Chapter 137: Azure Heaven, Yellow Heaven? (Part 3)

"My kin, open your eyes and take a look!"

The Nine-Nether Divine Lamp pleaded bitterly, "Close these evil eyes, open your true eyes, and look at what you've become."

"There is not the slightest trace of an immortal left in you from head to toe."

"Then let me be the standard."

Chen Huangpi's voice was cold and merciless.

He refused to open his eyes, nor would he close the evil eyes covering his body.

Instead, he sat cross-legged atop the canopy of the demonic tree.

Within the evil eyes all over his body, the golden-black text resembling birds, fish, and insects shone with intense brilliance.

Chen Huangpi was glowing.

He was radiating a golden-black light.

At first, the light was extremely faint.

But soon, it grew brighter and brighter.

Even the golden and black lights separated, no longer intertwining as they had before.

The golden light was majestic and solemn.

The black light was chilling to the bone.

Two halos of light orbited Chen Huangpi, forming a golden-black Taiji diagram.

Gold was Yang, black was Yin.

The two chased each other and spun, though with extreme difficulty.

With each rotation, Chen Huangpi's expression grew a fraction more painful.

As if sensing his agony.

The golden-black Taiji diagram came to a halt.

Then, it began to spin in the reverse direction of before.

This time, Chen Huangpi's expression was no longer painful, turning instead into one of supreme comfort.

The reverse Taiji spun incessantly.

Faster and faster, faster and faster.

The golden-black light enveloped Chen Huangpi within it.

Then it cycled endlessly, spinning continuously.

And so...

The Nine-Nether Divine Lamp watched as Chen Huangpi transformed into an egg.

The moment that egg appeared.

The Nine-Nether Divine Lamp felt an overwhelming wave of unease.

It had no idea what Chen Huangpi had done.

It only knew that within that egg, a figure was currently taking shape—a figure indescribable and ineffable, yet one whose mere glance occupied all of one's mind and soul.

That figure did not resemble human form.

It seemed as though one could glimpse the outlines of all things in the universe within it.

A thunderous explosion echoed in the mind of the Nine-Nether Divine Lamp: "The Azure Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven is not yet born. Chen Huangpi, could it be that you are the Yellow Heaven?"

"He is not."

That voice sounded from beside the Nine-Nether Divine Lamp.

The moment the voice appeared.

The mind of the Nine-Nether Divine Lamp, previously occupied by the figure inside the egg, was instantly liberated.

Then, it saw the Second Abbey Master, dressed in white Taoist robes, standing to the side and quietly watching the egg.

Most crucially.

The gaze of the Second Abbey Master was exceptionally clear.

The bronze oil lamp asked tentatively, "Abbey Master, is that you, old man?"

"Naturally it is this poor Daoist."

The old man in white robes said calmly, "What, are you surprised not to see me raving mad?"

"You jest, Abbey Master, how could I dare..."

"You only dare not in words."

The old man in white robes shook his head slightly, reaching out to wave his hand across the Nine-Nether Divine Lamp.

The evil eyes embedded in the lamp body immediately burrowed out and shot into the egg that Chen Huangpi had become.

"I've changed back!"

The bronze oil lamp was overjoyed, then said eagerly, "Abbey Master, Chen Huangpi has been driven into madness by those evil eyes, insisting he is a true immortal. No matter how I tried to persuade him, it was useless. Please intervene quickly."

"This is a good thing."

"He's gone mad and wants to slaughter everything, and you call that a good thing?"

"Naturally it is a good thing."

The old man in white robes nodded and said, "Whether it's the black smoke or the evil eyes, they are all manifestations of the five poisons within Huangpi's body. As the saying goes, blocking is inferior to dredging; letting it out is always better than keeping it bottled up."

Hearing this.

The bronze oil lamp finally felt at ease, then asked, "Abbey Master, you said Chen Huangpi isn't the Yellow Heaven, so what on earth is he? Could he be the Azure Heaven?"

"What of the Yellow Heaven, and what of the Azure Heaven?"

The old man in white robes laughed in spite of himself. "You always love to guess wildly, and you've rubbed off on Huangpi, making him love guessing too. What's the point of guessing back and forth? Can't my Huangpi simply be himself?"

