The World Is but a Great Dream

The vast, boundless breath of life threatened to drain the Spiritual Qi from the entire Qingyu Ruins Realm.

An endless Jianmu tree towered into the heavens, while a cyan sun hung high overhead, shining upon all things.

Bathed in its heavenly light, countless tender new shoots unfurled in the void, only to pass through cycles of yellowing, withering, and rebirth in the blink of an eye.

The conception of withering and flourishing in endless rotation blanketed the land. With a single thought, all things sprang anew.

The Purple Mansion Divine Ability, All Things Live.

"Hahahaha!"

"I did it."

Qingyu threw back his head and laughed. In that laughter was the joy of attaining the Dao, but also resentment and rage suppressed for a full four hundred years.

Four hundred years...

To cling to life, he had personally made spirit wine from his own bloodline to curry favor with the Ye Clan, and watched Qingyu's cultivators enslaved like dogs and horses by the Ye Clan...

Today, he had finally taken that step.

He was now a match for the Ye Clan's Great True Person Fengyi of years past. Having cultivated the superior Divine Ability All Things Live and reached Purple Mansion Peak, he could be called a Great True Person even in the Cangxuan Ancient Realm.

In the distance, Ye Jinyu watched Qingyu without the slightest trace of panic. Having long known his fate, Ye Jinyu could not help feeling a little rueful.

Lightly tapping the carriage windowsill, Ye Jinyu said, "Those whom heaven would destroy, it first drives mad. This True Person Qingyu really is an outstanding talent."

"First, he feigned death to escape, deceiving the heavens and crossing the sea. Then he played both sides to his advantage and bided his time until now. He laid this grand scheme, using the Zhao Clan to raise members of the Yu Household's bloodline, then chose Yu Qinglin, who possessed a wood-yang fate, as his Dao ginseng, reversing yin and yang and deceiving heaven to change his fate."

"With such character and such endurance, he would deserve to be called an outstanding talent even in our Cangxuan Ancient Realm."

"But his allotted fate has run out..."

Ye Jinyu paused, gazing into the distance. "The heroes under heaven truly are as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river."

"Even among the people of the Ruin Realm, there are those of peerless talent. They must not be underestimated."

"Though they dwell in the Ruin Realm, mayflies gazing at the heavens, they still have the will to struggle to change their fate. It's just a pity..."

"The world is but a great dream; how many autumn chills does a lifetime know..."

Before Ye Jinyu had finished speaking, a sudden change arose in the heavens.

"The True Lord has made his move..."

Ye Guyi, Xu Feng, and the others hurriedly lowered their heads, not daring to look or even think about it.

At the peak of Jianmu, True Person Qingyu's presence finally climbed to a certain critical point.

Withering and Flourishing Cycle-plants withered and flourished, life and death turning in a cycle.

Azure Bathed in Yang-azure wood turned toward the sun, bursting with vitality.

Wind of a Thousand Decays-rotten wood met the wind, and decay brought forth life.

Passage upon Meeting Spring-wood met the coming spring, and all things returned to life.

The four Divine Abilities were like four pillars of heaven, supporting the cultivation of his Dao Path.

At the center of those four pillars, All Things Live lay at his heart, slowly nourished by the Ruin Realm's origin.

Jianmu split open the Ruin Realm's barrier, and a voice came through.

"Foolish child..."

That voice... it was Him!

The immortal!

The figure in a cyan robe appeared above the Ruin Realm's sky.

He was just as before, with a gentle face and a book in his hands, seated high above the heavens, deciding life and extinction, holding flourishing and withering in His grasp.

"Immortal!" True Person Qingyu was overwhelmed with excitement and bowed low. "This disciple, Qingyu, was blessed with scriptures and teachings from the immortal. After four hundred years of arduous cultivation, I have finally completed the five arts today. I wish..."

"Wish for what?" The cyan-robed Daoist did not wait for him to finish. A flash of withered stillness passed through His eyes as He interrupted with a smile.

