Warhammer Cultivation: Cultivating the Tao Te Ching in the 40K Universe

As the last shimmering, rainbow-colored crystal fragment vanished, Hector found himself in a paradise beyond description, a place filled with the ultimate sensory pleasure...

This is Slaanesh's domain.

A strange fragrance, capable of directly affecting the soul and filled with ultimate allure, wafted in the air.

That fragrance is sometimes the warmest memory of your childhood, your mother's embrace; sometimes the scent of the girl's hair that first stirred your heart during your adolescence; sometimes the most mellow celebratory wine that you've pursued throughout your life for success...

In my ears, a symphony that didn't belong to this universe, filled with ultimate harmony and ecstasy, echoed.

The music sometimes whispers in your ear like the tenderest lover; sometimes it's like the most fervent war drums, igniting all your passion; and sometimes it's like the most sacred hymn, making you feel your soul being infinitely elevated, about to touch the threshold of divinity...

His body was gently caressed by invisible, tender hands composed of the purest "pleasure." The sensation was so real, so intoxicating, that even the most resolute ascetic would instantly abandon all precepts and succumb to this eternal, endless sensory feast.

Countless beautiful figures with perfect figures, enchanting faces, and indistinguishable genders danced around him.

Every movement they make is filled with ultimate allure; every glance they give promises a kind of ultimate "liberation" that transcends all pain and troubles.

"Come, beautiful seeker of the truth."

A magnetic voice, so mesmerizing it could melt your bones, a voice whose gender was indistinguishable, resonated deep within his soul.

"You have been fighting for too long. You have been thinking for too long."

“Look at your weary heart, look at your wounded body. Why do you still bear those heavy, meaningless responsibilities? Why do you still imprison yourself with those cold, binding ‘precepts’?”

"let it go."

Chapter 133 Quartet 4 (Bonus Chapter 8)

That voice, like the gentlest poison, slowly eroded all his defenses.

"Let go of your past, let go of your future. Let go of your pain, let go of your glory. Let go of that heavy shell called 'Hector Kane'."

"Come, join us in this eternal, endless sensory ecstasy, and utterly 'melt' into it."

“You will no longer be yourself. You will become ‘beauty’ itself. You will become ‘happiness’ itself.”

"You will attain... the ultimate... 'perfection'."

This is the tribulation of Sila!

It doesn't deceive you, corrupt you, or even attack you.

It simply... satisfies you.

It pushes all your deepest definitions of "beauty," "happiness," and "perfection" to an absolute "ultimate" level that you have never imagined.

Then, you will willingly lose yourself completely in that most magnificent and gentle ocean, constructed from the ultimate sensory pleasures.

For the first time, Hector's Dao heart felt "boredom" as it was swept away by this irresistible torrent full of ultimate temptation.

His heart, which was already filled with the "Tao," surprisingly felt a longing for that absolutely "empty," tranquil abyss in this noisy paradise filled with "existence."

It is still the universe within the dantian, the "sun," radiating boundless light!

He remembered the "Morning Star" who, at the celebration in Ulano, hung the "Tranquil Jade Talisman" on her waist and greeted him, a mortal, with the most sincere smile, as warm as the sun.

He also recalled the phoenix that had risen from the ashes, standing atop the ruins of the "Phoenix Nest," gazing upon the Tai Chi diagram filled with the beauty of "blank space," its flame of hope rekindled in its eyes.

A calm yet incredibly firm voice resounded within his Dao heart.

"Perfection is not the ultimate."

He slowly raised his head. His strange eyes, one like eternal night and the other like a star, pierced through the layers of magnificent illusions constructed from sensual pleasures, staring directly at the "reality" hidden behind this paradise, a reality filled with morbidity and emptiness.

True perfection is 'harmony'.

His voice carried an absolute calmness born of profound understanding.

"It is a harmony of light and darkness, a harmony of creation and destruction, a harmony of pain and pleasure."

"You stole all the 'pain,' leaving only pure 'joy.' You thought you had created 'heaven.' But you forgot, without the contrast of hell, what difference is there between heaven and a magnificent, meaningless... prison?"

He slowly extended one finger.

There was no true essence gathered on that finger, nor did it emit any light.

It merely points to the one and most fatal "disharmony" within this seemingly perfect paradise filled with ultimate sensory pleasure.

