Tusita Palace’s plaza:
Although the Supreme Wa had her physical body, reviving her was more difficult than reviving Long Zhanguo. Long Zhanguo had to reforge his body, so he lost his cultivation. However, as the Supreme Wa had her body, she could retain her cultivation.
Laozi and the Supreme Ascendant Sovereign followed the previous steps, placing the Supreme Wa’s physical body, Nuwa’s blood, and the Supreme Wa’s three spiritual souls into the Eight Trigram Pill Furnace. Then, Gu Hai and the others waited patiently.
The Eight Trigram Pill Furnace required sixty-four days to revive the Supreme Wa. However, Gu Hai and the others felt assured with the Supreme Ascendant Sovereign controlling the fire.
Naturally, some disciples brought over chairs for Gu Hai, Zang Yulian, Long Zhanguo, Laozi, Siddhārtha, and Jesus. The six chatted while waiting for the Supreme Wa’s revival.
All the immortals and buddhas in the surroundings listened respectfully to their conversation.
“Lord of Primordial Beginning, go bring over all records of Yi Qiu and his final testament,” Laozi instructed.
[TL Note: The Chinese words for Primordial Beginning also translate to Essence Genesis. This likely means that the Lord of Primordial Beginning is the counterpart to the Myriad Age Daoist Sect’s Essence Genesis. As such, the three leaders of the Myriad Age Daoist Sect—the Supreme Ascendant, Sect Master Heavenly Access, and Essence Genesis—are the counterparts of the Three Pure Ones, even sharing the same name with some variation.]
“Yes, true body!” The Lord of Primordial Beginning nodded, then left.
As Long Zhanguo chatted with everyone, he slowly came to understand everything.
“This is not an immortal firmament? Instead, this is an independent world that you created?” Long Zhanguo looked around.
“Indeed. An immortal firmament appears only once every one million years. How could it be that easy to obtain one? The immortal firmament we previously had completely shattered, wasting all our efforts.”
“My immortal firmament also broke. How unfortunate! How unfortunate for all the living beings in there!” Long Zhanguo sighed.
“Your immortal firmament broke? How unfortunate!” Laozi sighed.
However, Gu Hai’s expression changed slightly.
Speaking of broken immortal firmaments, Long Zhanguo’s was in Gu Hai’s hands. Before he killed Long Zhanguo, Long Zhanguo had handed it to him. The Warring Nation Immortal Firmament had shriveled up, completely ruined. He had placed it in the Mending Heaven Energy pool, hoping that the Mending Heaven Energy could mend it. It was still soaking there.
“Earth? Who is Heaven here?” Gu Hai looked at Laozi.
“He is called Sa. Perhaps our universe could be called Sa’s Immortal Firmament,” Laozi sighed softly.
“Sa?” Gu Hai appeared slightly confused.
“You fought Sa before?” Long Zhanguo asked.
“Indeed. Unfortunately, no one was a match for him. He took away all the laws and Spiritual Energy of this world. If not for our advance preparations, this world would have…,” Laozi sighed.
“What is this world? I see many of Earth’s deities?” Gu Hai asked out of curiosity.
“This is a world we created together, a world that exists in the thoughts of all life. This world will survive as long as living beings exist. It is an imitation of an immortal firmament. Unfortunately, an immortal firmament is too hard to create.” Laozi shook his head.
“Nonetheless, this is already quite extraordinary. It is no inferior to my immortal firmament—and even more perfect, in fact.” Long Zhanguo narrowed his eyes as he sensed this world.
“What about the Three Pure Ones and Gautama here? Did you create them?” Gu Hai asked.
“Them? When we created this world, we split off a wisp of our consciousnesses, just like the Three Pure Ones were. Back then, I turned a breath of mine into them, and they slowly developed into their current state.” Laozi nodded.
“When I arrived, I was targeted by someone. A group of black-clad men?” Gu Hai mentioned it out of curiosity.
“They are just Heaven’s lackeys. The one pursuing you is called Leo. Heaven gave them some special enchanted treasures that can seal people’s memories. They go about doing as they please. However, we are not the only ones aware of them. There are people in various nations who have realized and formed organizations of ordinary people. These organizations clash with Leo and the others, but they are just ordinary people in the end,” Laozi sighed.
