“What nonsense are you speaking?”
The Dao Ancestor frowned as he stared at Li Changshou, seemingly trying to determine if he was joking. Seeing Li Changshou’s serious expression, he continued, “Do not speak such words. How could I possibly be the same person as your senior?”
Li Changshou gazed intently at the Dao Ancestor. Though separated by half a zhang’s distance, his gaze was sharp as a blade, as if it could pierce through the Dao Ancestor’s eyes.
On the square surface of the low table, the Cloud Mirror continued to show Sun Wukong’s situation.
The bamboo house fell into silence for a moment.
“Does my friend not acknowledge it?” Li Changshou asked softly.
“Such an outrageous accusation…” the Dao Ancestor replied calmly.
Neither showed any sign of intimidation, speaking as if discussing everyday matters, yet between them existed a mysterious dao resonance.
Thunder in silence, battle cries in tranquility.
It was like the familiar ‘calm before the storm,’ but this tranquility was ultimately broken by Li Changshou’s hearty laugh.
“Haha, hahaha! I knew you wouldn’t acknowledge it. After all, if these truths were made public, the Primordial World would fall into chaos. Who knows how many beings would fade away in despair, or whether Master would need to create another realm. You simply dare not acknowledge it, friend.”
The Dao Ancestor replied calmly, “If this were true, why would I not dare acknowledge it? This world would not shatter for any reason. The beings’ despair and disappearance merely show their hearts are too fragile. Your Master upholds Pangu’s legacy – his duty is to watch over the Primordial World, not to create new heavens and earth.”
Li Changshou smiled, “Since my friend is so confident, might you answer a few questions?”
“Ask away,” the Dao Ancestor replied placidly.
Li Changshou asked, “What exactly was on Senior Lang’s last destroyed diary page? Why did Senior Lang go mad in such a short time?”
Hongjun answered, “As I showed you before, Lang and I had our differences.”
“The emotions Senior Lang displayed in the memory you just showed don’t match his final emotional state in the diary,” Li Changshou stated firmly. “Senior Lang witnessed the world’s creation. In the second-to-last page I saw, Senior Lang seemed to have suffered a massive shock, his dao heart completely unguarded. Something must have suddenly appeared before him, or he suddenly realized something, causing his dao heart’s defenses to completely shatter. Friend, am I wrong about this?”
Hongjun remained silent.
Li Changshou smiled, “I deduce that was when Senior Lang discovered the connection between you two.”
“There is no connection between us!” Anger flashed in Hongjun’s eyes.
Li Changshou calmly said, “Why not produce the last page of Senior Lang’s diary? The truth would become clear.”
“Does the truth matter?” Hongjun said coldly. “I am now the Primordial World. I am now the ruler of the Three Realms! The world’s origin is within my body. Your path leads only to destruction!”
“Is that so?” Li Changshou replied calmly. “What if I had a way to sever your connection to the world’s origin?”
Hongjun instinctively clutched his chest, then stared at Li Changshou and laughed, “If you had such means, why waste words with me?”
“Because I want to give you a way out,” Li Changshou said softly. “Although you’re just a false personality spawned by Senior Lang, and you killed the main personality, I still see you as half a fellow countryman. Moreover, I owe my current position to your protection. You’ve given me many benefits, though mostly through calculation, but I’m not ungrateful. You’ve killed countless beings, but aside from my Master, you haven’t harmed my friends and family. Though I still can’t dispel the bitterness about my Master, I still want to give you one last chance at survival. Right now, only you and I know about this. Stand down, and I’ll give you a small courtyard in a cage outside this world, where you can quietly watch the Primordial World’s future changes.”
Hongjun’s smile carried a hint of helplessness. “You won’t even reveal your methods. How can I trust you?”
“They wouldn’t work if I told you,” Li Changshou said seriously. “It depends on whether you trust me or not.”
“I feel you’re trying to deceive me,” Hongjun’s gaze became clear as he shook his head. “These are merely your speculations. Though interesting, they lack evidence.”
