On the Path to the Great Dao

Chen Shi's mind buzzed with wild fantasies. Could it be that he wasn't some penniless nobody, that Grandpa was actually filthy rich, wealthy enough to rival an empire, and had left him treasures beyond count?

Or maybe just recently he'd been sleeping in a doghouse with Blackie Pot, only for the next moment to have a hundred thousand soldiers at the Divine Transformation Realm kneeling outside, ready to escort him to the western capital for his coronation?

Maybe Grandpa had even arranged a marriage for him, with dozens of beautiful princesses like flowers waiting for him to grow up and come claim them?

Oh!

He had no experience handling that sort of thing. If it really happened, what would he do?

Ding Ding noticed Scholar Zhu lost in a daze and quickly waved a hand in front of his face.

Chen Shi snapped out of his dream of dozens of flower-like princesses and pondered aloud, "Madam Hua Li asked if I still remembered her. Does that mean at the last Grand Assembly of Scattered Immortals, I was still alive?"

He spat twice in a hurry. "Children's words are carefree—great fortune, great fortune! Of course I'm still alive! Ding Ding Sis, what else do you know about me and Grandpa?"

Ding Ding thought for a moment. "Madam didn't say much about you. She only mentioned you because she's injured and came to Mirror Lake Manor to recuperate.

She had plenty to say about your grandpa, though." She whispered, "I think Madam might have feelings for your grandpa. The way she talked about him was full of admiration.

There might be a story between them!"

She said it with utmost seriousness, completely earnest.

Chen Shi couldn't help bursting into laughter. "Ding Ding Sis, you're overthinking it! Grandpa's so old—how could there be a story between him and Madam Hua Li? Don't talk nonsense! If Grandpa has any stories, it'd be with Granny Sha!"

Ding Ding thought again. "That could be possible too.

Madam also said your grandpa's a real charmer, tangled up with all sorts of women."

Chen Shi got a bit angry, his face flushing red as he stammered, "Y-you keep slandering my grandpa, and I'll never speak to you again!"

Ding Ding quickly begged for mercy with a smile. "It was Madam who said it, not me.

I'm just repeating her words. Don't be mad.

How about I give you a kiss? Don't be mad, okay?"

Chen Shi's anger vanished in an instant. "Alright.

I'm not mad anymore.

Where do I kiss?

On the cheek."

Chen Shi pecked her cheek, and the two made up just like that.

Though Chen Shi had only kissed her cheek, his own face burned hot. He said quickly, "I'm going to check on the Date Tree Godmother."

Ding Ding saw that after kissing her cheek, he made no other moves. She thought to herself, "Young Master doesn't seem like those men my little sisters talk about. They say after kissing a cheek, those men demand to kiss lips, and once kissing lips, they start groping everywhere, leaving you flustered and weak, letting them do whatever they want.

Is Young Master not doing that because he's too young and innocent?"

Chen Shi's head held no such complicated thoughts. He walked straight to the date tree.

This date tree was extremely ancient, its roots twisted and tangled, its trunk massively thick. Though crushed to bits by the Five Mountains True Form Chart, it hadn't died—its roots still held vitality.

A big-headed doll lay beneath the tree, covered in wounds, its eyes wide and vacant as it stared at the sky.

It wore a red bellyband embroidered with a golden-tailed carp leaping through the dragon gate.

The big-headed doll was pale and chubby, looking prosperous and festive. Aside from the red bellyband, it wore nothing else.

Seeing Chen Shi approach, it bared its teeth ferociously, struggling desperately to rise, but it couldn't move.

Though its magic was powerful and it had turned into an Evil, Chen Shi's Five Mountains Suppressing Home Talisman had transformed into the Five Mountains True Form, pinning it down immobile.

In the past, the talisman's power wouldn't have sufficed to suppress it. But for some reason—whether Chen Shi's cultivation had advanced or something else—his talismans now held freakishly immense power. A few Five Mountains Suppressing Home Talismans had it pinned obediently.

Now, with the Five Mountains True Form dispersed and its true body, the date tree, destroyed, it was gravely wounded. Even seeing Chen Shi, it lacked the strength for revenge.

