Qi of the Primordial Source

No one had yet mastered the final chapter of the Hunyuan Cave Abyss Calamity-Averting Sutra, precisely because it contained so many deeply esoteric terms that defied interpretation. The Primordial Source was one of them. Daoist Tongtian had left behind the phrase: *When the Primordial Source opens, the Three Realms appear.* There were far too many ways to interpret those words. It could mean that when the Primordial Source opened, the Three Realms hidden within it emerged. It could also mean that the opening and cleaving of the Primordial Source brought the Three Realms into existence. Or it could mean that once the Primordial Source moved aside, the Three Realms hiding behind it were finally revealed. Furthermore, what exactly was the Primordial Source? The stone stele did not say. "In ancient times, Daoist Tongtian must have found his way here through some other secret realm, discovering the mysteries surrounding the Primordial Source and the origin of the Three Realms," Yuan Weiyang surmised. "His stele inscription also mentions calamity, and the final chapter of the Calamity-Averting Sutra mentions calamity as well. It seems the calamity this place suffered back then is the very same calamity referred to in the sutra." *When calamity struck, the Former Court fell; when the Primordial Source opened, the Three Realms appeared.* The "Former Court" likely referred to the era preceding the Dragon Court, which Daoist Tongtian called the Former Court era. "Daoist Tongtian is truly an enigma," Yuan Weiyang remarked. "History preserves so few records of him. Who would have guessed we would come across the traces he left behind here?" The Zhuxian Sword chimed crisply and darted into the ruins. Fearing something might happen to it, the big bell hurried after it, and the Far Ancestor followed close behind them. The ruins belonged to an unimaginably ancient palace complex. Layer upon layer of halls had been reduced to broken tiles and crumbling bricks, but strangely, thick stone swords still stood upright on the ground. These stone swords were driven deep into the earth, with one appearing every few steps, laid out in an array. Walking among them, one could sense a terrifying, heart-stopping killing intent. "Daoist Tongtian used these stone swords to form an array and suppress whatever is inside these ruins. But what could possibly be here?" The Far Ancestor looked around and said, "This realm has already been invaded by the Chaos Sea, purged so thoroughly that no life could possibly survive. What could Daoist Tongtian be suppressing?" Suddenly, he shouted, "Little Mingdao, order all the dragons to retreat from the ruins at once!" Far in the distance, Emperor Mingdao had already entered a section of the ruins. Hearing that, he flew into a rage. *Xu Ying, I respect you as a Dao Ancestor, yet you presume upon your status to call me 'little boy'! And to think I was still planning to marry my daughter to you!* No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than several shrill screams echoed in the distance. Startled, Emperor Mingdao sprang into the air and landed in that quarter of the ruins a moment later. Numerous dragon experts followed in rapid succession. When Emperor Mingdao landed, he froze in mild bewilderment. This section of the ruins looked like pavilions and towers erected upon a vast mirror, perfectly reflecting his image as he walked upon it. As they strode across the mirrored surface and passed the pavilions atop it, the buildings looked brand new, bearing none of the decay found in the other ruins. The crowd looked all around. Suddenly, Emperor Mingdao sensed something amiss. He quickly counted his companions: there were thirteen of them. Yet when he looked at the mirrored ground beneath his feet, he saw fourteen reflections. "Everyone stop!" Emperor Mingdao commanded in a low voice. "Count how many reflections there are below!" The dragons came to a halt and counted their reflections. "Fourteen!" they said one after another. Emperor Mingdao drew a deep breath. "But there are thirteen of us." "That's not right, Your Majesty," one dragon expert laughed. "There are clearly fourteen of us." Another dragon chimed in, "Your Majesty, we really are fourteen." Stunned, Emperor Mingdao quickly counted again. Sure enough, there were fourteen people. *What is going on?* The moment the thought surfaced, realization struck. He looked down again in haste, only to see thirteen reflections in the mirror below! His scalp went numb. Glancing around, he could see other ruins, but Xu Ying, Yuan Weiyang, and the rest were nowhere to be found, nor was the giant skeleton. "We are inside the mirror!" Recognizing the truth, he instantly surged his cultivation and let out a long cry, throwing a punch straight toward the clear mirror beneath his feet. With a loud crash, the mirrored plane shattered. Yet shattering along with it were the reflections of the dragon experts inside the mirror. Once the mirror broke, Emperor Mingdao found himself back outside. Only then did he exhale in relief, sneering, "A paltry trick, and you thought you could..." Before he could finish, crisscrossing bloodlines broke out across the faces of the twelve dragon experts beside him, resembling cracks across a pane of glass. *Crash!