The Profound City Central Palace was silent.
The graceful figure seated upon the Jade Platform was veiled by a deep, dark Qi chanism that flowed down and dispersed around her, making her difficult to see clearly.
The chubby girl felt that the Lady was growing ever more frail, as if she would scatter with a gust of wind.
Her nine ferocious heads drooped gently, and her voice was timid, as if afraid to startle her.
"If you are unwilling, My Lady, then let’s forget it. There’s no need to force yourself."
Seeing the usually fearless Gui’er act this way, a smile blossod on Lady Xuan’nv’s lips.
"What nonsense. What grievances could I possibly suffer? If he were rely the Yin Celestial Emperor, your lady could still claim to be ’marrying down’ to him."
"If he beca the Great Luminous Lord, our Dao paths would clash, and the matter would be finished."
"But as it happens, he obtained the perfect Saint King life essence, a fate more supre than the number ninety-nine, a destiny of ultimate Yang. Your lady is no longer in his league."
Gui’er wanted to argue, to praise her Lady’s beauty and kindness, her vast Divine Techniques, her celestial pedigree—who in all the Yanfu Vast Land was she not worthy of?
But the Saint King life essence was simply too grand, too brilliant. It was the apex of destiny, surpassing even an Immortal Dao Emperor by a slight margin.
’He might even be the top True Inheritance disciple from so Ancestral Sect, a candidate for the Daoist title, a peerless talent destined to contend for the great position of Crown Prince in the future.’
The chubby girl squeezed her eyes shut as if having made a monuntal decision, and said in a low voice:
"At worst, My Lady, you can take along as a bed-warming maid. He’d still be getting a bargain!"
Lady Xuan’nv covered her lips, knowing Gui’er was just trying to cheer her up, and played along with a soft chuckle.
"The Great Dao reveals its phenona, and Heaven and Earth respond. A certain Daoist Monarch has used his Great Divine Techniques and Great Magical Power to set this destiny in stone."
"The one who condensed the perfect Saint King life essence is none other than the new Shao Yang monarch, who has not yet entered the Dao."
The chubby girl’s eyes flew wide, her jaw dropping open wide enough to fit a fist. She gasped and said:
"Shao Yang? Is that the sa True Monarch Yu who was the first in five thousand years to shake the Tai Yang?! Didn’t you say before, My Lady, that he had long since perished, his Dao dissipated, with even his Golden Position shattered?"
Although Fengdu had fallen and the Ghost Dao was annihilated, a True Monarch was an unparalleled sovereign who received the mandate of the Celestial Lord and resided in a high Golden Position.
Once one fell and their Dao scattered, their soul dissipating, it would inevitably cause boundless strange phenona.
On a grand scale, it could affect half a continent; on a smaller scale, it could alter the landscape.
When True Monarch Shao Yang Huiyuan’s Golden Position was shattered back then, all of the Four Directions Continent in the Yanfu Vast Land were shaken.
The heavens wept for ten days, bloody clouds concealed the sky, the outer seas turned entirely red, and several old Jiao received a great fortune, shedding their bodies to transform into dragons.
Lady Xuan’nv had not sealed her six senses, so of course she clearly rembered such a world-shaking event, which seed to be in Sympathy with the Great Dao.
"It is not True Monarch Yu, but his successor."
Lady Xuan’nv said slowly:
"The Dao reveres Yin and Yang as an unchanging principle. True Monarch Yu was a man of breathtaking talent who attained Shao Yang."
"Even though he lost to the Tai Yang and yielded to him sowhat, their statuses are equal, with no inherent superiority or inferiority."
The chubby girl was confused. As one of the top Yin Ghosts at the Foundation Establishnt Level, she possessed so degree of Dao Wisdom and insight.
"My Lady, in the hierarchy of Yin and Yang, shouldn’t Tai Yang and Tai Yin be supre, with Shao Yang and Shao Yin subordinate to them?"
A trace of admiration entered Lady Xuan’nv’s otherwise placid tone:
"The Dao’s reverence for Yin and Yang is constant, but that True Monarch Yu sought the ’movent of the Dao’. Although his Golden Position could not escape the ’Yin and Yang perspective’, he did not revere the ’Sun and Moon’."
The chubby girl’s eyes grew even wider, filled with a look of pure, unadulterated confusion.
’This stupid girl!’
Lady Xuan’nv suddenly felt like she was playing a zither for a cow and had no choice but to speak more plainly and simply:
"Dao paths have their own hierarchy. The present age reveres Yin and Yang. When the Tai Yang appears, it shines upon the world, and neither the Five Elents nor the Five Qi can restrain it."
