Chapter 2
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 2: The Origin of Tong Yao and the Blank Tao
This is a floating "island" that measures thirty meters in all directions.
Tong Yao looked down below.
At this moment, the place she was at was approximately three thousand meters above the ground, and the wide open space at the peak of Qiongming appeared to her as something that could fit within the span of her hand.
She lifted her head again and carefully surveyed the surrounding environment.
There is a pavilion standing on the island, inside of which there are stone tables and chairs.
In fact, there are also tables and chairs placed outside the pavilion, but they are located on a shallow pool of water.
Although not very refined, there is still a subtle charm to it.
This was originally a creation of the creator Bai Lian’s sudden impulse, so naturally she didn’t spend too much time refining it.
If she truly wanted to undertake this, she would have to wait until everything had calmed down.
"Come sit down, Martial Sister Tong Yao."
Bai Lian sat on a floating stone bench on the water.
She moved very naturally, as if she considered it her home and didn’t see Tong Yao as an outsider.
She tucked her legs slightly to the side, took off her shoes and socks in front of Tong Yao, and placed them next to the stone bench. Then, she playfully slid her feet back and forth into the water, feeling its refreshing chill.
The ripples on the water’s surface danced, and tiny splashes glistened like a thousand stars, breaking apart the crescent moon.
"Mmm."
Bai Lian raised her arms high, stretched lazily, and murmured a vague yet cute sound.
Then, she laid her hands flat on the stone table and slightly bowed, like a lady waiting for her meal to be served.
Tong Yao, who stood quietly beside and watched this scene, breathed hesitantly.
Tong Yao has seen this scene several times before.
But…
["Is this the Blank Tao?" she wondered.]
Tong Yao looked at the Dirty Knife tucked in her sleeve – its blade darkened over time, showing the marks of aging.
[This is, after all, a knife that has been left behind for ten thousand years.]
To everyone in the world, ten thousand years is too long of a time.
But for her, this situation is somewhat special. Just close her eyes and open them again, and ten thousand years will have passed.
The white world in front of Tong Yao finally disappeared, replaced by Bai Lian’s delicate and tender figure.
"Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, please wait a moment."
She rolled up her sleeves, and the hidden knife in them was no longer visible.
Walking to the water’s edge, she kicked off her wooden clogs, mimicking Bai Lian’s manner and stepping onto the clear water’s surface to approach the table.
"Here there are preserved pork with dried mustard greens, sweet and sour pork, stir-fried bamboo fungus with Dragon Well tea…"
She slightly bent her waist, deftly taking out each dish and bowl from the basket already placed on the table by Bai Lian.
Bai Lian’s eyes gradually lit up.
Is this a surprise?
She didn’t hold any expectations for Tong Yao’s cooking skills.
Miss Tong suffered in the first half of her life and didn’t have the chance to learn cooking. After joining the Duxian sect and being favored by Master Qin, there was no need to learn such things anymore.
Nevertheless, the dishes she made today had a delightful color, a delightful aroma, and one could estimate that the taste was not far behind.
Perhaps she was only a little worse than her, who was the chef of Qiongming Peak!
Tong Yao sat down accordingly, placed the basket at her feet, and pushed the bowl and chopsticks to Bai Lian.
"Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, please try it."
"Okay."
Bai Lian behaved naturally, she tasted every dish first.
Tong Yao, with both hands propping up her cheeks, looked at Bai Lian with a smile and asked, "How is it?"
Bai Lian nodded, "It tastes very good."
Tong Yao seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief, "That’s good, after all, it has been a long time since I cooked. I was afraid that I had forgotten all my skills."
Bai Lian said, "I never thought that Martial Sister Tong Yao had this trick up her sleeve."
Tong Yao smiled gracefully and said, "Neither did I. There were several times when I thought I would never see Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian again, but time has a funny way of bringing people together. Not only did we reunite, but I also became her Martial Sister. Perhaps this is fate."
"…"
Bai Lian stared blankly at Tong Yao.
Her gaze was gentle, not making Tong Yao feel uncomfortable at all.
"Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, what’s wrong?"
Bai Lian said, "I suddenly feel that you are not yourself today."
"…"
"If it were any other day, if I praised your cooking skills, you would have already stood up happily."
"…"
This is indeed a piercing remark.
