World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 541: Ziwei Appeared!

Having developed a deep interest in the origins of the universe after his long conversation with Linyuan and Lishang, Wang Sheng had started speculating wildly.

A spark of insight followed. He grasped the idea that primordial beings also emerged from Chaos and deduced that the true spirit had to have existed before Chaos was born. If Chaos were the undivided one described in "Dao gives birth to One," then would the true spirit not stand side by side with the Dao itself?

His Primordial Spirit returned to his Heavenly Abode and sat in its own palace. Gazing up, it saw a night sky filled with brilliant stars. Behind it, four strands of sword intent floated into view.

Lights shimmered within the palace of the Heavenly Abode, and small, radiant dots appeared inside his Primordial Spirit.

Wang Sheng contemplated his being and sought the true spirit. If all living beings were projections of the true spirit in the mortal world, then he was a projection as well, and the true spirit had manifested as him.

This still feels wrong.

His spiritual intuition warned him that a single misstep here would not merely trap him at a bottleneck. It could lead to something far worse: a fatal devilish deviation.

Becoming a True Immortal was difficult because, just like what had happened to countless cultivators, one could easily go astray while trying to understand the true spirit and perceive its existence.

Even most immortals who had managed to enter the True Immortal Realm only succeeded because they happened to choose the correct path, not because they had fully comprehended the nature of the true spirit. Only after progressing in their cultivation did they gain deeper insight along that path.

The flash of insight Wang Sheng had grasped earlier was that the true spirit corresponded to the essence of living beings, and the Great Dao corresponded to the essence of laws and the universe. The two influenced each other while maintaining a parallel relationship. Cultivators, immortals, and eternal beings were the resonance, intersection, and overlap between the true spirit and the Great Dao.

The True Immortal section of the Pure Yang Immortal Mantra contained Chun Yangzi's understanding of the true spirit, summarized from the perspective of someone at the level of the Taiyi Golden Immortal. Its core was just one line.

All lives within the six paths arise from nothingness. The Three Realms and the Ten Directions appear only through existence.

All living beings were rooted in the transformation of nothingness to existence, which meant that the entire universe and the endless space were manifestations of the true spirit.

Their forefather had reached the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm and had been a favored member of the Heavenly Court in its later years. His understanding of the true spirit couldn't possibly be fundamentally flawed. Hence, Wang Sheng calmed down and followed their forefather's guidance, recalling every trace of the true spirit that he had ever sensed.

What exactly is the true spirit?

His Primordial Spirit looked down at itself, then laughed softly and ruefully.

I'm the projection of a particular true spirit, am I not?

If he wished to seek his own true spirit, then he had no other choice but to comprehend the mysteries within himself and open the Daoist Canon within both his Dao Body and Primordial Spirit.

His Primordial Spirit swung its hand. The sword intent behind it dispersed, the palace around it faded away, and the stars above returned to silence. It then sat quietly and focused on sensing itself—not the Great Dao, Wang Sheng's Dao, or the Dao of the Sword.

Wang Sheng felt his own existence. He sensed his Dao Body and the small portion of this world that it occupied, including the Three Realms and Ten Directions within it.

Although only a moment had passed, he felt as if a long, long time had gone by.

When he examined himself, the flow of years outside meant nothing. This was what it meant for an instant to become eternity.

Wang Sheng murmured, "I am not the true spirit; I am its projection, or rather the projection that it had cast into this world which the Great Dao had woven. I am the resonance of the true spirit and the Great Dao."

A hint of clarity flickered in his eyes, and his Primordial Spirit bloomed with a radiant milky-white glow. A mysterious and obscure aura pulsed from within him. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Had he stopped contemplating now, he could have broken through completely and flawlessly. However, perhaps because he was simply too accustomed to letting his imagination run, he asked himself, "Is there a false spirit, then?"

The question rattled his Dao Heart. Stars suddenly appeared in the eyes of his Primordial Spirit, and as if someone were whispering beside his ear, he heard ancient, shamanistic prayers being chanted.

For a moment, he seemed to have seen something, yet also saw nothing. With his mind racing, he raised his hand and drew a straight line in the air. He searched, pondered, and soon concluded that there were only two ways to truly comprehend the true spirit.

The first was to cultivate to an extremely profound realm—like the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm or even the Grand Dao Realm—fully master the Great Dao, and then strip away its influence to perceive the essence of life. The second was to go to the origin of the universe, the beginning of time itself, to see what lay there and learn how the true spirit came into being.

But how do I reach it?

In deep thought, Wang Sheng frowned. He then suddenly heard a sword cry and saw that the light of the astral sword phantasm representing the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Intent was flickering. One star after another aligned like constellations and peeled away from the blade.

The image of a figure practicing swordplay appeared in his mind.

He felt as if he had returned to the Wudang Mountains and to the day before he entered the Seventy-Two Swords, when he comprehended the Reversed Seven-Star Sword Formation and found the true Heavenly Ziwei Sword Art.

When he regained his senses, he found himself surrounded by projections of constellations.

Yes, there are still memories. These stars still remember.

At that moment, he heard a voice in his mind.

"Want to see the true spirit?"

It sounded familiar, yet Wang Sheng could not quite place where he had heard it before. Nevertheless, he answered without hesitation, "I do."

"Then follow me."

The voice chuckled softly.

