Chapter 637: One Sword Overturns Heaven and Earth

The wound medicine on Golden Turtle Island was rather poor. Chen Shi, Uncle Jiao, and the others lay there for four or five days before their injuries had barely healed by two or three tenths, and the immortal medicine in the jade bottles was already gone.

Without immortal pills for healing, they could only circulate their own immortal essence to promote the healing of their wounds.

Chen Shi asked, “Is Golden Turtle Island really this poor? You don’t even stock up on much wound medicine.”

Uncle Jiao said, “It’s not that we’re poor. We just don’t have any money.”

Chen Shi glanced at Jiang Guo, who was lying beside him. Jiang Guo had said something similar before.

Clearly, Jiang Guo had learned it from Uncle Jiao.

Jing Mei, who was beside them, explained, “West of Penglai is the Jade Purity sacred ground. It produces Jade Purity spiritual energy, and immortal plants grow everywhere. There are countless kinds of precious ores and rare stones. But that crisis back then caused the sacred ground to become polluted. Though there are many rare immortal medicines and treasures now, they’re either withered and limp or polluted by the external Dao, so they can no longer be used. Golden Turtle Island can keep going even now only because a few senior brothers outside the island help support us.”

Jiang Guo, lying nearby, said, “Senior Sister, you can earn quite a lot by serving as a heavenly soldier in the heavenly soldier camps. The pay there isn’t bad. I served there for over half a year, and even after covering my daily cultivation expenses, I still had some monthly pay left over.”

“Really?” Jing Mei and Qiao Gu were both pleasantly surprised.

Qiao Gu said, “I heard people say that unless they’re truly desperate, who would go serve as a heavenly soldier? The food is bad, there’s lots of work, the pay is low, and it’s dangerous. King Li of the Celestial Court isn’t a good man, either. I heard that when he led an army on an expedition, demons swallowed a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals in one bite.”

“I never encountered anything like that while I was at the heavenly soldier camps,” Jiang Guo said. “In fact, I had nothing to do. I just collected my monthly pay on time.”

Jing Mei and Qiao Gu were greatly tempted. Jing Mei said, “If Golden Turtle Island is all right, we should go serve in the heavenly soldier camps for a while, too.”

“Senior Sister, the camps even provide medicinal pills. I couldn’t finish them all,” Jiang Guo said.

Chen Shi struggled to retrieve a Fulou Village medicinal pill. He quietly focused his mind, refined the pill, and devoted himself to sensing the Western Ox New Continent. After a moment, the continent gradually came into focus and floated above him. Chen Shi said, “Long You the Freeholder, Mu Daozi, pick some earthly treasures and spiritual roots and refine some medicine for healing.”

Western Ox New Continent.

Long You the Freeholder, Mu Daozi, and the others had already become immortals through Dao Unification, and held extremely high status. That day, at the Wanderer Gathering, Long You the Freeholder was expounding the Dao and teaching Dao techniques to a group of freeholders when the sky suddenly opened. Clouds of light appeared, and Chen Shi’s immense voice rang out from within layer upon layer of golden clouds.

Hearing this, Long You the Freeholder bowed and said, “We obey your decree.”

He hurriedly left the Wanderer Gathering and went to Qianyang Mountain. Mu Daozi, Shao Niangniang, and Pei the Freeholder had already arrived. The four legendary freeholders gathered, picked earthly treasures and spiritual roots, and prepared the medicinal ingredients. Then they offered up the Crimson Origin Furnace and refined medicinal pills.

Half a day later, they had finished refining the pills. Shao Niangniang burned incense and prayed, “Master, the medicinal pills are ready. Please accept them.”

The energy of incense offerings rose in wisps. Chen Shi sensed her prayer, and with a slight movement of his mind, the medicinal pills floated into the air. They flew faster and faster, soon vanishing from sight.

Chen Shi raised a hand and made a grasping motion. The many medicinal pills flew over and landed in his palm.

He distributed them to everyone. These pills were extraordinary, refined from earthly treasures and spiritual roots, and their medicinal effects were many times better than Golden Turtle Island’s. Before long, everyone was able to get up and walk around.

Two more days passed. They could move as usual, though they still needed more rest.

“Could there be a sacred ground inside Junior Brother’s Dao Realm?”

