A mysterious rhythm surged like a tide, vibrating from her heart to her dantian, from her dantian to her sea of consciousness, and from her sea of consciousness into her meridians.
It then spread from her meridians to every part of her body.
It carried the weight of history, the power of heaven and earth, the depth of hidden potential, and the solidity of a firm foundation.
The wind spirit energy within the meditation courtyard began to tremble.
It was as profound as the wind itself, as free as the wind itself.
The wind spirit energy swirled and howled like a surging tide, like a raging gale, sweeping into Gu Ningyun’s body.
The rhythm quickly spread from the small courtyard to the entire Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect, and even across the entire Penglai Archipelago.
Daoist Lord Yi Guan was currently playing a game of Go with the Sect Leader of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect, Daoist Lord Wu Wang.
His fingers paused, and a white stone fell onto the board with a click, disrupting the formidable position he had been building.
Neither of the two men seated there cared.
They spoke simultaneously. "Dao Rhyme."
The wind spirit energy across all of Penglai was being drawn in, swirling as it rushed toward that one small meditation courtyard.
There weren't that many wind spirit roots in the world.
With a flash of his body, Daoist Lord Yi Guan appeared in the air above the courtyard.
Beneath a vortex of azure spirit energy twice the size of the courtyard, a small figure sat cross-legged, with layers of Dao Rhyme surging from her body.
The conversation he had with his junior brother, Yi Chu, before leaving the sect still echoed in his ears.
“Senior Brother Yi Guan, I cannot go on this trip. I must ask you to look after someone for me.”
“Who?”
“Gu Ningyun, a top-grade wind spirit root at Qi Refining level nine.”
“Junior Brother, have you found your successor?”
“Indeed. Senior Brother, you know that the successor of our Spirit-Attuning Peak must have a top-grade wind spirit root. I’ve waited so many years to find one; you mustn’t try to steal her from me.”
“Rest assured, I will certainly help you protect her.”
Now, looking at the little girl below who was enveloped in Dao Rhyme, Yi Guan wished he could go back and give himself a good thwack with his own brush.
A top-grade wind spirit root was rare, but was it easy for his Book Peak to find a disciple with the talent for Confucian cultivation?
In over twenty years, Yang Churan had been the only new blood.
Though he couldn't tell exactly which Dao this little girl’s rhythm belonged to, her aura clearly marked her as a natural Confucian cultivation seedling!
Yi Guan’s mind, full of schemes, began to turn.
Regardless, his original words were, “Rest assured, I will certainly help you protect her.”
That “rest assured” meant he would protect the girl, but he hadn't promised not to steal her.
I’m sorry, Junior Brother Yi Chu, but it’s your own fault for not being able to come to Penglai.
He was definitely going to steal this little girl!
There were four other little ones in the courtyard, surrounding the girl like protective hens.
On top of the Jun family boy’s head sat a small fish, poking its head out and blowing bubbles.
“Why are you all so tense at such a young age?
A Dao Rhyme is a sight that occurs once in a hundred thousand years. With me watching over things, hurry up and sit down where you are to sense it.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t harm the girl in any way.
In fact, if anyone gains an epiphany from her Dao Rhyme, she will even earn merit.”
“And that fish.
Yes, I’m talking to you. What are you looking at me for? Is there a Dao Rhyme on my face?
You sense it too. Don’t think you can slack off just because you’re a sea beast.”
After sending the transmissions, Yi Guan produced a brush and wrote a complex character for “Protect” in the air.
The green character pressed downward, and a strange energy immediately shielded the entire courtyard.
It didn't interfere with Gu Ningyun in the slightest; the spirit energy and Dao Rhyme continued to flow normally.
However, any cultivator who sensed this energy would feel the power hidden within it.
No one dared to approach the courtyard.
The Xiaoyao disciples, who stayed nearby, gathered around and consciously pushed the disciples of other sects to the back.
After Yi Guan transmitted orders for them to sit around the courtyard and meditate, he also sat cross-legged above the side of the courtyard to sense the Dao Rhyme.
Soon, the cultivators from other sects and the Buddhist cultivators from the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect all gathered behind the Xiaoyao disciples and began to meditate.
