Tianyuan was an ancient black city of colossal size, built entirely from ink-dark crystals. Black light shimmered across it, as though a magnificent celestial city had descended into the mortal world.
"How magnificent!"
After crossing the void from yet another great city, Li Wangxian finally arrived here and could not help marveling. Over the past three months, he had visited cities large and small, but this city's extraordinary grandeur placed it among the foremost. Its walls rose over a hundred meters high, densely covered in formation patterns. One glance was enough to tell that this was an important place.
Of course, none of that was his focus. The moment he arrived, he had a clear goal. After making a few inquiries, he headed straight outside the city toward the Sunless retreat where the Taiyin Human Emperor had cultivated in seclusion.
"Judging by his behavior, that's another one here to search for the Taiyin True Scripture!"
"One of the regular retreats of a Human Emperor-who wouldn't be tempted? But after all these years, who has ever obtained it?"
"Exactly. Even ancient Saints came here and searched in earnest without finding anything. Is there really a scripture left by the Human Emperor here?"
"That's hard to say. According to legend, those with extraordinary talent can hear mysterious Great Dao Celestial Music here. Within its indistinct strains, there seem to be endless profound mysteries, and people suspect an Immortal Scripture lies hidden within. Otherwise, why would so many people still come tirelessly searching for it after all these years?"
"That's why so many people come here seeking an Immortal Scripture. But don't they ever think? If there really is an Immortal Scripture hidden within, why hasn't it emerged after so long? Could it be that not a single person's comprehension has met the requirements in all these tens of thousands of years?"
Within the city, elderly cultivators murmured among themselves, seeing the thoughts of people like Li Wangxian as clearly as a blazing fire. They either considered themselves exceptional or clung to the hope of a lucky chance. Even if they merely paid their respects to the Human Emperor once more, the journey would not have been wasted.
Tianyuan was an ancient city with a long history, having existed for an immense span of time. No one knew in which age it had originated.
A barren stretch of land outside the city held endless secrets. Legend had it that the Taiyin Ancient Emperor had once lived here for long periods, leaving behind countless tales.
Rocky mountains towered above the land, where not a blade of grass grew. Everything was scorched, as though it had endured the fiercest searing of Sun True Fire. Even the red earth had melted and crystallized into glittering substances.
"Wasn't the Taiyin Ancient Emperor said to have cultivated in seclusion here? He practiced the Taiyin True Scripture, which embodies the utmost softness and yin. How could he have left behind a scene like this?" a newly arrived cultivator asked softly.
"What do you know? Yin at its ultimate extreme can give birth to yang. At the utmost limit, transformation occurs. Otherwise, how could he have attained an Ancient Emperor's supreme Dao Fruit? This is a manifestation of the very pinnacle of complete perfection!" another cultivator replied.
Li Wangxian had also arrived here. Hearing their exchange stirred something in his heart. Solitary yin could not give birth; solitary yang could not grow. Perhaps the two Human Emperors had not lived in the same age and had never cultivated Taiyin and Taiyang together, but their Dao arts must nevertheless have contained similar principles. Just as ultimate yin had given birth to yang here, the Sun Human Emperor must also have achieved the transformation of ultimate yang giving birth to yin.
Perhaps this also demonstrated, from another angle, that cultivating Taiyin and Taiyang together was the right path. It was simply that the talent and brilliance required to traverse it were too demanding, which was why no one had ever succeeded.
"Will I be the first to succeed?" Li Wangxian murmured, questioning his own heart.
A moment later, Li Wangxian smiled. "I will succeed."
His conviction was as firm as divine iron. He stepped forward into the depths of this ancient land, and Uncle Jiang hurried after him.
Rocky mountains towered here, with strangely shaped stones jutting up among them. Not a single plant grew-it was truly a barren wasteland. Li Wangxian wandered through this ancient land without a fixed destination, sometimes descending into caves, sometimes climbing mountain peaks and pausing there.
At last, he stopped in a cave.
