Warhammer Cultivation: Cultivating the Tao Te Ching in the 40K Universe

"--'Answer'."

After he finished speaking, he did not make any further movements.

He simply closed his eyes slowly.

Then, he described his inner universe within his dantian—a universe that had long been self-contained, filled with the beauty of contradiction and harmony.

That unique "Golden Core Dao Seed," forged from his own essence, energy, and spirit, along with fragments of the wills of the four original entities—

Release it outwards completely and without reservation!

"Buzz!!!!"

A deafening roar of law, not belonging to the physical realm yet undeniably real, instantly swept through the entire Wenxinzhai, centered on Hector's body, like a silent primordial tide!

The real world, like a calm lake surface shattered by a stone thrown in!

Wenxinzhai has disappeared.

The eternal blue sky, the vibrant breeze, the once-desolate rooftop gardens... all of it vanished into nothingness and faded into a background of nothingness in that instant.

Instead, there is a more authentic world constructed from Hector's "Tao"...

"—The Inner Universe!"

Chapter 179 Within the Dao Seed

The three Primarchs, their massive bodies filled with different divine attributes, suddenly froze!

They discovered that they had not been "teleported" to another space.

Instead, they were "pulled in".

Forced by an irresistible, incomprehensible, and even indefinable will, they were pulled into a universe that was more vast and more "real" than any universe they had ever seen...

"The Golden Elixir World!"

Here, there is no sky, no earth.

Only the purest "law" itself, full of the essence of "Tao".

They "saw" it.

A vast, boundless expanse of black iron "earth," resembling a perfect crystal lattice, stretches slowly at the very bottom of this universe, indestructible—that is the "material steel" belonging to Ferrus Manus.

A vast and boundless "sky" of wisdom, flowing with countless pure data and laws, slowly rotates at the top of this universe; it is Magnus's "pride of knowledge."

A golden "rain" filled with the meaning of "cohesion" and "protection" descended from the "sky" of wisdom, nourishing the solid "earth" and giving birth for the first time to "life" full of "meaning" and "faith" among the cold lattice mountains. It was the "devout devotion" of Loka Aurelion.

And illuminating this newborn universe is a warm, platinum-gold "sun" filled with the light of "order" and "harmony"! That is the "flame of glory" belonging to Horus Lupecal!

Heaven and earth, light and darkness, life and death...

A complete "microcosm" with its own independent laws and the ability to self-circulate!

Before these three powerful yet "incomplete" demigods, the story unfolds slowly in an undeniable and visually stunning way!

Hector, meanwhile, remained silently suspended at the center of the universe he himself had created.

He is the "Tao" of this universe.

He is the "god" of this universe.

"Now, look, the great lion."

Hector's voice resounded in this inner universe, like the most fundamental law of the universe.

He slowly extended a finger toward Ryan Aljonsen.

The scene before the lion's eyes changed in an instant!

He found himself back in Caliban! Back in that eternally dark forest filled with deadly beasts and endless danger!

He saw those terrifying behemoths lurking in the shadows, eyeing him and his young knights with predatory intent!

His heart, imprisoned by the "law," instinctively wanted to draw his sword to "purify" this "chaotic" forest!

However, Hector's voice, like the omnipresent voice of God, resonated deep within his soul.

"Why 'annihilate' the shadow, my Primarch?"

"You are a born warrior. The battlefield should have taught you long ago how to coexist with the shadows, how to use the shadows, and how to transform 'illusion and reality'."

"True 'control' is not about eliminating all shadows."

"But..."

With a thought from Hector, the laws of that dark forest, filled with danger, were instantly "rewritten"!

The lion discovered that the shadows that should have been "enemies" had actually and gently enveloped his dark green power armor!

He was not swallowed up.

He became the shadow itself!

He could clearly "feel" the veins of every leaf in the forest, the trajectory of every breeze, the breath of every giant beast... everything was as clear as the lines on his own palm!

And those chaotic behemoths that should have been a "threat", having lost their "visible" targets, wandered aimlessly in the dark forest like headless flies, roaring in vain!

"...instead, become the shadow itself."

Hector's voice completed the judgment, which was full of the wisdom of "the Way."

"Accept that secret and darkness that originated from Caliban, that belongs to you alone. This is your legion, destined for tragedy from the start..."

"—The only antidote."

The lion fell completely silent. His "heart of law," tormented for centuries by "suspicion" and "secrecy," was shaken to the brink of collapse by this "miracle," a direct manifestation of the "art of war" in Sun Tzu's "Art of War."

Then, Hector's gaze turned to the Midnight Lord in the shadows, a figure filled with pain and madness.

"Now it's your turn. Actually, you've always thought of yourself as a great 'prophet'."

The scene before Koz also changed in an instant!

He found himself in an absolute, silent void devoid of any stars, matter, or "future"!

His endless prophecies, filled with bloodshed and betrayal, lost for the first time their "mirror" in this absolute "emptiness"!

