Yefutidaolu

Chapter 455 "The Great Dao Song of Profound Transformation and Connection"

The clamor subsided, and the fleeting light gradually faded.

Li Zoufang also left, and the powerful families, needing to discuss countermeasures, had long since departed as well.

They've all left.

However, Gao Jian did not leave with the others. He walked alone to a viewing platform extending from the edge of the Ziwei Enclosure.

Here, white jade railings hang high in the heavens, below which lies the divine capital, stretching for thousands of miles and floating in a sea of ​​clouds.

He stood with his hands behind his back, silently looking down.

Piercing through the thin clouds, the first thing that catches the eye is the crisscrossing airships, with all sorts of flying boats and magical artifacts shuttling back and forth like busy worker ants, carrying cultivators and goods between various floating islands. That is the pulse of the capital, full of vitality and order.

The gaze descends, landing on the smaller "secondary islands" attached to the core floating island and the ground-level urban areas. There, the atmosphere is more vibrant and authentic.

He saw young masters and ladies in splendid robes, laughing and playing amidst their servants in magnificent palaces, surrounded by luxurious carriages and exquisite delicacies, a picture of wealth and leisure. But in the blink of an eye, he saw emaciated laborers in dark alleys, carrying loads far heavier than themselves, their steps faltering, sweat and dust carving furrows into their faces, all for the sake of a few meager "grain cakes" containing a sparse amount of spiritual energy to fill their stomachs.

He saw outside a certain alchemy workshop, a low-level cultivator holding a newly refined, shimmering pill, weeping with joy, as if the path to the Great Dao was within reach; not far away, in front of another weapon-refining shop, someone was beating his chest and stamping his feet because of a failed refining attempt and the destruction of all the materials, and was even cornered against the wall by a fierce creditor, his face showing despair.

He saw young children reciting Taoist scriptures in the floating private school, their eyes clear and full of longing; he also saw a slave trader displaying and trading several children with numb eyes like livestock in a filthy market on the ground. Their future might be to become the furnace for some evil cultivator or the sacrifice for some secret technique.

Newlywed Daoist couples rode cranes together, soaring among the clouds, their laughter radiant; while an old cultivator sat alone in front of his cave, gazing at the setting sun, his breath faint, awaiting his end, his body and Dao extinguished.

Joy and sorrow, happiness and sadness, the hardships of survival, the abyss of desire... In this vast world, light and darkness intertwine, good and evil coexist, and hope and despair alternate.

Gao Jian just watched quietly, his face expressionless, his eyes undisturbed.

After an unknown amount of time, he slowly sat down, right on the edge of that cold jade platform, his legs dangling thousands of feet above the ground, with all living beings below him.

Time passed quietly.

As the light softened, the blazing sun took on a warm golden-orange hue, slowly sinking into the boundless sea of ​​clouds to the west.

The sky was ablaze with brilliant and beautiful sunset colors, which bathed the layers of floating islands, the winding waterways, and the vast land below in a gentle yet tragic hue.

The sea of ​​clouds was ignited by the setting sun, surging and rolling like golden lava or flowing flames.

The light outlined a clear contour on his straight back and profile, while the other half of his face was hidden in the growing shadows.

The sun set quickly, its last rays struggling to cast his long, solitary shadow on the jade platform.

He didn't utter a single word from beginning to end.

There was no emotion, no judgment, no pity, and no disgust.

He simply watched, like an observer detached from the world, or a lonely traveler forgotten in a corner of time.

This bustling world, this vibrant human realm, seems intimately connected to him, yet it also feels as if separated by an invisible, insurmountable barrier.

As the last ray of golden light was swallowed by the horizon, the night spread rapidly like ink drops into water, and countless lights in the capital city lit up one after another, like an inverted galaxy.

Gao Jian remained seated, motionless, blending into the night as it transitioned from dazzling splendor to profound silence.

Only the wind brushed against the hem of his clothes, emitting a lonely sob.

----------

Just as Gao Jian sat alone on the cloud, overlooking the vast mortal world, a secret meeting was quietly unfolding deep within the capital city, in a secluded realm shrouded by countless hidden formations and spatial restrictions.

In the center of the secret realm stands an ancient octagonal stone pavilion. Outside the pavilion, clouds and mist swirl, obscuring the sky and earth. Only a solitary lamp inside emits a constant and cool glow.

Suddenly, ripples spread through the space inside the pavilion.

First, there's the Jiang family.

An old landscape painting hanging in the pavilion moves without wind. In the depths of the misty, fairy-like mountain in the painting, a point of light suddenly shines, then quickly expands, transforming into a hazy gateway.

