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

It was as if everything he had just experienced—the thrilling battle, the final desperate act of facing death—was merely an incredibly real illusion projected into his mind by some higher-dimensional being.

Hector is no longer "existent," but has become "non-existent" itself.

The indistinct subspace rift in the void, having lost its "target" as an "anchor," began to heal slowly and unwillingly, like a giant snake that had lost its prey.

The entire "Star Chart Hall of Myriad Realms" has returned to complete silence.

In that instant, even Marcus Aurelius's heart, forged in countless trials and tribulations and seemingly unbreakable, wavered slightly at the sight before him that surpassed all the limits of his understanding—

Hector slowly opened his eyes.

What kind of eyes are those?

Black pupils that were no longer those of an ordinary person, but filled with emotion and desire.

That place contains the "universe".

In his left eye lay a deep, tranquil, eternal night, like an ultimate black hole, seemingly capable of absorbing all light and heat, representing "yin."

In his right eye was a warm, brilliant, platinum sun, like the first star at the beginning of creation, representing "Yang," which seemed to bring vitality and order to all things!

Yin and Yang, life and death, existence and non-existence give rise to each other, difficulty and ease complement each other, long and short define each other, high and low incline towards each other, sound and voice harmonize with each other, front and back follow each other.

All opposing laws achieve the most perfect and breathtaking harmony in these eyes!

The moment those eyes opened, an equally vast and powerful will, like a creator god awakening, erupted from the "Dao Body" that was being reshaped!

That's a higher-dimensional "law"...coverage!

He slowly stood up.

Although his body was still slender, every inch of his muscle and every line was full of a natural and impeccable sense of harmony!

On his gray Taoist robe, the faint Tai Chi diagram seemed to come alive, flickering and shimmering with the rise and fall of the hem.

This casual act of standing up alone resonated with the shattered and remaining laws around him!

The Navigator Chieftain Orionus, who collapsed amidst the ruins, felt an absolute suppression that was indescribable in any language and originated from the most primal level of life!

The feeling was like a humble ant struggling on a two-dimensional plane, suddenly looking up and seeing an incomprehensible, higher-dimensional giant looking down at it with great interest from a three-dimensional space.

That was not a matter of overwhelming force.

That is a difference in the "dimensionality" of existence itself.

Even the thought of rebellion becoming a... logical paradox for him.

Hector blinked.

The strange eyes, the outward-radiating will, the transcendent sense of "non-existence"... all vanished in an instant.

Before Aurelius, all that remained was an ordinary person, someone who didn't even seem to be a psionicist...

Chapter 135 Golden Core Without Leaks - Part 2

Hector ignored Orionus and instead bowed deeply and calmly to Aurelius, who was standing guard in front of him.

He knew that from this moment on, he truly had the right to "discuss the Dao on equal terms" with this legendary Imperial Guard.

"child……"

After a long while, Marcus Aurelius's deep, steady voice finally rang out in the ruins after the catastrophe. But this time, his voice carried a complex meaning that even he himself was unaware of.

"What... have you become?"

Hector slowly raised his head, his strange eyes—one like eternal night, the other like a star—calmly gazing upon the ancient warrior who was both his teacher and friend.

“I simply found myself again,” he replied calmly.

After saying this, he bowed deeply once again to the instructor who had guided him in the direction of martial arts in the "Sun Arsenal".

"Thank you, Instructor, for saving me."

“I’m late.” Marcus Aurelius slowly shook his head. For the first time, a complex sense of apology, belonging to a “human being,” appeared on his majestic face, which was as imposing as an ancient Roman sculpture. “I should have… been earlier.”

Hector's heart skipped a beat.

He looked into Aurelius's eyes, which were filled with honesty and as cold as a lake. A suspicion that had been swirling in his mind countless times, filled with coldness and cruelty, was finally confirmed.

“You are not late, Instructor.” Hector slowly straightened up. His dark eyes, which seemed to see through all pretenses, stared at Aurelius, his voice eerily calm. “You simply… arrived at the right place at the right time. Isn’t that so?”