"To see me? Or do you want... to escape the cage?"

"I'm afraid neither wish can be granted..."

"I am Zhang Xuan, of the Great Peace Temple... Heaven of Withering, Flourishing, Life and Extinction..."

"I and two fellow Daoists have been waiting for you for a long time..."

Qingyu shuddered violently, and his rising presence abruptly halted.

He jerked his head up. His cyan eyes looked through the towering Jianmu, through the clouds and the realm's barrier, as though he were a frog in a well gazing at the moon in the sky, or a mayfly peering at heaven and earth, no more than a single grain in the vast ocean.

High above the clouds and the Cloud-Heaven Azure Palace sat three indistinct figures, each towering as the heavens.

Three immortals?!

No...

The gazes of three True Lords fell upon him at once. Qingyu felt only an oppressive might like a prison, and his Divine Abilities trembled.

Zhang Xuan's voice sounded again, calm but brooking no objection.

"I taught you Divine Abilities and gave you a lifetime of glory. Cause and effect turn in a cycle, and it is time for you to repay me.

"Over these four hundred years, you devoted yourself to heaven and earth and protected them. Those merits were enough to earn the favor of the origin, giving you that sliver of a chance for withering and flourishing to cycle between life and death." He then gave a soft sigh, as though in regret.

"Had you been born in Cangxuan, I truly might have taken you as my disciple."

His gaze swept over the runes of the four Divine Abilities around Qingyu before finally settling on the fifth, All Things Live. Zhang Xuan merely pointed a finger gently at Qingyu.

Cyan light blazed across heaven and earth. All flourishing vegetation fell under his control.

If a Purple Mansion cultivator's Divine Ability were ink, it would only resemble the rules of heaven and earth in form, capturing no more than their outlines.

To perceive the manifest through the minute was the Dao of the Golden Core.

Painting with the rules of heaven and earth, one could bring forth their spirit even in the finest details, expressing every delicate texture.

Whatever one's heart conceived was heaven and earth. Even a speck of dust could not escape scrutiny, and the pure, true origin could not go unmapped.

A single thought from Zhang Xuan became a Divine Ability.

The scripture Qingyu treasured in his bosom burst with blood-red light and plunged into his body.

Explaining Withering and Flourishing in a Dream revealed its final blood-red scripture within Qingyu's soul.

"The Withering and Flourishing Pivot turns, with yin and yang as the furnace."

"Wood divides into two veins: yang flourishes, yin withers."

"Now yin and yang are complete, and the furnace fire burns fiercely."

"The furnace may be opened, and the Divine Ability taken."

In barely a moment, none of True Person Qingyu's former majesty remained. His hair hung loose, and he looked like a madman, like a lamb awaiting slaughter.

His divine body was locked firmly in the void. The seed he had been given had transformed into a phantom image of Jianmu, planted in his heart and ceaselessly devouring All Things Live.

"You said that the flourishing and withering of plants were principles of heaven and earth..." Qingyu lifted his head to the sky, bloody tears slipping from his cyan eyes.

"You said a sick tree was dying but not yet dead, that once it passed into spring, all things would be reborn... You said I could control the withering and flourishing of this realm..."

"It was all a lie."

Zhang Xuan chuckled softly.

So lofty, so compassionate and gentle, yet so indifferent, he said:

"Withering and Flourishing Cycle, Azure Bathed in Yang, Wind of a Thousand Decays, Passage upon Meeting Spring..."

"These four Divine Abilities were fundamentally incompatible. But you truly are gifted and clever, blessed by fortune, and deserving of my praise. It's just that your path was wrong from the very beginning."

"In my Great Peace lineage, wood divides into yin and yang," Zhang Xuan said slowly. "Yin wood is withering and cultivates the yin aspect of Withering and Flourishing Pivot; yang wood is flourishing and cultivates its yang aspect. The pivot is the root, the cycle the branch. That Withering and Flourishing Cycle you cultivated was nothing but an inferior substitute for Withering and Flourishing Pivot."