Qiao Gu asked, “Have you planted lots of earthly treasures and spiritual roots in your sacred ground? I’ve heard they’re extremely precious and extraordinary, very rare and valuable.”

Chen Shi modestly replied, “I’ve gained a little fame outside because of my earthly treasures and spiritual roots.”

Jiang Guo praised him. “Junior Brother is ranked first on the Immortal Slaying List. Black Pot is second.”

“I’ve heard about that,” Qiao Gu said.

His face showed envy. “My rank on the Immortal Slaying List isn’t nearly as high as Junior Brother’s.”

Senior Sister Jing Mei asked, “Junior Brother, you’re also raising quite a few disciples in your Dao Realm.”

“I don’t have many disciples, but there are tens of billions of people,” Chen Shi said.

Everyone was startled.

Chen Shi asked in confusion, “Senior Sister, don’t you have mortals in your Dao Realms?”

“We do, but not many,” Senior Sister Jing Mei said. “Our Dao Realms are west of Penglai, in lands polluted by the external Dao. It’s hard for the people there to survive. Things get a little better for them after we become Dao Realms, but as long as the external Dao remains, life is still difficult.”

Chen Shi’s heart stirred. His ability to restrain primordial insects came from allowing the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth to unite with him. Perhaps it could solve the plight of Penglai’s western lands.

Several more days passed, and everyone’s injuries gradually healed. With his mind free of distractions, Chen Shi devoted himself to deducing the move Primordial Chaos Split Apart.

This time, he had risked the annihilation of his entire group, but he had finally glimpsed the mysteries of Primordial Chaos Split Apart. It was no longer a complete mystery to him. Now that he had a lead, working backward to understand the move was much easier.

“Primordial Chaos Split Apart and the Primordial Chaos Dao Scripture come from the same source. So when one cultivates the Primordial Chaos Dao Scripture to the state of primordial chaos, that is primordial chaos itself.”

Chen Shi suddenly understood. The passages about primordial chaos in the Primordial Chaos Dao Scripture might be used to corroborate Primordial Chaos Split Apart.

“The scripture says, ‘When Heaven and Earth were about to reach their end, they surged and darkness fell through day and night. Dragons and serpents clashed in fury, while the seas and mountains alike collapsed and surged.’”

Chen Shi sank into thought and murmured, “All things in motion were stirred and churned, transforming into a flowing, turbid mass. When extremes were reached, conflict ceased, and the Great Harmony gave birth to primordial chaos. One breath suddenly became two, and the division stood firm, drawing forth Heaven and Earth. If that one breath suddenly became two, and the two are yin and yang, then what is the one?”

“Clang!”

A sword rang out. A strand of mysterious yellow sword qi descended from the heavens and stopped between Chen Shi’s fingers. Chen Shi stared at it.

The mysterious yellow sword qi had been kept in the sword-nurturing gourd and tempered again and again. Now, it had been refined until it resembled a pool of flowing water. At times the water was murky, at times clear, and its color kept shifting through countless changes.

“Mysterious yellow ancestral energy gives rise to mysterious and yellow qi. The two qi evolve into Heaven and Earth. This mysterious and yellow qi is yin and yang qi. Therefore, the state of mysterious yellow ancestral energy before it becomes yin and yang is the innate One Qi.”

His eyes flickered. Through the Dao of yin and yang, he had comprehended four states: harmony, generation, mutual support, and primordial chaos. True Man Zhang had comprehended a fifth state, rootlessness.

But rootlessness was more like a cultivation of the Dao Heart, allowing the Dao of yin and yang to evolve naturally without human interference, in order to attain the true meaning of the Great Dao.

The One Qi described in the Dao Scripture belonged to the state of primordial chaos.

“So that’s it. So that’s it.”

He had suddenly reached a profound understanding, bringing together everything he had learned and comprehended before. He immediately sat cross-legged, once more circulating the Primordial Chaos Dao Scripture with the state of mind of his Rootless Tree. The yin and yang qi shifted from harmony to generation, then to mutual support, and finally to primordial chaos.

When they reached the state of primordial chaos, the state of mind of the Rootless Tree allowed it to evolve on its own. Yin and yang flowed together, indistinguishable from one another. The resulting state resembled that of mysterious yellow ancestral energy: seemingly chaotic and boundless, yet containing infinite possibilities.