Marcus Aurelius remained silent.

His hands, clad in golden power gauntlets and gripping the Guardian's Spear, unconsciously tightened their grip.

“The moment the senses of the ‘Heart of Silence’ in my chest were completely blocked by that ‘Darkness Realm’,” Hector’s voice, like that of the most composed analyst, was reviewing a higher-level game for the living legend before him, “I believe that the Regent, far away in Terra, even… noticed the anomaly immediately.”

"A creation capable of isolating cause and effect and shielding the secrets of heaven, a group of 'Star Warriors' armed with forbidden genes and lost technology, existing only in legends, plus the patriarch of Terra's oldest and most mysterious Navigator family..."

"This is a trap that could overturn the existing power structure of Terra... I mean, a grand feast."

"The cause and effect behind it has long exceeded the limits that I, as the head of a small Taoist academy, can bear."

"But you didn't act immediately. Or rather, the timing of your action was pre-arranged."

Hector's tone was devoid of any questioning, only an absolute clarity.

"You need to see if I can get a 'result' that satisfies you in this brutal 'stress test'..."

His gaze shifted to the spatial rift that was still slowly gushing forth golden light of order.

Hector looked at Aurelius, and for the first time, a trace of weariness appeared in those eyes that were as calm as an abyss... completely out of character for his age, as if he had seen through the vicissitudes of time.

The entire "Star Chart Pavilion" fell into a deathly silence once again.

Marcus Aurelius, the living legend, the ancient warrior whose loyalty to the Emperor was as unbreakable as Terra itself, for the first time, under the gaze of those mortal eyes filled with clarity and weariness, slowly lowered his head.

He didn't answer.

But his silence says it all.

This is not betrayal.

The swords of an empire are always forged in the furnace.

The Empire's Astartes were also born under the inhuman suffering of genetic modification.

This is a higher level of "rationality," belonging to the rulers, and an absolute "rationality."

The Emperor and Macardo did not distrust him. On the contrary, they saw in him the "potential" to change the future.

They wanted to see if his "way," after losing all the support of external "power," could still maintain its original "balance" when faced with the purest, most malicious crushing force.

They wanted to see whether this "seed," full of infinite variables, was a "seed of the Dao" that could still sprout from the most barren and darkest soil, or a fragile "oddball" that could only bloom in a greenhouse.

They don't need to know all the details; they just know it's a crisis, and then they watch him go in... and then watch to see if he can come out.

And he, through his near-death experience, through that "Golden Core Tribulation" of facing death to live, delivered a perfect answer to them.

"...In the future, even more arduous tasks await you, my child."

After a long while, Marcus Aurelius's deep, steady voice rang out again. But this time, his voice carried a complex undertone of equality.

"The empire needs a sword that is sharp enough, yet will not break easily. And you, through your actions, have proven that you are qualified to be that sword."

Hector slowly and deeply exhaled a breath of stale air.

"I understand."

He slowly straightened up.

Aurelius slowly nodded. His eyes, as cold as an icy lake, looked at Hector, and that gaze was no longer that of an instructor scrutinizing a student, nor that of a caregiver showing pity for the one he was protecting.

It was an equal, respectful gaze, like that of a worthy opponent.

"Welcome, Hector Kane."

His voice was still deep, but it carried a rare hint of recognition from someone who shared his values.

"Welcome to this game... a game with no winner."

He slowly turned to the side, clearing the only path to the spatial rift for Hector.

That's more than just a path back to Terra.

That was also a path, a path filled with thorns and flames, leading to the core of the empire's highest power... the Ascending God's Staircase.

Hector knew that from this moment on, he and this living legend of the Imperial Guard were no longer teacher and student, no longer caregiver.

They are allies.

In this dark universe destined to be devoured by war and betrayal, there are two equally lonely guardians.

