Chapter 120

The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao.

The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

Nameless is the beginning of all things; named is the mother of all things.

Therefore, constantly without desire, to observe its subtlety; constantly with desire, to observe its boundaries...

The Venerable lectures on the Dao, myriad phenomena abound.

Heaven showers golden lotuses, earth gushes divine springs; the Myriad Heavens chant together, myriad worlds reverberate.

Fengxi sat in the hall, listening as if entranced and intoxicated.

A most beautiful, most magnificent scroll appeared indistinctly in his sea of consciousness—this was the ultimate exposition of the Three Thousand Great Daos!

Venerable of the Three Pure Ones: Yuanshi Tianzun takes charge of creation, Lingbao Tianzun oversees conclusion, while the Venerable of Virtue lectures on continuity!

In the exposition of the world's changes, this Venerable holds the greatest authority.

Between his words, he guided the sentient beings listening to the Dao in the hall to leap and transcend, slipping free of the ordinary world's shackles on body and mind, standing at a most transcendent vantage, overlooking the interplay and evolution of the Three Thousand Great Daos.

The rise and fall of all things lay before his eyes!

The ebb and flow of rise and fall intertwined and overlapped, ultimately forming a long river—

Suiyue Changhe!

His perspective transcended the limits of his own power and pattern, calmly observing the Myriad Heavens' birth and death, death and birth; all shock and turmoil ultimately returned to tranquility.

This tranquility was not like a stagnant pool, but like the Suiyue Changhe—vast and boundless.

Because of its vastness and boundlessness, it could harbor the broadest mind to carry all manner of honor and disgrace, to discern every rise and fall.

Because, all right and wrong in heaven and earth, all that is happening, has already had similar precedents… watching the river of time, taking past and future into the heart—this is the vision of those who stand at the peak of the Great Dao.

The highest goodness of the Dao is like water!

…… => Just ellipsis. We'll output "……" as is? Probably just "……". We'll keep the ellipsis.

The Venerable of Virtue lectured on the Dao, and Fengxi felt he had benefited greatly.

Here, he almost forgot all scheming and set aside worldly pursuits.

He wholeheartedly devoted himself to this rare opportunity to hear the Dao, verifying it against his past study and practice, mutually confirming with the Ancestral Witches' transmission of the Dao, drawing nourishment, and elevating himself.

'The Ancestral Witches' Dao subtly reveals the principles of Yin and Yang within, like the Five Elements Ancestral Witches: wood splits into Jia and Yi, fire into Bing and Ding, earth into Wu and Ji, metal into Geng and Xin, water into Ren and Kui… within the fundamental principle, the opposition of Yin and Yang is expounded.'

'The Venerable of the Three Pure Ones simply advances creation, continuity, and conclusion in sequence…'

'Both sides are infinitely marvelous!'

Fengxi pondered bit by bit, using the transcendent perspective granted by the Venerable, attempting to synthesize all his learning into his own Dao.

The transmission of the Twelve Ancestral Witches involved a hint of Pangu's mystery in the false Heaven-encompassing Grand Formation, likewise the Nine Axes of Heaven-opening somewhat related to Pangu… everything was merging, tempering, and reborn.

Gradually, he fell into epiphany.

Just in such a special environment.

At the same moment, the Venerable of Virtue's speech paused for an imperceptible instant, his gaze sweeping over Fengxi.

Although Fengxi possessed an innate Lingbao talisman protecting his fate, it seemed… that the Venerable had sensed something?

However, the Venerable remained indifferent; a faint smile flickered in the depths of his eyes, after which everything proceeded as usual, as if nothing had happened.

He expounded his Dao, while Fengxi contemplated his realization.

The Dao of the Ancestral Witches, the mysteries of Pangu… each one is not simple.

Ordinary times, Fengxi wanted to fuse them into his own thought, to become nourishment for his own Dao; even if given tens of millions of years, he might not make a few steps.

But who caused his epiphany?

In the state of epiphany, inspiration surged like a spring; no obstacle encountered could not be solved by a single spark of inspiration.

Epiphany, after all, is simply being unreasonable.

With such a buff, Fengxi's path of cultivation turned from a heavenly chasm into a smooth road, racing at a speed thousands to tens of thousands times faster than before; one day of epiphany surpassed thirty years of fortune's aid.

Yet even so, achieving initial success cannot be done in a short time.

