The Birth of Sword God-Chapter 294 - 260: Daoist Ancestor’s Seal, Three Types of Dao Seals
Three days passed by in a flash.
Chu Huaixu and the others, together with Jiang Zhi, all returned to the sect one after another.
The three true disciples, after everyone in the Daoist Sect had confirmed the death of Lu Pan, soon returned to the sect and reported everything that happened at the foot of the mountain, presenting Lu Pan's Law Enforcement Elder Token.
At that time, only Xiang Yan and the newly advanced Chu Yinyin were on the mountain; the other elders had all gone down the mountain.
They had but one thing to do: to kill.
After returning, Chu Huaixu concealed nothing, even revealing to Xiang Yan everything he learned about the Divinity Transformation Fruit Position from the system; he simply fabricated a few details and hid the system's existence.
Jiang Zhi came back a day later than them, bringing with him a severed arm.
He then immediately went into secluded cultivation, his condition apparently quite poor.
In those three days, Chu Huaixu could clearly sense that something was off about the atmosphere within Junzi Temple.
Even Chu Yinyin, after meeting him and clarifying everything, returned to her quarters to shut herself away and meditate. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
Everyone with important tasks busied themselves with them.
If there was nothing pressing, they'd find something to do nonetheless.
Only the Sect Leader, Xiang Yan, showed no difference from usual.
Every matter was handled with utter perfection, and messages were sent to the other three major sects as well.
It was also he who instructed Chu Huaixu and the others to go to the Dao Bell in five days to receive the Daoist Ancestor's Seal.
In Chu Huaixu's memory, Chu Yinyin broke through to the Seventh Realm after Shen Man perished and vanished within the Origin Spirit Realm.
Junzi Temple thus lost a Seventh Realm sword cultivator.
And gained another Seventh Realm sword cultivator.
She had forcibly suppressed her realm for years; once breaking through, she made boundless advances in a single leap.
But now, even this seems to have changed.
"Chu Yinyin broke through early," Chu Huaixu thought.
As for Black Moon Sect, he had no impression of it when he played "Borrowed Sword."
But that didn't mean it didn't exist.
"This storyline was probably supposed to show up much later, which is why players never uncovered it."
"The Black Moon Sect Leader perhaps wasn't originally in such a hurry to search for the Fruit Position, but now circumstances have changed."
This gave him something of a headache.
And all the experiences of this descent from the mountain made him yearn for power all the more.
Chu Huaixu began to steadily make one realm breakthrough—First Heaven—every day.
He was now sitting on an abundance of Experience Points.
Besides that, he raised Six Out of Seven from Minor Success to Great Success.
As for Lu Pan's funeral, it was handled in Junzi Temple with utter simplicity.
During those five days, Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing spent nearly all their time in cultivation as well.
At dawn, the three of them arrived punctually at the Dao Bell, as instructed by Xiang Yan.
Aside from Chu Yinyin, who remained in seclusion, and Shen Man, who drew a boundary in the Purple Bamboo Forest to confine himself, the rest of the high-ranking Daoist sect members all appeared today.
On the surface, they didn't seem any different from usual.
A vast sect needed to keep moving; it couldn't do without them.
The world is always like this—when so many need you, you never seem to have the time to lose yourself in your own emotions, and must forcibly strip yourself out of them.
"Draw out the trace of aura from your Sea of Consciousness and let it return to the Dao Bell," Xiang Yan instructed.
"Xu Ziqing, you first."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
The delicate youth took two steps forward, then closed his eyes, summoned his Sea of Consciousness, and guided the aura from within himself outward.
It was instantly sucked into the Dao Bell.
Soon after, the Dao Bell emitted two resounding notes.
A golden radiance appeared, pouring into Xu Ziqing's body.
In the center of his left palm, golden characters began to form.
At the same time, two grand golden characters slowly emerged beside the Dao Bell.
—[Emperor's Chariot].
Chu Huaixu felt as if he'd seen these two words somewhere before.
He pondered for a while before recalling the meaning of Emperor's Chariot.
"Emperor's Chariot, isn't that referring to the Beidou Star?" he mused to himself.
Soon, next to the two golden words appeared a line of smaller characters.