That was... "himself".

An alien object that doesn't belong to this paradise, filled with "stillness" and "emptiness".

"I have lost myself, yet I still exist. All things are one with me..."

An ancient scripture, imbued with the flavor of Eastern metaphysics, was slowly recited from his lips.

He completely let go of his Daoist heart, which had long since seen through all illusions and was absolutely "empty"!

He became a mirror.

A mirror that can reflect the entire universe, yet remains unmoved by it.

That paradise, filled with ultimate allure and capable of captivating even the gods, was like light thrown into a black hole the moment it shone into this ancient mirror. It was gently, yet irresistibly, absorbed, soothed, and dissolved by the absolute emptiness and stillness.

The fourth tribulation is broken!

When that last, most alluring, and magnificent illusion vanished like a burst bubble, Hector's consciousness finally returned to his own absolutely tranquil subspace "origin."

The four raging torrents of laws, representing the ultimate chaos of the universe, have not disappeared.

They simply lost their "targets" to attack.

Like four ancient beasts filled with anger and resentment, unable to find their prey, they roared and circled wildly in the area illuminated by Hector's "pseudo-dan"!

However, it was precisely at this very moment!

Under the tempering of the four heavenly tribulations, Hector's Dao heart was forged to its purest and most perfect peak moment!

The "Heart of Silence," a gift from the Emperor and passed on by Aurelius to the Lost Primarch, seemed to sense some kind of call and, without warning, burst forth with a final, unprecedented, and dazzling pure golden light!

That light was neither energy nor matter.

That is "order"!

It is the embodiment of the most fundamental "order" law upon which human empires depend for their existence!

That light, like an unquestionable sword of judgment wielded by the emperor himself, instantly carved out a domain filled with "protection" and "hope" among the four raging chaotic beasts!

Hector did not hesitate for a moment! He knew that this amulet was the only, and last, chance that had been won for him!

He seized this fleeting moment of "stillness" and completely merged his already perfect and unhindered Dao heart with the eagerly awaiting "Dao seed" within his dantian!

Then, he transformed his "psychic reflection" in the warp, this dazzling "lighthouse" that was as bright as a supernova, into an invisible black hole that could devour and transform everything!

He no longer tries to "resist" or "purify" it!

He opened his arms!

He wanted to use those four violent laws, which represented the ultimate chaos of the universe, as the final "fuel," forcibly and brutally pulling them all into his body!

He intends to use chaos to refine the golden elixir!

He wants to use chaos to forge order!

He must complete that final, and also the first, feat in this universe, through this tempering of ice and fire...

"Harmony between man and nature!"

Hector's consciousness, in this final struggle filled with pain and rebirth, fell into a final silence.

He must absorb his last vestige of "light" before his soul is completely torn apart by those four violent laws!

Inside the "All-Worlds Star Chart Museum," which has long since been reduced to ruins in the real universe.

Marcus Aurelius, the instructor of the Imperial Guard, remained as silent as a golden mountain, guarding that small, cross-legged figure.

He could clearly feel that from the spatial rift that he had torn open with his own hands, a terrifying warp energy storm was constantly surging out, enough to drive any Space Marine think tank mad!

But when those storms got within three feet of that mortal's body, they were swallowed up as if by an invisible, greedy black hole!

He looked at the mortal, whose face was terrifyingly calm and expressionless.

Like "eternity" itself.

Chapter 134 Golden Core Without Leaks - Part 1

When the last Slaanesh Law, symbolizing "ultimate" and "perfection," shattered before the Absolute Mirror of the Heart, which was originally devoid of anything, and transformed into the "golden" nourishment that formed the most fundamental element of the Golden Core, Hector's consciousness finally sank completely into the final trial of "unity of heaven and man."

His Dao heart transformed into an invisible yet incredibly real cosmic furnace.

Hector began a frenzied, reverse "devouring" of the fleeting "lifeline" gained by the Imperial Artifact "Heart of Tranquility"!

He was no longer passively enduring, no longer carefully filtering. His Dao heart, tempered to its purest and most perfect peak under the tempering of the four heavenly tribulations, suddenly opened its "mouth" at this moment!

Those four torrents of laws representing the ultimate chaos of the universe—

Khorne's endless rage, Nurgle's corrupting compassion, Tzeentch's myriad lies, and Slaanesh's ultimate temptation.

