Chapter 18: The Thunderous Pivot of Yin and Yang

"Giving up is not an option. The very fact that you can blaze a new path proves your profound potential. My judgment was not mistaken."

Ning Peach Blossom hesitated for a moment but eventually rushed through the gateway.

A thunderous roar filled the air.

It was as if a vast ocean surged before her, but instead of waves, what collided within were tangible rules and laws—lightning, thunder, yin and yang, the five elements...

Tempestuous gales howled, muddy yellow waves surged forward, carrying sand and gravel with them. Verdant grass and trees transformed into forests; in an instant, mountains and rivers toppled, the heavens tilted, and the sun plummeted from the sky.

This was a scene of utter annihilation, the cataclysmic evolution of laws. Even if an entire world of mountains and rivers manifested, it would not last—the weather could be calm one moment, and in the next, the earth would split apart, such was the dizzying pace of change.

In the midst of a boundless desert, a spirit butterfly stared blankly, dumbfounded by the upheaval of heaven and earth. Terrified, it beat its wings in a desperate attempt to escape but was swiftly swept up by a whirlwind of sand and dust.

"This is bad. This is the end."

Ye Chen was on the verge of tears; to die so senselessly, without rhyme or reason. His mind was a blank, lost and disoriented.

He looked a mess—his entire body charred, reeking of smoke and fire. His physical body had been destroyed, but since it was formed from incense and vow-force, it was not an irreparable loss. Still, with his spirit exposed, it was far too dangerous. Though his reserves of incense power were nearly depleted, he forced himself to piece together a new body from what little remained.

Within Ye Chen’s Mud Pill Palace, a thumb-sized talisman glimmered with golden light, smooth and gentle as water. It nourished his soul and kept his reconstructed body from falling apart.

If not for the efficacy of the talisman, this hastily assembled body would have been lost as well. Even so, he was still in a sorry state—a palm-sized spirit butterfly, entangled by a streak of blue lightning.

Fortunately, its power had been greatly diminished; otherwise, Ye Chen would not have survived.

He was utterly wretched, as if he had rolled through a muddy ditch, now tossed and tumbled by the sandstorm, uncertain where he would be blown next.

The sky darkened with swirling sand and flying stones, shaking the very heavens. The yellowish, turbulent winds raged like a furious dragon spewing flames.

Ye Chen seemed so insignificant; when the sand and stones rained down upon him, he was battered senseless. It was a most trying ordeal.

He had no idea how much time had passed before the howling wind finally relented. As the noise faded and Ye Chen regained his senses, he found himself no longer in the desert but within a lush, verdant forest. Some of the vegetation had been uprooted, leaves withered, as if a violent hand had ravaged the land.

The forest broke the force of the wind, and Ye Chen hung upside down from an ancient tree.

Forcing himself to calm down, he finally had the leisure to ponder what had just transpired.

How odd—it would have been much simpler to die by a bolt of lightning, but now he had endured untold suffering.

Gazing at the persistent bolt of lightning clinging to him like a festering sore, Ye Chen fell into deep thought. Even if he severed the part of his body in direct contact with the lightning, it made no difference; it had attached itself to him for good.

It was the only thing he found remotely familiar. Despite being a tribulation, it evoked an inexplicable sense of intimacy. Everything else in this vast and foreign world was utterly unfamiliar. Alone, beneath an endless sky spanning millions of miles, he was but a solitary traveler, which made despair all the more acute.

“Was this sudden lightning strike the calamity brought by forging my own path?” Ye Chen mused. “The lightning struck me and brought me here—is there some special connection between the two?”

He could not discern the logic between the two events; it was all a muddle to him. "Perhaps I should try refining the lightning. Who knows, maybe I’ll gain some insight. In any case, this lightning is the root cause of my current predicament; I can’t just ignore it.”

"Lightning is the power of heaven, immensely destructive. But the one I face now must have been greatly weakened, or I would have been obliterated."

“This is likely proportional to my strength. Since it’s a tribulation, it can’t be like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. That means I shouldn’t underestimate myself; there’s still hope.”

