Chapter 114
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Beneath the moonlight, the water’s surface rippled, parting to form a long path. Yet this path seemed to resonate with the waist token from the Mingzhen Dao Alliance. Qi Wuhuo could sense it clearly—if anyone else were to follow behind him and tread upon this waterway, they would simply fall straight into the current, ending up like a drenched chicken, soaked and disheveled.
Only by holding this object could one walk upon the proper path and reach the Mingzhen Dao Alliance.
But could Tantai Xuan’s waist token truly possess such profound effect?
Or was it, perhaps, that the fortune-teller—who appeared slovenly and carefree, as though playing at life—had tampered with the token in some subtle way?
It was likely the latter.
The young Daoist was lost in thought. He had already changed into a plain robe, having put away his Daoist garments. He cast a technique drawn from the manuscript of Old Master Ao Liu, one that altered the flow of water to shimmer with changing light, concealing and altering his features. The little peacock was tucked in a hidden pocket at his sleeve, still sound asleep, breathing deeply in peace.
As for the Mingzhen Dao Alliance, Qi Wuhuo still did not know its stance—whether it was righteous or wicked. And such a Dao Alliance, loose and scattered by nature, was bound to be filled with a mix of people. Caution would do him no harm.
Stepping slowly upon the waterway illuminated by moonlight, the young Daoist could sense a faint resonance between the waist token and the moonlight.
As for what changes were occurring, how the transition was taking place—these subtleties and mysteries were beyond the comprehension of his current cultivation.
Before he could even discern it clearly, his vision flickered—and the scenery had already changed.
He now found himself within a refined, antique pavilion. Everything in sight was exquisitely arranged—even the tea sets appeared to be magical artifacts. Lively voices could be heard beyond, a clamor of liveliness. Qi Wuhuo turned slightly and caught sight of a window, crafted from spiritwood over five centuries old, emitting a faint fragrance—like that of grass and trees, like rainfall in sparse woods—soothing the mind and calming the soul.
Through the window, he could see the scene outside.
There was a street stretching for ten li, with numerous stalls lining both sides, not unlike those in the mortal world.
Yet above them all floated drifting lights and lingering images, suspended in the air.
The people passing by were lively and boisterous, each one concealing their qi fluctuations with various techniques. Judging by the festive atmosphere, it felt almost like the Lantern Festival in a great mortal city. Yet upon closer inspection, each individual carried, more or less, the aura of a cultivator. So many cultivators bustling together—this was the first time Qi Wuhuo had witnessed such a sight.
Footsteps echoed—someone was approaching. Even before they arrived, a respectful and courteous voice sounded:
“That was the fluctuation of the formation.”
“Could it be that the Daoist known as the [Scripture Master], who is to speak and resolve doubts today, has arrived?”
Soon after, a young man stepped forward. He wore a dark crimson Daoist robe, with golden trim embroidered along the hem and collar. He approached at a brisk pace. As his gaze fell upon Qi Wuhuo, he paused, surprised to find that this person did not exude the oppressive aura of Innate Qi typical of high-level Daoists. Yet his expression remained unchanged, and with a smile, he said: “Ah, fellow Daoist—are you perhaps the [Scripture Master] invited to our Mingzhen Dao Alliance?”
“I am today’s host. Greetings.”
“May I ask whether fellow Daoist has come today to give a [Teaching], to [Resolve Doubts], or perhaps to [Refine Pills]?”
Qi Wuhuo had already suspected as much. The method that fortune-teller had provided surely had its own complications. But he remained calm and unhurried. After a few casual exchanges with the host, he had a clear understanding: although the Mingzhen Dao Alliance concerned itself with mundane matters like intelligence exchange and trade in spiritual goods, in order to build its reputation, it held an event every full moon night once every three months, where Daoists who had attained the level of Innate Qi—or even True Persons—would be invited.
To either preach the Dao, resolve doubts, or refine pills.
In this way, they attracted many cultivators to join the Alliance.
As for those Daoists who performed teachings or answered questions, they would be evaluated based on the quality of their teachings and, accordingly, be granted access to more rare information and precious spiritual materials.
The young host explained with polite sincerity: “If it is to preach, there is a jade-disc artifact ahead that will transmit your voice throughout the venue.”
“If it is to resolve doubts, then it will be done here. Over the past three months, we have gathered many jade slips and scrolls containing questions. You need only write your answers.”
“We will then display a notice that a [Daoist Master is answering questions] today.”
“In that case, the fellow Daoists within the Alliance will also submit their own questions into jade slips and send them forth.”
“As for pill refinement, our alliance provides the pill furnace.”
“Those seeking pills will deliver their own materials. Fellow Daoist may refine the pills directly.”
“May I ask which path fellow Daoist wishes to choose?”