The starting point is a hundred thousand years.

But who made this the occasion for the Venerable's lecture?

As a top-tier, renowned great divine adept of Honghuang—the Venerable of Virtue—how could such a great figure's lecture be lacking?

The Venerable of Virtue must simultaneously face disciples of varying talent, receptivity, and wildly inconsistent study pace, and must conclude his lectures within a short year to make way for his neighbor Yuanshi Tianzun, avoiding the farcical internal competition… most importantly, he must also produce some results, so that students coming to learn and hear the Dao gain something, lest he tarnish his gold-medal instructor, lifelong professor of the Daoist academy's sign.

This certainly requires genuine ability.

The Venerable has maximized his teaching ability to tailor instruction; though it appears as a mass lecture, it is actually a hidden marvel, nearly one-on-one guidance, with special tutoring flying high.

Elevating vision, his lofty guidance lets each person probe their own path ahead, and furthermore, according to each's talent and wisdom, grants extra temporal surprises.

Here, studying the Dao, the more immersed one becomes, the less one perceives the external flow of time, and thus time quietly slows its pace.

And if one is like Fengxi, utterly forgetting time in epiphany… then time will also forget him.

He may have actually cultivated for thousands or millions of years, while the true flow of time in the outside world amounted to no more than a brief half-moment.

Just like the Wu Clan's time secret realm.

The difference is, the Venerable of Virtue never deliberately creates such a secret realm; he merely hides this method within his lectures, as a commendation and reward for those sincere to the Dao.

For Fengxi at this moment, the outside world's ages seemed to halt, time seemed to congeal, an instant of time becoming like eternity.

He wandered in the ocean of myriad Daos, with the utmost humility and yearning, seeking to elevate himself.

His own unique path of thought was being forged, encompassing mastery of cosmic laws and understanding of the human way.

The mastery of cosmic laws comes from the Ancestral Witches, from Pangu.

The thought of the human way stems from the various civilizational fragments gathered while accompanying Emperor Jiang on his journeys to establish relations, from reflection on the era, from conceptions of creating and breaking the cycle of rebirth, and from contemplation of the future path of the human way.

All of the above, however, remains quite immature, full of flaws in the eyes of a Great Luo being.

But, this is already something that belongs to Fengxi himself!

This is his Dao, his method, containing his heart and wisdom; no longer is it copying Handan's gait, he can only follow behind the Ancestral Witches.

A fundamental qualitative change!

When Fengxi awoke from his sudden enlightenment, his whole body emanated a lustrous radiance, the radiance of wisdom, the radiance of the spirit.

This, in a vague moment, bears a trace of the aura of the innate immortal spiritual light of a Great Luo Being.

Although, in substance, it's still far off.

But his path ahead is no longer bewildering.

Sitting not far beside him, Yuchen caught a glance out of the corner of his eye and almost doubted his life.

Wait!

This script is wrong!

Onstage, the lecture on Dao and Virtue; offstage, Yuchen fidgeted, propping up his chin that was about to fall to the ground, forcing it back up, the corner of his eye twitching incessantly, while in his heart ten thousand alpacas galloped.

The script of Fengxi's current development was previously held in Yuchen's hands.

Exactly!

That's right!

Just switch the protagonist.

Sudden enlightenment.

Sublimation.

Become the most handsome guy.

Afterward, the Moral Heavenly Venerable, who teaches the Dao and imparts lessons, awarded the progress award and the three-good award to outstanding students, bestowing an innate spiritual treasure—a Seven-Star Treasure Sword—as encouragement.

"Damn Fengxi, you stole my scene!" Yuchen barely kept his expression from collapsing, while in his heart he was about to curse the heavens: "On the first day of the Dao lecture, you didn't even brew up, you just had a sudden enlightenment right away—do you still have any reason?"

Excessive!

Too excessive!

He stared fixedly at Fengxi, that look of extreme resentment causing the originally destined supporting character who stole the protagonist's limelight in the Dao lecture drama and left the protagonist with no way out to be bewildered.

"Yuchen, what's wrong with you?" Fengxi raised an eyebrow, sending a mental transmission: "What's with that look? Did I hit you with a blunt stick? Or slap you with a black brick? You look like you've got a huge grudge."

Hearing these words, Yuchen felt a block in his heart, his heart aching in spasms.