This was the innate One Qi.

A state of spiritual energy born before Heaven and Earth!

His immortal essence and his Great Dao continually transformed toward the innate state. His Dao Field, too, slowly changed, transforming toward an innate Dao Field.

The people still recuperating at Caivei Palace suddenly felt as if Chen Shi had changed. Yet when they looked at him, they couldn’t see anything different.

In the Dao Ruins, Changchun Emperor, Lady Niangpo, and the others sensed something and looked in the same direction. That was where Chen Shi’s Dao Realm was.

Their cultivation was powerful enough that they seemed able to see through Chen Shi’s Dao Realm. Within it, they saw a qi that was naturally whole, like the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, flowing through the Dao Realm. They were all somewhat uncertain what to make of it.

“What change has come over the master of the house?”

They were very curious, but Chen Shi had not invited them, so it would not be proper for them to enter his Dao Realm and investigate the changes there.

If they forced their way in, they might incur Chen Shi’s displeasure. After all, Chen Shi was still the master of the Dao Ruins, and they had to show him proper respect.

In another of Chen Shi’s Dao Realms, the demonic domain in the well, the innate One Qi was also taking shape. It was like the morning glow, hanging above the blood tree. Even the astonishing power of the external Dao surrounding the blood tree could not shake it.

In the Western Ox New Continent, Chen Tang, Yang Bi, and the others were also gazing up. They saw the innate One Qi descend from the heavens and fall into the mortal world.

They hurried over. When they arrived, they saw that the strange spiritual energy had become a mountain upon touching the ground, turning into a floating fairy mountain. Where it touched plants and trees, they became immortal herbs. When it fell into streams and springs, they turned into spiritual springs and streams.

A sacred ground for cultivation had formed just like that!

True Man Zhang also hurried there. Seeing the innate One Qi descend to the ground and transform into a sacred ground, its spiritual energy bursting forth, he couldn’t help praising it. “King Chen has taken another step forward in the state of mind of the Rootless Tree. As expected of the top scholar of the Western Ox New Continent. He has made such progress in so little time. A joyous occasion indeed.”

Hearing this, Chen Tang, Yang Bi, and the others were all astonished. Yang Bi asked, “Is this sacred ground something King Chen created?”

True Man Zhang shook his head. “You can’t call it something he created. It is a manifestation of his Great Dao. The Western Ox New Continent is his Dao Realm, and the method he cultivates is allowing the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth to unite with him. Therefore, whenever he makes progress in his Dao techniques, those techniques in turn nourish the Western Ox New Continent. He has comprehended the mysteries of the innate state, which is why the innate One Qi descended and became an innate sacred ground.”

Only then did everyone understand.

Yang Bi’s expression shifted back and forth. After a moment, he said, “I cultivate in Chen Shi’s Dao Realm. No matter how hard I work or how great my innate talent and comprehension are, what I comprehend is still his Dao. I’ll never catch up to him, let alone surpass him. I should leave the Western Ox New Continent and seek another path, another way to surpass him.”

“I’ll go with you!” Li Tianqing said.

The two of them could have achieved Dao Unification and ascended long ago, but they had put it off because they felt the Western Ox New Continent was Chen Shi’s Dao Realm. If they achieved Dao Unification there, wouldn’t that be tantamount to uniting with Chen Shi’s Dao?

They were proud and ambitious, and naturally unwilling to do that.

They had been somewhat hesitant about leaving the Western Ox New Continent, but after seeing the innate qi descend and transform into a sacred ground, they finally made up their minds to go.

“We can achieve Dao Unification in the Western Ox New Continent first. After ascending to the Earth Immortal Realm, we’ll sever our Dao Unification with the Western Ox New Continent and achieve Dao Unification in the Earth Immortal Realm.”

The two discussed it. “Then we’ll be immortals of the Earth Immortal Realm, not immortals of the Western Ox New Continent.”

Once they had made their decision, they each achieved Dao Unification in the Western Ox New Continent.

After completing their Dao Unification, the two stared eagerly at the sky. No ascension radiance appeared in the air, nor did any strange power come from across time and space to draw them into the Earth Immortal Realm.