An elderly man with a gaunt face, dressed in a dark blue robe with star patterns, stepped out from the center, his figure solidifying as he quietly landed on a stone bench in the pavilion.

The painting returned to its calm, as if nothing had happened. This was the Jiang family's secret technique of "entering the painting," allowing one to reside within the scroll and travel through the vast emptiness, traversing countless mountains and rivers in the blink of an eye. Next came Chengjia.

In the corner of the stone pavilion, a seemingly ordinary dark-colored orchid pot suddenly began to tremble with a tightly closed bud. The petals unfolded layer by layer at a speed visible to the naked eye, and each petal released a unique fragrance as it opened.

As the flower bud fully bloomed, a shrunken human figure sat atop its stamen. The figure leaped down, growing larger in the air before landing as a middle-aged man in a dark official robe, his face stern and exuding an aura of quiet authority. He emanated a chilling aura of ironclad law. This was the secret technique of the Cheng family, the "Flower Decree," where one condenses a seed of Dao into a wondrous flower, and when the flower blooms, I am revealed; I am the law itself.

The third person to arrive was from the Li family.

The seemingly ethereal clouds outside the pavilion suddenly collapsed and swirled inward, forming a violent miniature tornado, carrying a chilling ancient magical power, which crashed onto the pavilion floor! As the wind dispersed, an old woman appeared, draped in a brightly colored ancient witch's robe, her face painted with eerie oils, and holding a snake-headed wooden staff. She stood barefoot, the bone rings on her ankles clanging against each other with a dull thud, her eyes cloudy yet seemingly able to pierce the boundary between life and death. This was the Li Clan's secret technique, "Witch Wind," which gathers wind as its body and absorbs spirit as its soul, walking on the edge of reality and illusion.

The Zhou family's representative arrived in the most elusive way.

On one side of the stone pavilion, the reflection of the cold lamplight on the smooth stone wall suddenly began to distort and deform, no longer following the laws of light. Then, like the moon's reflection in water, a figure was slowly "reflected" from "inside" the stone wall, gradually becoming clearer, and finally completely detached from the wall, becoming an independent entity. The newcomer was a scholar in white robes, with a handsome face.

This is precisely the Zhou family's mysterious and unpredictable "Mirror Flower Water Moon" supernatural power, which transforms reality into illusion, making reflections real and leaving no trace.

The last family to arrive was the Ji family.

Suddenly, countless fine golden specks of light appeared out of thin air in the pavilion, like the most skilled craftsman scattering dust of light. These specks of light rapidly converged and wove, constructing, in the blink of an eye, an intricately structured wooden spinning wheel, exuding a rich medicinal fragrance and pulsating with spiritual energy. The spinning wheel creaked and spun without human intervention, its movements emanating a natural Daoist rhythm. Then, an old man dressed in simple linen clothes, wearing a wooden hairpin, resembling a farmer from the fields, was 'woven' into existence, as if knitting a sweater. When he landed on the ground, he still held a thread that had not yet fully solidified in his hand, tied a knot in it, patted it, and then solidified into a physical form.

This is the "weaving" technique from "Hundred Arts and Divine Skills," the foundation upon which the Ji family stands. All things in heaven and earth can be used as materials, readily available, and creation is at the heart's command.

At this point, within the stone pavilion, five figures each occupied a corner.

The five most powerful and oldest families in the Divine Dynasty—the Jiang family, skilled in all kinds of magic; the Cheng family, in charge of laws and punishments; the Li family, who inherited the ancient witchcraft; the Zhou family, whose cultivation methods are the most profound; and the Ji family, whose skills and crafts are unparalleled—have all gathered here.

The cool light illuminated their faces, each with a different expression but all equally solemn.

Inside the stone pavilion, bathed in the cold moonlight, five figures sat in a circle, their auras ranging from profound and deep to sharp, from unpredictable to ethereal and simple, transforming this small space into an invisible battlefield.

After a brief silence, the elder of the Jiang family, who was still presiding over the gathering, spoke first. His voice was calm, yet it carried a profound depth like the flowing stars: "Gentlemen, you must all know about what happened on the Purple Palace today. His Majesty... is already different."

"It's more than just different!" The middle-aged man from the Cheng family sneered, his voice like the clash of metal. "He's practically a completely different person! Not only is his chronic illness gone, but his power is even greater than before! The moment he stepped into court, he used Li Zoufang to swiftly take down Wang Wen. This is a show of force against us! It's a challenge to the centuries-old rule of shared governance between the emperor and the aristocratic families!"

