HSSB949: A big mistake
Within the Daoist temple, after taking care of those of Three Foot Mountain, Yan Zhaoge held that soul flag, appraising it.
“It is already rather badly depleted. Still, it is already enough to use,” He smiled, keeping the soul flag.
Without the special technique of Three Foot Mountain suppressing it, that soul flag was rather restless.
Still, placed beside the Dim Radiant Wheel in the Myriad Dragon Palace, it rapidly fell silent.
Now, the golden flames amidst space gradually faded.
At this moment, the three tribulations that guarded this place had temporarily been broken.
The master of this place had had a profound cultivation base as the restrictions that he had left behind possessed extraordinary power.
Still, their power having been diminished over the years, they were still ultimately unable to stand against Yan Zhaoge.
Amidst the illusory space before him, the scenes gradually changed to form an ordinary-looking hall of a Daoist temple.
In the great hall stood three statues. From left to right, these depicted the features of an old man, a middle-aged man and a youth.
Still, gazing over carefully, each one felt like they were young, middle-aged and old at the same time as they could not be defined simply by age.
Of the three statues, one held a treasured fan, one held a treasured orb and one held a jade ornament that signified fortune.
While they were mere statues, from them emanated an abstruse aura of the countless ages.
The expressions of Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu were both solemn.
Grand Clear lineage’s Lord of the Dao and Virtue, Jade Clear lineage’s Lord of Primordial Beginning, Prime Clear lineage’s Lord of Numinous Treasure.
These were precisely idols of the founders of Daoism’s Three Purities.
This great hall was the front hall which collectively worshipped the founders of the Three Purities, this basically being the same as for other lineages of Daoism.
Of course, this definitely would not apply for those of the Immortal Court.
The back hall would then differ according to these individual lineages.
Those of the Jade Clear direct lineage solely worshipped the Lord of Primordial Beginning in their back hall. For the Grand Clear direct lineage, it was the Lord of Dao and Virtue, and for the Prime Clear lineage, it was the Lord of Numinous Treasure.
As for those who were not of the direct lineages of the Three Purities, because the Grand Clear lineage’s Lord of the Dao and Virtue had spread the dao, enlightening the world, they all still worshipped him.
This was respect for their origins, traced up to their ultimate source.
Besides the actual Illusory Jade Palace, Tushita Palace and Roving Jade Palace of the past, no one would dare claim that the founders of the Three Clear lineages were the founders of their lineages.
The various ancestors and founders of these normal lineages were worshipped in their ancestral temples and not along with these legendary figures in their great halls.
“The front hall here should be where the restrictions guarding this place are controlled from,” Surveying his surroundings, Yan Zhaoge came to a corner of the great hall.
There was an incense burner table there on which lay a piece of yellow cloth on which some formation patterns were drawn with cinnabar.
After observing it for a moment, Yan Zhaoge’s expression involuntarily turned rather strange, “…Really?”
He looked down at the half-broken whisk that he held, “Really, you kidding me?”
“What is it, Young Master?” Ah Hu walked over and asked him, looking bewildered.
The corners of Yan Zhaoge’s mouth twitched slightly as he looked a little like he knew not whether to laugh or to cry, “Ignore that first. Listen carefully to me.”
He traced the formation diagram drawn of cinnabar with a finger while explaining their profundities to Ah Hu, “Do you get it now?”
While Ah Hu was not as proficient in formations as Xiao Ai was, as Yan Zhaoge’s explanation properly delivered the meaning of these profundities in an easy-to-understand way, he too was able to grasp it with his foundation.
“Got it, Young Master,” Ah Hu silently did some calculations in his head before nodding and replying.
Yan Zhaoge said, “It’s good that you remember it. I will be going in to look for some things now. You stay here and guard over the area.”
“While I broke through the local protective formations in coming here, it will not be long before they regain their vitality.”
Yan Zhaoge explained, “I did not find the other half of the whisk on those of Three Foot Mountain I killed. This means that they still have people outside.”
“If they know that those people who came in before were killed by me or wait for too long without receiving any word, there is a possibility of them coming in from outside.”
Three Foot Mountain was the hegemon of the Green Peak High Plains as its overall strength was comparable to that of the Grand Xuan Dynasty at its peak.
There would definitely not be many Immortal Bridge Martial Saints. Still, there would not be few Seeing Divinity Martial Saints at all.
Their Chief had come personally, bringing along the all-important Golden Crow Slaughtering Heaven Sabre and the Golden Crow remnant soul to this Daoist temple. Those others who had come along definitely would not be weak.
If there were a great number of foes, Ah Hu and Pan-Pan would be insufficient to fend them off.
Still, it would be a different story altogether with these local restrictions.
