Countless water-laden clouds surged high, sea and sky sharing a single hue. Gazing into the distance, one saw an immense expanse of blue sea like a vast celestial river spread across the entire world, magnificent and majestic, a sight beyond compare.
In this world filled with water and sky, only a golden palace hung alone amid clouds ten thousand fathoms high, like a glittering star...
A handsome Daoist in purple robes and a golden crown walked out of the palace with a faint smile and stood in the void. He seemed to do nothing, yet that simple movement sent a faint tremor through the surrounding world. Thunder immediately erupted with a deafening roar, accompanied by countless fiery streaks of crimson.
In a single instant, the once-tranquil world of water and sky was turned upside down by the purple-robed Daoist's emergence from the palace!
The sky began cracking inch by inch, like an egg about to be crushed in a fist. Lightning and raging flames forced their way violently through the fissures, as though impatient to pulverize this world and return it to the primordial mingling of clear and turbid chaos!
Under that pressure, towering tsunamis erupted. Pitch-black whirlpools appeared across the sea, as though compelled to swallow everything and bring a world-ending calamity.
Amid the overwhelming might of heaven, a voice beneath the sea finally lost its patience and shouted in furious exasperation.
"Jade Pivot, have you gone mad?! You want to trigger your Pure Yang lightning tribulation here and smash the entire grotto-heaven apart?"
"I'm bored out of my mind. Am I not even allowed to step outside for some air?"
The purple-robed Daoist, who had been standing quietly in the void admiring the destruction of all things, suddenly broke into a smile. He lowered his gaze to the indigo sea beneath him, where an immense shadow was winding its way toward the surface, stirring the undercurrents into chaos.
"And what about you? Why aren't you sleeping on the seabed today? You actually have time to chat with me?"
Jade Pivot's voice was clear and low. "Daoist Brother Yue You, that is a rare occurrence."
As his words fell.
Boom!!!
An immense black shadow split the broad surface of the sea. As that unparalleled force spread, even the nearby whirlpools caused by the celestial upheaval were instantly shattered.
"Roar!"
The Ba Serpent, ten thousand fathoms long, raised his head and roared at the sky. He twisted his incomparably powerful body, stretching his limbs through the world of water and sky. With the appearance of this colossal beast and the rolling thunder and fire beyond the sky, time seemed to have been dragged back in an instant to that savage universe when the Dao Court had only just been founded and humanity's traditions and lawful succession had yet to exist.
"Careful. Keep that temper of yours in check."
Jade Pivot offered a considerate reminder. "Thunder and fire are raging outside the grotto-heaven right now. If you get angry and knock a hole in it, I'll be finished the moment the Pure Yang lightning tribulation comes in."
"Hmph!"
The Ba Serpent gave a disdainful snort.
The Ba was a snake that devoured elephants, its written character resembling its winding form. A thousand fathoms long, blue, yellow, red, and black...
The colossal beast dancing wildly through water and sky was fully ten thousand fathoms long. As he writhed, he resembled a moving pillar that held up the heavens! Terrifying beyond measure! His scales were gray-black, gleaming with countless cold, steely flashes that struck fear into anyone who saw them. A single scale plucked off and refined in a furnace would make an exceptional primary material for a magical artifact.
Indeed, for an innate ancient beast born by rightful mandate from the clear and turbid forces of the mysterious tribulations, scales were the least of his treasures. Every bone and every drop of blood was an exceedingly precious rarity, scarcely seen in the world.
In the era when the Dao Court still ruled the universe and its starry skies, such innate colossal beasts entered the Daoist register from birth. They were born as "Divine Generals of the Three Terraces, Cavern Illumination, and Left Assistance within the Mystery." Those with profound cultivation could even be invested as "Heavenly Generals" or "Star Lords."
The Ba Serpent whom Jade Pivot called Yue You now had eyes filled with hostility and agitation.
He held an ink-black kun fish in his jaws. Blood poured from the dying giant fish like cascading scarlet waterfalls from heaven.
It was obvious that his meal had been interrupted, hence his rage.
"That was a kun fish Fairy Xu specially brought me from the Western Sea. I kept it in the grotto-heaven to relieve my boredom. Why did you eat it?"
Jade Pivot pressed a hand to his forehead, helplessness showing on his refined, handsome face.
"Besides, eating it is one thing. I merely interrupted your meal. Why lose your temper like this? You really are difficult to appease, fellow Daoist."
"Heh..."
Yue You gave a cold snort, opened his jaws, and swallowed the giant kun into his belly. Then he withdrew his original form and transformed into a young man in gray robes, with bewitchingly handsome, sinister features.
