Daoist Master of Qing Xuan

Not a word came from Kui Li. Even though Shen Lian may soon disappear, she did not uncontrollably look towards his direction.

The Four Elements were reaching the most maddening point of their havoc-wreaking, turbulently surging forth with their violently astonishing capabilities, thoroughly obliterating the last bit of Shen Lian’s real soul.

Shen Lian’s consciousness was presently undergoing the cruelest ravaging since its conception. There was only one end in sight if he was unable to bear it – the world would no longer have any trace of him.

He neither had a choice, nor did he have a way out. All he could do was to endure.

He had to bear it even though he had already passed his breaking point. Shangqing Daoist Master’s virtual shadow grew to become more and more like Shen Lian’s, and the latter started to forget many events and memories. The experiences that happened in the past seemed to peel off him and merge with the virtual shadow of Shangqing Daoist Master.

Layer by layer, his consciousness were peeled off like an onion. Lee Feng the doctor on earth, Shen Lian the young Daoist in Qing Xia Temple, Shen Lian the headmaster of Qing Xuan, Shen Lian the Zhou Emperor of the Netherworld – all these past experiences were stripped away. There were no longer any experiences nor were there any memories: without them, what else could there be for him to identify himself as Shen Lian?

The answer to that question was far from simple. Shen Lian himself could not answer because he was rapidly forgetting who he was. If every layer of an onion was peeled off, what else would there be left of that onion?

If it reached that point, Shen Lian would be reduced to nothingness.

It seemed as though the end was inevitable, and that the possibility of turning the situation around was non-existent.

Jing Shu was rather disheartened. She was did not have many good impressions of Shen Lian, but her three days with him opened her eyes to how Shen Lian could persevere up until now. She was but a mere spectator, and yet she was able to understand how difficult it was to persevere for so long. He kept on going and worked hard, but in the end he was unable to change his destiny. Not only was this the harsh reality of destiny; it was also the most lamentable aspect of human life.

The kind of despair one feels when one gave it one’s all and yet the ending could not be changed, was enough to cause a bystander to feel deeply saddened.

If Shen Lian did his utmost best but no miracle came to his aid, he would not be the only one to feel the sorrow.

Shen Lian’s consciousness was like the last firefly in an empty night sky, exerting all of its strength in an attempt to continue illuminating the darkness of the night.

However the havoc-wreaking Four Elements was like the deepest and darkest of wind at night, wanting to completely devour him into the darkness.

Being on the verge of death was a catalyst for people to truly appreciate each precious moment of life. It was only then that the beauty and splendour of life could truly be understood. Shen Lian was more likely to experience death than the true understanding and appreciation of life, for he was already incapable of remembering anything as all his memories were destroyed.

It came to the point where he did not know he was Shen Lian. Every important event in the past that represented Shen Lian no longer remained in his heart.

His heart of Dao was dull and lonely. Only darkness remained. The radiance of light was like a shooting star: fleeting and transient. Shooting stars were also an apt depiction for his life – brilliance, splendour, glory, and honor – in the end they passed never to return.

Hundreds and thousands of years in the future, no one would know him; just like hundreds and thousands of years ago, there was no him.

Like the rising tide, the onslaught of darkness finally came. The last bit of Shen Lian’s divine aura abruptly disappeared.

In the wanton devastation, Shangqing Daoist Master finally solidified his body and stood atop the Four Elements. What followed was a Resonance of the Great Way, causing the Four Elements to begin having order and tangle up together. In this small space, they began to weave in structure, gushing with the Qi of birth, creating an entire universe once again.

A myriad of things could be seen: beautiful mountains and rivers, dry land and continents, and the rippling of vast seawater. Pure Qi rushed upwards and served as the heavens, while impure Qi sank below and became the Nine Underworlds. Up in the sky there were stars as well as the sun and moon. Down on land there were birds, beasts, insects, and fish – exuberant and full of life. This world was lively, vivid, and emotionally touching.

