Chapter 158: Within the Taiji Diagram

Upon hearing Grand Supreme's words, Qing Xu's expression changed drastically, his heart plunging to the abyss. He had never imagined that the so-called potent remedy for his injuries would be this.

Nuwa, Houtu, Xuanming, and Wangshu were renowned as the absolute paragons among female cultivators in the primordial world. In particular, their seniority was by no means inferior to the Three Purities. How could he possibly dare to covet them? Furthermore, cultivators seeking the Dao of Immortality were forbidden from breaking their celibacy before attaining the Golden Immortal Realm of Da Luo. Otherwise, their primordial yang and primordial yin would leak, instantly shattering the gateway to Da Luo and forever extinguishing any chance of stepping into the realm of the Da Luo Golden Immortal.

"Disciple would rather accompany the Senior Grandmaster to the Tushou Palace!" Forced to choose the only path of survival with a bitter smile, it was not that Qing Xu did not desire a swift recovery; rather, the circumstances simply did not permit it. To say nothing of anything else, the choice of candidates alone was a monumental problem. Nuwa was a Primordial Saint of supreme status, entirely out of the question. Houtu and Xuanming were Ancestral Witches, which meant they, like the Three Purities, were descendants of Pangu; strictly speaking, they were kin, and engaging in dual cultivation with them would be tantamount to incest, something the Three Purities could never countenance. The remaining Lunar Goddess Wangshu was likewise no ordinary figure, her cultivation unfathomable. Although with Grand Supreme’s assistance, she could theoretically be captured by force to aid in his healing, the resulting karmic burden would be immense, and he would forfeit his path to Da Luo, a loss that far outweighed any gain!

"Forget it! A few thousand years is nothing, just consider it as tempering my mind and cultivating my character. Who knows, perhaps I can even follow by Grand Supreme's side to learn the Daoist doctrines of the Grand Pure and the art of alchemy. It seems that the future Daoist Duobao was also blessed by misfortune when he was captured by Grand Supreme during the War of Investiture of the Gods. Viewed in that light, this might not be a bad thing after all!" In the memories of Qing Xu's past life, towards the end of the War of Investiture of the Gods, the Clan of Elucidation advanced like a hot knife through butter, while the Clan of Interception suffered continuous defeats. Master Tongtian, consumed by rage and casting aside all decorum, personally deployed the Primordial World’s foremost killing formation, the Immortal-Slaying Sword Array, attempting to defy the heavens by blocking the righteous forces of Xiqi. This ultimately provoked all Four Saints to join forces against him, resulting in a disastrous defeat. His prime disciple, Duobao, was captured by Saint Grand Supreme using the Wind and Fire Cattail Fan amidst the chaotic melee, yet precisely because of this, he escaped the calamity of a violent death and the ordeal of being inscribed on the Investiture Register. Not only did he gain the opportunity to transform the Hu into the Buddha and become the patriarch of the Lesser Vehicle Buddhism, but he also integrated the doctrines of the three teachings into one, blazing a unique trail of his own—truly fulfilling the saying that fortune and misfortune are interwoven.

Xuanming remained silent. Although she also wished for Qing Xu to recover as swiftly as possible, she was well aware of the ultimate taboo for cultivators. With his cultivation currently falling short of Da Luo, once yin and yang intertwined for dual cultivation and healing, the consequences would be utterly unimaginable.

"Hehe! Qing Xu, your concerns are clear to me. However, the karmic law of the Heavenly Dao is not something you can alter, regardless of your willingness," Grand Supreme said with a complex gaze and a sigh.

"This disciple is dull-witted and fails to comprehend the profound moral teachings of the Senior Grandmaster. I beg the Senior Grandmaster to make it clear."

"The Heavenly Dao? The Heavenly Dao? Ah, the Heavenly Dao!" Without answering Qing Xu, Grand Supreme raised his head, closed his eyes, and was overcome with emotion. After a long while, he collected his thoughts and spoke no further to Qing Xu. With a flick of his hand, the Innate Supreme Treasure Taiji Diagram in his palm flew up, unfurling across the vault of heaven. A dazzling, mesmerizing sheen of black and white yin and yang radiated breathtaking divine light, while the rich and pure aura of innate yin and yang remained restrained within.

As soon as the Taiji Diagram unfurled, an irresistible, overpowering might descended upon Qing Xu and Xuanming. In an instant, the two transformed into streaks of light and vanished into the scroll.

Though merely a projection of a Saint, it was terrifying to this degree—capable of annihilating a quasi-saint with a glance, and fully capable of drawing in a quasi-saint with the power of the Taiji Diagram. No matter how Xuanming struggled, she could not alter her fate.

