Chapter 79 Divine Office

"The universe of heaven and earth, the creation of yin and yang, a single spark of true spirit, transforms into my avatar." Liaochen could ultimately not resist the temptation. He desired the untethered freedom of the Dao of Immortality, yet he was unwilling to forfeit the authority of the Divine Kingdom. He had no choice but to risk damage to his divine soul, slicing away a small portion of his spiritual platform and sea of consciousness.

However, an external avatar was never forged in such a manner, and the five senses and six faculties all originated from the spiritual platform and sea of consciousness. With a single stroke of his sword, Liaochen saw pitch black before his eyes, and his divine soul trembled violently, narrowly avoiding fainting outright.

A human possesses three souls and seven primordial spirits, which form the foundation of cultivating the Dao. If even a single spirit is incomplete, one is barred from entering the Dao for a lifetime. The so-called method of crafting an external avatar was nothing more than separating a speck of true spirit from one's primordial spirit, nurturing it carefully over the years through the Dao of visualization and the art of soul-nourishing, achieving success solely through the gradual grinding of time.

Although Liaochen severed his own spiritual awareness and divine soul, causing the avatar to manifest instantly, both sides were rendered incomplete. The primary soul fared slightly better, its spiritual intelligence unharmed; after all, Liaochen had watched as he wielded the blade, ensuring he would never turn himself into an idiot. But the separated secondary soul was utterly wretched, foolish and dull, devoid of the slightest spark of agility. A slightly smaller version of Liaochen stood there, and if not for its constitution of a divine soul, how would it differ from a mere statue?

"The Heavenly Dao is ceaseless, its merit boundless. Borrowing my spirit, I mend my divine soul." Liaochen gritted his teeth and severed his own still-unformed wheel of merit, casting it directly into his avatar. Immediately afterward, dazzling seven-colored light burst forth from the avatar. Only then did Liaochen relax his mind, thinking to himself, "Merit is truly a marvelous thing! It is only a pity that a decade's worth of merit has been squandered in a single moment. I must be cautious when my true body ventures out in the future."

Having finished these thoughts, Liaochen had no leisure to attend to his avatar, as the secondary body would naturally be nourished by the merit of the Heavenly Dao. Instead, his original soul swayed and his sea of consciousness roiled. Liaochen hastily sat cross-legged on the spot, striving to pacify his spiritual platform.

Within Liaochen's sea of consciousness, a sea of clouds still gathered and dissipated abruptly, save that at the furthest edge of the clouds lay a vast expanse of dark shadow. That was the location of the severed sea of consciousness. Liaochen sank his mind inward, pushing the sea of clouds bit by bit to slowly expand and mend the shadowy region.

Injuries to the divine soul are a long process of nourishment and repair unless aided by soul-healing elixirs. While flesh wounds could be cured by Liaochen in the blink of an eye with a talismanic draught and wisps of spiritual energy, causing bones to sprout and flesh to grow, the divine soul was the very root of life itself, leaving Liaochen utterly helpless. When bells suddenly chimed within the Divine Kingdom, Liaochen quickly withdrew from his spiritual platform and sea of consciousness.

"Immeasurable Heavenly Venerate! May the Daoist friend be blessed with fortune and eternal longevity." Bowing in greeting to oneself with cupped hands was indeed a most bizarre affair. Liaochen's avatar had its divine soul fully mended, its figure and appearance identical to Liaochen in every respect, with a faint wheel of merit revolving behind its head. Were it not for the profound connections between the main body and the avatar—where a single thought of divine intent would cause the avatar to vanish and merge into one with the primary body—Liaochen would have suspected that another person who looked just like him was standing right across from him.

Liaochen's mind stirred once more, and the avatar separated from the primary body once again. Only then did Liaochen return the bow with cupped hands and say, "Immeasurable Heavenly Venerate! Does the Daoist friend possess a Dao title?"

The avatar smiled faintly and replied, "The poor priest is myself, and I am the poor priest. If you have no objections, how about the Dao title Mingwei for the poor priest?"

A ripple stirred in Liaochen's heart, and he hastily smiled, replying, "Excellent. May Daoist friend Mingwei be blessed with fortune and eternal longevity. You may assume a divine office within this Divine Kingdom, enjoy the offerings of incense for all eternity, and behold long life and boundless longevity. This is truly a joyous and celebratory occasion!"

Mingwei, the avatar of Liaochen, smiled oddly and said, "You and I are one entity; why engage in self-deception? Since the main body wishes to transcend through the Dao of Immortality, I, the poor priest, naturally have no choice but to take over the divine office. Wait a moment, Daoist friend; this poor priest shall go and return shortly."

Mingwei's words left Liaochen blushing slightly; he truly had not yet grown accustomed to the existence of another "me" besides himself. To deceive even one's own avatar—one could not help but admit that Liaochen was truly...

White clouds materialized beneath the feet of Daoist Mingwei, carrying him straight toward the Heavenly Palace. Liaochen's primary body continued to sit in meditation, quietly nurturing his divine soul, while his mind followed the avatar to ascend those towering Dao palaces nestled between the heaven and earth of the Divine Kingdom.

