Legend of Zixia

Chapter 260 Sainthood Can Be Achieved at Any Time

The stone scriptures lay horizontally, behind which was a pile of rubble, overgrown with vines and ancient trees, emanating a terrifying power.

However, once one gets within a hundred paces of the stone scripture, all disturbances cease abruptly.

Invisible Dao patterns slowly emanated from the surface of the stone scripture, spreading like ripples. Though invisible, they were undeniably real. They suppressed the void, calmed the turbulent currents, and even stabilized time itself. It was as if the stone scripture itself was the "heart" of this world.

"The Beginningless Sutra!" Zixia stroked the stone sutra.
Her hand glided over the deep, etched grooves—at first glance, they looked like natural cracks, but in reality, every inch of them subtly embodied the ultimate principles of heaven and earth. These Dao patterns were completely different from the engraving methods passed down today. They did not seem to be artificially carved, but rather seemed to be naturally formed by heaven and earth: some were shaped like thunderbolts splitting the sky, some resembled flowing water meandering, and some resembled birds soaring through the sky, beasts treading on the ground, insects chirping, and grass rustling. They even used wind, rain, thunder, lightning, birds, beasts, flowers, and insects as their brushstrokes, transforming the birth and death of all things into Daoist runes.

At the very center of the Dao pattern is a groove, about the size of a human head.
Black Emperor squatted to the side, its tail drooping, but its eyes were fixed on Zixia's movements with ill intent.

"Stop your busy work." It sneered, its tone full of sarcasm. "Even if the innate holy body and Dao embryo were to come in person, it would be useless! Without collecting those ancient jade pieces, there is no key—to put it bluntly, if the time is not right, no one can unlock this scripture!"

It crouched on the edge of the stone scripture, flicked its tail, and glanced sideways at Zixia: "You said you could make the Wushi Scripture reappear in the world if you 'believe in me'? Ha, you don't even bother to think before you start bragging! If I believed your nonsense, I would really think you had some kind of supernatural power!"

It paused, then grinned, a hint of cunning and nostalgia flashing in its eyes. Reaching for its hidden depths, it pulled out a piece of crystal-clear jade—carved entirely like green marrow, its surface shimmering with a warm, lustrous sheen, its shape perfectly fitting the groove.

"Of course, I can give you a chance." It raised the ancient jade with feigned profundity, its voice lowering slightly. "This is because the Great Emperor opened a back door for me, personally saying: 'If someone is destined to come, you may try opening it.'"

It squinted and sighed, "I have kept this hidden for ten thousand years... Today, I will make an exception."

Having said that, it gently inserted the jade into the groove.

In an instant——

hum! ! !
The entire stone trembled violently, and countless golden patterns appeared on its gray-white jade surface, as if a sleeping galaxy had suddenly awakened. A vast and boundless aura of the Great Dao soared into the sky, illuminating the entire mountainside, and even the inverted Boundless Bell rang softly.

The *Beginningless Sutra* slowly opened, its pages turning on their own, each reflecting a wondrous scene of the universe's beginning, the fall of stars, and the passage of time. A low, ancient voice resonated, echoing endlessly in the void, each word reaching the very depths of the soul.

The Daoist voice resonated softly, like ancient words, echoing endlessly between heaven and earth.

Black Emperor's eyes lit up, and he almost drooled: "Oh my god... I've finally seen the Beginningless Sutra open again!"

It eagerly moved forward, its head almost touching the stone surface.

It can understand those words;

It can observe those pictures;

It can even listen to those principles and remember them.

But when it tried to understand, it found that everything was like trying to see flowers through fog or trying to catch the moon's reflection in water.

You can see it clearly, but you can't grasp it;

I heard it, but I couldn't understand it;
Not to mention cultivation, even the most rudimentary stroke is like a celestial book, impossible to understand by analogy.

It's not that it doesn't understand, it's that it understands too much.

Knowing the horror of this sutra makes the pain all the more intense—

They were guarding a mountain of unparalleled treasure, yet they couldn't even take away a single blade of grass.

