The glazed light appeared, shaking the entire world!
In that instant, nearly every living immortal sensed that purest of glazed radiances, each reacting in their own way.
Born from an infinite distance away, the light pierced through every barrier in the mortal realm and surged forward with tremendous momentum.
In a flash, a sword light like a rainbow rose from the Sword Palace, slashing straight at the center of the radiant torrent. High above in the Immortal Heaven, a mass of cloud-mist and a stream of flowing light drifted out from the Palace of Grand Beginning, striking at the head and the tail respectively.
Three immortals struck at the same time, with only the barest difference in timing—a difference so minuscule it defied measurement.
Yet the moment the sword light merged into the glazed light stream, it instantly shattered into sparkling shards of glazed light that tumbled down one after another, while the Glazed Light River rolled inexorably forward.
The cloud-mist striking the head met the light stream and instantly turned into grains of crystalline sand. In a secluded courtyard, the teacup in Immortal Monarch Yanshi's hand suddenly cracked, tea mingled with blood trickling from his fingertips.
The trailing stream of light striking the tail likewise dissolved into billowing crystalline mist. It managed to erase a short section of the Glazed Light River, but could do nothing to halt its overall momentum. Immortal Monarch Zhu Yan's figure materialized in the Palace of Grand Beginning, patches of glazed luster breaking out across his body. The sect's entire ancestral mountain array hummed to life in an instant, using the mountain gate's might to grind away the glazed light's power for him. Zhu Yan was left unable to move; though his life was not in danger, he had lost all ability to strike again.
In the Bao family's ancestral land, Old Lady Bao narrowed her eyes. An aura like oceanic tides churned around her, causing the surrounding earth to tremble faintly. This was the colossal power of surging tides and tsunamis, virtually irresistible! Only at this moment did Old Lady Bao reveal a fraction of her true strength.
In the eyes of an immortal, time could pass very, very slowly. Old Lady Bao watched the glazed light streak across the vast heavens. The immortal power inside her swelled like a tidal surge, on the verge of erupting at any moment, yet she held it all back.
Behind her, a young man quietly appeared, possessing a beauty so delicate he looked like a woman. Between his brows, a speck of tricolored immortal light gently swirled, yet his face was pale, his frame slender, and his skin excessively smooth and fine, revealing an irrepressible sickly frailty.
He too watched the Glazed Light River in the sky and suddenly spoke: "Old Ancestor, if you wish to act, then do so. There is no need to hold back for my sake. I know full well in my heart that my condition can never truly improve. What is the point of enduring humiliation and bearing burdens if it all comes to nothing in the end? It would be better to give Girl Yun a good outcome. Her talent and natural gifts are actually superior to mine."
Old Lady Bao's brow furrowed in displeasure, and she snapped, "Not another word! I have my own judgment!"
This time, the young immortal did not obey. He said, "You are merely holding a grudge against that entire branch because of what Girl Yun's ancestral line once did. But how long ago was that? Father is dead, and he cannot be brought back to life. In truth, wasting so many clan resources on me in the past was already a mistake. Compared to me, Girl Yun clearly possesses greater potential and far greater karmic luck."
The immortal power within Old Lady Bao suddenly subsided. She gazed serenely as the Glazed Light River swept over her head and said indifferently, "Since you are so eager to persuade me, I shall deliberately refrain from acting, if only to teach you a lesson. It is not yet your turn to call the shots in this Bao family."
The young immortal was taken aback. His face flushed bright red, and he lowered his head, speaking no more.
Old Lady Bao sighed inwardly. The second half of what she had intended to say remained unspoken; saying it would be useless anyway.
The Bao family currently possessed two immortals in a single generation—one in the light, one in the dark—making their foundation appear extraordinarily profound. Yet beyond the two immortals, aside from Bao Yun, there were no successors to carry the mantle. Furthermore, both immortals had their own afflictions, rendering them exceptionally fragile. Given their current state, the Bao family could not weather any severe storm. If they were careless, the Lu clan and the Northern Qi Xu family were ready examples of the consequences.
Not far from the Sword Palace stood a quiet, secluded mountain boasting deep woods, clear waters, bizarre rock formations, and treacherous trails—a fine retreat from the world. A narrow footpath wound into its depths, flanked by towering ancient trees whose densely overlapping branches and leaves sifted sunlight into trembling flakes of gold upon moss-covered stones. The clear gurgle of water echoed from deep within, where a small waterfall like a strip of white silk tumbled down over several jet-black boulders, collecting into a pool so clear its bed was plainly visible.