It’s no wonder that Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, is so proficient in matters like this.
Tong Yao lowered her head and after a while, she raised it again.
She asked, "What does Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian think of the Duxian sect?"
"The Duxian sect?" Bai Lian lightly pinched her chin and pondered for a moment, "To me, it’s probably like a home."
"Home?"
"My original home became broken and shattered long ago. Considering the place where the people I love and who love me are as my home feels natural to me."
"So…"
Tong Yao’s lips twitched.
She stood up suddenly, hesitated for a moment, and then sat down again, staring straight at Bai Lian.
"Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, do you like me?"
Ah?
Bai Lian was stunned. Was it such a straightforward question?
She didn’t choose to be evasive. In fact, after roughly knowing her own identity, what she wanted to do now was to express her feelings to her Master and Martial Sister.
Some things are better left unsaid now, as they may never be said again in future.
Bai Lian looked back at Tong Yao, and gazed upon the Martial Sister Tong Yao’s charming and lovely countenance, her docile purple locks, her slender form, and her nervous yet unaware expression, and slowly uttered, "I have a liking for you, a love that desires to be eternal with Martial Sister Tong Yao."
Forever?
Tong Yao’s breathing gradually became rapid.
Her right hand pressed on her left hand, and in the end, she didn’t know where to place both of her hands.
"I… Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, you… ah, I…"
Suddenly, Tong Yao’s body stiffened.
She dumbly lowered her head, and saw Bai Lian extend her feet, coated with blue nail polish, from under the table towards her.
Her big toe slightly raised, along with the toes beside it, gently pinched the tip of her toe like a pair of small tweezers.
The skin on Tong Yao’s toes was rubbed back and forth, an unusual itch stimulating her brain like an electric current, rendering her momentarily blank.
Don’t be like this.
Hastily, she pulled her foot back and stood upright with firmness after realizing that it was futile to flee from the hunting range of Bai Lian’s foot.
"Behold, the beauty of the moon tonight is truly captivating."
Bai Lian retracted her feet.
She graciously lifted her right foot in front of Tong Yao, then propped it on her plump left thigh.
Oh.
If it was "Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian" here, Martial Sister Tong Yao would have been punished on the spot.
"Martial Sister Tong Yao, what do you think of me?"
Tong Yao hesitated and said, "From my perspective, I don’t have an answer yet."
"Hmm, I understand."
Bai Lian continued to eat her vegetables, with such delicacies in front of her, not eating would be a waste, wouldn’t it?
Tong Yao stood beside her, bewildered and almost forgetting how she managed to go through.
When she came down from the floating island, it was almost 11 o’clock.
"Did we really stay there for a whole hour?"
Tong Yao scratched her head.
She carefully tried to recall what had happened during that hour, but in the end, all she remembered was the moon, the food she had cooked herself, and the fair and tender feet of Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian.
Feet.
Tong Yao who was walking behind lowered her head and sneakily glanced at Bai Lian’s feet.
Swaying and fragrant.
Previously, she never thought that feet were a special feature, but from today on, her perspective seems to have changed slightly.
"Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, you think the Duxian sect is your home. Is it mainly due to Master… An Lan?"
Bai Lian didn’t even turn her head and replied, "No, because of all of you."
Clang.
Suddenly she heard the sound of metal falling on the ground.
As she turned her head, she saw Tong Yao bending down to pick up the Dirty Knife.
"This is…"
"Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, I don’t need it for now."
Tong Yao handed her the knife.
Bai Lian said, "This is yours."
"This knife is made of the Earth Absolute Stone of the Nine Ghostly Prisons. In theory, it can kill all living creatures in the world. Leave it to Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, it may be more useful." Tong Yao forcefully stuffed the knife into Bai Lian’s hand.
Bai Lian stared blankly at the knife she received from Yougui.
Above the blue sky and below the yellow springs.
The Yellow Springs spoken of in the mortal world refer to the Nine Ghostly Prisons spoken of by cultivators.
That was where Yin and Yang collided, giving birth to reincarnation itself.
Was this knife originally made from the divine object in the Nine Ghostly Prisons?
Tong Yao stepped back several steps, "Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, I’ll go back to Qingyu Peak first, there are still many things waiting for me there."
"Ah, okay."