"Damn it! Hurry up and get back inside that golden palace qi sanctuary of yours! Stay outside any longer, and once the Pure Yang lightning tribulation forces through the grotto-heaven's barrier, you can die for all I care, but I'll be buried along with you!"
Yue You came up beside Jade Pivot and gave him an impatient shove.
"Heavenly tribulations specialize in striking shameless pretty boys like you. Why fight against heaven? Get moving! Hurry! Hurry!"
He shoved him several more times, but Jade Pivot merely smiled faintly and remained still.
"Haven't you noticed?"
Only after a while did Jade Pivot speak calmly. "This Pure Yang lightning tribulation is a little less intense."
"Huh?"
Yue You froze.
He widened his golden, slit-pupiled eyes and looked up. It took him a long while to realize it.
"Strange, strange... It really is a little weaker than last time. The difference is minuscule, but it's definitely weaker. Now that is curious."
Intrigued, Yue You hooked an arm around Jade Pivot's shoulders and leaned close with a grin. "Last time, you had to cast a spell, so you not only left the golden palace qi sanctuary, you left the grotto-heaven too. That Pure Yang lightning tribulation was truly fierce! Even the Xiantian Demon Sect's Profound Darkness Five Manifestations Dao Lord was alerted. Without his intervention, you would have lost at least half your life."
"The Dao Lord has indeed helped me greatly."
Jade Pivot swept his broad sleeve, sending a lustrous stream of azure qi shining into the sky. Wherever its radiance passed, the lightning and flames beyond the grotto-heaven's barrier were extinguished.
But the calm lasted only a moment before still more celestial upheavals erupted, surging and falling as though intent on flipping the entire grotto-heaven over.
Yue You had been watching the spectacle from the sidelines. At this sight, he could not help laughing and clapping.
"Heaven's might truly is difficult to withstand..."
Jade Pivot was not embarrassed. He merely gave a soft, bitter chuckle, then transformed into light and returned to the golden palace.
"If you stay out there any longer, this Waterborne Rongcheng Life-Deliverance grotto-heaven will be shattered sooner or later. Then those True Lords in the Xiantian Demon Sect who've disliked you for ages will be delighted. Once they have a sore spot to press, how could they possibly refrain from attacking?"
Yue You chuckled, then moved, landing inside the golden palace alongside Jade Pivot.
Carved railings, jade masonry, and bells formed from clouds.
Though called a golden palace qi sanctuary, it was so vast that it resembled an entire complex of buildings.
Golden tiles and bricks surrounded them. Exquisitely beautiful pavilions, terraces, and towers stood everywhere. There was also a pool within the palace, but its water shone bright gold. Even a distant glance conveyed a sense of indestructibility, solemn purity, and supreme nobility.
It shattered the afflictions of all beings, removed the obstructions of delusion and karma, and awakened their essential nature, as though it were the greatest of all treasures.
"Fucking hell! So this is what the eight schools and six sects of Xudu Heaven are like? What extravagance! Just how wealthy were their ancestors to leave them with grandeur like this?"
Yue You's eyes turned red after a single glance at that pool.
It was a pool of Buddha's blood.
Blood left by a nameless yet genuine supreme enlightened being who had passed through the eight solemn tribulations, transcended the sea of life and death, and possessed the "four bodies and five wisdoms"!
An exquisite waterside pavilion stood at the center of that pool of brilliant golden Buddha's blood.
Jade Pivot was already sitting cross-legged within it. A set of star-porcelain tea utensils rested on the low table before him. Fragrance curled from the cups, refreshing the spirit with a single breath. Seeing Yue You staring fixedly at the Buddha's blood beneath them, he sighed helplessly and gestured an invitation.
"Why are you staring at it, Daoist Brother Yue You? If you won't come drink tea, surely you don't intend to drink this blood?"
"I'd certainly like to!"
Yue You landed opposite Jade Pivot and sat down brazenly, legs splayed, with an air of unrestrained abandon.
"But the Profound Darkness Five Manifestations Dao Lord brought this Buddha's blood here to work together with the golden palace qi sanctuary and conceal your aura. If I drank it, he'd probably slap me to death the very next moment."
"Speaking of which, the Profound Darkness Five Manifestations Dao Lord really does treat you well. If he weren't a man, I'd suspect he was as bewitched by you as those female cultivators."
Yue You could not conceal the sour jealousy in his words.
"When you betrayed the Pivot Dipper Sect, some True Lords of the orthodox Daoist schools came to kill you. The Profound Darkness Five Manifestations Dao Lord intercepted them and killed every last one. Then, when changing your fate made it difficult for you to survive the three calamities, he gave you this Waterborne Rongcheng Life-Deliverance grotto-heaven as a refuge."