Though he couldn’t quite discern this Daoist’s true strength, the Mingzhen Dao Alliance had its own established rules. Anyone able to arrive here through special means undoubtedly possessed some measure of ability and was absolutely not someone to offend lightly. Qi Wuhuo pondered briefly, then said: “I would like to exchange some items first. Would that be allowed?”
The youth smiled and said: “Naturally. Please follow me, fellow Daoist.”
He led Qi Wuhuo to a lower level of the pavilion. There, Qi Wuhuo sold some of the pills he had refined over the recent period, along with several items originally belonging to Tantai Xuan. The elder responsible for appraisals was surprised. After a moment of praise, he said: “The other items are rather ordinary, but this pillcraft—the refinement technique is impressively skillful. We’ll raise the value by three tiers.”
“With what our Alliance has in storage in the Central Continent(Zhongzhou), fellow Daoist can exchange for quite a bit.”
“Elixirs and wondrous pills, magical treasures and artifacts, and even secret inner techniques from various sects—not the core transmissions, of course—all are open for exchange.”
“What is it that fellow Daoist seeks?”
The young Daoist replied: “Information.”
“Haha. The Nine Provinces and Thirteen Regions—even the demon territories and the netherworld—our Dao Alliance has no shortage of information sources.”
“With this many offerings, fellow Daoist may exchange for quite a wealth of intelligence. What would you like to know?”
“The Calamity of Jinzhou, seven years ago.”
Those seven words seemed to carry some unusual weight. The elder’s expression became slightly solemn. He glanced at Qi Wuhuo, then at the items laid upon the table—which included much of the wealth Tantai Xuan had accumulated as a cultivator at the Innate Qi level, along with the fruits of Qi Wuhuo’s own pill-refining and herb-gathering efforts. It was no small transaction.
Yet in the end, the elder still withdrew his gaze and said gravely: “Not enough.”
“The events of Jinzhou that year—too many forces, too wide a web. With these, you can only purchase the outermost surface of that intelligence.”
“If you want more…”
“You’ll have to add to the offering.”
Qi Wuhuo exhaled slowly. He wasn’t surprised. He only asked: “How much can I know?”
The elder replied with a question of his own: “What do you wish to know?”
Qi Wuhuo closed his eyes for a long moment. Countless thoughts surged forth—there were too many things he wished to ask. In the end, he said:
“I want to know… whether the Mingzhen Dao Alliance was involved in the Calamity of Jinzhou that year. And if so—why?”
The elder said, “Please wait a moment.” He stepped away briefly. A moment later, he returned, arms full of old scrolls and records. After searching through them for some time, he answered: “This much I can tell you. The Mingzhen Dao Alliance did go to Jinzhou that year. Our Alliance Lord led the way personally. As for the purpose—It was to conduct a business transaction with the demon race.”
Doing business with the demon race.
Qi Wuhuo suddenly recalled the final glance he had exchanged with his teacher before parting.
He had seen the gentleman step into the demon market—
While high above, the banners of the Mingzhen Dao Alliance fluttered proudly in the wind.
The old man flipped through the scrolls and said: “In addition, according to our records, aside from the Mingzhen Dao Alliance, it seems a nearby sword sect that cultivates baleful qi also entered Jinzhou at the time. A certain branch of the Buddhist sect likewise stepped in. Apart from them, numerous small sects and wandering cultivators took the opportunity to slip in amid the chaos. Most likely in hopes of seizing some fortune while the world was in disarray, wouldn’t you say?”
The young Daoist asked: “The Mingzhen Dao Alliance went to do business.”
“Indeed.”
“What sort of business?”
“That… I do not have the authority to consult. Nor are your current offerings sufficient to exchange for that level of detail.”
“Then may I ask—was that trade, in the end, a profit or a loss for the Alliance?”
“Ah, that’s a simple answer. A great profit.”
“Is that so? Doing business with the demon nation and making a great profit?”
A stream of thoughts surfaced within the young Daoist’s heart, one after another, but he suppressed them all in turn. He then rose to his feet and looked to the youth beside him. “Please take me to the jade slips. I choose to [Resolve Doubts].”
The young Daoist was surprised, then replied courteously: “This way, please.”
The place to [Resolve Doubts] was located on the second floor. There, various questions were inscribed on jade slips.
These were left by members of the Dao Alliance after paying a certain price.
Whoever could resolve them would earn the Alliance points placed in escrow.
Qi Wuhuo did not choose those jade slips with the highest point values. Instead, he began with the simplest of cultivation questions.
The first one asked: How can one calm the heart and settle the breath during the practice of inner breathing?
It was worth only three Alliance points—not even equivalent to a single pill refined by Qi Wuhuo. The young Daoist lowered his gaze, pondered a moment, and then earnestly wrote his reply.
