Chapter 184

Chapter 184: Revolutionizing the Grand Dao of the World!

Ye Tianming had barely finished speaking when the rightmost cushion in front of him gave a faint tremor. In the next instant, a beam of white light enveloped him, and his body became translucent.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Tianming found himself in a strange world.

It was a vast wasteland, dotted with stone pillars that supported a great hall. Before the hall stood a stone stele a thousand zhang tall, bearing four large characters: Ancient Philosophy Academy.

At the very top of the hall stood three statues.

Ye Tianming had seen these three statues before.

The leftmost statue pointed to the sky with its right hand, gazing toward the rightmost statue, while the rightmost statue pointed to the ground with its left hand, gazing back in the same direction.

The statue in the middle held a stone sword in its left hand and cradled an ancient tome in its right, head bowed in quiet contemplation.

The Three Sages of Ancient Philosophy!

Ye Tianming withdrew his gaze and walked toward the hall. The surroundings were completely empty, with nothing in sight.

Silence reigned.

Ye Tianming pushed open the doors of the hall. They were enormously heavy, and the moment they swung open, a cloud of dust billowed out. It was clear that no one had been here for a very, very long time.

He gave a light wave of his hand, and the dust instantly dispersed. He stepped inside. The hall was equally bare, with nothing in it, but on the wall directly ahead was a mural depicting a group of people engaged in heated debate.

Before Ye Tianming sat a cushion, thick with dust.

“What is the Dao?”

At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out across the space. “Tell me in one sentence.”

The voice seemed to come from beyond a billion rivers of stars, vast and weighty.

What is the Dao?

Ye Tianming fell silent.

The question could not be answered.

The Dao!

It encompassed all things. How could a single sentence ever contain it?

He understood that what the other party was truly asking was not about the Dao itself, but about his understanding of it and his attitude toward it.

After a long silence, Ye Tianming did not answer. Instead, he opened his palm, and a flower appeared in his hand. It was vivid and breathtakingly beautiful, but in the next moment it began to wither at a visible pace, and in an instant the once-radiant bloom had turned to ash.

Suddenly, the dust on the cushion before him began to vanish at a visible speed. Soon, an elderly man in white robes appeared on the cushion. He looked remarkably refined, with a warm and gentle smile on his face.

The white-robed elder looked at Ye Tianming and smiled. “It has been a long time since anyone came. I never expected you to be so young.”

Ye Tianming said, “Please enlighten me.”

The white-robed elder looked at the withered flower and smiled without a word.

Ye Tianming understood perfectly well that the elder was waiting for him to elaborate. He said slowly, “What is the Dao? In this junior’s view, the Dao is simply the Dao. All living beings cultivate and seek to comprehend it, and what we call ‘realizing the Dao’ is nothing more than forming some kind of connection with it in one way or another. But we are not the Dao itself, nor have we ever exhausted the concept of ‘Dao’……”

As he spoke, he looked at the withered flower in his hand. “Take this flower. It is beautiful, but it has withered. And now that it has withered, does ‘beauty’ cease to exist? Not at all. The flower may have faded, but beauty remains, because the flower was merely one manifestation of ‘beauty’, not beauty itself…….”

He smiled faintly. “All living beings, all things and all spirits, though they change or fade away in certain respects, carry within them something that is the same, something that never changes and never disappears. That is the true essence. For instance, the flower may wither, but ‘beauty’ still exists, or rather…… the Dao still exists. And so, the Dao is the Dao, and nothing else.”

The essence of the Dao?

That is the Dao itself!

The white-robed elder suddenly laughed. “Please, sit.”

A cushion appeared behind Ye Tianming.

Ye Tianming slowly sat down.

The white-robed elder looked at him and smiled. “As you just said, the flower is beautiful, but it will wither, and once it withers, it becomes ugly. Not only does it become ugly, it disappears entirely. So could one say that a thing has as many qualities as there are people who perceive it?”

He smiled gently. “In other words, there is no absolute truth in this world, and no such thing as the Dao? Because everything is in constant flux, just like certain laws from ancient times. Back then, they were truth, things to be obeyed, but by today’s standards they are backward and rotten.”

“Correct!”

Ye Tianming said suddenly. “But not entirely.”

The white-robed elder smiled. “Please go on.”

Ye Tianming furrowed his brow slightly. “It’s rather complex. May I take a moment to think?”

The white-robed elder’s smile grew warmer. “Of course.”

As Ye Tianming thought, the white-robed elder watched him quietly.

After a moment, Ye Tianming said suddenly, “All things and all spirits have their actual differences, but their essence has never truly changed. Take a gust of wind. The reason different people feel different temperatures from it is because we are limited by our own perception. It has nothing to do with whether the wind is cool or warm. That is a limitation within ourselves. As for the matter of ancient laws, that is both a limitation of human understanding and a limitation of the era……”

He looked toward the white-robed elder. “Eras have their limitations, and the understanding of all living beings has its limitations. Our grasp of truth is insufficient. And so we need definitions, to define those uncertain things as absolute truths…….”

