Chapter 42: Mysterious Void

  The Supreme Patriarch of Tao and the Holy One of Jade Purity both said that the great calamity of heaven and earth is a calculation of the mysterious void, and those born in this calamity are people who respond to the calamity.

  Xuan Kong himself was not present, and did not have the good fortune to hear these words. However, the four great heavenly masters below him, and the eight immortals from the Upper Cavern, upon hearing this could not help but be greatly shocked and pale-faced. Xu Zhengyang, Xu Tian Shi, was the first to speak up, and begged: "Master, could it be that those four disciples of our sect are the ones who will be the first to ascend in this calamity?"

  He was referring to Shen Hui Zhenren, Qian Hui Zhenren, Hong Shi Zhenren and Wei Dao Zhenren who were killed by Ci Hang Pu Du.

  Dahong Zhenjun's face turned ashen, if it were in the past, even if his own junior brother died, it wouldn't be a big deal. Either go down to the underworld to retrieve his junior brother's soul, ask the ancestors for a few Nine-Turn Revival Pills, and naturally, the four true monarchs could turn death into life.

  Or simply abandon the mortal shell, cross the Naihe Bridge to the underworld without drinking Meng Po's soup, and reincarnate in the six paths of rebirth with the help of the reverse whirlwind, naturally there will be fellow disciples from the Jingming Tao who will come to guide him across, and after a hundred years of cultivation, he can return to his true body.

  But if it is according to what Taishang Daozu said, under the great calamity, everything should be upside down and chaotic.

  At this moment, the souls of several of his junior brothers have gone unknown, and they can only wait until the end of the calamity to await the order of the person who should be assigned. Among the Three Purities, the Supreme Dao Ancestor is the most profound and unpredictable, ranking first among the saints, but facing the heavy calamity of this Pangu world is also helpless.

  Yu Qing Sheng Ren pondered for a moment, then said: "Since Big Brother has already calculated that the person destined to be saved is outside the door, why not bring him in early and let us brothers personally guide him?"

  The previous session of the God-killing calamity was when Yu Qing Sheng Ren saw a thread of clarity in the chaos at the end of the sky, and preemptively took Jiang Zi Ya, the person who should have been killed by the calamity, under his wing. He transmitted the orthodox teachings, explained military books, and ultimately supported the establishment of the 800-year foundation of the Western Zhou Dynasty's Wen and Wu Kings.

  The Supreme Taoist Patriarch sat on the futon: "The person destined for this calamity has already entered the three religions, but it is also powerless for us to teach him. Wanting to forcibly resolve this calamity is as easy as turning one's hand over, but if you want to thoroughly end the countless calamities that will follow, it still depends on this child."

  He also said: "Everything has a beginning and an end, the great calamity of heaven and earth begins with karma and ends in Xuan Kong. This 'Xuan Kong' refers to the numbers one to nine, from beginning to end is not a fixed number, it is intertwined and understood in between, so it is replaced by the two words Xuan Kong."

  The ancestor's words are profound, meaning that the two characters "Xuan Kong" represent numbers from one to nine. Everything starts with one and ends with nine, but because it is not necessary to follow a certain pattern from start to finish, countless changes will occur.

  Even if it's Lian Tai Shang Dao Zu, he can only calculate that Xuan Kong is the person who should end the heavenly calamity of the world, but he cannot calculate how Xuan Kong will terminate this heavy calamity caused by the infinite karma of heaven and earth.

  All things that come into being have their fate predetermined.

  Only a saint, after going through countless cycles of creation and destruction, can see through the illusory phenomena of the mundane world and transcend the bounds of heaven's destiny to eternally enjoy freedom. All others, no matter how profound their cultivation, are still trapped within heaven's destiny and do not know liberation. The Jade Pure Saint heard this and closed her eyes in contemplation for a moment.

  He was displaying his great divine powers, tracing back to the root of things and pushing forward the changes in time and space between the three realms.

  The great power of the sage, indeed, is like a fire that illuminates everything, taking in all causes and effects in this world at a glance. He saw the thunderbolts falling on Mount Lao twenty years ago, and Xu Kong descending from heaven; he also saw that after infinite time, Xu Kong had achieved unparalleled cultivation, and his Taoist tradition was flourishing.

  Saw the beginning, also saw the end, only in the middle things change like being shrouded in thick fog making people rush past, even if Jade Pure Saint repeatedly urged true yuan, they still couldn't see clearly one by one.

  He was unwilling to give up and made another attempt from a different angle, starting with a Taoist priest from the Cangshan Mountains who calculated the heavenly numbers.

