[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-dao-dust-pearl":3,"chapter-the-dao-dust-pearl-the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-945":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Dao Dust Pearl",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2360446,4614,"Chapter 945","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-945",945,"\u003Cp>Zhang Sanzhi returned to the boiler-house quarters; the big hooligans all had families and property, each having bought large mansions, and even those who didn’t want to draw attention had secretly built big houses in the countryside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Boiler-houses were mostly set up in quiet spots amid the chaos, renting or seizing a few rooms and hastily establishing their “boiler-house.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanzhi stepped inside the room, where only a large kang bed, a reed mat, and some cooking utensils and stools stood before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several hooligans lay half on their beds; seeing Zhang Sanzhi enter with only two fingers of his left hand holding a copper pipe, they scrambled up—except one man who remained sprawled on the kang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanzhi plopped down beside Li Jinao, noticing his half-open eyes, his body emaciated beyond human shape, covered in charred marks, not an inch of unblemished flesh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sighed, seeing the faint glimmer still in Li Jinao’s eyes, and said slowly: “Jinao, don’t blame me for not letting them take you home—your family’s left with nothing but a widow and orphan, no head to hold things together. What can a bunch of women know?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sending you there would only mean spending money to get a doctor to glance at you once before shoving you into a grave.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But you can’t die!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanzhi drew a puff from his pipe and whispered: “Today’s contest—we lost again! The Great Golden Man and the Half-Man, both our ancestral masters, have had their Dao stolen by the Xuanzhen Sect…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I even suspect a traitor in our ranks!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Otherwise, how could the Xuanzhen Sect know our ancestral ways so well?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Next time, at the Sancahe River Crossing to retrieve the treasure, the River-Corpse Ancestor and those elder corpses may not be able to protect us!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of the six ancestral masters, four are openly worshipped. The Great Golden Man receives our sect’s incense, adorned in gold and silver, his Golden Body watched over by our old elders to prevent newcomers from secretly scraping off the gold to melt and sell it! The Half-Man Ancestor is enshrined in the coolie temple, receiving daily incense offerings!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Both of these ancestral bodies have already been destroyed…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The River-Corpse Ancestor is too sinister—we dare not worship him, and can’t retrieve him; he still lies sunken at the Sancahe Crossing, suppressing the Nine Rivers’ dragons and snakes!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Deep-Fried Bones and the Open-Belly Buddha, according to the old wager, the loser must build a temple and enshrine the winner.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So the Open-Belly Buddha Ancestor was grandly cast in gold and enshrined in the Medicine King Temple of the Three Emperors’ Assembly, while the magic-trick guild’s…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanzhi’s face darkened; he drew a harsh puff of smoke and said: “They turned our ancestor into a grand illusion, tricked us once, hid our ancestor’s relics inside the ‘Tiangong’ right under our noses—and still receive annual incense offerings.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But now it may not be such a bad thing! Otherwise, we’d have drawn the Xuanzhen Sect’s attention sooner or later!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only the last ancestor remains…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanzhi sighed: “The government’s water dungeon—no one can easily enter. In the past, that ancestor endured the imperial torturer’s cruelty, yet it was itself a titanic battle of Dao.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Jinao! Among our Qingpi hooligans, many have risen to great stature, but I value you most! Yuan Laosan is cunning but lacks boldness; Wang Haichuan has responsibility and grit, but doesn’t know when to advance or retreat—he won’t achieve greatness. Only you: loyal, discerning, wise in timing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanzhi cast a cold glance around the room; the hooligans, masters of reading faces, immediately took the hint and slipped out one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanzhi whispered into Li Jinao’s ear: “The Xuanzhen Sect’s leader is one of the few formidable figures in recent years—I believe he’s nearly immortal! His ambitions are vast; he speaks plainly of elevating five pillars to hold up heaven. I don’t think he’s bluffing—our six ancestral masters are likely the Dao paths he’s targeting.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So some secrets, I must entrust to you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve received the Tai Sui flesh—this is indeed a tribulation, but now you can’t die even if you want to. By our rules, since you drew the death tally and survived the death tribulation, you may inherit my mantle and become one of our Qingpi elders.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Some things must be passed down by word of mouth.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Jinao’s eyes flickered; Zhang Sanzhi sternly said: “First—the six ancestral masters. In ancient times, all six were fifth-step Nascent Soul cultivators, just a hair’s breadth from immortality.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When the outer port was first established and Zhigucheng newly founded, countless high cultivators and strange masters came here, setting up schools and transmitting lineages.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Our Qingpi guild’s first ancestor was a towering figure—he arrived in Zhigucheng and subdued all others, establishing our guild’s rules. Back then, everyone vied for the chance to pioneer new Dao paths; the struggles were brutal. Unlike other guilds, our Qingpi was a new thing, with no traditions—so all were pioneers of new Dao paths!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Later, many high cultivators who had founded new Dao paths were driven to death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only the top six, who invited masters from every trade and old Dao lineages, battled their arts at the Sancahe Crossing—each using the duel as an opportunity to dissolve their bodies, carving out paths for their schools! Only then did our guild’s rules take root, allowing us to settle firmly in Zhigucheng!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These six great cultivators—our six ancestral masters—only united after being subdued by the first ancestor.