Chapter 001: Pangu Opens the Sky and Changes Fate
The Xuanwei Taoist was about to open the altar and preach, attracting countless sentient beings to come and listen. Many of these beings were not yet immortals or heavenly gods, although some were Golden Immortals. At this time, the Xuanwei Taoist closed his eyes and sat in stillness, his legs crossed on the White Jade Lotus Platform, holding a purple jade scepter in his hand, and emitting rolling thunderous sounds from his mouth as he transmitted the unparalleled teachings. From the center of his eyebrows, countless inconceivable lights burst forth, including Wisdom Light, Bright Light, Majestic Light, Solemn Light, Quiet Energy Light, and Precious Appearance Light, among others. The light beams shot straight up into the clouds, sweeping away the four directions of the universe. As the Taoist scriptures and aphorisms transformed into heavenly principles, the people around him who came to listen felt that their souls were deeply stirred, their minds awakened, and their spirits lifted. In the empty space, they saw the pre-heavenly spiritual energy gathering together, transforming into lotus flowers that fell into the Mud Pill Palace of many sentient beings who had come to listen to the Tao.
Only the Classic says: "Hongmeng is broken and scattered, Hundun is born, there is a Tao, hidden in the midst of Hundun. Its formless and shapeless, yet it truly exists, quiet and empty, standing alone and unchanging, circulating without danger, can be the mother of heaven and earth. I know its name, forcibly call it Tao, forcibly give it the name of Greatness. Great means passing away, passing away means far, far means returning. Therefore, Tao is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, and also great. In the realm there are four greatnesses, and it occupies one of them. The law of Earth follows the law of Heaven, the law of Heaven follows the law of Tao, the law of Tao follows the law of Nature."
"The Tao is formless and nameless, soundless and odorless, extremely subtle and profound. Heaven and earth and all things are born from the Great Tao, nurtured by it, so the Great Tao is the mother of heaven and earth and all things. The nature of the Tao is originally natural. The Heavenly Tao has no constant, the Heavenly Tao has no emotions, embracing all things, wandering outside. No good or evil, no right or wrong, no kindness or resentment, no joy or sorrow. Therefore, spirits are originally from the Tao, immortals are originally from the Tao, demons are originally from the Tao, and monsters are also originally from the Tao."
Within a radius of thousands of miles, all the unenlightened heavenly beings with wisdom roots faintly heard the sound of the Great Way, and at first were bewildered and did not understand. Later, they only felt that this was the supreme transcendence Dharma gate, and suddenly swarmed towards the direction of the lake in a mighty torrent, like a flood. In an instant, beasts, birds, fish, and insects flocked together, coming to where the mysterious Way person was, with their ranks in order, without any cries or wails, displaying a harmonious atmosphere.
The Taoist priest, along with his own voice of preaching, was deeply immersed in the realm of the Tao and couldn't extricate himself. Although his lips didn't move, the sound of the Great Tao spread with his thoughts, transforming into nothingness, and became even more thunderous. Heaven and earth bowed to it, and suddenly a clear aura enveloped everything, white clouds lingered, halos stretched across, and rainbows encircled him.
The Daoist master finished speaking about his own enlightenment and then began to expound on the essential points he had gained from Buddhist scriptures of later ages. These Buddhist essentials, having been developed through the wordless heavenly book, had already attained the threefold essence of Mahayana Buddhism. As the subtle sound was heard, the air was filled with the continuous sound of Sanskrit chanting, golden flowers fell from the sky, and various scenes of the Western Pure Land appeared in mid-air. Heavenly maidens scattered flowers, flying devas danced, blue-clad monks sat in meditation, bhiksus counted their beads, vajras glared angrily, arhats slept soundly, bodhisattvas showed compassion, and Buddhas preached the scriptures.
The pre-heavenly spiritual energy also transformed into clusters of golden lotuses, accompanying the misty aura of the Buddha's teachings that swirled around the living beings' foreheads, transforming into inscriptions in their conscious minds, appearing and disappearing like the opening of heaven and earth, shocking people into enlightenment.
