CHAPTER 549: CHAPTER 547 SEEKING THE WAY

"It’s not entrapment; it’s protection," Luo Siyuan said calmly. "Once the plan begins, it can never be stopped. It is precisely because you are all still aboard the ship, and not left in Chenzhou, that you will be able to witness the world’s true face together with this humble Daoist."

"Chenzhou..." General Du Tinghuai suddenly realized something and bellowed angrily, "What have you done to Chenzhou?"

"I haven’t done anything yet." Luo Siyuan spread his hands, glanced at the Deformed Monsters continuously emerging from beneath the river’s surface, and said indifferently, "By my calculations, these Human-faced Tadpoles will need another half hour to reach Chenzhou along the current."

BOOM—

Thunder exploded by their ears.

In Du Tinghuai’s pupils, the image of the Ling River’s water, teeming with buoyant tadpoles, was clearly reflected. His Adam’s apple bobbed, a profound chill crawling up his spine. "These... these monsters..."

Luo Siyuan said indifferently, "They will inundate Chenzhou."

CLANG—

The sound of a Horizontal Knife scraping across its sheath was crystal clear. Everyone felt a flash of cold light as the Wu De Guard Colonel drew his blade in an instant, using the Shrinking the Ground to an Inch Spell, silently slashing towards Luo Siyuan’s shoulder.

Luo Siyuan did not dodge, smiling as he allowed the Horizontal Knife to strike his body.

CLANG.

In the Colonel’s incredulous eyes, the indestructible standard-issue Horizontal Knife shattered with ease. The exploding blade fragments whirled and sliced his own face, leaving behind a long trail of blood. However, Luo Siyuan remained unharmed, enveloped in an imperceptible, dim white light, without a single wound.

"Don’t bother trying." Luo Siyuan extended his finger, slowly pushing away the Horizontal Knife Handle, and said gently, "This humble Daoist single-handedly designed the Formation to divert the Demonic Qi. Even if the Sect Master himself were to come, he could not wrest control of the Formation from my hands. My dear Senior Brothers, you can also put away the Spells hidden behind your backs. Within this Formation, no harm can come to this humble Daoist..."

Before he could finish, several Daoists from Longhu Mountain bellowed. Their hand signs converged, summoning the sky’s thunder and lightning to hammer down on Luo Siyuan’s head. Luo Siyuan was enveloped entirely by the towering lightning.

He stood indifferently amidst the column of thunder, looking at his several hand-sign-wielding, fierce-looking Senior Brothers, and sighed softly. "I told you, it’s useless."

With a casual wave of his hand, the Daoists from Longhu Mountain were sent flying, crashing into the deck railings. The uncontrollable pillar of lightning twisted and deformed, striking the surface of the Ling River and turning hundreds of Human-faced Tadpoles to dust.

"Luo Siyuan!"

The middle-aged Daoist struggled to his feet, growling, "You’ve gone mad! Just like your master!"

"There’s no need for you to worry, Senior Brother. My mind is very clear, and I will not repeat my master’s mistakes." Luo Siyuan glanced at the bewildered expressions on the faces of the surrounding Cultivators, smiling as he explained, "My master’s Daoist name was Guang Chenzi. He was once a fellow apprentice with the current Sect Master of Longhu Mountain. He had an eccentric nature and unpredictable moods. Though a revered elder, he detested dealing with sect affairs, often leaving without a word, disappearing from the sect alone, his whereabouts unknown. Most of the sect’s Disciples had never even seen his face. As for his death, well, the official statement was that his lifespan had naturally run its course and he passed away peacefully. In truth..."

"In truth, Uncle-Master Guang Chenzi died of madness," the middle-aged Daoist said in a low voice, leaning against the railing. "Over a decade ago, he returned to the mountain silently from the outside. He sat alone at the peak of Longhu Mountain’s main summit, facing the sky. No matter how the Sect Master or the elders inquired, he wouldn’t speak. Then, several days later, he suddenly stood up, muttering, ’I’ve understood it,’ and directly summoned thunderclouds, attempting to transcend and become an immortal.

