Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 984 Extra Chapter: Chu Taizhi and Mi Luo Sijiu

Chai Qingyun's practice of the "Supreme Eight Scenes Heart Seal Wonderful Scripture" inherits the Hunyuan True Lineage, emphasizing the manifestation of the mind outward, the natural circulation of Qi, seeking the illusory appearance of the eight scenes, returning to the original Taiji, obtaining the wonder of heaven and man, and concealing the mystery of life and destiny.

Therefore, during his cultivation, the eight scenes of mind flowed and manifested around his body, like the shifting of stars and the turning of constellations, containing traces of the Dao. But in the end, he had to return the eight scenes to their origin, return to Qi, and forge the eight scenes to return to their root and break through to the fourth grade.

It is this outward manifestation of the mind and the essential practice of returning to one's original nature that allows Chai Qingyun to handle many conflicts of principle.

At this moment, Chai Qingyun witnessed an even grander and more sacred path to harmony.

That was a grand symphony created by Chu Tai, bringing together the hearts and minds of the people of Zhongdu.

In Chai Qingyun's eyes, the primordial energy of heaven and earth circulates like a woven tapestry, the sun, moon, and stars follow their own principles, and the myriad principles woven together by the mortal world and the natural world resonate harmoniously, as if all living things were playing this supreme Daoist melody together.

Its sound was so powerful and profound that it struck his very soul, causing his body to tremble slightly and his eyes to redden.

The eight illusory landscapes around him reappeared, rotating and changing, revealing eight layers of changes including heaven, earth, water, fire, wind, thunder, mountains, and marshes, and containing many of his personal insights.

For example, the celestial phase is a picture of a high sky and light clouds, which is his understanding of his past spiritual journeys and a summary of his own state of mind; the terrestrial phase is a picture of virtue and responsibility, which is a product of his understanding of the earth's veins and the records of mountains and rivers, and a concrete manifestation of his own foundation.

The other six elements—water, fire, wind, thunder, mountain, and marsh—are all like this, corresponding not only to the mysteries of natural phenomena but also to Chai Qingyun's own cultivation insights.

But at this moment, these eight scenic spots, which form their own system, are undergoing further transformation, adding a touch of human warmth.

It was precisely this faint scent of smoke that made the threshold of the third rank, which he had painstakingly cultivated for a thousand years, even clearer.

The "Eight Scenes of the Supreme Being: The Heart Seal of the Wondrous Scripture" also resonated with the grand musical movement under the stimulation of this lively atmosphere.

The eight illusory scenes surrounding him also expanded continuously during this process, originally just simple everyday life, but also gave rise to many substantial phenomena.

The celestial phenomena bear the prayers and blessings of all living beings, and are imbued with their joy. The resulting sky is no longer clear, but is filled with weather changes such as sunshine, rain, snow, and frost, and even the phantoms of gods appear and disappear within it.

The landscape embodies the emotions that people have for the land, the breath of civilization begins to spread, and the pulse of the earth gradually resonates with the heartbeats and cheers of the people...

Gradually, Chai Qingyun's mind merged with that of Zhongdu to a certain extent, and through Zhongdu's perspective, he saw many things he had not previously noticed.

The power of the gods has long been integrated into the grand symphony, but their power is in harmony with all things in nature, so it is impossible to detect unless specifically pointed out.

Just as Chai Qingyun was engrossed in it, the sound of the Eastern Emperor Bell echoed in his mind, causing him to tremble violently and awaken him from that "illusionary dream".

He looked around and felt the gazes falling upon him from above.

Looking up, one could see Chu Tai standing in the void, surrounded by gods.

Surrounding Chu Tai were the Nine Songs Gods, each surrounded by divine light, so that even though Chai Qingyun had advanced to the third rank, he could not see their appearance clearly for the time being.

However, the phantom images of gods and immortals other than the Nine Songs gods revealed their true forms before him.

Amidst the rolling clouds, three hundred and sixty-five deities stood in three rows, protecting Chu Tai.

They were divided into two groups, one civil and one military. The civil officials wore purple robes, jade crowns, and carried jade tablets and jade seals, serving at their sides.

The general wore a golden helmet, a vermilion battle robe, and a bright silver scale armor. Each armor plate was engraved with Taoist secret incantations and divine seals. He held a magic weapon in his hand and had a sword and bow hanging at his waist. He was surrounded by many divine soldiers holding imperial staffs, halberds, standing gourds, lying gourds, stars, axes, fans, flags, banners, canopies, and other items to protect the area.

