Swallowing the Stars: Primordial Heavenly Dragon

Chapter 89 Asking Lao Tzu

Another 3000 years passed, and the secret realm was completely closed, with powerful beings from the primordial universe leaving one after another.

Yan Yong still couldn't find a way to break through the bottleneck. His smooth sailing for more than 10,000 years had finally encountered a real hurdle.

Over the past 6000 years, he has created two true ultimate secret techniques for the universe, but his halberd technique level has been stuck at 1401, making it difficult to advance any further.

"I have long since reached the level of using softness to overcome hardness, and combining softness and hardness, so why can't I break through this opponent?"

The Heavenly Dragon clone was frustrated. He also came out to find a way to break through, as his comprehension of the laws of fusion had reached its limit.

He switched back to the avatar of the universe to continue comprehending the laws of time.

The Heavenly Dragon clone flew aimlessly through the universe, sometimes riding on the Flowing Cloud Palace, sometimes teleporting, without a specific direction, method of movement, or distance.

Unbeknownst to him, the Heavenly Dragon clone arrived at a water-blue planet that looked strangely familiar.

The Heavenly Dragon clone flew out of the Flowing Cloud Palace, its enormous size making the entire planet seem incredibly small.

Like grains of sand beneath the feet of a dragon.

Even the sun, a celestial body, is as insignificant as a marble in front of the Heavenly Dragon's clone.

"Earth? I'm back here again."

……

"What's that in the sky?" The moment the Heavenly Dragon clone flew out of the palace, its enormous body blocked out the sun, plunging the entire world into darkness.

At this moment, the Zhou emperor and the feudal lords of various states, who were performing the sacrificial ceremony to Heaven, all looked up at the sky in alarm.

It was terrifying; an unknowable behemoth blocked out the sun, which was on which we depend for survival, and at the same time, the thing seemed to be moving.

"Could it be a demon?" the carnivores asked worriedly.

The Heavenly Dragon clone rapidly shrank its size, revealing the sun.

After shrinking, it finally disappeared from the sight of the ancients.

However, this did not completely dispel their concerns. Instead, they all ordered the search for relevant information to verify what it was.

"Perhaps my 'Dao' is on Earth." The Heavenly Dragon clone concealed himself and came to Earth.

"Time flies so fast."

Heading towards Mount Hua, where he had last attained enlightenment, Yan Yong arrived in what is now Shaanxi province. From afar, he saw an old man riding a blue ox about to pass through a city gate.

The city gate was built in a deep and dangerous ravine, making it an impregnable stronghold.

The general guarding the pass was stopping the old man, earnestly pleading with him to write a book.

Then Yan Yong witnessed the old man utter a series of deafening "heavenly sounds".

"The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao..."

The old man was just an ordinary person, not even an apprentice. Any first-level apprentice could easily kill a hundred of these old men.

But the old man's explanation of the "Tao" moved even a top cosmic overlord like Yan Yong.

He had read the Tao Te Ching, and with his current memory, he could even write it down backwards, as if it were imprinted in his mind like a photo album.

However, the version of the Tao Te Ching spoken by the old man was different from any version in later generations. The difference in punctuation alone caused a huge difference in the profound meaning of the ancient text.

The Tao Te Ching spoken by the old man truly explains how to cultivate the "Great Tao".

Although the old man never broke through to the apprentice level before his death, and the "secret manual" he passed down could not even be mastered to the apprentice level, it had a great impact on Yan Yong, who was pursuing the "Way of the Halberd".

Yan Yong waited quietly until the old Taoist priest finished sketching out his magnificent five-thousand-word masterpiece and continued on his way before following him.

Wait until the other party has completely left Hangu Pass and reached a desolate place.

"Old man, please wait a moment." The figure of the Heavenly Dragon clone slowly appeared.

Even when shrunk, it still has a volume of several hundred meters.

Although Yan Yong had completely concealed his aura, his terrifying figure still exuded a horrifying pressure.

Moo~

The old man's ox was immediately startled and panicked, trying to escape from Yan Yong.

"Don't be alarmed, ox." The old man gently stroked the ox's head, trying to calm the blue ox down.

But the ox was just an ordinary domestic animal. Even if it followed the old man around and was influenced by what he saw and heard, how much of the old man's mindset could it learn?

Aside from his mental state, the old man was just an ordinary person who wasn't even an apprentice. How could he possibly calm the frightened blue ox?

It looked like the ox was about to lose control and throw the old man off its back and run away.

"Quiet down." Under the will of Yan Yong, a high-level Venerable, the Green Ox quickly became obedient.

"May I ask why you have stopped this old man?" Laozi straightened his clothes, which were disheveled from being startled by the green ox, and calmly asked Tianlong Yan Yong.

If others saw a dragon hundreds of meters long, they would probably lose control of their bladder and bowels or be scared to death, just like Lord Ye who loved dragons but was terrified of them.

Lao Tzu's serene and unassuming demeanor is exactly what he described as "non-action."