"That alone would be one thing. But later, the calamity-bearing karma on you grew so heavy that even this grotto-heaven could barely conceal it. The Dao Lord came out of seclusion again and personally built this golden palace qi sanctuary for you. Together with this pool of Buddha's blood, it completely sealed off heaven's ability to sense you... Tell me, I just don't understand. Why does he treat you so well? Does he fancy you?"
"...You're talking nonsense again, fellow Daoist Yue You. How could a sovereign second only to the highest in the three realms be moved by appearances? Besides, he is a male cultivator... Even Golden Core cultivators can reshape their bodies and features. What does my appearance amount to? It isn't worth mentioning."
Hearing Yue You's sour remarks, Jade Pivot wordlessly set down his teacup before speaking.
"What goes through that head of yours all day? The Dao Lord believes I can inherit the Xiantian Demon Sect's legacy. That's why he helps me! Read fewer mortal romances about love between men and women. You weren't particularly intelligent to begin with, and now you've grown even more foolish."
"Then with all that care he gives you, surely he can't be your father?"
"My birth father reigns supreme in Void Sovereign Heaven now. It's not as though you don't know. That man would love nothing more than to hack me into a thousand pieces. Why would he help me..."
At that moment.
For the first time, a faint murderous intent appeared in Jade Pivot's eyes.
"The last news I heard from Void Sovereign Heaven was that he had destroyed fifty-five divine kingdoms and unified the land and sea. All the gods bowed to him as their master. Apparently, they even honored him as some 'Divine King of Scarlet Essence, Molding Myriad Blessings.' Once I attain immortal fruition, sooner or later, he and I will have our reckoning!"
Yue You drew his neck in. Realizing he had inadvertently touched this man's forbidden scale, he did not dare respond.
"But..."
After waiting a while, however, he could no longer suppress his curiosity. "What's happening with your Pure Yang lightning tribulation? Why did it weaken out of nowhere?"
"It's done."
"Done?"
"Among my many descendants, someone has finally comprehended the Divine House Pivot Splendor Dao Lord's Exposition of the Primordial Beginning True Origin Scripture, just as Chen Zuo and Chen Ying did."
"So that's it... Hahahaha! Congratulations, congratulations!"
Before Jade Pivot showed much reaction, Yue You had already shot to his feet, beaming with delight.
He and Jade Pivot had established a Spirit Contract: they shared prosperity and ruin alike.
Jade Pivot was trapped by the Pure Yang lightning tribulation within the grotto-heaven's golden palace qi sanctuary, forced to draw a circle around himself as a prison. Yue You's situation was slightly better, but not by much. If he left the grotto-heaven, heaven's malice and loathing awaited him.
Back before the Divine House Pivot Splendor Dao Lord captured him, Yue You had enjoyed genuine freedom in Springbend Heaven. Heaven could not govern him, nor could earth confine him.
When thirsty or hungry, he devoured fresh, living prey. When idle or itching for action, he found a weaker realm-space and challenged all its cultivation establishments single-handedly, reviving the swagger of the great demons of ancient times. It had been exhilarating indeed.
Of course, Yue You only dared target realm-spaces, and only those without powerful backing.
He dared not venture onto continental lands, let alone celestial domains. If he went there to stir up trouble, he would be beaten to death, his skin flayed for magical materials, with no one daring even to collect his corpse.
But ever since the Divine House Pivot Splendor Dao Lord captured him and he established a Spirit Contract with Jade Pivot, Yue You felt he had not enjoyed a single good moment. He took nine beatings every three days.
After betraying the Pivot Dipper Sect, they had been hunted all the way from Eastern Ring Province to Southern Chan Province. They finally found shelter with the Xiantian Demon Sect, only to be forced by Jade Pivot's calamity-bearing karma to cower within the grotto-heaven, drawing a circle as their prison.
Hearing that another of Jade Pivot's descendants had comprehended "Primordial Beginning True Origin," Yue You felt that Jade Pivot's passage through the three calamities was near, and his own chance to escape was within sight. He could not help dancing with joy.
"Don't get too excited, fellow Daoist. Though heaven suppresses me and prevents me from divining everything about that descendant, I can still determine that his aptitude is unimpressive. Never mind comparing him to Chen Zuo-even the lesser Chen Jin, Chen Chan, Chen Daozheng, and Chen Yuanzhi surpass him."
At those words, Yue You's expression froze, then abruptly darkened.
"Still, he is my descendant and useful to me. Sorry for the trouble, Daoist Brother, but please make a journey and bring him back to the Xiantian Demon Sect."
Ignoring Yue You's face, which was so dark it almost seemed ready to drip water, Jade Pivot slowly released a drop of blood from his fingertip and suspended it in the air.
