World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 472: The Sword Cultivators Negligence of Responsibility

Chapter 472: The Sword Cultivator's Negligence of Responsibility

Wang Sheng stayed at their sect for about half a year, spending most of his time cultivating. During his breaks, he and his master would take walks, play chess, and converse.

After the Celestial Master and the others finalized the next batch of cultivators who would go to the Small Immortal Realm, Wang Sheng thought it over and decided against inviting Fei Lianzi and Gao Shixing to accompany him.

Since the two were currently at the Heavenly Abode Realm, they wouldn't be able to fully benefit from the Platform of Immortal Dreams or the Pool of Transcendence. They would have plenty of opportunities later anyway; there was no need to hurry.

Now scheduled to depart in half a month, Wang Sheng took Xiaomiao home to spend the rest of his time with their parents. Though he was venturing ever deeper into the immortal path, he still found it difficult to part with the secular world.

Their parents lived comfortable lives, and they maintained their health using the Universal Cultivation Method. Still, Wang Sheng could see faint traces of the times on them.

Birth, aging, sickness, and death were part of fate. One of the main reasons cultivators pursued immortality was to break free from those concepts.

Wang Sheng's parents understood that he and Xiaomiao were busy with cultivation. To them, it was no different from children working on their careers. They only told the two to cultivate with peace of mind and not worry about home.

Throughout his thirty-day stay at home, Wang Sheng simply relaxed, giving his mind a break after so long being under tension. He didn't even think about cultivation that much.

At some point, he found some physics books related to cosmological theories. From relativity, quantum theory, and the universe's origin to black-body radiation and cosmic microwave background, he hoped to find inspiration to help his senior sister comprehend the Dao of Balanced Yin and Yang.

Before referring to these materials, Wang Sheng had given the whole yin-yang topic a deep thought.

An array concealed Earth's existence to those outside while also showing a false starry sky to those inside. What people observed with the naked eye or telescopes was not the true cosmos.

However, upon reading the physics books, Wang Sheng discovered that the array and the Realm of Exiled Immortals did not seem to hinder humanity's observation of the universe. Due to the massive difference in the flow of time inside and outside the Realm of Exiled Immortals, the matter became difficult to understand.

Wang Sheng pressed his doubt to the bottom of his heart, deciding to wait until his cultivation deepened further before attempting to uncover the secrets of the Realm of Exiled Immortals. For now, learning that he did not truly understand the planet he lived on was enough for him.

Why is Earth the only planet capable of generating primal qi in our solar system? Also, why isn't the array preventing humanity from using gadgets and equipment to observe the rest of the galaxy?

Humans had already extended their observable range of the universe to a staggering distance. The farther the object they observed, the older the observed image. Still, the scale was astonishing.

As far as Wang Sheng could recall, some of the knowledge that now surprised him had actually appeared in his textbooks when he was in school. He simply hadn't paid serious attention back then.

Forcefully piecing things together, Wang Sheng managed to form a line of thought. However, it was still too vague and unclear to properly shape it.

The Heavenly Court had ruled the Three Realms for millions of years. The scriptures Yaoyun had spoken of explained the origin of all things in the immortal Dao. Much of the theory was obscure and difficult to understand, but its foundation came from the Dao De Jing, which had been left behind when Laozi had manifested.

"The Great Dao gave birth to all things, bringing existence from nonexistence."

Wang Sheng repeated the same line again and again, then immersed himself in cosmology.

Earth's scientific community believed that the origin of the universe involved a singularity of extreme density and immense energy, formed in a state beyond space and time. The Big Bang involved quantum fluctuation, cosmic inflation, separation of the four fundamental forces, formation of basic particles, aggregation of baryons[1], and the birth of matter.

Lacking the required foundation, Wang Sheng didn't try to conduct deep research. He simply summarized the existing scientific theories and compared them with the "origin" scriptures that the Heavenly Court had passed down.

***

Fifteen days passed quickly. Wang Sheng didn't discover anything definitive, but he at least managed to compile a considerable number of notes and store them in his pendant. He then made preparations for his return to the Moon Palace, where he'd continue... causing trouble.

Upon arriving at the Pure Yang Sword Faction for assembly, Wang Sheng reported his findings to Qing Yanzi in hopes of hearing his opinion.

Upon hearing that his second disciple intended to study the Dao of Balanced Yin and Yang through modern scientific theory, Qing Yanzi's expression turned quite complicated. "It's great that you're constantly coming up with unique ideas, but make sure you wait for them to mature and get verified before sharing them with Little Xuan."

"Don't worry, Master. I won't misguide Senior Sister."

"Good." Qing Yanzi patted Wang Sheng's shoulder and took a small notebook from his sleeve. "Here, use this for reference. The forefather once spoke of the origin of the Three Realms. I have copied his letter in there and added my annotations. "

Wang Sheng accepted the notebook and opened it. Inside were various notes, all research surrounding the forefather's final letter. However, his master's annotations were based on the cultivation path. They weren't in line with Wang Sheng's ideas, which were filled with questions about the universe.

In any case, Mu Wanxuan's problems were also his problems.

He wished to achieve longevity and walk the immortal path with his senior sister, but her Dao of Balanced Yin and Yang was extremely difficult to comprehend. If he could offer even a hint of inspiration, then choosing not to focus on his cultivation alone would be worth it.

For the second group to journey to the Small Immortal Realm, the Celestial Master and the others recommended fifteen elders of reputable standing from different sects, all at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm or Heavenly Abode Realm. Wang Sheng greeted them, then asked his master to lead them ahead. He followed behind, continuing to organize his vague train of thought.

Perhaps flying across hundreds of thousands of kilometers in space stirred something within him, but Wang Sheng truly began to form a series of connections. His once indistinct thought gradually grew clearer, bringing him even more ideas.

