The mountain was Green Mountain, and the tower beyond the building.
The water was White Water Beyond the Sky.
The sky was blue, and white clouds adorned it. When Su Ming looked over, the sky seemed to have turned into a beautiful painting. If it was not because wind blew past, the clouds would seem to have drifted into the distance slowly, causing the painting to not be still, but to turn into a world.
Su Ming stared at the sky in a daze. He had been awake for a month, and during it, he might have accepted the reality around him, but he still could not understand … just where he was.
He still remembered the final scene of him Possessing Xuan Zang. Due to the difference in their states of being, the possibility of him successfully Possessing Xuan Zang was next to none. However, at the instant Su Ming Possessed Xuan Zang, he had burned his life and soul to the peak, which was why it was not impossible for him to Possess Xuan Zang.
However, if he succeeded, why was he not Xuan Zang? If he failed, where was he now?
Also … Su Ming lowered his head to look at his body and fell silent.
"Xuan Er, you're daydreaming again." A stern voice came from beside Su Ming. It belonged to an old man with an awe-inspiring expression and a head full of white hair. He was dressed in a long gray robe and had a straw hat on his head. In his hand, he held a wooden staff as he turned his head around to look at Su Ming.
"Master …" Su Ming stared at the old man before him. He might have been awake for a month, but every single time he saw this person, his heart would tremble, and he would not know whether everything before him was real or fake.
The old man … was Tian Xie Zi!
He looked exactly the same. Even his voice rose and fell, just like the voice in Su Ming's memories. He could not differentiate between the past and the present.
"This is just the first month. You must remember that you will have a total of six thousand years. You will have ten cycles of sixty years with me. You will walk through mountains, rivers, and plains with me. You will watch the sun rise and set again and again. You will understand the changes of the four seasons and understand the principles of the world. You will search for the truth and search for the kindness in human nature …
"Then, during the ninety cycles of sixty years, you will wander about alone. Only by doing so will you have the right to fight against your eldest brother and second brother. Only then will you have the chance to become the future ruler, and I … will not have to fulfill what your father asked of me," the old man said faintly. He knocked the wooden staff against the ground, turned his head around, and continued walking forward.
"Follow me." His voice was ancient as it echoed through the mountain range. It seemed to fuse with the mountain wind, transforming into clouds that were gradually growing darker and darker until they turned into snowflakes.
It was winter.
Su Ming followed behind the old man quietly. When he walked through the mountain and passed by a lake that was not sealed in ice, the setting sun in the distance shone on the land with its afterglow, casting Su Ming's shadow on the lake.
It was a young man, a handsome young man wearing a long gray robe and a bamboo hat. However, there was a hint of confusion on his face.
He was the third prince of Guzang, and he had two royal brothers. There was a tradition in Guzang. Every time there was a change of royal power, all the princes would be taken away by cultivators personally appointed by the king to travel for 6,000 years.
After one hundred cycles of sixty years, the princes would return and begin a fight for the throne. It was destined that only one prince would survive. The blood of the others who died would be used to forge his crown, and he would become the ruler of the country.
And that country … was known as Guzang. It was the ruler of the entire land and the supreme ruler of the entire world. It stood above all cultivators and all sects!
At that moment, besides the memories Su Ming already had, there was an additional … memory that had been Branded into the depths of his soul at some unknown point of time. It was as if it had always belonged to him.
However, he could not remember his eldest brother's name, and neither could he remember his second brother's appearance. The thing that left the deepest impression in his memory was that he had to follow the old man in front of him for ten cycles of sixty years.
"Drink." The old man stopped by the lake and turned his head around to cast a glance at Su Ming before pointing at the lake.
"The lake's water does not move, and it will reflect the sky. If you drink this water, it will be as if you have swallowed a corner of the sky. This lake … is known as Sky Lake." As the old man spoke, he bent his back and extended his hand to scoop up a palm's worth of lake water. He brought it to his lips and drank from it.
Su Ming was silent. His gaze fell on the lake, but he did not bend his back.
The old man lifted his head and looked at Su Ming.
"Why should I drink this lake's water? Even if it reflects the sky and you think that drinking it will be as if you have swallowed a corner of the sky, you will only be lying to yourself, "Su Ming said slowly while shaking his head.
"Lift your head and look at the sky in the distance," the old man said calmly.
Su Ming lifted his head. At the instant he looked at the sky, his pupils suddenly shrank. He saw a small region in the sky in the distance … and it looked as if it had been devoured!
"I don't know what this lake's original name was, but when I passed by it and said that it was the sky, then it was the sky. When I drank the lake's water and said that I had swallowed a corner of the sky, then … it was as if I had swallowed a corner of the sky.
"If you persist in this, then you will sink into karma," the old man said faintly.
Su Ming was silent. After a long while, he suddenly laughed. Why was there a need to care about karma? Why was there a need to care about where he was? Why was there a need to be so fixated on an answer? As long as he walked down the path, everything would be fine.
