Chapter 1400: The Final Solution to the Transmission Mystery

A thin, small boy, who looked no older than seven or eight, was lying on the thatched roof, gazing at the sky.

Upon hearing his mother's call, he attempted to get up but lost his balance and fell directly from the roof.

Fortunately, he landed squarely on the hay bale below and was unharmed.

Gou Dan seemed used to it; he dusted himself off, straightened his clothes, and jogged towards his home.

At the dinner table, his mother served him food while scolding, "Were you playing in the east end of the village again? I told you to stay away from that madman!"

Gou Dan gobbled down his food, saying nonchalantly, "I think Mad Uncle is quite nice. He's not as scary as you all say."

Gou Dan's father, who was usually quiet and had not uttered a word since dinner began, put down his chopsticks and slapped Gou Dan on the head after hearing his words.

"What do you know?!" he roared. "Do you know what happened to all those in the village who didn't believe in evil? I told you to stay away from him, so stay away!"

Under his father's stern hand, Gou Dan dared not argue. Yet, he remained unconvinced, simply continuing to eat in silence.

After that, Gou Dan ostensibly stopped visiting Mad Uncle's house.

However, whenever he found an opportunity, Gou Dan would secretly bring some treats and go to visit Mad Uncle.

"Mad Uncle" was Gou Dan's own term of address for him. The villagers simply called him "the madman."

He was also a villager, orphaned at a young age and raised on the charity of others. He was considered normal in his youth, but as he approached middle age, he began to act erratically.

He often muttered strange things.

Things like, "I've seen many versions of myself," or "I am not me." Sometimes he would even point at a villager, screaming in terror, "Aren't you already dead?"

And nine times out of ten, the villagers he "cursed" would indeed die suddenly shortly after.

In this world, immortals and deities truly existed. The villagers were convinced that the madman was connected to those enigmatic, mysterious powers. To avoid further misfortune, the villagers decided to unite and expel him.

However, there seemed to be something in the village he deeply cared about. Sensing the villagers' hostility, the madman suddenly turned violent and injured people.

Gou Dan wasn't sure how many people died that day. But from then on, the villagers chose to avoid the madman at all costs and keep their distance.

Only a naive youth like Gou Dan dared to approach him.

The madman stayed year-round in his dilapidated ancestral home. It was always dark and sunless inside. He would be curled up in a corner, ceaselessly repeating whispers.

Initially, Gou Dan had stumbled into the house by accident while playing hide-and-seek with his friends. The eerie atmosphere inside had startled him.

However, when he heard the madman's murmuring, although he didn't understand the meaning of the sounds, Gou Dan found himself involuntarily drawn to them.

Only when his friends' calls echoed outside, one after another, did Gou Dan reluctantly leave. After that, whenever Gou Dan's mind wandered, the madman's whispers would resonate in his ears.

Finally, one day, Gou Dan could no longer resist the temptation in his heart. He returned to the madman's dark, small house.

As a gesture of politeness, he even brought a roasted duck.

The aroma of the food seemed to briefly awaken the madman's senses. He stopped muttering, unceremoniously snatched the roasted duck, and devoured it.

After a full meal, the madman, now in a lucid state, merely warned Gou Dan to stay away from him.

How could Gou Dan, who felt he had been tricked out of a roasted duck, just give up? He naturally refused to leave and even asked the madman about the phrases he constantly muttered.

The madman was silent at first.

Then, from the dilapidated ruins of the house, he pulled out a pile of wooden tablets, saying they were ancestral spirit tablets.

He didn't know what he said when he was in a trance. He only knew that this strange affliction had accompanied their Xuanyuan clan since ancient times.

Fortunately, only one person in each generation suffered from this peculiar illness. As the Xuanyuan clan gradually expanded, few of their kin still remembered this hereditary condition.

"Let this curse end here," the madman said, rearranging the spirit tablets on the ground in order. When it came to his own turn, he placed only a blank wooden tablet.

Then, to Gou Dan's astonishment, all the tablets spontaneously ignited, turning to ashes in the small wooden house in an instant.

Gou Dan then asked about the mysterious deaths in the village.

Mad Uncle gave a ghastly smile. "What do fated deaths have to do with me? The rooster crows, and the world brightens. Is it possible that the great sun in the sky is truly crowed into existence by a rooster?"