Bai Lian didn’t stop Tong Yao.
Tong Yao turned around and ran towards Qingyu Peak quickly. Not far away, she still heard Bai Lian’s reminder behind her.
"Be careful, don’t fall."
I already possess the strength nearly equivalent to that of the Transmigration Stage. How could I possibly fall down?
Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian underestimates her too much.
Tong Yao made her way through the small path among the mountains and returned to her bamboo house that she rebuilt on Qingyu Peak.
Thump.
She jumped onto the bed and rolled around, staring at the ceiling for a while before finally lifting her right hand and rubbing her forehead with its back.
She went to find Bai Lian because she intended to kill her.
However, she stubbornly couldn’t bring herself to do it.
As she held the knife, she felt as though she was holding up the whole world and couldn’t move even a single bit forward!
"Many people say that Path Master Ganlu is cold as frost, but that’s not entirely true."
Another Ten Thousand Poison Pearl drifted out of Tong Yao’s chest, emitting a cold blue light that illuminated the dim room.
The Ten Thousand Poison Pearl?
Actually, this is not the treasure pearl that controls all the poisons in the world.
This is Tong Yao, the undead girl, Ganlu the former Path Master of the Path of Wanjie Dharma, who, before becoming the Heavenly Lord, entered the holy land of the Wanjie Dharma Pool on the Path of Wanjie Dharma, and found the treasure pearl after searching through the Nine Ghostly Prisons behind the pool.
It has no name, and is divided into two yin and yang pearls. The yin bead knows all the yin and strange things in the world, while the yang bead witnesses all the violent catastrophes in the world.
That day, she took the yang preal, and using this as an opportunity, sank into the river of time. She spent three thousand years refining the [Ten Thousand Calamities Refining Cultivation Method] into the Heavenly Lord’s Tao. Thus, she finally attained the Great Tao and became a Heavenly Lord.
Speaking of which, Tong Yao does have some regrets.
"If I had taken that yin pearl too, then Mingzhou’s calamity might not have happened, right?"
When the yang bead scattered, the aura of the yin pearl leaked out, causing everyone to fight over it.
After a bloody battle, someone brought the Yin Pearl through countless obstacles to the East Divine Land, but due to serious injuries, he self-destructed into madness, turning the previously prosperous Mingzhou into the Sand Region.
Tong Yao let out a sigh.
The vicissitudes of life are ever-changing, and the more she delved into the abyss of fate, the more she realized that it was not easy to grasp the network of the great Tao.
After becoming the Heavenly Lord, her greatest dream was not to make the Path of Wanjie Dharma the number one school in the world, but to eliminate all suffering in the world!
The esteemed Path Master Ganlu was not a conceited person. She didn’t believe that she could truly achieve such a magnificent feat that would surpass all Saints. Therefore, she decided to start with a smaller task first–
To end the cycle of great calamities that had repeated for billions of years!
All signs indicate that there was no such thing as a great calamity at the beginning of the world.
If that’s the case, then ending the great calamity is not an impossible task!
After a long period of deduction and investigation, she narrowed her target down to the Blank Tao.
That white in the myriad of dao is an exception, more like a loophole in the heavens.
Perhaps as long as we find a way to plug that hole, everything can return to the way it was.
How to plug it?
She chose the simplest method, just wipe out the Blank Tao and everything will be done.
She was completely uninterested in becoming a Faramita Immortal. By wiping out the Blank Tao, she could also avoid the chaos that would ensue when many people fought over it during the great disaster, making the already chaotic Immortal World even more chaotic.
After setting her goal, she began preparing for execution.
She collected the rare Jue Stones to make a knife that was said to be capable of killing all living creatures in the world. She believed that it could wipe out the Blank Tao, didn’t she?
After making full preparations, she found the renowned Immortal Heavenly Lord in the Immortal World.
Perhaps unknown to others, she knew that the Blank Tao was on the Immortal Heavenly Lord and she had not yet integrated it.
This is the Blank Tao passed down from the previous era. After getting rid of this Blank Tao, she still had to eliminate the newly born Blank Tao.
People didn’t know the truth, so they assumed that she was going to kill the Immortal Heavenly Lord.
When the news spread, the Immortal World was shaken.
