Chapter 62 Part 2

Sages are born in response to the times, marked by extraordinary signs at birth. This Innate Dao Bone would be like Buzhou Mountain, propping up the heavens and supporting the earth.

The Mortal Realm, the Mountains and Seas… truly, all were amidst an impending tribulation!

The peculiar expression on Bai Ze’s face lasted only a moment. She nodded toward Fu Juan, revealing a faint smile.

Fu Juan coolly regarded Bai Ze and asked directly, “Did you come through Azure Hill, or did you smuggle yourself through a Mountains and Seas Rift?”

The word “smuggle” made Bai Ze’s smile stiffen slightly. Although she was universally hated in the Mountains and Seas Realm, shouldn’t the texts of the Mortal Realm portray a particularly reliable and sacred image? That term was truly excessive. Bai Ze grumbled inwardly a couple of times, dropped the gentle and reliable facade, and sank bonelessly into the sofa, answering, “That’s right, I went through a Mountains and Seas Rift. What of it? Is that not allowed?”

Fu Juan asked again, “Why here?”

Bai Ze: “The Mystic Maiden Sword.” The Mysterious Lady was Emperor Xuanyuan’s teacher, and Bai Ze, as his follower, was naturally extremely familiar with this sword art.

Jiang Yiguang nodded. She was more interested in the Hundun Fragments Bai Ze mentioned, but now that Fu Juan was here, it wasn’t convenient to bring it up. After thinking for a moment, she looked at the lazily sprawled Bai Ze and asked, “What’s the situation in the Mountains and Seas?”

Bai Ze: “Mountain gods of various factions have almost all fallen into slumber. Great Demons run rampant. The Four Evils occupy Kunlun, aiming to forge Divine and Devil Twin Weapons.” She smiled silently. Before Jiang Yiguang could ask, she explained proactively, “Using Kunlun as a Divine Weapon, and the Corpse of Chiyou from Azure Hill as the Devil Weapon, thereby shattering the entire Mountains and Seas seal.”

Jiang Yiguang: “…Is no one stopping them?”

Bai Ze glanced sideways at Jiang Yiguang and answered, “Do not underestimate the abilities of the Four Evils. Their status is not lower than the gods of the Mountains and Seas. Due to their bloodline, even after turning vicious, they still uphold the Qi Fortune of the Five Thearchs, and are thus still considered ‘gods.’”

“Gods?”

“Indeed. In the High Antiquity Era, humans and gods weren’t that clearly distinct. When Nüwa created humans, she also bestowed divinity upon the primordial people. Thus, Xuanyuan gained the Human Emperor Aura, capable of slaying the gods of the four directions and ascending to the Heavenly Emperor’s throne as a mortal. But the divinity of those scattered mud droplets would naturally not be high. For them—that is, what we often call humanity’s future—Xuanyuan slew the various malevolent gods and began leading humanity on an unprecedented path. However, after Emperor Xuanyuan’s death, his ministers disagreed. Gonggong believed the Divine Era should govern the world, valuing divinity. Zhuanxu, on the other hand, preferred to be humanity’s leader… In short, they fought, and ultimately Zhuanxu won, enacting the Separation of Heaven and Earth. And as for his successor, Di Ku, he…” Bai Ze sighed and didn’t continue.

Jiang Yiguang listened, spellbound.

The events of the High Antiquity were lost in the classical texts. No one knew what truly thrilling and soul-stirring events lay hidden behind those brief, terse records.

A silence fell over the living room for a moment. Then, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, Fu Juan’s question rang out: “How could the gods of the Mountains and Seas fall into slumber?”

The laziness on Bai Ze’s face immediately vanished. She said seriously, “Have you heard of the Return to the Void Abyss?”

Jiang Yiguang: “The Return to the Void in the Great Wilderness East Classic?” The East Wilderness Classic records: “Beyond the East Sea is a great rift, the Kingdom of Shaohao. Here, Shaohao nurtured the young Emperor Zhuanxu and abandoned his Qin and Se.” This was where Xuanyuan’s eldest son, Shaohao, established his kingdom, and also the place where the young Emperor Zhuanxu grew up.