"The Dao Resonance here seems much richer?" He was somewhat uncertain. Ever since entering this ancient land, he had begun adjusting his state of mind, bringing his innate affinity with the Dao into play and entering a state of true unity with it. He sensed his surroundings, searching for the place most likely to hold a hidden opportunity.
In the end, he discovered that faint Great Dao Celestial Music echoed throughout the ancient land. Yet whenever he listened closely, there was only a hazy Dao Resonance circulating, without any scripture at all.
This matched the legends left by those who had come before. The Immortal Scripture seemed to lie just ahead, within easy reach, yet when one actually tried to pick it up, one discovered that it was like the moon in water or flowers in a mirror-something that could be sought but never obtained.
It was maddening, as though that Human Emperor who had surpassed the gods had foreseen this scene in later ages from across the vast span of antiquity and deliberately played a joke on his descendants.
"Or is this merely a trial, with only those of truly peerless talent able to obtain the Immortal Scripture left by the Human Emperor?"
This was what many people believed, and it was why so many prodigies had come here, one after another.
Li Wangxian did not know either, but he truly was extraordinary. Born with an affinity for the Dao, he was no Dao Embryo, yet surpassed one. Through his tireless sensing, he had followed an innate "Dao Nature" to this cave.
Without hesitation, he trusted his intuition and stepped into the cave. It was very dim inside, though naturally that posed no problem to cultivators. A sweep of their divine sight brought everything into view.
The narrow passage was littered with rubble, with the occasional large stone blocking their path. After shattering these one by one, the two arrived before a spacious stone forest within the cave-a forest of stone hanging down from above.
After a glance, neither paid it any further attention. Li Wangxian walked straight beneath the stone forest, took a meditation cushion from his Spatial Artifact, and sat cross-legged. He quieted his mind and began contemplating the Great Dao Celestial Music, hoping to capture its true meaning and obtain the Taiyin True Scripture.
The caves in this ancient land had none of the damp, gloomy atmosphere common to such places, so there were no colonies of creatures that favored the dark living within them.
With no one to disturb him and Uncle Jiang guarding him, Li Wangxian removed his Longevity Lock and opened his mind completely. His body and mind united with the Dao, drawing down boundless Dao laws upon himself. This time, he sought not to bolster his combat strength, but to amplify his perception of the Dao to the utmost.
In an instant, the lifeless cave brimmed with vitality. The vital essence of heaven and earth surged in continuously from outside, linking itself to Li Wangxian of its own accord. Boundless Dao laws descended as well, and the myriad Daos of heaven and earth thundered, manifesting spontaneously to aid his comprehension.
Uncle Jiang's expression changed. Without a moment's hesitation, he activated the 108 Formation Flags he had laid out earlier, sealing off the entire cave and preventing the phenomenon from being detected outside.
"Fortunately, the Divine Son prepared in advance." Uncle Jiang felt relieved. Li Wangxian had already foreseen the possibility of this happening and prepared the formation flags beforehand.
Li Wangxian could no longer spare any attention for this. He had fallen into the deepest Union with the Dao State, and everything outside had ceased to concern him.
The Great Dao now seemed to lie right before his eyes. Boundless Dao arts and myriad profound mysteries manifested before him one after another. In his eyes, heaven and earth seemed to hold no secrets at all. It was astonishing beyond measure.
This was an experience unlike anything he had known before. He had never united with the Dao to this degree, because the closer he drew to the Great Dao, the greater the threat of Dao Transformation became. He had once considered doing so during cultivation, but his innately keen spiritual perception had detected the danger, and he had withdrawn of his own accord.
Now, to find the Taiyin True Scripture-a matter that concerned his cultivation path-he had taken a rare risk. Yet the results were also extraordinarily startling. In this state, even the Human Emperor's methods seemed powerless. With unprecedented clarity, he heard the Dao Sound that seemed to have echoed through the ages.
The original novel never said there was a Taiyin scripture here, but since even a Great Saint like the Old Madman came here to search, I think there could still be something here. For example, people had heard Dao Sound ringing out, and there was Dao Resonance hidden deep within, and so on. To make it easier to give the protagonist a cheat, please just bear with it!
Before you continue