"Gou Dan, you must understand, everything in this world has already happened countless times. What's happening now is merely another rehearsal. Just like you..."

Mad Uncle stared intently at Gou Dan, and then a look of extreme terror slowly spread across his face. After the fear, he began to turn deranged again. Before he completely lost his sanity, he casually pushed Gou Dan out the door.

From that day on, Gou Dan vaguely believed that Mad Uncle harbored some great secret.

Although young Gou Dan couldn't understand Mad Uncle's words, he firmly believed that Mad Uncle's secret was very likely related to the legendary immortals!

For this reason, Gou Dan went to great lengths to inquire about Mad Uncle's true name from his father.

Xuanyuan Sheng.

Even though everyone in the village shared the surname Xuanyuan, Gou Dan thought Mad Uncle's name was particularly good.

In the days that followed, Mad Uncle's madness worsened. Even Gou Dan bringing food to comfort him was no longer effective.

Gou Dan could only climb onto Mad Uncle's roof, closing his eyes and listening to the increasingly eerie sounds from below.

Every time he heard Mad Uncle's voice, which others found particularly chilling, Gou Dan would sleep especially soundly.

This went on until Gou Dan was nine years old.

One night, a tremendous explosion suddenly rocked the village. Startled awake, the villagers discovered the sound had come from Xuanyuan Sheng's house.

When everyone arrived, they found the area inexplicably leveled.

Mad Uncle's death did not cause much stir. To most of the Xuanyuan clan, the disappearance of Xuanyuan Sheng, that source of trouble, was actually a good thing.

Only Gou Dan was immensely saddened by Mad Uncle's death. He even went to the site of the incident when no one was around and searched meticulously. Unfortunately, he found nothing except a charred spirit tablet.

Only one corner of this wooden tablet remained unburnt. Gou Dan, being illiterate, took it to an educated elder in the village to inquire and learned it was the character for "Hong."

"Xuanyuan Hong."

Gou Dan had an excellent memory and vaguely recalled that when Mad Uncle arranged the tablets on the ground, this particular one had been placed prominently in the first position.

Knowing it was an ancestral tablet, Gou Dan did not dare keep it for himself.

After respectfully kowtowing, Gou Dan burned the remaining piece of the wooden tablet until nothing was left.

Xuanyuan Village had always been isolated from the world.

After Xuanyuan Sheng's death, the village returned to its usual peaceful life. Gou Dan gradually grew up, and the villagers no longer called him "Gou Dan."

Instead, they began calling him by his true name, Xuanyuan Tuo.

Xuanyuan Tuo's life trajectory was like that of the other villagers.

Sowing, tilling, harvesting. Marrying, taking a wife, having children.

Yet, in his leisure moments, Xuanyuan Tuo's mind would sometimes drift, recalling Mad Uncle's murmurs from long ago.

As time flowed by, those mysterious cadences remained etched in his mind, never fading.

As Xuanyuan Tuo grew older, his life seemed destined to follow a predetermined path.

Until the year Xuanyuan Tuo turned fifty.

Xuanyuan Tuo's son died of an illness. His wife, unable to bear the pain of seeing her child precede her in death, also passed away shortly after.

Within less than half a year, he lost two beloved family members consecutively. Xuanyuan Tuo was devastated.

He felt life was meaningless and often contemplated ending his own life.

But at crucial moments, the mysterious melodies that had accompanied him since childhood would resonate again, dispelling the dark thoughts in his mind.

Xuanyuan Tuo sat blankly for several days, and the grief in his heart slowly subsided.

He no longer had any plans to remarry or have more children.

Instead, an idea, like a flickering flame, ignited in his heart, then spread like wildfire, becoming uncontrollable.

Having witnessed the passing of one beloved life after another, Xuanyuan Tuo deeply recognized the fragility of life.

The thought that he was already past fifty and might soon follow in the footsteps of the deceased filled Xuanyuan Tuo with immense dread.

After another two days of sitting without food or drink,

Xuanyuan Tuo finally decided: he would cultivate immortality and seek eternal life!

For an old farmer nearing fifty, seeking immortals and the Dao seemed like a complete joke.

Xuanyuan Tuo also knew how absurd his decision was.

So, he did not announce it, but quietly packed his belongings and left Xuanyuan Village.

Alone, he embarked on the path to immortality.

