Constant Part 2

Only then did he say, "In the demon realm, who hasn't fought their way up from the bottom, shedding blood with every step? Ordinary people can live peacefully for a lifetime, but those with spiritual roots are selected and taught the most basic techniques. Then they start fighting each other to the death in a large dark room. The survivors, however many there were, would become attendants and so on. Gradually moving up, it's also all about killing. You never know which day you'll lose to someone and die randomly somewhere. The Three Lords, Nine Marquises, plus myself, we all climbed up step by step like this. How could it be as peaceful as your immortal path?"

After saying that word "peaceful", he muttered, "More like being dead."

Chen Weichen spread out a piece of paper in front of him and drew a Taiji diagram of Yin and Yang double fish, symbolizing the Dao sect.

Xing Qiu stared at it for a long time before saying, "I'm a little scared now."

"The principles of life and death of all things, ancient and modern, between heaven and earth, are fully captured in this diagram." Chen Weichen took a sip of wine, his gaze fixed on the double fish diagram. "When I read this sentence in my youth, I just felt the Dao sect was arrogant and conceited—what a bold claim."

"If this is the human world," Xing Qiu pointed to the Yang fish, then to the Yin fish, "and this is the heart demon world, then those two pools..."

The principles of life and death, fully captured in this diagram.

With just a few simple strokes, the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang give birth to all things.

The vague trembling feeling that emerged in their hearts when they looked at the starry sky before appeared again.

Immortal and demon cultivators both seek the Dao.

The Dao cannot be transmitted or spoken.

Heaven has spring, summer, autumn and winter. People know to sow in spring, grow in summer, harvest in autumn and store in winter, following the way of heaven.

Cultivators perceive heaven and earth, perceive their own bodies, and manipulate energy and vital force. It is just another meaning, a deeper and more profound way of conforming to the Dao.

Everyone knows the phrase "Dao gives birth to all things", but what exactly is Dao? When they were in the capital with nothing to do, they once discussed the Dao. The young Daoist priest, holding his horsetail whisk, said, "My master said the Dao is actually very simple. It is the 'constant' in 'Heaven moves constantly', the 'nothingness' in 'something from nothing', before birth, after death. The difficulty lies only in how to comprehend it. Our ancestors for generations have been trapped here, unable to get out."

At that time, Xing Qiu asked, "By saying this, has he himself gotten out?"

Xie Lang smiled shyly, "My master finally said he had realized it - eat well, drink well, sleep well, find a woman he likes, have a courtyard full of children, that is the greatest Dao. Six years ago, he left the temple to me and went down the mountain to seek the Dao, saying he would travel the world. I think he went off somewhere to have children."

Everyone in the room laughed out loud. Young Master Chen could still eloquently praise, "Enlightening the mind and seeing one's true nature, excellent, excellent." Xing Qiu just directly said, "I think the old Daoist just wanted to return to the mundane world himself!"

The discussion of Dao ended there. At the time, only that phrase "the constant in heaven's constant motion" seemed like a brilliant insight.

But cultivating to the third level of the heavenly realm, said to be on par with the sun and moon, achieving immortality, looking at the Yin-Yang double fish diagram, one still remains in the Yang fish.

Outside the human world, there is the heart demon world. Above the Heavenly Dao, there is an even higher Dao, encompassing both the human and heart demon worlds, or even more things.

The Heavenly Dao is already said to be the highest limit. Going further up, even exhausting a lifetime's worth of words and imagining out of thin air, one doesn't know what to call it.

"Before, there was someone in the third level of the heavenly realm who wanted to reach an even higher realm, to the point of touching the Heavenly Dao," Chen Weichen had a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.

When he used the heart demon form, his tone was always flat, his expression cold and indifferent, like a different person compared to usual. A smile was even rarer.

"Then what happened?" Xing Qiu asked.

