It's All False!

Xu Ying followed Daoist Yuqing past the Daoists. Watching the jaws of those skeletal Daoists open and close as they continued chanting, he could not help feeling a chill. In life, faced with a tremendous threat, these Daoists had concentrated their spirits and united their wills, fusing everyone's essence, qi, spirit, soul, Dao, and magic arts into a singular whole to form a mighty torrent and an indestructible shield! Each and every one of them had become part of the torrent, part of the shield. Even when some among them died, they were swept forward by the torrent, rushing on without end. Even when all had died, the torrent carried on! Only when their lingering wills completely faded would this bizarre sight of skeletal Daoists chanting scriptures vanish. Only then would they collapse to the ground and turn to nothingness. However, their wills were imprinted upon the Shangqing Great Cavern Abyss, so fading completely was no simple matter. "They were Shangqing disciples who cultivated the Yellow Court Scripture," Daoist Yuqing sighed. "When the Dao weeping came, the Yellow Court Scripture failed to hold it back." Daoist Yuqing stepped forward, heading deeper into the Shangqing Great Cavern Abyss. Moments later, another immortal mountain came into Xu Ying's view. "The Shangqing Great Cavern True Scripture failed to hold it back as well." The auspicious cloud descended, and Xu Ying followed Daoist Yuqing into the immortal mountain's Yubao Azure Palace. Within this Daoist temple were also rows of skeletons. Numerous skeletal Daoists were still chanting the Shangqing Great Cavern True Scripture, as though continuing their stand against an enemy. Luminescence radiated from those skeletons, and chains of Dao patterns were even coiled around their bones. Behind them, Dao trees had taken shape, intertwining and growing into the void to form an imposing forest! Xu Ying had thought the forest of Dao trees within the Taishang Cavern Abyss was already magnificent and eerie enough. He had never expected that the seemingly peaceful, paradisiacal Shangqing Great Cavern Abyss would also be this terrifying. He passed through the forest of Dao trees belonging to these skeletal Daoists. The shimmering Dao light upon the thick trunks bore testament to just how powerful these individuals had been in life! Yet they had died here in this bizarre fashion, reduced to mere bones. They arrived at the next immortal mountain and entered Yuhua Azure Palace. Yuhua Azure Palace was likewise filled with skeletal Daoists, skeleton after skeleton presenting a shocking sight. Daoist Yuqing said, "Even disciples who cultivated both the Yellow Court Scripture and the Shangqing Great Cavern True Scripture could not withstand it." Their cultivation and attainments had been even higher, yet they too had failed to withstand the Dao weeping. When the Dao weeping struck, neither the Yellow Court Scripture nor the Shangqing Great Cavern True Scripture was of any use. They pressed farther ahead to the front of the immortal mountain, where a first layer of defense, formed from magic treasures by the Shangqing immortals, stood to ward off the Dao weeping. This barrier was composed of countless colossal immortal artifacts, shaped like a Taiji diagram. Looming in front of the mountain, it was vaster than the immortal mountain itself. Were any single one of these immortal artifacts taken outside, people would surely fight tooth and nail for it! Xu Ying, Daoist Yuqing, and the others landed upon this titanic barrier of immortal artifacts. Looking around, the massive yin-yang fish were still rotating, sun and moon leaping forth from reincarnation. Yet the sun had long since extinguished, and the moon had turned pitch-black and ice-cold. Xu Ying had never before witnessed an immortal artifact of such grandeur! All-encompassing, this treasure incorporated the quintessence of both the Yellow Court Scripture and the Shangqing Great Cavern True Scripture into a gargantuan barrier sufficient to withstand the assault of a Supreme! Xu Ying took a step forward, and a cracking sound suddenly rang out beneath his feet. He hastily halted and examined it closely, only to discover that the immortal artifact underfoot had lost all spiritual energy, its Dao patterns mostly shattered. This immense Taiji immortal artifact barrier was already ruined. "Fellow Daoist Taiqing and I both lost." Daoist Yuqing stood atop the barrier of immortal artifacts, his face laden with grief. "We both thought we had comprehended the true Shangqing Great Dao. Yet the Dao weeping