Chapter 362 - 256: Myriad Chariots Dao Foundation, Five Directions Face Yuan

From county offices to the Prefecture City and Daoist monasteries, he had collated countless scriptures. At first, he worked numbly, but over time, he glimpsed a trace of the profound mysteries of the Heavenly Dao within those complex texts.

Having suffered the tragedy of his entire family’s annihilation, Xiao Feibai’s heart had long turned to ash. He cast aside the seven emotions and six desires, forgot all love, hate, and vengeance, and integrated decades of reading, observation, feeling, and insight. From this, he gradually distilled a set of supreme martial principles that were uniquely his own.

One day, under a solitary lamp on a frigid night, Xiao Feibai finished collating the final volume of a Daoist Scripture. A blizzard raged outside his window. Gazing at the swirling snow, he suddenly burst into laughter—a sound both desolate and enlightened.

In that very instant, he achieved a sudden, complete understanding. He condensed all he had ever learned and comprehended into a peerless martial arts manual, which he named the *Forgetful Celestial Book*.

"Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parent, Teacher... the five forms combined as one is the Realm of Forgetfulness."

"To merge one’s own will into wood and stone, grass and leaf."

Xiao Feibai’s temples were frosted with white, but he still wore the same simple, faded blue-green robe.

Overnight, he transformed from a cripple with severed meridians into a Spirit Refining Grandmaster of the Twelfth Mortal Transformation.

Within his broken body lay a power that could shock the world. With a mere flicker of his will, he could command the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth. Every gesture held the ultimate might of the mortal world; he could manipulate qi with his mind, his attacks striking like thunder.

"Ninety-nine percent complete. Just a sliver left."

A light flickered in Jiang Yi’s eyes, a faint smile playing on his lips.

He had long ago placed a wisp of his Divine Sense within Xiao Feibai’s body, experiencing alongside him the turbulent, arduous first half of his life.

’The Gentle Fire’ required stillness and stability, a mind free of distractions, and a clear will. Xiao Feibai’s fifty years of compiling books and comprehending the Dao—of letting go of emotions and attachments—perfectly embodied the essence of the Gentle Fire: moderation, peace, and the nurturing of all things.

’But simply ’forgetting emotion’ is not enough. He must ’see through’ the final layer and truly ’let go’.’

...

...

Having stepped into the Twelfth Mortal Transformation overnight, Xiao Feibai’s state of mind underwent a cataclysmic change.

He finally had the power to avenge the blood feud that had weighed on him for decades. Unable to conceal his elation, he immediately departed the government office, leaving behind mountains of collated manuscripts to search for his enemies.

But after much inquiry, he learned that Golden Roc Fort had been destroyed twenty years prior.

The White Lotus Sect had conspired with the prime minister to rebel, but Her Majesty the Empress had thoroughly investigated the plot and uprooted them all. Li Xiaotian had been implicated and destroyed along with them.

After a long search, Xiao Feibai only managed to find one of Li Xiaotian’s daughters. The woman had never practiced martial arts and had been worn down by the years. She was now a frail, ailing old woman, clinging to her last breath.

Xiao Feibai stood silently outside the house, listening to the faint gasps from within. Instead of the satisfaction he expected, he felt only a profound sense of loss.

Gazing at the dilapidated hut, he suddenly let out a long sigh.

Decades of obsession had come to nothing.

’Killing her won’t help the dead, nor will it benefit me. It would only create another strand of bad karma.’

All the love and hate, joy and sorrow, pain and resentment of the past dissipated like smoke.

Forgetfulness was not about forgetting, but about letting go. To be unmoved by external things or personal fortunes, a heart without attachments—only then could one find true peace.

In that instant, Xiao Feibai truly broke through the final barrier of the *Forgetful Celestial Book*. His will grew even more peaceful and substantial, and the Qi Mechanism of his body became perfectly harmonious, without a single flaw.

He turned and left. After traveling far and wide, he finally returned to the government office and finished collating the remaining scriptures.

The story of Xiao Feibai’s fifty years of dedicated work—collating countless scriptures, correcting numerous errors, and restoring lost Chapters—gradually reached the ears of the imperial court.

Her Majesty the Empress, who had ascended the throne and was known as the "Lone Phoenix of the Great Enterprise," immediately issued an edict to summon him.

Xiao Feibai had no desire for an official career, but for the sake of the common people, he ultimately answered the summons and entered the court.

He entered the court in simple cloth robes, refusing to form factions or curry favor with the powerful. Relying solely on his hard work and competence, he was promoted at an unprecedented rate, entering the Grand Secretariat and becoming prime minister in just a few short years.

At the time, the court of the Great Enterprise was in turmoil. With Yao Yun’s support, Xiao Feibai implemented a series of new policies with swift and decisive action.

He dismissed redundant officials, severely punished corruption, and swept away the decadence plaguing the bureaucracy.

He ordered a national land survey, reformed the tax system, suppressed the powerful clans, and ensured that farmers owned the land they tilled.

He lightened labor levies and lowered taxes, and brought stability to the displaced populace. In just a few years, the government was honest and effective, the people lived in peace and prosperity, and the Great Enterprise dynasty was revitalized, its fortunes growing stronger with each passing day.

’The Gentle Fire is complete.’

Jiang Yi raised his hand and made a beckoning gesture. Across thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, he retrieved the wisp of kindling that was the Gentle Fire.

Far away in the imperial court, Xiao Feibai felt his Heart Spirit suddenly empty, a sense of profound comfort spreading through him. The Cultivation he had amassed over half a lifetime grew even more stable.