"Ha... hahahahaha!" True Person Qingyu suddenly burst out laughing, his laughter shrill and desolate.

"What an immortal! What a... great dream!"

"Immortal... immortal... may you die a terrible death..."

Seeing his reaction, Zhang Xuan remained as unruffled as ever.

What use was the anger of an ant like him?

It merely added a little amusement, enough that Zhang Xuan did not mind wasting a few more words.

"As for Azure Bathed in Yang, it too is an inferior yang-wood Divine Ability. Wind of a Thousand Decays could barely be considered yin withering, but it belongs more to wind than wood. It embodies the natural mysteries of the Wind Dao and is far inferior to my Decay of the Other Shore.

"I had you cultivate yin and yang together. It seemed to bring both into harmony, but in truth, the foundations clashed. Not to mention Passage upon Meeting Spring..."

Looking at Qingyu, Zhang Xuan chuckled. "That is a spring-aspect Divine Ability. You have an Azure Wood Spirit Body and cultivate wood; forcibly borrowing the essence of spring left you like rootless duckweed."

"All that talk of passing into spring and being reborn through withering and flourishing was meant to make you try... to borrow a spring aspect and seek a superior wood-aspect Divine Ability for me."

"To my surprise, after I gave you three inferior abilities and one incomplete one, you actually managed to cultivate the superior Divine Ability All Things Live. You truly have delighted me... Heaven and earth's great favor toward you was not wasted..."

"Heaven and earth are nothing but the playthings of the True Lords. All living beings are pieces on their board..."

"I hate it... I only hate that I understood too late..." Qingyu roared.

"I refuse to accept this..."

Qingyu gritted his teeth and tried to rouse the power remaining in his body to resist.

But the seed at his heart trembled slightly.

The cultivation he had amassed collapsed like a tower of sand.

"Pfft-"

A great mouthful of blood sprayed out, staining the front of his robes red.

"After saying so much, I suppose I have done justice to the bond between master and disciple." Seeing that the Dao seed was ripe, Zhang Xuan smiled even more broadly. He reached out, passed straight through Qingyu's body, and plucked the bloodstained seed into his hand.

Then he said to Ye Qingming:

"Fellow Daoist Azure Nether, won't you make your move? This Wind of a Thousand Decays is a wind of withering and decay. It could also add a little to your wind-aspect imagery. How about it as payment from my Great Peace Temple?"

As soon as he finished speaking,

There was no earth-shaking commotion, no Divine Ability blazing with boundless radiance.

There was only a wisp of wind.

A rustling Azure Nether Wind descended from the ninth heaven, passed through Yunlan, through the void, through Jianmu's withered branches and leaves, and brushed gently across Qingyu's body.

Qingyu did not resist, nor could he.

He stood there silently, his cyan eyes reflecting that wisp of wind, reflecting this expanse of heaven and earth, reflecting those faces that had once been so full of life.

His mother's smile.

Yu Qinglin's attachment.

The hopes of the Yu Clan's clanspeople.

And that night in the ruined temple, that touch of spring among the pine woods.

"Immortal... hehehe."

"Four hundred years, and in the end it was all just a great dream."

Qingyu closed his eyes.

"Now, the dream is over."

The wind passed.

True Person Qingyu's figure dispersed like dust.

Jianmu withered completely, becoming a length of dead pine branch that fell into Ye Qingming's hand.

A phantom image of the withered spirit pine forest, thirty thousand li across, appeared and then rapidly collapsed, condensing into a wisp of decaying wind that fell into Ye Zhanqiu's palm.

Only a tree heart, half withered yellow and half verdant green, with yin and yang intertwined, remained suspended in midair.

The Dao Heart of Withering and Flourishing, the Azure Wood Spirit Body.

The crystallization of Qingyu's Purple Mansion cultivation, refined with his own body as the furnace and heaven and earth as the fire.

A rare and supreme wood-aspect treasure, the Yin-Yang Spirit Wood Heart.