Since he was within the Dao Alliance, he deliberately used only his left hand to hold the brush, and wrote his answer upon a scroll.
Once completed, it was sent to the questioner through a method resembling the [Round Light Manifestation Technique].
The young Daoist serving him poured him a cup of tea before departing. As he walked to the rear of the hall, he shook his head and whispered softly to a companion: “I thought he was someone of great skill. Turns out he’s only answering the most basic questions. Those questions—we could answer them ourselves if we had more confidence. It’s just that we don’t dare commit the words to paper.”
“From what I can sense, his cultivation doesn’t seem high either.”
“Most likely came across some good fortune by chance, found himself a technique, and came here because of that.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“If others hear you, it would tarnish the Dao Alliance’s dignity. Aren’t you afraid of punishment?”
“Heh, if you don’t speak of it, who’s to know?”
But they had barely exchanged a few idle words when the young Daoist—who was in the middle of flipping through a Daoist scripture—suddenly received a message through voice transmission. His expression froze slightly. He turned back and said to his companion: “…That fellow—no, that Daoist Master… he’s answered all the basic questions and doubts that had been accumulating for months. And he received thanks for every single one of them.”
“I have to go now, to guide him to the place where the higher-tier questions are kept.”
“Get the tea ready for me, alright?”
“I want the good one—the tea I keep on the top shelf, the good tea!”
He rushed off in a flurry.
He brought the young Daoist to another hall. There, the jade slips were far fewer in number.
Each one bore a two-digit Dao Alliance point value.
The young Daoist handed over a cup of tea with a faint, bitter fragrance, then quietly withdrew.
He sighed to his friend: “Truly, one cannot judge a person by appearances, nor assess another by cultivation level alone.”
“These questions… even an ordinary Daoist would struggle to answer them.”
Yet before he had even read a third of the scripture in his hands, another message arrived. His face went pale, as though he had seen a ghost.
“He… he solved those too…?!!”
He set the scripture aside and said: “I’ll go guide him—”
But a deep voice responded: “You take a rest. I’ll go.”
The young Daoist looked up and saw a middle-aged man with a broad, square face walking over at an easy pace. The man said calmly:
“Go to my cave-dwelling and bring back my spirit tea.”
“Hm? Still standing there in a daze?”
“Go on.”
“Ah—yes, right away!”
This time, Qi Wuhuo sat at the very top floor of the tower. Looking down, he saw the night like flowing water, the moonlight cold and clear. People came and went, a stream of movement through the dark—so many figures, unending. A middle-aged Daoist brought over the spirit tea.
Qi Wuhuo had journeyed here, starting with the most basic of questions. Along the way, he had seen the doubts and obstacles faced by countless cultivators. And from his own perspective, he had attempted to provide answers.
He felt that his own understanding of cultivation had deepened even further.
There were not many questions in this place—in fact, there was only a single scroll.
The middle-aged Daoist smiled gently and said: “This question has been here for over a year now. It also carries the highest reward. Yet in this past year, though four Daoists and even one True Person have come here to expound the Dao, none have managed to resolve it.”
“Daoist, please.”
Qi Wuhuo unrolled the jade scroll and saw neat, upright handwriting, with a single line written:
[To cultivate solely with the Primordial Spirit, to temper it through thunder and fire, to refine away the yin quality.]
[Is this a path to the Great Dao?]
[Can it lead to immortality?]
Qi Wuhuo fell into contemplation. Then, lifting his brush with his left hand, he began to respond.
But this time, it was not a technique like the [Round Light Manifestation Technique] that delivered the reply. Instead, a spirit bird came of its own accord and carried off the scroll.
On the streets below, people bustled about. Some were selling spirit materials, others exchanging cultivation methods. Aside from all the participants being cultivators, it didn’t seem much different from the marketplaces of any ordinary city. Suddenly, a spirit bird descended from the sky. It swept past the heads of the crowd and folded its wings as it landed atop the central teahouse of the Mingzhen Dao Alliance. A pale hand reached out—its wrist white as frost and snow, its fingers long and slender.
“Hm? Someone else has given an answer?”
“Let me take a look.”
The voice was calm. The speaker wore Daoist robes and a mountain god mask.
Their eyes were large and soft.
Unfurling the scroll, they saw the answer written in upright strokes:
“No.”
“True cultivation follows the reversal of the Three into the Two, and the reversal of the Two into the One—this is the Great Dao.”
“To abandon the physical body and Primordial Essence, and rely solely on Primordial Qi fused with the Primordial Spirit—”
“Though one may attain great divine powers, such a realm still cannot compare to one who has gathered the Three Flowers atop the Head.”
“At its core, this path casts away the Primordial Essence and cannot return to the original point of innate spiritual nature.”
“It has technique, but no Dao. It is a dead end.”