What could pierce the heart more than the innocent, clueless face of someone who persecutes others?

Even the theory of following along doesn't work!

Yuchen pondered: if he were to say he wanted to activate cheats, with everything ready, even lowering his moral limit to operate, the result was that the operators announced it as a celebration anniversary event, the system switched to entertainment mode, allowing unlimited cheats…

"This will definitely be laughed to death, right?" He took a deep breath, "He will surely be nailed to the pillar of shame for life, occasionally being dragged out for corpse whipping…"

Just thinking about that future is terrifying!

Can't even cheat, what shame!

Thinking this, Yuchen forcibly twisted his expression back to normal and forced out an ugly smile, replying via mental transmission: "You're mistaken—I'm not looking at you."

"I'm looking at your other side, Qingxuan!" Yuchen solemnly bluffed, bringing out his good friend for use.

What is a friend?

This is it!

In awkward moments, it can be used to help oneself defuse the situation!

"Do you have a grudge with Qingxuan?" Fengxi looked left and right, a bit puzzled.

"Yes, he owes money and won't pay it back." Yuchen had steadied his mindset: "I just suddenly remembered… this is between us, Fengxi, don't interfere."

"Oh." Fengxi went along with it.

Although, he felt deep down that Yuchen's words were untrue and problematic.

Relying on his outstanding talent for scheming against people, Fengxi was certain, sure, and determined that just now Yuchen was staring at him… what meaning lay in that gaze?

Fengxi pondered a bit.

"Mm… it's like those shameless guys, when they eye my position as Leader of the Merchant Alliance, how I feel?" Fengxi's thoughts.

Meanwhile, Yuchen, barely calming his emotions, opened his lifeless, dull eyes and locked gazes with the Moral Heavenly Venerable on the lecture platform.

Two beings of vastly different identities, at this moment a wondrous exchange occurred, through the window of the soul—the eyes.

"I'm having a hard time." This is Yuchen's inner voice.

"Tsk, the spiritual treasure's requirements… I'm not not giving you a chance, but you're just too useless." This is the Heavenly Venerable's inner voice.

Yuchen remained silent.

"So, just give up on that… treat it as if nothing happened." The Moral Heavenly Venerable lectured while calmly conveying the thought: "Fortunately, I had feared you'd mess up beforehand, so I didn't announce any rewards."

"…" This dealt Yuchen the most terrifying blow.

However, this instead sparked his rebellious spirit: "Everything isn't over yet—I can strike back!"

"That's truly not easy." The Heavenly Venerable, calm and composed, said: "Indeed, I will look after you, but it must be within the rules, reasonable and fair… Of course, if you don't care about propriety, it doesn't matter either."

"But if that's the case, I don't need to step in—the spiritual treasure can arrange it directly."

"And since you've chosen this path, I won't show excessive favoritism… you must prove you're more talented than him before I can justly grant you the reward."

"Just that his sudden enlightenment is a bit harsh; frankly, I'm not optimistic about your script arrangement."

"What's so hard about that?" Yuchen's face twitched: "If I just have a few dozen more sudden enlightenments, that'll do it."

"Breaking through the limit like this—there's only a difference between zero times and infinite times!"

He actively severed the spiritual connection, eyes closed, ears perked, listening to the Heavenly Venerable's lecture, shaking his head and swaying nonstop, as if thoroughly immersed, gaining much.

The Moral Heavenly Venerable watched, then silently averted his gaze.

No way, this acting… is too eye‑hurting!

On the contrary, Fengxi, sitting not far from Yuchen, watched with interest.

After one epiphany, he had completely used up the scattered insights he had accumulated, integrating them all into a thorough comprehension. Though he still wanted another epiphany, he lacked the foundation for it.

Now listening to the Heavenly Venerable's lecture, he is merely re-accumulating foundation and expanding his horizons; progress remains, but it is no longer so rapid.

Naturally, he also had a bit of leisurely mind, able to observe his surroundings.

Yuzhen's eye-catching actions, he watched with relish, as if he had gone to a circus.

Watching and watching, he almost laughed out loud—fortunately he remembered this was a class, and he should show respect to the teacher.

But when it truly reached the point where he could not hold back, Fengxi would not restrain himself.

He studied the Buddhist academy on the other side of Mount Buzhou's western lands, imitated how people like Kasyapa did, and when the Buddha held up a flower, he laughed!