Fortunately, the path of immortality flourished in this era, and immortals did not isolate themselves. On the contrary, one could occasionally see immortals flying through the air in almost every major town.

Enduring countless taunts, Xuanyuan Tuo finally inquired about the location of the nearest cultivation sect.

The Guiyuan Sect!

After a long and arduous journey, Xuanyuan Tuo finally arrived outside the Guiyuan Sect.

He was astonished to find hundreds of others gathered there, mostly young children accompanied by attendants. He was the only one of his kind, with one foot already in the grave, still hoping to cultivate immortality.

After some inquiries, Xuanyuan Tuo understood why everyone was gathered outside the mountain gate: it wasn't yet time for the Guiyuan Sect to accept disciples. The sect's protective formation was activated, covering the mountains, making the immortal sacred ground inaccessible to mortals.

Xuanyuan Tuo then asked when the next disciple recruitment ceremony would be held. He learned it was three years away.

He had intended to wait patiently outside the mountain gate like everyone else. But for some reason, as Xuanyuan Tuo looked at the immortal sect's protective formation, which others feared like a tiger, he vaguely felt it wasn't particularly terrifying.

Stirred by an impulse, the always daring Xuanyuan Tuo decided to take a risk.

And indeed, just as he expected, he encountered no dangers along the way and somehow, inexplicably, walked straight to the main gate of the Guiyuan Sect!

Meeting an immortal elder, Xuanyuan Tuo was overjoyed. He wanted to join the immortal sect, but was mercilessly mocked by the elder.

Fortunately, just as he was about to be forcibly expelled, an immortal elder surnamed Xu, perhaps taking pity on him, gave him an introductory immortal cultivation technique. He promised that if Xuanyuan Tuo could cultivate spiritual power within a year, he could come back to find him.

Although he had not officially joined the immortal sect on this trip, he had at least obtained an immortal cultivation technique.

Xuanyuan Tuo carefully kept the book close to him, bypassed the crowd still waiting outside the mountain gate, and for safety, trekked long distances to a more distant mortal town.

Xuanyuan Tuo himself was illiterate. To practice the cultivation method, he took every opportunity along the way to ask others for help and learn.

Although he was old, his mind was still sharp. By the time he safely reached his destination, Xuanyuan Tuo could recognize most of the characters in the introductory immortal cultivation technique.

Without an immortal master to guide him, Xuanyuan Tuo had to ponder it alone.

Immortal arts were profound; even an introductory cultivation technique was not something an unworldly old farmer from the mountains could successfully cultivate alone.

Furthermore, Xuanyuan Tuo was already at the age of fifty at that time, having long passed the optimal period for cultivation.

In addition, he had to earn money during the day to support himself...

In a flash, the one-year deadline was approaching. Yet, Xuanyuan Tuo, despite possessing the immortal technique, had achieved nothing.

"Even if I cultivate spiritual energy now, I won't make it back in time," he thought.

Despair filled Xuanyuan Tuo's heart.

"Cultivation is simply too difficult for ordinary people like us."

He suddenly recalled the young immortal master he had looked up at in the city a few days ago. The master, barely twenty years old, could already freely ride the wind.

How unfair was the Heavenly Dao!

Despair, jealousy, fear...

Xuanyuan Tuo slumped to the ground, gazing up at the sky.

"Why can't everyone cultivate in this world?"

"Why must such restrictions exist between heaven and earth?"

"Damn this old heaven!"

Such curses were all too common, playing out ceaselessly everywhere in the world, day and night.

But as Xuanyuan Tuo cursed in his heart, the familiar murmuring chants of Mad Uncle Xuanyuan Sheng resonated in his ears once more.

This time, however, they did not quickly fade away.

Instead, they cycled again and again, until they completely filled his mind!

In a daze, Xuanyuan Tuo seemed to return to his childhood.

In that eerie, dark room, Mad Uncle stood amidst a room full of Xuanyuan ancestral tablets, a fierce expression on his face.

"It's here again! Unending, an unyielding ghost!"

"Then let's all die together!"

Suddenly, raging flames erupted from Xuanyuan Sheng's body.

He then charged towards the ominous, densely arranged spirit tablets.

Dark, eerie flames gradually transferred from Xuanyuan Sheng's body to the tablets.

Amidst Xuanyuan Sheng's maniacal laughter, the fire gradually consumed everything.

In the end, only a corner of the tablet inscribed with "Xuanyuan Hong" remained.