The Buddhist scriptures were finished, and the mysterious Taoist began to talk about some ghostly magic, small magic spells, demon-subduing divine powers, and other magical techniques. For a while, he talked about Zen, then discussed immortality, and said something that made the surrounding atmosphere change in countless ways. The intentions of the Taoist scriptures intertwined, the empty sky and sea of clouds changed with the rolling and unfolding of clouds, and the seven-colored halo light also gathered and dispersed without stopping. This was a gathering of immortal families, where they refined elixirs and drank tea. Then it became a Buddhist lecture by the Buddha himself, with the sound of chanting in Sanskrit. But when you looked again, it had turned into a secret meeting of monsters, with sinister smiles all around. When you turned your head once more, evil spirits descended upon the scene, with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The transformations were endless, and the audience was also full of diverse postures. Only the mysterious Taoist sitting in the center maintained his dignified appearance, sitting cross-legged with a calm expression. He looked around at the beasts that had gathered according to their ranks, quietly listening to the supreme wonderful sound. But one moment they would be roaring loudly, and the next they would be shaking their heads and wagging their tails. Even the countless immortal cranes and divine birds flying in the air were no exception - one moment they would have a beautiful posture, with an ethereal aura, and the next they would be emitting a fierce killing energy, with a malevolent aura spreading everywhere. The golden-scaled turtles that stayed in the pond, swimming in the flowing water, also jumped up and down, blowing bubbles and floating to the surface without stopping, as if offering their respects. As for the most tranquil ones among all the creatures listening to the Taoist's teachings, it would have to be the flowers, grasses, trees, and the like. Although they seemed to be sentient beings, stretching out their leaves and swaying gently in the breeze, they did not display the ugly postures that the other listeners did.
When Xuanwei began to preach the Tao 3,600 years ago, it was just right, not more or less. As soon as the number of 3,600 years arrived, the last sentence of Xuanwei's Daoist scripture also fell, and at this time, Xuanwei's opening of the altar to preach the Tao had come to an end. The spirits of all living beings saw this and paid their respects one after another. The beasts all crawled on the ground, either kowtowing three times or offering heavenly treasures and earthly jewels to express their gratitude. The flying birds also plucked out the spiritual feathers from their bodies, gathered them into a spiritual feathered ribbon heaven clothes, surrounded Xuanwei Daoist, and covered his body with a sense of elegance. The scaly fish classes were spitting out pearls and offering treasures, holding coral in their mouths to celebrate, making Xu Qing's heart also filled with joy.
When the crowd retreated, the sky descended with boundless auspiciousness, and the accumulated aura of merits and virtues converged into a single column of mysterious yellow light, carrying a heavenly treasure that poured down like a waterfall, pouring into the brain of Xuanwei Daoist. Seeing this vast golden light of merit, Xuanwei Daoist's heart was slightly surprised, followed by a look of delight. The Heavenly Spirit above burst forth with twelve layers of precious light, and three flowers and five energies emerged. Only to see that at this time, the five energies transformed into five strips of energy waves, which were no longer ordinary, each displaying red, yellow, black, green, and white colors. Moreover, each wave contained the power of the Five Elements before Heaven. As the five-colored energy waves swirled back and forth in the celebratory clouds, it seemed both real and illusory, with a majestic and boundless aura. The three flowers on top were even more elegant and extraordinary, with an otherworldly spirit. At this time, behind Xuanwei's head, a small wheel of mysterious yellow merit appeared, and with the addition of the heavenly mysterious yellow energy, his breath became even more vast, his energy majestic and powerful, his light shining brightly, dispelling evil and ushering in a new dawn. His entire body was surrounded by dense auspicious clouds, with misty veils fluttering about, waves of light rippling continuously, illuminating the great world!
The merits descended, and the mysterious micro Daoist suddenly felt that his heart was more transparent, and a little bit of stagnation had also gone. The thin layer of wall that separated him from the middle period of Mahayana was broken under the help of this merit! His cultivation and Taoist practice continued to increase, and for a time, he was only one step away from the later period of Mahayana. He suddenly felt that the Heavenly Way was so close to himself, so intimate! He was like being immersed in his mother's arms, feeling so at ease, comfortable, and relieved!