Li Changshou said, “Then how do you explain the matter with Chang’e? I feel guilty towards Fellow Daoist Chang’e, as she is pure-hearted and I used her. When the Fire Emperor attacked Heaven, I had already basically confirmed your connection with Senior Lang. Asking her to join was just to verify this guess. Your attitude towards Chang’e then was the best evidence.”
Hongjun replied calmly, “I forgave Chang’e simply because she was an old friend’s disciple.”
“Oh? An old friend’s disciple?” Li Changshou sighed slowly. “May I tell you a story?”
“Sun Wukong won’t wake for a while. Say what you wish,” Hongjun said, “but stories are just stories.”
“You really won’t believe it until it’s too late.” Li Changshou’s right palm held that chaos energy, slowly pushing it above the square table; his left hand formed a sword seal, surrounded by immortal light, as a scroll appeared behind him.
Ling’e’s way.
Li Changshou said, “Friend, do you know what few things I’ve done in the nearly thousand years since leaving the Primordial World?”
“Stop being mysterious, just speak.”
“The first thing was naturally to control Virtual Puti using the Heavenly Demon’s way, comprehend the great dao of heaven and earth, and seek means to eliminate you. The second thing was to accompany Ling’e Yun and the others. The third thing was to split off a strand of primordial spirit, simulating a Heavenly Demon’s state, slowly extending my immortal consciousness into the Chaos Sea, becoming one with it. Like an antenna.”
Li Changshou continued, “This was very dangerous. If my dao heart became unbalanced, it would affect my true heart, but I had to find the answer I sought.”
“Answer?”
“Yes, answer.” Li Changshou pursed his lips and said softly, “An answer to a question I’ve asked myself since arriving in this Primordial World.”
Hongjun asked with interest, “What question?”
“Why is this world the way it is?”
Hongjun became even more intrigued.
Li Changshou exhaled softly and began explaining the question’s origin.
“Friend… let me call you Senior. Senior, do you think a newborn child could master a language without exposure to any language?”
Hongjun shook his head slightly.
Li Changshou said, “Correct, they cannot. There were many experiments back home. Language is collective memory, part of inheritance. Not just language, but writing, skills, thoughts, and melodies – these are all parts of collective inheritance. That is, they are tools that newborns must learn, remember, and master when joining this collective. You should have no objection to this principle.”
“Correct.”
“Let’s extend this further… to logic. Logic is the pattern and rules of thinking, divided into objective and subjective. This leads to another key term: thought logic.”
Li Changshou leaned forward, squinting as he stared at the Dao Ancestor, and said softly:
“When civilizations form in different environments, if two civilizations lack primitive, lasting, stable communication, they develop different thought logically. Even on Earth, ancient civilizations from just thousands of years ago – the civilization that emerged in the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys versus the ancient civilization that emerged in our Great Xia land – were completely different. However, when two civilizations meet, they can communicate through learning because, tracing back further, they share common ancestors and similar thought logic.
What about the Primordial World and Earth? Let me ask you, why can I understand this world without any barriers?! Why can I communicate with the beings of this world without any boundaries, paying only the price of learning the local dialect? Simple – the logic by which beings in this world think aligns with my original thought logic.
This was a doubt in my heart before I began cultivation, and when I encountered Senior Lang, I suddenly had a crazy but reasonable idea. Who exactly created this Primordial World? Who crafted this world that combines the mythology and culture of my Chinese homeland?! Who embedded thought logic patterns similar to mine into this world!”
The Dao Ancestor’s expression was indescribably gloomy.
Li Changshou gave a bitter laugh and sighed, “Friend, do you still insist these are mere speculations? This was your greatest flaw, laid before me from the very beginning, guiding me step by step closer to the Primordial World’s truth as my dao realm deepened.”
“Friend, still won’t acknowledge it? Still need evidence? I have much more.”
The Dao Ancestor said coldly, “Yes.”
Li Changshou’s left hand’s sword finger touched that gray energy and the scroll behind him rustled open.