Watching Qing Xu and Xuanming enter the Taiji Diagram one after the other, Grand Supreme casually pointed a finger, and the unfurled scroll rolled back up...

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The endless innate yin and yang qi between heaven and earth combined to form all things.

Flowers, plants, trees, and forests—formed by the convergence of innate yin and yang qi!
Birds and beasts—likewise born from the gathering of innate yin and yang qi!
Mountains and rivers...
Waterfalls and hundreds of rivers...
Sun, moon, and stars...
......

This was a world belonging to yin and yang, where black and white were the dominant hues of this heaven and earth, admitting no third color.

The moment Qing Xu and Xuanming stepped into the innate yin and yang world within the Taiji Diagram, they instantly plunged into a daze, unable to distinguish east from west, north from south, up from down, or even remembering their past. Guided by the mysterious and esoteric power of yin and yang, the only things remaining in their minds and hearts were surging, turbulent...

Using the heavens as their canopy and the earth as their bed!

A sphere of black and white radiance formed a circular space dozens of meters in diameter, within which the supreme principles of yin and yang evolved. Countless Daoist runes fluttered wildly, and the innate yin and yang qi manifested into the virtual and tangible patterns of the Taiji.

Feeling as though a fire were burning in the depths of his soul, Qing Xu's eyes turned instantly bloodshot, stripping him of all rationality. In that moment, he felt only a scorching heat, an urgent need for cooling. Xuanming before him beckoned like a block of ice, drawing him in like a moth to a flame. In response, Xuanming was also gripped by a piercing cold, yet the fiery, blazing Qing Xu drove her to abandon all caution and lunge toward him. The two clawed and embraced each other, their lips locking...

Accompanied by a delicate, agonizing moan, water and milk blended together, and their hurried panting and groans echoed ceaselessly...

As the two of them intertwined like dragons and phoenixes dancing, the primordial yang and primordial yin within their bodies stirred restlessly. Outside their forms, phantoms of a fire dragon and an ice phoenix materialized. Dragon and phoenix coupled, yin and yang complemented one another, evolving the Dao of Yin and Yang.

"Ah!" Simultaneously, they reached the peak. One above, one below, the intense, scorching essence of innate primordial yang and the frigid, turbid essence of primordial yin burst forth...

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Everything that transpired within the Taiji Diagram was crystal clear to Grand Supreme,畢竟 it was orchestrated by him. At this moment, he too was flooded with a myriad of conflicting emotions. By his own inclination, he would naturally have preferred to let Qing Xu spend a few millennia slowly recovering from his injuries, but some matters were not for him to decide.

Memories of the time before he bestowed the Grand Pure Immortal Talisman upon Qing Xu surfaced in his mind, and Grand Supreme let out a dark sigh. Even a Saint could not act according to their own will!

"Qing Xu lives along a pre-set path of the Dao, but how much better off am I? By comparison, knowing more only breeds greater helplessness and deeper torment. A Saint? Undying and indestructible? Truly undying and indestructible—even desiring death is nothing more than an extravagant hope," Grand Supreme mused to himself.

In truth, Qing Xu had not been entirely unaware that something was amiss; he had simply chosen not to probe deeply, or perhaps lacked the courage to do so, opting instead to comfort himself and harbor wishful thinking. The moment he first obtained the Grand Pure Immortal Talisman and discovered its functions, a sense of astonishment had already arisen within him. The "One Qi Transforms the Three Purities" and the Three Purities Avatars were absolute secrets of Grand Supreme. According to the memories of his past and present lives, from primordial times down to the present day, probably only Daoist Hongjun knew that Grand Supreme practiced this technique (Qing Xu, being a transmigrator, was an exception). Even his two biological brothers had been kept in the dark, yet Grand Supreme had imparted it to him without the slightest concealment. How could there not be something fishy about that?

It was precisely because his subconscious sensed something suspicious about the Grand Pure Immortal Talisman that Qing Xu had consistently avoided using it unless driven to absolute extremity. Yet now, driven to extremity, he had used it after all. His life was saved, but countless shadows had descended upon Qing Xu.

This was a river of the grandest, most inconceivable conspiracies, open stratagems, and devious plots since time immemorial... Once plunged into its depths, only a single individual could ever step onto the pinnacle.

This was a game of chess laid out and evolved since the very dawn of primordial chaos and the boundless void; no one could escape it. To enter the board and contend for supremacy offered a sliver of survival; to remain outside was to be reduced to dust. This was a grand trend that no one could alter.

