Grasping the Mark of the Dao

Wu Xingfeng, the pride of the northern lands, had been defeated! A young expert of legendary fame, beaten by a once-unknown youth from the Southern Wastes. Such an outcome defied expectation. If word spread, many would find it hard to believe.

Xiao Chen stood still in the sky, silently regulating his breath. He wiped the blood from his lips, then unfurled his Undying Wings and departed swiftly.

The old man who could fly had not pursued him. This meant that the unwritten rule of the Eternal Continent held strong: the older generation should not casually strike at the younger. However, if he had dared to attack Prince Sun Miao, that old expert would surely have killed him without mercy. Still, Xiao Chen wondered: was that old man a Spiritist or a Spellmaster? If a martial artist, then he was terrifying indeed, having displayed the power of flight.

Xiao Chen had left, but Prince Sun Miao's expression was dark. This outcome had truly defied his expectations. How could Wu Xingfeng lose? Why? Unimaginable. In the north, Wu Xingfeng was nearly undefeated among his peers. Only one or two could stand against him.

A young man with long, gleaming black hair stepped out of a pavilion, his expression cold. He came before Sun Miao and said, "Within ten days, I will face Xiao Chen."

Sun Miao turned and saw him. He shook his head. "No. Wu Xingfeng has already lost. You cannot act rashly. The Southern Wastes still have Yuwen Feng, Zhao Chongyang, and Dugu Jianmo waiting to make their moves."

On the other side, the elite of the Southern Wastes felt a complex, hard-to-describe emotion. This battle had impacted them greatly. Wu Xingfeng's crushing defeat had forged Xiao Chen's glory. A Southern Wastes expert would rise from this moment.

There are no undefeated heroes. The northern prodigy's unbeaten myth was shattered here. Xiao Chen burst onto the scene. The top three rankings of the Southern Wastes might need to be recalculated from today.

Hai Yunxue, Kanasi, and the other beauties of the Southern Wastes all felt a faint loss. The once-legendary northern pride had fallen before their eyes. Calm and light, the once-tender dreams were broken. Everything seemed to be nothing more than this. There are no undefeated heroes...

Yan Qingcheng's heart was the most conflicted. She had wanted Xiao Chen to suffer a great defeat, but not grievous injury. She had hoped Wu Xingfeng would vent her anger. But during the fierce battle, she found her own emotions stirring violently, hard to understand.

His Undying Wings spread, covering dozens of li in an instant. Xiao Chen returned to his room in the shortest time. He grabbed the sleeping Keke and yanked it upright, then summoned the Little Defiant Dragon and the three skeletons, ordering them to guard outside the door. He began to circulate his profound art, healing his wounds.

Though he had defeated his opponent, he himself had been wounded by the frenzied Wu Xingfeng. The injuries were severe.

The eleven-fold energy waves formed by the fusion of the Water Fist and Fire Fist were overwhelmingly powerful. Even Xiao Chen, who had already advanced into the Ninth Heaven of Mortal-Shedding, could barely withstand them. During the battle, he had already spat blood seven or eight times.

Radiant light surged from his body. His skin shimmered with a crystalline luster. The flowing energy seemed tangible, enveloping his form. Heavenly and earthly essence gathered from all directions, converging toward his body. He drew in the essence of the sun and moon, the vital energy of plants, to mend his flesh.

One could clearly see that flowers and grass in the courtyard, and even the trees along the nearby streets, had specks of green light drifting from them. This was a frenzied plunder. Xiao Chen's body seemed to exert a tremendous gravitational pull, seizing all life essence.

It was only after two hours that divine flames leaped from his flesh, brilliant light blazing like a fire. Only then did his injuries stabilize.

This injury was severe. If not for the essence of several dragon eggs he had absorbed in the past—giving him a vitality far beyond ordinary people—things might have gone very wrong. His cultivation could have been affected, requiring a long period of quiet recuperation.

The divinely transformed acupoints seemed to harbor endless life force, stabilizing his wounded body in a short time. Xiao Chen let out a long breath and pushed open the door.

He had to recover fully as soon as possible. In this Heavenly Emperor City, anything could happen.

Xiao Chen grabbed Keke and soared into the sky, unfurling his Undying Wings as he flew out of the city.

The Southern Wastes stretched for thousands of li, desolate and uninhabited. Barren mountains and great marshes dominated this expanse of tens of thousands of li. Heavenly Emperor City lay like a brilliant pearl, set within the wilderness, surrounded by endless primeval forests and seas of green.

Outside the city were unbroken chains of ancient forests. Xiao Chen found a scenic, flat-topped mountain and descended.

Before him, a majestic peak rose. A waterfall thundered down, plummeting three thousand feet from the sheer cliff to the mountain's base.

In the other three directions, peaks were green and valleys lush, thick with vegetation. The roars of wild beasts rang out endlessly, and glimpses of fierce creatures appeared from time to time.

Xiao Chen's expression was grave. He said to Keke, "I will cultivate here. Do not let any beast approach. Protect my safety."

