Encouraging His Own Dao Heart

Five days later, at the entrance to the Treasure Pavilion.

Su Yao stood at the entrance with his hands behind his back.

Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi stood on either side of him.

Little Red and Little Orange perched on their respective shoulders, calling out uneasily.

After a long while, Li Siyi was the first to speak, a trace of fear in her voice:

"Daozi, what... what is that outside...?"

Su Yao shook his head and looked beyond the Treasure Pavilion at the azure mist filling the entire secret realm. He sighed helplessly inwardly.

Five days ago, he had divided the treasures between the two of them. Over the next five days, he and the other two had refined all the Law Artifacts.

When they came out again, this was what greeted them: boundless azure mist, with Gui Water essence flowing through it.

It shrouded the entire Cang Water Secret Realm.

Even he could see no more than three paces without the prism's help.

Even with the prism, he could only see the original objects in the Cang Water Secret Realm that the mist obscured, and discovered nothing.

"We'll know once we try."

Su Yao smiled at the two of them.

"But..." Li Siyi said no more, but her tone had left no doubt of her fear.

"It's all right. We still have the token the True Lord bestowed upon us. At least it can protect us."

As he spoke, Su Yao took out the token.

Only when Li Siyi saw it did the fear in her heart gradually subside.

Seeing this, Su Yao held the token, mounted a Law Artifact, and flew outside.

The other two followed close behind.

Once outside the Treasure Pavilion, Su Yao felt as though he were caught in the plum rains of Jiangnan, sticky and damp.

His Divine Sense was restricted, trapped against the surface of his body and unable to probe anything outside.

He felt helpless as well. The True Lord's token showed no reaction at all. Although he had found nothing amiss with the prism's help, that was the greatest oddity of all.

The three of them and the two birds wandered all over the Cang Water Secret Realm, but found nothing.

Three days later, the three returned to Cang Water Hall.

By now, only the interiors of a few buildings in the secret realm remained unshrouded.

Over those three days, the three had searched every corner of the secret realm, inside and out, without finding anything.

Su Yao had also examined it with the prism, and everything was normal.

Inside Cang Water Hall, the three's Foundation Establishment Dao bodies, normally clean and refreshed and impervious to heat and cold, were now sticky and damp.

Li Siyi's beautiful hair was soaking wet as she looked at Su Yao:

"Daozi, what are we to do?"

Beside her, Liu Yunhe said little. As always, he held his Law Artifact in hand, ready to act at any moment.

Su Yao looked at Li Siyi and smiled:

"It's all right. Since the True Lord sent us in, he must have a plan. We need only wait."

At the mention of the True Lord, Li Siyi gathered her thoughts again. She froze for a moment, then nodded hesitantly:

"Siyi lost her composure. I'm ashamed."

Su Yao shook his head:

"It's all right. It's only human. Neither of us is a sage."

Hearing this, Li Siyi's eyes filled with tears that rolled down her cheeks.

Su Yao waved a hand:

"Go to the rear hall and regulate your breathing."

With that, he looked at Liu Yunhe.

Liu Yunhe understood and helped Li Siyi to the rear hall.

Then Su Yao looked at the two birds, who had flown down from their shoulders and landed on the egg:

"You two go to the rear hall and rest for a while too."

The two birds fluttered their wings and came before Su Yao, gently patting him with their wings as though to comfort him.

Su Yao smiled, raised a hand to stroke their heads, and said softly:

"You two must be tired too. Have a good rest for a while, and let me think quietly for a bit as well, all right?"

Only then did the two birds reluctantly fly toward the rear hall. At its entrance, they looked back at Su Yao once more.

Su Yao chuckled and waved.

Only then did the two birds fly into the rear hall.

Once the two birds had disappeared from sight, Su Yao looked at the egg of the Shengyu, a Fu Water variant, which had been brought into the hall.

For a moment, he felt lost in a daze.

It seemed he had not had a single peaceful day since coming down the mountain.

As soon as he descended, the mountain god had tested him, and then miasma had blocked his path.

After that, the Hepu Witch Tribe and Noon Sparrow Mountain had made their moves.

Then, in an instant, he had gone from the shores of the South Sea to the foot of Mount Zhongnan in Guanzhong.

At Mount Zhongnan, he had nearly fallen into a demon's maw, and there was still a demon seed inside him.

The True Lord had rescued him, explained the Dao, and imparted a method to him.

And this affair in the Cang Water Secret Realm was strange at every turn.

The True Lord had happened to send them here just as a spiritual object appeared. A Great True Person of the Gui Water Dao had controlled people from the Cang Water Sect and sent them here, then acted in person.

They had been saved by an envoy under the True Lord and then ordered to come here. Though they had obtained this variant Shengyu, they were now trapped in the secret realm.

Never mind the passage to Nanzhao; now the sky was filled with azure Gui Water Qi.

He could not help sighing inwardly, yet he dared not show it in front of Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi.

After all, the two still had to follow him. If even he thought they could not make it, what were the two of them to do?

How could he be worthy of the name Qixia Daozi?

Yet it was only natural to have such worries. After all:

"Judge a person by their deeds, not their thoughts; judge them by their thoughts, and no one is good!"

But as he thought on, another question came to him: what did he seek in this life?

When he came to this world, after he first began studying history and commentary and learned about his own Dao lineage, he had initially thought he had transmigrated to ancient times.

But the more he learned later, the more he realized that the two were only similar, alike yet different.

After the Zhou, everything was different.

In his previous life, he had sought promotion and wealth, but he had lived less than eighteen years then, and sixty in this life.

Taking what he had learned in this life into account.

He thought he would cultivate his own Dao and his own nature, seeking to attain the Dao and become an immortal.

As for the mortal world, he had no wish to concern himself with it. After all, the human heart was difficult to fathom.

But since he cultivated the Dao and studied the Dao tradition under the Jade Pure One, how could he avoid the affairs of this world?

The Golden Court Dao Lineage had secluded itself from the world after the Investiture of the Gods, but once a great tribulation arose, had it not still been sought out, with all manner of obligations and worldly entanglements?

It had been forced to take part in the great tribulation, and in the end its Dao tradition had nearly been severed.

When the time truly came for others to make use of you, how could you avoid it?

Thus, he had been prepared when he came down the mountain this time.

But he had not expected things to be so complicated.

Since he had come down the mountain, however, he had to face it all with composure.

As for Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi, Liu Yunhe was merely putting on a show of calm.

Li Siyi, after all, knew only how to cultivate diligently. He hoped this experience would help her grow.

As for the way Little Red and Little Orange had acted, it was purely because the prism had given no further warning since the encounter with the mountain god.

The two depended on the prism for their lives, so naturally they were terrified as well.

Thus, in this situation, no matter how much fear and dread he felt, he had to force himself to remain calm. After all, he was the one they depended on now!

Having thought it all through, Su Yao burst out laughing and then said:

"Though ten million stand against me, still I shall go."

In the rear hall, Li Siyi heard Su Yao burst out laughing and then speak. She felt even more ashamed. She truly was afraid. How many geniuses had met with mishaps in secret realms? With her family's learning, how could she not know?

But as things stood, even the Daozi, whose background was nobler than hers, faced it so calmly. What did she have to fear?

Although Liu Yunhe still showed nothing on his face, his heart was exceptionally resolute: I was right to follow the Daozi!

After all, although his clan had made the arrangement back then, they had also said he could refuse if he was unwilling.

After all, he could be considered something of a genius himself. Who would willingly serve as another's protector and the like?

But now it seemed he had made the right choice.