Chapter 618: The Mysterious Yellow Dao Patterns

The Empress of Earth from the Void-Returning World sized him up from head to toe, sensing that the current Chen Shi was far more profound in cultivation than the Chen Shi from moments ago, his mastery of Dao techniques having deepened considerably. She could not help but be secretly astonished.

Little did she know that Chen Shi, despite appearing relaxed, was actually terrified out of his wits. He dared not waste a single moment, desperately deciphering the Eight Trigrams Dao Patterns left by the Heaven Emperor. He had finally managed to decipher all eight types of Dao Patterns and convert them into immortal path Dao Patterns.

Things would occasionally leap out from the well, all of which he suppressed using the Eight Trigrams Dao Patterns of Fuxi, the Heaven Emperor.

This was the reason the Empress had sensed such a great leap in Chen Shi's mastery of Dao techniques.

With his mastery of Dao techniques elevated, Chen Shi's cultivation had also risen dramatically. It could truly be called a blessing in disguise.

The Empress came to the edge of the well, peered inside, and then examined the bone scorpion tail that had been scorched and severed. Her surprise deepened.

She had assumed Chen Shi would seek aid from others in the Virtuous Virtue Heavenly Palace or perhaps alert Houtu Huangdiqi. What she never expected was that Chen Shi had managed to block those great demon remains entirely on his own.

But the dangers Chen Shi had experienced, she remained unaware of.

The Empress tossed the White-Bone Horsetail Whisk into the well. It passed through the Infinite Diagram and stuck among the boundless sea of white bones, leaving only the skull and the flowing white hair exposed.

With this treasure returned to its position, its Dao patterns interlocked perfectly with those of the other magic treasures, suppressing those great demon skeletons.

The numerous skeletons faced the sky, let out furious roars, and then unwillingly fell silent, resisting the refinement of the Infinite Diagram.

"Since Your Highness has fulfilled the task entrusted to you, this palace naturally cannot go back on its word."

The Empress sat on the edge of the well, sized Chen Shi up again, and laughed, "No wonder the Empress of Earth of Western Ox New Continent acknowledged you as her adopted son. If it were me, I would have done the same. Earlier you fished up a strand of mysterious yellow ancestral energy. What did it feel like?"

Chen Shi said, "Heavy. Impossibly heavy. But when I pulled it out of the well, it became very light, unbelievably light, light enough to drag me up into the sky."

"Exactly. That is precisely the mysterious yellow transformation."

The Empress excitedly swung her legs, and Chen Shi could not help worrying she might tumble into the well and meet her end.

Fortunately, she did not fall in.

"You see, mysterious qi is light and floating and becomes heaven. Yellow qi is heavy and turbid and becomes earth. Heaven and earth were originally formed from different qi, but yellow qi has one extra layer of change, transforming from qi into substance. But ancestral energy is the state before mysterious qi and yellow qi have separated. It can transform into yellow qi or into mysterious qi, or it can simultaneously maintain the state of both mysterious and yellow."

The Empress explained in a gentle, flowing voice, "The wonder of its application lies entirely within your mind, entirely under your control. Want it light and it is light, want it heavy and it is heavy. And the secret of that control lies in the mysterious yellow Dao patterns. Since you could learn the divine path Dao patterns of Fuxi, the Heaven Emperor, then my lineage's mysterious yellow Dao patterns should be no challenge for you."

A wisp of the energy of incense offerings flew from her fingertip. The fragrance gradually warped and condensed in the air, forming profound and wondrous Great Dao patterns that revealed the mysteries of the mysterious yellow Dao patterns.

Chen Shi examined them carefully, but within the energy of incense offerings he saw countless distracting thoughts of sentient beings, as though a multitude of chaotic voices echoed by his ears, like innumerable people burning incense and praying, bowing to the Empress of Earth and making wishes.

To immortals accustomed to pure, dustless Dao Hearts, these chanting voices were distracting thoughts that interfered with their spiritual practice, things that absolutely had to be cast aside. Therefore, there was absolutely no such distraction within immortal Dao patterns.

Setting aside the distracting thoughts that disturbed his Dao Heart, the mysterious yellow Dao patterns remained profoundly mysterious and difficult to comprehend. But strangely enough, Chen Shi actually understood a portion of the mysterious yellow Dao patterns!

"The mysterious yellow qi must ultimately transform into heaven and earth. It shares certain similarities with the Qian and Kun Dao Patterns among Fuxi, the Heaven Emperor's Eight Trigrams Dao Patterns."

The Empress laughed, "Since you comprehended a part of the divine path's Qian and Kun Dao Patterns from the Eight Trigrams Dao Patterns, then comprehending a part of the mysterious yellow Dao patterns should follow naturally."