Beyond the shattered, lightless realm, Hector gazed once more upon Terra, the cradle of human civilization. At this moment, he had successfully formed his Golden Core; his spiritual energy was imperceptible, flawless, and his entire being radiated with Daoist energy.

He was finally able to intervene in this complex and unpredictable game of fate with greater decisiveness.

Chapter 136 Formless

The Imperial Regent's Chamber remains a simple, unspoiled space, seemingly forgotten by time and filled with relics from the ancient Terra era.

"Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" lies quietly on the bookshelf, its cold laws of gravity and motion seeming to mock the more real universe, filled with "idealism" and "the Way." A Renaissance armillary sphere, its brass gleaming in the corner of the room, once attempted to depict the trajectories of stars with mechanical language, but how could it possibly measure the darkness of the human heart, deeper than the cosmos?

The black-and-white footage of the moon landing still plays silently and persistently in the center of the room. The fragile flag planted on the desolate moon stands quietly in the windless environment, as if telling the story of the human race, that tragic yet admirable obsession with leaving its mark on the universe even in the most desolate despair.

When Hector Kane, escorted by the Imperial Guard instructor Marcus Aurelius, silently entered the room, the Imperial Regent Macardo stood with his back to them, gazing at the footage from the past.

His back view was still thin, yet it carried a weight that seemed to be able to bear the weight of the entire starry sky.

He didn't turn around, nor did he release even a trace of spiritual energy to investigate. But his aged voice rang out calmly, as if he had already foreseen their arrival.

“Aurelius, my old friend.” His voice carried a hint of weariness. “You’ve worked hard. It seems you’ve brought back an ‘unexpected’ trophy for the Empire.”

Marcus Aurelius's face, as imposing as an ancient Roman sculpture, remained expressionless.

He simply stood silently, gave the most sublime salute of the Imperial Guard to that retreating figure, and then, like a statue disappearing into the shadows, silently left the room and returned to his eternal, guarding post.

Once again, only Hector remained in the quiet room, along with the second-in-command of the human empire, who had lived for an unknown period of time.

Hector didn't speak immediately. He simply stood there quietly, his eyes, which had long since returned to their normal blackness but whose depths seemed to contain a complete universe, surveying the room that was both familiar and strange.

The last time he stood here, he was a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator who, despite his firm Dao heart, still needed external protection.

And now, he has reached the Golden Core stage.

The first thing he did was neither to report nor to apologize.

Instead, it means "return".

He slowly took out from his robes the "Heart of Tranquility," a cool-to-the-touch object made of an unknown silver metal.

The supreme talisman that should have belonged to the Second Legion's lost original body was now lying quietly on his pure white, flawless palm, which had long been reshaped by the Golden Core True Essence.

“Your Excellency the Regent,” Hector’s voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable certainty, “This item, Kane, is unworthy to accept. Today, I have come to return it.”

Macado slowly turned around.

For the first time, his eyes fell upon the talisman that should not have been there at this moment, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

There was a hint of inquiry in his aged voice.

"Do you know that this item is a gift from the Emperor? It is the only proof that allows you to walk safely in that dark cosmic forest filled with hunters. Without it, your soul will be like a lighthouse in the night, instantly attracting the attention of those 'beings' who have long coveted you."

“I know, sir,” Hector replied calmly, “but I also know that a truly impregnable fortress is never built on outer walls.”

He slowly raised his head, his eyes, as calm as an abyss, staring directly at the Imperial Regent, expounding his "Tao".

True silence comes from within, not from without.

"The Golden Elixir is complete. My 'Dao' has become a universe in itself. From now on, my heart is the barrier, and my will is the will of Heaven."

External things can no longer protect me. Likewise, they can no longer... shake me.

These words, like a silent thunderclap, exploded in Makado's heart!

His ancient, all-knowing eyes were fixed on Hector, filled with an unprecedented, complex light that mixed with shock, doubt, and a hint of...expectation!

He knew the boy before him wasn't lying. But he also couldn't understand it!

How dare a mortal claim that he no longer needs the emperor's protection?

What arrogance!

And what confidence!