* The twelve dragon experts suddenly shattered just like the mirror he had struck, flesh and bone exploding everywhere into a ground strewn with fragments! Emperor Mingdao felt his own physical body, primordial spirit, and Great Dao on the verge of shattering as well. Gripped by cold dread, he let out a furious roar and mobilized all his magic power, forcefully suppressing the uncanny disturbance within him! With a muffled grunt, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, finally quelling that bizarre, inexplicable force. Yet the punch he had thrown inside the mirror felt as though it had landed entirely upon himself. Right then, the broken mirror beneath his feet reassembled, and another Emperor Mingdao stood below the surface, gazing up at him with an eerie, hollow stare. Cold sweat broke out on Emperor Mingdao's forehead as he caught sight of an extra silhouette looming behind him. Not daring to look back, he dashed forward at full speed, fleeing the ruins as fast as his feet could carry him. Having bolted out of the area, he felt something was still wrong. Leaping into the air, he looked down at the mirrored ruins from above. It turned out to be an immense mirror of astonishing scale, level with the ground. "It's a magic treasure!" Emperor Mingdao realized at once, his heart pounding wildly. A treasure capable of trapping even him was no ordinary artifact; it had to be a treasure belonging to a prehistoric Indestructible existence or even someone of the Dao Realm's tenth layer! *This treasure survived the calamity intact and still retains such power. At the very least, it belonged to an entity on par with an Indestructible True King of the other shore. If I can claim it for myself, it will vastly increase my strength!* At that thought, his primordial spirit leaped forth, reaching out with an enormous hand to seize the mirror. Yet the grasp caught nothing. He had clearly grabbed the mirror, yet his hand passed straight through the glass without touching anything. Emperor Mingdao's heart sank. He looked in all directions. Prehistoric ruins stretched across the expanse, but apart from him, there was not a soul. "I am still inside the mirror." The corner of his eye twitched. The only way to leave this mirror was to break the surface, but breaking it was equivalent to delivering a full-power strike against himself. He had already suffered for it once. Was he supposed to endure it a second time? Gritting his teeth, he dropped back onto the mirror's surface, mobilized his magic power once more, and smashed downward with a punch! *Crash!* The mirror shattered. Struck as if by a cataclysmic blow, Emperor Mingdao felt on the verge of splintering apart. He frantically circulated his profound arts to steady his physical body, primordial spirit, and Dao Realm, barely saving himself from blowing apart. Seizing the moment the mirror broke, he shot into the air and fled into the distance. Only after escaping beyond the mirror's reach did he breathe a sigh of relief. But when he looked back, his heart sank again. He still could not find Xu Ying, Yuan Weiyang, Mingman, or anyone else. *Even among the True Kings of the other shore, this treasure would rank at the very top. Its might far exceeds that broken Zhuxian Sword in Xu Ying's hands, and surpasses my Dragon Court Imperial Capital as well.* Emperor Mingdao sighed inwardly. Trapped within this mirror, he was completely out of options and could only wait for Xu Ying and the others to rescue him. *Fortunately, my daughter is right by Dao Ancestor Xu's side. She will surely realize I'm missing soon and ask Dao Ancestor Xu to come save me,* he thought. The Far Ancestor had not yet realized that Emperor Mingdao had vanished. The group searched the ruins once and found only a forest of stone swords without any sign of the Primordial Source. Suddenly, the Far Ancestor walked up to one of the stone swords and laughed. "If we want to know what the Primordial Source is, all we have to do is pull up the stone sword Daoist Tongtian left behind and free whatever he suppressed!" Yuan Weiyang and Mingman gasped in fright. But the Far Ancestor had already gripped the sword's hilt and was about to draw it, leaving them no time to intervene. Right at that moment, Xu Ying's consciousness returned, shoving the ancestor out of his limbs and back into his sea of consciousness. The Far Ancestor's pull ended up clutching empty air, and he quickly yelled, "Master Ying, give me the body! I haven't pulled the sword out yet!" Xu Ying released his grip and chuckled. "Master Dragon, Daoist Tongtian went through immense trouble to seal this place. How can I let you run amok?" Earlier, he had been so lost in his revelation that the Martial Dao possessed no runes that the Far Ancestor had managed to commandeer his body. Fortunately, before the ancestor could cause any real mischief, Xu Ying had evicted him, preventing a catastrophe. Only then did Yuan Weiyang realize that the one occupying Xu Ying's body earlier had been the Far Ancestor, not a tenth-layer Dao Realm expert attempting a possession. Xu Ying surveyed their surroundings, then stepped back to the front of the ruins to examine the stone stele closely. Yuan Weiyang walked up beside him and asked, "What happened earlier?" Xu Ying smiled. "Earlier, I realized why the Martial Dao has no runes. A sudden sense of supreme enlightenment struck me, detached from the Dao itself, and I thought I had caught a glimpse of the Lord of Great Dao realm." Yuan Weiyang blinked. "And then? Did you really catch a glimpse of it?" Xu Ying considered for a moment. "I *thought* I had." After all, he had never made contact with the Lord of Great Dao realm; everything was based on his own deductions. Even so, he had fully unraveled the cultivation path of the Martial Dao. He had also determined the direction for the New Dao, defining its Indestructible Realm. While examining the sword intent embedded in the Dao patterns upon the stele, Xu Ying explained, "Once cultivation in the New Dao reaches the Supreme realm, progressing further means advancing toward the path of uniting body with Dao and matching the stature of the Great Dao. Upon reaching the peak of the Supreme realm, one must refine the cave abyss into one's own body." Mingman looked left and right, wondering, *Where is my father?