“Just a bit more! As for the plucking session with women, I have already satisfied that requirement. With regards to my comprehension of the cultivation method, it’s almost enough. However, I still need to understand what Yin and Yang means from another perspective! I’m Ning Fan, a devil cultivator who can only view these two words from the perspective of devil cultivation. If I just rely on my own perspective, it will be a biased understanding and would not let me understand the true meaning of Yin and Yang. Therefore, I need to know a righteous cultivator’s understanding of it!”
Ning Fan let out a laughter which was loud enough to make the Black Orchid Island tremble. No one knew how many women had been disturbed by his deafening voice from their spring dreams.
“Wait for me here. I’ll be back within seven days!”
He made a step forward and vanished into a trace of mist, flying out of Black Orchid Island.
He travelled all the way to the west and passed by the Xuan Wei Sect in the west region of the External Endless Sea.
It was a low-profile righteous sect which only had hundreds of cultivators. The strongest cultivator within this sect was an old man at the Gold Core Realm.
Cultivators of the righteous Dao were considered as aliens in the Endless Sea. They were people others would slaughter at will.
Despite lacking in strength, this Xuan Wei Sect was still able to survive, upholding the Dao of Righteousness. It must have its own way of survival!
In the Xuan Wei Sect, most disciples were either in secluded meditation or slumber except for a few disciples who were assigned to patrol at night.
The night was cool like water. In the study room, the old ancestor of Xuan Wei Sect was holding a scroll of a scripture in his hands. Despite having an air of righteousness, what he was reading was unexpectedly a scripture about the Devil Dao!
Ning Fan seemed to have understood something.
An old ancestor of the righteous Dao is studying the Devil Dao. Is this the reason why the Xuan Wei Sect can survive in the Grave of Cultivators?
A gust of wind blew into the study room and Ning Fan’s shadow emerged. The candlelight flickered due to the wind.
“Qing Feng, Ming Yue, haven’t I told you that I don’t like anyone disturbing me when I’m reading scriptures at midnight?!”
The elderly man lifted his head unhappily. When he noticed that the person who entered his study was an unfamiliar cultivator, he suddenly felt shocked and alerted.
“Who are you?!”
*Shua*
The old man immediately rose to his feet with his face not showing the slightest trace of fear.
Even though his cultivation base was weak, he had his own righteous Dao. This righteous Dao within him was so strong that it would not be destroyed even if he was reading the devil scriptures!
Under the dim candlelight, the old man gradually got a clearer view of Ning Fan’s face.
As soon as he saw him clearly, he felt like a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured upon him from his head. Cold sweat began to trickle down from his forehead.
“V-Venerated Ming!”
He was stunned by Ning Fan’s aura!
This was all because Ning Fan’s name was just too scary. After his notoriety had been spread around in the Endless Sea, innumerable forces strived to buy the jade slips containing his face so as to not offend him without recognizing him when they encounter him in the future and avoid being annihilated!
“I will ask you something and you will answer me!” Ning Fan’s tone sounded like he would not take no for an answer. The old man who was breaking out in a cold sweat did not even dare to refuse.
“Yes…”
“What’s your name?!”
“My name is Zheng Tong. I’m the old ancestor in charge of the Xuan Wei Sect.”
“Are you a cultivator of the righteous Dao?”
“Yes, I am…”
“You’re a righteous cultivator and I’m a devil cultivator. Why do you fear me? Isn’t eliminating devils the responsibility of cultivators of the righteous Dao?!”
“How will this junior be bold enough to do so?! In this world, the righteous path and the devil path are just a single thought different from each other. Even though the cultivation methods for both Dao are different, they both ultimately lead to the one Great Dao. Instead of holding on to the differences between the righteous and the devil paths, why not devote ourselves to cultivating wholeheartedly and focus on practicing. There are countless kinds of devil and righteous Dao. My righteous Dao is to preach, teach and protect the lives of my disciples from any danger. If I can ensure the safety of my disciples, I’d still claim myself to be a cultivator upholding the righteous Dao even if I fall into the devil Dao!”
The old man just had an Early Gold Core Realm cultivation base. However, his Heart of Dao was firm when he spoke. It was obvious that he had always served the devil sects for the safety of his own sect but he was not ashamed of it.
The righteous Dao that the old man pursued was not the pureness of his own name but to protect the safety of his disciples.
If there was no justice to uphold, there was no point in claiming oneself as a cultivator of the righteous Dao. The justice of this old man was everyone in the Xuan Wei Sect!
