Chapter 858: What Is Called the Heavenly Dao (Monthly Ticket Request at Month

Franca looked at Lumian and asked with great anticipation:

"What do you mean?"

Lumian no longer felt any discomfort; his gaze swept across Anthony and Jianna's faces before returning to Franca's armchair.

"We all know there are great beings who occupy several adjacent Paths—like Mr. The Fool at the top of the Apprentice, the Fortune-Teller, and the Thief Paths, and the Great Mother of the Moon, Earth, and Rogue Paths."

"So if what was just mentioned—'approaching the Heavenly Dao'—really means adjusting one's state to draw closer to the Giver and actively petition for grace, then in this document, in the corresponding sentences, what does 'Heavenly Dao' refer to? Which Paths' summits?"

Franca answered thoughtfully:

"Based on our current understanding of the twenty-two Divine Paths, the one representing 'Yang' is certainly the Hunter Path; the one representing 'Yin' might be the Witch Path, or possibly the Earth Path or the Moon Path… hmm… combining the symbolism of 'Yang,' here 'Yin' must refer to the Witch Path."

Franca currently only knew the Hunter Path could turn women into men; she wasn't sure whether the Earth or Moon Paths could turn men into women—she classified them as 'Yin' solely based on concepts of gestation, reproduction, and growth.

"So does 'Heavenly Dao' in these sentences refer to the summits of the Hunter and Witch Paths?" Jianna asked, following Lumian and Franca's line of thought.

"Probably." Franca nodded firmly. "The knowledge in Mr. The Star's document may be about correctly understanding the contradiction, opposition, transformation, and unity of Yin and Yang, then harmonizing them through one's own actions and necessary external aid, drawing as close as possible to the corresponding Heavenly Dao—the great beings representing the summits of the Witch and Hunter Paths—to obtain grace."

Lumian smiled:

"At this point, what have you two connected?"

Jianna paused, then blurted out:

"The Blood Emperor and the Primordial Witch?"

"You're barely keeping up with my train of thought," Lumian said, half-praising, half-sneering. "Didn't we keep wondering why the Blood Emperor and the Primordial Witch would cooperate, why they could cooperate? As true gods of adjacent Paths, shouldn't they see each other as their greatest enemies? The Magician Lady told me: once you choose a Path, your enemies and allies are determined."

You two are adjacent Paths too, yet you're not enemies—aren't you even sleeping together? Franca glanced at Lumian and Jianna, silently muttering in her mind with a tinge of bitterness.

At moments like this, she always felt the Pain Elixir was digesting a little.

Of course, she clearly understood such enmity primarily referred to the upper tiers.

Lumian continued:

"The seal from Mr. The Door on the aggregation effect is merely a detail, a technical issue of how this was achieved—not the reason or purpose."

"Are the Blood Emperor and the Primordial Witch aiming to merge their bodies with the Dao?" Franca's thoughts branched from 'approaching the Heavenly Dao,' using a concept from before her transmigration that she felt better suited this situation.

Lumian, Jianna, and Anthony stared at Franca, each somewhat bewildered.

What does 'merge with the Dao' mean?

Franca noticed her companions' confusion, scratched her ponytail, and struggled to explain:

"It means… merging completely with the so-called Heavenly Dao. Uh… less rigorously, it's like pulling down a true god from their throne and replacing them—but here, what needs replacing isn't the god, but the Heavenly Dao representing the great being."

"Then why don't the Blood Emperor and the Primordial Witch just kill each other, consume each other's Unique Characteristics, and unify Yin and Yang directly?" Anthony asked.

There's no need to have sex and have kids!

Franca pondered for a few seconds:

"Maybe harmony must come before unification? At least from those sentences it seems so…"

"In other words, the Blood Emperor and the Primordial Witch must first unite, adjust their states, truly draw close to the so-called Heavenly Dao, and only then enter the stage of unification—so during that time, they had to temporarily cooperate, while each prepared backup plans, ready to turn on each other the moment their goal was achieved…"

"What's this called? It's called the first sword after landing—cut down the person beside you!"

Lumian and the others were thoroughly accustomed to Franca suddenly spouting nonsense no one understood; they waited patiently for her to continue.

Franca suddenly laughed:

"It's also possible the Blood Emperor and the Primordial Witch accidentally obtained knowledge similar to this document, but since neither had received proper training or cultural conditioning, they naively interpreted Yin-Yang union as meaning the Hunter and Witch absolutely had to sleep together, Yin must contain Yang, Yang must contain Yin, and they had to produce a damn child or two."