From that scroll flowed a strand of dao resonance, transforming into a ‘perception’ like spiritual awareness, forming several murmurs in their hearts:
[What kind of place is this exactly? Feels like it’s been so long, being in this daze day after day. Is this death?]
[No way, is death supposed to be this uncomfortable? Wasn’t it supposed to be lights out and nothing else? I lived a worthless life for over forty years, got hit by a car, and now I have to suffer like this?]
[Eh? Could this be the legendary Chaos Sea? The primordial chaos, Pangu creating heaven and earth?]
The Dao Ancestor frowned deeply, but now merely closed his eyes, the smile at his lips somewhat bitter.
Li Changshou withdrew his finger, stared at the Dao Ancestor, and said slowly:
“Friend, let me tell you a story, about Senior Lang and you.”
Hongjun remained silent.
Li Changshou began speaking in a slightly relaxed voice:
“There was a middle-aged man, unsuccessful in life, a rootless duckweed, who was sent away by a car accident.
When he opened his eyes – though it wasn’t opening eyes, but rather when his consciousness awakened – he found himself in an indescribable gray space.
Void, emptiness, helplessness.
Then he fell into a tragic situation: only thoughts, no physical form, unable to sense the passage of time, yet his thoughts continued jumping, unable even to die – only able to fall asleep again and again.
What he didn’t know was that in this region containing nearly endless power, incomprehensible and indescribable, with only his consciousness, many wonderful things would happen.
He was the sole ruler of this region during this period.
He experienced eternal loneliness, in silence without end or waves, nearly going mad.
In his daze, he began talking to himself.
He went mad.
Split personality, split consciousness – to combat the eternal loneliness and solitude, other personalities emerged without the main personality noticing.
Here, there existed no concept of time or space, but as the only consciousness, his every thought influenced this region.
Then one day, he had a sudden idea.
‘Eh? Could this be the legendary Chaos Sea? The primordial chaos, Pangu creating heaven and earth?’
What he didn’t know was that this thought, this subconscious judgment, and his memories, influenced the evolution of this miraculous region.
When this miraculous region evolved broken dao principles, it evolved multiple true spirit beings.
Pangu was born from his small wish.
If we introduce the concept of time, it would certainly be an incomprehensibly long period.
Then the key elements surrounding Pangu – the Chaos Lotus, the Chaos Egg, the Creation Axe, the Primordial Divine Demons – all came into being.
That weak consciousness which had dominated everything also naturally lost its original dominion of sole existence due to the birth of multiple true spirit beings and the increase of consciousnesses in this region.
But in his subconsciousness, he had already transmitted his way of thinking, and everything changed according to his thoughts.
This era was called the Primordial Chaos.
That ‘he’ was Senior Lang.
More terrifyingly, Senior Lang’s main personality hazily completed the split with other personalities.
It can be deduced that the first true spirit split occurred before the birth of multiple true spirit beings, before Pangu’s appearance.
And the split personalities attached themselves to a true spirit.
This point can be proven by Lady Houtu’s Seven Emotions Avatar – such a situation was indeed possible.
Senior Lang, in his confusion, forgot that these were companions he had imagined – this should have been self-hypnosis to combat loneliness, subconsciously treating the personalities as friends.
Then, Senior Lang’s main personality truly became friends with these split personalities.
These personalities possessed Lang’s memories, knew everything Lang had triggered, and had rather fatal flaws – some obsessive, some merciful, some trying to imitate the main personality.
They were incomplete, yet strived to accompany the main personality through those difficult lonely years.
Among them, one personality was the strongest and gentlest. He suggested that each personality hide their identity and become part of the world the main personality hoped to see.
So they took on roles in the Chaos and Primordial World, and gradually turned the main personality’s strongest wish at that time into reality.
At this time, these personalities were still sharing one body formed from a true spirit;
He met Pangu, deceived him, and survived by having the main personality plead for his ‘friend.’
This single true spirit being was you, friend, the Hongjun of that time, correct?
