Chapter 460: Chapter 203: The Relationship Between Mount Daiyu and the Celestial Court (3)

Fu Manman couldn’t be bothered to explain to her, she would lose interest in a while anyway.

"Better to spend more effort finding the entrance."

"Is Fan Xiaodi sure he didn’t make a mistake? We’ve circled this area of tree root walls so many times, and nothing looks like it could be a passage."

Bai Yihuan was very down-to-earth, perhaps even somewhat rustic. She firmly believed that peers younger than her were just little brothers and sisters. Thus, she naturally referred to Fan Wubing as "Fan Xiaodi."

"There’s no mistake. We might just be using the wrong method." Fu Manman thought for a moment, "Do you think you can see a path just by looking?"

Bai Yihuan blinked, "When I was young, my father often said while teaching me martial arts, to sense the boundary between the body and the heaven and earth. Because this boundary is invisible. I don’t quite understand... If there’s a road, walk it, if not, create one. Should we try breaking through these tree root walls directly?"

She was eager to try.

"You really are something, no matter how interesting the explanations are, it still comes back to fists in the end." Fu Manman was somewhat used to it and said nothing, "Don’t waste your strength, if you break through one layer, Da Chun will just grow another. Unless you have the time and power to exhaust all of Da Chun’s vitality."

"Then forget it." Bai Yihuan furrowed her brows. She loved to fight, but she had self-awareness too.

"Using the heart to sense the boundary between the body and heaven and earth is a good idea."

Fu Manman walked to a large tree root, stretched out her hand, and felt the raised formations imbued with the sense of time. She once transformed into the sun in the river of time, watching the heavens and earth. The evolution of the world, the succession of species, the tides rising and falling. Everything changed ceaselessly, only the sun remained unchanged.

But she also knew that the sun, in essence, was a star revolving in the heavenly cycle, it just seemed eternal compared to the ever-changing world.

If you expand the scale of thought and senses to the entire universe, nothing is eternal.

In other words, change is the only constant.

Therefore, "eternity and change" are essentially interconnected, even the same.

She made her perception eternal like the sun, to envision this massive and intricate wall of tree roots.

Gradually erasing the "boundary" between herself and the wall of tree roots.

Until suddenly, at a certain moment, she opened her eyes, grabbed Bai Yihuan, and the two turned into a beam of light, entering the wall of tree roots.

She broke the boundary with the wall of tree roots.

The heart moved with intention, the body transformed into eternity. The path was unimpeded until they landed on a golden sandy beach, looking around, the sea was as calm as if frozen. No seabirds cried, no sea breeze blew.

A giant fish, as if dead, floated on this tranquil sea.

This fish had already turned into a massive mountain.

"Mount Daiyu!" Bai Yihuan exclaimed in surprise.

Fu Manman softly said, "Is this the meaning of the Dao? Connecting with the Dao through the heart, embodying all things. The Dao follows nature, the Dao follows nature, that’s what it means." A bright and joyful smile appeared on her face, her golden eyes shimmering, lively and beautiful.

"Eh!" Bai Yihuan saw something, uttering in surprise and doubt.

Fu Manman followed her gaze. Not far away, there was a trail of footprints, judging by the size, they belonged to a man.

Bai Yihuan pondered, "Someone’s already arrived?"

Fu Manman said, "Probably, after all, there are six trial takers in total."

The two left the beach, advancing towards the depths of the mountain.

It was said to be a Daoist sacred mountain, but there wasn’t even a trace of immortal spirit Qi, not even comparable to an ordinary mountain in the mortal world. Even the most ordinary of mountains would have some faint bit of immortal Qi, capable of nurturing a mountain spirit or two, but here, there wasn’t any at all.

Plants, birds, beasts, all sorts of life, were all mundane.

The only difference, perhaps, was that it gave a very ancient feeling. However, this couldn’t be attributed to it being a Daoist sacred mountain. Its antiquity was because Mount Daiyu was itself an eternally existing giant fish.

The two followed a mountain path into the depths of the mountain.

Upon reaching a certain valley, "Sister, look, there’s a stone tablet there!"

When they approached to take a closer look, the inscriptions on the stone tablet were still clear and had not been blurred by time, they read several characters written neatly —

"The land nurtures and sustains all things, grows grains to nourish the people

"Establish Fude Zhengshen, administrating community affairs."

"Fude Zhengshen?" Fu Manman immediately thought of the Celestial Court’s appointed True God overseeing the use of land by the people. She had studied the directly conferred deities of the Celestial Court, those appointed by them. However, since the celestial registry was split from the White Jade Capital, the role of conferring gods in the Cultivation Realm had fallen to the Confucian School.

As for why the Celestial Court split from the White Jade Capital, the current theory is:

Over fifteen thousand years ago, the Cultivation Realm was invaded by a race called the "Celestial Beings," and after a war between the Celestial Beings, although the Cultivation Realm achieved victory, it was left in ruins, with devils running rampant and life in despair.

The Daoist School established an institution called the "Celestial Court" to repair the Cultivation Realm, maintain order and balance.

The Celestial Court, through conferring gods with specific duties, encouraged them with "Incense Fire God’s Radiance" to protect the mortal world, dispelling disasters and warding against evil.

But two major events occurred ten thousand years ago.

One was the famous war between the Shangjing Dynasty and the Zhou Yue Dynasty for the Immortal Ascension Dynasty.

The second was the Dao Ancestor departing to the Mortal World, never to return.

Afterwards, it is unknown what happened within the White Jade Capital that led to the separation and partition between the Celestial Court and the White Jade Capital. Since then, the Celestial Court no longer proactively conferred gods, transferring this duty to the Confucian School, besides True Gods, they also created additional levels such as Wandering Gods, Temple Gods, Earth Gods, Great Gods, and Celestial Gods.

The two continued onward.

On the rugged and perilous path to the mountain’s peak, they saw many monumental steles of gods.

Fude Zhengshen, Mountain God, City God, Jianghu God...

Overseeing all the heavens’ Seventy-two Earthly Fiends, Thirty-Six Celestial Spirits;

Overseeing the years’ Sixty Celestial Lords of the Year, the Four Duty Deities of the year, month, day, and hour;

Overseeing the Underworld’s Ten Hall Yama...

The Five Dragon Kings, Five Great Emperors, Meteorological God, Four Marshals, Four Celestial Kings, Four Spirits and Twenty-Eight Constellations, Sun Star Palace, various Star Monarchs...

Until they reached the Three Pristine Ones, Six Sovereigns, Five Elders, and the Celestial Court’s highest god, Supreme Heaven Opening.

A total of three hundred and fifty-nine monumental steles, three hundred and fifty-nine True Gods.

Fu Manman and Bai Yihuan were utterly astonished, for due to the passage of time, it had become unclear how many and which True Gods were originally in the Celestial Court. Now, they were able to see a detailed and clear list of the True Gods, and they felt quite excited.

Is Mount Daiyu the place of the True Gods’ steles?

Then where is the Celestial Court?