Where Is the Dao?

After Yang Guanfeng finished speaking, he bowed to Chen Yang three more times before leaving the ancestral hall.

Long after he had gone, Chen Yang felt his heart-lake churning, unable to calm down for a long while.

"Rushing toward the Great Dao... is that it?"

He silently repeated Yang Guanfeng's final words in his heart.

Those words struck directly at his heart, making Chen Yang truly begin to examine himself in this world.

While he had been in the Secret Realm, he had had no choice but to lie there in silence.

But ever since Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu had taken him out of the Secret Realm, his fate had become intertwined with that of the Yang Family.

That point of intersection gradually deepened after several crises, until the day of the Blood Burning Spirit Sacrifice. When the Yang Family had made him their treasure that safeguarded the lineage, Chen Yang had felt once more the sense of connection he had known in his previous life as a human.

Simply put, a bond had formed between them.

With that, Chen Yang was no longer merely a stone that basked in the sun and slept every day.

To the Yang Family, he was like a guardian deity of the lineage; to Chen Yang himself, it felt like a responsibility and a mission.

At least, that was what he had believed until now.

Yet that night, after listening to Yang Guanfeng's words, Chen Yang suffered from insomnia.

Since crossing over, he had always slept whenever he wanted, and his sleep quality had been ridiculously good. But that night, he simply could not fall asleep.

"The Great Dao is heartless... is that truly so?"

A thought emerged. Chen Yang wondered what choice he ought to make if the day truly came.

Were Yang Guanfeng's words the very foundation for establishing oneself in this world?

After thinking for half the night, Chen Yang rejected that idea.

"The Great Dao cares not whether it is sentimental or heartless. The Great Dao is simply the Great Dao!"

If abandoning the Yang Family and fleeing afar in the end was the destined conclusion, then how could something he himself neither acknowledged nor could persuade himself to accept deserve the name "Dao"?

"But... what exactly is my Dao?"

Unable to figure it out, Chen Yang began to recall everything that had happened since he had crossed over, chewing over each event again and again in his mind as he sought an answer.

"I am merely a gambler fighting Heaven for my life. The lineage has finally produced a few seedlings with decent aptitude. For the Yang Family's future, whether it is dangerous or not, I must take a gamble..."

"You must not be the slightest bit careless in your cultivation from now on. Be diligent, work hard, and do not disappoint the Patriarch's painstaking efforts..."

"The path to the Yang Family's prosperity is about to begin. I, Yang Lingrui, shall become the sharpest blade of the lineage! If anyone dares stand in the way, I will kill them! If ghosts come to cause trouble, I will slay ghosts..."

"After this, I will entrust the care of the Exotic Stone to the three of you. Take shifts, nourish it with spiritual power without interruption every day, until the Exotic Stone completes its advancement..."

"Good treasure, I know how formidable you are. If Demon Beasts come afterward, you must, must warn us..."

"Today's Blood Burning Spirit Sacrifice repays not even one ten-thousandth of Immortal Venerable's grace. It is truly shameful. From now on, the Yang Family's descendants, generation after generation, year after year, must all do the same. Only then can we rest easy..."

"Immortal Venerable has labored greatly. The Yang Family cannot thank you enough..."

"Immortal Venerable's divine abilities are immeasurable. This old man thanks you on Wu Tong's behalf..."

"If a great calamity truly befalls us, Immortal Venerable, please do not allow the Yang Family to burden you. Just rush toward the Great Dao!"

Not until the next day's sunlight shone upon Pine Mountain did Chen Yang's heart seem to light up in an instant as well.

"So that was it... so that was it!"

Chen Yang felt as though enlightenment had been poured over his head, as if clouds had parted and the moon had appeared!

The White Space, which had still been lacking a little spiritual power before it could be filled, suddenly expanded.

In an instant, Chen Yang seemed to cross that threshold as effortlessly as though nothing stood in his way. He even skipped the step of slumber, smoothly reaching Late Qi Gathering.

"So this is what enlightenment feels like? How wondrous—too marvelous for words."

