Volume One: Youthful Encounters in Humble Times, Chapter 123: Spring Breeze Brings Gentle Rain, Ten Thousand Paths to the Great Dao

Visible to the naked eye, the grand formation began to slowly constrict around the Daoist. Once it fully closed in, it would signify that the formation had left its mark upon the region it shrouded.

At this moment, the Daoist’s figure gradually became increasingly ethereal. Accompanying this, the figures of those entangled by the threads of causality also began to turn translucent, bit by bit. Feeling these changes, they discovered that, for the time being, they were merely becoming transparent; their cultivation and grasp of the Great Dao remained undiminished.

Bai Ling and the others were in the same state. When someone stepped forward to inquire, she explained, "I have never witnessed true 'Dao-Dissolution' either. However, I surmise that only when the Daoist has completely dissolved into the Dao will we vanish along with him into the heavens and earth. Before his dissolution is complete, our strength remains that of the mortal realm and will not be affected. Moreover, the moment just before his dissolution ends should be the time when his power is at its weakest—it is our only chance for self-preservation."

The Great Dao consists of fifty, of which forty-nine are manifest; humans escape by the one.

Even the Heavenly Dao leaves a margin for error. When the Daoist set up this grand formation, while he ostensibly used the power of the Dao Source, he still had to abide by certain laws of the Heavenly Dao. One such law is that life must persist within death, which is the only way to ensure the formation functions correctly.

The only lifeline they could grasp was the final moment of the Daoist's dissolution. If they could eliminate him at that exact instant, they could break free from the threads of causality. Everyone waited for this opportunity while adjusting their strength to its peak state.

Upon hearing the old Daoist’s inquiry, the Daoist opened his eyes. Everyone, when facing death, experiences a momentary flash of insight. This radiance might be the discovery of the truth behind past events, the recollection of an unforgettable memory, or perhaps a glimpse into heavenly secrets, including the truth and outcome of one's own life.

For practitioners of the Dao, as long as death is not sudden, there is always this momentary flash of insight. This was even more true for the Daoist; not only had his cultivation reached the pinnacle of the mortal realm, but he had also chosen the path of Dao-Dissolution within the Dao Source realm. Thus, in his final moments, the heavens would grant him an answer to whatever he wished to know.

It was both a gift and a reward. After dissolving into the Dao, one becomes a part of the heavens and earth, not only strengthening their foundation but also infusing them with new vitality.

At this final moment, as the Daoist neared the end of his dissolution, the heavens provided answers to the questions surfacing in his mind, even if some answers were beyond what this world could explicitly define. Yet, upon learning the answers to two specific questions, the Daoist felt deeply satisfied. He knew his judgment had been correct all along.

Finally, when he heard the old Daoist ask about his lineage, he glanced toward Li Yu. Unable to let go of his concern, he asked one last question.

Seeing that the Daoist’s dissolution had reached its final moment, the others seized the opportunity and unleashed their most powerful attacks toward him. This was no simple surge of energy; it contained the strongest strikes of five Saint-spirits, making it even more formidable than their siege on the Heavenly Gate.

However, even in his weakened state, the Daoist could have chosen to retreat or offer a slight defense. If he could have endured, he would have won, having single-handedly dragged everyone into the outcome of his dissolution.

Unexpectedly, the Daoist made no move to counter. They only saw his eyes flicker, as if he had seen something. He sighed, his lips moved as if whispering something, and he pointed his sword finger toward the sea in the opposite direction. A flash of sword light appeared and vanished, leaving no trace in the world, as if it had never existed.

At the same time, the attacks of the crowd arrived, and the Daoist took the blow head-on.

His already ethereal form became completely transparent in that instant. He looked at the crowd and replied to the old Daoist, "Lineage? I have no need for a lineage. I am my own lineage."

As he spoke, the light of heaven erupted. The Daoist’s dissolution concluded, and even his final, transparent form returned to nothingness. Following him, the five Saint-spirits also dissolved into the Dao.

They felt neither fear nor anger. From the moment they chose to strike, they were destined to stand in opposition to the Daoist; thus, the final result was that the Daoist would drag them into the path of dissolution. Since they had acted, this was their fate and their final destination.

Then came all the Ancestors. Not only had they failed to reach the Saint realm, but their states of mind were far inferior. In their final moments of dissolution, their eyes were filled with reluctance, fear, and resentment. Yet they had no choice; as the Daoist vanished, the threads of causality permeated their souls, bodies, and even their Great Dao, disappearing into the heavens and earth just as the Daoist had.

