Volume 2: The Great Warlock War Chapter 10: Listening to the Way at Zi Xuan Palace

  Zhou Cheng left Qingqiu Mountain, shook his body and changed back into his ordinary blue robe. He flew to the outer sky, where Hong Jun had told him that anyone with a predestined connection could go, and informed him that the location was outside the 33rd heaven. However, the Zi Xuan Palace was a place where saints lectured on the Tao, not a place that ordinary people could reach. Only those who were destined to be there could arrive.

  Zhou Cheng took a step forward, and suddenly appeared outside the Thirty-Three Heavens. All he saw was a vast expanse of emptiness, similar to the Chaos Era, but without the rampant chaotic energy flows. Emptiness was Zhou Cheng's greatest feeling about being outside the Thirty-Three Heavens. Although Zhou Cheng had arrived outside the Thirty-Three Heavens, for a time, he didn't know where the Zi Xuan Palace was in this vast and boundless outer sky.

  Just as Zhou Cheng was hesitating, a quaint ancient building with grey walls made of green bricks suddenly appeared before his eyes. From afar, it looked like a Taoist temple. The temple wasn't very big and didn't have a door, but there was an empty rectangular door frame where the door should be. On the door frame, three large characters were written in the center: "Zi Xuan Palace"

  In front of the Zixiao Palace, several sections of stone steps wound down, and it was indeed a great way to simplify things. Zhou Cheng sighed as he walked up the steps, thinking about what would happen next. He couldn't let them get too far ahead, at least not before securing the top spot among the new disciples. However, he also didn't want to stand out too much, as he had no desire to experience the feeling of being a bird that gets beaten with a stick for sticking its head out.

  Entering the Purple Cloud Palace, only to see that the interior is simply decorated. In a small courtyard, several people are already standing sparsely. On a small platform in front, a meditation cushion is empty, with two white-robed children standing behind it. It seems that this position belongs to Hong Jun. However, there are six positions available in front of the platform, but no one has taken their seat yet.

  The people in the temple saw that someone had come again, and they all came to pay their respects. After a round of greetings, Zhou Cheng also got to know those figures. The old master, with white eyebrows, was dressed in a simple yet elegant attire, exuding an aura of good fortune, but in Zhou Cheng's eyes, it seemed a bit too conventional. Next to him stood a black-robed Taoist priest with two long eyebrows like swords, who had a bold and majestic air about him - this was the Tongtian Taoist. There was also the Eastern Emperor Taiyi, standing alongside the Emperor Jun, holding an Eastern Bell; behind them was a dark-robed Taoist with a pointed mouth and monkey-like cheeks, who was the Kunpeng. Among the remaining people, there were several whom Zhou Cheng had heard of, such as Hongyun Daochang and Zhenyuanzi. However, he did not see Nüwa, Fuxi, Jieying, and Zhunti, so it seemed that they had not arrived yet.

  "Haha, at the next Jie Xiu Zhou Cheng, self-proclaimed Qing Lian Dao Ren, I've seen you all." Zhou Cheng bowed and cupped his hands.

  Laozi saw Zhou Cheng and suddenly had some doubts. He turned around to look at Yuanshi and Tongtian, both of whom shook their heads, indicating that they had never heard of this person.

  "No need for formalities among fellow Taoists. This time, Master Hongjun's cultivation has reached a new level, and the opening of the palace is beyond comprehension, even recording it is difficult. The rest of the people are even more unbearable, only Hou Tu is hiding behind, with a look of deep thought."

  "Teacher, I dare to ask what is the Tao? What is the meaning of the Tao?" Laozi listened to Hongjun's lecture on the great Tao, and although he understood many things in his heart, he found that there were even more things he didn't understand. He took advantage of a pause in Hongjun's lecture to ask.

  "The Way is in the heart, also between heaven and earth. All things are the Way, the Way is all things." Hongjun thought for a moment before answering.

  "Teacher, may I ask how many roads there are to achieve enlightenment?" Zhou Cheng couldn't help but ask.

  "There are three thousand major roads, and every single one can become a path."

  "Then can I choose a few more? That would be much more impressive than just choosing one, right?" Zhou Cheng said with his mouth watering. The people around him looked at each other and were all embarrassed, thinking: This person is not a human being.

  "You, a madman, are indeed straightforward. What you covet is the great way of heaven's machinery. I also know your original intention: the Great Way has fifty numbers, the heavenly evolution has forty-nine; all things have one possible thread. You may slowly seek it out." Hong Jun surprisingly revealed a smile, it seems that even saints are human and have emotions, only transcending the ordinary notion of good and evil. Otherwise, saints would be nothing but inanimate objects, like those rocks, even if they exist, it's as if they're destroyed.

  Hongjun's sermon this time lasted for 1,000 years and finally stopped.

  "That's all for today's lecture, you can go back and think deeply about it. Next time when we open the lecture again, I will notify you." Hongyuan saw that everyone had different understandings, so he stopped lecturing.

  "Master, I have a question." Hou Tu saw Hong Jun stop lecturing and hastily stepped out to bow down and say.

  "Really?"

  "I am a member of the Wu tribe, and I do not cultivate my primordial spirit. In the end, I will never be able to attain the Tao. I dare ask the Ancestor of the Tao, is there a good strategy?" Although Hou Tu didn't understand anything, at the critical moment, she still remembered her purpose for coming here.

  "What you think I already know, there will be a chance in the future, and withdraw for now." Hong Jun didn't look at the crowd again, stepped into the inner hall of Zixiao Palace, leaving only the crowd and Hou Tu on the spot.

  "Houtu Niangniang, I'll see you next week." Zhōu Chéng stepped forward and paid his respects to Houtu.

  "Hehe, fellow Taoist is polite. This time Later Earth has other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave first." Later Earth heard what Hong Jun said and didn't stay any longer, immediately leaving.

  Zhou Cheng didn't mind either. The woman was a stranger, and he wasn't famous anyway. It was already polite of her to return the gift.

  Everyone left immediately, and this matter was settled.