proved that neither of the Shangqing Great Daos we comprehended was the genuine one." Xu Ying asked, "Since the disciples of Shangqing could not withstand the Dao weeping, what about you, Dao Brother? Could you not withstand it either?" Daoist Yuqing shook his head. "Before the Dao weeping arrived, many fellow Daoists sensed that the world was about to change, and all were speculating about the cause. The moment the emerald rock flew away, I followed it, preparing to head to the other shore to investigate. I left only my Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit behind to guard the bodhimanda." A mere Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit naturally lacked the immense power needed to combat the Dao weeping. Afterward came the catastrophe where the Immortal Realm supplanted the Ancestral Court. The Yuqing Dao Ancestor's Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit was also destroyed, and his bodhimanda shattered. Only the Shangqing Great Cavern Abyss survived, untouched and unseized by the Immortal Realm. "In the face of the Dao weeping, even someone who has achieved Daluo Golden Immortal could only barely protect themselves," Daoist Yuqing said, "and even a Daluo Golden Immortal would suffer severe damage to their cultivation and strength, leaving them diminished compared to the past." "Daluo Golden Immortal should be the realm of a Supreme, right?" Xu Ying could not help being alarmed. Even a Supreme could only manage self-preservation? Composing himself, he asked, "What exactly is the Dao weeping? Where does it come from? Why did it form?" Daoist Yuqing shook his head. "The Dao weeping is hard to describe. One can only hear the Great Dao wailing, as though a chilling wind blows from the deepest depths of the cavern abyss. When the Dao weeping strikes, no divine power or Dao method can resist it. A lifetime of cultivation is reduced to nothing in an instant; any magic treasure turns to dross. I am merely the Yuqing Dao Ancestor's Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit. While I know something of the past, I am not very clear on what causes the Dao weeping." Xu Ying stood atop the Taiji immortal artifact barrier, gazing toward the end of the Shangqing Great Cavern Abyss. They were no longer very far from the end. Standing on the immortal artifact, one could clearly sense the Shangqing Great Dao and its vast, unfathomable power, an aura that made one instinctively long to comprehend and master such might. Yet the direction this gargantuan Taiji immortal artifact faced to block happened to be the deepest depths of the Shangqing Great Cavern Abyss. It was as though they had sought to fend off something originating from deep within the Shangqing Great Cavern Abyss! Xu Ying looked in that direction and asked in bewilderment, "Dao Brother, what lies in the depths of the Shangqing Great Cavern Abyss?" Daoist Yuqing said, "That was where Fellow Daoist Taiqing and I comprehended the Dao. There is nothing else." He led them onward, and before long they reached the end of the Shangqing Great Cavern Abyss. Just as he had said, it was a translucent expanse, with Dao light shining indeterminately from an unknown source. Comprehending the Dao here would yield far more than double the result for half the effort. Xu Ying had seen a great rift in the Taishang Cavern Abyss, but there was no fissure here. He had originally thought the Dao weeping stemmed from a rift in the cavern abyss, but now it appeared his guess had been mistaken. Daoist Yuqing remarked, "However, back then a group of people cultivated using the cavern abysses yet did not perish beneath the Dao weeping. Not long ago, a monkey even came to me looking for a handout, asking for a treasure to give to his savior. That monkey is one of those who cultivated a cavern abyss and survived." Xu Ying's heart stirred. "Daoist Wukong." Daoist Yuqing gave him an amused look. "He came to me to solicit an opportunity for you. He is a Great Sage of the demon race. I saw him back in those days—a remarkably outstanding junior of the demon race. It was a pity he was born too late, missing the height of the demon race's prosperity, which left his extraordinary talent with little stage to shine. He evaded the Dao weeping, lived until now, and his cultivation is quite extraordinary." Daoist Wukong had been an intractable Great Sage of the demon race back then. He had struck Lihen Heaven, kicked over Lord Lao's furnace, struck Mount Sumeru, and wreaked havoc across the bodhimandas of the various Buddhas. Relying on his bronze skin