However, how could a heavenly tribulation be so easily overcome? Uncle-Master Guang Chenzi’s cultivation had not yet reached perfection, and he forcibly triggered the lightning tribulation. This incited the wrath of the heavens, intensifying the thunderclouds. Despite the desperate protection from his martial uncles and reliance on the Dual Yin and Yang Dust Mountain Defense Formation, he barely survived the eighty-one strikes of the lightning tribulation. He still suffered severe injuries, his spiritual bones shattered. Even after performing the Great Yin Body Refining technique, he merely clung to life for a few days and ultimately died filled with resentment."

Luo Siyuan nodded. "After my master’s death, he instructed me to take his body back to his hometown for burial. But in reality, his wish was for me to divide his body into pieces and bury them in different regions, so that even in death, he could assist me in uncovering the truth."

"The truth again." The middle-aged Daoist coughed and said with difficulty, "That’s why I say you and your master are both mad. For an utterly absurd truth, you waste your talents and even neglect your own lives."

"If I can understand the Way in the morning, I can die by evening without regret." Luo Siyuan stated indifferently, "If one hesitates and holds back in the pursuit of truth, then what is the purpose of cultivating the Dao or refining the heart?"

He paused, looked at the people around him, and calmly explained, "My master, Guang Chenzi, was extraordinarily gifted and the epitome of intelligence in this world. Unlike those fellow disciples around him who would only recite, ’The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao,’ he was not satisfied with the monopolistic interpretations of the Dao found in the scriptures.

Where did heaven and earth originate? Why do the sun and moon rise?

In the beginning of antiquity, who transmitted this Dao?

Before the cosmos took shape, how can it be investigated?

Some scriptures say that Laozi is the embodiment of the Dao. They claim he was born before formlessness, arose before the very beginning, and moved within the primal chaos. He supposedly drifted through the six voids, entered and exited the Underworld, observed the undifferentiated mixture, and peered into the unseparated clear and turbid. It was he, they say, who separated heaven and earth, transformed his form to descend into the world, aided rulers, transmitted scriptures, and educated the populace.

Other scriptures say it was the great god Pan Gu who split the Chaotic Primordial Yellow, which was shaped like a chicken’s egg. He propped up the heavens and the earth and transformed his body into all things.

There are also folk tales. Some claim the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning initiated a kalpa to save humanity. Others say Lady Nüwa created the world. And some even say that heaven and earth are actually a chessboard carried on the back of a turtle."

"Had it been an average Daoist, perhaps under the earnest teaching of their elders, they would have denounced any theory other than Laozi’s creation of the world as heretical. They would not only have scolded and refuted these claims but also would have eradicated those who spread such heresies to ensure correct understanding.

But Guang Chenzi didn’t think this way. Given the variety of creation theories, which one could be correct? If one cannot present evidence and distinguish truth from falsehood, what real difference is there between Laozi’s creation story and theories about a turtle, or even snakes and rats, creating the world?"

Luo Siyuan said earnestly, "Evidence. Evidence is everything. Guang Chenzi believed that only by collecting evidence could one establish a theory. All theories should explain existing evidence. The more evidence collected, the more one could exclude incorrect theories. For instance, Guang Chenzi dug deep beneath the earth until he could dig no further. Having found no turtle shell, he temporarily set aside the theory of the world being carried by a turtle.

While multiple theories might explain the existing evidence, a theory is more likely to be correct if it has more reliable components and fewer unfalsifiable or imaginary assumptions. For example, the theory that the sun is simply a huge ball of fire is likely more straightforward, pure, and closer to the truth than the theory that the sun is a three-legged golden crow, the son of Emperor Jun, who narrowly escaped Hou Yi’s arrows and relied on the favor of the Queen Mother of the West to survive. The latter is far more intricate and less verifiable.

He, too, was a seeker of the Dao. His Dao involved constant doubt, repeated verification, and continuous falsification, in an attempt to come infinitely close to the factual truth, rather than abandoning thought and considering a certain theory as the perfect ’Dao,’ like others did."