novelraw Chapter 140: Azure Heaven, Yellow Heaven?
Chapter 140: Azure Heaven, Yellow Heaven?
"Buddy, open your eyes — your real eyes — and look at yourself!"
The Nine Nether God Lantern begged desperately. "Close these evil eyes. Open your true ones. Just look at what you've become."
"There isn't an ounce of immortal about you."
"Then I shall set the standard."
Chen Huangpi's voice was cold and devoid of feeling.
He refused to open his eyes. Refused to close the evil eyes across his body.
Instead, he sat cross-legged atop the Magic Tree's crown.
Within each evil eye, the golden-black characters — shaped like flowers, birds, fish, and insects — blazed with dazzling intensity.
Chen Huangpi was glowing.
Emitting a golden-black radiance.At first, the light was faint.
But it rapidly grew brighter.
Until the gold and the black separated — no longer intertwined as before.
The golden light was majestic and solemn.
The black light was bone-chillingly cold.
The two streams of light orbited Chen Huangpi, forming a golden-black taijitu.
Gold for yang. Black for yin.
They chased each other in rotation — yet the turning was agonizingly labored.
With each revolution, a deeper shade of pain crossed Chen Huangpi's face.
As though sensing his suffering.
The golden-black taijitu halted.
Then it began spinning in the opposite direction.
This time, the pain left Chen Huangpi's face entirely. What replaced it was an expression of utter comfort.
The reversed taijitu spun faster and faster.
Faster. Faster still.
Golden-black light cocooned Chen Huangpi within it.
Round and round, without cease.
And so...
The Nine Nether God Lantern watched as Chen Huangpi transformed into an egg.
The moment the egg appeared.
An intense wave of unease crashed through the lantern.
It had no idea what Chen Huangpi was doing.
All it knew was that within the egg, a shape was taking form — ineffable, indescribable. A single glance at it consumed the mind entirely.
The shape was not human.
It seemed to contain the contours of all things in the world.
A thunderclap detonated inside the Nine Nether God Lantern's mind: 'Azure Heaven is dead. Yellow Heaven is not yet born. Chen Huangpi — could you be Yellow Heaven?'
"He is not."
The voice came from right beside the Nine Nether God Lantern.
The instant it spoke.
The mind-devouring hold of the shape within the egg released the lantern at once.
And then it saw the white-robed Second Guanzhu standing nearby, silently gazing at the egg.
Most critically.
The Second Guanzhu's eyes were perfectly lucid.
The Brass Oil Lamp tested cautiously. "Guanzhu, is it really you?"
"Naturally, it is this poor Daoist."
The white-robed old Daoist said mildly. "What — are you surprised to see me not raving like a lunatic?"
"Guanzhu, I wouldn't dare..."
"You wouldn't dare say it out loud."
The white-robed old Daoist shook his head slightly, then waved a hand over the Nine Nether God Lantern's body.
The evil eye embedded in the lamp's shell immediately retreated into the egg that was Chen Huangpi.
"I've turned back to normal!"
The Brass Oil Lamp was overjoyed, then said urgently, "Guanzhu, those evil eyes drove Chen Huangpi into madness. He keeps insisting he's a True Immortal. Nothing I say gets through. Please — intervene!"
"This is a good thing."
"He's gone mad. He wants to kill everything. How is that a good thing?"
"It is a good thing."
The white-robed old Daoist nodded. "The black smoke, the evil eyes — they are all born of the Five Poisons within Huangpi's body. Better to dam a river with release than with blockage. It's healthier to let it out."
Hearing this.
The Brass Oil Lamp finally felt at ease. Then it asked, "Guanzhu, you said Chen Huangpi isn't Yellow Heaven. Then what is he? Could he be Azure Heaven?"
"What does it matter if he's Yellow Heaven or Azure Heaven?"
The white-robed old Daoist smiled. "You love to guess, and you've rubbed off on Huangpi — now he's always guessing too. What's the point of all that guessing? Can't this poor Daoist's Huangpi simply be himself?"
"Guanzhu..."