and iron bones, he had run amok everywhere. The Buddha Ancestor had even entertained the thought of subduing him to serve as a Dharma protector of the Buddhist lineage. Who could have expected that soon after, the emerald rock departed, and the Buddha Ancestor along with the myriad Buddhas followed it to the other shore, so the matter was dropped. Logically speaking, Daoist Wukong back then had only been an existence at the Heavenly Monarch level. Faced with the Dao weeping, his flesh and sinews ought to have dissolved in an instant, his cultivation washed away into nothingness. Yet Daoist Wukong had survived, something even an existence like Yuqing found rather unfathomable. Daoist Yuqing said, "Besides Daoist Wukong, the Four Sages of the Northern Pole also survived the Dao weeping. What they cultivated was the Supreme Dao. The Supreme Dao is incomplete, possessing only a flawed cavern abyss whose concealed Dao is fragmented. Because of that, many disdained to contest it, leaving the Taishang Cavern Abyss an ownerless domain that drew many to cultivate there. Most of them died. Curiously, however, the flawed Supreme Dao never triggered the Dao weeping." Having said that, he shook his head, unable to comprehend this point no matter how he pondered it. Xu Ying hesitated briefly before inquiring, "Dao Brother, is there any connection between the Yellow Court Scripture and the human body's Yellow Court secret depository?" Daoist Yuqing looked rather perplexed. Xu Ying told him about the six secret depositories of the Nuo method and brought out the Xu family's ancestral method of the six secrets. "On the way here, I spoke with Daoist Yuan about Shangqing's two great scriptures. When I heard the words 'Yellow Court Scripture', I noticed that the six secrets also contain a Yellow Court secret depository, which prompted this question. Dao Brother, please examine this method and compare it with the Yellow Court Scripture. Is there any connection between the two?" He had recorded the ancestral method upon a jade slip Dao book. As he activated the jade slip, the Dao book contained within naturally materialized. Daoist Yuqing scrutinized it carefully and remarked in surprise, "The cultivation method of this Yellow Court secret depository does bear some resemblance to my Shangqing methods. However, lacking any method to comprehend the Xuanhuang Dao, this way of cultivation is not particularly profound. Where did you obtain this method?" Xu Ying said, "This is my Xu family's ancestral method." Daoist Yuqing shook his head with a chuckle. "Are you not of the Yuxu lineage? Your ancestral method should be the heritage of Yuxu Palace. How could it be such a specious method?" Xu Ying was dumbfounded. "Th-this..." Seeing his reaction, Daoist Yuqing asked in confusion, "You never received the heritage of the Yuxu lineage?" Xu Ying shook his head blankly. Daoist Yuqing probed, "Have you never been to Yuxu Palace in the Kunlun Realm?" Xu Ying nodded. "I have. But it had long fallen into ruin. After I restored the Heavenly Dao there, I departed. My Xu family only possesses the ancestral method of the six secrets... Wait, there is also the Taiyi Inborn Technique!" Daoist Yuqing shook his head. "The Taiyi Inborn Technique should be the heritage of Emperor Haotian's lineage, completely distinct from Yuxu Palace's heritage. Yuxu Palace has its own unique legacy. Strange, how could your heritage have been swapped for Emperor Haotian's lineage?" He was thoroughly baffled. Xu Ying was even more bewildered. How the Xu family's heritage had changed—never mind him, even in his first life, or even his father Xu Jing, likely could not explain it! Daoist Yuqing smiled. "Do not distress yourself just yet. Since you restored the Heavenly Dao of the Kunlun Realm, that fellow Daoist in Yuxu Palace has already revived. If you make a return trip, you will be able to claim the heritage that originally belonged to you. As for the relationship between the ancestral method of the six secrets and the Yellow Court Scripture, you will understand once you read through the Yellow Court Scripture and the Shangqing Great Cavern True Scripture." Daoist Yuan and Little Martial Uncle Yunhai exchanged glances, feeling both astonishment and envy. For Daoist Yuqing to say this clearly meant he intended to impart these two peerless scriptures to Xu Ying! Xu Ying hesitated a moment, thinking to himself, "Neither of these two techniques is the true Shangqing Great Dao, and neither could withstand the Dao weeping. I'll just have a look and not actually practice them."