Seedlings

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiu was first taken aback, then shook his head with a wry smile:

"Never mind, never mind, forget I asked."

Upon hearing this, Su Yao smiled but remained silent.

Yang Xiu pondered for a moment, then raised his head again, his eyes still filled with doubt:

"I roughly understood what you just said, Brother. But there are still a few things I can't figure out."

Su Yao hummed in agreement, signaling him to continue.

Yang Xiu said:

"Firstly, Brother Dao said that the reason why the reincarnation of the True Lord was able to summon the Longchuan Heaven was because he possessed the bloodlines of both the Spirit Witch Dao Lord and the Renewing Beginnings and Equalizing Fields True Lord, and also had the Great Marsh Banner as a response. But even though the Dao Lord went beyond the heavens and no longer responded, and the cave was closed, the descendants of the Dao Lord's bloodline should at least be respected. Even if their glory has faded, they shouldn't have become unknown later on. How come they don't even have a title now, and are even worse off than ordinary Rogue Cultivator..."

Su Yao shook his head upon hearing this:

"This matter involves far too much; I've only glimpsed a fragment from the Spring and Autumn of Immortal Artifacts. It only contained this one sentence..."

He paused, as if recalling the original text from the Spring and Autumn Annals, and after a moment, read it aloud, word by word:

"The Dao Lord has three bloodlines, all of which are Yin, and all reside hidden in grotto heavens. In the spring of the seventeenth year of the reign, a woman left Longchuan, longing for the mortal world, and crossed the Yang River to marry. Several years later, she had several children. Afterwards, the seedlings of Longchuan spread across the fields, and all disappeared."

After hearing this, Yang Xiu frowned and repeated in a low voice:

"The seedlings of Longchuan spread wildly... seedlings..."

After speaking, he pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked up at Su Yao:

"The word 'Miao' is deliberate, right?"

Su Yao nodded:

"The writing style of the Spring and Autumn Annals is weighty, every word carrying immense significance. 'Seedlings' refer to crops, growing in fields. What this 'seedling' refers to is self-evident. 'Spreading wildly' means that the lineage has dispersed into the countryside, losing its identity and hiding its roots."

He paused for a moment, then continued:

"As for the spring of the seventeenth year of Zheng's reign, that was precisely the year Qin destroyed the state of Han."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiu felt a chill run down his spine and couldn't help but ask:

"What about 'marrying by crossing the Yang River '? Where is the Yang River? And who exactly did this Dao Lord's daughter marry?"

Su Yao said:

"Yang River, a small river in the northern border of the former Chu, has long since dried up. The original Proclaiming Earth True Lord was born on the banks of... Yang River!"

Then, a strange glint flashed in his eyes, and he lowered his voice:

"Yang means facing the sun. Leaving Yin and heading towards the sun means leaving the Longchuan Grotto-Heaven and entering the mortal world. And the man this woman married..."

He paused for a moment, his gaze falling on Yang Xiu's face:

"It was none other than the Renewing Beginnings and Equalizing Fields True Lord."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiu was visibly shaken:

"What?"

Su Yao said:

"In the Spring and Autumn Period, the term ' True Lord ' was never explicitly mentioned. But if you think about it carefully, after 'marrying by crossing the Yang River,' it was followed by 'several years later, she had several children,' and then 'the seedlings of Longchuan spread across the fields.' This marriage merged the bloodline of the Dao Lord with that of Proclaiming Earth. Why could the bloodline of the Dao Lord activate the Great Marsh Banner? Because the blood flowing in the veins of these descendants is not just that of the Dao Lord alone."

Yang Xiu let out a long breath, and after a long while, he said:

"So, Renewing Beginnings and Equalizing Fields True Lord is actually the son-in-law of Spirit Witch Dao Lord?"

Su Yao didn't speak, he just nodded.

Yang Xiu raised his hand and rubbed his temples, as if digesting this astonishing event:

"No wonder... no wonder it could draw down the Longchuan Heaven. With the Great Marsh Banner as its response, and combined with the bloodlines of the Dao Lord and the True Lord, and the Proclaiming Earth Attainment Rank, it would be difficult for that grotto-heaven not to fall down."