The Brass Oil Lamp said hesitatingly. "If you truly wanted him to be himself, why did you make so many arrangements?"
The Guanzhu was the Heaven Dao of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Anything Chen Huangpi encountered within these mountains was, in a sense, tacitly permitted by the Guanzhu.
The Brass Oil Lamp didn't believe.
That the Guanzhu hadn't been quietly guiding things along.
The white-robed old Daoist chuckled. "There you go again — criticizing this poor Daoist in your head. You really are asking for a beating."
With that, he flicked the Brass Oil Lamp on the head.
Clank.
The lamp went tumbling end over end.
Then it scurried right back, wincing and grinning. "Truly the Guanzhu's magnificent power! Just one flick, and my soul nearly scattered and my lamp body nearly disintegrated."
"This poor Daoist barely touched you."
"As expected of the Guanzhu!"
The Brass Oil Lamp said admiringly. "Just the residual force alone—"
"Silver-tongued as always."
The white-robed old Daoist shook his head. "This poor Daoist has indeed made many arrangements for Huangpi. But if he hadn't — how could this poor Daoist rest easy when Huangpi ventures into the outside world? After all, this poor Daoist has but one disciple."
"He was raised with such difficulty. How could I bear to see him suffer?"
"Guanzhu, that might not be entirely wise."
The Brass Oil Lamp bobbed its head sagely. "As the saying goes — a doting father raises a ruined son. Unpolished jade never becomes a treasure. I say he needs more hardship. His Dao heart might as well not exist — the moment he's not paying attention, he falls to madness."
"The so-called Dao heart."
"Is nothing more than obsession. Why force it?" The white-robed old Daoist walked to the egg and stroked its surface gently. "He is still young. And the young should not be weighed down by gloom. They should live with abandon, with fire in their step. When this poor Daoist was his age, I too dreamed of roaming the land with a sword."
"But this poor Daoist must yet achieve Union with the Dao. Looking back now, I do feel some regret."
"Guanzhu, are you truly a Dao Lord?"
The Brass Oil Lamp couldn't help but ask. "Chen Huangpi told me that the Headless Yama once said — only after eighteen thousand years, when the Heaven and Earth Mutation ends and Yellow Heaven is born, will you achieve Union with the Dao."
"Mm, the Yama wasn't wrong."
The white-robed old Daoist considered. "However, this poor Daoist is indeed a Dao Lord. It's simply that the Dao I have merged with is not the Dao of Yellow Heaven — but the Dao of the already-dead Azure Heaven."
"The Old Temple's formation..."
"It is exactly what you think."
And with that, the Brass Oil Lamp understood everything.
No wonder the Guanzhu never left the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
It was because Azure Heaven was within the Old Temple. Previously, the lamp had assumed the death qi powering the formation came from Chen Huangpi himself, since he had never truly been born — in a sense, he too was a stillborn.
The Guanzhu had achieved Union with the Dao — the Dao of the dead Azure Heaven.
And the Old Temple's formation was likely there to suppress Azure Heaven's remains.
Azure Heaven had surely turned into an evil spirit by now.
The Guanzhu's madness might well be a consequence of this.
The white-robed old Daoist smiled. "Eighteen thousand years is admittedly not long. But if this poor Daoist hadn't taken some measures, Huangpi would have hung my portrait on the wall of the main hall ages ago. This poor Daoist still wants to watch him grow into a man — so becoming a Dao Lord was the only option."
"Only, this poor Daoist is a Dao Lord of the old era."
"This poor Daoist's dharma is the dharma of a bygone age."
"And that is why this poor Daoist does not leave the Hundred Thousand Mountains."
"Guanzhu, the Heaven and Earth Mutation will end eventually. Once Yellow Heaven is born — will you still exist?"
The white-robed old Daoist fell silent.
He gave the Brass Oil Lamp no answer.
"GUANZHU!!!!"
The Brass Oil Lamp cried in alarm. "I can't bear to lose you. Chen Huangpi would be even more devastated. If you were gone, I can't imagine how heartbroken he would be. Your methods reach the heavens. You are all-powerful."
