Chapter 641: This Is the True Rightful Path

The water was cold and the river calm, surrounded by endless green mountains.

Splash...

A faint sound of water rippling on the surface spread outward, growing smaller in the chill.

The Daoist scooped water with a bowl and stood up to rinse his mouth.

Then he took out a toothbrush to brush his teeth.

The so-called toothbrush was actually a combination of toothbrush and toothpaste. Legend had it that a monk invented it; he mixed spices and medicinal herbs, then pressed them into a mold shaped like a toothbrush. When brushing, one only needed to wet it with water and scrub, then rinse. It wasn’t as convenient as a modern toothbrush, and it was more expensive, but it was very suitable for traveling.

Beside him, Lady Calico transformed into human form and imitated his actions, also scooping water to rinse and brushing her teeth.

No matter how the Daoist brushed, she copied just a little slower.

Pfft...

The Daoist spat out the water and said to her, “Brushing teeth is a good habit. Lady Calico, you should develop this habit. If conditions allow, it’s best to use tooth powder and a proper toothbrush.”

“Mmm mmm mmm...” The girl stammered in response.

The Daoist nodded and said, “You speak a bit later than children your age...”

“...!” The girl’s expression froze instantly, and she became stiff.

By the time she recovered and was about to repeat after him, the Daoist had already turned and walked away, leaving only his back.

“...?” The girl stared blankly at him for a long while.

Not long after, by the riverside, a fire was lit, quickly driving away the chill of the autumn morning. Even the lingering mist over the earth dared not approach. Above the fire hung a small pot, bubbling with porridge. Inside the porridge were some slices of blackfish and river shrimp; the fish slices curled from the heat, and the shrimp turned bright red from cooking.

Song You stirred with a spoon occasionally to prevent sticking, already imagining its delicious taste.

He scooped a spoonful and tasted it lightly. The porridge was savory, fresh but not fishy. “Mm...”

The Daoist nodded and took out three small bowls.

One bowl was filled mostly with thin porridge, one bowl had plenty of fish meat, and the last bowl needed only one shrimp, chopped up a bit.

The three bowls were distributed in three directions.

“Daoist priest, you eat more fish!”

Lady Calico picked up her chopsticks and immediately started handing lots of fish back to the Daoist. Thinking of how long he had been sitting on the stone mountain in the underworld without eating, she wanted to make up for all the food he missed during that time. The heavy fruits in their packs were proof of this.

“I also have other meat!”

To prevent the Daoist from refusing, after handing him the fish, she quickly took out a piece of dried meat from her pouch and pressed it into his bowl of porridge. No one knew what kind of meat it was, but it still had a tail.

“...” The Daoist was silent for a moment and could only thank her. He tried not to look at her too much while eating.

“Where are we going next?” Lady Calico asked him as she held her bowl and ate the porridge. “We’ve already traveled all through Great Yan.”

“I want to go see the scenery on Yunding Mountain first.”

“Yunding Mountain! I remember Yunding Mountain!” The girl frowned and paused seriously. “But I don't remember where Yunding Mountain is!”

“It’s in Pingzhou.”

“Pingzhou!” The girl paused again, this time searching her mind for useful information, “Pingzhou is south of Fengzhou, and it takes dozens of days to get there!”

“How do you know that?”

“When you were down below, I was up above in the mortal world, reading through all the books!”

“That sounds strange.”

“

Meow

?”

“But I perceive your eagerness to learn and progress,” the Daoist affirmed. “No wonder Master Yidu said Lady Calico has grown greatly.”

“That monk is a good person!” Lady Calico pronounced seriously, though that monk wouldn’t eat her mouse.

“This time we won’t travel slowly. Great Yan is too large; it would take three years to cover it all. Luckily, you tamed the white crane, so you will do the hard work,” Song You looked at the girl. “But I don’t know how long your current power can sustain the white crane’s manifestation?”

“At least four hours!” The girl held up two fingers with the chopsticks, paused, then switched to four fingers. “If there’s no fighting, at least eight hours!”