* Yet as Xu Ying began explaining the Supreme realm and the Indestructible Realm, her attention was immediately captivated, and she cast Emperor Mingdao completely to the back of her mind. Yuan Weiyang asked, "Refine the cave abyss into the body? What do you mean?" The big bell and the Zhuxian Sword also hurried over to listen. Xu Ying said, "In the Dragon Court era, practitioners cultivated the Dao Realm. Master Dragon figured it out on his own, dividing the realm of the Great Dao into nine layers. When a cultivator stands within the Dao Realm and reaches the eighth layer, the realm is already composed of pure Great Dao. At the ninth layer, the physical body, primordial spirit, and Dao Realm all transform into the Great Dao. That is the Indestructible. In the Old Dao of the Demon Court era, they cultivated the bodhimanda, which was a variation of the Dao Realm. Unfortunately, cultivators back then focused on Dao trees, Dao flowers, and Dao fruits, leading their path astray and preventing them from discovering the Indestructible Realm." Yuan Weiyang nodded gently. She possessed some understanding of the Old Dao as well, knowing that once one reached the Wondrous Realm of Great Luo, there was no road ahead. Xu Ying continued, "After reaching the pinnacle of the Supreme realm, the cave abyss transforms into a Great Dao cave abyss. Refining it into the body allows one to transform both flesh and primordial spirit into the Great Dao from the inside out, achieving a Dao body. In this manner, cultivation advances faster than through the Dao Realm, naturally bringing one to the Indestructible Realm. In such an Indestructible Realm, the body unites with the Dao, one's stature equals the Great Dao, and the cave abyss is held within, forming a seamless whole. It will only be stronger than the Indestructible Realm of the other shore or Master Dragon's version, more than sufficient to make up for any structural shortcomings in the Great Dao." In the sea of consciousness, the Far Ancestor listened enraptured. Although Xu Ying's critique of the Dao Realm rankled him, he had to admit that Xu Ying's New Dao was indeed superior to the Dao Realm system. Yuan Weiyang sighed in admiration. "You truly live up to the name of Dao Ancestor Xu. This concubine is utterly convinced." Her playful use of "this concubine" sent Xu Ying's heart fluttering with delight. Xu Ying's ability to deduce the cultivation method for the New Dao's Indestructible Realm stemmed primarily from perceiving the mystery of an unstructured Great Dao in the skeletal remains of the Lord of Great Dao. Working backward from an unstructured Great Dao to deduce the nine layers of the Dao Realm gave him a commanding, panoramic perspective. Meanwhile, the other dragon experts noticed that Emperor Mingdao was missing and headed toward the clear mirror to look for him. Inside the mirror, one dragon expert after another appeared by Emperor Mingdao's side. He instructed them not to act rashly, saying, "My daughter, Mingman, is clever and quick-witted. She will surely notice my disappearance soon and ask Dao Ancestor Xu for help. Everyone, stay calm and be patient." More and more dragon experts tumbled into the mirror, and soon every last one of them was trapped within. Emperor Mingdao continued waiting, thinking to himself, *Man'er should have noticed by now.* Having listened to Xu Ying's lecture, Princess Mingman had gained immense insight. Deep in contemplation, she had long since flung her old father a hundred and eight thousand li away. Xu Ying contemplated Daoist Tongtian's conception of creation on the stele for a long time before finally rising, stepping into the ruins of the Former Court, and standing within the sword array. He channeled his sword intent, and immediately, massive stone swords began ringing with resonant chimes, slowly pulling up from the earth one after another. Yet the sword array remained intact, continuing to hold its formation! His approach was completely different from the Far Ancestor's. The Far Ancestor's method of pulling a sword would have disrupted the array and destroyed its suppressive power. Xu Ying, on the other hand, drew all the stone swords simultaneously while keeping the array functioning, preserving its suppression throughout. The instant the tips of all the stone swords left the ground, the earth shook and mountains trembled. The entire ruins of the Former Court violently convulsed as plumes of earth qi erupted from below, and stone steles thrust out from the ground one after another! As those steles emerged, the Chaos Sea that pressed upon the ruins began to recede, laying bare even more of the ancient complex. A mighty aura previously submerged beneath the Chaos Sea surged forth, rushing straight toward them! Xu Ying maintained the sword array while looking ahead. As more steles broke through the soil, he saw that they were identical to the ones he had encountered earlier outside the Abyss Sea, bearing nearly the exact same patterns. Within the Chaos Sea, several colossal steles emerged, forming a grand circle spanning a hundred li in circumference. In the center of that circle lay the source of the immense aura—profound, immeasurable, shifting and hazy as though containing all ten thousand Daos. Xu Ying and the others looked closely and saw that the glow resembled a mysterious qi, clustered in an enormous sphere. Within it drifted the wondrous vision of countless stars, and faintly discernible among them were the Three Realms! It was a mass of the qi of the Primordial Source—a remnant left after the opening of the Three Realms, placed into the Chaos Sea to be nurtured!