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That first ancestor was the mangled corpse suppressing the imperial fate, imprisoned in the water dungeon—his name was Kundun. The ancestor who led the duel, sinking into the river, was named Chifennuo…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Without these two ancestors, there would be no hooligan guild.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These two ancestors convinced everyone to dissolve because they had unlocked the ultimate truth of heaven and earth—the ‘Jiazi Dao,’ even surpassing the Immortal Ascension method. To seek the Jiazi Dao, each ancestor willingly dissolved, becoming ‘non-human’ beings of the Sixth Realm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“‘Non-human’ to attain immortality. But to enter the Sacred Realm, one must become ‘non-human’ yet regain humanity!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thus, each of the six ancestors dissolved, hiding their Dao paths. Aside from the Golden Man’s path and the Yin-Yang Road already stolen by the Xuanzhen Sect, two more paths remain: Deep-Fried Bones and the Hidden Viscera. But these too are likely already targeted by the Xuanzhen Sect!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yet the Dao paths of the River-Corpse Ancestor, sunk in the river, and the Kundun Ancestor, imprisoned in the government dungeon, are no ordinary paths.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To make the Xuanzhen Sect suffer a crushing defeat, we must strike only when they attempt to swallow those two ancestors’ Dao paths.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But only when the Golden Body, Immortal Bones, Hidden Viscera, and Guiding Path are combined with the paths of these two ancestors can the Immortal Road be opened!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So, we have only one chance to truly oppose the Xuanzhen Sect!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After revealing these secrets, Zhang Sanzhi stared silently at Li Jinao, watching him slightly open his mouth, a hoarse “huh-huh” escaping his throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He drew a deep breath of pipe smoke, exhaling a crimson mist that enveloped Li Jinao’s head and face; only then did a faint voice emerge from the smoke: “Why… why choose me, a worthless man?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because you have great fortune!” Zhang Sanzhi declared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know the Immortal Road requires seven Dao paths to be pieced together? Originally, the ancestors calculated it would be the current emperor’s ‘Elixir of Immortality’—but the ‘Black Tai Sui’ brought back by the Xuanzhen Sect’s leader matches it exactly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“For some reason, the Xuanzhen Sect’s official left you thirty catties of human placenta Lingzhi flesh—equivalent to ingesting Black Tai Sui’s flesh. Aside from the Xuanzhen Sect, you alone can open the ‘Receiving Flesh’ Dao path, joining the ancestors in forging the Immortal Road and ascending together!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But the Golden Body and Yin-Yang Road have already been taken—seven must unite, yet now it’s impossible…” Li Jinao gasped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanzhi smirked: “Taking a Dao path isn’t that easy. The six ancestors’ dissolution was itself a secret ritual. To fully sever the Dao paths and erase centuries of fusion and connection between them—even the Three Sages descending couldn’t accomplish it in a day.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If even the River-Corpse Ancestor’s path can’t stop them, we must perform the ‘Ascension’ ritual early and make our final stand!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is an opportunity you could never earn in ten lifetimes. Seize it, and you’ll become immortal, a god, leaping into the Seventh Realm…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Jinao fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long moments passed; only the flickering glow of the pipe remained in the room before he answered: “Disciple… will fight to the death!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good!” Zhang Sanzhi nodded. “Then our guild will spare no effort to help you enter that Dao path.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Also, the whereabouts of the Open-Belly Buddha and Deep-Fried Bones’ bodies won’t stay hidden from the Xuanzhen Sect—we must guard against their strike…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Open-Belly Buddha Ancestor is enshrined by the Three Emperors’ Assembly in the Medicine King Temple at Yangliuqing, cast in gold and hidden inside a giant Maitreya statue. The statue’s belly opens—lift the flap and you’ll see the ancestor’s internal organs, secretly used by the Three Emperors’ Assembly to teach apprentices!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Three Emperors’ Assembly is a guild of physicians and apothecaries, emphasizing observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking—internal and external medicine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In ancient times, our Qingpi hooligan ancestors competed with the Three Emperors’ Assembly in aura-reading: each side examined the other’s face, diagnosed pulses, and finally, when it came to diagnosing internal organs, the Three Emperors’ physicians could only judge from pulse patterns—while our Qingpi ancestors carved open their own organs to verify the illness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Three Emperors’ Assembly was utterly defeated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this corpse, enshrined per the wager, became an accidental specimen for the Three Emperors’ Assembly to study surgery and observe organ morphology.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, when enshrining the corpse within the Maitreya’s golden form, they left a hole in the belly to observe and copy the true shapes of the internal organs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yangliuqing Town, as the hub of the Southern Canal’s water transport, is also the gathering market for villages west of Zhigucheng. All manner of waterborne goods converge here; tens of thousands of people from surrounding villages and hamlets come to trade, even extending influence into Hebei—thriving and bustling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Medicine King Temple, the Empress Temple, the Dragon King Temple, the Zhenwu Temple—all these temples stand here, making it the most prosperous place of incense offerings in Hebei’s Zhigucheng west.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The famed martial sects that shook east and west originated right here!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crow flew along the waterway to Yangliuqing Town, watching the faint incense smoke rising from every temple; her brows darkened as she pressed a hand against something in her backpack and said: “Let’s go. The Sect Master has invited Westerners to discuss Eastern and Western medicine at the Medicine King Temple—tell the Three Emperors’ Assembly to join us too!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“First, let’s see whether they want the wine of respect—or the wine of punishment…”\u003C\u002Fp>",1834,"2026-06-21T05:40:02.617Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","7f6bc9a5a8e9da16d9dfabb568c75ea344200ca6cccfaa04a5278eefee962d74","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-946","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-944",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dao-dust-pearl-cover.jpg"]