His study led him from the black hole radiation theory and virtual particle pairs to the Daoist idea of transformation between illusory and real—of existence arising from nothingness. The cosmic microwave background map that Wang Sheng had seen many times over the past two weeks then appeared in his mind.

The map, which was based on humanity's observations of the oldest light in the universe, showed the universe cooling down as it expanded after the initial explosion, like a pot of extremely hot soup slowly getting colder. When the universe became thin enough for light to travel freely, the first light appeared and had since been traveling across space. Now, modern civilizations had been observing it.

Does this mean... chaos caused the beginning of the primordial world? The pure and the turbid separated, forming heaven and earth?

Wang Sheng was a cultivator and could recite the Dao De Jing from memory. He recalled its opening lines and another passage from later on.

Within chaos, something was born before heaven and earth. Silent and empty, it stands alone and does not change. It moves everywhere without weakening. It can be considered the mother of all things. I do not know its name, so I call it the Dao. If I must give it a name, I would call it Great.

The Dao gave birth to One. One gave birth to Two. Two gave birth to Three. Three gave birth to all things. All things carry yin and contain yang. Their energies blend and create harmony.

"All things carry yin and contain yang, and their energies blend to create harmony?" Wang Sheng murmured to himself. He felt as though a door was right in front of him, but he could not raise his hand to push it open.

He gathered his wandering thoughts and focused on the real question he had to answer: the balance of yin and yang. In the first place, he had started researching the origin of the universe because yin and yang were the two closest forces to the state of primordial chaos.

Wang Sheng first tried to imagine an endless emptiness, within which floated something that both existed and didn't exist. Currently, he couldn't describe it with any of the concepts he knew.

That's not it. If I start imagining from the initial point of the universe, I can't connect the images. Modern physics can only make guesses about that earliest period.

Wang Sheng pondered for a moment, then revised his train of thought. He decided to focus on the concept of chaos itself.

If the chaos described in Daoism matched the state after matter formed in modern physics, then where did yin and yang come from? Hm... That doesn't seem right either.

Wang Sheng contemplated silently as he flew. Unbeknownst to him, he had entered a deep state of thought, forgetting himself and his surroundings.

The Daoist masters, who were about to land on the Moon, looked up in confusion. Watching Wang Sheng gliding overhead, they all fell speechless.

"Little Sheng!" Qing Yanzi used his enchanted power to pull Wang Sheng back.

Wang Sheng jolted, smiled in embarrassment, and quickly used Spiritless to open the entrance. His thoughts, which were already messy, became even more tangled.

Upon entering the Small Immortal Realm, he absent-mindedly gave a quick tour of the place. Afterward, he used voice transmission to ask Xi Lian to take over as the tour guide and then slipped away to a quiet spot near the Pool of Transcendence. He took out and read a stack of books, working through his ideas and trying to find his mistake.

Wang Sheng could be very stubborn at times. Still, while pondering, he constantly questioned himself. He was quick to realize when he was going in the wrong direction and would decisively start over from the beginning.

***

Before Wang Sheng knew it, half a year had passed. He completely forgot to eat and sleep, but in exchange, he finally found the key problem that he had been unable to solve: his understanding of yin and yang had been far too limited.

The two forces were not just two types of energy. In the Daoist system, they represented the concept of "polarity."

The moment he realized it, he looked at his original idea again. The path, once twisted and unclear, straightened and opened before him. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Six more months later, Wang Sheng kicked aside the physics books that he had worn out through constant reading. In his messy clothes, he jumped up, laughed a few times, and shouted urgently toward the Pool of Transcendence, "Senior Sister, stop cultivating! It was wrong! It was all wrong!"

Mu Wanxuan, who had been meditating in the pool, opened her eyes. Seeing Wang Sheng standing at the water's edge, she could not help but laugh softly.

Water splashed as Mu Wanxuan rose from the pool, her gown drying instantly. Standing before her junior brother, she looked at him with a hint of confusion. "Wrong?"

"Well, not exactly wrong." Wang Sheng scratched his head, only now realizing that he hadn't fixed his appearance in a long while. Instead of worrying about it, he simply smiled. "I can't believe it took me over a year to see such a simple truth. Senior Sister, the Dao of Balanced Yin and Yang that you practice is hardest during cultivation because you always have to keep the two forces in perfect balance, but think about it. If they were always in complete balance, how could chaos create heaven and earth? How could the pure and the turbid separate?

"It's like positive and negative charges. If they're equal, they cancel each other out! Take the cosmic microwave background map, for instance. It shows that when light first appeared, the universe's temperature was almost the same everywhere. However, there were very tiny differences that led to the formation of huge galaxies. An imbalance caused all that—no, this is probably confusing for you.

"Think of men and women instead. If yin and yang are perfectly equal, how are we supposed to tell them apart? An imbalance doesn't necessarily always lead to collapse. In fact, the imbalance of yin and yang points to another Great Dao."

Looking utterly confused, Mu Wanxuan asked without thinking, "What?"

"Creation!" Wang Sheng replied firmly.

A sudden clap of thunder echoed through the Small Immortal Realm, and a bolt of lightning flashed over their heads.

Wang Sheng froze. It can't be! Did I really just summon another heavenly might?!

Fortunately, a big pair of eyes didn't accompany the thunder.

Mu Wanxuan held her head and groaned softly.

Wang Sheng smiled and took her hand. "Come, let's find a quiet place. I'll explain it to you in detail. We shouldn't waste my six months' worth of effort. I'll make sure you understand my findings!"

1. A type of composite subatomic particle that contains an odd number of valence quarks, conventionally three. ☜