"Then nothing. Today I suddenly thought, if there are realms beyond the third level of the heavenly realm, might as well call it Heaven beyond Heaven." Chen Weichen took a sip of wine. The clear moonlight passed through the flower branches, scattering on the ground, falling on his face and body.

Xing Qiu looked at him, not knowing what to say. He reached out his hand to gather up Chen Weichen's hair and put it in his palm. "How did it turn so white?"

That white hair was not gradually turning white, but whole strands of snow white.

Chen Weichen gazed at the high mountains on the island, densely covered with flowering trees. The white flowers reflected the white moonlight. If one's eyes were blurry from drunkenness, it would definitely be mistaken for a snowy mountain.

Looking again at the snow-like white waves on the sea, he propped his chin with one hand, picked up the wine cup with the other and took a sip, before saying, "Even green mountains will turn white one day."

"Turning white-haired in youth isn't like this," Xing Qiu frowned. "Besides, how old are you this year?"

"You're rushing me," Chen Weichen said indifferently. "Waiting until August, every day that passes is one day less."

"What plans do you have for the future? With the heart demons coming out, it's really not peaceful. I don't think the South Sea folks are good either," Xing Qiu's eyes lit up. "Let's go, to the demon realm to live freely and happily, not caring about these unclear matters."

"I don't want to care either, but I can't leave," Chen Weichen looked at the silver moon in the sky. "The days I can watch over him are also numbered. It doesn't really matter if I don't see him, but the most dangerous time is coming. I still want to protect him."

"You..." Xing Qiu was angry for a while, then said sarcastically, "I want to see how much affection you have left for him to consume."

Chen Weichen only smiled faintly and said nothing more.

They continued drinking. When the jar was empty, Chen Weichen was fine, but Xing Qiu's eyes were red and he was not very sober.

If he wasn't drunk, the two of them could talk here or gaze at the netherworld, and the night would pass. But since His Majesty the Demon Emperor had a poor alcohol tolerance and passed out after a jar of wine that was neither strong nor intense, leaving him to air out in the sea breeze all night, it was not very good.

Chen Weichen's cold fingertips touched Xing Qiu's forehead, seeing that he had sobered up a bit, and asked, "Where do you live?"

"Xizhou Island," Xing Qiu enunciated quite clearly, "There's a sect there where any immortal fairy would be happy to lend a room; they are all extremely kind to people."

He had thought that after two months, he would have a clear understanding of all the islands, big and small, and had gathered a lot of information because this Demon Emperor had concealed his demonic energy, infiltrated the immortal path, and had a lot of experience with people - it turned out that he had also made good use of his appearance.

In the end, Chen Weichen still picked up the person and took out a token to return to Zhichen.

Once one's realm was low, it was indeed impossible to discern Xing Qiu's background, but his own demonic energy from top to bottom could not be hidden no matter what, so he could not easily show himself.

The little novice monks guarding the door all recognized him, so they easily let him pass. He found an empty room and put Xing Qiu in it, not caring about the person's fussiness, complaining that the bed was too hard, the quilt was too rough, and how it was not as comfortable as the fragrant beauties on Xizhou Island. He forcibly stuffed him in - and then went to find his own fragrant beauty.

It was a pity that this fragrance was a cold fragrance, and the jade was also a cold jade, not warm or soft, and a little heartless.

- Who was to blame for this?

"Of course it's his fault." The slight drunkenness came late, and only now began to spread. Chen Weichen could not tell what day it was for a moment, and could not see Ye Jiuya's expression clearly, only knowing that he was very close to him.

"He left too early."

- He went to his death with ease, leaving the person in front of him alone, facing the wind blades and frost swords in the sky, without a teacher, without friends, without anyone to rely on, growing up.

The phrase "famous in his youth, revitalizing the Sword Pavilion by his own strength" was not as easy as it sounded.

He kept his voice low, and Ye Jiuya did not hear clearly, asking in a cold and clear voice, "Who left?"

Chen Weichen looked at him and smiled slightly, "I won't leave."