"The manifestation of the Heavenly Dao is truly extraordinary!" From the very first moment Mingwei stepped onto the palace grounds, he was dazed by a dazzling splendor. It was not as though the main body had never ascended a heavenly palace; when he once wandered through the astral palace, he had felt nothing, yet this time he was overwhelmed right within his own palace.

For this vast and expansive Dao palace was actually forged from a single, unbroken piece of spiritual jade. From the pavilions, terraces, and storied buildings down to the floor tiles and roof shingles, there was not the slightest trace of a seam. Within the Dao palace, innate spiritual energy was on the verge of condensing into liquid, transforming into mist that gathered and dispersed by turns. It was not a heavenly palace, yet it surpassed any heavenly palace.

Mingwei trod forward along the mirror-bright spiritual jade floor, and soon came upon the grand main hall of the Dao palace. A plaque hung above, but it bore no inscription; evidently, it would only acquire a name after Mingwei—or rather, Liaochen—officially assumed the divine office of the Heavenly Dao and took command of the Heavenly Palace.

Upon walking into the main hall, Mingwei beheld a "Divine Seal" floating above a table in the center of the hall. The seal was shrouded in a hazy, precious glow, encircled by endless strands of auspicious aura. Sensing Mingwei's entry, it bounced up and down of its own accord—it was evidently a spiritual treasure possessed of sentience!

Mingwei stepped forward hastily and gently received the "Divine Seal" with both hands. The seal was forged from precious jade with five dragons intertwined as its knob; brilliance flowed within it, feeling as heavy as a thousand jun and yet as light as a speck of dust. However, no Dao scripts were engraved upon the base of the seal, which clearly indicated that Mingwei's divine office had yet to be finalized.

After a moment of contemplation, Mingwei's mind suddenly stirred. He smiled toward the direction of his main body, and spoke in a resounding voice:

"I am willing to become a god, to welcome and guide heroes from all directions. I am willing to become a boat, to ferry the martyrs of Huaxia across. I am willing to become a book, to record thoroughly the merits and demerits of a thousand autumns. I am willing to become a sacrificial shrine, ensuring that the loyal souls and heroic spirits of the martyrs never perish. I am willing to become a bridge, leading toward the blissful paradise of the Eastern longevity. The sages of Huaxia exist, and the saints of the Dao sect abide; we open the gate of convenience to debate the merits and demerits of the mortal realm. Those who have rendered service to Huaxia may cross this bridge and be reborn in the Palace of Wonderful Strictness of the Eastern Pole. Chant my divine name enduringly, and I shall go forth to guide them; invoke my name at the moment of death, and I shall go forth to guide them. Chant long the compassion of the Taiyi Immeasurable Sound-Seeking Suffering-Relieving Heavenly Venerate, and that compassion shall be boundless, assessing merits and sins within this Divine Kingdom. Those who transcend for the sake of country and people shall attain transcendence; those who propagate the righteous spirit of Huaxia shall attain transcendence; those who are brave and fearless, dying without turning their heels, shall attain transcendence. With the Heavenly Dao above, I am willing to be the gatekeeper of the Eastern Joyous Realm, and the guardian deity of Huaxia for a thousand autumns!"

Liaochen was once again startled awake by the chiming of bells. Upon waking, what greeted his eyes was a rain of blossoms filling the sky, with boundless divine light illuminating the void.

The Heavenly Dao had sensed his vow, and the deities had taken their positions. At this, the Divine Kingdom expanded once more. By this point, even Liaochen could no longer fathom its vastness; he only felt that it was quite simply boundless and limitless. Furthermore, flocks of birds now soared and herds of beasts galloped within the Divine Kingdom. It was virtually indistinguishable from the outside world, save for the breathtaking density of its spiritual energy.

What Liaochen did not know, however, was that the grand vow sworn by his avatar to attain his divine position did not merely reverberate throughout the Divine Kingdom; within the Three Realms, every being endowed with divine powers heard it. Above the heavenly courts, the expressions of the immortals remained unchanged, yet they nodded in secret. Patriarch Lü Dongbin, the ancestor of Liaochen, even flicked his sword and uttered a single word: "Excellent." The Three Pure Ones opened their eyes for a mere instant, only to close them quickly once more. Only within the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss did the expressions of the various Bodhisattvas turn unpleasantly gloomy.

Meanwhile, within the netherworld of the underworld, a commotion arose; it was evident that Mingwei's divine office overlapped with the administration of the netherworld. The Gatekeeper of the Underworld sighed, yet found himself helpless. Only King Bao of the Fifth Hall and his formidable general Zhong Kui smiled slightly, the latter remarking, "This brother of yours has a profound karmic connection with the netherworld." Zhong Kui answered with a smile, "Yet both you and I in our mortal days were descendants of Huaxia; how could we not rejoice?" With those words from Zhong Kui, King Bao nodded and said, "His Divine Kingdom has just opened, yet he lacks assistant deities. He once had a judge who was injured by the White Lotus, and whose treatment within the netherworld is now complete. You should go and escort him back to him."