The stars around Wang Sheng, those that formed shifting scenes, brightened at once. He felt his Primordial Spirit pull free of his Dao Body. It hovered in front of him for an instant, then appeared in a boundless sea of stars.

What Wang Sheng did not know was that at that very moment, countless massive galaxies across the endless space had sent out faint and wondrous ripples.

***

The endless sea of stars around him soon drifted farther and farther away. A boundless world appeared in the distance, then instantly flashed past.

His spirit wandered, tracing back toward the source. He didn't know what the scene before him signified, but he sensed the astral power circling and guiding him toward some existence he had to meet.

Soon, the lights around him spun faster. A mass of vague fog appeared ahead, and the qi stars surrounding him shone, wrapping him completely as he crashed into the fog.

Wang Sheng lost all sense of direction. The constant feeling of time passing vanished without a trace.

This place is...

Behind him, someone remarked, "Chaos—the primordial beginning."

Wang Sheng turned, and his gaze suddenly grew warm.

A tall, handsome, middle-aged man in a pale-blue robe stood nearby, exuding a calm presence. He gave off an indescribable authority, yet he also seemed gentle and approachable, making one instinctively want to draw closer.

Wang Sheng blurted out, "Emperor Ziwei?"

"By rights, you should call me Master." The man laughed.

He tapped lightly with a finger, and the chaotic aura surrounding them gradually receded. A tranquil lake then appeared under them, and Wang Sheng found himself standing on a small grass boat. The starlight around him cracked like an eggshell, completely revealing his Primordial Spirit.

Ziwei sat at the bow and beckoned. "Come here. The fact that you reached this place and found me means you have understood many truths about the Great Dao. It's just... Why is your Primordial Spirit so weak? Were you injured?"

Feeling a little embarrassed, Wang Sheng took two steps forward and bowed. "To be honest, Your Majesty, I have only just reached the Primordial Immortal Realm, though I'm close to breaking through to the True Immortal Realm. While comprehending the principles of the undying true spirit, I might have accidentally triggered some restriction you left behind, which drew me here."

Ziwei clearly paused. His gentle, cultured, and refined smile then returned.

Wang Sheng still found it hard to connect the scholarly and elegant figure, one of the Four Heavenly Ministers, with the same emperor who had once taken a single sword and cut down countless foreign enemies to reinforce the Heavenly Court.

Ziwei said, "Tell me, what did you comprehend?"

Wang Sheng hid nothing. He explained every thought that he had come up with during his earlier enlightenment. When he revealed his conclusion that there were only two ways to seek the true spirit itself, Ziwei burst into hearty laughter.

"Wonderful! Truly wonderful! Hahahaha! To think you actually comprehended to such depths while breaking through to the True Immortal Realm! I can only describe this as wonderful! The Heavenly Ziwei Sword Art I left behind has not been wasted on you!

"This fragment of my Dao traces was prepared for a Golden Immortal Realm successor. I can't say whether it's good or bad that you reached this place so early, but since you're already here, let me at least clear your doubts."

Dao traces...

Wang Sheng asked in surprise, "Your Majesty, are you not here in the flesh right now?"

"My actual body has already perished," Ziwei said calmly. "I am Ziwei because I am a portion of my memory that fused with the Great Dao and condensed into Dao traces, yet I'm also not Ziwei since I'm only a memory imprint upon the Great Dao of the endless sea of stars; I don't even have a remnant spirit. I can speak with you now only because I am following the way of how the memories within me would converse with you."

Wang Sheng slowly closed his eyes. Did the Heavenly Court's counterattack end in complete failure after all? We've confirmed that Forefather Chun Yangzi is still alive, though...

"Your Majesty, why did you—"

"There's no use asking me. I only know matters of cultivation. All I can tell you is that I had no regrets when I perished." Ziwei smiled. "Now, you wish to uncover the nature of the true spirit, don't you?"

Wang Sheng bowed again at once. "Please guide me, Your Majesty!"

However, Ziwei seemed hesitant. "In principle, this is a mystery one should only seek after comprehending the Dao of Immortality. You might not benefit if I take you to that river right now. On the other hand, this Dao trace only has one final echo of power. If I don't take you there now, you would lose this fated opportunity for nothing."

Determination filled Wang Sheng's gaze. Having come this far, he couldn't turn down the answer he'd been seeking. "Please take me there, Your Majesty."

"Oh? What is it you are so eager to learn?"

"The origin of the true spirit," Wang Sheng replied.

Ziwei smiled. "You have already grasped the principle of the undying true spirit. Once you've understood it, your path of cultivation will become clear. Why chase it even more?

"Regardless, I can't lead you to the origin of the true spirit and of the universe. I never saw them in my entire life, either. All I can show you is the cultivation realm I comprehended, which would only allow you to witness the true spirit and the false spirit."

Wang Sheng froze for a moment, then fell speechless. Still, though he felt disappointed, he dared not complain.

"That is fine as well. Please show me the realm, Your Majesty. Learning a little more is better than learning nothing."

Ziwei smiled. "Why chase this so urgently now? Once you reach higher cultivation realms, you'll be able to find the answer yourself. Seeking it now may disturb your Dao Heart."

Wang Sheng thought for a moment. He then smiled wryly and sighed. "I simply want to learn more."

"Follow me, then. Let us see what fated opportunity awaits you."