Chapter 413: Guidance

Wei Yuan set down the canon he was holding and stepped out of the book collection hall. A ray of sunlight fell upon his face, radiating a warm glow.

He had spent three full days in this hall, poring over a vast number of classics to fill the gaps in his knowledge regarding the Avatar-stage.

However, the original copy of the Supreme Yin Lunar Essence Myriad Manifestations Chapter was housed in the Water Moon Hall at the central mountain gate of the Palace of Absolute Beginning. Here in the northern mountain gate, there were only transcribed manuscripts and secret texts that lacked the true insights and realizations of the founding Immortal Lord who created the method, as well as the Immortal Lords and True Lords of past generations.

During the Dao Foundation stage, cultivation primarily focused on the body, Dao energy, and spirit qi. Now that he was an Avatar, it was time to focus on cultivating the spirit. The first step was to make the spirituality of the Avatar perfect and flawless. It was called the spirit-cultivating stage.

Once an Avatar’s spirituality was perfected, the next step was to construct an environment where the Avatar could grow freely according to its own characteristics. For example, a Kun Whale would require an ocean, whereas a White Tiger would need a mountain forest. This minor stage was called the myriad transformation stage.

Once the world was constructed, the Avatar must be truly fused with it to form an inseparable whole, thereby bringing the entire world to life. This marked the late stage of the Avatar-stage known as the imaginary stage.

Once the cultivator had completed the imaginary stage, the world’s spirituality was fully realized and capable of functioning autonomously, they only needed to endure a lightning tribulation to be able to enter the World Ruler stage and become a True Lord.

By this point, Wei Yuan had been staying at the northern mountain gate for over ten days. Aside from visiting Zhang Sheng and paying his respects to her every morning and evening, he basically spent most of his time in the book collections hall. In addition to intensively studying knowledge about Avatars, he had another important task to do: authoring the Avatar chapter of Outlawed by Heaven and Earth.

At this stage, there was literally no one who could guide Wei Yuan. He had to rely entirely on himself.

Leaving the book collection hall, Wei Yuan made his way to Zhang Sheng’s house once more.

Zhang Sheng was still reading, though lately she had been focusing mostly on the Daozang[1]. She sought to rebuild her Dao heart and find her own path within the scriptures of her predecessors.

Wei Yuan sat down beside her and said, “I’ve been here for quite a while, and I’ve finished reading most of what I need to read. I need to head back now.”

“Mm. Take care of yourself.”

“On this trip back, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I plan to declare war on the Shamans. However, I’m uncertain about something: should I launch a full-scale attack on the Shamans, or should I send a portion of my forces to the northern mountain gate?”

Zhang Sheng replied, “Of course you should launch a full-scale attack on the Shamans.”

Wei Yuan pondered for a moment, then nodded.

Just then, Zhang Sheng suddenly let out a soft groan, her brows furrowing tightly and her face instantly turning deathly pale. Wei Yuan hurriedly supported her and slowly infused her with Dao energy, helping her to recover.

Zhang Sheng’s Dao Foundation was broken, and her Dao heart had also been compromised. As a result, her shattered sea of consciousness occasionally produced excruciating pain that even someone of her composure and willpower could barely endure.

Even Dan Mingzi, the abbott of Mother Nature Monastery, had no effective remedy for this kind of injury. The only way she could rid herself of this suffering was by reclaiming her Dao heart and reestablishing her Dao Foundation.

Over the past period, Zhang Sheng’s physical body had been gradually weakening. Because her sea of consciousness was damaged, her perception and primordial spirit were involuntarily dissipating as well. That was why she spent most of her time confined to this small house. Within this courtyard lay an array personally set up by True Lord Xuan Yue, which prevented her sea of consciousness from deteriorating further.

With the aid of Wei Yuan’s Dao energy, Zhang Sheng was finally able to suppress her injuries, and the pain gradually subsided. By this point, a light sheen of sweat had appeared on her forehead, and her aura grew yet a tad weaker.

But Zhang Sheng paid it no heed, saying, “There’s no helping the damage to my Dao Foundation and my sea of consciousness—after all, it is simply the result of my lack of skill. However, the blame for the crack in my Dao heart falls solely on me: it is my fault that my heart isn’t broad enough to embrace the world. There is no delegating this matter to others; I must find a solution myself. Oh right, the founder wishes to see you. You should go see him right away.”

“He wants to see me again? Didn’t I just pay my respects to him three days ago?”

Zhang Sheng rolled her eyes at Wei Yuan and said, “It’s beneficial to see the founder more often. Now go.”

Seeing Zhang Sheng acting stubborn despite how weak she was, Wei Yuan couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow. However, a flood of inappropriate and highly disrespectful thoughts also surged into his mind at the same time.

In the end, though, he could only sigh inwardly and push away those thoughts. As tempting as they were, this was hardly the right time. He would have to wait another day.

Still, because those thoughts were forbidden, the more he tried to suppress them, the stronger they became; and the more irreverent the thoughts were, the more his desire grew. Thus, his gaze began to wander subconsciously.

In response, Zhang Sheng kicked Wei Yuan aside and said, “Go see the founder. Don’t keep him waiting.”

Wei Yuan bowed and left. As he stepped out of the door, he couldn’t help but think: that Master’s foot is just as soft.

When he met the founder again, Wei Yuan noticed that True Lord Xuan Yue’s aura was somewhat unstable. It seemed he had just returned from a fierce battle against a Liao True Lord in the Beyond.