However, what they said was not entirely wrong. Only when she met Immortal Heavenly Lord did she realize how much value she placed on the Blank Tao. If she wanted to erase the Blank Tao, she could only kill Immortal Heavenly Lord first.
She sat opposite Immortal Heavenly Lord for a long time before finally leaving.
She didn’t have a surefire chance of winning, and if she couldn’t determine a winner, news of the Blank Tao on Immortal Heavenly Lord could be leaked.
Instead of that, it would be better to let the Blank Tao continue to remain on Immortal Heavenly Lord. As her strength was outstanding, there were only a handful of people in the world who dared to challenge her.
And then…
Path Master Ganlu heard the news of the downfall of the Immortal Heavenly Lord.
This news was no less than a bombshell to her!
She frantically searched for Red Dust Heavenly Lord’s trail, but it seemed as if Red Dust Heavenly Lord had evaporated from this world, leaving no trace behind, as if this person had never existed.
If the Blank Tao manages to escape and falls into the hands of someone else, this great calamity will continue.
She was unwilling to accept it.
However, even with her skills in Tianyan, she could not predict the whereabouts of the Blank Tao, and only managed to locate its birthplace – the decrepit Land of Immortals!
The path of this world has already become impassable. In order to pursue what her heart desires, Path Master Ganlu resolutely travels upstream the river of time.
She overcame countless obstacles and paid a great price to finally return to the Land of Immortals, a place where the laws of time were in chaos, back thousands of years.
Heavenly Lord, with her insight into the Great Tao and her aura, is not bound by space and can travel through time, severing the past and eliminating the future.
In the long river of time, she will not only have to face the Blank Tao itself, but also the Immortal Heavenly Lord from any downstream location.
This matter is extremely dangerous and she may even end up dead there.
However, Path Master Ganlu didn’t expect that the real danger didn’t come from the Immortal Heavenly Lord.
After she arrived in the Land of Immortals, she spent a long time searching for the Void Domain, and during this time, the Immortal Heavenly Lord didn’t stop her. What truly plunged her into the crisis were the "primordial ghosts" that wandered in the Land of Immortals.
Already severely wounded, she finally fell in the icy snow under the erosion of the "primordial ghosts."
"I still can’t do it."
With her profile resting against the cold, hard rock, the gaze of Path Master Ganlu gradually blurred.
She was born into poverty, grew up in poverty, and ultimately perished in poverty.
From a woman slave who was arbitrarily beaten and abused, she became a genius in the Immortal World, with her grand ambition always being the elimination of all suffering in the world.
But this goal was still too heavy for her to bear.
With just herself, relying on her frail body, she ultimately could not achieve anything.
So what if the Heavenly Lord can?
Before crossing the Other Shore, they are equally insignificant in the eyes of the Heavenly Tao.
"Even if it’s just a glance, just one glance, at least let me confirm that the Blank Tao has not fallen into the hands of those with intentions…"
In agony, with such thoughts in mind, Path Master Ganlu crawled inch by inch towards the north.
She forgot how long she had been crawling.
After a night of heavy snow, thick snow buried her, revealing only the back of her head.
If it were a person with a strong body, perhaps it would not be so tragic, but she was born delicate.
She doesn’t want to either.
Her experiences in her youth prevented her from growing up, left her undernourished and underdressed, and getting hit was a regular occurrence. When she was rescued, her weight was only half of a normal person her age.
"But it was precisely because I was born small that it caused so many things to happen afterwards, right?"
Tong Yao reached out and grasped the other Ten Thousand Poison Pearl.
Only now is she able to connect the different lives of Path Master Ganlu, the undead girl, and Tong Yao.
On that boundless expanse of ice.
Path Master Ganlu died, but not completely.
Her soul shattered, forgetting everything, and at the moment of her death, because her purple hair was revealed in the white snow, looking like a bright flower, she fortunately caught the attention of the wandering unseen beings in the North Luzhou.
Yes.
The unseen being is the Blank Tao, who slipped out from the Void Domain!
She sensed the warmth of the Blank Tao and awakened from the brink of chaos.
She finally met the Blank Tao, but by then she had already forgotten who she was, her purpose, and couldn’t even see the Blank Tao.
She only vaguely felt that there was someone beside her.
Are you afraid?
Not very afraid.