What did Senior Lang’s main personality wish for most?
According to the information remaining in the Chaos Sea, appearing most frequently was the main personality’s self-comfort:
‘I’ve crossed over to the Chaos Sea? Later I can become brothers with Pangu, then make my way back to Earth!’
Later, Senior Lang’s main personality witnessed the creation of heaven and earth, the birth of the Primordial World.
This region was called the Chaos Sea.
After Pangu’s death, those split personalities began using the main personality’s memories and impressions to write the script of the Primordial World, gradually separated from Hongjun’s body, and directed many great plays.
Demon Ancestor Luohou was Senior Lang’s false personality.
Dao Ancestor Hongjun was Senior Lang’s false personality.
The elder lying in Destiny Lamp’s stone coffin was you, wasn’t it, Senior?
This world was opened by Pangu, yet those whose cultivation speed exceeded even Pangu’s three spirit-transformed friends were absurd.
Master Taiqing once said that the elder in that stone coffin was among the first batch of powerhouses after the world’s creation, with strength above Master’s – this was completely unreasonable.
Moreover, Jieyin and Zhunti’s master was also one of the personalities, later similarly devoured by Dao Ancestor Hongjun.
This was the predecessor of the Primordial World Committee before Lang joined.
The ancient battle, the struggle between Demon Ancestor and Dao Ancestor, was a battle between two ‘larger’ personalities that continuously devoured other split personalities, with the rule being a winner takes all.
After the Demon Ancestor’s defeat, the split personalities merged into one, gained complete thoughts, gained stubborn ideas, gained private desires unwilling to return to the main personality, and when the split personality disagreed with the main personality…
No, incorrect, that conflict between the split personality and the main personality was also within the split personality’s calculations.
The split personality tried everything to eliminate the main personality!
Finding a noble-sounding reason for itself – protecting the Primordial World.
But what about reality?
The name ‘Primordial World’ was bestowed subconsciously by this being who accidentally crossed over to the earliest period of the Chaos Sea.
When this split personality eliminated the main personality, it had already lost all meaning.
But this split personality didn’t fall into chaos because of this, instead placing itself above all beings.
The split personality’s private desires and ambitions were merely to cover its defects.”
…
Li Changshou’s words stopped as he looked at the closed-eyed Dao Ancestor before him.
“Friend, nothing to say?”
Hongjun maintained his silence.
Li Changshou continued: “The third reason that made Senior Lang go mad and choose suicide lies here.
Senior Lang’s main personality discovered these secrets and completely broke down.
Honestly, if it were me, I would break down too.
When I figured this out, I also went through self-denial.”
Li Changshou gave a cold laugh: “So, I’ve been living in a story written by others all along.”
“Here.”
Hongjun spoke calmly, a piece of paper flying from his sleeve to land before Li Changshou.
Along with it, some mist appeared around the paper, and the surroundings fell into an illusion. Li Changshou saw Senior Lang’s figure.
Li Changshou saw Senior Lang.
Very ordinary, a middle-aged face with a fair complexion, average height, wearing an elaborate Daoist robe.
Senior Lang knelt before the stone tablet of the Kun Peng, eyes red-rimmed, expression somewhat fierce, his sword finger trembling as he wrote large characters.
Simultaneously, Senior Lang’s low roar appeared outside the scene:
“False, it’s all false!
This world shouldn’t exist, this world’s evolution has gone wrong!
The world Brother Pangu wanted to create, I shackled it with my own hands, true spirits endlessly reincarnating in this wrong world, merely repeating one error after another!
I must destroy this world, I must return the Chaos Sea to its original state, return it to how it was before I came.
No, this isn’t the Chaos Sea, the Chaos Sea was the destiny I gave it.
Shackles!
I am this world’s shackles!
It was me, this bastard who couldn’t bear loneliness, who gave destiny to the true spirits that jumped into this world! And I kept shouting that the destiny theory was false!
Destroy it, I must destroy it…
I’ll bear the consequences of my mistakes myself!”