For the first time, he felt the "now".

When the silence he craved suddenly arrived... Coz was a bit like "Lord Ye who loved dragons but was terrified of them."

His chaotic heart was about to completely collapse because of this unprecedented "tranquility"—

Just then, a butterfly radiating multicolored light and full of life rhythm appeared quietly in front of him and began to dance around him.

“Tell me, Conrad Coates.”

Hector's voice, like that of the oldest philosopher, posed to him the ultimate question that could overturn all boundaries between reality and illusion.

"Was it you who dreamt of that bloody future?"

"It's still a bloody future..."

"—Did I dream about you on purpose?"

Koz's thin, gargoyle-like figure trembled violently!

Two lines of black, bloody tears streamed down his eyes, which were as empty as an abyss, filled with extreme pain and a trace of... relief!

His mad prison, confined by "fatalism," was shaken at this moment by this paradox, which was full of the imagery of "Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly"!

Finally, Hector's gaze fell upon the tormented angel.

He did not conjure up any more illusions for him.

Because he knew that for this demigod who had already received his three treatments, any "demonstration" was superfluous.

He simply presented the core of his inner universe—the black and white yin-yang symbol that was slowly rotating and composed of the purest yin and yang—to Saint Gilles without reservation.

"Look, my angel."

"This is the 'balance' you've been seeking."

Saint Gilles gazed at the living "Tao" diagram, filled with infinite mysteries.

He could clearly "feel" that the violent, beast-like "blood-thirsty" power (Yin) within him and the holy, god-like "protective" thought (Yang), under the resonance of this picture, for the first time, stopped their endless, tearing war!

They seemed to have found their own home, and began to chase and play slowly within his soul in a rhythm full of harmony and balance, forming a fragile yet infinitely vibrant and hopeful space...

"--round."

He stared at the S-shaped curve where black and white met...

"The place where Yin and Yang meet is the 'Tao'. The Tao is the path."

Saint Gilles finally saw the path that would allow him to "coexist" with the beast within him...

"—The only way."

Chapter 180 Intertwined Destinies

As Hector Kane slowly withdrew his "Golden Core Universe," which was enough to overturn the understanding of the gods, the entire Wenxinzhai returned to that "reality" full of vitality and harmony.

In the air, the shattered laws of space are slowly healing, but the profound aura originating from the "Great Dao" lingers, as if it has imprinted a sacred mark on every inch of this sky garden.

Everyone knows that some things have changed forever.

The three Primarchs still stood there quietly, like three unchanging statues of gods.

But they are no longer the three demigods filled with "obsession" and "flaws" they once were.

Although they remained breathtakingly powerful, they possessed a quality they had never had before—a quality that belonged to "humanity"...

Ryan Aljonson, the lion of Caliban, had lost all composure and judgment on his face, which was sculpted like a glacier. All that remained was a deep, bone-deep weariness, a trait unique to those who had glimpsed the darkest depths of their own hearts.

He did not go to see Hector again.

He simply walked with heavy steps to the data slab, meticulously crafted by Fabius Bayer, which still shimmered with an alluring glimmer.

Then, he slowly raised his large hand, which was wearing a power boxing glove.

"Snap—!!!!!"

A crisp shattering sound!

That data slab, which carried both "hope" and "lies," along with the information about the "universal gene serum" that would drive any Primarch mad, was mercilessly crushed into the most insignificant dust by him!

Golden sparks of energy and fragments of obsidian slipped through his fingers.

He did not accept Hector's "Tao".

However, he also completely rejected Fabius's "technique".

He chose the third way.

A path that belongs to him alone.

He looked at Hector deeply, very deeply, his eyes filled with an indescribable mix of emotions—warning, amazement, and vigilance.

Then, he turned around and led his twelve Deathwing Knights, who were also caught in the great shock, out of the Wenxinzhai without looking back.

Conrad Coates let out a roar that was not human, filled with extreme pain and relief!

For the first time, a crack appeared in his mad prison, imprisoned by "fatalism," allowing "light" to shine in! This shock, this unprecedented "possibility," was simply too much for his already shattered sanity to bear!

His ghostly figure twisted and convulsed violently in the shadows, finally disappearing silently and completely into the shadows of that vibrant and harmonious "dojo," like a drop of ink merging into the ocean.

He was not cured.

But he is no longer the same pure madman who judged everything with "fear"... He is no longer the same madman who used to judge everything with "fear".

Finally, Saint Gilles approached Hector.

All the sadness and worry had vanished from his deep blue, sky-like eyes.

Only one kind remains: the complex expression of a brother looking at his younger brother, who, though small, has created a miracle—an expression filled with relief, pride, and solemnity.

“You have opened a whole new door for them, child.”

His voice was hoarse, yet it possessed a strange, poetic rhythm.

"But it also made them see the 'vulnerability' deepest in their souls."