Chapter 535 - 471: Placing a Piece

Cyan Mountain Daoist Temple, beneath the withered tree.

Qi Yun sat cross-legged, his eyes half-closed. His aura blended perfectly with the secluded courtyard of the Daoist Temple.

Were it not for the occasional mountain breeze fluttering his Deep Blue Daoist Robe, he would have resembled a boulder weathered by eons of wind and frost—silent, still, and entirely undisturbed.

More than three months had passed since his return from the Outer Realm.

During these three months, he had declined all visitors and pushed away all Sect affairs. He had even locked away the Taixu Jade Order, the symbol of his authority as the Sect Leader of the Holy Sect, in his quiet meditation room with a Primordial Seal.

All the outside world’s disturbances, probes, attempts to win him over, and even hidden spying were completely blocked out.

He needed time.

Although the spiritual nature of the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron had awakened, it was as weak as a flickering candle in the wind. It required day and night nourishment with his Primordial Power to slowly recover. This was a task that required meticulous patience; it could neither be rushed nor neglected.

But what weighed on his mind even more than the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron was True Monarch Shen Yi’s cryptic, contextless message.

"The flower will soon bloom, and the fruit will soon fall..."

Qi Yun chewed over these words in his mind repeatedly. The multicolored light in his eyes occasionally swirled, then fell still.

He wondered what the flower was, and what the fruit was. What exactly had been True Monarch Shen Yi’s state of mind when he said this? Was it a reminder? An urging? Or... some more obscure hint?

He recalled the gentle smile on True Monarch Shen Yi’s ordinary face that day on the Longevity Immortal Island. He thought of his open and candid demeanor when recounting the secrets of the Dao Kings, and his generosity when gifting the map and treasure.

Yet, the more he thought about it, the tighter the string in Qi Yun’s heart was wound.

"Qi the Kid."

A golden light flared from the ancient copper coin pendant hanging at his waist, rapidly condensing into the phantom of Cai Shen, clad in his brocade God of Wealth robe.

"Fourteenth Brother... is doing a bit better today."

"Mhm." Qi Yun slowly opened his eyes, his gaze falling upon the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron floating quietly in the corner of the courtyard, its entire body swirling with a warm Profound Yellow luster.

On the body of the cauldron, the nine coiled divine dragons were no longer as deathly still as they had been at first. Their bodies were no longer rigid; instead, they were swimming slowly with extremely slight, almost imperceptible movements. Though the light in the dragons’ eyes was still dim, it no longer flickered erratically.

The Vast Divine Land Mountains and Rivers Map at the bottom of the cauldron had also become increasingly vivid.

The pedestrians between the cities in the map no longer moved with mechanical steps, but had their own distinct rhythms. The birds among the mountains and rivers no longer followed fixed trajectories, instead beginning to spiral, dive, and spread their wings to soar. On the rivers, the oars of fishing boats broke the water’s surface, rippling outward in faint concentric circles. Those ripples even faintly permeated through the cauldron’s body, echoing out into the void as extremely weak yet tangibly real waves.

Everything looked like a painting sealed away for eons, slowly regaining its "life" bit by bit.

"Its spiritual nature is recovering faster than expected," Qi Yun nodded slightly. "At this rate, it should be able to operate on its own in another three to five years."

"Three to five years..." Hearing this, a hint of relief appeared on Cai Shen’s face. He then rubbed his hands together with some hesitation. "Qi the Kid, there is something... I don’t know if I should ask."

"Ask."

"What True Monarch Shen Yi said..." Cai Shen’s voice was pressed extremely low, as if afraid of disturbing something he shouldn’t. "Do you have any idea what it means?"

Qi Yun did not answer immediately.

He raised his gaze, looking past the withered old tree in the courtyard, past the low eaves of the Daoist Temple, toward the distant skyline dyed by the twilight. There, the clouds were heavy, like a lead-gray curtain stitching Heaven and Earth together. Below the clouds, several streaks of Escape Light could faintly be seen tearing across the sky—disciples of the Holy Sect on routine patrols.

Everything looked so peaceful. But beneath this peace, just how many undercurrents were hidden?

"The flower will soon bloom, and the fruit will soon fall." He slowly repeated the phrase, his voice flat, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"If we go by what Demon Master Kunpeng said, the Realm of Dao King is when one breaks away from the Profound Yellow main trunk and forms a realm of their own.

