chsdbacks Chapter 23 Immortal Tribulation Sword Technique, the Weapon of Enlightenment Finally Has a Solution
Chapter 23 Immortal Tribulation Sword Technique, the Weapon of Enlightenment Finally Has a Solution
"Gai Jiuyou requests an audience with the Lord of Chaos!"
The sound traveled through the black mist, layer by layer, deepening with each passing moment, finally echoing softly among the ruins atop the mountain.
Under the peach tree, Yu Dao, who was holding a teacup, smiled slightly. He didn't make any big movements, but simply put down the teacup and gently tapped the blue stone table with his fingertips.
The perpetual black mist of Huntian Ridge changed with this knock. At the foot of the mountain, the thick black mist seemed to be parted by an invisible hand, slowly splitting open a straight upward passage. The mist surged and churned on both sides of the passage, but could never cross that unseen boundary. From afar, it looked like a stairway to heaven, leading from the foot of the mountain straight to the faint light in the deepest part of the clouds.
"Let's go up the mountain."
A gentle voice came down from the mountaintop and reached Gai Jiuyou's ears.
He straightened his clothes and climbed the steps.
His footsteps landed on solid ground, seemingly floating in the air, each step accompanied by faint Dao patterns that appeared and disappeared beneath his feet. As he reached the mountainside, the black mist on either side suddenly thinned. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a small, silvery-white tree rooted in a crevice in the rocks. Further up, he saw a Ganoderma lucidum shaped like a crimson dragon, coiled on a boulder, its fiery red body radiating an intense aura. These divine herbs and immortal plants, long extinct in the outside world, grew so casually among the crevices and boulders of the mountain.
Gai Jiuyou kept his eyes straight ahead and continued upwards.
Soon, he reached the summit. The ruins that he had only glimpsed briefly during the confrontation between the supreme beings were finally fully revealed before his eyes.
Deep within the ruins, a half-collapsed grand hall stood silently. The hall was entirely white, purer than even the finest jade iron capable of forging weapons for saints; its construction material was unknown. Amidst the rubble before the hall, an ancient tree took root, its crimson bark gleaming with a dark luster in the thin black mist. Its emerald leaves were edged with fine serrations, and a few pale pink fruits swayed gently on its branches.
Under the peach tree, there is a blue stone table and three stone stools, where two people sit facing each other and drink tea.
One of them was old and emaciated, with long gray hair cascading over his shoulders. He wore an extremely ancient and tattered battle robe, and was none other than the Lord of Chaos who had made a fleeting appearance on the other side of the starry sky. The other was as tall and straight as a pine tree, with a heroic and resolute face. He wore a black robe with ancient patterns embroidered on the cuffs, and his whole being resembled a divine sword hidden in its sheath.
Gai Jiuyou's gaze lingered on the second person for a very brief moment. He recalled the portraits he had seen in some ancient books, and then he thought of the talisman from the Divine Continent Dynasty, and suddenly he understood.
"Junior Gai Jiuyou greets the Lord of Chaos and the Great Emperor of Shenzhou."
He bowed deeply, showing the respect due to a junior.
That talisman came from the Divine Continent Dynasty.
After returning from his tribulation, he went to the Central Divine Continent Imperial Palace again to meet the old emperor, and thus learned that the Great Emperor of Divine Continent was still alive.
Gai Jiuyou's thanks were sincere and came from the bottom of his heart.
Given his temperament, if those supreme beings from forbidden zones who had instigated the Dark Turmoil were to help him, he would at most offer a perfunctory thank you, and then never have any further contact with them. However, if that supreme being were to reappear in the future to reap the rewards of humanity, he would resolutely step in to stop him.
Just like the old story of the Eternal Celestial Venerable and the Great Accomplished Holy Body in the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land, there was once a friendship between them. In the end, the Great Accomplished Holy Body still sacrificed its own life and took away this ancient venerable who was one of the greatest sources of darkness and turmoil.
However, the two people in front of me, who exuded no bloodthirsty or murderous aura, clearly did not belong to the former category.
"No need to thank me." The Great Emperor of Shenzhou put down his teacup, his voice frank. "It was Brother Huntian who valued your talent and did not want to see you trapped in this world and become desolate due to the suppression of the Azure Emperor's Great Dao, so he stepped in to help you."
Under Gai Jiuyou's questioning gaze, the Great Emperor of Shenzhou smiled and began to talk about the chaotic ancient times, the immortal path, and the various secrets he had learned from Yu Dao.
The radiance of the peach tree flowed silently between the three, and the steam from the teacups rose and was swallowed by the black mist. Gai Jiuyou's expression changed from doubt to shock, just as the Great Emperor of Shenzhou had heard of immortals.
He looked at Yu Dao in disbelief and asked, "May I ask, senior, during the chaotic ancient times, was it possible for someone who came after to attain enlightenment even when there were already those who had achieved it in their time?"
He asked the question that had troubled him his entire life.
Those who attain enlightenment become immortals, while those who do not attain enlightenment achieve enlightenment.
The Great Emperor is in harmony with the will of Heaven; there has only been one such person in every era. This is an ironclad rule etched into the bones of all cultivators. He believed he had given his all, yet he still could not shake the iron wall of suppression imposed by the Azure Emperor's Great Dao.
Yu Dao put down his teacup and said with a faint smile, "In the chaotic ancient era, there was no such thing as merging one's body with the Heavenly Heart Mark. Cultivators continuously improved along their chosen path, and when they became strong enough, they became Supreme Beings of the Ultimate Path. In the same era, there were far more than one Supreme Being standing at the pinnacle of the Ultimate Path, competing with each other and encouraging one another."