—[The Emperor's Chariot shines beyond day and night; throughout the eternal long night, a lone lamp hangs.]
Chu Huaixu could generally understand the meaning.
"The first half probably means that among the alternation of day and night, the Beidou Star is the most brilliant in the sky."
"The second half is pretty much the same."
"Though this 'eternal long night' presumably carries other implications."
"Could it be related to the world-ending calamity?"
Chu Huaixu could only make wild guesses in his heart.
And this Dao Seal now felt to him almost as if it was tied to fate and destiny itself.
"But then these last three words... a lone lamp hangs..."
There are clearly four main characters, so why only one lamp hangs?
Chu Huaixu surmised that his earlier conjecture might have been correct.
"Perhaps in the predetermined end, Xiaoxu has to pay a heavy price each time he wields the Bronze Sword; in the end, he probably pays with his life. Among the four main characters, he might be the one to die." He began to let his thoughts run wild.
As for the true purpose of the Dao Seal [Emperor's Chariot], he'd have to wait for Xu Ziqing to fully digest it before asking.
He watched as Xiang Yan and the others, upon seeing the words [Emperor's Chariot], nodded in satisfaction and said, "Not bad, not bad."
It seemed this Dao Seal was anything but simple.
Xiang Yan quickly ordered, "Shuangjiang, you next."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
The Big Ice Cube glanced at Chu Huaixu, then stepped forward a few paces.
Once the aura in her Sea of Consciousness was drawn out, the Dao Bell rang twice in succession.
Two golden characters began to surface beside the Dao Bell.
—[Taiyin]!
Chu Huaixu, upon seeing the two words, understood their meaning at once.
"Though, Taiyin carries various interpretations."
"The most common is that it represents the moon, as opposed to the sun."
"As for other meanings... In time, it corresponds to midnight; in direction, to the north; in season, to winter; Taiyin can also mean water."
But for now, he believed Taiyin here most likely signified the moon.
This made him glance subconsciously at the center of his own left palm.
His [Nan Liujing] represented the sun.
The three of them conveniently made up: sun, moon, stars.
"Is it really such a coincidence?" Chu Huaixu thought.
Soon, beside [Taiyin] appeared another line of small characters.
"[Taiyin rides the night sky, throughout the long night a single lamp glows.]"
These words didn't send Chu Huaixu's mind wandering as much.
The information was scant, and not all that awe-inspiring.
But why, like Xiaoxu's poem, is there again but a single lamp?
What preoccupied him more were the sun, moon, and stars.
"Taiyin? That indeed suits her Profound Yin Body." Xiang Yan couldn't help but remark.
In their view, since Taiyin is the Power of the Bright Moon, among Two-Character Dao Seals, it must be a superior Upper Grade—extraordinary, no doubt.
Everyone's expectant eyes now fell on Chu Huaixu.
"Huaixu, your turn," Xiang Yan called.
"Yes, Master."
He stepped forward a few paces and sat down beside the Big Ice Cube.
After drawing out the aura in his Sea of Consciousness, the Dao Bell rang twice in succession.
"Dong—!"
"Dong—!"
In the next moment, the two golden characters that appeared first beside the Dao Bell stunned everyone slightly.
—[Huaixu].
The characters that surfaced were actually Huaixu.
Xiang Yan and the rest all clicked their tongues in astonishment.
This was the first time in a thousand years anyone had received a Dao Seal identical to their own name!
And with his eyes closed, absorbing the new power, Chu Huaixu's heart trembled violently—was he simply overthinking it?
"Why is it Huaixu?"
If the Dao Seal truly signified fate, then did this originate from the Daoist Ancestor's divination a millennium ago?
"But I am the 'Variable.' I am a transmigrator."
"To be exact, in this world, there was never a Chu Huaixu."
"What this world originally had was—Huo Dingyi!"
"Wait!"
A flash of inspiration erupted in Chu Huaixu's mind.
Suddenly, he noticed something, and his heart shuddered in an instant.
He realized that the two characters appearing in Han Shuangjiang's and Xu Ziqing's verses...
"If you combine the three characters in Huo Dingyi, don't they spell out..."
"'One Lamp!'"
...