—They were like four primordial serpents, utterly enraged and attempting to drag the real universe into the abyss of destruction, roaring and tearing, trying to completely crush Hector's still unstable Dao heart!

This process is extremely dangerous.

His physical body, subjected to the extreme tempering of ice and fire, seemed to be repeatedly shattered and reassembled. One second, his meridians were glowing red as if burned by Khorne's brass furnace; the next second, they were corroded by the Garden of Sludge, sprouting dead moss.

His soul endured an indescribable tearing pain, as if it were simultaneously placed among billions of contradictory truths and lies, undergoing endless interrogation.

But he held on.

With that Dao Heart that had long since fused the wills of the four Primitive Bodies and was perfectly integrated and unhindered.

With the ultimate state of "emptiness" where "originally there is nothing, where can dust settle?"

Miraculously, he transformed these four most fundamental and destructive forces, which were enough to corrupt any Primarch, into the "Yin-Yang" and "Five Elements" nourishment that formed the most fundamental foundation of his Golden Core Universe!

Khorne's "wrath" transformed into the fierce and vigorous advance of "fire".

The "corruption" that harbors filth transforms into the virtuous and nurturing nature of "earth."

The cunning and treacherous "transformation" transformed into the ever-renewing vitality of "wood." The beauty of Seraphim transformed into the revolutionary innovation of "metal."

His own stillness transforms into the wisdom of "water," which harmonizes all things.

The five elements interact in a cycle of mutual generation and restraint!

Finally, when the last chaotic law was completely absorbed, transformed, and refined into a part of his own universe by his Dao Heart Furnace, Hector's "psychic reflection" in the subspace, which was as brilliant as a supernova, collapsed inward as if it had been completely swallowed by an invisible black hole with its own gravity!

All the light, all the heat, all the traces of existence, like weary birds returning to the forest, all the rivers flowing into the sea, all returned to that small "Tao Seed" in his dantian, which seemed to bear the weight of an entire universe!

At that moment, in the eternally noisy ocean of subspace, a... absolute, unprecedented "blank space" appeared.

It was as if an unparalleled god, with His unquestionable will, had completely erased this area from the canvas of "existence".

Just a moment before his last "light" was about to completely fade into "silence," his golden core consciousness transcended the boundaries of time and space for a fleeting instant, as if standing on the other side of the river of time, and sensed a faint yet incredibly familiar "cause and effect" in the darkness!

That did not come from Terra.

That expeditionary route came from afar, shrouded in both endless glory and shadow.

He followed the thread of cause and effect that he had planted himself and "saw" the "Tranquility Jade Talisman" that he had already given to the war general Horus Lupecal.

He saw that in that golden ocean of fortune belonging to Horus, as brilliant and dazzling as the midday sun, the jade talisman forged from obsidian and his own true essence was emitting a faint yet incredibly firm coolness.

It is like an iceberg that never melts, floating deep in a sea of ​​scorching magma, barely maintaining the last shred of clarity and reason in the core area of ​​that sea, with itself at its center.

But at the edge of that boundless golden ocean, a much larger, deeper, and more sinister shadow, filled with betrayal, corruption, and lies, has quietly emerged, like a late-stage cancer cell. It is eroding that golden territory bit by bit, silently yet irresistibly.

He could even "hear" a seductive whisper similar to that of Irebas from that shadow, and "smell" the forbidden and blasphemous genetic agents in Fabius Bayer's laboratory.

The grandest banquet of betrayal, destined to drag the entire galaxy into war, is not far off.

As he withdrew that last wisp of compassionate consciousness that pierced through time and space, the "light" that belonged to him finally and completely returned to "silence".

Achieving harmony between heaven and man, and perfecting the Golden Elixir!

Outside, on the isolated island of the "Myriad Realms Star Chart Museum," which has long since been reduced to ruins.

Marcus Aurelius, the instructor of the Imperial Guard, stared wide-eyed, his eyes as cold as an icy lake.

In his perception, all the energy fluctuations, all the vital signs, and all the traces of existence of that mortal boy... all disappeared completely and without warning in that instant.

Death is the end of a state, but the "corpse" is still part of "existence," and will still follow the laws of the universe, slowly decaying and returning to dust.

The scene before them made it seem as if this person had never existed in this universe.