Thus, Yan Zhaoge said straightforwardly, “I will be entering to search for stuff. I may need more time for this. If others enter before I come out, you just restart the protective restrictions here. So long as they are not the Exalts of Ten Territories, they will be obstructed without fail. Even if they succeed in breaking in, they would likely be depleted greatly in their efforts.”
“If it really is a Human Exalt who comes, there is no need to guard over this area after restarting the restrictions here. Just go in and look for me.”
Hearing his words, Ah Hu scratched the back of his head, chuckling happily, “Now this is a nice job.”
Leaving behind Ah Hu and Pan-Pan in the front hall, Yan Zhaoge walked towards the back hall.
As he walked, he thought, “I should have seen wrongly, probably…”
In the end, having reached the back hall, glancing at the idol that was being worshipped, Yan Zhaoge instantly sighed.
That statue had young features as he gazed majestically into the distance, seemingly signifying that all things were in a state of ‘being’, everything in the world existing.
Of Daoism’s Three Clear lineages, founder of the Prime Clear lineage, Lord of Numinous Treasure!
He was also known as the Prime Clear Emperor, the Prime Clear Sacred High Grand Daoism Lord. Fully expanded upon, his full title was ‘One Qi Forming Three Purities Prime Clear Residing Yu True Heavenly Ascension Prime Clear Realm Vitality Hence Formed Sun Numinous Treasure Heavenly Lord Infinitely Miraculous Supreme Emperor’.
This Daoist temple did not house a legacy of the Grand Clear lineage in the first place!
Instead, it was a legacy of the Prime Clear lineage!
Upon looking at that yellow talisman in the great hall earlier, Yan Zhaoge had felt like something was off as it had looked increasingly like the style of the Prime Clear lineage.
Having seen who was being worshipped in the back hall, there was no doubt about it.
“What is this then?” Looking at that half-broken whisk he held, Yan Zhaoge knew not if he should laugh or cry, “A gift or spoil of war that the owner of this land obtained from a descendant of the Grand Clear lineage?”
Yan Zhaoge urgently needed a legacy of the Prime Clear direct lineage as well.
Yan Zhaoge still did not understand even now why the Roving Jade Heavens had randomly given him the Immortal Trapping Sword back then.
Therefore, he had always remained vigilant regarding this.
Still, there was no need to worry about stuff like this when it was not new.
He already possessed the Immortal Ending Sword and Immortal Trapping Sword. He might as well obtain a new supreme martial art rather than worry about the decree of the Earthly Sovereign.
It was just that there truly were few of the Grand Clear direct lineage. In the World beyond Worlds, there was only Ingenious Flying Peak and Golden Court Mountain which originated thus.
“I really don’t know if I should say that I am lucky or unlucky,” Yan Zhaoge could not help but smile, “Still, it’s fine. At least it isn’t of the Jade Clear direct lineage.”
“Cough, am I being rather picky and arrogant in my actions? If those who would be hard pressed to have such a fortuitous encounter learnt of this, might they all rush over to gang up on me and beat me up?”
Amidst his thoughts, Yan Zhaoge bowed towards the statue of the Lord of Numinous Treasure, “Do not misunderstand, o great Heavenly Lord. This disciple is definitely not disdaining you, oh no. Lord of Primordial Beginning up above, this disciple is definitely not disdaining you, too.”
After smiling, Yan Zhaoge ceased in his thoughts, gazing at the idol.
Of the founders of the Three Clear lineages, the Lord of Primordial Beginning signified going from nothingness to being, the Lord of Numerous Treasure signifying going from being to nothingness.
Still, looking at it from another angle, there would first have to be ‘being’ before one could go into ‘nothingness’.
Therefore, the Lord of Numinous Treasure actually also signified the ‘being’ of all things amidst their collective existence.
In comparison, the Lord of Primordial Beginning signified ‘nothingness’, the primordial beginning at the earliest time before which nothing existed.
Therefore, it was said that the Lord of Primordial Beginning signified peerless infinity while the Lord of Numinous Treasure signified Taiji, Grand Ultimate, that came into existence in the manifestation of all things following peerless infinity.
As for the Grand Cosmos Five Manifestations of the Lord of the Dao and Virtue’s direct lineage that consisted of Grand Simplicity, Grand Commencement, Grand Beginning, Grand Plainness as well as Grand Ultimate, they represented the five stages as the heavens and earth went from nothingness to being, similarly depicting the grand dao of earlier heaven, of times before the heavens had been opened.
The Three Purities were all connected in their profundities whilst also possessing unique areas of their own, being miraculous to the extreme.
Yan Zhaoge retracted his gaze, exhaling slowly, “I only hope now that one of your direct lineage legacies still remains here.”