The Dao Rhyme spread outward from Penglai, reaching the East Sea, Cangzhou, and the Five Continents and Four Seas.
A faint resonance echoed between heaven and earth.
Gradually, the resonance grew clearer, vibrating in harmony with the Dao Rhyme.
Every living being between heaven and earth was bathed in the Dao Rhyme.
Mortals and mundane objects stopped in their tracks unconsciously as the Dao Rhyme washed away their mortal impurities; at the very least, it would strengthen their bodies.
Practitioners sat down wherever they were, greedily sensing every wisp of the Dao Rhyme.
In the distant sky, at a place even powerful experts found difficult to reach, there was a jagged rift.
Over the rift, an array was pinned like a patch.
The array patterns faintly shimmered with a hint of immortal qi; just a single glance at it was enough to make one’s nose and mouth bleed.
At the gap between the array and the rift, greyish-black evil qi leaked out, spreading to every corner of the cultivation world.
Between heaven and earth, evil qi was constantly being absorbed and generated, mixing with this pure evil qi that drifted in.
The rift seemed to be breathing, cycling.
It absorbed the evil qi produced by the cultivation world and exhaled the evil qi it carried within itself.
The boundless Dao Rhyme resonated with heaven and earth, quickly spreading to the rift.
From the edge of the rift to its center, an invisible membrane suddenly covered it.
The rift’s breathing was abruptly obstructed. The greyish-black evil qi covered the membrane like a bone-deep poison, trying to corrode it or find a gap within.
The membrane was not corroded; only a tiny bit of greyish-black evil qi managed to squeeze through the gaps, connecting with the evil qi of the cultivation world.
Twelve cultivators sat cross-legged in front of the array.
As the flow of evil qi suddenly diminished, everyone opened their eyes simultaneously and looked toward the rift.
“Dao Rhyme?”
“How could a Dao Rhyme block this thing? This isn't ordinary evil qi.”
“One hundred thousand years ago, an ancestor of our Xiaoyao had a Dao Insight, causing heaven and earth to resonate and all living beings to vibrate in harmony.”
A cultivator wearing cloud-patterned Daoist robes spoke slowly. “That ancestor realized the Dao of Common Lives, yet even his Dao Rhyme could not withstand the erosion of this thing.”
“Everything has its destiny; things generate and overcome one another.
Every kind of Dao has its own unique direction.”
A bald man fingered his prayer beads. “Perhaps only this specific kind of Dao Rhyme can restrain the erosion of this thing.”
A tiger-backed, bear-waisted big man slapped his thigh. “I don’t understand all that talk.
I just want to know if Old Bear here can finally be free and never have to take shifts guarding this damn hole again.”
“This Dao Rhyme must have been realized by a disciple of my demon gate for it to have such powerful energy to withstand the erosion.”
“Why can't it be my beast race?”
“The Daoist gate is full of geniuses; the one who had the epiphany must be a disciple of our Daoist gate.”
“The Dao Rhyme is still fledgling; it's not yet enough to fend off the enemy.”
The bald man set down his prayer beads. “No matter who realized the Dao Insight, they certainly haven't grown to their full potential yet.”
“All of you who have come to guard this place surely care for the cultivation world.
But between heaven and earth, there are bound to be those with ill intentions.”
The cloud-robed cultivator tossed out a sheepskin scroll. “I propose a vote.
We shall sign a Heaven and Earth Contract. No matter who the cultivator with the Dao Insight is or what their identity may be...
None of us twelve, no matter who, may reveal in any way the effect the Dao Rhyme has on the rift and the evil qi.
To the next batch of cultivators who come to relieve us, we will explain the changes in the rift by saying the immortal array has suddenly mutated and become stronger.”
“Once the Dao Insight concludes, the Dao Rhyme will naturally obscure itself, making it impossible to trace.”
The bald man raised his hand and signed his aura and dharma name on the sheepskin scroll. “Using an array as inaccessible to us as the immortal array as a cover... very well.”
“The cultivation world is our common home. Old Bear will sign.”
Rate on N.U.