It silently raised its head, looked at Zixia, its eyes filled with complex and indescribable emotions:

Envy, resentment, anticipation, and a faint glimmer of hope.

"Now... it's up to you."

Immediately, the Black Emperor turned his gaze to Zixia. She remained standing before the *Beginningless Scripture*, her purple robes fluttering gently in the Dao light, her expression serene and profound. There was no eagerness, no greed; it was as if this imperial scripture, capable of driving all races mad, was merely a mirror reflecting one's true nature.

Instead of immediately stepping forward to comprehend it, she raised her hand and a crystal jade bottle appeared in her palm—sealed within the bottle were dozens of drops of essence blood, inside which seemed to surge like a galaxy, with flashes of lightning. It was what she had "squeezed" from Ye Fan in her early years, containing the purest and most primal essence of the sacred body.

She tilted her head back and swallowed it in one gulp! The chaotic energy around her surged and rolled, and her physical body instantly transformed. Using her own acquired chaotic body as the foundation, she refined the bloodline of the sacred body and used the innate Dao embryo as the guide to reverse the essence of life, simulating that wisp of life rhythm unique to the "innate sacred body Dao embryo".

She is not a true innate sacred body or Dao embryo.

But at this moment, she became the only "container".

The instant her breath resonated with the stone scripture—

The "Beginningless Sutra" trembled slightly, and the originally violent radiance of the Great Dao slowly subsided. A page of the stone slowly came to rest in the air, as if waiting for someone.

Zixia closed her eyes and probed with her divine sense.

In an instant, the boundless Dao surged into his sea of ​​consciousness—

She saw the beginning of the universe, a figure shattering chaos, standing above nothingness, and with a wave of his hand, fixing the stars and dividing day and night;

Finally, she found the answer she was looking for: the river of time flows endlessly, the past and the future intertwine into a web, countless strong people struggle within it, but only one person goes against the current and breaks through the wall of time in one step;
She touched the thread that runs through eternity—

Under this immense power, she not only comprehended the Dao of No Beginning, but also, by following the trend, began to comprehend the Secret of Movement—one of the Nine Secrets, involving extreme speed, but in reality, controlling the laws of time.
Zixia's figure began to flash continuously in the void—

One moment they were still in the same spot, the next they were ten feet away;
In an instant, she appeared in three different locations simultaneously, as if time had been torn apart, leaving behind afterimages.

Each shift leaves behind traces of time distortion, even warping space itself.

As the last trace of resonance dissipated, the energy within Zixia, originating from Ye Fan's essence blood, was completely depleted. The profound energy returned to the Sea of ​​Bitterness, as if the glorious moment had never occurred.

Although all her insights into the *Beginningless Sutra* could no longer be reproduced—those vast, star-like texts, that timeless truth spanning eternity—were sealed deep within her consciousness as her bloodline receded, never to be used again. Yet, it was precisely this brief moment of contact that allowed her to truly glimpse the gateway to "time."

Her third strike—severing time—is finally taking shape!
No longer a blurry trace, no longer a mere illusion. This blade now resides within her soul, like a newly sprouted bud, not yet in full bloom, yet already possessing the sharpness to pierce the river of time.

At the same time, the divine purple-gold scroll above their heads trembled violently and spontaneously expanded into the void.

The world depicted in the painting has undergone a transformation—

The spatial patterns that were once engraved are like veins forming a network;

The remnants of time, newly merged, flowed backward like a river.

The fate lines, like the movement of stars, automatically deduce cause and effect.

The three elements blend together to create a miniature "world" in the center of the painting—mountains and rivers rise and fall, the sun and moon revolve, and time flows silently.

The entire painting seemed to come alive, no longer just a vessel, but rather a matrix of laws taking shape.

Even more terrifying was that she could no longer suppress her aura.

An aura of near sainthood slowly emanated from her body, triggering strange phenomena in the heavens and earth—fine cracks appeared in the air, the ground cracked inch by inch, and even the distant Boundless Bell rang three times.

You can become a saint anytime!
This is not a breakthrough achieved through accumulating resources, but rather through understanding the Tao.

(End of this chapter)