“Impressive, impressive...”

Song You was amazed both by her growth in cultivation and spiritual energy, and by the fact that she now knew how long an hour lasted.

He just wasn’t sure if she was making it up.

“So, how far can your white crane fly in eight hours?”

“That depends on whether it flies slowly or quickly.”

“What if it flies quickly?”

“If it flies quickly, it won’t last eight hours, only a little over four hour. But it flies faster. Anyway, it flies very fast.”

“And if it flies slowly?”

“Eight hours. It can stop halfway to eat. While eating, it can be put away, and after the meal, I meditate to recover some magical power. Then, it can fly almost a full day. If it flies straight without detours, it can reach Changjing in one day.”

“I see...”

From Mount Ye to Changjing, one must cross more than half of Fengzhou and part of Angzhou. This meant that it travelled a journey of several thousand li in a single day. That speed was no slow feat, and it was faster than most birds. It also confirmed that the time units Lady Calico used were accurate.

Indeed, the fastest growth came from independence.

“But you can ride the white crane to fly, so what about our horse?” The girl held her bowl and glanced at the horse beside them.

The horse stood quietly, head down leisurely grazing.

“The road ahead isn’t suitable for the horse to follow us; it’ll be a bit dangerous,” Song You turned to the horse, paused, then asked, “Do you know the way to Yin-Yang Mountain?”

“

Neigh

...” The horse snorted in response.

“Thank you for all these years. But the things ahead might be intense and involve frequent traveling back and forth. It’s not suitable for you to continue with us, so please return to Yin-Yang Mountain and wait for us there,” Song You said. “There’s plenty of grass and it’s quite comfortable, it's a good place.”

“

Neigh

...” The horse kept its head down, nibbling the grass.

“Thanks.” Song You still thanked it.

After finishing the fresh porridge, Lady Calico eagerly washed the bowls, showing off her good manners, then packed her belongings and summoned the white crane, which landed by the riverbank.

The white crane was truly enormous. Many celestial cranes in myths and paintings that carry people flying were far smaller than this.

The horse stood nearby, clean and tidy, with all the bags placed on the crane’s back. The Daoist was saying goodbye to the horse.

Lady Calico stood quietly beside the crane, stealing glances at it with a mix of anxiety and worry. This crane wasn’t usually so obedient. If she wanted to ride it somewhere, she had to depend both on its mood and her own persuasive skills. Lady Calico feared that if the crane was in a bad mood, it would embarrass her, or she’d have to coax it, which would make her look incompetent and lose face.

Unexpectedly, today the white crane was extremely well-behaved, much more docile than at its best moments before. It was almost obedient to the point of being tame. Naturally, this was a good thing.

Lady Calico glanced at it a few more times, gently patted its slender, twig-like legs, then walked over to say goodbye and give some reminders to the horse. If anyone was most attached to the horse, it was definitely her.

The early morning gradually shifted into late morning. Yet the mountain mist showed no sign of dissipating.

The morning sun shone from the other side of the mountain with a faint golden hue. The land was soaked in autumnal desolation, and there were dead branches and yellow leaves, which were more mottled than pure. Scattered villages lay among the hills, with white walls and black tiles, earthen walls and thatched cottages. The entire land was wrapped in a thin morning mist, all tinted by the sunlight, turning the scenery into a fairyland-like beauty.

In this enchanted landscape, suddenly the white crane spread its wings. It was a huge crane that took a few running steps, caught the wind, rose above the morning mist and treetops, flew over villages and mountains, and headed off into the distance.

Below, a horse galloped, heading toward Yizhou.

On the back of the white crane, the wind roared loudly, nearly forcing one’s eyes shut.

However, the autumnal, desolate earth below presented an even better view. The morning mist resting on the ground added an air of mystery and ethereal beauty, and the Daoist couldn’t help but lower his head to gaze.

He was completely bathed in sunlight.

