Chapter 34: Chapter 33: Discourse with the Supreme, the Lame 3rd Senior Uncle

The master and his two disciples walked through Luoyang City. Lu Xuan gazed curiously at the bustling Human World, feeling a bit dazed.

Pedestrians and children, street vendors and merchants, fortune-telling Daoists, horse-riding nobles, brothels in the alleys…

It was all the very picture of mortal life.

“What city is this?” Lu Xuan asked.

Zhang Ling smiled and explained:

“Luoyang. One of the two capitals of the current Dynasty.”

“Two capitals?”

“One is Haojing, the other is Luoyang. Both are national capitals.”

Lu Xuan nodded, only half-understanding.

Following behind his master, he walked at a slow pace. The city was clearly boundless, perhaps dozens or even a hundred times the size of East Sea City, yet in the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they had walked from the city’s heart to its outskirts.

This left him in a trance. The natural tear in space itself buffeted his Divine Soul.

“This is the art of Shrinking Inches. It can be called a Divine Technique, but for our master, it’s no different from a casual stroll,” Zhang Ling explained again.

Lu Xuan nodded lightly, a sense of envy growing in his heart… ’Master knows so many Divine Techniques.’

After walking for about another hour, they arrived at the foot of a towering mountain.

The Old Master paused slightly and glanced sideways.

“Xiaoxuan, you carry the stench of blood. Have you taken lives?”

“Yes,” the boy bowed. “I have killed over a hundred men.”

Zhang Ling’s eyes widened. It wasn’t that he thought killing over a hundred people was some great sin; he was just bewildered. ’Little Junior Brother… kills people?’

’He dares to kill?’

The Old Master’s expression didn’t change. He simply asked again:

“Were they all people who deserved to die?”

“They were,” the boy said softly. “They were a scourge upon the land. Not one of them didn’t deserve to die.”

“Do you follow the path of using slaughter to end slaughter?”

“Replying to Master, I do not know.”

The Old Master nodded again. He then sat down cross-legged right there at the foot of the towering Divine Mountain. With a light wave of his hand, a tea table materialized, wisps of green smoke curling from it.

“Before you meet your two senior uncles, you will first discuss the Dao with me. Discuss *your* Dao.”

He paused, then glanced at Zhang Ling.

“You sit as well.”

The two dutifully bowed and sat on the cattail cushions.

“Drink tea.”

The Old Master calmly poured two cups of scalding tea and placed them on the table. Lu Xuan didn’t dare refuse. He hurriedly picked up his cup and took a careful sip.

As the tea entered his stomach, he felt a slight trance. His mind became clear and his spirit pure. Years of accumulated doubt dissipated, and his chaotic thoughts came into focus.

His body was cleansed, his spirit was cleansed.

The Old Master also took a slow sip of tea and said calmly:

“With every one of my disciples, whether personal or in-name, I discuss their personal Dao. For example, your Senior Brother Zhang here. His Dao is small. He seeks to make a name for himself, to bring glory to the Daoist Sect.”

Zhang Ling pouted and grumbled inwardly, ’How did this suddenly get turned on me?’

’Besides, bringing glory to the Daoist Sect and making a name for myself—how is that a small Dao?’

The Old Master spoke again.

“Xiaoxuan, what about you? What is it that you fundamentally seek?”

Lu Xuan put down his teacup, his expression solemn.

“Nothing else. Only World Clarity.”

Zhang Ling’s mouth twitched. He drained his tea in one gulp… ’Alright, compared to Little Junior Brother, the Dao I seek really is a bit small.’

“What is World Clarity?” the Old Master asked.

“The people live peacefully in their homes and enjoy their work. The Immortal Gods attend to their duties. Yin and Yang are in order. The myriad things do not grieve at parting. The world is just for all. There are no calamities and no tribulations in the heavens, on the earth, or in the Human World.”

“Difficult.”

“Simplicity is a Dao, and difficulty is also a Dao. This student need only walk his path.”

The Old Master stared intently at the boy.

“Even if the path is paved with millions upon millions of corpses?”

Lu Xuan pressed his lips together and nodded.

“If you wish to walk this path, you must one day become stronger than all living beings. You must at least be on par with the Great Dao itself to have even a sliver of a chance. Looking through all of Ancient History, only one person before you has tried this. In the end, he died.”

“May I ask for this person’s name, Master?” Lu Xuan bowed solemnly. “He is a predecessor on this path. I should know his name.”

“Him…”

The Old Master smiled, an expression of either disdain or sentiment, before his face returned to one of indifference.

“His name was Taiyi. Before this Celestial Court, he established a Celestial Court of his own, seeking to suppress the evil thoughts of all living beings by his power alone. In the end, this led to a great cataclysm. He was besieged by all the Immortal Gods and Buddhas, his body and Dao were obliterated, and he fell into the Nine Nether.”

Zhang Ling shivered.

’Taiyi…’ Lu Xuan nodded silently to himself.