From then on, he continued to assist Yao Yun in governing the realm, eventually becoming one of the great prime ministers of his era, his name immortalized in history. He lived out his days and passed away peacefully of old age.

...

...

’Civil and Martial complement each other; the Zi and Wu flames merge.’

Jiang Yi rose to his feet. He had not left this underwater estate since he first entered it.

Even Yao Yun, who had become Empress, came to wait for him year after year, yet was never granted an audience.

After nearly a hundred years of scheming and patient waiting, he had finally gathered the Zi-Wu Fire. Now was the time to burn away his mortal impurities, break open the "shell gate," and forge his Dao Foundation.

’With my accumulations, success is all but guaranteed, but I cannot afford to be careless.’

A golden light flashed in Jiang Yi’s eyes. Only after questioning the Celestial Book several times and receiving a definitive answer did he finally set his mind at ease.

His body trembled slightly, and he vanished from the underwater estate, reappearing at Zhixuan Temple, one of the four great sacred lands.

’According to the Celestial Book, each of the four sacred lands holds a legacy. I can borrow Zhixuan Temple’s Water Moon Grotto Heaven to help me forge my Dao Foundation.’

Jiang Yi’s eyes swirled with Ding Fire. As the ghostly flames flickered, the many masters within the temple failed to notice him, and the deadly traps and Arrays became utterly inert.

He strolled to the Water Moon Grotto Heaven in the rear mountains as if he were taking a walk in his own garden. The grotto was a hollowed-out mountain core, illuminated by a fist-sized, night-luminescent pearl that left no detail in shadow.

’That ’Senior Brother’ was quite formidable. The mortal realm is practically a land half-devoid of spiritual power, with Spiritual Energy so thin it can only support cultivators up to the Twelfth Mortal Transformation. And yet, he was able to create a Spiritual Aura of [Five Elements Equilibrium].’

Jiang Yi’s gaze swept past the peerless techniques carved into the stone walls, settling on a faint, blurry afterimage.

’He must have been in seclusion here to break through to the Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer. Judging by the residual Qi Mechanism, his primary focus must have been the Wood Element.’

With a flick of his sleeve, the afterimage vanished. He then sat down cross-legged and began to regulate his breath and qi.

In the grotto, time held little meaning. Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.

Then one day, Jiang Yi’s eyelids trembled. He snapped open his eyes, activating the fused Zi-Wu Fire within him.

The moment the flame touched his body, it erupted like a fire doused in oil, flaring thirty feet high.

A pleasant warmth spread through his flesh and blood, coursing through his limbs and bones before entering through the Primordial Gate and plunging directly into his Inner Mansion.

Wherever it passed, his postnatal mortal impurities dissolved like melting snow.

Before long, Jiang Yi felt this Cultivation Furnace of a body grow lighter. A faint, pleasant chiming, like the sound of gold striking jade, emanated from his very being.

This process continued for ten days, until the thick "shell gate"—formed by True Qi absorbing Spiritual Energy—had been worn down to a paper-thin layer.

Jiang Yi paused, repeatedly simulating the formation of his Dao Foundation. After confirming there were no flaws, he laughed heartily.

"For twenty years, I’ve known no fear; what’s one more summit among a thousand crossed?

Even should my head be cast to the yellow earth, I will roar my questions to the azure sky!"

The moment the words left his lips, he hesitated no longer.

The Zi-Wu Fire slammed into the shell gate and shattered it with a deafening BOOM that shook the heavens and the earth.

Every Spirit Refining Grandmaster in the mortal realm felt the disturbance. They were all shocked, an inexplicable terror welling up from the depths of their hearts, though none knew its cause.

Only the Red Sun Dharma King of the Great Snow Mountain had eyes that shone with an ecstatic light:

"The gate to ascension is opening! The High God has truly kept his promise!"

...

’So, this is the Dao Foundation.’

Jiang Yi’s mind was resolute. With the shell gate broken, his True Qi flowed without obstruction, soaring up from his Inner Mansion to fill his Primordial Gate in a single, powerful surge. It was like a boundless expanse of auspicious clouds and ethereal mists, firmly propping up his Divine Sense.

A boundless One Element Magical Power radiated from him. All 108,000 pores of his body glowed with light, making him appear like a Feathered Immortal on the verge of ascension.

A Ninth Layer halo rippled out from behind Jiang Yi’s head. Various fire arts manifested at his whim, at times forming into Jiao and Mang, dragons and snakes; at others, birds and vermilion phoenixes; then fish, insects, flowers, and grass; and finally, mountains, lakes, and seas.

The world convulsed ever more violently, as if a great hole had been torn in the heavens. A torrent of Spiritual Energy poured down. Most of it surged toward Jiang Yi at Zhixuan Temple, while the remaining five percent was frantically snatched up by the world’s other Spirit Refining Grandmasters.

Jiang Yi’s Divine Sense escaped from his Primordial Gate. Riding auspicious clouds and cloaked in radiant light, it was guided to a unique and sacred hidden realm.

The One Element Magical Power his Cultivation Furnace had accumulated condensed into ninety-nine true dragons that circled around him like ministers attending to their emperor.

’A Dao Foundation that commands ten thousand arts, a True Nature where the Five Directions Face Yuan.’

Jiang Yi took a slow step forward, his foot landing on solid ground. A monumental power suffused his being, forever separating him from the Realm of the Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer.

"The Foundation Establishment... Realm?"