The little white beast blinked its large eyes carelessly, then nodded. Its body, white as jade, left a trail of afterimages across the flat-topped peak as it surveyed the surroundings.

Xiao Chen relaxed his body, letting his mind sink into a state of emptiness. Soon he felt ethereal, as if he had merged with nature, become one with this mountain.

The little white beast Keke blinked its bright eyes in curiosity. It saw the grass and trees all around trembling. Vast amounts of Wood Essence streamed forth, as though streams of green radiance were drifting through the air.

The dense forest teemed with vegetation, filled with inexhaustible Wood Essence. Countless fine strands of green light were drawn into Xiao Chen's body. Surging life force flowed through his flesh, his organs, his bones, as if endless vitality were being infused into him.

As time passed, the green life essence from all directions became clearly visible to the naked eye. A misty green aura coiled around Xiao Chen.

Two days passed. Xiao Chen's wounded body had fully recovered. Power surged within him like a tidal wave. Yet he continued to cultivate.

At night, the moonlight was hazy. Silver beams poured down. Though the distant roars of beasts echoed ceaselessly, Xiao Chen remained as still as a rock. In this moment, his heart was utterly tranquil. The four killing arts—Slay God, Reverse Chaos, Suppress Demon, Collapse—etched themselves deeper into the seal of his mind, his understanding of them growing more profound.

The Mark of the Dao. Sublime, ungraspable, uncatchable. Yet one could slowly approach it, contain it with an empty spirit.

This was an insight, an experience. Xiao Chen felt his state of mind ascending. His body did not move, but his heart moved. The entire world seemed to brighten.

Sensations came one after another.

In the brilliant starry sky, a meteor streaked across. Brief and dazzling. Xiao Chen's heart moved with it. Life is but a dream, like a meteor. Ordinary life lasts but a hundred years. Comes in haste, goes in haste. Compared to the universe and the earth, it is far too brief.

Seas change to mulberry fields. After eons pass in haste, who will still remember that fleeting life? Compared to the eternal heavens and earth, those once-lived experiences are far too insignificant.

But brevity is also beauty. Life is like a meteor; it too can strike a brilliant light, shining unceasingly in one direction.

Life can also be eternal!

It requires unleashing that unquenchable, powerful light in the right direction!

Xiao Chen grasped a thread of the Mark of the Dao, found the eternal direction of cultivation, broke through the layers of mist, and took his state of mind to a higher level.

Time flowed by swiftly. In the blink of an eye, another seven days passed.

The moonlight was like water. Under the same starry sky, Xiao Chen's state of mind had become vastly different.

In these seven days, he had not felt the passage of time. He had seemed to merge with heaven, earth, and all nature. His body and mind congealed with this flat-topped peak, connected to this chain of primeval mountains, intermingling with this entire world.

He felt as if he could hear the hearts of the trees and flowers, understand the voices of the birds and beasts, sense the pulse of this land. He seemed truly to have merged into this thriving world—become a leaf, a flower, a tree, a mountain. It was as though he had been sitting here since the dawn of time.

A gentle breeze stirred. The scent of various grasses and woods drifted slowly through the forest. Xiao Chen was like Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly—he no longer knew whether he was the mountain or the mountain was him.

Soft moonlight, like rippling water, draped a thin gauze over the forest. Xiao Chen stood on the peak, gazing up at the infinite starry sky. He felt as if he had crossed the barriers of space, entered that boundless starry firmament.

A flush of dawn light broke through the twilight.

Beams of golden sunlight spilled over the primeval forest. Infinite vitality rippled outward. Gibbons cried, tigers roared, birds sang, insects chirped—a vivid world appeared before Xiao Chen's eyes. He had fully awakened.

He gave a long roar toward the sky. Ten thousand cycles were but emptiness. Reality was only in this morning. Xiao Chen's body was like an ocean, a hundred rivers gathering to receive essence from all directions. Sun and moon essence, Wood Essence—all converged toward him. Strands of barely visible, sacred radiance flowed within Xiao Chen's body, like sweet dew nourishing his frame, coating his organs, bones, and flesh with a layer of precious luster.

His state of mind had already risen. He was now tempering his physical body.

Endless heavenly and earthly essence coursed through his flesh like flowing water, time and again. Then the gathered energy thickened, the flow solidified, turning into countless sharp blades that sliced through his flesh.

Agony!

Endure!

It was as if thousands of swords and sabers were passing through his flesh and bones, again and again, forging his body. It seemed he was trying to shape this mortal shell into an eternal body.

Another seven days passed. The eight-direction spiritual energy dispersed.

Clouds drifted lightly. The wind was gentle. As if nothing had ever happened.

"Let's go. Time to return to Heavenly Emperor City. You greedy little thing—instead of guarding me, you ran off looking for spiritual herbs." Xiao Chen picked up Keke. The little beast was clutching a pile of lingzhi, old ginseng, and other treasures.

"Ya-ya, ya-ya..." the little white beast protested.

"After that great battle, I've been gone for over ten days. There must be interesting things happening in Heavenly Emperor City." Xiao Chen unfurled his Undying Wings and flew toward the city.