Chapter 1130: Eight Extreme Daos Connected to Life

Within the void, the fleshly body was the ship, with the soul on board. The ship sailed onward.

It was a very, very long journey. Memories of the past were there, including those of a government official, a businessman, a ruffian, a doctor, a commoner, and a young man.... It seemed very ordinary. This was how things worked. This was reincarnation. This was life.

But it would only seem ordinary to someone caught up in it, because they wouldn’t be able to see deeply into what was really happening. If one could step back and look at things more objectively, they would see the five elements.

Xu Jinfa had been the prime minister, which meant he was nothing more than a government official. But for his entire life, he had used astonishing methods to promote the interests of the royal dynasty, and commanded countless troops. His honor was like metal, his power was like metal, his military strength was like metal, and his destiny was like metal. His life represented metal.[1]

Then there was Xu Hong, who dreamed of becoming extremely rich. He was kind and charitable on top of being wealthy, and he even traveled the world. But in the end, fate is a fickle thing, and his money disappeared. His wealth was like water. Water flows between two extremes: floods and droughts. And there is also the saying “the ideal is to be like water.” And thus, his destiny was like water. His life represented water.[2]

The ruffian Xu Shan had the character for ‘mountain’ in his name, but that did not relate to earth. Instead, it harkened to forests. His fate was like duckweed, his youth was like rotten timber, his mature days were like brigands in the greenwood. He ended up hiding out in the forests in the mountain, with a destiny like decaying wood. He was foolish and full of rage, always allowing the world around him to affect his emotions. He would rather die on his feet than die in disgrace. His life represented wood.

The doctor Xu Yu practiced medicine for the public good. He was benevolent, using heaven and earth as the cauldron to refine all medicinal herbs. He used his body as the fire, and his life force as the fire. It was like the inner fire of the vermillion bird, which safeguarded the brilliance of life. When the wind and the fire left his life, his heart was destroyed. And the fire and wind only returned upon his death. His life represented fire.[3]

The commoner Xu Kun lived an ordinary life. He was honest and quiet, living a rustic fashion, the sun beating down on his back. Yet he never felt that heat, and even wished that all days could be long like those in summer. His head touched the sky, his feet were planted on the ground, and as he lived his life, he accumulated the essence of earth. His life represented earth.[4]

The young man and the discarnate soul of the cultivator were actually the same person. He was responsible for passing on a message, like a thread connecting everything. Thus, the fire of the doctor and the earth of the commoner encountered the true ego. He stepped over the timescape. That was his fortune.[5]

“Now I only lack space...” Xu Qing murmured. “And the reason is that this path is incomplete.”

With reincarnations behind him, and the source of reincarnation ahead, he simply proceeded and observed. He did not lose himself in it. He was like a guest, watching lives come and go.

It was a formless path. He saw men and women. He saw old people and youths. He saw temples. He saw the jianghu. All sorts of scenes passed before his eyes. It was impossible to say how long it went on. He couldn’t remember how much time had passed. He walked on and on down the path, observing, until at a certain point he stopped walking. His gaze hardened as he looked at a reincarnated version of himself that was... an actor.[6]

***

Actors will play many roles throughout their lives.

The day before, bells chimed and drums gonged. The actors took to the stage with their faces painted, their sleeves flicking. Today, banners snapped in the wind as the heroes and villains of the show were revealed.

One face could be a man or a woman depending on the makeup, and could portray the outcomes of many lives. There is freedom in playing a role, and one can die with no regrets.

It was the same as that play we call life. From ancient times to modern, the countless stories of many mortals are told in play and song. Who could determine the truth of the person who existed beneath the painted mask? And after enough time passed, was it even possible to distinguish the truth from the fantasy?

After songs were finished, and the actors wiped the makeup off their faces, they would walk out with a heavy heart. They would think of the emotions they had brought to the past lives and future lives, drifting like a dream on water, silently passing by with hardly a trace....

In the end, sighs would echo out from the audience.

“There are many roles to play, so don’t think him to be in despair....”

“It’s hard to see clearly....”

Songs of joy and sorrow could make the listeners gaze at each other in a daze, as if time is sliding past in a blur. Memories ripple, dreams come, and in the end, it just turned out to be millennia of plum blossoms floating in an illusion.

That was a play, from beginning to end. That was life, from birth to death. That was a dream, from the moment of sleep to the moment of awakening.

Xu Qing woke up. Within the void, he murmured, “This is no play. This is life within time.... People live and die. Plays have beginnings and endings. But the difference with life and death is that it’s different from waking out of a dream. There are endless possibilities, and it’s impossible to investigate them all.

“In that case, what happens if you surpass reincarnation? What happens if you walk out on life? When the dream concludes and I reach the end of the painting, what will be waiting for me?”

He already had the answer. That was because he had traveled through reincarnation until he reached the very end of the painting, which was also the origin of the painting. It was the ultimate foundation of the scroll of reincarnation. It was simply an image.