That voice full of madness gradually drifted away, and the scene slowly dissipated.
Li Changshou looked at the last page before him, quickly confirming this was indeed the final page of Senior Lang’s diary, its hastily written text similar to the words just heard.
He sensed a slight change in the Dao Ancestor’s surrounding aura and couldn’t help but open his eyes to look, meeting the Dao Ancestor’s gaze again.
This time, several figures appeared in the Dao Ancestor’s pupils.
A youth wearing blood-colored battle armor and wielding a black divine spear, an elder with a huge hole in his chest, and a fair-skinned Daoist sleeping peacefully in a rocking chair.
Demon Ancestor Luohou, Destiny Lamp’s true self, Senior Lang.
And except for Senior Lang, Luohou, Destiny Lamp’s true self, and Dao Ancestor Hongjun spoke simultaneously, three voices merging into one, unexpectedly rough and heavy:
“No one can destroy the Primordial World we created.”
Li Changshou: …
Hongjun closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, the previous anomalies were gone, condensing into one sentence:
“Yes, so what?”
Hongjun sighed, “Though I’m unwilling to acknowledge my origins, and once used earthworms and crickets as cover, this is ultimately just a matter of origins. Now, I am the world’s dao guardian, which you cannot deny. For this world, I eliminated the main personality that gave birth to me.”
“For the world?”
Li Changshou laughed twice:
“Stop deceiving yourself and others. Of all the things you’ve done, which was for the world’s sake?
Friend, Senior Lang was injured during the world’s creation, then sought a place to recover, sleeping through the long ancient times.
If my deduction isn’t wrong, Senior Lang slept through the entire ancient period because you all sealed him, right?
From the moment Senior Lang’s true spirit split, you had already betrayed the main personality.
You shared memories and knew the Primordial World that Senior Lang subconsciously imagined, yet you took the name Hongjun and became the Dao Ancestor – this was the beginning of your ambition.
The other personalities were merely manipulated by you, and you planned the devouring of the main personality step by step.
Each step you took was incredibly clever. I even suspect that during the second true spirit split, when you split yourself into the Demon Ancestor and the Spirit Coffin Elder, you modified these two ‘larger’ personalities’ cognition.
Otherwise, how could the Demon Ancestor foolishly fall for the trap?”
Hongjun smiled, “Those are purely your speculations.”
“Indeed, there’s no evidence for these matters,” Li Changshou said calmly, “unless we find the Demon Ancestor’s corpse, or awaken the informed Beginning Phoenix from the Undying Fire Mountain.”
Hongjun’s smile stiffened slightly.
The bamboo grove fell into silence again. The gray energy between these two figures had been collected by Li Changshou, and the book manifesting behind Li Changshou quietly dissipated.
Li Changshou said: “Friend, still won’t admit defeat? I’ve exposed your origins.”
“Where have I lost?”
Hongjun said calmly: “Rather if you truly could defeat me, how would you handle this world? Destroy the Primordial World?”
“How could I?” Li Changshou smiled, “I think this world is quite good.
It’s a microcosm of my homeland’s mythological system, inheriting my homeland’s culture – very familiar, yet novel.
In a newborn world, isn’t any direction of development still developing?
Senior Lang’s subconsciousness provided this world a template, and influenced the evolution of that initial spiritual energy cluster, creating such a beautiful world – isn’t it good to let it exist?
Haven’t you realized yet, friend?
The problem isn’t what the world is like, or what the beings are like.
This world, which could originally only exist in my homeland’s mythology, is already quite remarkable.
The problem lies with you, lies with the Heavenly Dao.
Why can’t we let this world break free from shackles, let it extend and develop according to the mutual influence between beings and dao principles?
We don’t need to say it must shatter into boundless starry skies, nor must there be a solar system with a blue star.
My homeland’s universe is grander.
Isn’t it good to let the Primordial World develop on its own? To let the Heavenly Dao be without private desire, to have you separate from the world’s origin, to have the world and great dao without any consciousness – isn’t this good?
