Above the Great Dao

Grandfather returned when Chen Shi had already fallen asleep, and Black Pot, having been frightened by Chen Shi, was exceptionally spirited, hurriedly wagging its tail to greet him.

"Is he asleep?"

Grandfather sat down by the campfire, added a few sticks of firewood, and looked over at the sleeping Chen Shi, relaxing his body.

"Chen Yindou, you truly are getting old, but you can still persist!"

He stared at the leaping flames, his ice-cold body as if unable to feel any warmth.

"Chen Yindou, you can hold on until he grows up!"

Grandfather exhaled a deep, chilling breath, which made the flames dwindle quite a bit.

"If there comes a day when you can no longer hold on, then you'll have no choice but to personally kill him, bringing him into the underworld with you, to prevent him from bringing calamity upon the world!"

He pondered this thought for a moment before eventually drifting off to sleep himself.

In the morning, Chen Shi's exclamations of astonishment could be heard from outside the temple; the small hill they had settled on overnight had grown into a towering mountain of more than a hundred zhang high!

And the dilapidated temple just so happened to be on top of that mountain peak!

"There are as many oddities in West Bull New Continent as there are hairs on an ox; why be surprised?" Grandfather was cooking by the temple's fire, his disdain quite apparent towards the young man's reaction.

With insincere flattery, Chen Shi said, "Grandfather has seen much and knows a lot; you must know a lot. Why would this temple appear here, and why are both the temple and the mountain buried underground? Who built this temple, and who buried it? Where have those people gone now? Why have the temple and the mountain grown out of the ground at this time? Does this have anything to do with the appearance of calamities? Does it have anything to do with the sun setting early?"

After some thought, Grandfather said, "Increase the dosage of the medicine tonight."

Chen Shi obediently closed his mouth and returned to the temple to begin his morning cultivation.

He activated the Three Light Righteous Qi Technique, when suddenly two unfamiliar forces approached, forming golden and silver specks of light in the air, surging towards his body!

Astonished and without understanding, Chen Shi could only sense that the golden power flowed into his body like a blazing fire, igniting the Primordial Qi within him, making the body refinement process far more efficient!

The silver power, however, was like flowing water, calm and cool, perfectly counteracting the burning of the blazing fire so as not to harm the body.

These two forces were more vigorous than Star Power, and when combined, made the process of Body Refinement even faster than with just Star Power alone!

"Could these really be the Sunlight Righteous Qi and Moonlight Righteous Qi from the Three Light Righteous Qi?"

Chen Shi was perplexed; in the past when he cultivated, he had never felt the Sunlight Righteous Qi and Moonlight Righteous Qi, so why could he absorb these two types of Righteous Qi now?

And more so, since it was daytime, when the Outer Heaven True God closed the vertical eye on his forehead, there was no moon, so where did the Moonlight come from?

He felt a slight movement in his heart and stepped outside the temple, where the Sun and Moon Righteous Qi immediately disappeared.

Chen Shi returned to the temple again, where the golden and silver specks of light drifted like snowflakes, operating the Three Light Righteous Qi Technique with full force.

"Why is it that only within this broken temple can one absorb the essence of sun and moon?"

Chen Shi was increasingly puzzled. He glanced at Grandfather, who was still cooking, thought of the increased dose of medicine, and refrained from posing questions.

Probably, Grandfather wouldn't know either.

"I've speculated before that maybe the sun and moon from the True King Era are not the same sun and moon that we have now. The sun and moon back then enabled the harvesting of Sun and Moon Essence to cultivate the Three Light Righteous Qi. If my guess is correct..."

Chen Shi's face took on an odd expression, steadied his spirit, and muttered to himself, "If my guess is correct, then the world inside the temple is different from the world outside!"

He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky outside the temple.

The sky was clear and azure, dotted with white clouds.

He came outside, looking up at the sky, the blue expanse profound, able to see outer space, white clouds floating, attaching to nothing.

The sky seen from inside the temple was no different from the sky seen outside.

"Could I be wrong?"

Chen Shi scratched his head, deciding not to dwell on this matter, and continued to return to the temple for cultivation.

The simultaneous cultivation of the Three Light Righteous Qi made his training much faster than before, his bones, muscles, sinews, and membranes growing stronger and stronger, his Qi-Blood more and more vigorous, his internal organs ever more robust.

When Grandfather finished cooking and called out several times, Chen Shi reluctantly ceased his cultivation.

"After the Ritual Festival of the Moon, I must often come back to this desolate mountain temple to cultivate!" he secretly thought to himself.

After eating, the grandfather and grandson did not return to Huangpo Village, instead, they rushed to the next village to sell more talismans for money during the Ritual Festival of the Moon.

The Ritual Festival of the Moon lasted three days, and on the afternoon of the third day, they arrived in Yandang Village. The village's godmother was a stone statue more than a zhang high, with eyes on the hands of the statue and hands in the eyes, which was quite peculiar.

Yandang Village was built in circles around this stone statue.

Yandang Village was close to Water Buffalo County, merely over twenty li's distance, but it was more than two hundred li from Xinxiang County. Therefore, people from near Yandang Village often went to Water Buffalo County for market days, and the officials and nobles of Water Buffalo County would often come to the vicinity of Yandang Village for leisure and hunting.

As the afternoon wore on, there wasn't much business left. Grandfather went to buy herbal ingredients, while Chen Shi idly stood behind the stall. At that moment, he heard a voice ask, "Do you have Peach Talismans?"

Chen Shi perked up, smiling as he responded, "Yes, we do!"

The visitor was a brocade-clad guard in a red horse-faced skirt, not very old, around twenty-something years of age, keen and efficient, just with somewhat dark circles under his eyes; it seemed that his body was drained by wine and pleasure.

"How many do you have?" inquired the visitor.

Chen Shi counted, "Three left."

Peach Talismans sold the best; young men and women would often buy such talismans to wear on their person, hoping to win the favor of the opposite sex, and indeed, Peach Talismans could greatly increase one's success rate in relationships with the opposite sex, which is why there weren't many left.