“Daoist Lu Xuan’s battle intent soars to the heavens, yet what is too unyielding cannot endure for long. I observe that vitality is stored within you, Daoist, as if there is an opportunity for nirvana. Might it corroborate with my Dao of Yimu vitality?”
With a light wave of her jade hand, a verdant leaf emerged. Upon that leaf, the aura of life was concentrated to the extreme, as though it could raise the dead and regrow flesh upon bare bones. It also contained the supreme principle of withering and flourishing in rotation, of cycles without end.
Lu Xuan’s thoughts stirred. Behind him, the illusory Glazed Heart Lamp representing his “good corpse” flickered faintly, and a strand of gentle purification and vital Dao rhythm flowed out, blending with that Yimu vitality.
He did not evolve some powerful healing divine ability. Instead, he displayed a unique conception: rekindling the spark of life amid the ruins of destruction, protecting a single thread of vitality amid conquest and slaughter.
“Daoist’s vitality originates from creation, blessing all things. Lu’s vitality originates from protection, from undying battle intent, from that one point of true spirit within chaos that will never sink,” Lu Xuan said slowly.
Brilliant colors flashed again and again in Immortal King Zhenmu’s beautiful eyes. Sensing that life-filled meaning, utterly different from natural creation yet equally tenacious and magnificent, she said softly, “Daoist’s heart is firm as a boulder, yet nourishing as sweet rain. I have been instructed.”
Finally, Chiyang Dragon King burst into hearty laughter, his voice shaking the secret realm.
“Good, good, good! This refined and scholarly Dao discussion is far too unsatisfying! Daoist Lu Xuan, you bear the Golden Crow bloodline and command the Solar True Fire, while my Chiyang Dragon Flame is likewise a power of utmost yang! Why don’t you and I let loose a little and exchange one move, to see whose flames burn fiercer and whose yang energy is stronger!”
His temperament was like fire, and he directly issued a challenge.
Lu Xuan was also infected by his boldness and rose to his full height. “It is exactly what I wished for, though I dared not ask!”
The two did not use their full strength. Each merely condensed a cluster of source flame.
In Chiyang Dragon King’s palm was a mass of crimson dragon flame that leapt incessantly, exuding a pure yang and tyrannical aura, like a condensed great sun.
In Lu Xuan’s palm, however, was a cluster of dark-golden Solar Immortal Flame, chaos qi flowing along its edges. Amid its scorching heat was a trace of a War Immortal will that could burn away all laws and reestablish order.
The two flames slowly approached in midair. They did not explode, but instead eroded, devoured, fused with, and repelled each other… as if carrying out the most fundamental contest of yin and yang, hardness and softness, order and chaos.
In the end, the two flames annihilated at the same time, transforming into the purest yang energy and dispersing, with no victor decided.
Chiyang Dragon King withdrew his hand, his eyes filled with admiration. “Daoist’s fire is no less fierce and overbearing than mine, and it even possesses the transformations of chaos and the firmness of battle intent. Impressive! Another day, I must have a proper battle with you to my heart’s content!”
Immortal King Randeng had been watching with a smile the entire time. Only now did he finally speak.
“The myriad Daos contend like flowing streams, each with its own marvels. Daoist Lu Xuan’s Dao has also benefited us greatly.”
In this Dao discussion, Lu Xuan had not only displayed the uniqueness and power of his own “Chaos War Immortal Dao,” he had also drawn much inspiration from Immortal King Zixiao’s righteous thunder punishment, Immortal King Zhenmu’s life and creation, and Chiyang Dragon King’s pure yang tyranny. He gained new comprehension regarding the control and application of his own power, as well as the harmonization of the Three Corpses method.
This visit to the Primordial Ancient Realm not only resolved certain doubts in his heart, it also consolidated his realm and broadened his Dao path through discussion of the Dao.
And the goodwill he had formed with these Immortal Kings might one day become an important aid in the future.
When he bade farewell to Immortal King Randeng and once more set foot upon his journey across the Realm Sea, his goal was even clearer, and his Dao heart even firmer. That “Lost Ancient Hall” was already close at hand.