Beside the pool and before a cliff wall stood a few thatched huts. They were simple without being squalid, rustic without being derelict. Stone walls, thatched roofs, winding paths, and white flowers—all seemed imbued with the true essence of the Great Dao.
Bai Kaishui stood in the courtyard. Having scooped water from a vat into an earthenware kettle, he set it over the fire to brew.
Above, glazed light began to blossom across the sky as the radiant river crept slowly through the heavens, heading westward.
Without looking up, Bai Kaishui plucked a few tea leaves from a jar, dropped them into the pot, and poured in hot water with meticulous care and focus. Beside him, someone chuckled. "Alms-giver Bai, how can you still be brewing tea at such a critical moment? By the time this cup is ready, the moment will have passed."
Bai Kaishui sighed. "What else can I do? This old man shares a karmic affinity with your honored Buddha, so I dare not make any rash moves!"
From out of nowhere stepped a middle-aged Buddhist lay practitioner, carrying the air of distant mountains and green pines—a presence that cleansed the mind of worldly thoughts. Looking around the courtyard, he said, "Alms-giver Bai possesses a great karmic affinity with the Buddha. A minor moment of rashness earlier was of no great consequence, provided you still remember this affinity."
"Naturally, I remember."
The lay practitioner laughed heartily, his laughter ringing like a clear spring splashing over strange rocks—a melodic chiming with the timbre of metal and stone. "It is good that you remember. This courtyard of yours is no ordinary place, Alms-giver! The scenery reflects the person, revealing the heart within. Your refined taste is entirely natural and born of heaven, without the slightest trace of deliberate carving, untainted by even a wisp of mortal smoke and fire. Truly, few could surpass it; it stands leagues above the realm of those so-called celebrated scholars of the world!
"Seeing this place, I know Alms-giver is surely a man of his word. Minor flaws do not matter as long as major integrity remains uncompromised. I shall take my leave now; enjoy your tea in peace."
Bai Kaishui rolled his beady eyes. "Won't you have a cup?"
The lay practitioner smiled. "My cultivation is shallow; I dare not incur karma with Alms-giver Bai. I had best be on my way!"
Without waiting for Bai Kaishui to reply, he cupped his hands and vanished. Bai Kaishui maintained his beaming smile as a wisp of sword qi hidden at his fingertip slipped out like a swimming fish and dropped into the teacup.
He then splashed the tea onto the ground and looked up at the sky. By now, the Glazed Light River was far away, gradually fading over the western horizon.
Bai Kaishui shook his head, glanced around the seemingly natural and refined courtyard, and walked away.
The world did not know that this courtyard had been built at great expense by Bai Kaishui, specifically tailored to exude understated elegance and effortless nature.
Whenever an important figure arrived, Bai Kaishui would lead them here, solely to leave them with the profound impression that the highest refinement bordered on pure simplicity. That way, if they ever became enemies in the future, the preconceived notion would linger. When suddenly faced with Bai Kaishui's venomous, insidious, and completely unprincipled sword intent, they would inevitably suffer a disastrous defeat.
In years past, many formidable foes had fallen to Bai Kaishui in precisely this manner, serving as stepping stones on his path to becoming Palace Master of the Sword Palace.
Yet as he looked upon the Glazed Light River, an unspeakable solemnity lurked in the depths of Bai Kaishui's eyes. In the end, he had not unleashed his two strands of sword qi, for unleashing them would have been utterly futile.
The Glazed Light River represented the absolute zenith of stillness. Nearly any power entering its domain would be reduced to supreme tranquility. Supreme tranquility led to supreme rigidity; rigidity lacked resilience, and the moment the Glazed Light River washed over it, it would shatter into dust.
Furthermore, the Glazed Light River possessed the power of cessation. When all things fell into it, time was brought to a standstill. Yet the time of the mortal world continued to rush forward. That momentary dislocation produced a terrifying force capable of tearing even immortal artifacts to shreds.
This power was the bane of sword cultivators. Earlier, Feng Hanzhou had slashed at it from afar and accomplished practically nothing. Even if Bai Kaishui added another strike, it would have been pointless.
The Glazed Light River's might far surpassed the casual strike the Venerable Master had delivered that day, likely matching the Venerable Master striking with full strength. Originating from beyond the heavens, this strike crossed hundreds of millions of li to strike from afar. While it unfolded in plain sight for all to see, it caught the immortals utterly off guard, forcing them into a raw contest of immortal power and status. There was no time to deploy grand arrays, formidable immortal treasures, heavenly materials and earthly treasures, or divine beasts and immortal birds.