"I have learned my lesson." Su Ming wrapped his fist in his palm. Once he bowed towards the old man, he bent his back and squatted down. He lifted his right hand and placed it in the lake, but he did not fish it out. Instead, a dark light shone in his eyes, and he lightly patted the surface of the lake with his right hand.
At the instant he did so, the lake immediately roared and tumbled about. Waves spread out endlessly, causing the sky that was originally reflected to shatter and disappear without a trace.
"Why is that?" The old man frowned.
"Master, you said that it is the sky, so if you drink it, you will be swallowing the sky. I said that it is not the sky, so there is no need for me to drink it." Su Ming stood up and looked at the old man.
"You're quite ambitious." A brief flash of praise appeared in the old man's eyes, but soon, a fierce glare appeared in his eyes, and his words instantly changed.
"But your logic doesn't make sense, and you're a little too arrogant. I said that this lake is the sky because I sensed something when I saw the sky reflected in the lake, which is why I said those words in accordance with the will of heaven, which is why I can truly swallow the sky." All of this is the will of heaven, and I am just going with the flow.
"But you … messed up the lake, and it is as if you messed up fate. But before long, the lake will still calm down, and it will still reflect the sky. To it, you are just a passerby.
"To you, you are smug and laughing at the lake for messing up the world, but to the lake, it is also laughing at you. If you don't believe me … look at the lake and see whether it is still calm. If you laugh at the calm surface of the lake, can you also see that it is laughing at you in the reflection?" the old man said calmly. His words were spoken slowly, but they seemed to contain the Great Dao within them.
"I don't believe in fate." Su Ming did not turn his head back, but at the instant the lake behind him calmed down after tumbling about, a large amount of water vapor appeared. It instantly turned into fog. Once it enveloped the entire lake, it only lasted for about a dozen breaths before Su Ming swung his arm with his back turned towards the lake.
Wind immediately blew past. Once it scattered the fog, the lake water had completely dried up and disappeared. Only the ugly mud in the depression was left, along with the countless fishes, prawns, and lives in it.
"Now, it's completely gone," Su Ming said faintly.
The old man was silent. He cast Su Ming a deep glance, then shook his head.
"The bloodline of Ancient Zang's royal family is the strongest in the world. This rumor is indeed true. Let's go. We still have a long way to go." The old man turned around and no longer looked at the lake. He walked forward.
Su Ming lowered his head. He did not look at the lake either. He just followed the old man and walked forward. In Su Ming's eyes, it did not matter whether it was the goal or the end of the path. It was a path to search for Dao … a path that would allow him to become even stronger.
He had walked through mountains, rivers, four seasons, and ten years.
The old man walked in front, and Su Ming walked behind him. Ten years ago, Su Ming's reflection in the lake water had been that of a teenager. Right then, he had already become a young man. He took bigger steps forward, and the dazed look in the past could no longer be seen on his face. Instead, it had returned to the calmness he had when he was in Harmonious Morus Alba.
The night sky was dotted with stars. A bonfire burned on the ground. Su Ming sat beside it, and across from him was the old man who looked like Tian Xie Zi. On another snowy day ten years later, the two of them sat cross-legged and sensed the cold behind them as well as the waves of heat crashing into their faces.
The old man had his eyes closed, as if he was immersed in his training. He did not care about the changes in the world around him. Su Ming lifted his head and stared at the indistinct moon hanging behind the countless snowflakes in the sky that looked like dust.
The moon was always around, but the person was not … Su Ming quietly thought about the past and counted his memories. Over there … he searched for the sighing ferryman in his own world.
"How many famous sects and clans are there in Ancient Zang?" An ancient voice tumbled out of the old man's mouth slowly. It was mixed with the snow and wind, fused with the crackling sounds of the bonfire, and reached Su Ming's ears.
"Seven sects and twelve clans," Su Ming said calmly while still staring at the indistinct moon.
"What is the difference between sects and clans?" the old man asked slowly.
"Sects and clans exist in the endless emptiness. They are sealed by Ancient Depository, and their clans come from the vast emptiness. They do not receive teachings.
"What happens every single time the imperial power changes?" the old man asked.
Su Ming averted his gaze from the indistinct moon in the sky and stared at the burning bonfire. "The seven sects move, and the twelve clans fall into chaos. The battle for the imperial power changes the world."
"I've told you about the limits of cultivation in the boundless world over the past ten years. Do you still remember them?" the old man asked faintly.
"Attaining completion in Avacaniya Realm means gaining an epiphany of Boundless Dao Realm and obtaining the descent of Dao Divinity. If you gain an epiphany nine times, you will be like having nine overlapping Dao Divinities. Nine is the limit, and once you reach it, you can break through and step into Boundless Dao Realm!
"Those who have attained Boundless Dao have never appeared since ancient times, which is why the people of the world can understand Dao, but they cannot understand what Boundless Dao is pointing at," Su Ming said calmly. Su Ming asked calmly. The old man had told Su Ming about these things bit by bit during the ten years he had been here.
Volume seven, chapter one! Thank you, everyone. Thank you, my fellow Daoists. Thank you for allowing my Seven Day Explosion to reach another level. Please wait for me. Three days later, I will return with another crazed explosion!
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