On the Path to the Great Dao

"Chen Shi!"

In front of Black Mountain Granny Temple, waves of cyan smoke billowed. The temple doors gaped like a massive maw, a voice booming from within.

"Granny wasn't coming after you, but here you are storming the gates! Fine then—today, Granny will send you on your way and scatter your body and soul to the winds! My children, kill him for Granny—"

Gray-robed rats swarmed down the mountainside like a tidal wave at Black Mountain Granny's command. From afar came the whistling of their Meridian Evil-Slaying Swords slicing through the air.

They

weren't like the human cultivators Chen Shi had faced before.

Human cultivators held back for fear of hitting their own. These rats didn't.

They unleashed spells without a care for allies in the way, hacking down their own kind without hesitation.

Among the red-robed rats charging down, Chen Shi spotted four or five already slain by their comrades' Meridian Evil-Slaying Swords.

Chen Shi drew a long breath. The massive vermilion beam in his hands danced like the Monkey King's Ruyi Jingu Bang, wielded with precise control. "Since you're here to purge this wicked shrine, then kill them to the last!"

His feet traced the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper, bursts of starlight exploding around him. He effortlessly dodged the incoming sword qi. His hand shifted through sword mudras, and sword qi shot from his Divine Shrine. The enemy lines erupted in chaos.

"Slow..."

"So slow—how do you expect to kill anyone like that?"

Chen Shi strode forward, swinging the vermilion pillar amid booming thunder. He charged upward, pointing with a sword mudra to send rat heads tumbling.

It was strange. These gray-robed rats practiced the Meridian Evil-Slaying Sword from the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art—likely taught by some human cultivator—and their swordsmanship was quite impressive.

Yet in his eyes, they moved too slowly, lacking explosive power. Some sword qi he could dodge even without the Big Dipper Seven Star Steps.

His own sword qi, by contrast, was lightning-fast. Every blast struck true, felling foes without fail.

He could even steer the Meridian Evil-Slaying Sword's qi with his mind alone.

It was instinctive for him—once he sensed he could influence the sword qi's path, he simply did.

That was how he never missed.

To the gray-robed rats, though, his sword qi could inexplicably curve and turn, filling them with primal terror.

Chen Shi hadn't learned any other spells. He only knew the Meridian Evil-Slaying Sword, picked up from the old copy of the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art that Li Tianqing had given him—identical to anyone else's version.

The reason it transformed in his hands was his lack of a Divine Embryo. Unable to condense mana, he could only endlessly refine himself with the Big Dipper Seven Refinings, tempering bone, heart, blood, flesh, skin, and spirit.

His spirit had thus been forged to extraordinary strength.

A powerful spirit might seem useless at first glance.

But when releasing sword qi, it could subtly guide the trajectory.

The influence wasn't huge, but it turned the straightforward Evil-Slaying Sword unpredictable and devious.

Chen Shi found the rats' sword qi sluggish, but to other Divine Embryo Realm cultivators, it would be plenty fast.

It only seemed slow because he was faster.

He swung the thousand-jin pillar with effortless grace. Thunder Talismans, Five Thunder Talismans, Great Five Thunder Talismans, Palm Heart Thunder Talismans, Thunder God Ten Generals Talismans, Five Yang Heavenly Thunder Talismans—all erupted with devastating power.

The gray-robed rats' heads bloomed like blood-red flowers on their necks, bursting with wet pops.

In mere moments, he had carved his way from the mountain's base to its midpoint.

They

weren't like the human cultivators Chen Shi had faced before.

Human cultivators held back for fear of hitting their own. These rats didn't.

They unleashed spells without a care for allies in the way, hacking down their own kind without hesitation.

Among the red-robed rats charging down, Chen Shi spotted four or five already slain by their comrades' Meridian Evil-Slaying Swords.

Chen Shi drew a long breath. The massive vermilion beam in his hands danced like the Monkey King's Ruyi Jingu Bang, wielded with precise control.

"Since you're here to purge this wicked shrine, then kill them to the last!"

His feet traced the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper, bursts of starlight exploding around him. He effortlessly dodged the incoming sword qi. His hand shifted through sword mudras, and sword qi shot from his Divine Shrine. The enemy lines erupted in chaos.

"Slow..."

"So slow—how do you expect to kill anyone like that?"

