Chapter 671 - 77: Obtaining the Donghuang Bell, Taiyi’s Other Half Dao Fruit, the 9th Forging of the Jade Disc

Chapter 671: Chapter 77: Obtaining the Donghuang Bell, Taiyi’s Other Half Dao Fruit, the 9th Forging of the Jade Disc

Taiyi smiled.

"Arrogant? No, no, no. Everything is within my grasp!"

He flicked his great sleeves, his robes whipping about in the turbulent Chaos as he lifted his head in a display of supreme arrogance.

"What does it matter if I give you the Donghuang Bell? Once you have matured, I will devour you. Everything you have will be mine—the Donghuang Bell, your Cause and Effect, and even your fate..."

As he spoke, he suddenly leaned in, taking a single step to stand directly before Lu Xuan, and stared intently into his eyes.

"I only hope you don’t perish before you’ve ripened. Don’t come to Chaos again. I advise you to take fewer risks like this."

Lu Xuan’s brow furrowed deeply.

After a moment, he murmured softly,

"Your confidence... where does it truly come from?"

Taiyi burst into laughter, flicked his sleeve, and turned. He took nine steps, his head held high.

"I am destined to be invincible, destined for Transcendence! Once I have devoured you... I alone will be the venerable one in all of Heaven and Earth!"

"Leave. Go on, leave!"

Lu Xuan remained silent for a long time, his heart nearly overflowing with questions. But in the end, he said no more, turned, and left alongside the Goddess.

He toyed with the Donghuang Bell in his hand, feeling a bit dazed. ’The final piece for forging the Creation Jade Disc...’

’I got it just like that?’

Lu Xuan glanced sideways at the Goddess.

"Lady, what exactly did you see in Taiyi? His confidence... what is its source?"

The Goddess thought for a moment before speaking softly.

"Just as with Qing Xuan, I cannot say much more, or the future will drastically change for the worse. However, I can tell you one thing..."

She paused and took a breath of pure air.

"Taiyi is an ’Enlightened One.’"

Lu Xuan’s expression flickered. He had heard this from Fu Xi before, and upon hearing it again, his immediate reaction was still denial.

"Impossible! The Dao Fruit Positions are all accounted for!"

"Is that so?" The Goddess glanced at him. "Think again."

Lu Xuan fell into thought, murmuring to himself.

"The Three Masters, Elder Haotian, and Ancient Bodhi Buddha each occupy a Complete Dao Fruit. That makes five."

"Houtu has achieved Integration Dao, and her half-Dao Fruit is temporarily held by Fu Xi. Adding Amitabha, the Buddha Mother, and the Buddha, that makes two more."

"That’s seven Dao Fruits, each with an owner. And it’s true that two complete Dao Fruit Positions still remain empty. That cannot be faked."

Muttering to himself, Lu Xuan looked over in confusion.

"Lady, I still don’t understand. Where would Taiyi have obtained half a Dao Fruit?"

The Goddess shook her head.

"Oh, you. You’re so caught up in the situation that you’ve subconsciously overlooked a crucial point. Among the people you just listed, one of them... is also Taiyi."

"One of the Dao Fruit Cultivators... is also Taiyi?"

Lu Xuan was stunned.

’So, who is it?’

The Goddess looked at him calmly.

"If you still don’t understand, think back on all the little moments you spent with the Supreme. I believe you will find your answer there."

Lu Xuan nodded silently. He quietly returned to the Great Heaven and Earth, then tore open the River of Time. He walked alongside the Goddess toward the Beginning of Ancient Times, toward the era before the Creation of Heaven and Earth.

He stopped before the Creation of Heaven and Earth, pausing within the Hongmeng.

Lu Xuan concealed their presence. The Creation Jade Disc and the Donghuang Bell appeared in his hands. The Creation Jade Disc had already been forged eight times. It only needed the Donghuang Bell to be integrated into it to complete the ninth forging and achieve Perfection.

But Lu Xuan didn’t immediately call for his master or the Three Masters. He just stood there, thinking.

’One of the Dao Fruit Cultivators... is Taiyi.’

He pondered for a long time. Following the Goddess’s advice, he connected with his countless historical imprints, reviewing every moment he had ever spent with his master in the past.

He re-entered the Spring and Autumn Period, once again becoming the Little Lu Xuan inside the Guardian Storage Room.

Every day, he lit fires, cooked meals, and wiped the books clean. From time to time, he would roughhouse with Senior Brother Zhang and listen to his master’s sermons.