The Old Master asked again,

“So, are you still willing to walk this path? A path that claims to bring World Clarity, but in reality, must first achieve ’Only I Am Venerable’?”

Zhang Ling shivered again, his gaze toward his little junior brother now filled with terror and pity.

’Only I Am Venerable… What does that mean?’

’The Sanqing Buddha Lord would be beneath him, the Great Dao of heaven and earth would be beneath him…’

’A dead end.’

“I will walk it!” Lu Xuan’s tone was forceful and unwavering. “Only I Am Venerable is not the goal, merely the means.”

The Old Master was silent for a long time, then a smile bloomed on his face.

“Excellent.”

“In that case, come with me to meet your two senior uncles.”

“Just remember, if you truly become the sole venerable one in the future, do not forget your original heart… Taiyi’s failure was partly because he never truly achieved that status, and partly because he lost his original heart.”

“This student understands.”

“Then let’s go.”

The three set off again. They didn’t climb the towering Divine Mountain but continued forward, walking from a dense forest path into a land shrouded in clouds and mist, finally stopping before a dilapidated Daoist Temple.

“Your two senior uncles have millions of incarnations. This is the easiest one of your third senior uncle’s to find. He is called the Jade Universe Daoist Monarch.”

With that, the Old Master knocked three times on the door.

The door opened.

……

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK!

The three knocks echoed throughout the cosmos, resonating across all of existence.

In the heavens.

In the Milo Celestial Palace, the three great halls quaked. The Immortal Officials stumbled and fell, all of them shocked, all of them horrified.

Upon the high throne, the Emperor Corpse opened His eyes. Immortal Light pierced through All Realms and all ages as His expression shifted slightly.

“Your Majesty!” a Great Immortal Official trembled as he spoke. “Is there a great change in heaven and earth? Could it be… could it be those few Supreme Venerable Celestial Lords…”

The Emperor Corpse raised a hand of decaying flesh and jagged white bone, pressing it down gently. As if not seeing the ghastly bones and trickling Emperor’s Blood, the assembled Immortal Officials all bowed as one.

He said:

“It is nothing. The Supreme is knocking on the door of the Jade Universe. It is not some treacherous minister or rebel causing trouble. Be calm.”

As He spoke, His gaze pierced through the infinite Celestial Realm, glancing in the four cardinal directions, at the four of the Six Celestial Lords who faced off against each other from afar.

The East Pole and West Pole, the South Pole and North Pole.

The host of immortals let out a collective sigh of relief, only to feel their hearts leap into their throats a moment later. The hairs on their bodies stood on end, and a chill ran through their bodies and souls.

After how many years, Taiqing was knocking on the door of Shangqing?

What in the world had happened?

Could it be… that a great tribulation was coming again?!

……..

At the dilapidated Daoist Temple, the door stood open.

Lu Xuan and Zhang Ling followed the Old Master through. Inside the Daoist Temple, streams of golden light flowed, overflowing with the Essence Qi of the Jade Dawn. Purple smoke of the Jiuping floated about. Jade Radiance shone brilliantly, and Jin Ying reflected the truth. It was a place where beauty crystallized and divinity was forged!

Lu Xuan gulped foolishly. ’This third senior uncle’s Daoist Temple looks so run-down on the outside, but the inside is this magnificent!’

’The Jade Universe Daoist Monarch…’

Amid his astonishment, he saw a Lame Daoist in the center of the temple, leaning on a longsword and walking toward them with a limp.

“Supreme Senior Brother,” he said calmly. “It has been a long time. Has something changed here?”

As he spoke, the Daoist’s gaze swept over the two people behind the Old Master. It passed over Zhang Ling and landed on Lu Xuan, and he froze for a moment.

“Something really has changed,” he muttered to himself.

“Let us speak in the heavens,” the Old Master said with a smile. The Daoist nodded, and the two of them ascended step by step from within the temple until they were out of sight.

Lu Xuan was completely baffled. He asked blankly,

“Senior Brother, where did Master and the other go?”

“They probably went to discuss something.” Zhang Ling finally let out a breath of relief and patted his chest. “Just one glance from that one and my heart was pounding in my chest. He really lives up to his fierce reputation…”

“What?”

Lu Xuan didn’t hear clearly and tilted his head in confusion. Then, his childish curiosity took over and he asked:

“Senior Brother Zhang, was that our third senior uncle just now… Why does he have a limp?”

Zhang Ling’s face fell in alarm.

“What are you talking about? How does he have a limp? Little Junior Brother, don’t just say whatever you want! Third Senior Uncle has a violent temper. Be careful or he’ll scrape your bones with his four swords!”

He paused, then said, exasperated:

“But Little Junior Brother, what’s with your eyes? How could you say he has a limp… You don’t have something wrong with your eyes, do you?”

Lu Xuan was even more baffled now. He grumbled to himself, ’Something wrong with *my* eyes?’

’But when I looked just now, that third senior uncle was clearly limping…’

’If anything, Senior Brother Zhang is the one with bad eyes!’

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