Chen Shi strode forward, swinging the vermilion pillar amid booming thunder. He charged upward, pointing with a sword mudra to send rat heads tumbling.

It was strange. These gray-robed rats practiced the Meridian Evil-Slaying Sword from the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art—likely taught by some human cultivator—and their swordsmanship was quite impressive.

Yet in his eyes, they moved too slowly, lacking explosive power. Some sword qi he could dodge even without the Big Dipper Seven Star Steps.

His own sword qi, by contrast, was lightning-fast. Every blast struck true, felling foes without fail.

He could even steer the Meridian Evil-Slaying Sword's qi with his mind alone.

It was instinctive for him—once he sensed he could influence the sword qi's path, he simply did.

That was how he never missed.

To the gray-robed rats, though, his sword qi could inexplicably curve and turn, filling them with primal terror.

Chen Shi hadn't learned any other spells. He only knew the Meridian Evil-Slaying Sword, picked up from the old copy of the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art that Li Tianqing had given him—identical to anyone else's version.

The reason it transformed in his hands was his lack of a Divine Embryo. Unable to condense mana, he could only endlessly refine himself with the Big Dipper Seven Refinings, tempering bone, heart, blood, flesh, skin, and spirit.

His spirit had thus been forged to extraordinary strength.

A powerful spirit might seem useless at first glance.

But when releasing sword qi, it could subtly guide the trajectory.

The influence wasn't huge, but it turned the straightforward Evil-Slaying Sword unpredictable and devious.

Chen Shi found the rats' sword qi sluggish, but to other Divine Embryo Realm cultivators, it would be plenty fast.

It only seemed slow because he was faster.

He swung the thousand-jin pillar with effortless grace. Thunder Talismans, Five Thunder Talismans, Great Five Thunder Talismans, Palm Heart Thunder Talismans, Thunder God Ten Generals Talismans, Five Yang Heavenly Thunder Talismans—all erupted with devastating power.

The gray-robed rats' heads bloomed like blood-red flowers on their necks, bursting with wet pops.

In mere moments, he had carved his way from the mountain's base to its midpoint.

Ahead, rat heads surged downward in a mass, while the five white-whiskered elder rats glared down with fury, their killing intent thick in the air.

Behind them, dark clouds blanketed the peak, a massive roiling mass spanning dozens of mu directly over the temple.

Black Mountain Granny Temple lay right beneath the clouds.

Suddenly, one white-whiskered elder pointed at Chen Shi. Streams of sword qi shot from its golden core.

This wasn't formless sword qi—it was tangible, glowing blood-red and thin as threads, over a hundred strands strong, impossible to fully guard against.

Chen Shi swung the beam in a wide arc. It whistled through the air with a thunderous roar.

In an instant, every blood-red thread shattered.

He planted the red beam upright with one hand, holding it ramrod straight. Abruptly, his qi and blood surged. His body stretched taller section by section, growing from childlike to near-adult height. He lifted a foot onto the pillar's base.

The crimson pillar rocketed upward with a whoosh, flying parallel to the ground and smashing forward. Thunderfire and lightning erupted along its path.

Gray-robed rats lining the way couldn't withstand the thunder talismans' booming echoes—their heads exploded one after another.

With one hand shoving the pillar's tail end, Chen Shi sprinted at full tilt, driving it straight toward the five rat elders. His power and speed reached their limits.

At the same time, infinitesimal sword qi clashed within his Divine Shrine.

His other hand pinched a sword mudra behind his back.

One white-whiskered elder flickered into motion, raising a paw to block the oncoming crimson pillar. It sneered.

"Chen Shi, you haven't even formed a golden core—no Divine Embryo at all—and you dare raid the mountain to destroy the temple?"

Its foreclaw met the pillar, only to feel an overwhelming force surging through, shoving it back step by step.

At the same time, rolling thunderfire detonated around it. Lightning and flames shook its stance, blood trickling from its mouth.

From behind, two more white-whiskered elders stepped forward, pressing their palms against the pillar.

Only with three Golden Core Realm demon cultivators combining their strength did they barely halt the pillar's momentum.

The three rat elders were inwardly horrified.

"My body itself is the Divine Embryo—spells bend to my heart's desire!"

Chen Shi lightly twitched the sword mudra behind his back. Sword qi lanced from the Divine Shrine at the nape of his neck.