She could sense the goodwill of that invisible friend. It was precisely with that goodwill that she walked out of the ice field unknowingly and stumbled into the tomb of the Lord of Reincarnation. Finally, she fell into the gap between yin and yang, and obtained a curse called "undead".
In the following years, the undead girl and the Blank Tao walked together on the snowy ground of North Luzhou, living days with no goals, but with the purest happiness.
This was a life she had never experienced as Path Master Ganlu.
However, one day, perhaps the Blank Tao grew weary of it all, and she vanished!
She came and went silently, leaving no trace behind.
Consequently, the undead girl without support collapsed, and she embarked on the path of seeking death.
After countless attempts, she found her discarded Dirty Knife.
Inside the warm room, she poured out her longing to the air, then calmly plunged the knife into her chest.
The undead girl, regardless of life or death, doesn’t enter the cycle of reincarnation.
After ten thousand years, she finally ushered in her third life–
Tong Yao!
Perhaps having suffered enough, after experiencing a poor childhood, she was rescued by her master on the road of escape.
The Duxian sect, was the home of Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, and also her own home.
It was this home that brought them together.
Fate, it’s indescribably wonderful.
"No wonder I felt particularly familiar with Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian when I met her for the first time."
"No wonder I spared no effort to praise Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian."
It turned out that the lines had already been drawn.
Tong Yao turned over, but she didn’t make a mistake. Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian was indeed a Natural Saint.
If not a Natural Saint, then what is the Blank Tao transformed person?
"Based on the timeline, after leaving me, Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian should have gone to find An Lan, right?"
And then the two of them spent nearly ten thousand years together!
Tong Yao pursed her lips, then bit on her lower lip.
She somewhat understood why An Lan didn’t merge with the Blank Tao.
To An Lan, the Blank Tao was not the Blank Tao, but Bai Lian.
Just as for her, the Blank Tao was not the Blank Tao, but Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian.
Actually, it’s not wrong to say so. Tong Yao didn’t know what had happened during this period, but she couldn’t feel any trace of the Blank Tao from Bai Lian.
The former Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian had a cold body, unlike a living person, but now, both inside and outside, Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian is no different from a living person.
The moment she took back the knife, she was already thinking about this matter.
If she stabbed with that knife, would she really have killed the Blank Tao?
She didn’t know.
She only knew that as she looked at this version of Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian, memories of the time they spent together flashed through her mind – like the time when Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian brought her to the Hades Hall, and the time when Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian went to the Bronze Valley to help save her parents.
In the end, she truly could not bring herself to act.
"I am Path Master Ganlu, but I am also the undead girl, and even more so, Tong Yao."
Tong Yao sat up.
She stared at the pearl in her hand for a long time, and now she no longer needed it.
She got up and went out, returning to the Qiongming Peak once again, where she found Su Youwei and Hong Yi by the bath.
"Here, take this."
"Huh?"
Su Youwei, who caught the beads, was stunned.
Tong Yao said, "These two beads were originally a pair. I have no use for them, so I give them to you."
Su Youwei couldn’t help but ask, "What is the use of the Ten Thousand Poison Pearl?"
Tong Yao replied, "It depends on how you use it."
She didn’t want to say more. Su Youwei asked in vain and could only say a thank you.
"Tong Yao has changed," murmured Su Youwei.
Hong Yi nodded and said "Hmm."
Tong Yao left after this, without returning to Qingyu Peak. Before going back, there was still something she wanted to make clear.
She had to go find An Lan and ask why An Lan and Elder Martial Sister Bai Lian came here. She also wanted to find out what happened during the battle between Immortal Heavenly Lord and Red Dust Heavenly Lord.
Although An Lan was not in the Duxian sect, she had found a way to locate An Lan.
Someone who could create the Ten Thousand Calamities Refining Cultivation Method would surely have some means.
She only pieced together An Lan’s whereabouts by relying on the magic array left in the cave by An Lan.
"Is she still in the East Divine Land? Then it will be easy to handle."
Tong Yao flashed away from the Duxian sect.
In a mountain cave, she caught a glimpse of An Lan’s presence.
As she walked towards the cave entrance, she was about to enter when suddenly a sharp scream from a woman echoed out from inside.
"Ahhh-"
"?"
Tong Yao’s steps froze.
What the hell is this sound?