As Chen Shi observed the mysterious yellow Dao patterns while comparing them with the Qian and Kun Dao Patterns, he indeed discovered many points of resonance!

His heart stirred slightly, "Is the Empress merely the Empress of Earth of the Void-Returning World?"

The Void-Returning World, like Western Ox New Continent, should be an ordinary world. The Empress of Earth there should be responsible for the operations of the underworld. How could she possibly have such profound understanding of the mysterious yellow Dao patterns?

"In truth, it is not the Empress of the Void-Returning World who is transmitting the mysterious yellow Dao patterns to me. It is Houtu Huangdiqi borrowing her mouth to pass on the mysterious yellow Dao patterns she has comprehended." Chen Shi thought to himself.

He did not expose this and devoted himself wholeheartedly to comprehension.

The mysterious yellow Dao patterns were far more complex than the Qian and Kun Dao Patterns. The Qian and Kun Dao Patterns were born from the Eight Trigrams. Within them, the Qian Dao corresponded to the Celestial Way, and the Kun Dao corresponded to the Earthly Way.

When the Celestial Court was established, the Three Purities refined Celestial Way magic treasures and discovered that a single magic treasure could not contain the entirety of the Celestial Way. Ultimately they refined thirty-six Celestial Way magic treasures before the Celestial Way was fully articulated. This shows the degree of complexity of the Celestial Way.

Fuxi, the Heaven Emperor, had also not mastered the complete Celestial Way. His Celestial Way Dao patterns were also incomplete.

The mysterious yellow Dao patterns were even more complex than the two Dao of Heaven and Earth, containing the process of the two qi of mysterious and yellow transforming into heaven and earth, and processes are often the most complex of all.

Had Chen Shi not first learned Fuxi's Eight Trigrams Dao Patterns and had rashly confronted the mysterious yellow Dao patterns, he feared he would have been like someone reading a heavenly book, completely unable to find any starting point.

This made him all the more certain that this person must be Houtu Huangdiqi seizing the opportunity to transmit the Dao!

"You take your time comprehending. My Void-Returning World still has matters to attend to. I will be going!"

The Empress rushed briskly toward the exit, "Lest someone steal my Dao Field again! If you have a good head on your shoulders, memorize it and comprehend it slowly. Once you understand some of it, you can fish up mysterious yellow ancestral energy."

Chen Shi settled his mind and focused on memorizing, committing to memory the mysterious yellow Dao patterns formed from the energy of incense offerings, comprehending them slowly.

By the time he had memorized the mysterious yellow Dao patterns, the patterns suddenly collapsed, turning into blue smoke that drifted into the air and vanished.

Chen Shi sat down with a calm heart, quietly comprehending. When he encountered places he did not understand, he would come to the stone slab by the well and observe Fuxi's Eight Trigrams Dao Patterns, borrowing stones from other mountains to crack his own difficult problems.

For several consecutive days, he was absorbed in comprehending the mysterious yellow Dao patterns, forgetting food and sleep, neither resting nor sleeping.

However, human strength has its limits, and the Celestial Strategy had its limits as well. Chen Shi felt he could no longer comprehend more Great Dao insights from the mysterious yellow Dao patterns, and only then did he stop.

He attempted to condense his own mysterious yellow Dao patterns and refine them into his Dao Field.

The mysterious yellow Dao patterns he had comprehended were still shallow. He had only barely grasped a portion of their principles. To fully decipher Houtu Huangdiqi's mysterious yellow Dao patterns and convert them into immortal path Dao patterns, he feared there was still a very long road ahead.

Chen Shi came to the well's edge. A strand of divine power flew out like a silk ribbon, hanging down into the well and tethering a strand of mysterious yellow ancestral energy. With a slight movement of his mind, that strand of mysterious yellow ancestral energy rose up from the well as though it weighed nothing at all.

The mysterious yellow ancestral energy coiled around his fingertip like a young dragon, slowly swimming.

Chen Shi thought of what the Empress of Earth had said about the wonder of its application lying entirely within the mind. The strand of mysterious yellow ancestral energy between his fingers lengthened and shortened, grew heavy and light, following his intentions.

He raised his hand and lightly swept it through the air. The mysterious yellow ancestral energy transformed into a stretch of sky. When he withdrew his hand, the sky contracted and reverted to a single strand of ancestral energy.

His heart stirred slightly. The ancestral energy transformed into a Mount Tai. He raised his hand and swept it out, and Mount Tai transformed into a long river.

Chen Shi withdrew the ancestral energy and praised, "The mysterious yellow ancestral energy is truly wondrous."

He continued fishing up mysterious yellow ancestral energy, storing it in the Purple Heaven Immortal Gourd.

Within the immortal gourd, six strands of Profound Heaven Sword Qi had originally been nurtured. Unfortunately, the Profound Heaven Sword Qi had been shattered by the scorpion tail's barbed hook, dissolving into scattered starlight.

