Capítulo 913: Chapter 81: Zhou Yan’s Tao
Star Domain Wilderness.
Long Xianyin only felt her constitution as if it had encountered the tearing of ten thousand spaces, incredibly painful.
The pain was so intense she couldn’t resist it at all.
In her life, Long Xianyin had endured endless pain, but never had any been as hard to bear as this time.
She sealed off her Soul Power sensing, but the pain remained.
Until time seemed to stretch as long as a reincarnation, the pain gradually subsided.
Struggling to open her eyes, Long Xianyin knew that she was still alive and had entered an unimaginable place—the Dark God Domain.
Yet, although this place was the Dark God Domain, it was a particularly perilous spot within, with chilling Yin spirit energies all around giving her Soul Body a freezing cold sensation.
“Is this the… Immortal Burying Forbidden Land of Sky Sword Mountain in the Dark God Domain? It must be. Unexpectedly, I’ve come here. They must have either entered the Dark God Domain too or the Guang Han Domain. Unfortunately, if they entered the Dark God Domain at their strength, I’m afraid only those few could survive, and the rest would be destroyed by spatial trajectories.”
“Such power, even I as the Heavenly Spirit Sword Venerate, cannot withstand. The spatial trajectory into the Dark God Domain is strong enough to slay Venerables, making the pain unbearable, worse than death. Perhaps only a few like Zhuge Wuwei, Hua Qiudao, Zhou Gucheng, Hou Chen, Evil King, Liu Jin, Fang Hong could endure this. The rest will likely face calamity.”
Long Xianyin pondered but shook her head with some helplessness, no longer thinking about it.
Because her current circumstances weren’t much better than what she imagined for Hou Chen and the others, even though she wasn’t dead, this place was not much different.
“When leaving the Heavenly Soul Plane, I wanted to find the Dark God Domain, so I prepared and researched much related information in case of such an opportunity. Now that the opportunity has arisen, the preparation proves useful. However, I didn’t expect to be in a state of Soul Loss, where perhaps only the Heart-soothing Spring in the Dark God Domain can restore me.”
“Yet, I vaguely sense that familiar soul aura, maybe Zhou Yan really entered the Dark God Domain. If that’s the case… Soul Path Vast Qi, Killing Spirit Tai Chu, perhaps there’s a way.”
Long Xianyin’s state was unstable, but after a moment of bewilderment, she quickly assessed her situation and regained her mental clarity and composure.
Long Xianyin stopped overthinking and focused on the hostile environment before her.
This Yin spirit-infested environment, though vicious, was not without its benefits.
For Long Xianyin, as she had a Heavenly Soul constitution, she had a strong ability to refine these Yin Souls and Yin Corpses. Once refined, they could become immaculate Soul Power, strengthening the soul.
This was a rare opportunity in other planes and even Great Domains.
This was a deadly place, yet also a land of opportunity.
…
Sky Sword Sect, Gui Die Mountain.
The name Gui Die Mountain wasn’t just Gui Die Mountain, but it was named because Feng Yunyan, being of the Gui Die Clan, bore this name.
Outside the great hall on the mountain peak of Gui Die Mountain, Feng Yunyan stood quietly on a massive rock, seemingly waiting for the newly recruited disciples to arrive.
A gentle breeze blew past, bringing with it the fragrant scent of spring.
Gui Die Mountain was eternal spring, fragrant like orchids, an environment as beautiful as the Immortal Realm.
“Master, the little junior brother is here, and the little junior sister is right behind.”
Feng Cailing respectfully informed Feng Yunyan.
Feng Yunyan nodded, looking at Zhou Yan with calm eyes, though her inner self was anything but calm.
Zhou Yan gazed at Feng Yunyan as if entranced, completely ignoring Feng Cailing’s words.
“Zhou Yan, you are indeed Zhou Yan. Truly extraordinary, with a unique temperament, seeing you is like seeing an old acquaintance. Of course, perhaps you are that old acquaintance, as in many respects, you are so similar.”
Feng Yunyan’s gaze fixed on Zhou Yan, her lips parted delicately, her breath like orchids as she spoke these words.
These words stirred a sense of inexplicable curiosity in both Feng Cailing and Feng Caixuan, as if their master was behaving unusually today.
Yet they couldn’t quite pinpoint what was unusual.
“Yes, I’ve always been so extraordinary, enough to trap many extraordinary women, causing them to have short-lived beauty and tumultuous fate. Their first sight of me often reminds them of someone dear to their hearts. Such feelings often arise from absurd, outlandish emotions.”
Zhou Yan sighed as he spoke, gazing at Feng Yunyan.
Zhou Yan’s tone held a hint of melancholy.
It wasn’t a boast, but such words had a profound impression on Feng Cailing and Feng Caixuan.
It seemed like showing off, but the melancholy in his tone bore a heavy, soul-stirring weight, an inexplicable heartache.