“You don’t support those ordinary organizations that resist Heaven’s lackeys?” Zang Yulian asked out of curiosity.
“The good and bad mingle together. Who can guarantee that Heaven’s spies are not among them? So, we did not keep in touch with them. Even if we contacted them, we would not permit them to enter this world.” Laozi shook his head.
“Did those myths and legends of Earth happen in this world? Journey to the West? Investiture of the Gods?” Gu Hai asked.
“Some are true, and some are false. The Investiture of the Gods? Many of the characters there are real but not the fight between the Severed Sect and the Enlightened Sect. Instead, they fought against Heaven, resulting in a resounding defeat and countless deaths and injuries. We nearly wasted all our efforts and lost this world too. Unfortunately, Nuwa had also…hah…,” Laozi sighed.
“Jieyin and Puti too…,” Siddhārtha sighed.
“And Lucifer…” Jesus showed a faint, bitter smile.
“Oh?” Gu Hai appeared slightly surprised.
“There were so many casualties? Who was the leader then?” Gu Hai asked.
“It was the Jade Emperor. He also fell. He used his life to protect our world,” Laozi sighed.
“The Jade Emperor? In Journey to the West, didn’t he…” Gu Hai appeared slightly confused.
“That was spread by Wu Chengen. Hah! Did you think the emperor of all immortals, the Jade Emperor was that weak?” Laozi smiled.
[TL Note: Wu Chengen is the author of Journey to the West. Here is the Wikipedia entry on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Cheng'en.]
“Huh?” Gu Hai frowned slightly.
“The Jade Emperor died long ago. What Journey to the West described was just a wisp of his remnant will. Furthermore, his nature had changed greatly. He was no longer the original Jade Emperor,” Laozi said, his voice sinking.
“You are quite extraordinary to be able to make a world that can hide from Heaven. To think that you can prevent Heaven from finding you!” Long Zhanguo said.
However, Siddhārtha shook his head. “Something happened a few years ago. Now, we are still investigating it, hoping to find the root of it. We are worried that some of this world has already been exposed.”
“Oh?” Gu Hai’s face sank.
“Gautama, you explain it!” Siddhārtha looked to Gautama, who was at the side.
“Yes, Revered One of the World.” The Gautama Buddha stepped forward.
“We will have to start from what happened in the past. Lady Nuwa had left behind a five-colored stone, which absorbed natural Spiritual Energy and birthed a stone monkey. This stone monkey was unique, and Ancestor Puti took it in as his disciple and passed on his legacy. This monkey was incredible, quickly learning everything in a short time and gaining overwhelming strength. However, it was wild and unruly. We had to put in a lot of effort to seal it under Five Finger Mountain,” the Gautama Buddha said seriously.
“Sun Wukong, right? Journey to the West recorded it,” Gu Hai said in confusion.
The Gautama Buddha nodded.
“You have read Journey to the West? That’s good. It is that Sun Wukong. Did you notice the changes in it after I sealed it under Five Finger Mountain? Previously, it was bold and dared to challenge the immortals and deities. However, after it came out of Five Finger Mountain, it became weak…” the Gautama Buddha explained.
“That’s right.” Gu Hai nodded.
“Actually, that Sun Wukong disappeared not long after we sealed it under Five Finger Mountain. We searched the entire world but could not find any trace of it. Later on, we substituted it with an ordinary monkey spirit to try and lure it out. However, it only resulted in my disciple, Golden Cicada, completing the journey to the west. All the deities and buddhas did so much, but it never appeared,” the Gautama Buddha said with a frown.
[TL Note: Golden Cicada reincarnated in Journey to the West into Tang Sanzang, the leader of the expedition to the west, and became Sun Wukong’s master. Here is the Wikipedia entry on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Sanzang.]
“Sun Wukong? His disappearance is very strange. We have to keep our guard up,” Siddhārtha sighed.
“Sun Wukong?” Gu Hai felt slightly startled.