“Yes.” Bai Ze nodded. “Another classic records… ‘East of the Bohai Sea, who knows how many millions of miles away, is a great rift. It is truly a bottomless valley, its depths without end, named Return to the Void. The waters of the eight directions and nine wildernesses, the flow of the Heavenly River, all pour into it, yet it neither increases nor diminishes.’ ”

“That is to say, the Return to the Void is a place where Yin and Yang grind away. When all matter between heaven and earth flows into the great rift, Yin and Yang grind them down to nothingness. That’s why the great rift always neither increases nor diminishes. But no one knew if the Return to the Void would become unbalanced. Thus, Xuanyuan sent Shaohao to establish a kingdom and guard it. Later, around the time of Di Ku, the Return to the Void Abyss indeed underwent a change. The balance of Yin and Yang, Clarity and Miasma, was disrupted. The Return to the Void gushed back, devouring the Kingdom of Shaohao. The gods within the Mountains and Seas all sent their True Spirits to suppress the Return to the Void, thus falling into a long slumber from which they may never awaken.”

An abyss capable of swallowing deities… wasn’t this even more terrifying than the Mountains and Seas overlapping the Mortal Realm? Jiang Yiguang’s eyelid twitched violently. She pressed, “What was the cause?”

“Unclear. However, some speculate that the imbalance of the Foreign Divine Courts triggered the Return to the Void’s eruption.” Bai Ze paused, then sighed again. “If the Return to the Void erupted once, there will be a second time. This is far heavier than the revival of the Mountains and Seas. The Mountains and Seas are minor; the Return to the Void is major.”

Jiang Yiguang’s hanging hand suddenly clenched into a fist. She deeply regretted opening that door. If she hadn’t let Bai Ze in, would she not have had to know these things?

“Rather than tempering yourselves in the Mortal Realm, it’s better to return to the Mountains and Seas.” Bai Ze’s eyes shifted, her smile turning mischievous. “The subordinates of beings like Taowu can serve as your training whetstones. With some luck, you might even find spiritual objects hidden from the High Antiquity Era, such as going to the central land of the Four Seas to seek the treasures left behind by that Central Great Thearch.”

Hearing “Central Great Thearch,” Jiang Yiguang knew Bai Ze was hinting at the Hundun Fragments. She couldn’t help but ask, “The Central Thearch of the Mountains and Seas Realm?”

Bai Ze smiled faintly and shook her head: “Not present.”

Jiang Yiguang: “…” A curse nearly slipped from her lips.

Bai Ze: “That Central Great Thearch cultivated the path of ‘Opening Heaven and Cleaving Earth,’ using his own body to manifest the transformations of heaven and earth. He was Taiyi, Taichu, and Taishi. Taishi is when heaven and earth are undivided, which is Hundun. It’s a pity he couldn’t manifest heaven and earth and prove the supreme Dao of Taiji. But regardless, he was the strongest of that era, having long since transcended divisions of time and space. After his fall, the Hundun Fragments formed from his power scattered within the rifts of time. Some might be in the past, some in the present, and some possibly in the future.”

Jiang Yiguang frowned. In Bai Ze’s description, she completely gave up the idea of retrieving her “Golden Finger.”

The Eternal Space acquired from this broken system had such a massive origin; she feared she lacked the fortune to enjoy it.

Seeing Jiang Yiguang silent, Bai Ze’s desire to speak grew even stronger. In the Mountains and Seas Realm, a single volume of the “Baize Diagram” had recorded countless dark histories of the demon beasts, offending them all, so no one was willing to associate with her… For Bai Ze, who couldn’t keep her mouth shut, this was truly a terrible situation.

