The heavy rain had begun to fall, washing away the sweltering sumr heat.
"Xiaosang, my phone still has no signal. I can’t report to headquarters at all!"
Chen Qishou’s face was pale. A few figures in black robes and hoods were tied up before him, and sweat dripped from his forehead.
Nearby, Zhang Tiandong’s legs felt a bit weak. He paced back and forth rapidly and asked,
"Aren’t there a lot of Celestial Humans in the city? Let’s just go report to them directly!"
"No." Li Xiaosang was the first to calm down. She said, "It’s just a few Cultists. No need to be so nervous. If we really go report to them, will those Celestial Humans even bother with us? Besides, many of them have already rushed off to the ruins."
Chen Qishou frowned, glancing at the heavy rain outside.
"I have a feeling things aren’t that simple."
With that, he walked over, patted the face of one of the hooded n, and asked,
"What exactly are you trying to do? What is your goal?"
The hooded man lifted his head, revealing a deathly pale face, and smiled grimly.
"HEHEHE... HEHEHE..."
As he laughed, he looked out the window at the downpour.
"It’s raining, it’s raining, none of you can escape... So many Celestial Humans, so many Earth Immortals, will all beco food for my master, fuel for my master’s advancent!"
The strange tone of his voice made all three of them shudder. Zhang Tiandong couldn’t resist stepping forward and kicking the hooded man viciously, shattering one side of his cheek.
"Forget it. Let’s just wait for a bit. We’ll report to headquarters as soon as the signal cos back."
......
「Origin.」
Lu Xuan stared at his third master-uncle, completely dumbfounded. He stamred for a mont, looking around in a daze.
’Weren’t they saying... that all the Immortals and Buddhas had disappeared?’
’What’s the deal with my third master-uncle??’
’And another thing, wasn’t he la in one leg? How co both of them are la now??’
With this in mind, Lu Xuan couldn’t help but stare at the young Daoist’s legs.
The Daoist’s face darkened, as if he had seen through the young man’s thoughts.
"Kid, it’s very rude to stare at people like that."
Lu Xuan quickly averted his gaze, gave a goofy smile, and asked cautiously,
"Third Master-Uncle, your legs..."
"Go ask Supre!" the Daoist said through gritted teeth. "And another thing, you’ve already accepted the Master’s Token and I’ve given you the Fishing Drum. Why are you still calling Third Master-Uncle?"
"But, but..." Lu Xuan shrank back, stamring, "It doesn’t make sense to accept more than one master..."
"Why not?"
The young Daoist said with righteous indignation,
"I already took a beating for it, and my Niu’Er’s face is all swollen! Are you saying I can’t share a disciple with Supre?"
As he spoke, he snorted, and a vast Dao Rhy erupted from him. He continued,
"Besides, the three of us are one entity. There’s no distinction between us, no hierarchy. Isn’t his disciple my disciple?"
Lu Xuan was a little confused but didn’t dare to argue. He just had a vague sense that his third master-uncle had gotten a sound beating from his master...
’Yep, he must be furious right now. I’d better keep my mouth shut, or I might get caught in the crossfire.’
’But... why is Third Master-Uncle here, anyway?’
The young Daoist then pointed a finger, and two cattail cushions appeared in the void. He said,
"Sit. Let’s talk."
Lu Xuan obediently sat down as told.
After the Jade Universe Daoist Monarch had also taken a seat, he finally spoke.
"You need not concern yourself with or ask about anything else. You just need to know that from this day forward, regardless of past or future, you are my disciple. Understand?"
Lu Xuan hesitated for a mont, then shook his head.
"Third Master-Uncle..."
He was cut off by the Daoist, who spoke impatiently,
"Let ask you, you showed the Master’s Token and the Fishing Drum to Supre, didn’t you? And he gave them back to you, correct?"
"Yes, Third Master-Uncle."
"Then that settles it, doesn’t it?" the Daoist grumbled. "Doesn’t that prove that Supre tacitly approved of this? It’s like I said, Supre and I are one entity, from the sa root, sharing the sa fate. There’s no distinction between us!"
Lu Xuan nodded as if he half-understood, but he still felt that sothing was off.
"Alright."
The young Daoist’s voice was hurried, as if he didn’t want to give Lu Xuan ti to think too deeply. He said quickly,
"Since you have accepted the Master’s Token and my Fishing Drum, you are now under my tutelage... I have co today to bestow upon you a Daoist na."
