Chapter 642 The Mystery of the Azure Palace, (14)

Chen Shi looked puzzled. Great Immortal Chijing was a Great Luo Gold Immortal, with unfathomably deep cultivation and strength. Any deity capable of injuring him had to be extraordinary. There couldn’t be many deities with such power in the Celestial Court.

“But isn’t Great Immortal Chijing of the Three Purities’ lineage?”

He asked in confusion, “The Celestial Court of today could be said to have been established with the Three Purities’ support. As an heir of the Three Purities, why would Great Immortal Chijing fight with a powerful deity in the Celestial Court?”

Changchun Emperor didn’t know the reason either. “Looking across the entire Earth Immortal Realm, there are only forty or fifty deities with the power to contend with Great Immortal Chijing and injure him. They hold high positions in the Celestial Court, and their strength is unfathomable. They can stand against Great Luo Gold Immortals. But beings like that are Dao Gods who control the divine path. Why would they fight Great Immortal Chijing?”

Chen Shi said, “A battle between beings like them would surely shake the heavens and earth. It would be hard to keep secret.”

Changchun Emperor shook his head. “A place like the Dao Ruins is extremely remote. No news ever reaches here.”

Chen Shi smiled. “Once I return to the Celestial Court, I can ask around and learn what happened. Then, when I come back to the Dao Ruins, I’ll tell you, fellow daoist.”

Changchun Emperor showed a hint of delight. “Then I’ll trouble you with it.”

Chen Shi was a little surprised. He thought to himself, “I’d assumed this Emperor was the sort of sage-like immortal who lived in seclusion and avoided the world. I didn’t expect him to enjoy gossip, too.”

He looked at the golden hairpin in Changchun Emperor’s hair, recalling how the two children had used hairpins as swords to stab into the Emperor’s skull. He asked, “Fellow daoist Changchun, what happened to your Dao injury?”

Changchun Emperor’s expression darkened. “It’s just an old injury. Nothing worth mentioning.”

Chen Shi smiled faintly. “To be honest, I’ve studied the external Dao a little. I may be able to help you suppress your Dao injury. I was the one who refined away the external Dao pollution on Golden Turtle Island.”

Changchun Emperor’s heart stirred. “My Dao injury dates back sixty thousand years. I had just become a Great Luo Gold Immortal and survived an Opening the Calamity when I discovered a serious problem. There was no way I could survive the next Opening the Calamity. So I began looking for a way to extend my life.”

His realm was simply too high, and his cultivation was boundless. Ordinary earthly treasures and spiritual roots could no longer take the calamity in his place and prolong his life.

The Three Purities’ lineage had unique methods for surviving tribulations and extending one’s life. But Changchun Emperor was a younger cultivator who had risen later, not a member of their lineage. His Dao techniques were original, and he was unwilling to pledge himself to either the Three Purities’ lineage or Western Heaven. So he had no choice but to enter the Dark Sea.

“There are many mysterious places in the Dark Sea. Most earthly treasures and spiritual roots are found there. Perhaps I could find a treasure that would let even a Great Luo Gold Immortal safely survive Opening the Calamity. Holding on to that hope, I searched the darkness for many years. I found many earthly treasures and spiritual roots, but none were enough to get me through Opening the Calamity.”

As Changchun Emperor recalled the past, his voice gradually grew low. “My strength is certainly tremendous, but even so, when facing the Dark Sea, I sometimes feel that human strength has its limits and can never prevail against the heavens. One day, I obtained a map of the Dark Sea left behind by a senior from the Earth Immortal Realm. It marked a very strange place. Following the map, I came to a lone island in the darkness. On that island stood an azure palace.”

Chen Shi’s expression shifted. He suddenly recalled the painting of the place where Master had attained enlightenment. It, too, showed a lone island in the darkness, with an azure palace on it!

Master had also visited that Azure Palace!

“Fellow daoist Changchun said he obtained a map from a senior of the Earth Immortal Realm. So Master wasn’t the only one who knew about the Azure Palace in the Dark Sea. Could the map of the Azure Palace in the Dark Sea have been left behind by the Three Purities?” he wondered.

“When I reached that lone island and walked toward the Azure Palace, the laws of the Great Dao I had cultivated suddenly roared. They burst out of my body uncontrollably.”

Changchun Emperor’s voice was hoarse as he spoke slowly. “They floated in the air, circling and dancing around me, as if they had gained a life of their own. I did everything I could to control them, then continued climbing.”

The Dao techniques inside him grew more and more out of control. The whirling laws of the Great Dao seemed like countless hideous tentacles growing out of his body.

Changchun Emperor paid them no heed and continued onward.

He was too powerful, and too arrogant. He believed that his Dao Realm was enough to suppress anything.

But halfway up, even his twentieth Dao Realm could no longer suppress the laws of the Great Dao within him!

If he kept climbing, his Great Dao might well run out of control, leaving him a cripple.