Some of the divine soldiers held flags embroidered with the four seas and five mountains of the Nine Provinces, fans painted with the celestial map of the heavens and the moon, and divine tablets carved with cloud patterns such as "purity," "immaculateness," and "auspiciousness," which, as they swayed, created a vast Dharma realm.

Hundreds of celestial maidens dressed in colorful feathered robes surrounded the area, some holding musical instruments and playing ceremonial music. The music was clear and melodious, like heavenly sounds, and blended with the grand music all around.

Finally, dozens of celestial maidens stood beside Chu Tai, holding glass bottles, bamboo flower baskets, peacock feather fans, five-flower whisks, purple-gold incense burners, and nine-leaf lingzhi mushrooms, sprinkling sweet dew, fanning auspicious clouds, and cleansing away the turbid air.

It can be said that everything before our eyes perfectly matches the mortals' imagination of the travels of immortals and gods.

But Chai Qingyun felt something was amiss. Having previously resonated with Zhongdu and deeply felt the profound mystery of the grand movement, he felt that everything before him was actually unreal.

'This shouldn't be happening!'

Chai Qingyun looked again and was surprised to find that Chu Tai's face above him was constantly changing.

One moment it's the face of a crying baby, the next it's the wrinkled corners of an old farmer's eyes, then you see a smiling girl, a scar across a soldier's nose, an old woman's spotted cheekbones, a young man's tightly pursed thin lips, and a child's rounded chin...

These faces are superimposed, yet they give a feeling of flowing change, like water.

Gradually, Chu Tai's figure began to change in Chai Qingyun's eyes, showing the outline of a general's armor, the hunched back of a farmer at work, and the slender waist of a dancer swaying...

As their clothing changed, so did their demeanor: from the naivety of a young child to the weariness of someone weathered by life, from the fierce aura of a battlefield warrior to the lingering melancholy of a woman confined to her chambers… Shaking his head, Chai Qingyun tried to calm himself. Looking at the Eastern Emperor Bell, he was startled to realize that the hands holding the bell had changed as well, from the pink fists of an infant to the rough palms of a craftsman, then to the rounded fingertips of a woman, and finally to the calloused knuckles of a warrior.

For a moment, Chai Qingyun couldn't tell which one was Chu Tai. But when Chu Tai looked at him, and countless faces and eyes looked at him at the same time, Chai Qingyun instantly understood that everything before him was not an illusion, and that none of them were Chu Tai and none of them were not Chu Tai.

At this moment, Chu Tai has absorbed the forms and spirits of billions of living beings into his own body, or rather, Chu Tai manifests the myriad forms of all living beings through his own body.

"The evolution of heaven and earth is based on the number fifty. One of them is removed, leaving only forty-nine. The fifty is the foundation of the universe, and the forty-nine is the constant way of heaven that never ceases to circulate. It is the law, the principle, the framework that all changes after birth follow, and the foundation of all visible phenomena."

"But its root cause is ultimately the one that has vanished. Only by lacking this unchanging element can variables arise, driving the stable framework of 49 to continuously evolve and sublimate, ultimately transcending all acquired factors..."

"That 'one' is not simply unchanging; its essence is the source of change, a change that transcends form and name, unaffected by the birth and death of all things. It is the all-encompassing source, the beginning of all things, and also the essence of all things. Therefore, it is above all things, originates from all things, and will also return to all things..."

"Is this the Taiyi Dao of the Taiyi True Lord? Everyone is Taiyi, everyone can achieve Taiyi, but not everyone must become Taiyi. All things have their own paths, and Taiyi is merely a leading reference..."

Chai Qingyun's pupils dilated slightly, reflecting the myriad phenomena of Zhongdu, and even the myriad phenomena of the Central Plains.

But just as his Dao heart was stirred, a soft laugh rang in his ears.

"Wonderful! I never imagined that among the third-grade cultivators, it would be you, this little fellow who has just broken through, who would be the first to glimpse the true meaning of my Dao. Fellow Daoist Hunyuan, your disciple is truly interesting!"

Chai Qingyun turned around and saw that Chu Tai had appeared behind him at some point, with his ancestor, Hunyuan Zhenjun, standing beside him. Chu Tai shook his head and said, "This kid has only seen through part of the true meaning of your Taiyi Dao, but has not yet grasped its true meaning. Otherwise, he would have had other insights into the visit of the Twelve True Lords."

Upon hearing this, Chu Tai smiled but did not reply.