Despite this, the moment he saw Wei Yuan, True Lord Xuan Yue broke into a broad smile and pulled him close, examining him from head to toe. The more he looked, the more he beamed with delight. Beside him, Trueman Fen Hai was also smiling so broadly that his eyes were narrowed into slits.

“Excellent, excellent, excellent! Truly worthy of a disciple of the Skyblue Hall!” True Lord Xuan Yue heaped praises upon him once more, though it seemed he had run out of novel phrases to use.

In fact, since arriving at the northern mountain gate, Wei Yuan had already paid his respects to True Lord Xuan Yue three times. But each time, the True Lord reacted as if he was seeing him from the very first time, grinning from ear to ear despite his attempts to school his expression. Eventually, realizing that he simply couldn’t control himself, True Lord Xuan Yue decided to just let it all out.

After praising Wei Yuan, True Lord concluded by turning to Fen Hai: “Fen Hai, Fen Hai, just look at you! Your cultivation is about to be overtaken by your grand disciple! This old Daoist was truly blind back then—what on earth possessed me to take you in?”

True Lord Fen Hai’s smile froze on his face. In fact, he had been scolded time and again in this matter ever since he had taken Zhang Sheng as a disciple.

This was the one flaw with True Lord Xuan Yue: although he spared no effort in praising his grand disciples and great-grand disciples, he especially liked dragging his own disciple, Fen Hai, out as a foil to make them look even better.

Of course, after Zhang Sheng took Wei Yuan as a disciple, Fen Hai was able to experience the joy that True Lord Xuan Yue had long enjoyed for some time. But little did he know that his happiness would be so short-lived. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan’s cultivation had already caught up to him.

Only after True Lord Xuan Yue had finished his praise did Wei Yuan finally have the opportunity to announce his plan to return to Qingming that very day.

True Lord Xuan Yue was about to give his permission when a sudden thought occurred to him. He said, “Since you’re here, there’s no need to rush off just yet. The Bright King Hall’s hallmaster is on his way here from the central mountain gate and should arrive tomorrow. Yan Shi is currently engaged in a great battle in the Beyond, but he should be finished by now. I’ve also just borrowed five million taels of immortal silver from True Lord Huang Yun, so you’ll have to pay her a visit as well. While you’re at it, feel free to clarify any doubts you have regarding your cultivation.”

Thus, Wei Yuan had no choice but to stay for two more days.

Over the course of these two days, True Lord Xuan Yue took him to meet a total of eight True Lords in quick succession. To save time, he even brought Wei Yuan to wait at the edge of the battlefield of the war happening in the Beyond. It was the right call, for they were able to run into True Lord Yan Shi and True Lord Dan Mingzi at the same time.

Xuan Yue pulled the two True Lords aside to have a chat—and what a “warm” and “cordial” conversation it was. Poor Wei Yuan, though, had to stand by while his Avatar was buffeted by astral winds from the Beyond. Its stability was even threatened as a result.

Try as they might, the two True Lords ultimately failed to escape True Lord Xuan Yue’s clutches and were forced to chat with him for almost two whole hours.

True Lord Xuan Yue mainly brought up two matters: One, it seemed that none of his fellow True Lords were particularly skilled at the art of teaching because despite all the time and effort they had invested in them, none could match Wei Yuan—an averagely-talented disciple of the Skyblue Hall who was basically raised in the wild and left to nature and himself to nurture. Xuan Yue still hadn’t figured out how Wei Yuan had managed to form his Avatar and needed the two True Lords to offer some guidance and help identify the cause.

Second, he wanted to borrow some money. Specifically, he wanted to borrow five million taels from each True Lord, with no room for negotiation.

The two True Lords seriously didn’t want to listen to True Lord Xuan Yue. If they weren’t facing an external threat right now, they would have dragged the guy, kicking and screaming, to the Beyond for a debate already.

With no other choice, the two True Lords reluctantly handed over their money.

Having received the immortal silver, Xuan Yue was finally satisfied and let them go. The old Daoist chuckled and said, “This boy is just a bit luckier than others—he attained an Avatar out of the blue, without even knowing how it had happened. In that respect, he really does remind me of myself back in the day!”

With that, True Lord Xuan Yue waved his hand, whisked Wei Yuan away with his Dao energy, and said, “Time to go. Time is of the essence; we still need to pay our respects to True Lord Feng Yuan and ask him to offer some guidance on your cultivation. That old man had always had a keen eye; he’ll surely know how you suddenly attained an Avatar!”

After Xuan Yue and Wei Yuan were gone, the two True Lords stood facing each other in silence.

After two tense but fruitful days, when True Lord Xuan Yue truly could not find a True Lord who was capable of offering guidance any longer, Wei Yuan was finally allowed to take his leave and return to the Realm of Qingming. As reluctant as True Lord Xuan Yue felt, he had no choice but to end things here.

The visit wasn’t entirely without benefit, though. At the very least, True Lord Xuan Yue had managed to borrow over 30 million immortal silver, which was more than enough to rebuild the collapsed Sky Blue Hall. In addition, he had purchased several million taels of elixirs specifically used for cultivating the spirit of an Avatar and handed them all to Wei Yuan.

1. The Daozang (Chinese: 道藏; pinyin: Dàozàng; Wade–Giles: Tao Tsang) is a large canon of Taoist writings, consisting of around 1,500 texts that were seen as continuing traditions first embodied by the Daodejing, Zhuangzi, and Liezi. The canon was assembled by monks c.?400 CE in an attempt to bring together these disparate yet consonant teachings, and it included commentaries and expositions from various masters on material found in the aforementioned core texts of Taoism. ☜