A small temple appeared behind Chen Shi's head. With a flash of light, the big-headed doll felt the world spin, and the next moment, it found itself in a temple, seated in a divine shrine.

A vast surge of righteous qi rushed in, instantly flowing through its body. The evil qi within it weakened considerably.

The big-headed doll cleared up for a moment, but soon evil qi surged back, dulling its mind again. It struggled fiercely, trying to break free of the shrine's bonds.

Chen Shi circulated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art and let out a soft "Eh?" He felt his own righteous qi growing nonstop. Using this little doll as a Divine Embryo actually refined qi faster than with the Three Ghost Kings!

He quickly realized: this chubby white doll brimmed with evil qi, but the date tree was a tree filled with righteous qi. Thunderstruck wood came from lightning hitting date trees—the finest exorcism material, infused with thunder power and righteousness that drove off evils.

Though the big-headed doll had become an Evil, it also brimmed with righteous qi inside. Using it as a Divine Embryo for cultivation was naturally twice as effective!

The Three Ghost Kings were released by Chen Shi and immediately rode a howling yin wind to flee, vanishing in moments.

But soon after, it returned to the other four Ghost Kings. Seeing it, the four were surprised and asked where it'd been. The Three Ghost King recounted how Chen Shi had caught and imprisoned it, weeping, "It was like sitting in jail. Sure, bundles of incense offerings every day, but no freedom at all."

The four Ghost Kings gloated in schadenfreude.

But before long, the Three Ghost King displayed strength surpassing the Big Ghost King, beating it black and blue until it yielded the boss position.

Now the Big Ghost King, it suddenly missed those jail days a bit.

During those days of imprisonment by Jailor Chen—summoned for rituals now and then—righteous qi tempered it daily, incense plentiful. Its strength soared, or it couldn't have seized the top spot.

"Once you enter the temple gates, it's deeper than the sea. I can never go back."

It sighed inwardly.

In Three Harmonies Village, Ding Ding cradled her pipa as she came to Chen Shi's side. She saw him standing by the fallen date tree, trying to draw a talisman with his bare hands.

Drawing talismans bare-handed—it was his first time.

Before, he'd always used black dog blood and cinnabar, ground together, drawn on yellow paper.

Black dog blood, cinnabar, yellow paper—all brimmed with yang qi. Infusing true qi and spirit into the brush tip, linking the three forms of fu, zhuan, and script to invoke the divine—true qi flowing through, brushstroke in one go—communed with the gods, granting the talisman extraordinary power.

But bare-handed talismans required supreme skill and even higher cultivation.

First, the drawer needed overflowing yang qi, even to the point of qi and blood spilling outward!

Among today's cultivators, few tempered the body before Golden Core Realm. Only after forming the core did they grind the flesh, and even fewer reached qi-and-blood overflow at that stage.

Chen Shi was one of them, though.

Before, he'd never considered bare-handed drawing. But encountering the green-robed scholar, seeing it lose two legs to him yet instantly condense a talisman from its own spilled blood to regrow its Wire-Pulling Worm body—that made him realize talismans could be drawn that way.

He was drawing a Spring Rain Talisman.

His qi and blood overflowed, flowing from his fingertip as he traced the two purities, dotted thunder, invoked rain dew, aided by the Six Ding and Six Jia, gradually forming the Spring Rain Talisman's structure.

When he withdrew his finger, his qi and blood actually hung in the air, refusing to disperse.

Even a breeze couldn't scatter this strange talisman script!

Chen Shi pinched a sword finger, pointed lightly, and intoned lowly, "Swift!"

His blood-written Spring Rain Talisman blazed gold at once, like golden flames hovering midair!

A wondrous divine power spread, communing heaven and earth, linking yin and yang, gathering wind and thunder. Rain converged, forming a four-to-five-zhang black cloud over the date tree.

With a boom of spring thunder, drizzle fell pattering into the soil, nourishing the old tree.

Chen Shi stood in the rain and drew a Rejuvenation Talisman.

Two gleaming golden scripts hovered in the rain. The Rejuvenation Talisman radiated vibrant life force, a wondrous power to revive all things!

