unfathomable radiance from the heavens.
"Thank you, Supreme!"
The cultivators bowed deeply once more. They were impatient to commit the Nine Lunar Essence Characters and Nine Solar Essence Characters to memory, and some even tried to copy them. Yet those nine characters were simply too abstruse. Not only were they difficult to remember, but even a Great Saint's copy could not preserve so much as a fifth of their true spirit.
Even so, the cultivators tirelessly memorized and copied them over and over. They understood all too well that these were supreme treasures left behind by a Supreme. Even a superficial understanding could benefit a Saint for his entire life. If someone could fully comprehend them, they might ensure a tradition's prosperity for a hundred thousand years.
Elsewhere, however, the two Quasi-Emperors of the Lunar Essence Divine Church and the Sun God Sect rose from their meditation cushions. They exchanged a glance, then left the grounds side by side, heading toward the stone platform at the Human Emperor's former residence.
No one would question the promise of a Su-
-preme. They were filled with anticipation. If Yuangeng could help them recover the Human Emperor Seal, it would be an immense kindness to both the Lunar Essence Divine Church and the Sun God Sect.
Before you continue