But all three elders had golden cores hovering overhead for protection, forming invisible force fields.

Though formless and invisible to the naked eye, the sword qi slowed to a crawl upon entering the field, like slogging through mud.

It finally halted midair, trembling violently and blurring the air around it.

The three elders breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, a second strand of sword qi followed the first's path, whistling through the air and slamming into it. The first burst apart into over a hundred fragmented strands shooting every which way.

The second pierced deeper into the field.

Then the third arrived, shattering the second.

The third reached one elder's face.

More sword qi fragments filled the field.

Whoosh...

Whoosh...

Whoosh...

Whoosh...

Four more sword qi streaked in like lightning. Each rear qi struck the one ahead, shattering it to propel the striker further.

It happened in a flash—Chen Shi's left hand thrust the sword mudra forward seven times in an instant. The chained sword qi pierced the three demons' golden core fields.

The seventh strand speared through one white-whiskered elder's neck.

The elder clutched its throat, but its head slid clean off.

Its force field collapsed. The six shattered sword qi blasted forward.

The other two whiskered elders leaped back, dodging the fragments, while their golden cores flew out to suppress Chen Shi.

The instant they vaulted into the air, Chen Shi sprang up and kicked the pillar's tail end. The two-zhang-long behemoth whistled through the air like an arrow, hurtling toward Black Mountain Granny Temple.

"My inner refinements of qi, blood, and spirit have forged the core. Golden Core—first revolution!"

Chen Shi landed and surged forward like a galloping steed, legs pumping.

Even the pressure of the two golden cores couldn't slow his steps.

"Why couldn't I raid this mountain or raze this temple?"

His fist rocketed out. One of the landing elders saw it coming.

It boomed with rolling thunder, a muffled shockwave.

The elder raised a paw to block. Crack—its arm bone snapped, its five rat fingers pulverized by the horrific force.

The punch ground the shattered bones into its face.

"Golden Core Realm against Golden Core Realm—underestimate me, and you're dead."

Before his words faded, his foot slammed down. His thigh muscles went from slack to taut in a heartbeat. Sinews bulged against skin and fascia at the hip, true qi flooding in. His leg thickened dramatically, every muscle striation vivid and defined.

His right leg whipped out like a massive cleaver coiling from a python's body. As he spun, the leg hacked toward the other white-whiskered elder's neck.

For the first time, that elder felt how fragile its body truly was.

It had reached the second revolution of its golden core, tempering its flesh year-round—purging impurities from blood, bones, marrow; forging organs and viscera. It considered its body mighty.

But Chen Shi's leg didn't just sever its neck—it cleaved its confidence.

It had no time for such thoughts. Its brain rattled violently; its soul extinguished.

Chen Shi landed and charged ahead toward the pillar now barreling into Black Mountain Granny Temple.

He had kicked it straight ahead, on a collision course with the shrine.

Black qi roiled out from the temple to block it.

Though Black Mountain Granny had lost her idol's form, her extraordinary power remained overwhelming; her mana terrifying.

At the same time, the remaining two white-whiskered elders rushed the pillar, desperate to stop it from entering the temple.

Whoosh...

A figure shot past them, whipping up a gale.

Chen Shi's rear crimson ribbons streamed straight behind him as he overtook the two elders and leaped ahead.

By now, Black Mountain Granny's mana had formed a thick qi wall. The pillar plunged in—and stalled.

At that moment, Chen Shi arrived. His hands clamped the pillar's tail. His right toes stabbed the ground, and he spun violently.

The pillar rotated with him. Golden light blazed across its surface as all the dozens of thunder talismans he had drawn detonated at once. Thunder boomed, hurling thunderfire and lightning in all directions.

The temple doors shattered into splinters. The qi wall scattered like mist.

Chen Shi surged his qi and blood, channeling his golden core into his right fist. He hammered the pillar's tail.

It hurtled through the temple's long courtyard with a dull whoosh, streaking toward the main hall.

Behind him, the last two white-whiskered elders ignored the pillar and lunged at Chen Shi instead.

The two rats reared up on hind legs like grandmasters of the martial way, every gesture brimming with mastery.

Hands, feet, elbows, knees, tails—all became weapons battering at Chen Shi.

Their tails posed the greatest threat.

Over sixteen chi long, they cracked the air with ear-piercing whooshes like steel whips. The tips ripped sonic booms.