Gai Jiuyou's body trembled slightly, and a sharp light suddenly flashed in his eyes, which had always been as calm and unfathomable as a deep pool. All he had ever sought in his life was an opportunity to attain enlightenment, but he had been blocked at the door by the ironclad rule of the Heavenly Heart Mark, suffering setbacks and injuries. Now, suddenly learning that there was an era in the world where one could enter the realm of the ultimate path without merging with the Heavenly Heart, simply by constantly improving oneself, brought him a sense of profound relief.
"As long as one continues to improve and becomes strong enough, one can become the ultimate supreme being?" He murmured to himself, a slight tremor running through his heart.
In the ancient times, they were called emperors; in the primordial era, they were called emperors; in the mythological era, they were called celestial venerables; and the supreme being of the ultimate path—these were clearly the titles used for emperors and emperors in the previous era!
"This world is both fortunate and cruel," Yu Dao continued, his voice neither hurried nor slow.
"The harsh environment and scarce lifespan forge the strongest individuals, allowing them to align their bodies with the will of Heaven and reach the pinnacle of the ultimate path in the shortest time. However, if someone in the world has already taken the lead, it is extremely difficult for a newcomer to hone their skills step by step into the realm of the ultimate path in such a short period of time without guidance. Even if they manage to push their own path to a point close to the laws of the imperial path within their lifetime, it can only be considered an alternative path to enlightenment, and compared to a true emperor, they will ultimately lack much."
Gai Jiuyou took a deep breath, the glint in his eyes slowly settling, but not extinguishing. The boulder that had weighed on his heart for over a thousand years had been removed, and even though the road ahead was still full of thorns, he had straightened his back once more.
Yu Dao said nothing more, and with a wave of his hand, an ancient scripture appeared in his palm. The scripture was made of some unknown material, and its entire body shimmered with a faint golden light. A sword-shaped pattern was engraved on the cover, and the sword energy was restrained to the extreme, yet it still caused the surrounding void to emit a faint hum.
"Before the Chaotic Ancient Era, there was another era called the Immortal Ancient Era. This is a part of the 'Immortal Tribulation Sword Manual,' created by a supreme Immortal King during the Immortal Ancient Era. I wish to exchange this sword manual for your Tribulation-Crossing Immortal Melody. I wonder if you are willing?"
The Immortal Era? The Supreme Immortal King?
Upon hearing Yu Dao's words, Gai Jiuyou was not even in shock. He solemnly replied almost without thinking, "Senior saved my life and cleared away my confusion. Let alone a single scripture, even if you asked me to exhaust all my knowledge, Jiuyou would have no objection."
He stood up and began to practice his own method.
A zither from the Nine Netherworlds lies across the room, and the immortal melody of transcending tribulation resounds.
As the first note exploded, the music materialized into ripples, sweeping outwards from him like a tidal wave. Each ripple was a complete Dao trace, violently distorting the void wherever it passed. The black mist surrounding the peach tree was forced back layer by layer, and even the teacups on the bluestone platform began to tremble slightly.
Using the music of his zither as a guide, he transformed himself into a part of the calamity. Each note was a tribulation, and each pluck of the strings was a direct challenge to the laws of heaven and earth. The music spread out in layers, and countless phantoms of Dao runes began to appear in the void. These runes were not inscribed by him, but were natural manifestations of the origin of heaven and earth, resonating with his Dao.
Gai Jiuyou's ten fingers flew across the strings, and the music suddenly soared. The essence of the Immortal Melody of Crossing Tribulations was truly revealed at this moment.
Endless light of tribulation began to surge from his body, using tribulations to overcome tribulations and to attain enlightenment. For over a thousand years, he had dissected, comprehended, and integrated every tribulation he had overcome into the music of his zither, ultimately creating this forbidden secret technique that could not regard anything in the world as a tribulation.
The more urgent the zither music became, the brighter the light of tribulation grew. Above the peach tree, a vast celestial map, woven from the zither music and the light of tribulation, slowly unfolded. Within the map, galaxies revolved, the sun and moon alternated, mountains crumbled and were rebuilt, and all living beings were born and died in cycles of reincarnation. It was the ultimate Dao he had deduced from the Immortal Melody of Tribulation Transcending, an entire universe ruled by "tribulation." All things in the world were within tribulation, and his zither music was the beginning and end of this myriad tribulations.
The suppression of the Great Dao is a calamity, the attacks of enemies are a calamity, the passage of time is a calamity. There are countless calamities in the mortal world, but only one song can help us cross them!
Amidst the melodious strains of the zither.
Yu Dao closed his eyes, both to appreciate the most amazing music in the world and to continuously absorb the wisdom of others, thus perfecting his own path.
He finally made a final decision regarding the form of his weapon of enlightenment.
In recent days, he has repeatedly considered several options, such as tripods, bells, pagodas, coffins... all of which are objects that are naturally close to the Dao.
A cauldron can stabilize mountains and rivers, a bell can stabilize the universe, a pagoda can suppress the netherworld, and a coffin can bury eternity. Each has its own reason, and each was once forged into an ultimate divine weapon by some emperor or sovereign in ancient history. But he always felt that something was missing, that one fine line. Until this moment, he suddenly understood where that fine line lay.
The cauldron represents suppression, the bell represents stillness, the tower represents sealing, and the coffin represents the end. They all represent a certain aspect of the Dao, but the Dao is not dead.
The creation of heaven is the beginning of all things, existence is the foundation of all things, and extinction is the end of all things. The three embrace each other and endlessly cycle through time. This ever-renewing entity that carries the Dao should be a "circle".
"Humans are subject to reincarnation, events are subject to reincarnation, and even the universe is subject to reincarnation."
"The past can still be seen, and the future can still be pursued. The cycle begins again and again, without beginning or end."
Yu Dao slowly opened his eyes, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
"My Daoist army shall be the Wheel of Reincarnation!"