After bidding farewell to the Primordial Ancient Realm, Lu Xuan’s Chaos War Immortal body once again submerged into the boundless Realm Sea. The closer he came to the “Lost Ancient Hall” within his perception, the more strange and unpredictable the Realm Sea’s environment became. Turbulent flows of spacetime were like blades, and from time to time, fragments of shattered ancient history would appear like mirages, only to be swiftly annihilated.
On this day, he was passing through a strange stretch of sea.
Rumor had it that this place had been left behind after the collapse of a great realm famed for the Dao of alchemy. Countless shattered pill furnaces, withered remnants of divine medicines, and bizarre energy clusters formed from various medicinal properties mingling and mutating drifted through the void. Even an ordinary Immortal King would have to be careful upon arriving here.
Just as Lu Xuan was cautiously passing through, from behind a “mountain range” piled up from discarded pill furnaces ahead came the intense collision of Dao laws and the sound of argument.
“Bullshit! Your ‘Nine-Turn Fate-Reversing Pill’ is complete nonsense! Forcibly reversing life and death is nothing more than overdrawing the source, quenching thirst with poison!”
A clear voice, edged with anger, rang out.
“Hmph, what do you know? The cycle of life and death is itself one part of the Great Dao! My method opens a path of life within a realm of death. It is a supreme wondrous art! As for that so-called ‘Myriad Tribulations Imperishable Body’ of yours, relying on constantly drawing in external tribulations to temper yourself—how is that any different from self-mutilation? Utterly foolish!”
Another slightly hoarse voice retorted.
Curiosity rose in Lu Xuan’s heart. Concealing his aura, he quietly approached.
He saw two figures standing in confrontation beneath that pill furnace mountain.
One of them wore a somewhat worn moon-white robe. He looked young, with handsome features, yet his eyes were lively and cunning, carrying a kind of irreverent, carefree air.
The aura around him could not be considered especially vast, yet it gave off a sense of endless variation and elusiveness, as though his body contained countless different medicinal properties and Dao laws. At times he was brimming with vitality; at times, thick with death qi. At times he was scorching like fire; at times, cold as ice.
Several gourds of varying sizes hung at his waist, giving off medicinal fragrances that were both enticing and dangerous.
This person was none other than the Fake-Medicine Seller in his youth!
The other was a robust young man clad in coarse hemp garments, with a resolute face and eyes as cold and indifferent as ten-thousand-year ice.
He carried a massive chopping blade on his back, wrapped in coarse cloth. Though it had not been unsheathed, it naturally exuded a terrifying killing intent that seemed capable of slaying all things and butchering all living beings.
His Dao was extremely pure: slaughter. Slaughter taken to the extreme! It was as though he had been born for killing and existed for destruction.
He was precisely the Butcher in his youth!
At this moment, these two beings who would both become Immortal King giants in later generations, famous throughout the heavens, were like two young cultivators arguing endlessly, their faces flushed as they fought over their respective Daos.
Lu Xuan’s quiet appearance immediately alerted the two of them.
“Who’s there?!”
The Fake-Medicine Seller abruptly turned his head, his gaze sharp as a blade, while a multicolored pill was quietly clasped in his hand.
The Butcher was even more direct. The chopping blade on his back let out a hum, and cold killing intent instantly locked onto Lu Xuan.
“Merely a passerby. Hearing the two of you Daoists discussing the Dao, I felt something in my heart and have taken the liberty of disturbing you.”
Lu Xuan revealed himself, his chaos qi withdrawn, and spoke peacefully. He could sense that although these two were at a similar realm to his own, both at the Immortal King level, their respective Daos were extremely special and powerful. They were absolutely no ordinary Immortal Kings.
The Fake-Medicine Seller looked Lu Xuan up and down, a trace of surprise flashing through his eyes.
“Chaos aura? And it carries a sort of… conception of battling the heavens and fighting the earth? Strange, truly strange!”
He seemed to have discerned the extraordinary nature of Lu Xuan’s Dao rhythm, and put away that dangerous pill, though his vigilance did not fade.