Gathering Clouds of Doubt

"One day we shall join hands in the Pure Capital, and know why I did not shrink from the hardship of this journey."

Su Yao gazed at the wooden box and murmured the lines of verse to himself.

His heart was full of doubts.

The name Pure Capital might not have been familiar, but what it represented was the Jade Void.

The supreme place of the Jade Pure One's lineage of the Mysterious Gate.

Now, it seemed that the wooden box most likely did not belong to Daozheng, but had been sent by the Jade Void Palace.

At the thought, he could not help wanting to cast the box aside and return to Qixia Temple to cultivate in earnest, in pursuit of the Great Dao.

But now that matters were settled, he could only think of a way to break out of the situation.

No wonder Daozheng, who had always treated him as his own, had suddenly grown distant from him over his decision to descend the mountain.

Now that he thought about it, everything made sense.

Daozheng likely did not want him drawn into this matter either, which was why he had acted that way.

After all, among the mountains and rivers within ten thousand li of Qixia Mountain, Daozheng faced little resistance in making whatever arrangements he wished. But once this matter was involved, even Daozheng had no say.

Come to think of it, though Daozheng had been enlightened by Patriarch Yun Zhongzi and had joined the ranks of the Jade Void immortals, he had not been admitted as the patriarch's disciple, nor as one of Qixia Temple's successive temple masters, True Lords, or immortals.

Moreover, Daozheng's Daoist name was not part of the Jade Void lineage.

Rather, he had earned his place among the Jade Void immortals through his status as Patriarch Yun Zhongzi's attendant boy, together with his own cultivation.

Though that was enough to protect Qixia Temple, Daozheng could not interfere much in many of the decisions handed down from the Jade Void Palace.

Seen in that light, if he had not descended the mountain, the Jade Void Palace would not have forced him, out of consideration for Daozheng.

But he himself had insisted on descending the mountain, giving the Jade Void Palace a reason to make him participate.

When he thought of how Daozheng had argued on his behalf with the sect master, the Second Master, he felt deeply guilty. Daozheng was now attending a lecture at the Jade Void Palace, and Su Yao did not know how he would face his fellow cultivators.

But as he pondered, something else struck him as wrong. Why had the prism never interfered with his cultivation? Before he descended the mountain, it had done no more than protect him, preventing a True Person who had cultivated the Fate Divine Ability from probing his thoughts, and point out what he could use to refine talismans.

Ever since he had finished cultivating the two Secret Methods, the prism had been urging him to descend the mountain and refine talismans. He had assumed that cultivating too many Secret Methods really would leave him unable to refine a third talisman, but now that he thought about it, the prism was likely deliberately pushing him into the game.

Ever since he had descended the mountain, the prism had even acted out of character, warning him repeatedly.

So he sank his consciousness into his Qi sea and examined the prism floating within it.

The prism had seven sides and was exquisitely clear. Two of its faces now bore a glimmer of light, representing the two talismans. Though Su Yao did not know exactly where it had come from, he was certain it belonged neither to this world nor to the world of Blue Star, where he had lived in his previous life.

Nor had the prism arrived in this world only sixty years ago. It must have existed here for a long time already.

He had not noticed it at first, but as his cultivation steadily improved, he could feel a separation between the prism and this world.

It was probably because it had spent so long in this world that it had caused no abnormalities.

Over the years, he had often relied on the prism to cultivate. At the very beginning, there had been a few slight abnormalities, but now everything went remarkably smoothly.

He gazed at the prism with his consciousness and murmured:

"I only hope that we share in each other's glory and bear each other's losses.

Let no further complications arise. Now that I've descended the mountain, I'll naturally do my utmost."

The prism seemed to sense something, and a glimmer of light briefly flickered across its surface.

Seeing this, Su Yao chuckled softly.

Though the sound was faint, Little Red and Little Orange noticed it. The two birds immediately flew to Su Yao's side and began chirping and chattering.

Su Yao shook his head helplessly.

He then spent some time calming the two birds.

He thought to himself:

Whether the wooden box is part of Daozheng's arrangements or the Jade Void Palace's, or whether the prism is pushing things along, now that I've set foot on this path, there's no turning back.

He looked toward the increasingly dim cave entrance and recited aloud:

"Onward to the azure clouds, with never a backward glance; with one loyal heart, I knock upon the Mysterious Gate."

Outside, Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi had already set up an array at the cave entrance. They had also dug two small caves on either side of the original entrance, where they each took a pill and sat cross-legged to meditate and regulate their breathing.

Hearing Su Yao's voice, the two were curious, but after listening for a moment, they eventually calmed their minds and continued regulating their breathing.

Ever since the Three Pure Ones had attained the Dao, Kunlun had been the foremost immortal mountain under heaven, divided into east and west.

West Kunlun was the Jade Lake, where the Golden Mother dwelled. After she departed, she also left many inheritors here.

East Kunlun was where the Jade Void Palace, the ancestral seat of the Jade Pure One's lineage, stood.

The space before the Jade Void Palace, usually sparsely populated and filled with an immortal atmosphere, was crowded with people today.

A quick glance showed that every one of them was an Immortal Truth who had attained the Dao. As they stood there, all manner of extraordinary manifestations appeared: clear Qi descended upon the heavens, purple Qi gathered in a haze, true Qi swirled, Wu Earth rose... countless other wonders appeared one after another.

Yet they all had one thing in common: none of their faces could be seen clearly, as though a hazy halo veiled their divine countenances.

Just then, the tightly shut gates of the Jade Void Palace suddenly opened.

The assembled Immortal Truths before the palace all fell silent.

A boy in white came out of the palace. He first looked toward the gathered figures.

"Please wait a little longer, everyone. The sect master, the Second Master, is attending to a few minor matters. Once they are settled, he will summon you inside for the discourse."

The Immortal Truths hurriedly voiced their assent.

But the boy in white did not return to the palace. Instead, he headed south, where a figure wreathed in five-colored mist was conversing with another from whom purple Qi rose.

Seeing the boy approach, both stopped talking and looked at him. The figure wreathed in five-colored mist did not speak; instead, the figure with rising purple Qi said:

"Child Linghui, have you come looking for me or Qizhenzi?"

The boy called Linghui did not answer, but looked at the figure wreathed in five-colored mist.

"Perfected Qizhen, please come with me to the Jade Void Palace first. The sect master has something to ask you."

The face of the figure wreathed in five-colored mist could not be seen. He merely nodded, then looked first at the figure beside him, from whom purple Qi rose.

"Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment. I'll go answer the sect master's questions."

Then he turned back to the boy.

"Sorry to trouble you to lead the way."

Linghui nodded, made a gesture of invitation, and walked toward the Jade Void Palace.

The figure called Qizhen, wreathed in five-colored mist, followed.

The figure behind him, from whom purple Qi rose, called out to stop him.

"Qizhenzi, don't be so stubborn. People like us need only sit and watch as the winds and clouds shift beneath heaven."

He paused, then spoke again as Qizhenzi turned to look back.

"We need only look after our Daoist lineage. There's no need to burden ourselves too much, or to sacrifice ourselves for it."

Qizhenzi nodded at his words.

Behind him and all around, sighs rang out.

Hearing those sighs, Qizhenzi finally stopped and looked back.

"But you and I have long been caught up in the great tide. If the sovereign wishes to ascend the throne and rule all under heaven, how can we immortals avoid it?"

He paused.

"Do we surrender our sect and its inheritance to scrape out a humble existence, or sacrifice ourselves in pursuit of the Dao?"

With that, he turned around and continued after the boy.

An uproar broke out around them.