Chapter 170 – Sun and Moon Return to One
Heaven acted as a millstone, the earth as a grinding plate, and the wind as a pushing rod, grinding all things to dust. Outside Kongsang, one after another, majestic and towering mountains exploded like firecrackers. It wasn’t the kind of collapse seen during an earthquake, but a more terrifying kind of destruction—the peaks split down the middle, the summit and the base rotating in opposite directions, grinding against each other and exploding into a rolling cloud of dust and smoke.
The torrent of rock and stone was carried by the hurricane, forming hundreds of gray-black giant dragons that rose from the earth and converged on Kongsang from all directions. Wherever they passed, the fertile fields were plowed into deep gullies and ravines.
This scene was like the cosmos laughing at Taiyi: If even the mountains are like this, what can you do? Thousands of hurricanes, tens of thousands of meters high, pressed in on Taiyi from all directions, and the world was suddenly reduced to the cramped space they occupied. In this roar of heaven and earth, in the great formation of Taiyi, a hundred people roared, a thousand people roared, ten thousand people roared, and the roars of a million people converged, and the swords and sabers of a million people were raised high at the same time.
“Qian!”
A million swords and sabers were thrust into the ground at the same time.
Pei Tanglu gripped his sword with both hands, pulled it out, and took a step. “Dui!”
The one million eight hundred thousand members of Taiyi, together with him, raised their swords and performed the Innate Eight Trigrams Astral Step. With one step, an invisible, violent force rushed out from the sect-wide formation, sweeping across with unparalleled dominance. The tornadoes formed of rock and stone were instantly shattered. The world was filled with flying sand and dust, dark and obscure, with no distinction between east and west.
“Li!”
With the second step, the rustling sand and stone suddenly fell, filling the gullies and leveling the ravines.
“Zhen!”
With the third step, the wind howled and the thunder rolled, and rivers became marshes.
…From the ancient Incomplete Mountain, the Great Dao was taught, and within it, the Astral Step. It is said: Hide my form, conceal my tracks, I step upon the Dipper’s stars. I see others, but they do not see me. When I move, it is as I wish, when I shout, the ghosts follow. Swift as water and fire, I stir the wind and thunder. I change marshes into mountains, I overturn the earth and flip the sky. My body is firm and solid, peaceful and silent. For ten thousand years, I live long, and with the Dao, I become an immortal.
For the next ten thousand years, the Astral Step became one of the fundamental stepping methods for the Immortal Sects in their pursuit of the Dao of yin and yang. However, apart from sensing yin and yang and channeling the five elements, few people were able to reach the great Dao realm of stirring the wind and summoning thunder, of overturning the earth and flipping the sky. Later generations often regarded the descriptions in the secret texts as exaggerations.
Little did they know, it was not an empty boast. It was just that what the Divine Lord on Incomplete Mountain had spoken of was the great Dao of sacrificing oneself for righteousness… Those who wish to change heaven and earth must first offer their own flesh and blood to heaven and earth. Those who wish to change the five elements must first have the courage to use their own five viscera as the five elements. And throughout history, the people of the world have mostly been busy with their own affairs, muddled and confused, turning with the heavens, walking with the earth. Their bodies were not firm, their hearts not resolute. In the face of the cataclysmic changes of heaven and earth, they would first be scared out of their wits. How then could they drive the five elements?
Only today, with the Twelve Continents on the verge of collapse, did the Immortal Sect Taiyi dare to establish the Central Fulcrum for the mortal realm. An act of will that unleashed a killing intent. When heaven unleashes its killing intent, the stars shift and change their lodging; when earth unleashes its killing intent, dragons and snakes rise from the land; when man unleashes his killing intent, heaven and earth are overturned.
“Gen!”
With the seventh step, the earth-overturning qi erupted, supporting the Central Continent from below.
“Kun!”
With the eighth step, the heaven-covering qi rose, carrying the azure sky from above.
“Set!”
Pei Tanglu let out a final great shout, gripping his sword with both hands, its blade pointing straight down, and thrusting it deep into the thick earth.
To counter the overturning of the earth with the overturning of the earth, to counter the tilting of the heavens with the tilting of the heavens. When the overturning is countered, heaven and earth are righted.