"What's this called? It's called suffering from cultural misunderstanding! Uh, actually, it's not entirely wrong—just narrow and one-sided, ignoring other pathways."

Jianna was feeling strangely uneasy, vaguely connecting it to herself, when Lumian suddenly sneered:

"I've always said redheads and thick-haired people need to read more and study harder."

The moment Lumian finished speaking, Franca and Jianna glared at him furiously.

"I don't think it's a matter of misunderstanding—even if the Blood Emperor, half-mad, truly didn't grasp the full meaning of Yin-Yang union, he had the top-tier 'Decoder' at his side." Anthony voiced a different opinion.

This referred to Amon, the Duke of the Tord Empire, then an Angel-King of the Thief Path.

Lumian thought for a moment and said:

"Have you forgotten one of his titles is 'God of Mischief'?"

"Maybe he wanted exactly this outcome."

"You understand Amon's mindset because of your shared 'entertainer' resonance…" Franca muttered under her breath.

Jianna nodded:

"So the special mirror world is a byproduct of the Blood Emperor and the Primordial Witch's Yin-Yang union to approach the Heavenly Dao?"

"Or perhaps a necessary component created to seize the Heavenly Dao—similar to the ritual requirements for ascending to higher sequences?"

"We still can't draw a conclusion, but the direction and reasoning are definitely correct." Franca pulled out a dark red ink pen from her Traveler's Satchel and, resting it on her thigh, wrote the Armor Shadow's translation beneath each sentence.

She also thoughtfully provided her interpretations of individual characters based on sentence structure, glyph shapes, and reasonable guesses, then compiled their recent discussion into a report appended at the end—not as a conclusion, but to offer the Major Arcana a line of thought.

Phew… after finishing this, Franca exhaled and said:

The harvest from summoning the Armor Shadow was greater than I expected—we can now confirm that Resurrection Island is Penglai Divine Mountain, and Harrison is the corpse that drifted from Penglai onto the river!

Franca was disappointed that there was still no definitive proof the world Harrison came from was the same as their pre-transmigration world—only linguistic, cultural, and physical similarities existed, insufficient as a premise for reasoning.

She planned to ask the Armor Shadow next time whether it had heard of "Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun."

He was the culprit behind their transmigration!

Anthony knew little about the Armor Shadow, Penglai Divine Mountain, or the so-called river; he listened with confusion, but he understood the importance of Resurrection Island and Harrison—something the Major Arcana also cared about.

"Harrison died and came back to life? No wonder he's from Resurrection Island… Why did Resurrection Island vanish from the world of the Man of the Ming Path?"

"From Harrison's words to the Devil Wizard, people from Resurrection Island have been appearing in our world for a long time…"

"Did Resurrection Island vanish from its original world because it crossed over here? Now, can it communicate with its original world again?" Jianna finally understood the shock and awe Franca had felt after posing her second question and seeing the corresponding vision.

No sooner had she spoken than she froze—she realized she shouldn't have analyzed it this way.

Franca's eyes lit up:

"It's possible!"

She immediately rose from the armchair, paced back and forth, and growled:

"Damn it, why didn't we lure Harrison out this time!"

Although she now realized this Resurrection Island visitor might be far more dangerous than expected, their journey to the Samaritan Woman's Spring had been watched by the Magician Lady.

"Next, our main task is to find Harrison or the 'Mirror Person' Palia," Lumian stood up, speaking as team leader.

The Mirror Person Palia was the mineralogist Jasmyn.

Before Franca and the others could respond, he added:

"I'm also going to start gathering auxiliary materials for the Ironblood Knight."

"You can gather materials for the Despair Witch too—we have no clear leads right now, and plenty of free time," Franca grunted.

Anthony said:

"I'll do my best on this task, but I have another one."

"The one joining the Psychological Alchemy Society?" Franca asked curiously.

"That's a long-term task," Anthony explained simply. "The Hermit Lady's Minor Arcana, the Knight of Swords, has arrived in Triel and needs help from an Observer Path adept. The Justice Lady recommended me."

"What kind of help?" Lumian asked.

Anthony shook his head:

"We haven't met yet."

Lumian nodded:

"If you need help, don't hesitate to ask me."

…………

On the Southern Continent, inside a house built of raw logs.

The Star, wearing red gloves, leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the paper and pen on the desk.

Suddenly, specks of starlight flared before him, rapidly forming a brilliant gate.

The gate opened, and the Magician Lady stepped out, holding the letter from Franca.

PS: Beginning of the month—please vote for monthly tickets~

(End of Chapter)