“Well said. I see. In your heart, Yin and Yang are just a single thousand different from each other. If one adheres to their conscience and true intentions, they could still claim themselves as Yang even if they fall into Yin.”
Ning Fan stopped, musing in silence. He then flicked his sleeve and left several bottles of pills there. At the next moment, he turned into a cooling breeze and disappeared into thin air in front of the old man.
“What a profound speed… Huh? These are Fire Separation Pills!”
The old man was greatly astonished. The Fire Separation Pill was a type of invaluable high-grade Third Revolution pill in the Endless Sea. To Gold Core Realm cultivators, it could be used to increase their magic power by a great deal. If one had sufficient pills, they could even break through to the middle stage of the Gold Core Realm from the early stage in one go!
With these pills in hand, the day for the old man to attain the Mid Gold Core Realm was not far away. The stronger he becomes, the more capable he would be at keeping his disciples safe!
He was a good master. The kind of goodness he had had nothing to do with kindness or evil, nor with being righteous or devilish.
The old man found it difficult to calm himself down. He looked at the direction where Ning Fan had left with a grateful expression.
He surmised that the reason as to why Ning Fan had asked him those questions was to achieve a breakthrough in some kind of bottleneck or shackles in his cultivation. Therefore, he tried to comprehend it by the analogies of other things.
It was the same as to why the old man studied devil scriptures. He was trying to enhance the cultivation of his righteous Dao from another aspect.
It only took the time for an incense stick to burn for Ning Fan to appear in his study and leave after asking those questions. He did not disturb anyone else of the Xuan Wei Sect at all and neither did he take anyone’s life.
In the old man’s eyes, Ning Fan was not like the bloodthirsty monster who slaughtered many indiscriminately from the rumors spreading in the outside world. Instead, he was a person with principles and he distinguished kindness and hatred clearly.
“So this is the true Venerated Ming…? What an unrestrained devil cultivator with such an elegant demeanor.” The old man’s eyes glowed with respect. The admiration he had for Ning Fan gradually grew stronger.
After swiftly flying out of the Xuan Wei Sect, Ning Fan was still thinking about the old man’s words. The latter’s words seemed to have provided him some insights.
He traveled all the way to the west once again while spreading his spirit sense which covered the vicinity of fifty thousand li* (500 m per li) around him. This time, he never stopped and landed anywhere on his way. Another day passed by. When dawn broke and the sky got bright, only then did he come to a halt at the western border of the Endless Sea.
This place was nearly out of the boundaries of the Endless Sea region. There was a mortal kingdom at the border of the western sea. It was rather small in size and could not get into the list of eight hundred cultivation kingdoms at all.
Ning Fan stopped and saw a corrupted county administration office in a mortal city. The county magistrate was offering a bribe to another official by presenting a set of gold and silver taels.
It seems that the embankments of the rivers within the county had burst and countless people had become victims of the disaster. In order to obtain the funds for the disaster relief, the county magistrate was bribing another official.
That county magistrate curried favor with that official. However, after the other official left, he suddenly revealed a stern and virtuous expression.
“One day, I must eliminate all the corrupted officials in the world!”
That air of righteousness came directly from his heart. It was certainly not a disguise.
“Interesting.” Ning Fan descended on the county administration office. His interest was piqued by this county magistrate who bribed his superior but had an upright and righteous attitude.
He turned into a gust of wind and appeared in front of the county magistrate. Just as that county magistrate saw him emerge out of nowhere, he thought the latter was some wandering expert. He was inwardly frightened and he immediately summoned dozens of yamen runners[1].
These yamen runners had stocky and imposing bodies while Ning Fan looked so weak that he would be unable to stand up to the wind. However, with a wave of his sleeve, all the yamen runners were knocked out.
“A-A demon!” the county magistrate was terrified. Even though there was a saying in the mortal world which goes, ‘Confucius never talked about odd, puissance, turmoil and deity’, the county magistrate clearly saw that Ning Fan was not an ordinary person.
“I will ask you a few questions and you will answer me!” Ning Fan’s tone sounded firm and domineering.
“Yes…”
“Why are you afraid of me?!”
“Because you can do witchcraft…” The county magistrate was a little scared.
“Why did you choose to become an official?!”
“To eliminate the corrupted and useless officials and help people!” As soon as he talked about his aspirations, his face suddenly lit up with seriousness.
“You want to get rid of the corrupted officials, but why did you taint yourself and become willing to bribe your superior?!”