A million people, together with him, leaned on their swords and sabers with both hands, reinserting them into the eyes of the Innate Eight Trigrams. The place where the one million eight hundred thousand members of Taiyi stood suddenly formed a huge qi field! The qi field enveloped the entire Kongsang, and the entire Kongsang seemed to have become a pillar standing in the very center of the Twelve Continents! Supporting the heavens above, and propping up the earth below!
The force of the Twelve Continents’ rotation and fragmentation converged here, as if falling into an invisible vortex. Though the wind and thunder rolled, it could no longer stir up a single wave. In the center of the vortex, a brilliant light rose. It was the sun and the moon.
The ten suns, no longer bound by the Heaven-Herding Ropes, and the twelve moons, no longer bound by the Heaven-Herding Ropes, were pulled by the vortex, rotating rapidly, and finally, with a loud bang that shook the entire Twelve Continents, the ten suns collided! The twelve moons collided! If it weren’t for the grand array formed by the million members of Taiyi, the Central Continent would have been shattered at this moment! Kongsang’s ancient mission of controlling yin and yang, of managing dusk and dawn, came to a complete end today… A scorching flame spread out, and the Fusang Divine Tree, its canopy a hundred kilometers wide, burned into a torch that illuminated the heavens and the earth.
The ten suns merged into one! The twelve moons merged into one! After the sun and moon returned to one, influenced by the vortex of the Central Continent, the sun, now a fusion of ten, and the moon, now a fusion of twelve, were about to collide again. The moment before the sun and moon collided, a sharp bird cry echoed between heaven and earth. A sky-covering Yuan Bird rose from the northeastern horizon. On the bird’s head was a woman draped in blue feathers.
A fierce wind blew her long, black, algae-like hair. Her bewitching face was cold and indifferent.
The Moon Mother.
“You’ve come.”
In the center of the grand array, the Taiyi Sect Master stood like a mountain, leaning on his sword, Calming the Storm.
The Moon Mother did not answer. She raised the exquisite silver staff high, and the Jade Armillary Sphere at its head, shaped like an armillary sphere, spun rapidly, drawing in the clouds above Kongsang. The tide of clouds gathered, forcibly separating the sun and moon at the center of the qi field’s vortex, and pushing them out of this Central Fulcrum of the Twelve Continents. Throughout this process, the air currents within Kongsang swirled wildly, as sharp as blades.
The forces of heaven and earth, of the sun and moon, of the four seas and eight directions and twelve continents, all pressed down on Kongsang. The one million eight hundred thousand members of Taiyi stood firm. The sun and moon, now merged into one, were a hundred, a thousand times heavier than before, no longer something that the Golden Crow and the Black Rabbit could carry alone. The moment they were pushed out of Kongsang, the sun and moon immediately fell toward the earth. The moment the sun and moon fell, about one thousand two hundred kilometers from Kongsang, the great demons of the Thirty-Six Islands finally soared into the sky.
This was a transaction. A transaction between the Thirty-Six Islands and the Divine Lord, with the Immortal Sects, with the mortal realm. Since the Thirty-Six Islands had already returned to the Twelve Continents, the overturning of heaven and earth would also sweep them up. But since they could not forget the past, nor could they completely let go of their grudges, then let it all be a transaction… The Divine Lord would destroy the Beast Taming Sect, sever the blood contract, and raise the Heavenly Wedge. The Thirty-Six Islands would persuade the Moon Mother to protect the sun and moon as they traveled west.
It was neither love nor hate. Just a transaction.
A bird named “Great Wind” flapped its wings, weaving the sea of clouds into a chariot to carry the sun, and compressing the thousand-zhang cold wind into a sail to push the nether moon. The Hornless Dragon revealed its enormous form, the Phoenix spread its magnificent wings… They had actually arrived in Kongsang long ago. They had just been watching from the sidelines. This watching was a kind of hostile vigilance.
Even after having crossed swords, after having fought to the death, the Thirty-Six Islands still believed in the Divine Lord, believed that he would destroy the Beast Taming Sect, would sever the blood contract, would raise the Heavenly Wedge. What they didn’t believe in was the Immortal Sects, was Taiyi… Carrying the sun and moon would require the full strength of the Thirty-Six Islands. The moment they carried the sun and moon would be the moment the demon race was at its most vulnerable. But the demon race could no longer trust the Immortal Sects with their backs.