Why did he laugh?

I have clearly comprehended the Heavenly Venerable's great spirit, exalted virtue, deeply grasped its subtle delight, felt the beauty of the Great Dao, my mood joyful and carefree, and laughed out naturally!

This is the manifestation of the teacher's teaching achievements!

Who dares to refute?

Who can refute?

Of course, doing this feels great for a moment, but after class it might cause some trouble.

However, Yuzhen did not give Fengxi such an opportunity.

He shook his head and swayed his body, and as he kept doing so, he entered a state.

In a daze, a kind of Dao state spread out from his body…… just like when Fengxi had an epiphany.

The Dao state was ethereal, lofty and unfathomable, yet it drew heavenly flowers to gather, setting him apart as transcendent.

"Huh? He just had an epiphany?"

Fengxi collected the expression of watching a joke on his face, feeling his jaw joint loosen a bit.

However, this is not the end, but merely the beginning!

A legendary beginning!

……

The Virtuous Heavenly Venerable gives lectures, only for one year.

But within that year, a strange blossom appeared.

A strange blossom that has an epiphany every day as punctual as a time signal.

In a year there are as many days as the number of the heavenly cycles, and Yuzhen had an epiphany that many times!

When he had his hundredth epiphany, a vague Dao aura surrounded his whole body, depicting the rise and fall of all things, especially emphasizing the decline of all things, from existence to non-existence.

At the two-hundredth epiphany, a thread of spiritual light shone, hardly different from Fengxi's state.

At the number of heavenly cycles, everything returned to simplicity and truth.

But behind Yuzhen, a faintly visible sword manifested, a further evolution of the spiritual light.

When the Heavenly Venerable's lecture was about to end, that long sword flashed with cold light, as if it could split the great thousand worlds and re-establish earth, water, fire, and wind!

Fengxi watched wide-eyed as the whole process unfolded, the birth of a legend, a show-off…… scratch that, it's a genius!

A genius's self-cultivation requires having epiphanies as routine as eating and drinking, readily opening a highway to heaven!

Otherwise, how could one be called a genius?

Fengxi felt uneasy inside.

He sensed a threat.

Although Yuzhen is his subordinate who runs errands and does work.

In theory, the better the employee, the happier his superior should be.

But the problem arose.

"I've been thinking…… lately there's really no place to use his combat ability, right?"

"This guy, just piling up combat ability…… what is he planning to do?"

"Planning to rebel?"

"Planning to challenge my authority as leader?"

"Planning…… to seize power?"

Fengxi was very wary, eyeing Yuzhen, his mind racing.

"Hiss…… this kid is terrifying, he will surely become a major future menace, he must not be kept!"

"Should I later put this guy's name on the list for the Capital Games?"

"Help him shine and become a thorn in the eye of the Demon Race experts?"

He slightly shifted his body to make himself more comfortable, 'As for whether he is willing or not…… press the Nine Nether Diagram on him, even if he disagrees he must agree!'

Fengxi was full of confidence.

But this confidence only lasted a short time.

Because class time was over, the Virtuous Heavenly Venerable who had finished teaching decided to say a couple more lines.

"In this class I have seen many excellent students, with huge progress and abundant gains, which makes me very satisfied." The Heavenly Venerable sighed, "You are the best batch of students I have ever taught in history!"

The audience below all spoke up, becoming humble.

At that moment, while Fengxi had not yet organized his words to say something…… Yuzhen suddenly stood up and launched into action.

"We are able to have such great gains because you, Teacher Virtuous Heavenly Venerable, teach so well!" He said emotionally, "Every bit, every drop of our growth is the result of your hard work!"

"It is precisely because you, a teacher of such great virtue, exist, sacrificing your own cultivation time, burning yourself to light our dark path ahead…… that we have our present achievements!"

"Your virtue, your character, shine like the great sun, eternal and everlasting, worthy of our lifelong remembrance!"

Yuzhen opened his mouth, and Fengxi was stunned.

This string of praise, the Virtuous Heavenly Venerable has become a teacher for the ages.

In response, the Heavenly Venerable smiled, "Yu Chen, you are the most outstanding student here, the finest disciple I have ever taught… So, I have decided to give you a reward, to help you go further on your path ahead!"

"Come, come, come… I grant you a sword; receive it well!"

(End of chapter)