"Abbey Master..."

The bronze oil lamp said, hesitating, "If you truly want him to be himself, why did you make so many arrangements?"

The Abbey Master was the Heavenly Dao of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Any event Chen Huangpi encountered within these Hundred Thousand Mountains was, in a sense, tacitly permitted by the Abbey Master.

The bronze oil lamp did not believe.

That the Abbey Master had not guided things from behind the scenes.

The old man in white robes laughed ruefully. "You, always slandering me in your heart, truly asking for a beating."

With that, he flicked the head of the bronze oil lamp.

With a thud.

The latter immediately tumbled away.

Then scurried back like a loyal hound, wincing and grinning as it said, "The Abbey Master's might is truly peerless. Just a single finger almost scattered my soul and shattered my lamp body."

"I didn't use any force."

"As expected of the Abbey Master!"

The bronze oil lamp sighed, "The mere aftermath was..."

"Smooth-tongued."

The old man in white robes shook his head and said, "I did arrange quite a few things for Huangpi, but if I hadn't arranged them, how could I have peace of mind when Huangpi eventually goes out into the wider world? After all, I only have this one disciple."

"Having finally raised him to adulthood, how could I bear to let him suffer hardships?"

"Abbey Master, that might not be true."

The bronze oil lamp bobbed its head and argued, "As the saying goes, a lenient father ruins his child, and jade cannot shine without carving. In my view, he ought to endure more hardships. His state of mind is as good as nonexistent; the moment he's not paying attention, he falls into madness."

"The so-called state of mind..."

"Is merely obsession, why force it." The old man in white robes walked up to the giant egg, reached out to stroke it, and said, "He is still a youth now; a youth should not be gloomy and decadent, but full of unbridled spirit. When I was his age, I too harbored the thought of traversing the world with a sword."

"It's just a pity this poor Daoist had to merge his body with the Dao, and looking back now, I do harbor some regrets."

"Abbey Master, are you truly the Dao Master?"

The bronze oil lamp could not help asking, "Chen Huangpi told me that the headless Yama once said that one turbulent era of eighteen thousand years later, the end of the world's upheaval would come and the Yellow Heaven would be born, and only then would you merge your body with the Dao."

"Mm, that Yama was right."

The old man in white robes thought for a moment and said, "However, this poor Daoist is indeed the Dao Master—only, the Dao I merged with is not that of the Yellow Heaven, but the Dao of the already dead Azure Heaven."

"The array in the old abbey..."

"It is just as you think."

At this, the bronze oil lamp understood everything.

No wonder the Abbey Master never left the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

It turned out to be because the Azure Heaven was within the old abbey. Previously, it had assumed the guided deathly aura belonged to Chen Huangpi, because Chen Huangpi had not truly been born yet either, and in a sense, he was likewise a stillbirth.

When the Abbey Master merged with the Dao, he merged with the Dao of the already dead Azure Heaven.

And the array of the old abbey was perhaps meant to suppress the deceased Azure Heaven.

The Azure Heaven had surely transformed into a malevolent entity.

The Abbey Master going mad was likely due to this very reason.

The old man in white robes smiled and said, "Though eighteen thousand years is not long, if this poor Daoist hadn't done something, Huangpi would have long since hung my portrait on the main hall's wall. I still wanted to watch him grow into adulthood, so I had no choice but to become a Dao Master."

"Yet this Dao Master of mine represents an outdated Dao."

"The spells of this poor Daoist are also spells of the past."

"That is why this poor Daoist does not leave the Hundred Thousand Mountains."

"Abbey Master, the upheaval of heaven and earth will end sooner or later. After the Yellow Heaven is born, will you still exist?"

The old man in white robes fell silent.

He did not give the bronze oil lamp an answer.

"Abbey Master!!!!"

The bronze oil lamp cried out in panic, "I cannot bear to part with you, old man, and Chen Huangpi can bear it even less. If you are no longer here, he doesn't know how heartbroken and grieved he would be. Your methods reach the heavens and you are omnipotent."

"You certainly won't die, right?"

"We shall discuss this matter later."