Lu Xuan was bewildered but didn’t dare to argue further, because he saw four longswords appear above the Daoist’s head. The blades of each sword reflected scenes of the birth and death of all things in the cosmos, encompassing the grand thousand realms, and they were pointing right at him.
"Whatever you say, goes," the young man said, readily agreeing.
"Hmph." The young Daoist lifted his head proudly and put away the four longswords that seed capable of tearing apart all the Celestial Realms.
"I have already decided on the Daoist na to bestow upon you. As a true successor of my Xuan Sect, it should still begin with ’Xuan’. It will be..."
"Profound Yellow."
Lu Xuan’s eyes widened. ’Holy cow,’ he thought. ’Supre Emperor Profound Yellow... so this is where that cos from?’
’Then what about Fusheng Lu Xuan?’
’Could it be...’
He couldn’t help but think of his second master-uncle.
The young Daoist flicked his sleeve and said lazily,
"By the way, how is your cultivation of the Slaying Sword Form coming along? Show , let give you so pointers... As for the Great Dao Texts, have you comprehended fifty of them yet?"
As he spoke, his voice held a barely perceptible trace of anticipation.
Lu Xuan answered honestly,
"Just about."
"Good, good, good... Hmm, not bad, not bad at all." The young Daoist said this, but his face was beaming with joy. He continued, feigning casualness,
"So, ’just about’... how far off is it?"
"Answering Third Master-Uncle..." Lu Xuan saw the Daoist glare and quickly corrected himself, "Answering Third Master, it’s off by exactly one hundred."
"Oh... One hundred???"
The Daoist didn’t fuss about the "Third" in front of "Master." He just froze for a mont, then began to understand.
"How could you be off by one hundred? You brat, are you ssing with your master..."
"It’s one hundred and fifty," Lu Xuan said cluelessly. "Fifty plus one hundred is exactly one hundred and fifty, isn’t it?"
The Daoist suddenly fell silent.
After a long mont, he silently manipulated the Years within the Origin, returning to a mont before.
"Answering Third Master, it’s off by exactly one hundred."
"Mm, one hundred and fifty, you say? That’s quite good," the young Daoist said profoundly. "You’ve passed my little test."
Lu Xuan scratched his head. He wanted to say sothing, but he felt that sothing was off. His five orifices—those for Form, Sound, Sll, Taste, and Touch—began to vibrate as the change in Ti was subtly smoothed over, and lost mories began to resurface.
The corner of the Daoist’s eye twitched. His finger trembled slightly, and the young man’s mind went blank for a mont. His five orifices also cald down and stopped vibrating.
Lu Xuan looked around blankly, having forgotten what he was about to say. After a mont, he ca to his senses and asked subconsciously,
"Right, Third Master, you... how did you appear here? Have the Immortals and Buddhas... all returned?"
As he spoke, he grew slightly excited. ’Does this an I can see my master and Senior Brother Zhang in the Current World?’
The Jade Universe Daoist Monarch shot him a sidelong glance and said lazily,
"Return? It’s not that easy. When that ti truly cos, it’ll start with so minor immortals... The fundantal reason I can co see you is that you are no longer within your own period of Years."
Lu Xuan was taken aback.
"Third Master, what does that an?"
’No longer within my own period of Years?’
He didn’t quite understand.
The young Daoist smiled calmly and explained,
"This place has no distinction between up and down, or heaven and earth. At the sa ti, it is not within the Celestial Realms. It exists in the gap between Birth and Death, and has also achieved Transcendence from the Years."
Lu Xuan, only half-understanding, didn’t interrupt, but just listened quietly.
The Daoist continued,
"This place is called the [Origin]. It’s considered the most mysterious location since the Creation of Heaven and Earth. One advantage here is that it cannot be spied upon by the outside world. Therefore, my coming here will not be discovered."
He paused, then added,
"As for Transcending the Years, it ans that external Ti cannot affect the [Origin]. I entered the Origin from the Ancient Tis, and you entered from the Current World, yet we et at the sa mont. Do you understand?"
Lu Xuan was still a bit lost and asked in confusion,
"Then... then according to what you said, Third Master, if beings who enter the Origin from any period of Years et at the sa mont, why are we the only two here right now? Has no one else ever co here besides us?"
"Not exactly," the Daoist answered patiently. "The [Origin] is mysterious. It possesses characteristics that defy common sense and logic. Although it is not disturbed by external Ti, ti does still exist within it."
