Ambition Is a Word Brimming with Power

Zhou Tianchen returned to the ancestral residence alone, his feelings complicated. His initial excitement and apprehension were long gone.

After all, the remnant spirits of the patriarchs were no longer in the house. It was just an ordinary old residence.

He walked slowly around the sprawling estate. Time had worn the flagstone paths smooth and glossy, and the paint was peeling from the wooden pillars beneath the eaves.

Along the way, he found that the vast estate had been swept clean and tidy. It looked nothing like a place that had stood unoccupied for a century, and he could not help feeling a little ashamed.

He should have asked for the whole story first. He was far too rash by nature. While he was in this grotto-heaven, he would have to cultivate his character and temper his disposition. He must not follow the Daoist priest's example.

After sitting idly in the courtyard for a while, Zhou Tianchen rose and followed the patriarch's handwritten notes to several secret places in the temple where inheritance tokens had been hidden.

He obtained the important inheritance tokens one by one without incident. Only one ancestral visualization diagram was still missing.

He searched the secret places from top to bottom but could not find it. He could not help feeling puzzled.

Back then, the patriarch had personally left behind nine visualization diagrams, and the True Intention contained in each had been placed there by his own hand.

The patriarch of their lineage was the very founder of the Heavenly Peng Dharma Form, so the visualization diagrams he left behind could be called "ancestral diagrams."

Of the nine ancestral diagrams, only this one remained today.

Where was it hidden?

It suddenly dawned on Zhou Tianchen, and he recalled the badly faded, tattered visualization diagram in Yu Tunzhou's hands.

Surely not...

That visualization diagram was so worn and ragged, as though it had weathered years of wind and rain, that he had never connected it with the ancestral diagram at the time.

After all, such a precious object of inheritance ought to have been buried three feet underground and hidden away. How could it be left outside at random, exposed to wind and sun and worn to ruin?

But...

Zhou Tianchen's eyelid twitched. It was not impossible. After all, it was the "reward" that gang of living ancestors had chosen.

At the thought that the diagram in Yu Tunzhou's hands might really be the ancestral diagram, Zhou Tianchen's first reaction was that they were squandering their inheritance!

What a damned waste!

That gang of wastrel living ancestors!

The Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple had been in decline for so many years. Even Eldest Senior Brother had only used an ordinary visualization diagram back then!

According to Eldest Senior Brother, the ancestral visualization diagram hidden in the ancestral residence was meant to be saved for the next generation's immortal seed.

Zhou Tianchen was heartsick, itching to raise his head and let out a long sigh, yet he dared not make a peep or voice half a word of criticism.

Then he quickly realized something else.

If that really was the ancestral diagram, Yu Tunzhou was in danger!

Zhou Tianchen's face abruptly changed, and he whipped his gaze toward the mountainside.

He pushed off with his feet, only to stop abruptly at the main gate. A figure like a wandering ghost had appeared outside the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple at some unknown time.

A single glance made Zhou Tianchen tremble to his core and stagger backward.

A vague, drifting murmur came from outside the gate:

"Someone else has come to the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple?"

"How did such a piece of trash end up here?"

"What a pity."

Zhou Tianchen opened his mouth but dared not speak. He could only watch as the figure vanished into the night.

His expression turned grave. Was that rumor true?

Could this person really still appear in the world?

No wonder Eldest Senior Brother had wanted to come here before!

The night was black as ink, and the quiet town was filled only with the chirping of insects and croaking of frogs.

In the lanes that crisscrossed the town, a man strolled wherever he pleased, his hands tucked into his sleeves.

He glanced up at an old residence.

A girl was sitting cross-legged inside. In two weeks, she had advanced the Qi Ingestion Method to the fifth layer.

Rarer still, the girl possessed a Buddhist root. Born with forty teeth and a single hair in each pore, she had been close to a "bodhisattva" from birth.

On his way here, he had seen quite a few people with Buddhist roots and Dao bones.

For instance, the Jiang Household's youngest son had extraordinary Root Bones. Though they did not reach the level of an innate Dao bone, his Primordial Spirit had been close to an infant's from birth, only a hair's breadth away from a Dao Infant.

At the Nanhua Sect in the far west, there was half a sword immortal in the making, born with a sword bone but no sword heart.

Among Evergreen Mountain's younger generation, there was one who possessed both a Dao bone and a Buddhist root, not to mention the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart of the Northern Plains Xie Household... Huh, why was he a man?