"Then, this so-called ’blooming’ might be the sign that a Dao Fruit is maturing and is about to detach from the branch."

Cai Shen’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "Are you saying... someone’s Dao Fruit is almost ripe?"

Qi Yun did not answer; only the multicolored light deep within his eyes swirled ever faster. After a moment, he withdrew his gaze, looked at Cai Shen, and abruptly changed the subject.

"What did you think of what Demon Master Kunpeng said that day?"

Cai Shen paused, then frowned. He thought seriously for a moment before speaking slowly.

"What he said... wasn’t necessarily entirely false.

"At least his words regarding the Dao Kings and the Profound Yellow Treasure Tree faintly match some of the incomplete fragments recorded in the Sheng Tang Secret Scripture in my memories."

He paused, his voice dropping even lower. "If he truly wanted to harm you, with his foundation as an ancient Demon Master, he wouldn’t need to go to such great lengths.

"If he had joined forces with the Master of the Ancient Coffin that day, although you might not have lost, you definitely wouldn’t have escaped unscathed."

"Therefore," Qi Yun interjected, his voice calm, "at least half of what he said is true."

"And the half that’s false?" Cai Shen pressed.

Qi Yun did not answer. He simply stood up slowly, brushed off some non-existent dust from the hem of his robe, and walked over to the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron quietly floating in the corner of the courtyard.

On the cauldron’s surface, the divine dragon with the proudest raised head sensed his approach. The light in its dragon eyes flashed faintly, and the amplitude of its swimming increased a fraction, as if greeting him.

At the bottom of the cauldron, the Vast Divine Land Mountains and Rivers Map happened to reflect the silhouette of a towering city. The city’s main gates were wide open, and the masses lined the streets as if welcoming something.

Qi Yun raised his hand, his palm gently resting against the cauldron. Primordial multicolored light flowed out from his palm, like the gentlest spring water, silently seeping deep into the cauldron.

Wherever the multicolored light passed, the Profound Yellow energy on the surface of the cauldron—which had previously only been circulating slowly—suddenly became lively, as if infused with new vitality.

The Mountains and Rivers Cauldron trembled slightly, emitting an extremely light, low hum that carried a hint of comfort. The hum wasn’t loud, yet it caused the airflow in the entire courtyard to ripple. Several remaining yellow leaves on the branches of the withered tree rustled down, twirling in mid-air, reluctant to fall to the ground for a long time.

"How was your Fourteenth Brother sealed back then?" Qi Yun suddenly asked. His voice was very light, as if afraid of disturbing the slowly awakening spiritual nature within the cauldron.

The expression on Cai Shen’s face froze for a second. He remained silent for a moment before speaking hoarsely.

"I... am not too sure.

"The year the Golden Tang Dynasty collapsed, the Twenty-four Imperial Soldiers scattered in all directions, each fleeing for their lives.

"I was lucky. I escaped all the way into the barren lands of the Northwest and evaded pursuit.

"As for Fourteenth Brother... I only know that the last place it appeared was on the battlefield of the Demon Suppression Calamity."

"And then?" Qi Yun asked.

"And then..." Cai Shen’s voice grew even lower, almost inaudible. "Then there was never any news of it again.

"Not until you found it in that forest of steles."

Qi Yun was silent for a moment. He withdrew his hand from the cauldron, turned around, and looked at Cai Shen. The twilight spread out behind him, stretching his shadow out long until it reached the mottled earthen wall at the far end of the courtyard.

"More than a hundred True Monarchs joining forces to seal a single Imperial Soldier." His voice was calm, yet carried a sharpness that pierced through the fog. "This goes against common sense."

Cai Shen blanked. "Against common sense?"

"Imperial Soldiers may be strong, but they are ultimately tools." Qi Yun slowly walked back under the withered tree. He did not sit down immediately, but stood before the tree with his hands clasped behind his back, looking up at the crisscrossing dead branches. "With over a hundred True Monarchs joining forces, let alone sealing an Imperial Soldier, thoroughly shattering it would be an easy feat.

"Why would they need to go to such great lengths?"

Cai Shen opened his mouth, but found himself unable to refute.

Indeed, with over a hundred True Monarchs, why would such effort be needed? Those seals were interconnected and nested within each other. Each one was exquisite to the extreme; they absolutely couldn’t have been applied in haste.

Unless...