She turned to look at the silent Fu Juan and said, “You have the aura of the Mountains and Seas on you. Is it Nüba’s Fire Baleful Energy?” At Fu Juan’s age, the heroes of the High Antiquity Era had long since become renowned and were already campaigning across the world. But firstly, the Mortal Realm’s spiritual energy was limited; secondly, her Dao Bone was suppressed, so she had never been able to unleash her true potential. If she could fully recover…

Jiang Yiguang shuddered, speaking faster than Fu Juan: “Is there a way to completely resolve it?” The Azure Hill “medicinal bath” had allowed Fu Juan to stand, but though Fu Juan hid it extremely well, occasional traces of pain still leaked through. Jiang Yiguang was all too familiar with such expressions. This pain followed like a shadow; how could it be easily cast off?

Bai Ze interlaced her ten fingers, her expression placid: “The Kunlun Immortal Flower. But I imagine you wouldn’t be willing to ascend Kunlun.”

Ascend Kunlun… Anyone not actively seeking death wouldn’t make such a choice. Jiang Yiguang’s brows knitted slightly. She pressed, “Besides that?”

Bai Ze: “Find the source land where Nüba resides, and use the fire veins to refine that speck of Fire Baleful Energy that entered her body. Nüba, after all, is a Heavenly Maiden, formed from a single breath of pure energy granted by the Queen Mother of the West. She is an existence of utmost Clarity and purity. However, being a Heavenly Maiden of the fire element, her temper might be quite explosive. Regardless, she won’t take your life. But right now, she should still be slumbering, right? After all, she needs to suppress the erupting fire veins.”

Jiang Yiguang nodded, inwardly pondering the feasibility of this plan. Suddenly, she turned to Bai Ze and asked, “Was it the Yellow Emperor who banished Heavenly Maiden Ba?” Nüba aided Emperor Xuanyuan in suppressing Chiyou, yet afterward “could not return above.” These four words recorded in the classics were truly cruel and desolate. The once Heavenly Maiden became, in later descriptions, a calamity where “wherever she walks, the land suffers drought for a thousand miles.” She was clearly a wisp of purest Clarity energy from Western Kunlun.

“She chose to remain at the Red River. ‘At Bell Mountain, there is a woman in azure robes named Xian, the Woman of the Red River’ . The Woman of the Red River refers to Nüba. Guess why she stayed behind?”

Jiang Yiguang: “To suppress the fire veins?” Seeing Bai Ze shake her head, she probed, “For Yinglong?” In the popular TV dramas and games of recent times, Nüba and Yinglong, regardless of how many cycles of reincarnation they went through, were always a divine couple envied by all.

“The fabrications of the Mortal Realm, how could they be true?” Bai Ze scoffed. Without further suspense, she said, “She remained at Bell Mountain for Zhuyin.”

Jiang Yiguang’s face was full of astonishment: “Torch Dragon?”

The “Great Wilderness North Classic” records: “Beyond the Northwest Sea, north of the Red River, is Zhangwei Mountain. There is a god with a human face and a serpent’s body, crimson, with vertical eyes. When its eyes close, it is darkness; when they open, it is daylight. It does not eat, sleep, or rest. Wind and rain are its messengers. This is Candle Dragon, this is Torch Dragon.”

Bai Ze’s expression turned complicated: “Torch Yin, not Torch Dragon. In the Mountains and Seas Jade Records, neither the Mountain Canon nor the Sea Canon described it clearly. Forget it. When you enter the Mountains and Seas Realm, you can discover for yourselves.”

Jiang Yiguang: “…” She wished she could expel all these riddlers from Shenzhou. But in reality, she couldn’t even ‘invite’ Bai Ze out, for this was a Sacred Auspicious Beast. Even if she did nothing but sit there, she possessed the effect of warding off evil.

“You will go to the Mountains and Seas.” Bai Ze fixed her gaze intently on Jiang Yiguang, her tone filled with absolute certainty.

“It’s me, not us.” Fu Juan’s clear, cold voice rang out, like ice cracking in a frozen abyss, full of chill.

North of the Red River was nothing like Azure Hill. This was a tribulation she had to overcome herself.

Jiang Yiguang turned sideways to look at Fu Juan, her gaze sinking slightly.