A Dao Fusion expert’s dao sermon, Ning Cheng wouldn’t miss it even if he turned into an idiot. He didn’t need a second reminder from Carole and eagerly spoke up, “I naturally would want to attend this dao sermon. But I wonder how many spirit crystals would it cost to get a Dao Listening Plaque?”
At the same time, Ning Cheng also started to feel worried about not having enough spirit crystals. He currently had about 17 million spirit crystals on him right now. However, he had no idea if it was enough.
“A Dao Listening Plaque would cost you one million spirit crystals, but only valid for one session. But if you purchase a five-million-spirit-crystal Dao Listening Plaque, you can use it for five dao sermons.” Carole replied quickly. Ning Cheng, however, felt dumbfounded. In the Grand Essence Ruins, he might not be able to listen to even one Dao Fusion expert’s dao sermon after spending billions of spirit crystals. But here, you could attend a dao sermon for a million spirit crystals. So cheap?
Seeing Ning Cheng’s dumbfounded look, Carole thought Ning Cheng felt that the price was too high. So she hastily explained, “Senior Apprentice Brother Ning Cheng, this price is already considered very low. The Valley Master and the other seniors are not here to earn spirit crystals; rather, they want to spread their dao knowledge through dao sermons. But they also can’t give them for free. As such, only those who pay the spirit crystals can sit in during the dao sermon. I attended a few dao sermons a long time ago and have even benefitted from them a lot.”
Ning Cheng understood something and asked, “Senior Apprentice Sister Carole, will you also be attending the sermon in three days?”
Carole shook her head and replied with a downcast expression, “I’m not going. Rather, I can’t go. I’ve already run out on my Dao Listening Plaque.”
Ning Cheng nodded; in the Land of Broken Laws, there was no place to earn spirit crystals. Once one ran out, one could only sit and wait for death, just like Carole. Supposedly because there was no way to get out of this place.
“Senior Ran, please help me with two three-million-spirit-crystal Dao Listening Plaques.” Ning Cheng didn’t hesitate to use up another six million spirit crystals.
The white-haired old man collected Ning Cheng’s spirit crystals and raised his hand before throwing out two black tokens, each with three silver marks on them. The three silver marks gave off faint fluctuations. Ning Cheng didn’t need to ask and understood that these three marks represented that one could attend three dao sermons per plaque.
Ning Cheng handed one of the Dao Listening Plaques to Carole, “Senior Apprentice Sister Carole, this is for you. Consider it as thanks for helping me so much.”
Ning Cheng didn’t care about three million spirit crystals. Now that Man Huishan had taken the oath, it meant that he wouldn’t dare to kill him. Ning Cheng could even leave the valley right away and follow the route out of the Land of Broken Laws. Plus, with his experience, he wouldn’t be like Carole, who seemed to have no other choice but to stay in the Valley of Peace.
“This….” Carole didn’t expect Ning Cheng to give her a three-time Dao Listening Plaque. She felt tempted to accept it, but she also knew that it was too valuable.
“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning Cheng, I can’t accept this item. You have just entered the valley, so you don’t know the value of spirit crystals here. When you stay here for a few thousand years, you will realise the preciousness of spirit crystals.” Carole pushed the Dao Listening Plaque back to Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng once again shoved the Dao Listening Plaque into Carole’s hand and said with a warm smile, “If there’s wine today, then today’s the day to get drunk. Worry about tomorrow’s concern when they come tomorrow[1]. Whatever happens in the future, let’s talk about it when it happens. Don’t need to think about it right now.”
The white-haired old man who had not expressed a single emotion till now suddenly raised his head and stared at Ning Cheng. Only after some time did he murmur to himself, “If there’s wine today, then today’s the day to get drunk. Worry about tomorrow’s concern when they come tomorrow……. Good dao, good daoist intent[2], follow your heart and do whatever you want, leave not even a single trace…..”
Ning Cheng was a bit speechless. He had just casually borrowed a Chinese poem; what the hell did it have to do with dao intent?
But although he thought that it had nothing to do with dao intent, the white-haired old man had already become immersed in Ning Cheng’s idiomatic phrase. Even if Man Huishan wanted to get a Dao Listening Plaque like Ning Cheng, he could only wait at the side.