Lastly, there was a spirited young man who looked down on everyone else, with the physiognomic sign of a "hibernating dragon in his eyes."

Oh, he was a third-place imperial examination laureate too?

What a pity.

They were all trash.

The man walked along with his hands tucked into his sleeves, utterly unhurried.

The world's talents were beyond counting, and over the past thousand years, they had been as vast as a sea of stars. He had met nearly every one of them whose name was worth mentioning.

Without stopping, he suddenly glanced at another old residence.

A youth sat upright with a sword across his knees, solemnly swearing an oath to the blade before him: one day, he would master Supreme Sword Seizing and make every sword under heaven his to wield!

The man chuckled.

Though foolishly adorable, he did have a true sword heart taking shape within him. He was better than a certain little piece of trash who had a sword bone but no sword heart.

Farming? Composting manure?

Could farming grow a pure sword heart, or could composting manure produce a flawless Dao heart?

The disciple was a little piece of trash, and the master was an even bigger one.

It was then that-

A sword's cry suddenly rang through heaven and earth, soaring into the sky. Vast and majestic sword intent locked onto a distant location, its edge laid bare and aggressively pressing forward!

The sword intent bore down on the man, but he remained unmoved, too lazy even to raise an eyelid.

You earned enough good fortune in your last life just for me to spare you a glance, and you still dare get in my face?

At the westernmost end of town.

Cao Jianjia had interrupted her Qi Ingestion Method cultivation and was looking in bewilderment at her martial aunt, who had suddenly drawn her sword, her killing intent surging to the heavens.

A man who had appeared from who knew where was clinging desperately to her martial aunt's leg, howling:

"Let it go, let it go! He's not worth bothering with! It's such a loss!"

Daoist Qingzhi gritted her teeth and looked down at the man clinging to her leg as if he would not let go even if she hacked him to death. Her willow brows shot up, and she thrust her sword straight at his groin!

"Mo, who gave you permission to come crawling through the gates of my Nanhua residence?!"

Watching the chaos before her, Cao Jianjia silently looked away, afraid her martial aunt would turn her anger on her the next moment.

She looked up at the sky, puzzled. The town seemed a little...

Noisy tonight?

It was as though the very air and all the things between heaven and earth had been stirred at this moment, giving off a faint roar.

It sounded like a dragon's cry, like a tiger's roar, and also like a...

Shriek?

In a certain alley, the man who had been so carefree a moment ago had long since stopped. He looked toward the mountainside with an amused smile.

Another expert?

Was it darkest under my own lamp?

In the study of the Daoist temple.

An oil lamp cast a dim yellow light over the books in the room.

Li Jingxuan opened his eyes from his meditation on the Dao and sensed the "fierce Qi" that seemed almost within arm's reach.

He was surprised. Had Senior Brother Yu already come face-to-face with the ancestral diagram's True Intention?

The True Intention had merely spread out, yet it could cause such a phenomenon between heaven and earth...

It seemed Heavenly Peng Daoist's strength back then had surpassed even the records of his lineage. He had come extremely close to that level.

He sighed. All he could do was wish Senior Brother Yu good luck and hope he could avoid injury to his Primordial Spirit as much as possible.

If his luck was poor, then the wager between Li Jingxuan and his senior brother could be decided tomorrow.

After all, once the Primordial Spirit was injured, it could easily take days or even a month of secluded rest to recover.

Meanwhile, in the main room on the other side of the wall.

The old Daoist priest slowly put down his brush. A single character had been written on the rice paper, its strokes vigorous and forceful-

Fish.

According to legend, in that untraceable river of time, all living beings unable to leap free were like little fish in the river, carried helplessly along by the current.

The immortals and gods from before High Antiquity were like anglers, using all manner of methods to fish for living beings...

Just then.

The wind outside the Daoist temple howled ever more loudly.

The old Daoist priest raised his eyes, his gaze distant. He suddenly recalled a question he had once asked Yu Tunzhou:

"Suppose that one day you, Yu Tunzhou, reach the pinnacle of the Great Dao. Given your character, do you think you'll have more enemies or more friends? Think carefully before you answer."

After pondering for a moment, the youth had given him an interesting answer.

The youth thought that if he truly reached the pinnacle of the Great Dao one day, where under heaven would he find any enemies?

He could tell that the youth had not lied, nor had he been joking.

