"Merely through a spiritual resemblance, one can receive the favor of heaven and earth, the marvel of creation..."
Li Fan suddenly recalled an anecdote from the previous dynasty before the Great Xuan.
The last monarch of the previous dynasty, Emperor Zhengxu, had originally been a rare ruler of dynastic resurgence. Since inheriting the throne at age sixteen, he had executed corrupt officials, pacified bandit rebels, promoted water conservancy, and remitted taxes, sweeping away the dynasty's decline and resembling the sage kings of antiquity. In barely twenty years, the realm was at peace and flourishing to the utmost. The common folk had ample food and clothing, singing praises of the enlightened ruler's glorious name; the ministers bowed in humble reverence, writing books to extol their lord's virtue and benevolence.
Had he continued on this path, there likely would have been no opportunity for the founding emperor of the Great Xuan to turn the world upside down.
Yet everything took a sharp turn for the worse in Emperor Zhengxu's thirty-seventh year. The cause was the death of his lifelong love, Empress Duanmu, from illness.
Upon hearing the sudden tragic news, Emperor Zhengxu nearly fainted on the spot. In his excessive grief, he neglected court affairs for months. Had it ended there, it might not have mattered much; with the eminent ministers at court managing affairs, even with the emperor absent, the Great Zheng Dynasty would not have fallen into severe turmoil. Yet perhaps because the Great Zheng's dynastic fortune was running out, when Emperor Zhengxu revisited the place where he and Empress Duanmu had first met, he encountered a woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to Empress Duanmu.
Not only were her facial features eighty to ninety percent identical, but even her demeanor and tone of voice were indistinguishable from the woman in his dreams.
And she was even younger.
Shaken to the core and believing this was destined by fate, Emperor Zhengxu immediately brought her back to the palace, conferred upon her the title of Noble Consort, and doted on her night and day.
To please her, Emperor Zhengxu committed countless absurd acts. He constructed palaces and built gardens within the palace grounds, even excavating a small river connecting to the outskirts of the imperial capital so they could make love upon the waters whenever the mood struck; he ordered his subordinates to gather rare and bizarre curiosities from among the common folk for the Noble Consort's amusement...
This threw the entire imperial court and realm into utter chaos, stirring seething public resentment. Any ministers who dared remonstrate were dismissed at best, or beheaded at worst.
Even so, relying on the foundation Emperor Zhengxu had built in the first half of his life, the Great Zheng Dynasty would not have collapsed so abruptly.
Yet after the Noble Consort gave birth to a son, Emperor Zhengxu seemed to lose his mind completely. Disregarding the unanimous opposition of his high officials, he sought to depose the Crown Prince. Seeing Emperor Zhengxu's unwavering determination, the Crown Prince naturally refused to wait for death. He rallied supporters and rebelled under the banner of "slaying the demon consort and purging evil from the ruler's side." This action also garnered the support of many prominent clans in the capital, including the Duanmu clan.
After days of bloody fighting, although the rebellion ultimately ended in failure and the Crown Prince slit his own throat upon defeat, the Great Zheng Dynasty was gravely weakened.
From then on, Emperor Zhengxu refused to see his ministers altogether, indulging solely in pleasure.
The situation deteriorated by the day. Finally, when Emperor Zhengxu was fifty-six, the rebel army breached the forbidden palace. Emperor Zhengxu and the Noble Consort embraced each other and perished together.
When scholars of later generations studied this period of history, all found it utterly baffling that Emperor Zhengxu had ruined an empire out of obsession with a woman.
They could only conclude that Emperor Zhengxu's love for Empress Duanmu had reached an unfathomable degree. Thus, when he met a woman who resembled her after Duanmu's death, he completely lost his reason and became deranged, squandering a splendid realm in the blink of an eye.
There was truly nothing new under the sun. Similarly, if the avatar Xu Bai could receive such favor from heaven and earth merely because of his uncanny resemblance to Mr. Bai...
Then either Mr. Bai was an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, or he was of vital significance to the Xuanhuang Realm.