“But I had no confidence that I could survive this Opening the Calamity. If I failed, I would die and my Dao would vanish. The Azure Palace was so mysterious that I had to enter it, no matter what, and search for a treasure that could help me withstand Opening the Calamity.”

Changchun Emperor continued, “So I gritted my teeth and pressed on. I climbed three more steps, and finally my Dao techniques were completely beyond my control. They danced before me, evolving on their own, like independent life forms. Before long, they had evolved into something I couldn’t even recognize. I was as weak as an ordinary man, my body trembling beneath the pressure of the Azure Palace’s aura. I could only stare dumbly as it happened. Once their evolution was complete, they began burrowing into my body…”

He shuddered. At that moment, he felt the laws of his Great Dao turn into something else. As it entered his body, it was going to change him into something no longer like his former self!

He couldn’t understand what this thing was at all!

Fear filled his heart. He dared not continue forward. With a shout, he turned and fled downhill.

The evolved laws of the Great Dao writhed inside him, making it feel as if something were crawling beneath his skin. His skull bulged upward.

The living laws of the Great Dao burrowed through his body, trying to occupy him and remake him!

Chen Shi felt a chill run down his spine. The Dao had become a living thing and begun to invade Changchun Emperor!

How could anything so terrifying and bizarre exist?

Who had left behind the Azure Palace?

Before Changchun Emperor had even run down the mountain, he realized he couldn’t hold out. He was certain to be overcome.

“So I summoned my magic treasure, Heavenly Frost. The instant Heavenly Frost pierced through my body, it exploded, grievously wounding me.”

Changchun Emperor raised a hand to cover the corner of his mouth and gave a soft cough. “That grievously wounded me, but it also wounded the thing inside me. At last, I got a chance to catch my breath. Using the lingering power of Heavenly Frost, I suppressed it and fled the Dark Sea as fast as I could, returning to the Earth Immortal Realm.”

He opened his robe, revealing his chest. Over his heart was a radiating scar shaped like a wheel, though without a rim. It must have been caused when Heavenly Frost pierced his body and exploded!

The wound had long since closed, but it had not healed completely. It looked like a mass of red centipedes crawling across his skin, sucking his blood.

Changchun Emperor closed his robe. “On my way back to the Earth Immortal Realm, I realized it was still growing, still steadily consuming me. I thought then that there was only one place that could save me: the Dao Ruins.”

Chen Shi was quite puzzled and asked, “How could the Dao Ruins save you?”

Changchun Emperor said, “Back then, the Three Purities couldn’t open the Dao Ruins, so they left behind treasures such as the cyan stele to suppress the external Dao within the ruins. That meant I could use treasures like the cyan stele to help me suppress the thing inside me. So I settled in the Dao Ruins and barely managed to stay alive.”

“Fellow daoist, I may be able to refine away the external Dao for you…”

Changchun Emperor shook his head, cutting him off. “The external Dao is also what has kept me alive until now.”

Chen Shi froze.

Changchun Emperor’s expression turned strange. “After I was infected by the external Dao, I discovered that when Opening the Calamity struck, my calamity never came as expected. Opening the Calamity struck many more times after that, and even the epochal calamity never came. I’ve lived safely until now.”

Chen Shi blurted out, “There are no calamities in the Dark Sea!”

Changchun Emperor said, “You could put it that way. More precisely, there are no calamities in the external Dao. In fact, things like this have happened before. Some people discovered that immortals in the worlds of the Dark Sea did not face Opening the Calamity. So people began sending worlds from the mysterious yellow sea into the Dark Sea. Others deliberately destroyed the sun and assassinated the Great Sun Star Lord, hoping to draw the Dark Sea in. As a result, the Great Sun Star Lord’s avatars suffered quite a few losses.”

Chen Shi thought, “What does this have to do with the Great Sun Star Lord? The reason those worlds are no longer shrouded in darkness is that the gods of China established doctrines in them. Most importantly, the Empress of Earth controls the mysterious yellow sea and keeps expanding outward as her divine power grows. The Great Sun Star Lord was dragged into this for no reason.”

Changchun Emperor said, “The external Dao has taken root in me, but it has also spared me from Opening the Calamity and let me cling to life. If you, master of the house, break the external Dao, I’ll die before long.”

Chen Shi said, “Perhaps I can maintain a balance between the external Dao and your immortal path.”

Changchun Emperor was greatly tempted by this.

He truly was suffering from the external Dao’s parasitic hold. In recent years especially, the external Dao within him had gradually grown stronger. It not only invaded his flesh and blood, but also interfered with his thoughts and will, clouding his Dao Heart.

At times, he became muddled and no longer knew who he was. He had to bind himself with chains in advance to keep himself from losing his sense of self and doing evil. When he woke up, he would be overcome by lingering fear.

Chen Shi slowly spread his Dao Field. “Fellow daoist, you’re too powerful. If you resist me, I won’t be able to refine away the external Dao.”