It was also after that that he noticed the ancestral spirits of the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple seemed particularly close to Yu Tunzhou.

It was closeness rather than admiration because the spirits of the patriarchs of these various Daoist temples had long since been so diminished that only instinct remained.

And this closeness was like that between "fellow travelers" whose Great Daos were in accord.

Thus, there was little doubt that Yu Tunzhou would master the Heavenly Peng Bearing the Azure Diagram.

Even without that reason.

The old Daoist priest did not believe a youth who dared say he would be "without equal under heaven" could fail the visualization diagram's test.

Even if it turned out to be an ancestral diagram left behind by Heavenly Peng True Person.

Oh, right.

The old Daoist priest had been cautious all his life. As he checked for anything he might have overlooked, he recalled one more thing.

There was also that strange fist technique to consider.

Within his Primordial Spirit Heaven and Earth.

Golden characters transformed into chains, binding the Heavenly Peng that had swept over Yu Tunzhou's head and dragging it before him.

No matter how fiercely the Peng struggled and shrieked in defiance, its wings, capable of holding up the azure sky, could not break free of the golden chains.

The Heavenly Peng, once so vast it could have borne the heavens on its back, was now only as tall as Yu Tunzhou.

Yu Tunzhou paid it no mind, his gaze fixed on the golden chains.

He had not expected the golden characters really could enter his Primordial Spirit Heaven and Earth!

He looked at the Heavenly Peng, which still refused to submit, and shook his head.

What good does refusing to submit do?

When your skill falls short, you have to accept it.

As if sensing Yu Tunzhou's will, the Heavenly Peng breathed heavily and strained forward with all its might, until at last it stood directly before him.

A man and a Peng stood face to face.

Yu Tunzhou frowned. He neither backed away nor averted his gaze.

Now, he had to truly subdue this Heavenly Peng before he could gather its True Intention and shape his Primordial Spirit's inner form.

He did not know whether the golden characters could help, but he wanted to try for himself first!

The Heavenly Peng gazed at Yu Tunzhou. Even bound by the golden chains, it showed no intention of bowing in submission.

In those eyes, full of soaring defiance and disdain for all under heaven, Yu Tunzhou saw a figure breaking through every restraint, transcending every shackle, and finally challenging the boundless heavens and earth.

It spanned the layered skies and burst through the deepest seas.

Above, it brushed the azure heavens; below, it covered the endless expanse.

This was the true form of the Heavenly Peng's True Intention.

And in the Heavenly Peng's eyes, the youth's figure gradually came into view.

Yu Tunzhou saw the "true form" of the Heavenly Peng's True Intention, and it saw through to the youth's true heart.

The youth regarded heaven and earth as a furnace and the mortal world as his Daoist temple.

Every hardship was like mud, scattered with a shake of his robes.

What he sought in living was not to cling to a wretched existence, but to stand tall and remain true to his heart.

Interesting.

But not enough.

If he wanted to subdue it, or even make it willingly submit, the youth would have to show his vigorous ambition!

At that moment.

A vast, distant voice seemed to ring out in Yu Tunzhou's soul, questioning the nature of his Primordial Spirit. Questions and answers followed, both obeying their true hearts in an instant.

"Warrior of a later age, what is your name?"

Yu Tunzhou.

"What do you seek?"

All that I seek is to live.

"The living beings under heaven number as the sands of the Ganges, and the ways they live are beyond counting. Some cling to a wretched existence, some sit high in halls of power, some are revered by the whole world, and some dwell in seclusion among mountains and forests... And you, how do you wish to live?"

In an instant, Yu Tunzhou seemed to transform into a great Peng, opening the boundless realm of the azure sky with a body of utmost yang and strength, uniting with the principles of great freedom and transcendence, soaring ninety thousand li on the wind to look down upon the vast earth and take in the four seas and eight wildernesses!

Yu Tunzhou had always had an idea: if he ever made it out of the town alive, he would go see the vast world beyond.

And now, through the Heavenly Peng's eyes, he had seen the vast world as it had been who knew how many years ago. He had also seen true freedom and ease.

[Ambition is a word brimming with power.]

[Tell me, where does your ambition lie? If you lack even ambition, how could you make me submit to you?]

The Heavenly Peng's question rang in Yu Tunzhou's ears, but his expression remained calm, unmoving as a mountain. The question did not shake his mind in the slightest.

