Chapter 711 - 25: The Mist Daoist Places 1 Piece, the Grand Game Is Not Yet Settled

"Lu Xuan is the True Self Incarnation of Taiyi. Everything about Lu Xuan is everything about Taiyi."

"But, Qing Xuan is not."

Qing Xuan Daoist stood silently, and as he spoke to himself, he imbued the Blood and Tears Clay Figure with a soul.

The clay figure transformed into an infant, lying peacefully in his arms. It first laughed, then immediately let out the first cry of its life.

The cry was so piercing, like a clap of thunder, that it jolted Qing Xuan Daoist's weary spirit awake.

The Daoist was transforming.

His shackles were cast off, his Self reborn.

He had done nothing, yet his Essence, Qi, and Divine Soul all surged by thirty percent.

Thirty percent wasn't much. In terms of the Cultivation it represented, this increase was almost negligible. But!

But Qing Xuan's Essence was the True Form of Transcendence, and his Divine Soul was the True Spirit of Transcendence—both from Wa Huang. Yet now, they had increased by thirty percent. On the level of Essence and Divine Soul, he...

...had surpassed Wa Huang at the time of her final leap, and surpassed that Quasi-Transcender who had been torn asunder.

His Physique trembled faintly. His Divine Soul clarified. His thoughts flowed unimpeded. The spirit of his Self shed its broken husk and broke free from its shackles. The old dissipated, and the new was born...

Even his Dao Heart, which had been torn, shattered, and collapsed, had begun to reform. And though it was merely a nascent form, this new Dao Heart was already stronger than it had ever been!

It was like the rebirth that follows the collapse of a Great Era, like Yuqing following Shangqing, or like...

To be broken, then remade.

After a long while, Qing Xuan placed the small infant in a basket, took him to Qianlong City, and calmly set him down before the door of a house.

He had issued a Celestial Decree: henceforth, the infant would only be called Lu Xuan.

After doing all this, Qing Xuan didn't leave immediately. He simply sat cross-legged upon a cloud, his form faint and imperceptible.

He watched just like that, silently. In his leisure, he would take out a fishing rod and cast his line into the Celestial Myriad Realms. Operating within the reasonable bounds of his identity as the Master of Guangcheng Palace to ensure he didn't trigger the Great Epoch Retribution, he would fish for a bit of fortune or hook a few great demons.

「Nine years passed in a flash.」

In the ninth year, disaster struck Qianlong City. Little Lu Xuan staggered away, fleeing to East Sea City. Amid a heavy snowstorm, he collapsed in a shantytown.

"They're here..."

Qing Xuan whispered softly, his gaze fixed on an illusory point in space. He saw Taiyi drifting in the void as Chu Tai separated from its body, walked into the shantytown, and became Old Chu.

'It was the second-generation Taiyi—Xiaohuo'er and Xi He.'

Despite confirming this, Qing Xuan was in no hurry to leave. He just sighed softly and murmured to himself,

"The beginning of everything..."

He watched as Little Lu Xuan was taken home by Old Chu. He watched the Bronze Fragment emit a faint glow. He watched as Little Lu Xuan dreamed his way back to the Spring and Autumn Period.

The gears of fate began to turn.

"And now..."

Qing Xuan sat cross-legged upon his cloud, quietly gazing down at the bustling East Sea City. A faint smile touched his lips as he said to himself,

"I have nine opportunities. Two are already used, leaving seven. It will take four to comprehend the Dao Fruits of Haotian, Bodhi, Houtu, and the Buddha Mother to complete my Self. It will take one more to enlighten the future Lu Xuan..."

"Does that mean I have two opportunities left to make other arrangements?"

He fell into deep thought, combing through eons of time in search of the most suitable opportunities, while also checking for and correcting any oversights.

The realm of Enlightenment was within reach; he only needed to comprehend the remaining Dao Fruits. The part that needed perfecting was how, after returning to his original era, he could deliver the final sermon under the watchful eyes of Taiyi and Fu Xi and truly become the Daoist Ancestor.

"I've got it."

Qing Xuan Daoist smiled. Amidst the heavy snow, he slowly made his way toward a certain location in East Sea City.

...

"Are you the new director of the Longque Extraordinary Research Institute?"

In front of a large villa, a middle-aged man stood with a child who looked to be under ten. His face was wreathed in smiles, and his hands were full of gifts.

He lowered his head humbly.

"My name is Ji Bochang. I'm the Director of the Inspectorate. Hearing you'd taken up your new post, I took the liberty of bringing my son to pay our respects..."

Ao Chengzhong raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. 'Ji Bochang...'

'The name sounds fine at first, but in certain regional dialects... Tsk.'

The Earth Immortal couldn't help but ask,

"Ah, Director Ji. And your son's name is?"

Ji Bochang quickly pushed the chubby, bewildered-looking boy forward, his smile growing even more deferential.

"My son is Ji Boduan... Duan, aren't you going to greet Uncle Ao?"

A large snot bubble formed under the chubby boy's nose. He called out blankly,

"Hello, Uncle Ao."

Ao Chengzhong's expression grew even more peculiar. 'Ji Bochang, Ji Boduan...'

'What names, what wonderful names.'

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He waved a hand and said coolly,

"It's getting late, and my young lady is already resting. You two should head back. There's no need for the gifts; I appreciate the thought."

After a pause, Ao Chengzhong looked at the others who had followed, also there to offer gifts and pay their respects.

"The rest of you should return as well. It's a heavy snow out there; it wouldn't do to get hurt or catch a chill."

Meanwhile, behind a third-floor window of the villa, Yan Huang held his nine-year-old daughter, Little Yan Jiangxue. He teased her gently, paying little mind to the events unfolding below.

'If East Sea City weren't his hometown, he never would have let his precious daughter come here.'

As he thought of this, Yan Huang's mind wandered for a moment. 'Back in the day, his own master, who held the title of Valkyrie, had taken him in right here in East Sea City...'

'How unpredictable life is.'

'If there truly is such a thing as reincarnation, I wonder which family Master was reborn into?'

'A person like Master... if she truly were reincarnated, she would surely be an unrivaled figure somewhere by now, wouldn't she?'

Sighing to himself, Yan Huang gently patted Little Yan Jiangxue, who was chewing on her fingers, and chided,

"Sweetie, you can't be chewing on your fingers. You're a big girl now, aren't you?"