The girl behind the mountain god mask narrowed her eyes slightly, falling quiet. Across from her, a young prince wearing a tiger-faced mask stiffened slightly. Ever since his older sister awoke, she had been pursuing the Great Dao with fervor. Naturally, she would never miss a Mingzhen Dao Alliance gathering—especially one that could help her decide her future path. She had already entrusted this riddle to the elder sister of the Cui clan the year before, posting it across the Nine Provinces.
Simply waiting for the day when some cultivator under heaven might offer true insight.
They had visited several places already, all with no result.
This was the first time he had seen her respond like this.
The young Junwang asked curiously: “Sister… what is it?”
Qiong Yu replied: “It’s nothing. I suppose I should also ask this True Person what further insight he might offer.”
Lifting her brush in her left hand, she wrote her reply on the scroll:
“To temper yin essence with thunder and fire may also reach a state of pure, indestructible yang. In the end, it is no different from the Daoist path of refining the spirit and returning to the void.”
“The Three Thousand Daos all lead to the same destination—what difference is there?”
“I humbly ask for your guidance.”
She added another portion of Dao Alliance points from within the Alliance’s internal system, then let the spirit bird deliver it.
Moments later, the spirit bird returned once more.
She looked at this new response, and saw: 【The Dao gives birth to One. One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three. Three gives rise to all things.】
【To abandon any one of these is to be incomplete at the root—just like a person missing one of their three souls. One may perhaps attain great divine powers, yet never approach the Original Dao that gave rise to all creation. As for what you said—tempering with thunder and fire—it is but drinking poison to quench thirst.】
【We cultivators should use our own rich and refined Primordial Qi to grind away the yin quality—this is to cultivate the self.】
【Whereas thunder and fire are the borrowing of external force.】
【Though the end result may appear similar, in truth they are two completely different paths.】
【One climbs the mountain peak step by steady step; the other longs to ride a carriage up.】
【I have never cultivated the path of the Yin Spirit, but I can make some cautious deductions—this path, no matter what divine abilities one cultivates, will never fully pass the tribulation of thunder. Each time, one may feel their yin essence diminish further, ever closer to pure yang—but always, a trace remains, never fully refined. The regret deepens, as though falling into a cycle of samsara.】
【As cultivation deepens, the next tribulation only becomes stronger.】
【In the end, carrying the regret of “just one more step,” one’s body perishes and the Dao vanishes—nothing more than that.】
The young prince noticed his elder sister suddenly pause.
Even with the mountain god mask covering her face, one could still sense the cold clarity of her presence. After a long while, the young girl sighed softly and said: “…The experiences I had in my dream… were just as he described. It seems, then, it was not that I failed to persist to the end. But rather, that the path of the Yin Spirit itself was inherently unworkable. Perhaps it can indeed raise one’s cultivation rapidly in the short term, yet the direction is already mistaken. In the end, it strays from the Great Dao. It is a dead end.”
“There is no attaining immortality.”
Qi Wuhuo had given his answer. Many of the Daoists present immediately began tallying, calculating the number of Dao Alliance points that his various jade slips had earned. Since the young Daoist had been answering questions all night, and the questions were numerous and varied, the calculation took quite a while. When the results were finally in, and compared, even the elder among them sighed with some regret: “Still short by one-third…”
“I hadn’t expected that the matter in Jinzhou would require so many Dao Alliance points… ‘immense’ is the only word for it.”
He sighed for a long while, unable to find a more fitting description than [immense].
Even so, two-thirds had already been completed—much of that thanks to the jade scroll that had been posted for over a year.
In other words, all the confusion-resolving jade slips accumulated over three months in a single province, when combined, had contributed less than one-fifth of the total points required to view this piece of information.
Just thinking of that left the elder sighing inwardly.
The young Daoist, however, showed no sign of discouragement.
The greater the price needed to uncover the truth behind the Jinzhou incident, the more it proved the matter was no simple one.
Knowing where the information lay—that alone was enough.
What remained now was to find a way to gather the necessary Dao Alliance points.
Whether it was through giving lectures, resolving doubts, or through Uncle Niu—there were methods. As he was about to rise, footsteps suddenly echoed. A young girl in green robes approached, wearing a fox mask. Her eyes were clear and bright. Upon seeing the only person in the building not dressed in Dao Alliance robes, she smiled and asked the nearby young Daoist: “The one who just answered my lady’s question—is it this Daoist here?”
After receiving confirmation, she turned to Qi Wuhuo, clasped her hands respectfully, and produced a jade thumb ring of deep emerald hue.
“My lady said to express her thanks to the Daoist for resolving her doubts.”
“Whatever the Daoist seeks to exchange for today—no matter what it is…”
“My lady will match the price!”
“Without question!”