"Therefore, the Immortal Dao seeks ’constancy,’ to remain unchanged for ten thousand generations. This is the ’eternity of the Dao.’"
"It sets the heavenly principles, proclaims the Daoist laws, eliminates Demons and ghosts, ennobles deities, and defines all cultivators by their pedigree and origins."
"Only in this way can the principle of immutability, the path of permanence, be maintained."
This ti, the chubby girl seed to understand. That Tai Yang wanted to be the lord and father of all cultivators, the emperor of the Great Dao!
He would use this power to ascend the throne and reign supre, forging an ultimate Daoist Lineage that could not be shaken for a hundred thousand years!
"What... what terrifying ambition, what imnse aspirations..."
The chubby girl shrank back. A Yin Ghost like her, in such a golden age of the Immortal Dao, would only be struck by heavenly lightning until her form and spirit were annihilated, her Primordial Spirit dissipated, without even a chance for reincarnation.
"That True Monarch Yu who attained Shao Yang truly deserves his reputation as the first in Dao Wisdom in ten thousand years."
Lady Xuan’nv continued:
"He actually conceived a Dao path of ’using motion to overco stillness’ and ’using Yin to subvert Yang.’"
"Gui’er, you see it from the perspective of Yin and Yang, but True Monarch Yu frad it in terms of Tai Chi. In his view, Shao Yang does not follow from Tai Yang, but belongs to the ’Yin line’."
The chubby girl’s head was buzzing, but she had grasped a sliver of the profound mystery.
"From the perspective of Yin and Yang, Tai Yang controls Shao Yang, and Tai Yin suppresses Shao Yin, correct?"
Seeing the chubby girl still looking bewildered, Lady Xuan’nv was endlessly patient, guiding her step by step.
"Yes, My Lady!"
The chubby girl nodded vigorously.
"Yin and Yang have been this way since ancient tis! Could there be any other theory of the Great Dao?"
A ripple of extraordinary light flashed in Lady Xuan’nv’s eyes as she said softly:
"But True Monarch Yu divided Yin and Yang, thus creating his theory of Tai Chi."
"One is the ’Yang line,’ which contains Tai Yang and Shao Yin."
"The other is the ’Yin line,’ which gives rise to Shao Yang and Tai Yin."
"Therefore, Shao Yang is not subordinate to Tai Yang, but equal to it."
"This is why the Tai Yang in White Jade City trembled so violently when True Monarch Shao Yang Huiyuan ascended to his position."
The chubby girl took a deep breath, her nine heads looking as if they’d been struck by lightning. She was stunned, muttering:
"If Shao Yang is not subordinate to Tai Yang, doesn’t that make the Emperor’s claim to supre rule empty talk? No wonder the Tai Yang Golden Position was shaken. No wonder the Immortal Dao put all its effort into destroying True Monarch Yu."
Lady Xuan’nv also nodded.
"What’s more terrifying is not that Shao Yang could sever the Tai Yang’s path to attaining the Dao, but that it touches upon the fundantal pursuit of the Immortal Dao itself."
"The path of Tai Chi that True Monarch Yu forged contains the Innate principle of ’change through movent and stillness.’"
"If he had succeeded, the Great Dao would constantly ebb and flow, and the Immortal Dao would never be constant. Shao Yang could naturally replace Tai Yang."
The more the chubby girl thought about it, the more incredible it seed. She practically wanted to write the word "IMPRESSED" on her forehead.
The theory of Tai Chi that True Monarch Shao Yang Huiyuan proposed and practiced was tantamount to using one person’s Dao Wisdom to shake the very foundation of the entire Daoist Lineage of the Dongsheng Continent.
It was utterly unprecedented, and it was unlikely anyone would ever follow.
Lady Xuan’nv smiled and shook her head.
"That person inherited Shao Yang, becoming the new monarch of Tai Chi, and now he’s also obtained the perfect Saint King life essence. How could a lonely, wandering ghost like your lady possibly be a match for him?"
The chubby girl silently lowered her heads, at a loss for words.
’It can’t be helped,’ she thought. ’His background is just too imnse. We can only avoid him for now.’
As if intentionally trying to crush Gui’er’s spirits, Lady Xuan’nv added:
"Besides, just a mont ago, that person was designated as the Daoist."
"So Daoist Monarch or Great Power has made a move, staking the position of Daoist—a role tied to the destiny of an entire sect—to connect it with Shao Yang."