As the merits and virtues were exhausted, the Xuanwei Taoist found that the white jade lotus platform under his seat had also been divided into a strand of teaching merits and virtues. The purple jade ruyi in his hand was also divided into a strand of teaching merits and virtues. This white jade lotus platform and purple jade ruyi had undergone Xuanwei's years of refinement, and their power became more and more mysterious. At this time, after being nourished by a strand of teaching merits and virtues, suddenly strange phenomena appeared one after another. Only the white jade lotus platform was seen to burst forth with infinite colors, displaying the splendor of crystal glass. The splendor of the light was clear and pure, untainted and unsoiled, unborn and undestroyed. Even when shining on Xuanwei's body, it wiped away a little dust from his heart, making his Taoist heart even more pure and clean like crystal glass, and evil obstacles could not invade!
The purple jade ruyi is even more mysterious, bursting with infinite seven-colored light, and auspicious clouds are faintly swirling around the body. The handle's jade stone emits a soft purple glow, and the cloud-patterned carvings on top also flow with the aura of merit and virtue in yellow and black. Finally, the three bright red pure yang treasure beads embedded at the end of the lingzhi handle are also responding to the pure yang energy of the great sun, flowing with a reddish-gold color, and clusters of golden flames from the great sun surround the treasure beads, truly worthy of its name as the ultimate in masculinity and yang energy.
As for the treasure that contains the virtues of Xuan Huang, it turns out to be a combination of half of the Opening Heaven virtue and three parts of the Xuan Huang virtue. After the creation of the world, the Heavenly Purple Qi formed the Post-Heavenly Virtue Treasure - the Quantian Chi (Measuring Heaven Ruler). The Quantian Chi is the first attacking treasure of the Post-Heavenly realm, its power can be said to be only inferior to the Pre-Heavenly Treasure Pan Gu Fan. Moreover, in suppressing the flow of Qi in the Heavenly Xuan Huang Ling Long Pagoda, it is not at all inferior to the Pre-Heavenly Treasure. At this time, because Xuan Wei is conducting the first interpretation of the Heavenly Dao between Heaven and Earth, making up for many blanks in the Heavenly Dao, therefore, the Heavenly Dao not only bestowed this treasure upon Xuan Wei but also granted the Quantian Chi in Xuan Wei's hand as a sacred object of virtue teaching. It can wield part of the power of Heavenly teaching, the power of Heavenly rules and earthly laws. If someone disrespects the Heavenly Dao and acts against Heaven, they can be killed by borrowing the power of the Heavenly Dao through this treasure!
Xuan Wei Daoist obtained these treasures and returned to the cave, cultivating quietly, waiting for the future Hong Jun to prove the way and open up the Hunyuan Great Way.
It is said that when heaven and earth were first opened, the primordial chaos was divided, the great Tao was not transmitted, and all living things were ignorant. There was a need for a great virtuous true cultivator to embody the heavenly mind, teach all living things, supplement the heavenly way, assist in evolution, establish the framework of norms, and bring order to the world. From then on, there would be nourishment at birth and burial after death.
Ps1: I personally have a strong dislike for the trope where one can easily discover many, previously unseen, innate spiritual treasures as soon as they transmigrate to the Primordial Chaos. Therefore, in this book, the only treasure that can rival the likes of Innate Treasures is probably the Quantitative Measuring Ruler. If you want to find other Innate Spiritual Treasures, you'll have to go to the Treasure Distribution Rock on Mount Buzhou. After all, aren't most Innate Spiritual Treasures in the Primordial Chaos born from the Treasure Distribution Rock? I find it strange that those main characters in the Primordial Chaos can find their Innate Spiritual Treasures in places like Not Weekly Mountain or Penglai Island. As far as I know, the Five Great Divine Mountains overseas, including Penglai Island, have long been a gathering place for scattered immortals. It seems that two of them have even sunk??????
PS2: Spoiler alert, Hongjun's identity in this book will be quite special. The relationship between Nüwa, Sanqing, and Zhunti will also be unique. Additionally, the definition of Hunyuan Saint's power and authority, as well as the relationship between Hongjun, Nüwa, and the Western Twin Saints, will differ from the current mainstream Hóng Huāng (Honghuang). If you don't like it, just take it as a joke, haha, no need to get too worked up or scold others, hehe??????