"I might as well use the mysterious yellow ancestral energy to refine some sword qi."

Chen Shi quickly fished up more than ten strands of mysterious yellow ancestral energy. Oddly enough, these dozen or so strands of ancestral energy did not merge with one another, crawling around the bottom of the gourd like more than ten young dragons.

"Strange. Why do they merge within the well, but after I collect them, they can no longer merge?"

Chen Shi pondered for a moment, unable to determine the reason. He continued fishing up ancestral energy, but as more ancestral energy fell into the immortal gourd, they still crawled about like young dragons and would not fuse.

His puzzlement deepened. He continued fishing, and then out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the Infinite Diagram. Sudden enlightenment struck him, and he laughed, "So that is it. The mysterious qi and yellow qi within the mysterious yellow ancestral energy are at every moment in a state of chaotic disorder. Each strand of ancestral energy is different from every other, belonging to independent wholes, so naturally they are difficult to merge. The ancestral energy in the well merges only because of the Infinite Diagram's binding."

This Infinite Diagram in the well was truly formidable.

Chen Shi fished up one hundred and eight consecutive strands of ancestral energy, then stopped. He thought to himself, "This item is precious. I should not take too much. Lest there be too little ancestral energy left in the Infinite Diagram to suppress the great demon skeletons at the bottom of the well... wait, I must get some for my brother Black Pot."

He fished up some more mysterious yellow ancestral energy. Because he was genuinely worried the Infinite Diagram might not be able to suppress the great demon skeletons, he finally stopped.

Just as he was about to leave, he caught sight of the bone scorpion tail he had severed by burning. So he collected this bone scorpion tail as well.

The bone scorpion tail was incomparably hard. His Profound Heaven Sword Qi, tempered through a thousand refinements, shattered on contact with it. Even the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade could not harm it in the slightest. If this item could be refined into a magic treasure, it would surely be fierce and domineering!

He walked out of the Ruizhu Daohua Palace and passed through the streets and alleys of the Virtuous Virtue Heavenly Palace. The fairy maidens living here were carefree and at ease, filled with elegant leisure. Most importantly, aside from him, not a single man could be seen. Therefore his passage drew the gazes of quite a few girls, truly making one reluctant to leave.

"This place is a land of tender charm. If I stayed here as Crown Prince, I would die of sheer bliss."

Chen Shi returned smiles to the fairy maidens gazing at him, unhurriedly passing through the riot of color and beauty.

"Such a beautiful land of tender charm, yet built upon the remains of countless great demons. These fairy maidens have no idea how dangerous the land beneath their feet truly is."

Chen Shi's heart was filled with myriad emotions, "When the Three Purities first opened the Earth Immortal Realm, many unimaginable things must have occurred. That is why the bottom of the Virtuous Virtue Palace's well is buried with countless great demon skeletons. Each of the heavenly palaces guarding the Earth Immortal Realm is far from simple."

The Four Sovereigns each had their own heavenly palace. The Thunder Ministry, Dipper Ministry, Plague Ministry, and other powerful Celestial Venerables each had their own heavenly palaces as well. The Five Elders of the Five Directions and the Nine Sovereigns of Divine Thunder also each had their own heavenly palaces.

The number of heavenly palaces was perhaps as numerous as the number of existences above King Li.

These heavenly palaces were scattered throughout the Earth Immortal Realm. Could it be that beneath every single one, something was suppressed?

Chen Shi blinked. This conjecture seemed absurd, but ever since he had visited the world at the bottom of the well, it no longer seemed so absurd.

"The conflict between the Immortal Court and the Celestial Court, could it ruin this foundation left by the Three Purities and release the things suppressed by the Celestial Court's gods." He could not help feeling some worry.

He returned to the Eastern Palace.

The residence Houtu Huangdiqi had arranged for him was the Eastern Palace. The palace had many fairy maidens. A group of fairy maidens carrying flower baskets passed by him. Seeing his face, they grew shy, raising their sleeves to half-cover their faces as they bowed their heads and walked past.

"It is good to be Crown Prince." Chen Shi sighed inwardly.

He found Black Pot and Yu Sari. The dog and the fish were still absorbed in spiritual practice, forgetting food and sleep. Chen Shi woke them and said, "Prepare yourselves. I intend to take my leave of Huangdiqi and depart from this place."

Black Pot and Yu Sari were startled. Yu Sari blurted out, "Leave? Why leave? This place is so wonderful. There's merit to cultivate every day, spiritual energy without end, nobody wants to eat you, and you don't have to labor at pulling the boat. Why leave?"

Black Pot nodded repeatedly. Joy was here; he did not think of the heavenly soldier camps.

Chen Shi laughed, "Collect some mysterious yellow spiritual energy, not too much. Enough for cultivation will do."