As time passed, the scripts' glow dimmed, finally fading entirely and dispersing.

At the date tree's roots, a new date sapling sprouted.

Chen Shi crouched to inspect it. The sapling held none of the human-headed date tree's evil qi—it had gained new life.

In the small temple, the big-headed doll had been crashing about, trying to escape. Seeing this, it regained some clarity, staring at the sapling with dazed eyes.

It had originally been a date tree, existing since time immemorial. People passing by always stopped to rest beneath it, leaning against the trunk to share all sorts of strange tales.

It listened to those stories as the people resting below changed batch after batch—from strangers to familiars, then back to strangers.

One generation after another passed, birthing new ones.

Every year, many children came to knock dates from it. Adults scolded and shooed them, warning this tree was older than great-great-grandpa's great-great-grandpa, that it had spirit—don't hit it.

But it loved those naughty kids.

It didn't mind them picking dates, so it shook itself to drop ripe ones.

Adults seeing this came under the tree, looked up in awe at its age.

They bowed to it, brought children to acknowledge it as Godmother.

Its godchildren grew in number. They matured into adults, bringing their own kids to bow to Godmother and seek her protection.

So it guarded generation after generation, becoming godmother to more and more.

Truth be told, it wanted to be a naughty child, playing with the others.

It gradually learned supernatural powers, slowly condensing its divine form—

The divine form succeeded as its current appearance: a fat doll in a red carp bellyband.

It wanted to play with the other kids, but they couldn't see it.

In its disappointment, a little child waved and called it to play.

It found some kids could see it and play with it.

It had friends.

But those kids grew up and slowly stopped seeing it, leaving it downcast. Luckily, new babies were born in the village, bringing new friends.

During holidays, nearby villagers built simple stages under the tree. Troupes performed vigorously onstage, villagers clapped hard below till palms reddened.

The plays were nominally for it, but really for the villagers themselves.

Villagers loved the lively festivals: slaughtering chickens and geese, catching pigs and roasting sheep, scattering candy and bursting firecrackers, then watching plays under the tree with family around—pure bliss.

It grew to love watching plays too, the noisiest times. At a play's end, it shook, dropping red dates that kids scrambled for. The troupe loved Godmother's gifts too.

They used the dates to honor elders, saying dates from the sacred tree extended life.

The village did have many long-lived folk.

Days like this passed countless turns of days and years, peaceful and content—until one day, the green-robed scholar arrived.

It sensed villagers turning strange, a foreign aura on its familiar kin, contagious from one to another.

The incense they offered—it couldn't absorb!

It panicked.

In its life, it'd driven off countless Evils, but never one so bizarre!

It wanted to save the villagers, these who called it Godmother—for every one had played beneath it as kids, kowtowed to it; some were even playmates!

It couldn't watch them die!

But gradually, it felt no incense.

Not a trace.

Bathed in moonlight, it lost reason.

Saving the villagers became its final obsession before turning Evil.

Thus, one midnight, the Date Tree Godmother went mad.

It plucked villagers' heads, hung them on branches as its life-extending dates.

It believed this protected its godchildren from Evil harm.

Obsessed with holiday plays, if a performance faltered, surely Evil possession—so off with the head, Godmother protects you.

It didn't know it'd become an Evil more terrifying than any, carrying its godchildren's heads to watch plays raptly below, as if they lived.

It snapped from memories, gazing at the tiny new date tree ahead.

A new date tree sprouted from its roots—like itself reborn.

Silently, it rose and climbed back into the divine shrine to sit.

The small temple brimmed with heaven-and-earth's vast righteous qi, refining its evil qi.

It actively drew in the qi, invoking sun, moon, stars' three lights from temple and world, transforming into more righteous qi.

"Eh?"

Chen Shi was quite surprised, feeling righteous qi circulating endlessly in the temple, pouring into his golden core.

In the temple, ancestral sunlight blazed. The Three Lights Righteous Qi Art's refinement speed greatly increased!

"Why is today's captured Evil so docile, so cooperative—even helping me cultivate?"