  After a long while, he opened his eyes and revealed a comforting smile on his face. He nodded slowly and said: "The cycle of reincarnation is due to the karma from the Pangu world, which is a fixed number. However, the heavens have the virtue of good life, and cannot bear the three realms' sentient beings to fall into the cycle of reincarnation forever. Therefore, twenty years ago, the heavens gave birth to this child, Xu Kong. He was born without any karma or retribution, and is destined to be the one who ends the cycle of reincarnation."

  The people below the Taiqing Gate heard that it was fresh, except for the great master Xuandu who was a disciple of Taishang Daozu in ancient times. All the others were reminded day and night from the first day they started cultivating Taoism to be careful not to be contaminated by the karma of cause and effect.

  The lowest cultivator, cultivating the yuan Shen, hopes to ascend to immortality after death, but fears the nine heavenly tribulations that are triggered when shedding the mortal body.

  One level higher are the various famous immortal sects, which have inherited the ancient divine Taoist tradition of only one intention and refinement of the purple mansion golden elixir. When their magical powers have accumulated for 500 years, they must guard against the three disasters evil spirits.

  Those ancient gods who were renowned in the Three Realms themselves knew to stay far away from worldly affairs, using their wisdom swords to cut off cause and effect. Therefore, it was most common for cultivators to cultivate among mortals, while disciples of the Immortal Sect rarely left any traces behind. As for the great sages of ancient times, unless they had experienced a Great Calamity of Heaven and Earth, they would be extremely difficult to find.

  Yu Qing Saint's eyes had already perceived the three realms, and some secrets that ordinary people did not know could not be hidden from his wise eyes. When he opened his eyes, he sneered: "That person in the dark abyss is also one who knows the heavenly numbers. There are still two years before he rules the three realms, but now he can't bear the loneliness?"

  Others can't hold back the darkness of the abyss, but in the eyes of a saint, they are just pawns. When useful, they will be tolerated for a while, but this does not mean that these pawns dare to disrespect the saint.

  He beckoned to the Grand Master of Xuandu, saying: "Take my Yuqing Token and go to the Dark Abyss. Some things need to be done at a cost." He looked at Taishang Daozu with his eyes, knowing that his younger brother's intention was to make a name for Sanqing.

  Great calamity does not come, saints do not emerge, but it does not mean that people in the three realms can ignore their existence.

  The Supreme Taoist Patriarch looked at the two disciples kneeling below, and nodded to Xu Xuan Tian Shi: "You can go with Xuan Dou together!" How delightful was Xu Jingyang's sword beheading the dragon in Lujiang back then?

  Nowadays, the disciples under the gate are killed, but they are subject to the sage's law and must keep quiet and do nothing, so they dare not take revenge privately.

  Now that he had obtained the true words of Taichu Daozu, he was overjoyed and hastily kowtowed to receive his orders. Taishang Daozu let out a light sigh and again pulled out the Taiji diagram from his sleeve, handing it to Xu Xuantian, sending him along with Xuan Du Dafa Shi to the dark abyss.

  The two of them received the sacred decree, stood up and walked out of the Tu?ita Palace. Xu Tian Shi asked Xuan Du Dafa Shi to lead the way first. Xuan Du Dafa Shi also knew Xu Xun's thoughts, chuckled lightly, waved his fly whisk, and a seven-colored auspicious cloud rose from under his feet, carrying Xu Tian Shi towards the dark abyss.

  On the cloud road, I just saw a city pool in front of me, with Buddha's light shining everywhere. Xu Xun opened his eyes to take a look and smiled at the great Dharma Master Xuan Du beside him: "The dark abyss is a good trick, it can even turn demons into the Ming Wang of the Buddhist world. Let's see, after I capture these two evil beasts, we'll take them together to the dark abyss and see what that person has to say."

  Xuan Du Dharma Master stopped his cloud foot and didn't stop him, but only watched as Xu Tian Shi threw the Taiji diagram up and then took it back, already putting the giant statue of Ming Wang and Ci Hang Pu Du inside the diagram. Xu Tian Shi coldly laughed: "I am benevolent and compassionate, you two demons killed four of my sect's disciples, I don't want your lives in exchange, just cutting off the top three flowers to send back to your master is enough!"

  Saying that was not enough to vent his anger, he shook the Taiji diagram again and extinguished the two demons in his chest with the five elements. Only then did he salute the great master Xuan Du. Together with him, they used their magical incantations to drive the auspicious clouds straight into the dark abyss.