The chubby girl fell to the ground with a THUD, all nine of her heads drooping like wilted grass after a frost.
"But My Lady, without this betrothal of Yin affinity, how will you perform the Yang Marriage ritual? How will you escape Fengdu?"
"That damn Gong Rong has been using the radiance of the Tai Yang to suppress you for so long!"
"If this burning continues, how much longer can your dharma body last..."
Lady Xuan’nv, however, was calm.
"I’ve endured for thousands of years. The worst that can happen is the dissipation of my Dao."
The chubby girl sighed in her heart. ’The Lady is just too concerned with her dignity.’
Back when Gong Rong invaded Fengdu, she clearly could have escaped, but she insisted on defending the foundation of her Daoist Lineage to the death. Now, she clearly has a chance to live, but she is unwilling to stoop and compromise.
But no matter how "innocently tactless" the chubby girl usually was, she would never advise her Lady to bow down and serve another.
Not even the Tai Yang, which had shone brilliantly over the Yanfu Vast Land for five thousand years, could break the will of the Profound Law Nvqing True Monarch.
The Zhengshuo Mingyang Radiance and the Six Ding True Fire were both techniques designed to destroy Life Essence and annihilate one’s Dao Foundation.
Even for a reigning True Monarch, enduring it for a hundred years would be an extre punishnt.
But Lady Xuan’nv had suffered it for thousands of years, and her resolve had never wavered.
"It’s alright, My Lady. Gui’er will always be with you. The Mortal World outside might not even be as good as Fengdu."
The chubby girl pouted, about to start doing cartwheels again.
Suddenly, the Profound City Central Palace trembled with a HUM.
A Dao-sound descended like flowing water, seeming to drift from the boundless Great Void, from the endless cosmos.
It was not any language, but a conspicuous red thread that could not be cut or torn.
It seed to extend from an extre distance, passing straight through the Profound City Central Palace that isolated the True Monarch’s Qi chanism and sealed away Daoist phenona. It ignored the four great sun-wheel pillars imbued with the radiance of the Tai Yang, as well as the eighty-one Jiaoyao Fla Dragons ford by the Six Ding Divine Fire Formation.
It landed gently before Lady Xuan’nv.
The graceful figure seated on the Jade Platform seed to have expected this, speaking faintly:
"As expected. This bond of Yin affinity was decreed by a Daoist Monarch."
...
...
In the ancestral hall of Gao Village, Jiang Yi, having smoothly advanced past the Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer and crossed two tribulations in a row, felt invigorated.
Seeing that his Grandpa Yang Xun was still in closed-door cultivation, he didn’t disturb him, instead leaving directly with the Cat Master in his arms.
Breaking through wasn’t the end of it; he still needed to consolidate his rit and stabilize his new level.
However, Jiang Yi’s own foundation was so deep that he always reached ninety-nine percent, or even one hundred twenty percent of Great Perfection, so it was a natural process for him, without such concerns.
"Xiao Jiang, now that you’ve ford this perfect Saint King life essence, you’re really sothing different."
True Master Xuanmiao was curled into a ball in the crook of Jiang Yi’s arm, his amber eyes looking left and right.
"Why is it that I see signs of a ’Red Simurgh Star Movent,’ a ’heaven-sent marriage’?"
Jiang Yi shook his head and laughed.
"Cat Master, you must be mistaken. I have sworn to cultivate the Dao. My heart holds only the hope of long life, with no room for romance."
True Master Xuanmiao scratched his whiskers.
"My forr master once said the sa thing to that ’True Monarch Longji Ruiszhu’ from the Beiju Continent."
Jiang Yi nodded in approval.
"It seems, then, that our Shao Yang lineage has a firm Daoist nature. It must be a tradition."
"Xiao Jiang, you’ve misunderstood."
True Master Xuanmiao extended his tongue to lick his fur.
"As the direct daughter of a Dragon Monarch, ’True Monarch Longji Ruiszhu’ imdiately replied, ’You long for eternal life, so I will be your support on the Great Dao. You are sworn to cultivation, so I can help you ascend to your position’!"
"Then she gifted my forr master ten shiploads of ’Five Elents True Essence’ and three mountains of ’Dan Jade Divine Sand’."
"My forr master imdiately gave in."
Jiang Yi’s mouth twitched. Who wouldn’t be intoxicated by eating such soft rice?
If it were him, he would have gladly done the sa!
"A pity I don’t have my Cat Master’s forr master’s luck with romance."
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