As the crane flew higher and higher, the earth became more distant and the view more expansive. The Daoist saw the distant sunrise, which looked like a glowing red salted egg yolk, or like a dab of wet rouge, nestled between clouds and behind the mountains, as if painted by an artist.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

He also saw Mount Ye, now very far away. The crane plunged into the clouds, and the view blurred. When they emerged from the clouds, the scenery changed again.

The swallow followed the crane, flying beside the Daoist at the same speed. It was almost close enough that it could be touched.

The Daoist slowly closed his eyes.

Having sat in meditation in the Ghost City of Mount Ye for three years, personally advancing the consolidation of the underworld’s domain, witnessing and participating in the process firsthand, he naturally understood the secrets and mysteries of the path to ascend to heaven.

Long ago, the Heavenly Palace was also formed in this way.

Five immortal mountains, five paths to ascend heaven—all closely linked with the Five-Direction Five-Element Spiritual Resonance. After the underworld consolidated, there should likewise be five Yin mountains in the human world and five paths into the underworld.

But on one hand, this contradicted the human world’s legends about the underworld, and on the other, the Daoist felt it was inconvenient. So he merged them all into one mountain—the mountain of the underworld—where a single stone could serve as the portal into the underworld, assigned to the various city gods.

There were differences and similarities between the two.

Since Song You was able to make changes to the five “paths to ascend heaven” of the underworld’s domain, by extension and combined with his previous insights into several immortal mountains, he roughly understood the principles behind the paths to ascend to the Heavenly Palace.

Starting from here, it became easier. The Heavenly Palace was the residence of the gods, different from the underworld’s domain.

The underworld was the resting place for spirits and ghosts, so living people could not enter it casually. The Heavenly Palace was similar, and only gods who had been recognized by the people could set foot on the path to ascend and enter the Heavenly Palace to become gods.

These gods originally should possess great virtue and had a high reputation among the people. They were first shaped by the power of incense offerings and devotees’ wishes into divine statues with spiritual bodies, and only then could they ascend to heaven.

However, nowadays the Heavenly Palace possessed the power to officially confer godhood, allowing it to send down the power of incense offerings and guiding divine light from the palace itself to help you form a divine body and immediately ascend to godhood. Because of this, many gods in the Heavenly Palace actually did not meet the original criteria to be gods. These gods were one of the foundations of the Heavenly Palace’s corruption and chaos.

Gods without virtue often used this method to create new allied gods. As they gained power, they continue using the same means to obtain like-minded gods who obey them, thereby consolidating their power and status.

This led to a vicious cycle.

It was like how the Great Emperor Chijin, upon the establishment of Great Yan, ascended the throne. Then, generals without much virtue also rose to heaven with him, even occupying positions such as the chief of the thunder department.

Of course, not all “gods without virtue” ascended this way. Some ascended by proper means.

The Great Emperor Chijin was an example.

Although he didn’t have great virtue or merits, with the founding of Great Yan and the changing of heaven and earth, when Great Yan’s founding emperor held the greatest authority in the court, he replaced the former Celestial Emperor in the hearts of the people. The people's faith legitimately enthroned the Great Emperor Chijin as the new Celestial Emperor.

The reason he could firmly hold the throne and consolidate power so strongly, becoming difficult to overthrow and gaining more supporters and subordinates in the Heavenly Palace, was partly because he managed the human world’s incense offerings and faith, and partly because the power to “create gods” gave him the capital to maintain his rule.

Song You’s first tasks would be twofold.

First, to block the channel on the path to heaven through which the Heavenly Palace sends down guiding divine light to the human world. In doing so, the Heavenly Palace would no longer be able to officially confer godhood; only humans could allow gods to ascend to heaven.

This was how things ought to be.

Second, to purge the gods without virtue from the Heavenly Palace. This was somewhat more difficult.

But once the first step was done, the second would naturally follow, and even subsequent matters would unfold naturally.

Things must proceed step by step.

There was no reason to ascend directly at the start and slay the Great Emperor Chijin. That would be unjustified, lacking the support of the heavenly way, unable to follow the heavenly way, and unable to gain the recognition of the gods in heaven.

Only in this way could one truly follow the rightful path.