Lightning is the axis of yin and yang, possessed of unparalleled destructive force. Ordinary means are useless against it; one can only wait for it to dissipate naturally. Within Ye Chen’s Mud Pill Palace, a talisman emerged and plunged into the lightning.

In an instant, Ye Chen felt as though he were submerged in a sea of lightning. Then, like flowing water, the lightning was drawn into the talisman.

The talisman, which had been suffused with a golden aura and was only the size of a thumb, resembled a golden seed. Now, streaks of azure light began to flow within it.

"It seems the talisman has benefited, growing much stronger," he thought. This was unsurprising—the talisman had just attained completion, a blank slate in need of myriad postnatal laws to be imprinted upon it, so that it could transform.

Strictly speaking, the talisman Ye Chen had obtained was but a fragment and could not possibly contain a complete divine inheritance from the outset. It merely presented him with a new path. How that path would unfold depended on his fortune and fate. Without sufficient luck, he might become a pioneer who paves the way for others—a forerunner whose bones form the foundation for later travelers, an age-old truth that those who plant trees seldom enjoy the shade.

That was a likely outcome, though it was also possible for Ye Chen to become the origin of this path. In either case, the road could never be completed by one person alone; it would require countless successors to forge ahead. Otherwise, it could never be called a true Path.

Ye Chen understood none of these things. He only sensed that the talisman was changing; it seemed to merge with heaven and earth instead of drifting apart. Pouring all his spirit into it, he felt as if he were one with the Dao, his body ethereal, an otherworldly aura flowing about him, as though an immortal had descended to the mortal realm.

He forgot himself, forgot the world—even his own existence faded. The boundless mountains and seas became his body, bearing the birth of a new Path.

“Are you still not waking up? If you don’t awaken now, you’ll lose your chance forever!”

Ning Peach Blossom’s voice rang out, exasperated to the point of exhaustion—she seemed more anxious than Ye Chen himself, as if the emperor were calm but the eunuch was beside himself with worry.

Ye Chen’s consciousness was immersed in a profound, unfathomable current of laws, as though drifting amidst a boundless galaxy. The stars sparkled like agate, embedded in the heavens, illuminating all eternity. The vastness of time and space lay at his feet, the dust and vanity of the mortal world, the ever-changing clouds—all were insignificant.

No matter how deep his attachment, it now seemed negligible; his emotions faded away, as if he had set foot on the supreme, emotionless path, dwelling with the highest principle.

His entire body glowed, dissolving, about to become a part of the Great Dao itself—when, all at once, he was startled awake.

His memories became like a three-dimensional painting, stripped away and unsullied; his emotions grew distant. Only after a moment did Ye Chen come back to himself, feeling a lingering dread.

"What just happened to me?"

Ning Peach Blossom, hearing this, huffed angrily, "You almost merged with the Dao. If I’d been a moment later, you would have lost all memory and emotion, becoming nothing but a part of the Great Dao."

Ye Chen shuddered at the thought, but before he could say more, Ning Peach Blossom urged, "The Sea of Rules is far too dangerous; you can’t linger here. You must quickly establish your new path, or all will be lost."

"Establish a new path?" Ye Chen murmured, a sudden understanding dawning in his heart.

A talisman appeared before him, shedding ten thousand strands of golden light. The golden light gathered and flowed like a river, while in the void, earth, water, fire, and wind surged forth.

These elements represented the rules within the Sea of Rules, nourishing the Great Dao. The golden river shimmered with dazzling light.

Then, the golden light contracted, forming a thumb-sized golden seed. With a crisp crack, the seed split open, sending forth a tender sprout. Bathed in golden radiance that flowed like water, the sprout grew quickly, finally becoming a small white lotus.

The Sea of Rules was shaken to its core; torrents of manifest laws intertwined throughout heaven and earth.

In a daze, Ye Chen seemed to see countless giant trees rooting themselves in the chaos, forming almost a small forest.

"Those are the manifest paths of all the pioneers throughout history. They are already mature, while mine is but a tender shoot, proof that although I have opened a new way, it is not yet complete."