Hearing this, Changchun Emperor let Chen Shi’s Dao Field invade him.

Chen Shi now cultivated the Primordial Chaos Infinite Innate Art, which was vastly different from the Primordial Chaos Yin-Yang Dao Scripture he had practiced before. But his method of refining the external Dao had nothing to do with his cultivation technique. Instead, he let the external Dao conform to his own Dao, thereby changing the external Dao.

Changchun Emperor felt the external Dao within him touch Chen Shi’s Dao Field and immediately get refined. He couldn’t help being astonished.

Chen Shi’s cultivation was clearly far below his own, yet he could refine the external Dao that even Changchun Emperor was powerless against. It was truly an extraordinary thing.

The two sat facing each other. Day after day passed, and more than ten days went by. Changchun Emperor felt the external Dao and immortal Dao within him return to balance. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. He lightly circulated his profound art, and with two clear chinks, the hairpins lodged in his brain fell out.

“Thank you for your help, master of the house!” Changchun Emperor rose and bowed deeply to Chen Shi.

He had always looked ill before, but now his complexion had improved considerably. His gratitude was heartfelt.

Chen Shi returned the courtesy and smiled. “You’ve helped me plenty, Emperor. There’s no need to be so polite. If the external Dao grows again in the future, just let me know.”

The two exchanged smiles.

Chen Shi rose to take his leave. Changchun Emperor personally escorted him, his manner quite deferential.

After they parted, Chen Shi hesitated for a moment, then headed toward the valley where Lady Niangpo lived.

When he arrived in the valley, Ding Sisi had already come to greet him. Smiling, she said, “Mother is waiting for you.”

Chen Shi followed her to a palace in the mountains. The place was very quiet and elegant, with only old trees and residences. Chen Shi met Lady Niangpo. She looked to be only about thirty, like a Heavenly Maiden who had stepped out of a painting. Her sleeves fluttered, but because of her injuries, she lay reclined on a couch and could not rise to greet him.

“Thank you, Your Ladyship, for your righteous aid.”

Chen Shi bowed to Lady Niangpo in thanks.

Lady Niangpo smiled. “Master of the house, there’s no need for such courtesy. I’ve lived here for a long time, and because I’m injured, I couldn’t come to pay my respects. Please forgive me.”

Chen Shi exchanged a few pleasantries with her, then rose to take his leave.

Lady Niangpo said, “I’m unable to move about, so I can’t see you off.”

“Please stay where you are.”

He was just about to leave the palace when Lady Niangpo’s soft, forlorn voice came from behind him. “You were willing to treat Changchun. Does that mean you look down on me because I’m a woman and don’t wish to help? Or have I been discourteous to you?”

Chen Shi stopped and laughed heartily. “Your Ladyship has misunderstood. I simply didn’t know whether you needed help, so I didn’t want to ask presumptuously.”

Lady Niangpo lazily stretched out a slender, delicate hand, soft as if it had no bones. “I’m rather shy, after all, unlike Changchunzi, who has a thicker skin. I couldn’t bring myself to ask. When I saw you were in a hurry to leave, I finally ventured to ask for your help. I hope you won’t take offense.”

Chen Shi came over and looked at her arm. “Your Ladyship has such fair skin. I’m no doctor, so there’s no need for me to take your pulse. What’s troubling you?”

Lady Niangpo said, “It’s a long story. Seventy thousand years ago, I was beset by Opening the Calamity of the immortal path. The next Opening the Calamity was drawing near, and I was worried, not knowing how to face it. Just when I was at my wits’ end, I obtained a map of the Dark Sea. The map showed a lone island…”

Chen Shi’s heart stirred. “There’s an Azure Palace on the island, right?”

Lady Niangpo asked in surprise, “You know about the Azure Palace too? Have you been there? No, that can’t be. Your strength is too low. You can’t yet cross the Dark Sea and find it.”

In a soft, gentle voice, she recounted what had happened to her on her journey to the Azure Palace.

Her experience was almost identical to Changchun Emperor’s. The moment she stepped onto the stairs leading to the Azure Palace, she was suppressed by it, and the laws of the Great Dao within her began to run out of control.

Lady Niangpo realized that the laws of the Great Dao within her were changing and merging with the external Dao, becoming more and more terrifying, like living things. She knew she was in grave danger. So she made the same choice as Changchun Emperor had, without delay!

She used her own magic treasure to grievously wound herself!

That was how she survived. She staggered out of the Dark Sea, returned to the Earth Immortal Realm, and hid in the Dao Ruins to cling to life.

Chen Shi asked, “Your Ladyship didn’t manage to enter the Azure Palace?”

Lady Niangpo shook her head. “The fact that I survived was already a blessing beyond measure. I wouldn’t dare hope to enter the Azure Palace.”

Chen Shi pondered briefly. “Your Ladyship, could you tell me where you got the map of the Dark Sea?”

Lady Niangpo said, “I came across it by chance. They say it was left behind by the Three Purities.”