In the middle of the Daoist rite temple was an altar, upon which an old man sat cross-legged. He exuded the air of a transcendent being, and a faint smile could be seen on his lips as he gave a sermon on the Dao. His voice was muffled and indistinct and seemed to harmonize with and meld into Heaven and Earth. Meng Hao couldn’t quite make out what he was saying, but he could see that many of the people who were listening to his sermon seemed to be gaining enlightenment.
It was at this point that the old man lifted his right hand up into the air, waved it about… and caused an enormous “Immortal 仙” character to appear!
It was was an azure “Immortal 仙” character!
It was simply a character, and yet it caused all the colors in Heaven and Earth to fade. The sun and moon dimmed, and Heaven and Earth seemed to prostrate themselves in worship to it in much the same way that people would.
Meng Hao trembled as he looked around at the terrifying world around him. Each green slab of limestone beneath his feet seemed to emanate an indescribable energy filled with Immortal qi. The intensity of that Immortal qi was difficult to even comprehend.
Also visible in the Daoist rite temple were nine gigantic cauldrons scattered about in different locations. Puffs of green smoke wafted out of them, and numerous worlds could be seen inside the smoke as it swirled up into the air.
Up in the sky… were heavenly bodies. A river of stars flowed; the sun and moon rose and fell. Even more unbelievable was that almighty figures could be seen flying about up in the sky. Occasionally, they would stretch out a hand and pluck a star out of the river of stars! It would then be refined by a massive illusory hand. When the hand returned to its owner, the star would be a glittering treasure in that person’s palm!
There were other people who stamped their feet onto the ground, causing massive rifts to appear. Subterranean fire would rise up and transform into living creatures which resembled Earth spirits. The cultivators would snatch them up and then use them to pull war chariots that screamed through the sky, chariots to which were harnessed thousands of Earth spirits.
There was one man up in the sky who laughed heartily then spoke a few words. Popping sounds could be heard as his body grew rapidly. In the blink of an eye, he was so large that you couldn’t even see his entire body. The only thing that could be seen… was a toe that seemed to fill the entire world as far as the eye could see!
As for how large his body was, it was impossible to even imagine.
Flying about and plucking stars!
Refining spirits from the depths of the Earth!
Rising up to shoulder the universe!
All of these images swirled together in Meng Hao’s eyes, finally merging into one… into a dilapidated temple.
The temple’s main door was shut, and the grounds were in a state of complete disrepair. Portions of the outer wall were collapsed, making it so that you wouldn’t even need to pass through the gate as there were “entrances” all around. Through these gaps the inner temple hall could be seen, where there should have been glorious statues of deities. Presently, though, all of the statues were in various states of disintegration. Their former glory now existed only in the praises uttered by later generations, and their eternal legends had long since crumbled into a void of nothingness.
There was a bronze oil lamp, covered in layers of rust that told the story of its ancientness. Oil burned within the lamp, emanating faint popping sounds. Lamplight shone out in all directions, within which could be seen the projections of numerous shadowy figures.
Other than that, everything was completely still and silent.
A well could be seen in the courtyard, the bottom of which was pitch black. Perhaps evil spirits lurked there, but it was impossible to tell. However, a single glance at the well would leave anyone scared stiff. Next to the well was a bamboo trellis, covered with dried-up vines. From the look of it, a grapevine had grown up to cover the bamboo trellis many, many years ago, providing a shady and cool place to rest one’s head.
Underneath the bamboo trellis were some dried up white flowers, which were completely unremarkable in appearance.
Meng Hao stood there quietly. Everything he had seen amidst the silence suddenly caused his scalp to grow numb. Were it not for the fact that his father had instructed him to come here, he would immediately turn around and get as far away from this place as possible.
His heart trembled, and although he felt no pressure weighing down him, he found it difficult to breathe. There was no visible danger, yet he felt an unprecedented sense of crisis in his heart.
Everything about this place was completely bizarre!