"I heard the Heavenly Sound of the Great Dao outside Hangu Pass before, and I have come here to ask for your guidance." The Heavenly Dragon clone slowly descended and lay down beside the Green Ox.

The ox was almost startled again, but Yan Yong's single glance was enough to calm it down and make it behave.

"This is merely one person's opinion; how can it be considered the Great Dao and the Heavenly Voice?" Lao Tzu stroked his beard.

It was impossible to tell whether the old man was worried or happy.

"Old man, please don't be modest. What you just said has been echoing in Yan Yong's ears for a long time. It's like a long-awaited rain after a drought, and I feel extremely happy."

The dragon's head circled the green ox and came to Laozi's side.

A side glance reveals that Lao Tzu was indeed very calm, his hands resting naturally on the back of the blue ox, without any sense of tension.

"I didn't expect my crude words to offend your ears." Lao Tzu still didn't reply, but only said humbly.

"Old man, please don't worry. I'm just asking for your guidance." The dragon head moved back a bit, giving Laozi some comfortable space.

"This problem has troubled me for tens of millions of years. Today, after listening to Lao Tzu's teachings, I have finally gained some insight. I hope that Lao Tzu will not hesitate to enlighten me." The dragon head paused and bowed.

"Since you trust me, and I am not the kind of person who pretends to be arrogant, please speak, and I will try to tell you." Laozi sat upright on the back of the green ox and returned the greeting with a bow.

"May I ask you, Laozi, what is the 'Tao'?" Yan Yong looked at the other person nervously, hoping to get an answer from him, but he was also worried about whether this person, who was not even an apprentice, could really explain the 'Tao' he wanted.

"The Tao that can be spoken of is not the constant Tao. The Tao is right there, the Tao is the Tao. What is there to say about the Tao?" Lao Tzu said calmly.

"The Way is the Way, the Way is the Way?" Yan Yong pondered this sentence repeatedly. It was exactly the same as the sentence he had given to Emperor Wei when he first heard it, but it felt fundamentally different coming from Lao Tzu.

Where exactly does this difference lie? The day this difference becomes the same will be the day Yan Yong fully grasps the essence of the halberd and steps into the realm of 'Dao'.

Lao Tzu chuckled softly, stroking his beard as he gazed at the dragon lost in thought.

"Cow, let's go, haha~"

"Moo~"

As if it were a spirit, the blue ox flicked its tail and carried Laozi westward.

The Heavenly Dragon clone fell into deep thought. At the same time, the other clones also stopped cultivating and pondered the words together.

At present, all cultivation is useless. His understanding is like being separated by a thin sheet of paper. As long as he can break through this sheet, he can walk on the path to heaven. On the contrary, if he cannot break through this sheet, all his efforts will be in vain.

"The Way is the Way, the Way is right there, what is there to say about the Way? The Way that can be spoken of is not the constant Way..." Yan Yong pondered, "You need to clearly see what path you are walking on? What are you holding in your hands?"

"Yes, the Tao is the Tao. Any verbal explanation is merely one's own understanding of the Tao, not the true Tao." Yan Yong muttered to himself, "The Tao is right there. It does not appear in any external form, nor does it change in any form. The Tao is the Tao."

Yan Yong looked down at the halberd in his hand.

What is a halberd?

"Isn't this a halberd in my hand? A halberd is a halberd. What about using softness to overcome hardness, or combining softness and hardness? I can break all laws with a single halberd strike."

A strange aura emanated from Yan Yong, who was inside the divine tower.

"War, war, war"

That ancient battle sound has rarely appeared since Yan Yong's halberd intent gradually took shape. It may disappear once the halberd intent is fully formed, and it will only appear when the Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon activates it.

At this moment, Yan Yong did not activate the Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon, nor did he draw upon any power within his body, yet the ancient battle sound emerged on its own.

"It's going to succeed?" The Wei Emperor's illusory consciousness, which had been calm, was replaced by shock.

He truly hadn't expected that in less than ten thousand years, someone would be able to step into the realm of Dao, which was the power of an eternal true god.

The opponent was merely an Immortal, and even with the time acceleration, he was still astonishing. As he said, with the blessing of time acceleration, anyone who could step into the Dao Realm within a hundred epochs could unconditionally recognize the God Tower as their master, and the opponent only spent less than one percent of that time.

The Azure Netherworld Venerable was even more excited. It was almost ten thousand years away, and the five continents in the outside world had been divided into small islands by the spatial torrent. The native life of the Wei world lived on the islands in fear and trembling, kneeling down and praying to the "gods".

The two top cosmic overlords outside the tower had long since left, continuously rescuing the natives scattered on the soon-to-be-shattered islands and sending them into their own divine kingdoms.

The spatial torrents flowing between the islands are now so powerful that even ordinary immortals can hardly withstand them. Ordinary immortals have long since retreated into their own divine kingdoms to eke out a living.

Chapter Two for today.

(End of this chapter)