…The West Sea Sea Demons and the Beast Taming Sect, bound by a blood alliance, were still betrayed. They and Taiyi had been enemies for ten thousand years, so how could they trust a few simple words from them? They were waiting, watching. If Taiyi, like the Beast Taming Sect, was righteous on the outside but harbored evil intentions within, planning to use the Thirty-Six Islands as a blood sacrifice to stabilize the Central Fulcrum, they would immediately defect to the Great Wilderness.
Taiyi gave them their answer. There were many ways to stabilize the Central Fulcrum, and Taiyi chose the one that left no room for doubt: The entire sect, one million eight hundred thousand strong, entered the formation, and each person became the formation. They became a living Central Fulcrum, with only the ability to hold their ground and defend the eight directions, without even a shred of offensive power… How foolish, how absurd. How could an immortal sect so easily abandon its ten-thousand-year foundation, abandon its glory as the number one in the world, just to bare its chest to a long-standing enemy and say: Come, feel free to cut me open! See if there is even a trace of selfish desire hidden within.
Weren’t they afraid that after the entire sect entered the formation to stabilize the Central Fulcrum, the Thirty-Six Islands wouldn’t protect the sun and moon? Weren’t they afraid?
…Can’t think about it anymore. This is just a transaction.
The wheels of the sun chariot were pulled by the Hornless Dragon, the sails of the nether moon ship were filled by the Phoenix, and the sun and moon began to move. The Moon Mother’s beautiful blue feathers spread out, creating a long rainbow that led the way. All the great demons of the Thirty-Six Islands emerged, protecting the sun and moon as they traveled west. The moment before they disappeared over the horizon, they couldn’t help but look back.
The wind was wild. The one million eight hundred thousand members of Taiyi stood in the wind, their robes fluttering like white cranes. They stood unshaken, letting the ultimate yang fire and the ultimate yin wind pass through them. They forged their own blood and flesh, bones and souls, as if they were metal. They bore the cataclysmic force of the Twelve Continents’ fragmentation and reconstruction, using their mortal bodies to be the anchor of this world.
They sang in the midst of the catastrophe.
…The sun and moon do not linger, heaven is high and earth is thick.
The Yinglong Dragon plows the earth, the Xuan Turtle suffers the day!
The White Deer is hard to herd, the Year Crane hard to ride.
With great ambition, one should face death; do not grieve from a high tower!
…
A million people sang in unison, their song majestic, carrying far and wide. The sun and moon were already distant. Only a line of red light, ten thousand kilometers long, remained, undulating over the spines of the mountains. In the great formation, the members of Taiyi, starting from the outermost elders, one by one, were forged by the wind and fire into bronze-colored statues. The sound of their singing gradually grew lower, but the heroic spirit in their voices did not diminish in the slightest… What’s there to be afraid of! Your senior brothers and sisters have got you covered.
In days past, the mountains and rivers were bright and beautiful. The senior brothers and sisters, carrying their swords and sabers, their spirits high, would sling their arms around their junior brothers and sisters’ shoulders and egg them on to steal the elders’ newly brewed fruit wine.
Don’t be afraid. If the sky falls, your senior brothers and sisters will hold it up!
Today, the unreliable senior brothers and sisters fulfilled their promise. Before the elders turned to bronze, none of the disciples standing behind them turned to bronze. Before the senior brothers and sisters turned to bronze, none of the junior brothers and sisters standing behind them turned to bronze.
“…With great ambition, one should face death; do not grieve from a high tower!”
The last Taiyi disciple, his face still full of youthful innocence, roared out the final line of the heroic song, gradually becoming a bronze statue with his eyes fixed forward.
His senior brothers and sisters were right in front of him. He really wasn’t afraid anymore.
At the eye of the formation, Pei Tanglu released his grip on Calming the Storm, spread his arms, and a cyan-gold light erupted from his body, igniting the formation’s light. The light spread from Kongsang to the entire Central Continent.
From large cities with millions of people to small villages with twenty or thirty households, all trembled at the same time. After this tremor, the mountains that were about to collapse and crush the villages were pushed back into place by an invisible hand, and the fissures that were about to tear through the continent from east to west were forcibly closed. In the sky, someone’s hearty laughter rolled out, their voice carrying across the four wilds.
“Oh, mortal realm… walk slowly!”
“Don’t be afraid to look back!”