The old man in white robes bypassed the subject, turned to sigh at the eggshell, and said, "This disciple of mine has a thousand virtues, ten thousand merits, but he is still a child at heart. This poor Daoist carved out a path to the heavens for him."

"Yet this path to the heavens is too difficult to walk. If he were to stop and not walk it, that would still be fine."

"But if he were to retreat, he wouldn't even have the chance to transform into a malevolent entity."

The bronze oil lamp could not help saying, "That's why you must stay alive, always keeping watch over Chen Huangpi, so he doesn't take a single misstep."

"That is precisely why this poor Daoist has come out."

Saying this, the old man in white robes patted the egg and smiled, "He sleeps soundly enough, but as his master, I cannot let you sleep like this forever. Otherwise, you'll sleep right through until the end of the world's upheaval, and by then I will..."

"I'm starving..."

The old man in white robes' stomach rumbled, his cloudy eyes staring fixedly at the giant egg before him.

"Huang Er, quick, quickly set up a pot."

"Ah? Set up a pot for what?"

"You fool! How can you boil an egg without a pot?"

Drooling, the old man in white robes said with a manic expression, "Thirdly and eldest dragged me into this old abbey to serve time, and I have no idea what year or month I'll be able to leave. Such a huge egg, I must ration it and eat it slowly."

"Right, how is it that only you came?"

"Where is Huangpi?"

"Second Abbey Master, Chen Huangpi is right inside this egg..."

"What?"

The old man in white robes knocked on the eggshell and asked loudly, "Huangpi, what are you doing hiding inside an egg? Could you be hiding in there to sneakily eat all by yourself?"

Chen Huangpi had already fallen into a deep sleep; how could he possibly respond?

"You're not speaking, which means you're tacitly admitting it!"

The old man in white robes said angrily, "Huangpi, you've gone bad, you're driving your master to fury, driving your master to fury!"

"Come out right now, come out!"

Chen Huangpi still gave no response.

This scene, in the eyes of the old man in white robes, clearly meant that Chen Huangpi refused to come out and intended to gobble up everything inside the egg.

If it was all eaten up.

Then he would go hungry.

Being hungry was miserable.

The old man in white robes disliked being hungry, so he opened his cavernous maw and swallowed the egg straight into his belly.

...

Damp and dark.

Chen Huangpi awoke in a daze, feeling absolute pitch-blackness all around.

Yet there was an unusual scent lingering in the surroundings.

It filled him with an indescribable sense of familiarity.

"Where on earth am I? Why does it feel like I'm inside Second Master's stomach?"

"Trust your feelings, we're right in his stomach."

Hearing this, Chen Huangpi was utterly dumbfounded.

Because the voice of the bronze oil lamp was coming from right beneath his body.

Feeling the awkwardness pressing against his bottom, Chen Huangpi quickly reached out and pulled out the bronze oil lamp, which had been pitted and corroded by gastric juices.

The next second.

The yellowish lamplight illuminated the stomach.

Chen Huangpi and the bronze oil lamp stared at each other with wide eyes.

"Huang Er, how on earth did you end up in Second Master's stomach?"

"You think I wanted to..."

The bronze oil lamp said, "You suffered a cultivation deviation and turned into an egg, and the Second Abbey Master swallowed you in one gulp. Then he said his stomach felt bloated and needed some oily broth to soothe it, so he swallowed me in too."

"This..."

Chen Huangpi said in astonishment, "I only remember that after I became a true immortal, all things in the world were revolving around me. I seemed to have become the center of the universe. Could it all have been an illusion?"

"It was definitely your illusion."

The bronze oil lamp said with a dark face, "The Abbey Master said you are neither the Azure Heaven nor the Yellow Heaven. You will cultivate step by step from now on, and once you live to be eighteen, you'll achieve greatness."

"Also, hurry up and beg the Second Abbey Master to let us out."

The bronze oil lamp wailed in despair, "The First Abbey Master's tooth marks, the Third Abbey Master's pinch marks, and now the Second Abbey Master's gastric acid corrosion—this Hundred Thousand Mountains is truly no place for a lamp to live."

In its current state, if thrown out onto the street, it would be treated as scrap metal, and nobody would even bother to pick it up.