In the blink of an eye, the Glazed Light River arrived over Qingming, plunging straight toward Wei Yuan.
At this point, the dagger was revealed from the rolled map—the enemy powerhouse had struck with unmatched dominance, determined to obliterate Wei Yuan in a single blow!
Before the Glazed Light River, a ding-bearing venomous scorpion instantly materialized, spewing alchemical fire; a mecha giant appeared, blasting out layered torrents of fire; a pagoda pressed down, black mist intercepted, a black immortal spat fire, a giant ape hurled boulders... Every manner of celestial idol struck with full force, yet all proved completely useless.
In midair, the Three Halls of Lingxiao suddenly manifested, directly obstructing the river of light. In an instant, they disintegrated into countless glazed butterflies that scattered into flight. But this time, the Glazed Light River finally weakened slightly.
In his quiet chamber, Zhang Sheng grunted, two streams of blood abruptly trickling from his eyes.
Standing above Qingming before this utterly irresistible blow, Wei Yuan felt an overwhelming surge of indignance!
He could not fathom it. He had painstakingly cultivated supreme divine powers, yet virtually all of his great might had been devoted to improving the lives of the common people. The so-called transformation of the bitter sea had begun to show its first sprouts in Qingming.
Hundreds of millions lived in unprecedented abundance, and the world no longer had people starving or freezing. The minds of the people had been opened; so long as one possessed the drive to strive and advance, while absolute fairness could not be promised, there was at least an opportunity to realize it.
Now, the Body Casting practitioners in Qingming numbered in the tens of millions, Dao Foundation practitioners were surging toward the five-hundred-thousand mark, and dharma idol cultivators approached a thousand.
In such an era of prosperity, Wei Yuan felt he had done right by heaven and earth, right by history, and right by the myriad people. Why should he face such a calamity at this very moment?
This calamity could neither be blocked nor avoided. Wei Yuan's only option was to pull in the hundreds of millions of Qingming's people to share the burden of this strike. Yet before a supreme powerhouse, hundreds of millions of mortals were nothing more than a pile of sand, toppling at the slightest push. The so-called mortal fortune of hundreds of millions could slay immortals, but only miscellaneous immortals. Before a true powerhouse, it remained a joke.
And before the chilling, lofty, and magnificent majesty of the Glazed Light River, Qingming's two hundred million prosperous, empowered people—and the endless karma and causality they could generate—amounted to nothing.
Wei Yuan understood the opponent's intent in an instant: if Wei Yuan dared to drag all living beings into sharing the blow, the opponent would simply annihilate all living beings along with him!
At this moment, Wei Yuan could only sigh. He could gamble that the opponent also feared karma and would not truly dare to follow through, but he was unwilling to make that gamble. He refused to let the hundreds of millions of mortals, who had finally attained a slightly better life, become cannon fodder in a struggle between immortals.
In a sense, the opponent had indeed seized Wei Yuan's soft spot, forcing him to accept death.
Wei Yuan could only accept death.
Right at that moment, the operation of the Great Dao of heaven and earth seemed to stutter. Countless karmic threads disconnected, and an invisible wind spread in all directions. Wherever it passed, the Dao of heaven and earth suddenly broke into scattered fragments, each operating independently!
The entire world of Qingming had originally been like a precision clock, but now it abruptly turned into countless separate parts, each ticking away on its own, completely detached from one another.
Without anyone noticing when she had arrived, a black-robed woman stood high in the sky, looking down coldly upon the mortal world. She extended a finger and tapped lightly against the Glazed Light River. In an instant, the entire Glazed Light River, just like the world around it, was disassembled into countless independently operating fragments.
With that, the river of light dissolved into sky-filling starlight and slowly faded away.
Above heaven and beneath earth, stillness returned once more.
This exchange had exceeded the comprehension of many immortals. Questions welled up in the minds of the immortals: how could such authority exist within heaven and earth?
The specks of starlight finally disappeared, and Qingming regained its peace. By now, not a single gaze dared to sweep over the realm.
Having narrowly escaped death, Wei Yuan felt his throat run dry and his limbs turn stiff. Gathering his wits, he bowed to the black-robed woman and said, "Immortal Fairy, thank you for saving my life..."
The black-robed woman turned her head slowly. The moment she turned, heaven and earth vanished from Wei Yuan's consciousness! Across the eight wildernesses and six directions, to the very end of time, nothing remained except her pair of eyes!
She looked down at Wei Yuan with a cold, weathered gaze that had witnessed all of eternity, and said slowly:
"What are you thanking me for? Call me Mother."
Chapter 1146