Li Mengtu had only opened the scroll painting by a crack. But as of now, Xu Qing had seen the entire image.

It was a crystal, submerged in primal-chaos. There in the endless void, it shone with matchlessly dazzling light. And it had been broken up into ten irregularly shaped parts.[7]

The parts scattered. And eventually, they appeared in Deep Earth.

This was an image of Deep Earth, and it was the very same broken stone that the Celestial Ancestor had been gazing at, back when Xu Qing originally gained enlightenment of the Eight Extreme Daos. It was a heaven-rending, earth-crushing scene. And it was now clearer than before! [8]

I never would have guessed that this scroll contains this image. It’s a violet-colored crystal.

It looked exactly the same as his own violet crystal. Xu Qing sank into his thoughts. He now realized how to leave this place. He had passed through the reincarnations of this scroll and reached the very end.

All he had to do was take another step, and he would be gone from the scroll. But his gaze was fixed upon the ten pieces of the crystal. Some time passed, and then his eyes shone brightly.

Being sealed in this scroll can mean death. But it can also mean good fortune! I’m walking the path of the immortal because of that crystal broken into ten pieces. And this time, I could see it much more clearly than before. I can see... the correct dao for myself!

Having reached this point in his train of thought, Xu Qing didn’t hesitate for a moment. He sat down cross-legged and sent out his divine will and even his soul. Like a shooting star, they approached the shattered crystal. In the blink of an eye, the cycle of reincarnation started again.

This time, it was not the reincarnation of a person.

***

He was an asteroid falling from the sky, and he landed on a planet called Heaven-Fate. He had no idea where he came from.

As time passed, his mind began to work, and he vaguely recalled past lives. Unfortunately, the details weren’t clear. All he could remember was a desert.

He spent most of his time looking at the planet. He saw countless living beings there, living out their destinies. And whenever he pondered his past, he recalled the story of the desert.

It’s too bad I can’t remember much. No matter how hard I try, all I can do is think about the sand and that river. Who are they? I’m confused.

As I sit here in the timescape thinking, the people of Planet Heaven-Fate seem to notice me occasionally. Sometimes they think I’m nothing special. Sometimes they believe me to be inauspicious. Occasionally, there are times when they think I’m a holy object, and they come to worship me.

Time slips by, bit by bit. I don’t care about all of that. I thought my whole life would be like this.

Eventually, a cultivator from beyond Planet Heaven-Fate comes here and finds me. He seems really happy. He takes me away from Planet Heaven-Fate to a continent called Heavenfire. It’s a massive place with seemingly no end.

I’ll never forget that the continent has a huge volcano. The volcano... takes up ninety percent of the Heavenfire Continent. He takes me there and throws me into the mouth of the volcano, where I fall into the lava. He uses the intense heat to refine me. Eventually I become a lump of iron.

The cultivator who brought me here uses the power of the volcano to forge me into a very sharp sword. He takes me to a place called the Primeval Forest where he uses me to chop down the oldest tree in existence.

It’s revenge.

The cultivator is hurt. He takes me away, and many years later, perishes. As the years pass, I run into other sword-wielders. Without exception, all of them perish unexpectedly. Yet again, people call me inauspicious.

The last person to wield me takes me to a black river full of death. He wipes out my spirit and throws me in. I sink down into the river. My spirit dissipates. I become part of the mud of the river.

But my aura has a nourishing effect on the river, changing it, making it more majestic and turbulent. Before dying, I hear someone speaking to me.

“In this way, fire restrains metal, and metal gives birth to water.”

***

I didn’t used to be called Guyiding Tri-Month. My name came because I saw something within time. It was a drop of rain falling in the third month of the Yiding year of the ancient Gu calendar.

The raindrop was confused, but eventually someone called it Guyiding Tri-Rain. Eventually, the raindrop grew intelligent and became a lake. Many years passed, and it turned into the North Sea . I saw all of that, and thought it was great. So before it was born, I used the name. [9]

“After you’re born, I’ll give it back to you.”

My life has also been dramatic. I once devoured a sword that had been used for endless slaughter. The baleful aura of that sword nourished me greatly. As I flowed through the starry sky, it helped me eradicate a gigantic volcano. Many times, that’s how fate works. It’s because of karma. One day, a group of almighty experts came. They were riding a very special boat that entered my life force. [10]

That boat is connected to me by destiny. I cannot bear to destroy it. Seeing that its discarnate spirit is about to depart, I nourish it, giving it a chance to recover.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what those almighty experts are planning to do. They send the boat into the volcano I had destroyed, in the hopes that it would cause the volcano to recover. The volcano erupts, but it can’t bury me. That said, the ash from the volcano is a tribulation that turns me into water vapor. Eventually, I became a rain that nourishes all living beings. I can just barely hear a voice speaking.

“In this way, earth restrains water, and water gives birth to wood.”

***

I am born in a desert. A great rainstorm hits, which bestows me with life force and intelligence. The moment that intelligence appears, I understand what loneliness is.