I oppose Senior Lang’s plan to destroy the world – that’s an irresponsible way of escape, and such crude escape, not seeking remedial measures, is too rough.”
Li Changshou’s gaze was quite sincere: “Friend, let go, give freedom to the world, give freedom to beings.”
Hongjun squinted slightly, staring at Li Changshou.
Li Changshou said:
“Friend, don’t you constantly claim you’re doing what’s best for the world?
This question seems to have touched your pain point – you can’t answer for now, can you?
Because you never thought about letting go of this world!
The Heavenly Dao is your stepping stone. After killing Senior Lang, you completed yourself – you are now Dao Ancestor Hongjun, a being wanting to control the world, to control the Chaos Sea.
You spread the Primordial Spirit Way, promoting the so-called Three Corpse Severance method.
Friend, the Three Corpse Severance method you taught me was clever, but through this technique, I first sensed your pathological psychology.
A perfectly fine self, yet insisting on severing into True Self Corpse, Good Corpse, Evil Corpse.
I can’t help but suspect that you want cultivators to be like you, fantasizing that you are the ‘true self.’
Everything is just to satisfy your twisted dao heart – don’t mention it’s all for the world anymore.
This world was ruined by you all in ancient times!”
“Enough, we’ll never understand each other.”
“Friend, you’re making me sick now…”
Looking at the Dao Ancestor’s regretful expression before him, Li Changshou felt truly speechless for the first time.
“You and I must still battle,” Hongjun paid no mind to Li Changshou’s disgust, “Since that’s the case, I’ll temporarily believe you have trump cards that threaten me.
How do you want to duel, and when?
Consider this a senior’s final care for a junior.
Actually, Changshou… if you had chosen to cultivate the Three Corpse Severance method I gifted you back then, I would indeed have given you the Dao Ancestor position, then gone myself to explore the path back to that blue star.”
Li Changshou shook his head:
“Such a me would be too unstable – I don’t even dare let paper dolls have conscious personalities.
Don’t say such emotional things, friend. This kind of rhetoric has little meaning.”
His words paused as he looked down to see that in the magical mirror on the desk, Sun Wukong had opened his eyes and was gazing somewhat absently at the cloud-covered sky.
“He’s awake.”
The smile on the Dao Ancestor’s lips grew deeper, “Before our battle, why not see how far he can go?”
Li Changshou smiled, “Friend, you’re also stalling for time, aren’t you?”
“Oh? What makes you say that?”
“You’re rushing to devour the Heavenly Dao,” Li Changshou raised his hand and pointed, and a scene slowly appeared behind the Dao Ancestor.
Outside the Purple Void Palace, a jade disc spun rapidly, pressing down on a great cauldron below.
Within that cauldron, a seven-colored figure sat quietly, being continuously refined by the Qiankun Cauldron, streams of flowing light shooting toward the jade disc.
Outside the cauldron, four gray-robed Daoists sat cross-legged, extending their palms toward the Qiankun Cauldron.
Seeing this, Li Changshou remained composed and said leisurely:
“Being able to trick the Heavenly Dao’s private desires into destroying the Heavenly Dao’s will – you’re truly formidable.
However…
The Heavenly Dao’s will was induced by you in the late ancient period. Even if you devour the Heavenly Dao’s will, it only strengthens your control over the Heavenly Dao slightly, not much different from now.”
Hongjun said: “You seem unconcerned about my complete control over heaven and earth.”
Li Changshou smiled without speaking, staring at Sun Wukong’s figure beginning to be wrapped in flames, and said:
“So-called trump cards should be used at crucial moments to determine victory.
Do as you wish, friend. When you’re ready, I’ll give you the ceremony you deserve.”
The implication is…
If his main body could arrive here now, he would have already struck you down.
However, Li Changshou had no intention of getting physical with the Dao Ancestor.
His method of ‘striking down’ the Dao Ancestor wasn’t through a great battle of magical arts; Master Taiqing had tried that, and it couldn’t solve the fundamental problem.