All the Ancestors thus walked the path of Dao-Dissolution.

Perhaps their final strike had an effect; aside from the five Saint-spirits and the Ancestors, the others did not dissolve into the Dao. However, their strength was slashed by half, with some losing as much as two-thirds. Yet to them, this was the best possible outcome.

The others felt a sense of relief, as if they had survived a catastrophe. They had not expected that the final strike would truly secure their only chance at life. To them, it was a pleasant surprise.

Losing cultivation did not matter; in their eyes, they could simply cultivate again. They had already glimpsed the scenery at the very peak, and all barriers to their practice had vanished. Given time and resources, they could return to their peak in less time than it took initially.

They made grand plans, but only when they truly began to re-cultivate would they realize that the Daoist had done far more than merely slash their cultivation. However, that is a story for another time.

After those people dissolved into the Dao, the first place to undergo a change was Heavenly Gate Town. A spring breeze blew from nowhere, and wherever it passed, the world rejuvenated, and all things regained a vibrant vitality. If Heavenly Gate Town had previously been a colorless landscape painting in black and white, from this moment on, it gained vivid colors.

Where the spring breeze passed, thousands of Great Daos blossomed.

In Li Yu’s eyes, after his master and those people vanished, the entire town underwent a transformation. Originally, between the heavens and earth of Heavenly Gate Town, there existed only Yin and Yang energy. While they were fused, they lacked any generative effect and contained no aura of the Great Dao.

Even the most fundamental Dao of Yin and Yang was absent. The Yin and Yang energy merely maintained the normal operation of the town's existence; without the Dao of Yin and Yang, there could be no vitality.

But after the Daoist dissolved into the Dao, Li Yu could perceive an aura in the world that felt very familiar. He might not have known what it was then, but once he began his true practice, he would realize that the aura he felt so close to was Dao-Qi—or more precisely, Dao-Breath (Dao-Qi in its primordial state).

Ancient scriptures say that Primordial Breath is the fundamental basis for the evolution of all Great Daos. The Daoist had somehow comprehended the Dao of Primordial Beginning, and the hallmark of that Dao is the Primordial Breath.

Once the Daoist dissolved his being into Heavenly Gate Town, the town possessed the Primordial Breath. Driven by this Great Dao, the Yin and Yang energy had unknowingly begun to generate the Dao of Yin and Yang. According to the evolution of the Yin and Yang Dao, one would typically need the Dao of Taiji as well, but its absence was mitigated by the presence of the Yin and Yang energy.

Furthermore, the five Saint-spirits—representing the Daoist, Buddhist, Confucian, sword-cultivation, and the spirits of heaven and earth—were all representatives of the most powerful factions. With their dissolution, the Great Daos present in Heavenly Gate Town began to align with the outside world. Given time, it would surely become a new blessed land of cultivation.

The influence did not stop there. As Master Liang Hui lamented the Daoist’s grand scheme, he felt the Confucian arrangements within Heavenly Gate Town beginning to change bit by bit. He was shocked and furious, shouting, "You shameless man!"

But there was no one left to answer him.

When he hurried back to the academy, he saw Wu Tong enveloped in a white light, already lapsed into a coma, unaware of the events outside. Liang Hui desperately tried to use his cultivation to rescue him from the light, but no matter how he exerted himself, the white light remained unmoved.

Liang Hui could only fret, watching helplessly as a seven-colored light emerged from Wu Tong’s crown, forming a small figure. Golden characters slowly appeared above the study hall; upon closer inspection, they were the very texts Liang Hui had forced the children of the town to copy.

This anomaly naturally startled Zhang Helun and the others who had followed. Looking at the phenomenon over the study hall, he whispered to himself, "So this was the Confucian sect's plan all along. I was kept completely in the dark. You truly went to great lengths!"

Then, thinking that everything happening must be related to the Daoist, he added with a hint of schadenfreude, "What does it matter if you plotted for years? In the end, you are still making wedding clothes for someone else. With so much Confucian righteousness, Heavenly Gate Town will surely be able to cultivate many scholars now."

Thinking of this, he felt that the Daoist was truly remarkable—not just in his vision and strength, but in his temperament and schemes. To be able to manipulate so many sects single-handedly, leaving them all with grievances they could not voice, was a feat no ordinary person could achieve.