At this moment, the little junior sister, the charming Mo Yuyao from the Mo family, arrived not far from Zhou Yan and bowed to Feng Yunyan.
She too heard Zhou Yan’s seemingly narcissistic yet inexplicably aged-sounding words. Despite her innocence, she was momentarily taken aback, then looked at Zhou Yan again with an unreadable gaze.
“Perhaps so, or perhaps not. Some things we both know, but saying more is meaningless.”
“You don’t need to ask me, and I don’t want to ask you. The things we need to know, we will know sooner or later. The things we shouldn’t know, even if we do, will only harm ourselves. Is that right?”
Feng Yunyan’s words are full of traps.
She doesn’t like using tactics or setting countless traps with words, essentially probing Zhou Yan.
Feng Yunyan actually knows nothing, but she wants to know. Even though the pursuit of the truth in the past had some tragic results, upon seeing Zhou Yan, her heart ached like a sword cut, urgently wanting to know some things.
So, she employed a little cunning, speaking ambiguous words, trying to see how Zhou Yan would respond.
But Zhou Yan really disappointed her.
Or rather, Zhou Yan’s demeanor never gave her any hope.
Zhou Yan’s expression was too calm, too indifferent. From beginning to end, when he saw Feng Yunyan, he never showed surprise, astonishment, or incredulity.
Perhaps Zhou Yan did show them, but Feng Yunyan couldn’t sense it, couldn’t detect it.
The result, naturally, was the same.
“Elder Feng, what are you talking about? Zhou Yan is dull and cannot understand.”
Zhou Yan seemed to see his past self, his experience of relentlessly seeking the truth and failing, as well as his estranged relatives who knew parts of the truth but couldn’t speak it out of helplessness.
Life is always full of helplessness.
Zhou Yan had already gotten used to helplessness.
Therefore, when he saw Feng Yunyan’s helplessness, he didn’t feel helpless at all.
He rejected that familiar feeling, acting indifferent, treating Feng Yunyan as just an ordinary Venerable, while he, Zhou Yan, was merely a disciple of this Venerable one.
Everything else was meaningless.
Without becoming strong, knowing everything is useless and will only harm oneself.
Once strong, knowing nothing does not matter, because then one can control the Universe, Ten Thousand Realms Supreme King, all the truths; if you want to hide them, you can’t hide them.
Those truths.
Those secrets.
They are just scenery along the path of cultivation ahead, a mysterious, strange, unique, captivating piece of real scenery.
Just like Killing Spirit Divine Dao, just like True Void Heavenly Prohibition.
Sometimes, not understanding means not understanding, and all doubts form heart knots.
Sometimes, understanding means comprehending, and all doubts are just scenery, which can be admired or not.
If he is strong, let him be strong; the breeze brushes the hills. If he is overbearing, let him be overbearing; the bright moon illuminates the great river.
This comes from a scripture from the Earth Ancestral Land, simple and unadorned, yet it points out the true path.
A true strong person never gets enamored with the scenery on the way; they only tread the real mountain peaks.
Because on the peak, one can see all the scenery beneath them.
A strong person leaves only the back figure heading towards the Immortal summit for others to worship, never lingering in one cloud of doubt after another.
“Zhou Yan, do you really not understand? Do you not know that the Feng Yunyan of the past is already dead?”
Feng Yunyan transmitted her voice.
With instinctive certainty in her heart, she believed Zhou Yan knew many things. Thus, she even took out the words from that voice to deceive Zhou Yan, trying to trick out Zhou Yan’s words.
Feng Yunyan felt she desperately needed the truth.
Yet Zhou Yan remained like an old monk in meditation, calmly looking at Feng Yunyan, saying, “Some people live, but they are already dead; some people have died, but they still live. The dead are the departed past self, gone with yesterday, the memories not to be retained; those who disturb the mind are today’s worries. In this world, there is no real truth, strength is the truth.
Elder Feng, whatever truth you need, you can establish your own rules for truth; that will be your truth.
So, Elder Feng, it’s not that you can’t find the truth; it’s that your heart is already disturbed, trapped in your own falsehood.”
Zhou Yan had a deeper meaning to his words, conveying them with a peaceful mental state that integrated Tao rules.
This was Zhou Yan’s own insight, formed from the fusion of the Nirvana Scripture, Taiyin Talisman Scripture, and Void Ancient Scripture, and was part of the Xingyi Ancient Scripture’s enlightenment, representing Zhou Yan’s own Tao.
Zhou Yan’s Tao is Unity, the endpoint, the ultimate.
Beyond that, there is nothing else.
He used his own rules, his own Tao, to guide Feng Yunyan, hoping she wouldn’t get confused about the present, wouldn’t be bewildered at heart, wouldn’t be trapped by feelings, so she could have a chance to further advance.