“Rules?” The old woman from the Li family let out a hoarse laugh, her snake-headed wooden staff tapping lightly on the ground with a dull thud. “Rules are flexible. Now that His Majesty has recovered from his injuries and regained his power, he naturally wants to change the rules. However… his recovery is suspicious. This boy named Gao Jian is very strange. He has an aura about him that… makes even this old bone of mine uneasy.” Her cloudy eyes swept over the crowd, carrying the keenness and vigilance unique to a shaman.

“Granny Li’s words are true.” The white-robed scholar from the Zhou family elegantly flicked his sleeves, a faint smile playing on his lips, conveying an air of profound mystery. “This young man is indeed no ordinary person. His actions in Cangzhou and Liangzhou, seemingly reckless, were in fact precisely timed at crucial junctures. What’s even more interesting is that His Majesty went so far as to endorse him with a ‘secret decree,’ elevating him to the position of a ‘meritorious official.’ The implications of this are quite intriguing.”

"It's useless to say these things now." The old man from the Ji family, dressed in coarse linen, spoke with a calm voice, as unassuming yet incredibly resilient as the spiritual thread he held in his hand. "The key is how we should respond. His Majesty's recovery and the restoration of imperial power are a foregone conclusion. Should we confront him head-on, or temporarily avoid his sharp edge? Should we divide and win him over, or... eliminate him completely?" His words were direct, cutting to the heart of the matter, with the pragmatism of a craftsman.

"A head-on confrontation? A direct conflict with the imperial power is the worst possible strategy." The old man from the Jiang family slowly shook his head. "His Majesty is, after all, the one with the right to rule, and his current state is unclear. If we force a confrontation, we may end up with both sides suffering heavy losses, allowing the immortal sects and other forces to reap the benefits."

"Are we just going to stand by and watch His Majesty gradually reclaim his power and devour our family's foundation?" the man from the Cheng family said fiercely. "Today it's Wang Wen, tomorrow it could be any one of you here! We must fight back and let His Majesty know that this world does not belong to him alone!"

“A counterattack is necessary, but we must be mindful of our methods,” Zhou Jiawen chuckled. “His Majesty values ​​Gao Jian, so let’s start with Gao Jian. This young man is not without flaws. He comes from humble origins, has a weak foundation in the capital, and is not a united front with Li Zoufang. Perhaps… we can cause him some trouble, keeping him preoccupied. For example, we can destroy whatever he cares about; we can make him lack even more of what he lacks.”

The old woman from the Li family added, "I can send a few 'witch children' to wander around his residence to test his abilities and see if he is truly immune to all evil."

"This move is too obvious and will give others a handle to use against us." The elder of the Ji family disagreed. "It would be better to start with the economy. Our Ji family can unite with several other families to temporarily tighten the supply of resources to the Imperial Academy and even to forces that may be related to Gao Jian, especially in terms of weapon crafting, pills, and spiritual materials. Cutting off their resources will blunt their edge."

"Agreed." The elder of the Jiang family finally made the decision, his gaze sweeping over everyone with a resolute air. "Let's proceed with this plan. On the surface, each family must remain loyal and refrain from rash actions, thus lulling His Majesty and Li Zoufang into a false sense of security. In secret, on one hand, the Ji family will take the lead in restricting Gao Jian and his associated forces in terms of economy and resources; on the other hand, the Zhou family will be responsible for thoroughly investigating all of Gao Jian's past, interpersonal relationships, and weaknesses, seizing any opportunity to act. Granny Li may conduct some 'tests' as appropriate, but it must be done discreetly, leaving no trace. The Cheng family, on the other hand, must unite with other officials in court to properly 'discuss' with Li Zoufang the subsequent governance of Cang and Liang provinces, thus diverting his attention."

He paused, a cold glint in his eyes: "We want His Majesty to know, and we also want that wise man to understand, that the waters of the capital are far deeper than they imagine. To break the rules, he is far from enough at present."

"There's another matter. Observing their actions, especially the traces left after their battle with 'Yuan Lu' above the Imperial Academy," the Zhou family member traced runes in the air with his finger, causing the surrounding spiritual energy to fluctuate slightly, "I feel that their cultivation methods are somewhat familiar."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the people in the pavilion all changed.

The man from the Cheng family had a sharp, piercing gaze: "Have you thought of something?"

The old woman from the Li family narrowed her cloudy eyes, and a faint glint seemed to flash in the snake pupils on her snake-headed wooden staff. She said in a hoarse voice, "I feel the same way. That aura... reminds me of some unpleasant memories."

Zhou Jiawenshi's smile faded, and his expression turned serious. He quickly pinched something in his sleeve.

Soon, a look of disbelief flashed in his eyes, mixed with a hint of "I knew it," and he uttered a name, word by word:
"The Song of the Great Dao of Profound Transformation and Profound Understanding".

(End of this chapter)