They couldn’t even sense the Earth Immortal Realm!

Yang Bi and Li Tianqing exchanged bewildered looks. They had never imagined that this would happen!

“There’s only one way now. We build a ship and leave the Dark Sea!” Yang Bi declared.

On Golden Turtle Island, Chen Shi had refined the innate One Qi when, for no apparent reason, the faces and voices of Yang Bi and Li Tianqing suddenly appeared in his mind. He was puzzled, not knowing why he had suddenly thought of the two of them.

He sensed carefully and, after a moment, realized that the Celestial Strategy had sensed the two achieving Dao Unification and becoming immortals, which had in turn stirred his own awareness.

“The Celestial Strategy imprint has this kind of function, too?”

Chen Shi didn’t give it much thought. He pointed a finger, and the strand of mysterious yellow sword qi before him rose with the movement of his fingertip.

He held his other hand behind his back and steadied himself. Sword qi burst forth, and the surrounding earth, water, wind, and fire collapsed. Heaven and Earth overturned, the Great Dao vanished, and all transformed into the innate state!

He unleashed his sword move, Primordial Chaos Split Apart, and boundless Dao power erupted from the sword light!

Uncle Jiao, Qiao Gu, Jiang Guo, and the others were startled and hurried out of Caivei Palace. Before them, they saw a vast, hazy scene of primordial chaos, with earth, water, wind, and fire in turmoil. Suddenly, sword light split the primordial chaos and opened a path for heavenly light.

That light was brighter than countless suns. It split apart primordial chaos, separated the mysterious from the yellow, and evolved into Heaven and Earth!

It was a sword that contained boundless vitality, yet its power was terrifying!

“He really did comprehend it,” Uncle Jiao murmured.

Chen Shi lowered his sword and turned to look at them, his gaze gentle.

“Brothers and sisters, I’ll teach you this sword technique,” he said.

Uncle Jiao opened his mouth. Chen Shi was a disciple of Golden Turtle Island who had not yet even entered the sect. He still hadn’t passed the examination and didn’t even count as a Golden Turtle Island disciple, yet he was going to teach them sword techniques!

“Learn!”

Uncle Jiao gritted his teeth, thinking, “There’s no harm in learning!”

He swallowed his pride, leaned on his crutch, and limped after the others to Chen Shi’s side, where he listened to Chen Shi explain the connection between the Primordial Chaos Dao Scripture and Primordial Chaos Split Apart.

However, when Chen Shi explained what he had learned and comprehended, the others still found it difficult to understand at first.

Chen Shi had no choice but to start with the yin and yang qi, progressing from the simple to the profound.

Even the yin and yang qi were an extremely profound subject. However, the people of Golden Turtle Island had already gained some insight into them, and each of them had astonishing innate talent. So grasping the concepts was not especially difficult.

“This batch of senior brothers and sisters is easy to teach,” Chen Shi thought, much to his satisfaction.

But mastering Primordial Chaos Split Apart would take more than a day. Besides the rootless state of mind taught by True Man Zhang, Chen Shi had also relied on the mysterious yellow Dao patterns from Houtu Huangdiqi to perform the move.

Neither of those was easy to comprehend.

The people of Golden Turtle Island devoted themselves to studying Primordial Chaos Split Apart, forgetting to eat and sleep. With nothing else to do, Chen Shi went alone to Dao-Contemplation Cliff and once again entered the passage between its cliffs.

This time, he made even better progress than before. He fought his way through and arrived before the ninth move, Primordial Chaos Split Apart.

Chen Shi offered up his sword, and it clashed with the sword light on the cliff wall. He used Primordial Chaos Split Apart to counter Primordial Chaos Split Apart. When the two sword lights finally annihilated each other, Dao-Contemplation Cliff returned to stillness.

Chen Shi put away his one hundred and eight strands of sword qi and stepped into the Master’s place of enlightenment.

The Brush-Washing Pool came into view. The ink had not yet dispersed. Beside the pool stood a tea table, with brushes, ink, paper, and an inkstone, as well as a pot of tea and two teacups, both filled with tea.

Chen Shi reached out and touched one. It was still warm.

He picked up a teacup, drank it in one gulp, and sat down.