Chapter 3: Subtle Changes Emerge as Hongjun Expounds the Dao
When the two Daoists, Guiding and Quasi-Ti, arrived at the Purple Cloud Palace, nearly everyone had already gathered. After a hundred years, when all three thousand seats were fully occupied, the gates of the Purple Cloud Palace thundered shut, severing the chance to hear the teachings from those who had not yet entered, leaving the Da Luo rushing toward the palace sighing in vain.
As the sound of the bell, probing the depths of the heart, reverberated throughout the palace, Haotian and Jade Pool, the pair of youthful attendants, arrived at either side of the cloud platform. The many beings of great magical power were startled by this, composed themselves, and rose in unison, faces filled with reverence as they looked ahead.
High above the nine layers of clouds, the mat is for true Dao.
Beyond the mysteries of heaven and earth, I am the honored teacher.
Pangu gave birth to the Supreme, Two Forms and Four Symbols follow.
All talents of the Mysterious Gate, one breath transforms into Hongjun.
...
After the chant ended, an elder in green robes appeared out of thin air atop the cloud platform. His eyes were closed, holding a whisk, his expression solemn. Around him, the currents of the Great Dao flowed ceaselessly. Even the Red Cloud Ancestor, a Da Luo Golden Immortal who had attained Dao, felt a sense of profound mystery he could not comprehend.
If one were to describe it, it would be “inconceivable, beyond imagination, beyond description.”
“Salute to the Sage!”
All the beings of great magical power knelt in unison as Hongjun the Sage arrived. Some tried to glance up at the cloud platform, but after just one look, they lowered their heads, not daring to gaze again, the shock in their hearts unimaginable.
Even the twelve ancestral witches, watching from the back, resisted for a moment before bowing as well.
Red Cloud Ancestor, observing the aura of the Great Dao around Hongjun, paused. In the transparent scroll within his right eye, a different image of Hongjun appeared. This figure was seated upon a void, sinister energy surging below. Though the visage remained Hongjun’s, the three thousand whisks in his hand transformed into three thousand tendrils, ceaselessly drifting.
Shocked, Red Cloud hurriedly closed his eyes and knelt down. In this bow, his heart was filled with utmost devotion, all for the Dao.
Three thousand Da Luo knelt together, their combined fortune stirring the river of time and space, causing it to tremble and roll back in waves.
...
Hongjun the Sage seemed to sense something, lifting his gaze to sweep across the gathered Da Luo below. After lingering for a moment, he perceived their devotion to the Dao and a hint of satisfaction flickered in his eyes. He no longer concerned himself with it.
“Rise!” he said.
Hongjun sat upright on the cloud platform, lightly waving the whisk in his hand. The three thousand strands of blue silk rippled, compelling the Da Luo to sit upright unconsciously.
“Now that the seats are fixed and will not change, I desire to lecture three times. This is the first:
I shall speak of heaven and earth, of the Great Dao.
How much you comprehend depends on your own insight. Take heed!”
Having said this, Hongjun paused, glanced at the copper incense burner, watched smoke curl upward, found a comfortable posture, and reclined:
“The Great Dao is ethereal, without beginning or end, born at the opening of heaven, manifesting through transformation.
Mutual generation and restraint, complementing each other, with a beginning yet boundless, from the subtle to the infinite, heaven changes once to become three, nine transformations to reach the extreme…”
As Hongjun lectured, numerous marvels appeared in the Purple Cloud Palace. Blossoms of the Dao fell, disappearing into the heads of the Da Luo, imparting an overwhelming sense of enlightenment.
His enthusiasm grew, and his posture relaxed. A jade butterfly appeared before him, the aura of the Great Dao instantly filling the entire palace.
“Three thousand paths, all leading to the same end, simplified through complexity, becoming aware of the Dao. If one attains Da Luo, the Dao has no limits, the spiritual light endures through countless calamities…”
As the lecture deepened, Hongjun never looked down at the audience, continuing his discourse without pause.
...
As the saying goes, a thousand faces, all unique. Within the comprehension of each being of great magical power, Hongjun’s teachings, accompanied by his voice, transformed into profound, mysterious, and obscure characters of the Dao. Once converted, they became part of each individual’s own Dao scripture.
Their devotion to the Dao was evident, most already at the threshold, and this lecture was like adding the finishing touch. With his guidance, they pondered deeply, immersing themselves entirely, intoxicated and entranced.
Among them, the greatest in Dao attainment were the Three Purities. Born from Pangu’s primordial spirit after opening heaven and earth, their fortune was unmatched. With Hongjun’s guidance and blossoms of the Dao, countless insights flooded their minds.
The Supreme Purity comprehended: “The highest goodness is like water; water benefits all things and does not compete. Not competing is non-action.”
The Jade Purity comprehended: “Follow heaven in tranquility, narrate the Dao through heaven, beneath heaven the Dao persists.”
The Upper Purity comprehended: “Heaven develops four nines, a thread of vitality, to be harnessed for oneself.”
The Dao is the Great Dao of the primordial world, the manifestation of its order.
Where the heart wanders, so does understanding. Among these three thousand paths, each finds what suits, what they dislike, what they understand, what they seek.
In the foremost six figures on the meditation mats, aside from the Three Purities, no one knew what Nuwa comprehended, only that her aura became increasingly concealed.
As for Quasi-Ti and Guiding, their expressions grew more distinct. Quasi-Ti, whose countenance once showed both joy and sorrow, now displayed neither, yet both emotions lingered on his face, making him stand out more than before.
Guiding, whose features had been marked by grief, found that sorrow slightly diminished, but the heaviness around him intensified.
The other beings of great magical power were all immersed in a state of Dao comprehension, every gesture and thought cycling endlessly, gaining immeasurable benefit.
Even the twelve ancestral witches of the Wu tribe, though their cultivation differed from Hongjun’s teachings, found points of similarity, their faces gradually becoming serene as they entered deep contemplation.
Red Cloud Ancestor, meanwhile, kept his eyes tightly shut, standing dazed. Though he received the overwhelming enlightenment from the blossoms of the Dao, he entered a different realm of comprehension.
In his misty eyes, beneath the cold gaze, a phantom gradually appeared.
This phantom rested on a meditation mat, its aura deeply mysterious, its features blurred, only a pair of eyes radiating pure simplicity faintly visible. Yet unlike the peace and harmony he had seen before, this phantom carried a hint of strangeness and confusion, giving him a sense of something illusory.
That thought—indescribable, inconceivable, untouchable—rushed madly into his consciousness, dissolving his spiritual sense in an instant.
This is… the one upon the high platform!
Red Cloud Ancestor felt a strand of his spiritual sense dissipate. His heart stirred, and he condensed another avatar, appearing beneath the illusion. But he did not look further, instead reflecting on his prior experience, his heart filled with joy.
The various energies emanating from the phantom, combined with the Dao sounds drifting in from outside, gave him a sense of “all three thousand paths are within my grasp.”
At this moment, he faintly understood: what he had just witnessed might well be the opportunity for him to attain Dao in the future, a means of self-preservation within the primordial world!