Hearing Ning Cheng’s words also caused Carole’s eyes to light up. She no longer rejected Ning Cheng’s Dao Listening Plaque. Cultivators with such daoist intent as, ‘If there is wine today, then today is the day to get drunk. Worry about tomorrow’s concern when they come tomorrow’ would definitely not care about these three million spirit crystals.
Feeling grateful for receiving a Dao Listening Plaque, Carole immediately helped Ning Cheng find the best place to stay that required no spirit crystals. Although it didn’t contain much spirit aura, it was still quite spacious and the best one available.
……
After closing up the cave, Ning Cheng immediately began to heal his injuries. Man Huishan had severely injured him, but he wanted to attend the dao sermon in three days. As such, he had to go there in the best condition.
Without Man Huishan as a threat, Ning Cheng felt much more relaxed. In just two days, he completely recovered from his injuries. After all, he had not burned his longevity, nor did he receive any damage to his foundation.
As three days passed, Carole took the initiative to invite Ning Cheng to listen to the valley master’s dao sermon.
By the time Ning Cheng and Carole arrived at the dao sermon’s venue, the place had already filled up with cultivators. Having entered the Valley of Peace for a few days, Ning Cheng had no idea how many people resided. Now that he was here, he realised that many people lived in the Valley of Peace.
Just a rough estimate indicated at least a few hundred people. Moreover, these were just those who could afford the spirit crystals to listen to the sermon. As for those who couldn’t afford it, there was no telling how many more there were.
The place where the sermon was held was just a flat-topped mountain without any barrier around it. In fact, it didn’t look anything other than a flat piece of land made up of greyish black earth and shattered rocks.
After informing Ning Cheng not to speak up casually, Carole immediately sat down. Here, Ning Cheng didn’t know a single person, so naturally, he wouldn’t speak up without reason. Sitting down and looking around, he also saw Man Huishan seated further away from them near the front with a face full of gloom. Looks like Man Huishan also cares a lot about a dao sermon from a Dao Fusion powerhouse.
Another incense stick later, a tall man dressed in grey robes landed on a huge smoothened and flat stone in front of dao sermon’s area.
No one could tell how old this man was, but the tall man had an expansive forehead, which gave him a wizened look.
“That’s Valley Master Sikou. Everyone in the Valley of Peace, at least those who survived till now, cannot forget the great kindness of the valley lord.” Carole whispered in Ning Cheng’s ears.
After Valley Master Sikou sat down, a few more figures landed not far from this tall man and sat down. Ning Cheng couldn’t feel even the slightest fluctuation from these people. However, Ning Cheng could inherently tell that they were all mighty experts.
Only after Sikou Zhiyuan waited for all of them to sit down did he speak up, “This will be my last dao sermon. After this dao sermon, I will close off my senses and no longer come out. As you all know, there are many Daoists in the Valley of Peace who, like me, have purposefully come here to enlighten themselves. Primarily on lawless spirit techniques and law-suppressing spirit techniques…..”
After just hearing the opening words, Ning Cheng felt a strange impulse in his heart that he couldn’t put in words. He also understood why someone would deliberately come to the Land of Broken Laws. Ning Cheng initially couldn’t understand it before and thought it was because his realm wasn’t sufficient. But now, after listening to the valley master’s words, he finally gained an understanding.
The Land of Broken Laws was a piece of land devoid of laws. Suppose one could comprehend the existence and disappearance of laws and use it to create spirit techniques unaffected by the laws of heaven and earth. Or, when fighting against an opponent, you directly plunged your opponent into an area without laws. In that instance, if you could use law-related spirit techniques while your opponent couldn’t, it would essentially make you undefeatable.
In other words, these experts had purposefully come to the Land of Broken Laws to comprehend such spirit techniques and gain a semblance of control over the laws of heaven and earth. Even the valley master, Sikou Zhiyan, had come here with the same intent. What they wanted to accomplish was to be just like the Hope Tribe. People who could suppress the laws within an area so that their opponents couldn’t utilise any law-related spirit techniques.