He suddenly produced a card. “Take this card. We define it as money. As long as it can truly be used to purchase things, all living beings will accept it. Truth is the same. As long as we define certain behaviors as righteous and as truth, all living beings will accept them and then follow them!”

He took a deep breath, then said with unwavering conviction, “Therefore, this world needs us to keep defining, keep innovating, keep seeking truth, so that what was once vague and uncertain gives rise to clear and definite concepts!”

As he spoke, he slowly clenched both fists. “Define truth, define the Dao! If something already exists but is harmful, vague, flawed, or rotten, then overturn it and redefine it!! The great Dao demands constant revolution, constant pursuit of truth!!”

When he finished, the space fell suddenly silent.

The white-robed elder said nothing.

To his left and right, two cushions had appeared at some unknown moment.

But no one appeared on them.

The silence stretched on for dozens of breaths. Finally, the white-robed elder looked at Ye Tianming with utmost sincerity and said, “Would you be willing to join our Ancient Philosophy Sect?”

Ye Tianming was briefly taken aback, then shook his head with a smile. “Senior…… to be honest, I once encountered members of the Ancient Philosophy Sect in the lower realm…… twelve old men, also dressed in white robes. They were from the Ancient Philosophy Sect, weren’t they?”

The white-robed elder nodded and smiled. “That must have been Xiao Xu and the others…… why, had they already invited you to join our Ancient Philosophy Sect?”

Ye Tianming shook his head. “No.”

He then gave a brief account of what had happened down below.

The smile faded from the white-robed elder’s face. He suddenly asked, “You said just now that those twelve old men were dressed in white robes?”

Ye Tianming nodded.

The white-robed elder said, “They are not from our Ancient Philosophy Sect.”

Ye Tianming: “???”

The white-robed elder said seriously, “You must have run into impostors.”

Ye Tianming: “…….”

The white-robed elder continued, “The way things are these days, there are more and more swindlers. To think they would even impersonate our Ancient Philosophy Sect…… sigh…… people have truly lost their integrity!”

Ye Tianming said, “Senior, not only did they claim to be from the Ancient Philosophy Sect, they also had the Ancient Philosophy Sect’s ‘True Word Law’, as well as the Mirror of Past and Present and the Ancient Philosophy Staff.”

The white-robed elder’s brow furrowed. “What True Word Law and Mirror of Past and Present? Our Ancient Philosophy Sect has never had such things.”

Ye Tianming: “…….”

The white-robed elder opened his palm, and a pure white seal appeared in his hand. “Our Ancient Philosophy Sect has only the ‘Ancient Philosophy Seal’. This object is the supreme divine artifact of our sect. It can not only greatly amplify the power of the ‘Truth Law’, but also suppress all other ‘Truth Laws’…… take a look.”

He handed it to Ye Tianming. Ye Tianming instinctively took the Ancient Philosophy Seal, and the moment he did, it transformed into a beam of light and sank between his brows.

Boom!

It recognized its master in an instant!

Ye Tianming stood there completely stunned.

The white-robed elder was first taken aback, then said with puzzlement, “Fellow Daoist, how did you subdue it?”

Ye Tianming said hastily, “Senior, it recognized me on its own. I didn’t do anything.”

The white-robed elder looked troubled. “Fellow Daoist, this object is not only the supreme divine artifact of our Ancient Philosophy Sect, it is also the sect master’s seal, a symbol of authority. Now that things have come to this……”

Ye Tianming said quickly, “I’ll sever my connection with it……”

He immediately tried to separate himself from the Ancient Philosophy Seal, but found it was completely impossible. The seal had imprinted itself directly into his mind, merging with him entirely.

This was a true recognition of a master, and a forceful one at that, leaving no room for second thoughts.

Ye Tianming looked at the white-robed elder. “Senior, this……”

The white-robed elder let out a quiet sigh. “Fellow Daoist, I believe you are simply fated to be with our Ancient Philosophy Sect. Otherwise, this seal would never have recognized you so directly. Perhaps this is the will of heaven. Since that is the case, you might as well join our Ancient Philosophy Sect. Rest assured, we will not treat you poorly. If you come, you will be sect master from the very start, commanding the entire sect!”

Ye Tianming said, “Alright!”

The white-robed elder’s expression froze.

Alright!

The white-robed elder had been prepared to do some persuading, but he never expected Ye Tianming to agree so readily.

Seeing the faint smile on Ye Tianming’s face, the white-robed elder understood perfectly. This young man had already seen through his intentions.

The white-robed elder knew he could not play games with such a brilliantly perceptive young man, so he said earnestly, “Fellow Daoist, our Ancient Philosophy Sect shares the same ideals as you. You were born to join us.”

Ye Tianming said, “Senior, to be honest with you, I have already joined the Buddha Demon Sect, and I am currently its sect master.”