"Unless." Qi Yun’s voice turned profound, like water drawn from a bottomless ancient well, piercingly cold.

"What they wanted to seal away was not just the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron itself.

"But also... what it knows."

As soon as these words were spoken, you could hear a pin drop in the courtyard.

Cai Shen’s expression instantly grew solemn. The golden patterns on his brocade God of Wealth robe seemed to dim a fraction. His Spiritual Body trembled slightly, as if intimidated by the chilling implication within those words.

"Then... then Fourteenth Brother..." His voice quavered somewhat, as if terrified of startling something.

"Don’t worry," Qi Yun said lightly, his voice as steady as an Immovable mountain range from time immemorial.

"It has just been asleep for too long, and its spiritual nature is severely damaged. It needs time to recover.

"As for what it knows, when it wakes up, it will naturally tell us."

He paused, his gaze once again turning toward the distant skyline drenched in twilight. There, the last ray of the setting sun was slowly sinking below the horizon. At the boundary between Heaven and Earth, only a faint, lingering line of golden red remained, on the verge of fading.

"Until then...

"We will simply play along with them nicely."

Cai Shen looked at the faint smile at the corner of Qi Yun’s mouth. For some reason, the tight string in his heart actually loosened a bit.

He remembered back in the Spirit Mountain Sacred Realm, when Qi Yun was just a junior who needed to borrow power from him on credit. He had worn this exact same expression—the more dangerous the situation, the calmer his smile. Back then, Qi Yun was facing the incarnation of the World Honored One, hundreds of Arhats, and the general trend of Buddhist Cultivators expanding eastward. Yet, he had never backed down.

Now, he was a Supreme Being who commanded the Primordial and could slay a True Monarch with a single sword strike. But that essence deep within his bones had never changed.

"Alright." Qi Yun flicked his sleeve, turned around, and walked back to the withered tree, sitting down cross-legged. "Go keep your Fourteenth Brother company.

"It has been asleep for too long, and although it hasn’t completely awakened yet...

"...having you by its side will help it feel more at ease."

Hearing this, Cai Shen quickly nodded. He transformed into a golden streak of light and submerged into the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron.

The instant the golden light merged into the cauldron, it trembled slightly. The nine divine dragons all raised their heads simultaneously. Although their dragon roars were faint, they carried a subtle trace of joy.

The courtyard returned to silence.

The twilight deepened, and the distant mountains looked like dark silhouettes. The very last ray of daylight was swallowed by the night. Between Heaven and Earth, only a profound, nearly congealed darkness remained.

Only the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron continued to emit a warm, steady Profound Yellow luster in the dark, illuminating this small courtyard like an inextinguishable lamp.

Qi Yun sat alone beneath the withered tree, his eyes half-closed. His aura once again blended perfectly with the secluded courtyard of the Daoist Temple.

However, his Heart and Spirit acted like a formless, intangible, yet omnipresent giant net, quietly covering the entire Wuji Holy Sect, Central Earth, the Northwest, and the Four Seas and Eight Desolates.

He was sensing.

Sensing every minute fluctuation of Spiritual Qi in Heaven and Earth, sensing every faint and barely-there Cause and Effect Thread, sensing those gazes hidden in the dark, spying on the Profound Yellow.

Those gazes came from the World Honored One, from Demon Master Kunpeng, from True Monarch Shen Yi, and from the entities he had yet to see clearly but could vaguely sense hiding in the deeper depths of the river of time.

They were waiting.

Waiting for that "flower" to bloom.

Waiting for that "fruit" to fall.

Waiting for this chessboard, played over eons, to finally reach its endgame.

And Qi Yun was also waiting.

Waiting for that "flower" to bloom.

Waiting for that "fruit" to fall.

Waiting for those chess players hidden in the dark to lose their patience and place their pieces on the board.

When that time came...

He slowly opened his eyes.

In his eyes, chaotic multicolored light swirled like a Star River, then suddenly withdrew, returning to a bottomless, profound darkness.

Within that darkness, there was the flash of sabers, the shadows of swords, the heaven-burning and earth-destroying slaughter, and the resolve of Commanding All Skills.

A mountain breeze blew gently, rustling the dead branches.

A withered leaf drifted down from a branch, twirled a few times in mid-air, and landed softly on Qi Yun’s knee.

He did not brush it away.

Only the faint curve at the corner of his mouth lingered, never fading.