Besides offering congratulations, the Twelve True Lords also came to connect the two immortal and divine systems, hoping to guide the Eastern Pole Chenguang Great Heaven system and improve the immortal path of the Immortal Manifestation Dao Transformation Great Heaven. They also brought the complete divine path system of the Immortal Manifestation Dao Transformation Great Heaven to help fill in the incompleteness of the Eastern Pole Chenguang Great Heaven.

The reason for making them make this special trip is that Chu Tai's path and the path of the Heavenly Emperor Mi Luo have a certain complementary relationship.

Interestingly, the all-encompassing Dao of the Heavenly Emperor Mi Luo and the Dao of Taiyi of Chu Tai can, to some extent, be categorized into the variations of the Great Evolution Number Fifty.

The number fifty symbolizes the primordial chaos before the universe was divided, the completeness of the Dao before it was manifested.

The process of disappearing from the One is essentially the key to the transformation of the Dao from the Hidden to the Manifest.

Therefore, the remaining number of forty-nine becomes the constant of the heavens, which never ceases to circulate. Because of the loss of the one that escaped, the number of forty-nine will give rise to yin and yang due to its imperfection and imbalance, evolving into opposition, which in turn propels the light of the universe, causing all phenomena to flow and creating all things in the world.

It can be said that the number 49 is the standard for all principles and laws, the framework for all changes, and the root of all changes.

This is why the path of the Heavenly Emperor Mi Luo can expand infinitely and get infinitely close to the innate state, because no matter how much people explore, they are actually just going around in circles within the number of forty-nine, and what they pursue in their entire lives is nothing more than that missing one.

However, this one is something that can never be reached in the future, which is why the number four and nine can continue to evolve infinitely, eventually overlapping and disappearing one.

In this process, whatever changes occur, the Way of Four and Nine will naturally follow, gradually integrating them and encompassing them, becoming part of the all-encompassing Way of the Heavenly Emperor of Mi Luo.

However, because of this, in the all-encompassing Dao of Mi Luo, the one that escaped, though mysterious, is also the only power that has no effect.

Chu Tai, on the other hand, is the opposite. Chu Tai's Taiyi Dao is the beginning, the end, the complete whole, and also an independent individual.

The path it ultimately leads to is precisely the one that has vanished. Moreover, Chu Tai's definition of it is different. In Chu Tai's Taiyi Dao, the changes of the four nines originate from the "one". Only the absence of the "one" can create the "wholeness" of all things in the future. Only the absence of the "one" can allow a new "one (change)" to appear.

Therefore, "One" is the unchanging origin, the source and foundation of all changes. Without this "One", all things in the universe would eventually become lifeless objects within the framework of the Four-Nine. Thus, "One" is the fundamental force that drives the changes, evolution, and sublimation of all things. It is the core that allows life to seek change within the norm, ultimately leading to transcending acquired limitations and returning to the innate state.

To put it bluntly, Mi Luo started with the "49" and used the manifestation of the Dao as a foundation to move closer to the "completeness" of the Dao, eventually reaching a level that is infinitely close to "one," thus creating his own "one," which is the corresponding innate Dao fruit.

Chu Tai, on the other hand, starts with "one," using "one" as the basis for change, while also placing "one" independently outside of change. He sees it as the beginning and confirms it as the end, making it superior to all things, becoming an absolutely independent individual, yet integrating it into all things, making it the aggregate of all things.

This leads to a very interesting relationship between the two. Clearly, [one] is the essence and [four nine] is the function; [one] is nothingness and [four nine] is existence. This is a special relationship where essence and function are inseparable and existence and nothingness are mutually generative.

However, in the evolution of the path, [49] seems to exhaust everything, but in the end it returns to [1], and [1] seems to be independent, but in the end it will manifest in [49].

This is why the Way of Mi Luo ultimately led to the Heavenly Emperor, while the Way of Chu Tai ultimately failed to leave behind a complete self.

Because when he left his name in the Book of Immortals and Gods, his form had already evolved with the Four Nines of the Later Heaven and merged into the Great Heaven of the Eastern Pole, embarking on his own innate path.

Or rather, Chu Tai at this moment is a primordial Dao Lord who has never grown up.

Now, both the improvement of the Holy Kingdom system and the divine system sent by Emperor Miro are helping him to perfect [49], helping him to grow rapidly and become a "mature" Dao Lord.

After all, only in this way can the heavens beyond the Heavenly Gate be better suppressed.

(End of this chapter)