"Bai Zihe..."
The Dragon Emperor looked at the young man before him, a glint flashing in his eyes.
Once upon a time.
He too was such a prodigious youth.
Alas...
The Dragon Emperor shook his head, the glint in his eyes dimmed significantly, and his face flickered with an inexplicable expression, only to slowly dissipate.
Bai Zihe was still repairing the Bagua.
This particular Bagua was riddled with flaws.
With a mere glance, Bai Zihe could spot numerous errors.
Fortunately, repairing them was not difficult.
Each one...
Took only a few minutes.
Little did he know, with every repair, a wisp of pure energy would drift past, vanishing into the void of the void.
Half an hour passed.
Bai Zihe had fixed all the errors in the Bagua.
"Buzz..."
Almost simultaneously.
This Bagua... actually began to rotate on its own.
Faster and faster, and faster.
Within seconds.
It became so fast that Bai Zihe could no longer discern its movements.
Perplexed, Bai Zihe retreated a few steps, his senses on high alert for any potential developments.
"Swish..."
Just as its speed reached a critical point.
A beam of light suddenly descended from the heavens, illuminating the Bagua on the ground, intermingling with the Yin and Yang fish.
Instantly.
Ancient energies washed over him.
Bai Zihe's expression shifted slightly.
This wisp of energy...
Was remarkably similar to the aura of Hell's Blood.
Unsure if it was a good or bad omen, Bai Zihe retreated a few more steps.
"Swish!"
Suddenly.
The light intensified, making it impossible to gaze directly at.
Even Bai Zihe had to close his eyes to avoid being stung by the extremely dazzling brilliance.
At the same time...
Within the light, several characters shimmered in golden splendor.
"The highest virtue is not virtuous, therefore it has virtue..."
The characters flowed with radiance, imbued with an inexplicable Daoist resonance.
Finally.
The light subsided considerably.
Bai Zihe slowly opened his eyes and was dumbfounded.
In mid-air, the characters had vanished, replaced by a scroll of desolate grandeur, floating and continuously rotating.
Bai Zihe instinctively reached out to take it.
"Swish!"
He leaped up, suddenly airborne.
Extending his hand, he grasped the mysterious scroll.
However...
A vast power suddenly emanated from it.
Bai Zihe felt as if struck by lightning, his body recoiling at extreme speed, crashing against the hall's wall, and then falling heavily.
"Gasp..."
Bai Zihe coughed up a mouthful of blood, having been gravely injured by this object.
Wiping his mouth, Bai Zihe looked up.
"This is..."
The immense power radiating from it was far greater than any force Bai Zihe had ever encountered.
Even...
It instilled in him a sense of powerlessness that stifled any urge to resist.
"The treasure the Dragon Emperor spoke of?"
"Or, the cultivation secret written on that door?"
Bai Zihe was uncertain and dared not act rashly, as the rebound force was too formidable and could be fatal.
However...
The scroll's radiance continued to fade.
As the last ray of light dispersed.
The scroll seemed to lose its support and plummeted from mid-air.
"This time, it should be fine, right?"
Bai Zihe reached out to catch it, but his heart still throbbed with lingering fear. He gathered his true essence, ready to retract his hand at the slightest sign of trouble.
"Whoosh..."
The next moment, the scroll landed in Bai Zihe's palm.
It felt incredibly light, like a goose feather, with virtually no weight. Moreover, it was as smooth as silk, soft and gentle.
Bai Zihe gazed intently, wanting to understand what this object was.
However...
"Buzz..."
The next moment, the scroll came into contact with the blood Bai Zihe had just coughed up. Like snowflakes falling into boiling water, it rapidly dissolved.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished from Bai Zihe's hand.
What in the world was this?
Bai Zihe suddenly felt an urge to curse.
He had deciphered the Bagua, he had been gravely injured and bled, and in the end...
This thing was playing hide-and-seek with him?
But the next moment.
Bai Zihe's expression suddenly changed slightly.
A thing had appeared out of nowhere in his mind...
It was the scroll that had just vanished.
At this moment.
It hovered above his Sea of Consciousness, shimmering with golden light.
Bai Zihe immediately used his divine sense to observe it.
This scroll was extraordinarily mystical.
As if sensing Bai Zihe's actions, it automatically unfurled to both sides.
A few seconds later, the scroll was fully open.
Bai Zihe glanced at it and froze.
The content on the scroll was simple, something even children were familiar with, widely spread throughout Great Xia: "Pangu Creates the Heavens!"
This...
Bai Zihe furrowed his brow, unsure of its purpose.
His gaze swept over it, attempting to discern any hidden clues.
As he looked...
Bai Zihe became engrossed, utterly captivated.
"Buzz..."
Essence, spirit, and energy poured into him.
Bai Zihe drifted into a deep, long dream.
In the dream...
He transformed into Pangu from the scroll.
He lay in the primordial chaos, slumbering in a daze, and then...
An axe emerged, held by him.
"Swish!"
An ancient and peerless light burst forth, splitting the chaos in two in an instant. The clear rose, the turbid sank.
Instantly...
Yin and Yang were separated, and Heaven and Earth became manifest.
And Bai Zihe, as if drained of all his strength, lay on the ground.
"Huff, huff..."
Bai Zihe fell into a deep sleep.
Then...
His exhaled breath transformed into the winds of the four seasons.
His voice became the rumble of thunder, resounding endlessly.
His two eyes became the sun and the moon, suspended high in the sky.
His flesh and blood became rivers...
Until.
He eternally vanished, forming this world.
"Huh?"
After an unknown amount of time, Bai Zihe slowly awoke.
He found himself still in the great hall.
There was no Pangu creating the heavens.
No transformation into the universe.
Everything... had just been a dream.
Right!
The nameless scroll!
Bai Zihe remembered the object and immediately withdrew his divine sense to perform an internal scan.
Indeed, the scroll was still in his mind.
However...
Some characters had appeared on it.
The characters were tadpole-shaped, wriggling continuously, yet they shimmered brilliantly.
With each flash, it seemed to be conveying something.
Bai Zihe contemplated deeply...
Suddenly, he knitted his brows and held his breath, sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"Achieve ultimate void, guard stillness with firm resolve. The myriad creatures arise in concert; I observe their return."
"The multitude of things, each returns to its root."
"Returning to the root is called stillness; stillness is called restoring destiny; restoring destiny is called the constant."
"He who knows not the constant acts presumptuously and meets misfortune."
"He who knows the constant is magnanimous; magnanimous, he is impartial; impartial, he is comprehensive; comprehensive, he is king; king, he is heavenly; heavenly, he is the Dao; the Dao is eternal."
"Without perishing, he is safe."
Resounding, grand voices emanated from the scroll, echoing ceaselessly in Bai Zihe's mind.
A mesmerizing sound, like the chime of great bells, eternal and timeless.
As if originating from the very dawn of creation, it seeped into Bai Zihe's soul again and again.
Like a divine enlightenment, it was deafening and awe-inspiring.
Bai Zihe did not know what this was, but his subconscious told him it was an extraordinary existence, a supreme entity.
Therefore.
Cherishing his pure heart, his mind followed its intentions.
Beneath this thunderous Daoist resonance, his soul was immersed.
"Oh?"
In the void, the Dragon Emperor witnessed this scene and could not help but murmur in surprise, "This Bai Zihe... truly possesses the potential of a Great Emperor. He is indeed worthy of being chosen by you!"