"You won't die — right? You won't?"
"We shall speak of that another time."
The white-robed old Daoist sidestepped the topic. He turned to the egg and sighed. "This disciple of mine has a thousand virtues and ten thousand graces, but at the end of the day, he has a child's temperament. This poor Daoist carved out a path to the heavens for him."
"But that path is impossibly difficult. If he stops walking — well and good."
"But if he retreats — he won't even have the chance to become an evil spirit."
The Brass Oil Lamp couldn't help but say, "That's exactly why you have to keep living. To keep watching over Chen Huangpi. To make sure he never takes a wrong step."
"And that's precisely why this poor Daoist has come out."
With that, the white-robed old Daoist patted the egg with a smile. "Sleeping quite soundly, aren't you? But your master can't let you sleep forever. Otherwise, you'd sleep all the way until the Heaven and Earth Mutation ends, and by then, this poor Daoist would..."
"This poor Daoist is starving..."
The white-robed old Daoist's stomach growled. His clouded eyes locked onto the enormous egg with a feral gleam.
"Huang Er — quick, set up a pot."
"Huh? What for?"
"Are you stupid? How do you cook an egg without a pot?"
The white-robed old Daoist drooled, his expression deranged. "This poor Daoist was locked up in here by the Third and the First. Who knows when I'll ever get out? With an egg this big, I'd better ration it carefully."
"Oh — by the way, why are you here alone?"
"Where's Huangpi?"
"Second Guanzhu, Chen Huangpi is inside the egg..."
"What?"
The white-robed old Daoist rapped on the shell and bellowed, "Huangpi, what are you doing in there? Don't tell me you're in there eating without me!"
Chen Huangpi had sunk into deep slumber. How could he possibly answer?
"If you won't answer, then you admit it!"
The white-robed old Daoist fumed. "Huangpi, you've gone bad! You're breaking your master's heart! Breaking it, I say!"
"Come out! Come out right now!"
Still no response.
To the white-robed old Daoist, this clearly meant Chen Huangpi was refusing to come out — intent on eating everything inside the egg.
If the egg was emptied.
Then he'd go hungry.
Going hungry was miserable.
The white-robed old Daoist hated going hungry. So he yawned his cavernous mouth open and swallowed the entire egg in one gulp.
...
Damp. Dark.
Chen Huangpi drifted awake into pitch blackness.
A strange scent pervaded the air.
It gave him a feeling he couldn't quite place — somehow deeply familiar.
"Where am I? Why does it feel like I'm inside Second Master's stomach?"
"Trust your instincts. We are in the stomach."
Chen Huangpi froze in shock at this.
Because the Brass Oil Lamp's voice was coming from directly beneath him.
Feeling the uncomfortable lump under his backside, Chen Huangpi hurriedly fished out the Brass Oil Lamp — its surface pitted and scarred from stomach acid.
The next instant.
A murky yellow lamplight illuminated the stomach's interior.
Chen Huangpi and the Brass Oil Lamp stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"Huang Er, why are you inside Second Master's stomach?"
"You think I wanted to be here?"
The Brass Oil Lamp said. "You fell to madness and turned into an egg. The Second Guanzhu swallowed you whole. Then he said he had indigestion and needed some oil to lubricate things — so he swallowed me too."
"This..."
Chen Huangpi said in surprise. "The last thing I remember is becoming a True Immortal, and then everything in the world was revolving around me. I felt like I'd become the center of the universe. Was that all an illusion?"
"Obviously it was an illusion."
The Brass Oil Lamp said darkly. "The Guanzhu said you're not Azure Heaven, and you're not Yellow Heaven either. Just cultivate step by step. Once you turn eighteen, you'll get there."
"Now hurry up and beg the Second Guanzhu to let us out."
The Brass Oil Lamp was on the verge of tears. "The First Guanzhu's tooth marks. The Third Guanzhu's pinch marks. And now the Second Guanzhu's stomach acid. These Hundred Thousand Mountains are really no place for a lamp."
In its current condition, if you tossed it on the street, it would be mistaken for junk. Nobody would bother picking it up.