He recalled that he had once used a ritual array to manifest Sun Wukong in Borderless Heavenly Capital. That Sun Wukong was very different from the cloud beasts he created, Zhang Sanfeng and others. Not only did Sun Wukong not heed his commands, but it even left the ritual array.
It can’t be, right?
Confusion flashed in Gu Hai’s eyes.
“Ah?! It’s you?” Suddenly, a voice rang out among the immortals.
“Nezha, don’t be rude!” Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li shouted at the side.
[TL Note: Li Jing, also known as Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li, is a figure in Chinese mythology and a god in Chinese folk religion. He is the father of Nezha. Here is his Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Jing_(deity).]
Gu Hai looked at the shocked Nezha.
“Third Crown Prince Nezha? Have you seen me before?” Gu Hai asked out of curiosity.
“No. I can’t remember it clearly. It seems to be you. I seem to have seen you in a dream. I dreamed it. Perhaps I remembered wrong.” Nezha shook his head, not daring to speak again.
There were many other senior deities and immortals here; it was not his place to speak.
In a dream?
Gu Hai’s expression changed slightly. Aside from Sun Wukong, he had once manifested Nezha to deal with the Azure Emperor. At that time, Nezha also seemed a little strange, but he did return in the end.
“Mister Gu, you met Nezha in the Six Paths Immortal Firmament?” Laozi’s expression changed.
Jesus and Siddhārtha looked at Gu Hai with surprise.
“I’m not sure. It might be him,” Gu Hai said with a frown.
“Oh?” Everyone’s expression changed.
Just as everyone was feeling confused, the Lord of Primordial Beginning returned.
“True body, these are all the documents that Go Sage Yi Qiu left behind,” the Lord of Primordial Beginning said respectfully.
Laozi’s expression changed as he quickly spread out the documents. Everyone here possessed extraordinary eyesight, able to read everything in an instant. They immediately noticed a particular passage.
“One Go stone is the beginning; two Go stones show Yin and Yang. The Dao of an immortal firmament is like a Go board. It has two diametrically opposing sides: a positive and a negative. The positive cannot be lacking, and the negative cannot be lesser. A swap has to happen to maintain a balance. This immortal world was created by the various sages. When new laws are created, they can be fused into it. Yi Qiu is untalented, only able to fuse the Go Dao ritual array into this world. If someone of similar skill in Go to mine lays a Go Dao ritual array in the negative immortal firmament, they can initiate a summoning and make an exchange. Unfortunately, most unfortunately, I might never enter the negative immortal firmament with my Go skills! I shall leave this as a memorial for everyone to mock me!”
These were Yi Qiu’s original words.
The expressions of Laozi and the others changed as they all looked at Gu Hai.
“This world has the ritual array that Yi Qiu left. If you lay a similar ritual array in the Six Paths Immortal Firmament, you can exchange people?” Laozi’s face brightened with excitement.
Gu Hai’s expression betrayed some interest. Then, he showed a faint, bitter smile. “I did summon Sun Wukong. However, the timing is not right. I only summoned him a few years ago. However, Journey to the West already existed when I was on Earth!”
“No. The time of the two immortal firmaments might not match. Perhaps there isn’t even a pattern to it.” Laozi shook his head.
“That means you summoned Sun Wukong to the Six Paths Immortal Firmament?” Siddhārtha said dubiously.
“The one I summoned was the real Sun Wukong? Not a cloud beast?” Gu Hai said in shock.
According to Yi Qiu’s theory, I did indeed fuse in my Go Dao. Furthermore, the black Go stone was forged by Yi Qiu, and my one hundred thousand Go puzzles came from Earth. Those things helped me to refine my Go Dao. Did my Go Dao progress because of Yi Qiu’s help?
“The positive cannot be lacking, and the negative cannot be lesser. A swap has to happen to maintain a balance. That is to say, you can summon only one person over. You had already summoned Sun Wukong, so Nezha could not cross over. Therefore, he could only go in a dream unless Sun Wukong returned. You can summon only one person at a time?” Jesus said in confusion.
“The balance between immortal firmaments cannot be broken, so you can only summon one person? So if you return to the Six Paths Immortal Firmament and send Sun Wukong back using the ritual array, you can use the Go Dao to summon another person over?” Laozi said, his expression changing.