As a Primordial Saint and the eldest disciple of the Six Saints of the Heavens, Grand Supreme understood countless deep secrets, yet the more he knew, the more his sense of helplessness lingered. This game... he held not the slightest shred of hope of winning. The absolute most he could strive for was perhaps just to delay his own demise!

"The clear and the turbid, the yin and the yang flow as one, and the grand trend is about to unfold. Qing Xu, what role exactly do you play in this grand design? Why does Master hold you in such regard and offer you his help?" Thoughts churned like waves, yet they lacked a beginning or an end. They were tangled and complicated; untangling even the smallest thread was enough to fill him with dread.

"Bad Daoist, quickly let my brother go!" Little Kunlun's furious roar pierced his ears, snapping Grand Supreme back to his senses.

When he turned his attention to Little Kunlun, with all his divine insight, Grand Supreme found himself entirely unable to read her background. This shock was by no means trivial. He immediately began pinching his fingers to calculate, but a layer of mist obstructed his vision, preventing him from uncovering the slightest trace. Moreover, the Heavenly Dao issued a warning: if he continued to probe deeper, he would court his own disaster.

"An artifact spirit? This little girl is an artifact spirit. Exactly what kind of magical treasure is she the spirit of, and why does the Heavenly Dao obscure the heavenly secrets and forbid me from pursuing the matter further?" With Grand Supreme's level of cultivation, discovering Little Kunlun's background should have been effortless—whether through soul-searching, mind-probing, or directly reviewing her memories, there were numerous methods. Yet now, warned by the Heavenly Dao, he dared not proceed any further. For the moment, he could only suppress his incomprehension, frowning as he gazed at Little Kunlun, while also casting a glance at the Black and White Impermanence, the Three-Headed Hellhound, and Ying Ku. Not paying much attention before, looking at them now, his heart filled with inexplicable astonishment.

"Good grief, three great yin spirits, an ancient shadow clan member, and this mysterious magical treasure artifact spirit—my junior nephew is truly no ordinary character!" Deep down, Grand Supreme even felt a trace of envy toward Qing Xu. In terms of cultivation, they were not in the same league; to put it bluntly, if Grand Supreme's true form merely willed it in his mind, Qing Xu would instantly be reduced to ashes. They were simply not on the same conceptual plane. Yet he alone knew that cultivation did not represent everything. Sometimes, things that appeared extremely humble and insignificant were utterly irreplaceable. At the very least, the fates of the Six Saints of the Heavens were already sealed, unavoidable no matter how they struggled. But Qing Xu's fate remained an unknown—there was still hope.

Swish!

Seeing that Grand Supreme ignored her, Little Kunlun grew instantly enraged. A spatial blade sliced through the void, slashing vertically toward the center of his brow with fierce intensity. Even a Da Luo Golden Immortal would have had to temporarily evade the sharpness of this strike. How could a Saint's projection possibly be injured? The spatial blade passed straight through Grand Supreme's projection as if encountering nothing at all, shooting away tens of thousands of miles into the distance before dissipating into nothingness.

"Sigh! A projection is nothingness; visible to the naked eye, yet illusory. Neither spiritual sense nor mental perception can truly perceive it, and nothing in heaven and earth can inflict even the slightest harm upon it..." Ying Ku muttered to himself, his emotions not yet fully recovered, primarily because the overwhelming might of the Saint had dealt him too immense a shock.

"Little Shadow Clan member, signing the Heavenly Dao master-servant contract with my nephew is your fortune. Do not harbor any disloyal thoughts, or I shall ensure you find death a welcome release from life." How could Ying Ku's resentment escape Grand Supreme's Saint-like gaze? He calmly issued a warning.

A chill ran through his entire body. Sweat poured like waterfalls down Ying Ku's forehead, terror plastered across his face, and he hurriedly dropped to his knees, kowtowing. "This humble person will surely surrender with utmost sincerity and dare not harbor any double intentions!" This was no mere perfunctory remark; having witnessed the terrifying might of a Saint, how could he possibly dare to harbor any petty schemes?

"See that you do!" Glancing sideways at Ying Ku, Grand Supreme did not deign to waste words with him, choosing instead to ignore him entirely. Ultimately, he was merely a tiny ant; why bestow excessive attention upon him? He simply wasn't worthy!

[I haven't been in the best of moods these past few days, lacking inspiration for writing, so please bear with it! Writing books requires the right emotional state; in a slump, it's hard to write anything substantial. Qing Xu has tried his best. Finally, I ask for your collections, recommendation votes, tips, and whatever else you care to offer—the more, the better!]