He paused, then suddenly looked up:

"That doesn't make sense. According to the records, the Heavenly Venerable of the Laurel-Breaking Household has never feared power, and being under the command of the Yuanfu, he is close to the Witchcraft Dao. How could he be so... so 'concealed' about the Dao Lord's daughter in the Spring and Autumn? This 'concealment' isn't protection, but rather seems like avoidance, or even..."

He thought for a moment before saying:

It's like recording something you have to remember, but don't want to dwell on.

Su Yao smiled wryly upon hearing this:

"You see things very clearly."

He stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the northern horizon, and slowly said:

"That Heavenly Venerable of the Laurel-Breaking Household was indeed close to Witchcraft Dao in his early years. But later, he sided with the Qin Emperor."

Su Yao paused for a moment, then continued:

"The Qin Emperor's former grandeur was undoubtedly due in part to the presence of the Laurel-Breaking Heavenly Venerable. Otherwise, how could the various lineages of our Mysterious Gate have stood idly by while the Qin Emperor rose to power, failing to suppress him and allow him to establish Immortal Kingdom Method? The Laurel-Breaking Household, after all, is a descendant of the Dao Ancestor, and the Heavenly Venerable was the most outstanding figure in our Mysterious Gate at that time; that's why the many Heavenly Venerable of Mysterious Gate refrained from intervening. Our third-generation Dao Ancestor once debated the Dao with Him for three days and nights. Upon emerging from seclusion, he only said one thing to the Daozheng: ' Zhegui a single branch of the laurel tree brings the world to bow down. Only the Dao Ancestor, the Buddha Ancestor, the Confucian Sage, and the Three Sovereigns are not included.'"

Yang Xiu felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this; Golden Court had indeed missed out on far too much.

Su Yao continued:

"But later, for some reason, the Heavenly Venerable suddenly stopped interfering in the affairs of the Qin Emperor."

He paused:

"Thus, the Qin Emperor fell, and the Great Qin collapsed. Only then did the Heavenly Venerable pick up his pen and record this event in the Spring and Autumn Annals, writing about the Dao Lord's daughter marrying the True Lord, and how the bloodline was concealed. Yet, between the lines, he neither praised her achievements nor lamented her sorrow, but rather recorded it as if a wild seedling had spread from Longchuan to the wilderness."

Yang Xiu said in a low voice:

"The True Lord is precisely the one who destroyed the foundation of Qin."

Su Yao nodded:

"That's right. The True Lord's rebellion against Qin was tantamount to undermining the Heavenly Venerable. What kind of person is the Heavenly Venerable? If you bring down someone he has chosen, do you think he'll calmly write a biography for you? Therefore, although the True Lord's own deeds and achievements are few and far between in the Spring and Autumn Annals, they are still relatively clear. As for the people around the True Lord, the Dao Lord's daughter and the True Lord's children, only a few words are left, and even their names are not recorded."

Yang Xiu remained silent for a long while, then finally sighed softly:

And then what?

Su Yao said:

"After that, there are no further records before the Spring and Autumn Period."

He raised his head and looked towards the northern horizon:

"There are no further records. Yet the bloodline has been passed down from generation to generation, hidden from view."

At this point, the three-colored afterglow on the northern horizon suddenly flickered.

Su Yao and Yang Xiu turned their heads at the same time.

Three-colored beams of light rose from the ground, soaring straight into the sky, several times more powerful than before.

Immediately afterwards, a deep, distant voice came from the north. It was not human speech, yet it made everyone who heard it tremble.

The sound was like trillions of people whispering at once, or like the earth itself breathing:

"Juntian... Juntian..."

At this moment, a profound voice once again pierced through the Soul-Losing Radiant Fire Formation and entered the Embracing Rosy Clouds Hall. The profound voice was as majestic as the law of heaven:

"I hereby order Qingyan, the abbot of Qixia Temple Golden Court, Yang Xiu, the Daoist priest of Jinting, to go to Green Nuo immediately and stop Proclaiming Earth."

Upon hearing this, both of their expressions changed.

Su Yao's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, and a flash of coldness crossed his eyes.

He looked in the direction Xuan Yin had come from and said:

"You want me and Fellow Daoist Yang to stop the reincarnation of the True Lord? It would be better to just issue an imperial decree now and send us directly to the Immortal-Slaying Terrace, saving us this long detour."