Each lash cratered the ground—whether mountain rock or temple bricks crumbled like tofu.

Their Divine Embryos sat enshrined at the napes of their necks, golden cores summoned to dart like lightning.

Each core was ringed in blood-red glints less than a foot long, hair-thin yet razor-sharp sword lights.

They fed on human flesh and blood meals, absorbing moon essence too—their cores impure and mottled, their sword qi tainted crimson.

The glints layered in three rings around each core, spaced half a chi apart, forming a four-or-five-chi-wide blood glow enveloping it.

The cores rolled through the air—sometimes skimming the ground, sometimes wheeling in arcs—dogging Chen Shi relentlessly.

Wherever the blood glints passed, walls, floors, pillars sprouted tiny punctures from the piercings.

The temple courtyard held stone rat-man carvings. Tails or cores brushed them, and they pulverized, hurling debris.

Chen Shi's feet danced the Big Dipper Seven Star Steps at blinding speed. In a blink, he lapped the courtyard once, shaking off the two cores.

Behind, the white-whiskered elders kept pace.

A tail lashed out, clanging off the top of his head.

Good thing for the iron skullcap—otherwise, the blow might not have pierced his skull but would have knocked him out cold.

The hat dented inward.

Chen Shi's footwork shifted abruptly—from Tianji Step to Tianxuan Step, then to Tianshu Step.

These traced the Big Dipper's hook from base to tip—especially Tianxuan to Tianshu, the leap from lowest to highest star.

Starting in Tianji Step, his body skimmed the ground. Tianxuan Step had his left foot stepping into empty air. By Tianshu Step, he hung ten feet up.

Right foot advanced, head down and feet up, as if strolling the sky.

Starlight burst from his soles, swirling into clusters that flowed into a Tianshu Star Talisman.

He came head-to-head with one white-whiskered elder, slamming both palms against its ears. The concussion nearly popped its eyes from their sockets.

His feet hit the ground, carrying him toward the main hall.

By now, the vermilion pillar hurtled into the main hall, aimed at Black Mountain Granny's statue enthroned above.

Cyan qi and black smoke churned around the dark idol, suddenly surging inward—as if endless void hid within.

The pillar neared, poised to pulverize the statue. Its face abruptly caved in. The entire head became a hollow shell, a pitch-black cavern within.

The cavity's surface bristled with glistening, rice-grain teeth, densely packed and lining inward endlessly—who knew how far?

A yawning maw, bottomless abyss.

No wonder passing cultivators called Black Mountain Granny, protector of the peak, less like a godmother and more like some malign spirit.

The vermilion pillar plummeted into the gaping mouth. Not even the dozens of thunder talismans Chen Shi had drawn could harm Granny in the slightest.

Just as she nearly swallowed it whole, Chen Shi lunged from outside the hall. His palm shot out, seizing the tail end. He poured every shred of his true qi into the pillar, holding nothing back.

"No!"

The black statue lurched upright—sixteen chi tall. Jet-black arms writhed to life, eight- or nine-chi limbs with slender, spider-like fingers clawing at Chen Shi, crushing the air from his lungs.

"No!"

It wailed in shrill agony. One hand seized Chen Shi's neck, hoisting him high. Other palms clamped his head, ankles, wrists—poised to rip him asunder.

Suddenly, the golden dragon painted on the vermilion pillar stirred to life.

A dragon's roar shook the air, unleashing a colossal, terrifying aura. The statue's cavernous head exploded with a bang, shattering in all directions.

The deafening roar flipped the eyes of the charging white-whiskered rat—it crumpled unconscious.

Chen Shi's vision swam, ears ringing. He watched the golden dragon rampage, the great hall crumbling around it.

Moments later, Black Mountain Granny Temple lay leveled.

The golden dragon coiled atop the ruins, aura blazing. It unleashed a final, piercing roar.

The cry reverberated through the valley, shattering every trace of extraordinary power. In a flash, it vanished back into the vermilion pillar.

The headless statue's eight arms still clutched Chen Shi.

Suddenly, the idol crumbled to powder, dusting the ground.

The instant Chen Shi landed, he spun and backhanded a sword qi from his Divine Shrine. It cleaved the unconscious white-whiskered elder in half.

Only then did he exhale.

When purging a wicked shrine, how could he not uproot every last weed?

End of chapter.