“Neither good reputation nor a tainted one is significant! May I be so bold to ask this Immortal Master, if I only ask for a good reputation but I can’t raise the relief fund for my people who are in danger, how will I aid my people?! If I don’t corrupt myself, I will then be unable to save the lives of my people. I’m a capable magistrate, not an honest and clean official. If I don’t adjust to what’s common practice, I won’t be able to solve any troubles for my Majesty. Bo Yi and Shu Qi[2] might be noble and unsullied, but they did nothing beneficial to the people. What’s the point of being noble and unsullied? Chen Ping[3] stole his elder brother’s wife away and cheated him of his gold, but he was able to share his lord’s worries. Xiao He[4] defamed himself and only then did he manage to gain his lord’s trust. I’m willing to be someone like Chen Ping and Xiao He by using my abilities to benefit the people. The wrongful action I committed today is for everyone’s good in the future!”
“I see. In your heart, Yin and Yang assist each other while clarity and obscurity complement each other. The wrongful act committed today is to exchange for the good in the future…”
Ning Fan made a step out of the administration office. When he was outside of the office, he suddenly made a stomp on the ground which caused the whole county to shake. The overflowing river which originally broke the embankments soared into the sky like a water dragon and returned to its stream while the river embankments were rebuilt!
This was clearly a reward for the county magistrate which Ning Fan gave for answering those questions.
He was a good official. Even though he violated the rules and bribed his superior, his intention was for the good of the people.
The tremor made the county magistrate stunned and frightened. He only thought that Ning Fan was a deity from the heavens who could crush the whole county with one stomp.
Shortly afterwards, a clerk official reported that the river embankments were repaired and the river had returned to its stream. Even the epidemic that appeared after the flood had disappeared and all the victims were in good health and spirit.
The county magistrate froze in astonishment.
It’s impossible for the river with broken embankments to return to the river course by itself, let alone the fact that the victims who were infected by the disease were cured themselves. All of these were undoubtedly done by the immortal master just now.
The county magistrate realized that he seemed to have resolved the immortal master’s doubts and this act of relief for the victims was a reward to him.
“On behalf of the county residents, I want to express my deepest gratitude to you, Immortal Master!”
The county magistrate was shedding tears as he made a bow in the direction where Ning Fan vanished.
After leaving the mortal kingdom, Ning Fan’s comprehension became deeper and clearer. Every time he passed by a place, he would spread out his spirit sense and question every single cultivator and mortal he met.
Yin and Yang covered all Great Dao. Thus, everyone’s behavior could be explained by the concept of Yin and Yang.
The more he asked, the more insights he discovered about Yin and Yang. Eventually, he stopped on the bank of a river.
There was a child reading a scripture by the river. He was a student of a private school.
“The bright sun represents Yang while the waning moon symbolizes Yin…”
The meaning of this sentence was plain and obvious. The sun was Yang whereas the moon was Yin.
Despite that, Ning Fan was confused. Within his mind, he questioned himself.
Is the Great Dao of Yin and Yang that I’m pursuing just the principle of the alternation of the sun and moon?
Seven days later, he returned to Black Orchid Island and sat on his bed in lotus position with both of his legs crossed together.
The frown between his eyebrows gradually loosened.
“I can’t just cling onto the devil dao while adamantly insisting that the righteous path is wrong… Every principle in this world must have Yin and Yang complementing each other. Good and evil should coexist…”
“What is clarity and obscurity… True blue will never stain and the marks of sin will never be washed away.”
What is good and evil… Good is good, evil is evil.”
“What is Yin and Yang… Attaining something directly is Yang while taking something in reverse is Yin.”
“I understand all of these general principles. However, it’s because of this that I have become a little confused…”
The verse recited by the child echoed repeatedly within Ning Fan’s mind.
Along the path of inquiring the meaning of Yin and Yang, his understanding of it grew deeper to the point of completely grasping its true meaning from being blank. At this moment, however, he felt like he had returned to the original point where he knew nothing about it.
He was engrossed in it. The Great Dao is extremely simple. A wise man regarded Yin and Yang as the sun and the moon, but he had compared Yin and Yang to qualities like clarity and obscurity, kindness and evil. By comprehending it in such a way, he was just concentrating on the less important thing and neglecting its essence.
“Let’s return to its origin again. Why would the Yin Yang Transformation be a dual-cultivation method…? This is because Emperor Ancient Chaos Emperor believed that men represent Yang while women represent Yin. Thus, the intercourse between men and women was the method that suited the principle of the Great Dao of Yin and Yang. Two completely different people become one and give birth to new life. The so-called Yin and Yang, by analogy, is the new power produced the moment two diametrically opposing elements are combined.”