After thinking for a mont, he added,
"You can understand it like this: the space within the Origin is endless. It can be infinitely small or infinitely large, and it is also divided into countless separate fragnts. Where we are is one of those fragnts, an anchor point that I have set... Can you understand?"
Lu Xuan nodded, then shook his head and said honestly,
"I think I roughly understand what you an. To put it simply, this place is a space you created within the Origin, which is why only you and I are here. Is that right?"
"You can understand it that way." The young Daoist smiled gently. "There are many secrets I cannot tell you just yet, but I can reveal a few things... The Ancient Tis were once severed, and the reason was the outbreak of a great war."
Lu Xuan’s expression grew keen, and he quickly leaned in to listen.
"This war isn’t over. It’s still being fought, the ga is still being played. So whether it’s , Supre, or that fellow Primordial, none of us can appear directly in the period of Years you inhabit... because at your point in ti, we are still on campaign. It is also to avoid drawing more attention to you."
Lu Xuan’s eyes widened. ’A great war, one that severed the Ancient Tis... is still being fought now??’
"Hasn’t it been going on for tens of thousands of years then?"
"Longer than that," the Daoist said calmly. "The Years no longer have aning for beings like us. The tens of thousands of years you have seen might have been hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years for us."
As he spoke, he gently exhaled a breath of impure air, and another imnse wave of Dao Rhy dispersed from him.
"It’s just that during these hundreds of thousands or millions of years, the river of Ti has been overturned and reset countless tis. The Current World you are experiencing has already been replayed an infinite number of tis."
Lu Xuan only half-understood. He couldn’t really grasp it all. After all, concepts like Ti and the Years were still too distant for him, not sothing he could engage with at his current level.
The Jade Universe Daoist Monarch stretched languidly and smiled.
"Forget it. There’s no point in telling you all this now. You should just focus on the path ahead of you... Since you have formally beco my disciple, in addition to the Fishing Drum and the Slaying Sword Form, I shall pass on to you another Dharma."
As he spoke, he traced a finger through the air. The void trembled, and within his palm, a grand thousand appeared, reflecting all the worlds.
Lu Xuan quickly bowed and said,
"I beseech Third Master to bestow this Dharma upon ."
"Mm."
The Daoist held up the grand thousand in his hand, his gaze becoming limitlessly profound.
"Hold out your hand."
Lu Xuan did as he was told, staring at the Daoist’s palm, at the churning Grand Thousand Great Realm within it, his eyes filled with curiosity.
’What is this?’
The Jade Universe Daoist Monarch didn’t say much, simply engraving the mark in his palm—one that seed to encompass all the Celestial Realms—onto Lu Xuan’s hand.
Myriad phenona manifested in the young man’s hand, flourishing for a mont before returning to tranquility, returning to the [Origin].
He said,
"I called it passing on a Dharma, but really, I was just leaving a mark on you—a mark that can open the [Origin]. It’s just that your Cultivation is too low right now, so you can only rely on a pre-established [Entrance] to co to the [Origin]."
Lu Xuan thought for a mont and asked,
"Is it that passage in the cetery?"
"That’s right," the Daoist nodded. "Once your Cultivation catches up, you will be able to co to the [Origin] at any ti, from any place. Familiarizing yourself with this place ahead of ti will be of great benefit to your future cultivation."
As he spoke, his gaze grew profound.
"And my reason for doing this is very simple. Your master, Supre, is not suited to teaching disciples. He says that only an attack from soone at the Upper Celestial Venerable level or higher counts as a senior bullying a junior. That doesn’t fly with . I’m more protective than he is. Before your Ascension to Immortality, if an Immortal attacks you, that should count as a senior bullying a junior."
"Huh?" Lu Xuan didn’t understand.
The Daoist shot him an exasperated glare.
"Still don’t get it? Before you beco an Earth Immortal, if you run into soone at the Immortal Level—or even a Great Grade True Immortal who is close to the Immortal Level—beating you up, you just bring them here to the [Origin], and your master will beat them up for you. You get it now?"
Lu Xuan had a sudden realization and scratched his head.
"This student understands. It’s just that True Immortals are rare in the Current World, let alone any news related to Immortals. This student shouldn’t be able to provoke an Immortal before becoming an Earth Immortal, right?"
"Heh!" The Daoist’s gaze was strange as he said aningfully, "You can never be too sure about that!"
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