Lady Mother of the Chariot’s had an expression that reflected the stirring of her emotions. She had yet to shift her gaze. Her honored master personally displayed this supreme technique, demonstrating the Dao of Creation that split heaven and earth.

With a square inch of land, a great world was evolved; with a snap of the fingers, the heavens and earth were established. This was the means of the Daoist Master.

However, Kui Li was not in a mood to pay attention to all that. After all, there were truly no miracles anymore.

The Shangqing Daoist Master was silent. Densely packed symbols and words of the Great Way emerged on a body that strikingly resembled Shen Lian’s, annotating the profound principles that were unsurpassed in this world. Those who had the opportunity to chance upon this scene would find themselves facing prospect that was hard to find even in a whole lifetime.

Jing Shu grinded her teeth. Since he was already dead, she had better just use this opportunity to observe and emulate the supreme technique of Daoist Master. At least she could obtain some benefits in studying this occurrence.

However, no one noticed that in the newly-formed world, there was a chrysalis on top of the leaves of one of the trees. It trembled continuously.

Shen Lian’s consciousness had yet to be completely annihilated. In the end he turned himself into a chrysalis that was strong beyond comparison. It enabled him to spin a cocoon around himself and ultimately sank into the midst of the complete darkness.

The present situation bore no difference to a genuine death as he was now in the center of solitude, emptiness, and a darkness that had no end.

This was rather like the condition of his real soul in the Realm of Dreams – thoughtless, mindless, featureless, yet to transform into Taixu, and not having anything at all.

It was not known how long time was taken for Shen Lian to once again develop an awareness of his self. He had no eyes, no ears, and no mouth. He was simply the most primal of sources when he began to realize his own existence.

He did not know who ‘me’ was, as he still had no concept of it.

In the lonesome and empty darkness, there finally appeared an existence that was different from his. This led him to form the thought of ‘me’ once again, and further designated that the other existence was a ‘him’.

After the ‘him’ appeared, ‘him’ stood straight as silently as the darkness, as if everything in front of ‘him’ was insignificant.

The eyes of ‘him’ flickered, and a powerful flood of information squeezed into Shen Lian’s body. A whole century happened in an instant. Shen Lian suddenly understood who Shen Lian was, and understood that the ‘him’ was Shangqing Daoist Master.

Shangqing Daoist Master gave Shen Lian a personal experience of despair as well as new life.

He enabled Shen Lian to experience having nothing at all, but also immediately returned whatever that belonged to the latter.

He could be everything and also able to wipe out everything.

Shangqing Daoist Master need not say anything further. Shen Lian had already understood how fearsome Daoist Master was. Such terror was something Shen Lian could never understand.

Shen Lian resembled an ant or a mole cricket, forever incapable of understanding a person’s line of thought.

Shen Lian also genuinely experienced what despair was, so much so that every single time he thought about what happened before, he could not help but felt pain.

He became as silent as Shangqing Daoist Master.

Though he had already tasted despair, he still did not have a way out. It was clear that there was nothing that he would not do. As he thought back and recalled every event that happened prior, one by one he understood the helplessness and desperation he felt back then.

As he did not reach the most terrible of circumstances, he still had the ability to reflect and ponder.

He recalled the image of having everything. Then he recalled the last moments of his unwillingness and powerlessness. All those experiences were very painful, and yet they were novel.

“Absence of trials and tribulations does not a Daoist Master make.”

Shangqing Daoist Master finally spoke. His tone of voice was indifferent. Like the wind that blew in the lowest level of the Nine Underworlds, it caused the depths of one’s heart to feel cold. This unsurpassed a person of great achievements, the Daoist Master that jumped out of the three realms of past, present, and future, surprisingly spoke to Shen Lian.

Shen Lian did not reply. He need not ignite the so-called fighting spirit. He knew he had another chance. Even if it were Shangqing Daoist Master who gave him that chance, it was all on Shen Lian to personally seize it.