Seven years passed in this manner, but Lu Xuan noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

In the seventh year at the Guardian Storage Room,

the Old Master taught him the Mediation of Creation, but Lu Xuan still found no clues.

Time continued to flow as he retraced his past.

It was still the seventh year, at the moment he formally became a disciple, that Lu Xuan had discussed the Dao with the Supreme.

"Xiaoxuan, what is the Dao you seek?"

The sixteen-year-old Lu Xuan lifted his head.

"Nothing else but World Clarity."

"And what is World Clarity?" the Old Master asked.

"It is when the people live in peace and enjoy their work, when the Immortal Gods attend to their duties, when Yin and Yang are in order, when no living thing grieves at parting, when justice prevails, and when no calamities or tribulations exist in Heaven, on Earth, or in the Human World."

Little Lu Xuan answered as such, a little dazed as he realized he had already fulfilled a small part of the Dao he followed...

’Soon. It’s coming soon.’

The Old Master smiled.

"Then how should it be implemented?"

"By becoming the strongest and balancing all."

"Difficult!"

The Old Master chuckled.

"To achieve World Clarity, one must walk the path of ’Only I Am Venerable.’ Throughout all of Ancient History, only one other person before you has walked this path. But in the end, he failed."

Lu Xuan subconsciously followed the script of his own history, bowing as he asked,

"May I ask, Master... what was this person’s name?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he snapped his head up, as if he had just realized something. The Old Master, however, simply smiled and uttered the name.

"His name was Taiyi."

"Right, Taiyi... Taiyi..."

Lu Xuan shot to his feet. Under the astonished gazes of Zhang Ling and the Supreme from this sliver of time, he began to pace back and forth, muttering incessantly.

"So that’s how it is! So that’s how it is! So that’s how it is!"

He exclaimed this three times in sudden, dawning realization.

’My master had actually told me long ago.’

’Throughout all of Ancient History, besides myself, the only one who sought to walk the path of ’Only I Am Venerable’ was Taiyi.’

’In that case...’

Lu Xuan suddenly looked back, his gaze piercing through the River of Time to see the infinitely distant past, to the moment of Sakyamuni Buddha’s birth.

The infant Sakyamuni Buddha took seven steps in each of the four cardinal directions—East, South, West, and North. With one hand pointing to the sky and the other touching the earth, he spoke with solemn gravity, his voice like the morning bell and evening drum, a sound that could awaken the deaf.

"In all of Heaven and Earth, only I am venerable!"

Lu Xuan closed his eyes, his mind reeling and a chill running down his spine.

"So that’s how it is."

He bowed to the somewhat bewildered Supreme, then turned the completely dumbfounded Zhang Ling around and gave his Senior Brother a swift kick in the rear. Amidst hearty laughter, his main consciousness withdrew from this historical imprint and returned to his body.

Lu Xuan stood firm in the Hongmeng, holding the Creation Jade Disc in his left hand and the Donghuang Bell in his right. He turned his head to the Goddess.

"Lady, I understand now."

"You’ve finally figured it out?" The Goddess shook her head, unable to stifle a laugh. "Sometimes, I’m tempted to call you slow, but then your comprehension is so extraordinary it could be called the greatest in history. Yet, if I were to call you clever..."

She let out a soft sigh.

"...you couldn’t even figure this out and overlooked such a detail."

Lu Xuan gave a wry smile.

"It was all just too long ago. Or maybe I just didn’t think it was important and never connected the dots. But..."

His expression grew dazed again.

"So Taiyi and the Buddha are the same person... Doesn’t that mean I’ve been making a deal with a tiger this whole time?"

The Goddess said softly,

"Don’t worry. Before you attain a Dao Fruit, Taiyi... won’t turn on you."

As she spoke, she let out an imperceptible sigh, as if in pity or hesitation, but ultimately remained silent.

Lu Xuan didn’t notice. He paced back and forth nine times before finally stopping.

"Forget it. I’ll finish this final forging of the Creation Jade Disc first..."

As he muttered to himself, a look of anticipation appeared on his face. After the ninth forging, the Creation Jade Disc would finally be truly complete.

’And what kind of transformation will a complete Creation Jade Disc, integrated with the Donghuang Bell, undergo?’

His heart surging with excitement, Lu Xuan was just about to notify his master and the Three Masters. Standing in the Hongmeng, he glanced toward the River of Time, but his expression suddenly froze.

’That little brat...’

Staring at Douluo Palace in the Thirty-Six Celestial Realms, staring at what Sun Wukong was doing, Lu Xuan nearly choked and his vision went black.