So much so that heaven and earth constantly anticipated the appearance of the next "Mr. Bai"—even to the point where merely looking like him granted a special affinity with the laws of heaven and earth.
"Mr. Bai..." Past events seen in the Fallen Immortal Realm related to him flashed through his mind. Xu Bai remained silent.
After a long time, his thoughts settled. He brought out the seventeen-petaled Tianling Flower sealed with a special secret technique.
Narrowing his eyes, he looked once more upon the myriad scenes on the petals, and a sensation completely different from that felt by his true self slowly surged forth. It felt like observing from the vantage point of heaven and earth, sweeping swiftly across the entire Tianling Province. In a daze, he could faintly see mountains and rivers, all manners of living beings, shifting clouds, prosperity and decline.
Facing the Tianling Flower was like truly witnessing all the worldly happenings within Tianling Province.
A glimmer of enlightenment quietly flickered through Xu Bai's mind. Yet like falling snow dissolving into water, it vanished without a trace in an instant, leaving him with a sense of poignant loss.
"This feeling is much like when I used the Vast Sea Pearl to view the shifting tides of epochs from the vast perspective of heaven and earth, eventually comprehending [Formless Killing Intent]."
"The divine abilities and techniques of cultivators generally originate from heaven and earth itself. To comprehend them from the perspective of heaven and earth naturally makes it far easier."
"Still, this is ultimately just a flower that records scenes of heaven and earth, not truly uniting one's body with heaven and earth. Gaining something from it is not easy; it requires extraordinary comprehension aptitude. Just like my true self before: he crafted it with his own hands and studied it carefully many times, yet still felt it was merely a decorative object."
"Yet the issue lies not with the flower, but with the person."
"Hmph."
Fine-tuning the plan in his mind, Xu Bai continued to immerse his mind in contemplating the flower to comprehend the Dao before Liu San returned.
...
Tianyu Province.
Having spent a considerable amount of time, Li Fan and Dongfang Yao finally arrived in Tianyu City. However, they did not head for Cosmos Courtyard, where Li Fan had received formation training in his previous life.
Instead, they came to a private room in the Dao Discussion Tower in the city.
"Let's wait a bit. I've already notified Brother Huangfu; he'll be here shortly." Dongfang Yao sat cross-legged on the floor carelessly and tapped his finger against the floorboards. Soon, a cup of spiritual tea emerged.
"Stingy bastards," Dongfang Yao curled his lip, downed the spiritual tea in one gulp, and muttered under his breath.
Li Fan was practically a frequent guest of the Dao Discussion Tower. He knew that Dongfang Yao was strapped for cash and could only drink the complimentary tea.
With a faint smile, Li Fan touched the room's control jade talisman with his divine sense.
Shortly after, a dark-green teapot appeared.
"Brother Dongfang, please!" Li Fan gestured with a smile.
"Brother, you truly are generous!" Dongfang Yao's face immediately split into a wide grin. He merrily poured himself a cup and drank it down in one gulp.
"It's even the top-grade [Thousand-Cultivator Dao Discussion]! Brother Li, what grandeur! The last time I drank spiritual tea of this caliber was when I returned from the [Thousand-Page Forest of Books] and couldn't resist celebrating!" Dongfang Yao was full of praise.
He swayed his head, eyes half-closed, as if savoring and comprehending something from it.
"Well, well, Dongfang Yao! You have something as fine as [Thousand-Cultivator Dao Discussion], yet you're secretly enjoying it behind my back!" Just then, a voice that was quite familiar to Li Fan rang out.
A potbellied, exceedingly genial-looking plump cultivator appeared in the room.
His face feigned slight indignation, but a hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
Letting his gaze sweep casually over Li Fan without drawing attention, Huangfu Song kept his composure and turned to look at Dongfang Yao.
"Brother Huangfu, perfect timing!" Dongfang Yao snapped his eyes open, poured a cup of spiritual tea, and tossed it over.
Chapter 691