As if on cue, Valley Master Sikou continued. “Because we’re used to living beneath the laws of heaven and earth, we can derive our own law-related spirit techniques based on the corresponding laws. But in the Land of Broken Laws, where the laws are broken, or even where there are no laws, we cannot exercise any of our law-related spirit techniques. Years ago, I wondered if I could cast a lawless spirit technique in a place with no laws. Would this spirit technique still remain unrestricted in a place without laws?”
“Or if I were to suppress the laws of heaven and earth where there were laws. Would I become the heavenly dao and the ones opposite me, nothing but ants under the heavenly dao? Next, I will discuss my comprehension of my dao and laws…..”
Valley Master Sikou spoke in a clear and easy to understand manner, gradually moving from shallow waters to deep. In just ten minutes, Ning Cheng was listening like a man possessed. He started to slowly understand the underlying meaning and intent. That is, controlling the laws of heaven and earth or even coalescing them into himself.
Just because his strength was low now didn’t mean that it would remain low in the future. He couldn’t do it right now but might achieve it in the future. From what he heard, Ning Cheng understood that Valley Master Sikou had used the laws of heaven and earth using this way of thinking as a guide. For example, Ning Cheng had previously set up a short-distance teleportation array to enter Hope Tribe’s area. To achieve that, he had simulated a part of the Laws of Space within himself. It was somewhat similar to the Valley Master’s explanation.
But even if he understood this, it was still too difficult to put it into practice. Initially, Ning Cheng had wanted to leave the Valley of Peace after listening to a few sermons. But now, he just wanted to stay here for a while longer to thoroughly deduce a lawless spirit technique.
“Formed in chaos, first came laws, then came heaven and earth. Silent and few, independent and unchanged; circumscribed and unimpaired. One could even call them the mother of the entire universe……”
“Even in those areas lacking in laws, forms and things still exist. Therefore, I think that ‘no law’ is also one of the laws of the universe. A person is not a fish, so how could it know how the fish lives? And just like a mortal unable to breathe underwater, isn’t it the same for us in the Land of Broken Laws……”
“The meaning is that something like laws existed along with the universe at the beginning of chaos. Only with the laws did heaven and earth form, and only then did something else form. Laws are things that we cannot hear or see. They are silent and formless, existing independently without relying on external forces and never ceasing to exist. Because it does not cease to exist, it can be the root of all things……”
“There are no laws in the Land of Broken Laws, but things still exist here, things with forms. So I think that the absence of laws is actually another law of the universe. It’s just like how we know that a fish would be the most comfortable living in the water rather than on land. At the same time, the feeling of a mortal underwater with no air is just as uncomfortable as us, starry sky cultivators, being in the Land of Broken Laws.”
The more Ning Cheng listened, the clearer it became in his mind that the ‘underwater’ for mortals was just like the Land of Broken Laws. Fish could swim freely underwater because they were in control of the laws or had integrated with the laws. Or, at the very least, were beings that grew up in that environment.
The land in the Land of Broken Laws had no laws, but it was still a part of heaven and earth all the same. In other words, ‘no law’ was also a law of heaven and earth, just not a common one. If you could comprehend this kind of law, you would be just as strong as outside, where there were laws.
Ning Cheng clenched his fists. Suppose he could really control the laws of heaven and earth like Valley Master Sikou said. Then even if Man Huishan chased after him, he would be able to kill Dao Essence experts with an Eternal-level of strength.
Ning Cheng suddenly remembered the Bestowing Lawless Fruit when he thought of the lawless spirit technique. It was a dao fruit that absorbed the laws of heaven and earth but had instead become lawless. What if he used this dao fruit to comprehend the lawless spirit technique?
Ning Cheng had just thought of this when he heard Valley Master Sikou continue. “I have heard that there is a dao fruit in the universe, named Bestowing Lawless Fruit, which absorbs the laws of heaven and earth but does not contain any laws. If you obtain this fruit, you may get twice the result with half the effort……”
[1] The full version: A gain makes me sing; a loss makes me sullen. Worries and regrets are always around. If there’s wine today, then today’s the day to get drunk. Worry about tomorrow’s concerns when they come tomorrow.
[2] A more accurate interpretation here would be ‘Good thought, good mindset….’, but I’d rather keep it according to the raws as the line contains ‘Dao’, while the rest of the sentence is self-explanatory.