And then, it was picked up by Xuanyuan Tuo!

Xuanyuan Hong!

These three characters appeared like a specter in his mind. Their gilded color slowly bled into drops of crimson.

Then, they exploded with a roar!

Xuanyuan Tuo fainted from it.

When he awoke, he stared blankly at the sky. Then he looked at his reflection in a mirror.

Something seemed to have changed.

Looking back at the introductory immortal cultivation technique gifted by the Guiyuan Sect elder, Xuanyuan Tuo found it incredibly simple and easy to understand.

Even...

...a bit too rudimentary.

Xuanyuan Tuo was no longer eager to achieve cultivation success and return to join the Guiyuan Sect.

Instead, he began to ponder the question he had asked himself earlier.

"Why can't everyone cultivate in this world?"

Xuanyuan Tuo knew, of course, that all beings were born different.

But what method could allow everyone in the world to cultivate, regardless of innate talent?

The constant murmuring that had accompanied him was no longer there, and Xuanyuan Tuo felt a momentary unfamiliarity.

But at the same time, numerous images began to incessantly surface in his mind.

Among them were scenes of countless plants, trees, and wild beasts.

Some were faces that were both familiar and strange.

And others were snippets of conversations with unclear meanings.

"How confident are you in this endeavor?"

"I'll do my best and leave the rest to fate."

"That doesn't sound like something you'd say."

"The disparity in strength is too great; there's no choice but to risk everything."

"Very well, go then. Who knows if it will bring fortune or disaster."

Xuanyuan Tuo pressed his brows.

He seemed to have forgotten some extremely important mission.

The jumbled memories did not affect Xuanyuan Tuo's resolve.

Instead, by leveraging the countless memory fragments that had suddenly surged into his mind,

Xuanyuan Tuo continued to delve deeper into his previous question.

How could everyone cultivate?

More and more fragmented images appeared in his mind.

Gradually, they pieced together the life of another powerful cultivator named Celestial Doctor Venerable.

But Xuanyuan Tuo, relying on the obsession in his heart, temporarily suppressed everything.

He continued to think mechanically.

He sat motionlessly in the courtyard for thirty-three days.

On this day, Xuanyuan Tuo, who had become extremely emaciated, with only thin skin hanging loosely on his bones, resembling a skeleton, suddenly rose.

His eyes were as bright and dazzling as the stars in the sky.

He looked up at the vast sky and murmured to himself.

"If I wish to become an immortal, why should I beg Heaven? If Heaven does not grant it, I shall take it myself!"

"To follow Heaven is to be mortal, to defy Heaven..."

"...is to be immortal!"

Xuanyuan Tuo's previously somewhat hunched chest instantly straightened.

With his mortal body, he met the gaze of the heavens.

Though he exuded no special aura, he seemed to be in no way inferior.

He continued to chant softly, "Therefore, the path of immortality is...

To absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, to control its essence;To borrow the wonders of heaven and earth, to build the foundation of the Dao;To observe the laws of heaven and earth, to refine the Golden Core;To seize the vitality of heaven and earth, to form the Nascent Soul;To extract the marrow of heaven and earth, to attain its spirit;To offer the soul of heaven and earth, to merge one's body with the Dao;To defy the principles of heaven and earth, to prove eternal life!"

Xuanyuan Tuo spoke faster and faster, until with the last sentence, he collapsed awkwardly from exhaustion.

But he did not get up, just lay on the ground, laughing heartily.

Too weak, Xuanyuan Tuo, having found the path he sought, drifted into a deep sleep.

The spiritual energy between heaven and earth was spontaneously drawn to him. It surged forth, forming a whirlwind that lifted and enveloped Xuanyuan Tuo in mid-air.

After a while, the unusual phenomenon of spiritual energy infusing his body gradually subsided.

Xuanyuan Tuo slowly descended to the ground. His fifty-year-old body was fully revitalized. Although his appearance remained aged, inside, he possessed immense vitality.

Who knew how much more time had passed...

Suddenly, a strong twitch ran across Xuanyuan Tuo's sleeping face.

He abruptly opened his eyes.

But there were no pupils, just an eerie expanse of white.

His voice also became older and deeper.

"The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao is even more formidable than I anticipated."

"I nearly lost myself completely, unable to regain my true consciousness."

"Cough, cough, I miscalculated somewhat."