Feeling the changes within himself, Chen Yang could not help but sigh.

"You old Yang, so this was how you plotted against me!"

"Where is the Dao? Where is the Dao? Far away at the edge of the sky, yet close before my eyes!"

The doubts in Chen Yang's heart had long since vanished like smoke and clouds, and without realizing it, his state of mind had risen another step.

A choice between two paths?

Why make such a choice, stupid beyond all measure?

Why make it so complicated? I could simply use your Yang Family to prove my Dao!

Having figured this out, Chen Yang felt that with a single thought, heaven and earth had broadened. He felt incomparably exhilarated.

"Old Yang, take care."

He looked toward the east, where the sun was rising, and murmured in his heart.

Before dawn, Yang Guanfeng had already taken Han Wang to the eastern border of the Dynasty. Every cultivator in the Yang Family, including Wu Tong, had bid him farewell.

Everyone hoped and believed that Yang Guanfeng would return home soon.

But only Chen Yang knew that after their conversation last night, this might truly have been his final meeting with Yang Guanfeng.

Whether those words last night had been deliberate on Yang Guanfeng's part or merely unintentional, Chen Yang had no way of knowing.

However, now that the knot in his heart had been undone, the truth no longer mattered.

After seeing Yang Guanfeng off, Elder Yu returned to the ancestral hall with Yang Lingrui and Yang Lingqing. He now held an azure-green piece of precious jade in his hand.

After the three bowed to Chen Yang, Elder Yu stepped forward and placed the precious jade beside him.

"This object was an unexpected treasure acquired by our lineage. Like Immortal Venerable, it belongs to the stone kind. Before leaving, the Patriarch specifically instructed that Immortal Venerable should inspect it first."

With that, Elder Yu retreated.

Chen Yang looked at the small jade stone beside him, then released his consciousness.

"Wait, this feeling!"

The instant his consciousness touched the jade, his heart suddenly trembled.

It was a long-lost sensory stimulation!

"Fragrant! So fragrant!"

"Brother, you smell so good!"

The fragrance radiating from the jade directly stirred the hunger Chen Yang had not felt for over twenty years.

He eagerly extended his consciousness and circulated his spiritual power, drawing the jade over.

At that moment, Chen Yang had yet to realize that he could now release his spiritual power and manipulate objects from afar.

The three members of the Yang Family were all startled by the sight. It was their first time seeing Immortal Venerable Spirit Stone react so strongly.

"Ancestor Yu, this is..."

"Shh! Silence. Immortal Venerable is performing his art; do not speak recklessly."

Yang Lingqing and Yang Lingrui immediately obediently shut their mouths and watched quietly as the jade pressed against Chen Yang, then was absorbed into his body bit by bit.

Once the jade had been fully absorbed, an azure-green halo appeared around Chen Yang's entire body.

After flickering for a moment, the halo gradually contracted, ultimately becoming an azure-green marking upon Chen Yang's body.

"Delicious, burp~"

Within his consciousness space, Chen Yang let out a deeply satisfied burp.

After swallowing the jade, his cultivation rose by a huge margin. The White Space, which had been completely empty just after his breakthrough, was now filled by twenty percent.

In theory, if he could swallow four more stone-kind treasures of the same quality as this jade, Chen Yang could break through once more and directly reach Qi Gathering Perfection.

But in reality, that was impossible in the short term. After swallowing the jade, his hunger had vanished completely, replaced by a drowsy fullness that left him unable to eat anything else.

He would need to digest for a long time before he could consume anything again.

While in Zhang Chen's hands, this precious jade had displayed five abilities. Unfortunately, it was not a true spiritual treasure but a consumable item, and Chen Yang could not inherit any of those abilities.

Having advanced to Late Qi Gathering, he could now manipulate spiritual power to retrieve objects from afar. At the same time, his control over his own consciousness had become even more refined.

"Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy... I can't hold on..."

After eating the jade, Chen Yang sent a thought to the three of them, then, driven by that feeling of fullness, fell into slumber.