The future could wait until the future.

For now, he looked only at the present.

But for some reason...

Deep within his Primordial Spirit, which had settled into stillness, something seemed to be burning.

Beneath that calm lay something vaster and deeper still.

It seemed that, after seeing the boundless expanse above the nine heavens and the vastness beyond the four seas through the Heavenly Peng's eyes, the heart that three years of life in the town had tempered into utter steadiness had grown hot at this moment, and begun to burn...

How greedy you are, Yu Tunzhou.

He spoke to himself in his heart.

Have you begun to nurture an ambition even more distant and extravagant than staying alive?

He gazed at the Heavenly Peng before him. Something seemed to be taking root in his heart, and a certain flame gradually began to burn in his eyes.

He had chained the Heavenly Peng.

And the Heavenly Peng had smashed open a lock in his heart.

At that moment.

The young man reflected in the Peng bird's eyes began to change. The pale-gold Primordial Spirit power throughout the entire world converged wildly, using the Heavenly Peng before him as its outer form to sculpt a brand-new inner form for his Primordial Spirit.

Was that the Heavenly Peng?

No...

It was deeper, loftier, and more...

Free.

It possessed the Heavenly Peng's unruly ferocity, but also the young man's steadiness and purity, as though the two had blended together.

It was also at this moment that the Heavenly Peng finally saw clearly what the golden chains binding it were.

It suddenly burst into laughter, unrestrained and brazen, shaking heaven and earth.

That was the supreme art in the eyes of all beings!

It was the highest art of transcendence that the Buddha had left for the people of the world!

This disciple of his was one of the final victors in the Luofu Dao Contention!

[Yu Tunzhou! Yu Tunzhou! Yu Tunzhou!]

Each call rang higher than the last, exploding like peals of thunder, deafening and awakening.

It was recognition, expectation, and, even more, a cry in pursuit of the Dao!

[What is the Dao?!]

Yin and yang complemented each other; that was the Great Dao.

[Then what... is the Kunpeng?!]

In the Northern Dark Sea there was a fish, its name Kun. It bore mountains as it swam the seas, swallowed the four seas and faced the heavens. In its wrath, three thousand waves rose, mountains shook, and the seas overturned.

It grew feathers that hung from the heavens, and its name was Peng. Its right wing covered the westernmost reaches, its left wing veiled the eastern wilderness. Its wings rose, stretching the length and breadth of the long clouds; heaven stirred and the stars wheeled.

The Heavenly Peng bound by golden chains had long since stopped struggling. In its once-unruly eyes, only fascination with and devotion to the "Great Dao" before it remained.

Black seawater rose over its drooping wings, gradually engulfing the entire Primordial Spirit Heaven and Earth and turning it into a boundless sea.

This was yang at its extreme giving birth to yin, something its true self had pursued all its life without attaining. Now it was unfolding before its eyes, leaving it no choice but to bow before the young man.

Yet for a moment, it could not tell whether the sight before it had been brought about by the highest art that still bound it, or by Yu Tunzhou himself.

Perhaps its disciple was far more outstanding than it had imagined.

At that moment.

The golden chains silently withdrew, merging into the Primordial Spirit that was taking the form of "Supreme Yin."

The Heavenly Peng, free once more, let out a long cry between heaven and earth, its voice vast and unfettered.

Exhilarating, truly exhilarating!

What could bring it greater comfort than seeing a disciple of the younger generation comprehend the Kunpeng's divine form?

It spread its wings and took flight again, striding across the earth's veins and wheeling around the framework of heaven. It swept through every corner of this Primordial Spirit Heaven and Earth, its boundless body transforming into countless points of light that merged into the vast sea below.

[Yu Tunzhou!]

The Heavenly Peng's voice gradually grew distant, yet remained clear, echoing through the Primordial Spirit Heaven and Earth.

[Heaven and earth are so vast, the Great Dao so majestic. How could you not journey forth and see them with your own eyes?!]

[One day, you will fly even higher than I. I hope that by then, you will have found your own ambition and truly subdued it...]

The Heavenly Peng vanished at the end of heaven and earth.

All that remained was a vast ocean where emerald waves met the azure sky.

No one knew how much time passed.

A faint ripple stirred on the calm, waveless surface of the sea.

A small black fish quietly emerged from the water. As it raised its head, the first thing it saw was the boundless azure sky.

A fierce ambition blazed in its eyes.