Yu Sari was extremely reluctant to part. The mysterious yellow spiritual energy surpassed other spiritual energy a hundredfold. Cultivating here for one day was equivalent to cultivating outside for a hundred days!

Moreover, outside he could not cultivate every day. He still had to pull the boat to earn money, and only after saving enough to buy some immortal qi and spirit liquid could he cultivate with peace of mind. In other words, one day of cultivation here might equal one year, or even three to five years, of cultivation outside!

The results of his cultivation over these past few days were essentially equivalent to two or three decades of bitter cultivation outside!

However, the path of cultivation could not be pursued behind closed doors. Locking oneself away in constant seclusion could never achieve the cultivation of a Great Luo Gold Immortal. One still needed to temper oneself, travel, comprehend, and broaden one's horizons in order to cross one barrier after another.

Yu Sari's current cultivation speed seemed very fast, but it was also related to his years of accumulated effort from before. Only through deep accumulation could he unleash sudden explosive progress now, riding the mysterious yellow spiritual energy to advance by leaps and bounds. Once his foundation was exhausted, even soaking in a spirit liquid of mysterious yellow spiritual energy would not yield the slightest improvement in cultivation.

Despite their immense reluctance, Black Pot and Yu Sari could only pack up, each collecting some mysterious yellow spiritual energy and placing it in their own Dao Realms.

Chen Shi also took out a strand of mysterious yellow ancestral energy and gifted it to Yu Sari, laughing, "These past days have delayed you from operating your boat, Daoist friend. This strand of mysterious yellow ancestral energy is gifted to you as a small apology."

Yu Sari was both shocked and delighted, hurriedly declining, "Young Master, this treasure is far too precious. I would not dare accept it! Please, Young Master, take it back!"

Chen Shi laughed, "I have plenty more here. Take it without worry."

Yu Sari wanted to accept it but dared not, hesitating. He said, "I have heard of mysterious yellow ancestral energy. Every hundred days, immortals would ride boats to the outskirts of the Virtuous Virtue Heavenly Palace to seize ancestral energy. But my cultivation is lowly. I have no qualification to collect ancestral energy. This treasure is extremely precious. I heard people say that when refining treasures, if even a trace of ancestral energy is refined into the materials, the magic treasure's power becomes many times greater than before. I once pulled a passenger who had snatched a little ancestral energy. He refined it into his cauldron, and when he activated it, the mysterious yellow ancestral energy manifested a world within the cauldron, greatly increasing its power."

At this point he was filled with envy. Then, remembering he himself had actually obtained a strand of ancestral energy, he doubted all the more whether he was dreaming.

Chen Shi was surprised. The mysterious yellow ancestral energy was refined mixed with other materials?

He had thought the ancestral energy alone was used to refine magic treasures, which was why he had collected so much.

"Should I return some? Never mind. There is still plenty in the well. This little bit won't make a difference."

Chen Shi gave Black Pot some mysterious yellow ancestral energy as well and said, "You two go to the Heavenly Aperture and wait for me. After I take my leave of the Empress, I will come find you."

Yu Sari acknowledged and left with Black Pot.

Chen Shi arrived at the Nine Splendors Jade Aperture and sought an audience with Houtu Huangdiqi. Houtu Huangdiqi was surprised and said, "Why does Your Highness wish to leave? Is the lodging not to your liking? Or has someone slighted or mistreated you?"

"Neither."

Chen Shi laughed, "The Empress has treated me exceptionally well, guiding me to learn and cultivate Fuxi, the Heaven Emperor's Eight Trigrams Dao Patterns, and transmitting to me your own supreme art, the mysterious yellow Dao patterns. I have benefited greatly, and the others in the palace have also treated me exceedingly well."

Houtu Huangdiqi smiled and said, "Then why do you still wish to leave?"

"Staying in the Ruizhu Ci Yi Palace as Crown Prince is certainly good, but this place is too peaceful, too serene. And the things suppressed beneath the heavenly palaces are too terrifying."

Chen Shi said, "I wish to share the Empress's burdens and alleviate your difficulties. Yet I fear becoming immersed in this land of tender charm, losing my fighting spirit like the fairy maidens in this palace. That is why I would rather leave. After I have been tempered and gained some edge, I can better share some of the Empress's burdens."

Houtu Huangdiqi was moved in her heart and said, "A strand of my avatar crossed vast oceans and entered the Dark Sea. It was originally because I could not bear to abandon the people of Western Ox New Continent. As long as there was even a trace of incense offering, I would fight desperately for them. I never expected that from this endeavor, I would gain Your Highness. When Your Highness returns to the Celestial Court, devote yourself to cultivation. I will send someone to warn King Li, make him understand the stakes involved, and he will not trouble you."