"He should currently be in the Southern Territory of Eastern Maitreya Province. At present, I cannot divine anything more precise. Take this drop of my blood with you. It will react once you draw near."
"...His aptitude really is worse than even Chen Chan's?"
Taking the drop of blood, Yue You asked again, unwilling to give up.
"Not only is he inferior to Chen Chan, I'm afraid he's hardly better than Chen Xuanwu."
"Isn't Chen Xuanwu that brain-damaged waste who does nothing but use his face to seduce women all day, just like you?"
Yue You was bitterly disappointed. "He's like Chen Xuanwu? Why bring a useless fellow like that back to the Xiantian Demon Sect? His comprehension of a Qi Refining method was probably sheer heaven-sent luck. Who knows how many years he wasted on it? Cultivating 'Primordial Beginning True Origin' will take even more grueling effort, never mind Purple Mansion or Cavern Mystery. Aren't you just making me suffer through a pointless journey?"
Jade Pivot remained unbothered, the faint smile still on his face.
"Even useless people have their uses. Just bring him back."
"...You really are a nuisance. What were those incarnations of yours doing while roaming the Nine Provinces and Four Seas back then? So many descendants, and so few amount to anything!"
Grumbling, Yue You peeled a scale from his body and tossed it into the air, where it transformed into a spirit body.
The spirit body took the blood without a word, then rode a streak of gray light out of the grotto-heaven, heading straight for the Southern Territory of Eastern Maitreya Province.
"It's not that I'm neglecting this, mind you. With that descendant's poor aptitude, he probably couldn't get into any major sect. Sending a spirit body is more than enough."
Yue You hastened to explain, while Jade Pivot merely nodded slightly.
They had not been sitting long when the grotto-heaven's gateway slowly opened again. Countless immortal melodies rang out, and an extraordinary fragrance filled the air.
"Damn it, another woman's come looking for you, hasn't she? It was like this in the Pivot Dipper Sect, and it's still like this in the Xiantian Demon Sect! This is worse than killing me!"
Yue You could not even be bothered to raise his head. He was long accustomed to the sight.
At that moment.
At the gateway of the Waterborne Rongcheng Life-Deliverance grotto-heaven, three hundred fire-dragon strongmen led the way. Radiant celestial maidens flanked them, ringing bells and holding fans as they attended a magnificent cloud palanquin. Dragon horns and jeweled pendants hung from its four corners, and star gauze formed its curtains. Through them, a woman's graceful, exquisitely beautiful figure could faintly be seen.
"Senior Brother Jade Pivot, I just heard the Pure Yang lightning tribulation. Are you all right?" the woman in the cloud palanquin asked softly.
"Junior Sister Xu, I'm fine."
Jade Pivot smiled faintly and rose with leisurely grace.
Yue You rolled his eyes. Unable to remain another moment, he transformed into light and plunged into the sea, only stopping once he reached the seabed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Southern Territory of Eastern Maitreya Province.
In a secluded chamber within Blazing Mountain.
Chen Heng slowly concluded his cultivation. The last Talisman Coin in his hand immediately dissolved into dust in the void.
I've improved as far as I can. Without Talisman Coins or spiritual qi, cultivating truly is difficult. At a time like this, I actually have to be grateful that I still have a strand of Cold Dipper True Qi inside me...
He raised a hand and pressed lightly through the air. A mechanism clicked softly, and the great stone blocking the entrance slowly shifted aside.
Outside, Tu Shan Ge, who had been waiting for a long time, hurried in at the sight.
He looked up.
An extraordinarily handsome young Daoist with flawless features sat on a cushion, smiling at him.
His aura was ethereal. Though clearly right before his eyes, when Tu Shan Ge sensed him spiritually, he seemed to have already departed this world and ascended as a Celestial Person.
"Congratulations on attaining the great Dao, Master!"
Overjoyed, Tu Shan Ge prostrated himself.
"Mere Qi Refining hardly counts as the great Dao. Please get up, fellow Daoist." Chen Heng supported him.
"Master..."
Tu Shan Ge steadied himself. "I extracted some information from that boy under interrogation! There may be trouble!"
"Hmm?"
Chen Heng fell silent for a moment before speaking calmly. His voice was tranquil and clear, like the pure, mellow notes of an ancient zither with mirror-bright lacquer, inexplicably soothing Tu Shan Ge's heart.
"Tell me."
Two chapters in one.
Thanks to reader 20200414171619762 for the 100-point tip, to A Lu Bu for the 100-point tip, to reader 20220520133241174 for the 100-point tip, and to All That Is Past for the 100-point tip.
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