Divine aura circled around the Purple Waterfall outside of Yuxu Palace. A few tiny spiritual beasts were sipping water at the edges of the waterfall, and Wang Bugui was training his maximal power at its center. He formed a Gesture with his hands and took his stance calmly.
He was surrounded by a faint golden glow. It was his Innate Prana Power, and Wang Bugui had gradually grew adept at channeling it. After so many days of practice, he could finally increase the volume of his blood prana power, and a small amount of prana power, the size of his palm, had condensed in his pool of qi.
He looked incredibly majestic as the blood from his vital parts flowed around his body, with the aid of the prana power from his Pellet Base. He remained unemotional throughout, and his soul and spirit were gaining a feel of Heaven and Earth, while he tried to understand the meaning of Tao whilst maintaining his stance.
He gradually opened his eyes after another hour of sensory training, his black pupils so clear that they seemed to see through everything. He gave out a clear, loud roar and began to unleash powerful punches on the waterfall above his head.
"Ah!"
Each blow forced the flow of water to rise in the opposite direction for 10 meters, and the water began to form into a huge ball. It crashed downward toward the boy, and just as it was about to strike his head, he leaped up and punched, causing the giant ball of water to fly 10 meters upward. Another few balls of water began to form and came hurtling down toward Wang Bugui.
The boy leaped and knocked two balls of water back with his fists, before unleashing a series of kicks on another four balls. He continued attacking, but more balls of water were soon generated from the raging Purple Waterfall and flew toward him. He remained calm and fought against the onslaught with his repertoire of moves.
The blood vigor, unleashed from every spot on his body, melded with his prana power and splattered the purple water surrounding Wang Bugui. The faint golden glow of his prana power encircled his body, and combined with the divine purple aura from the waterfall, he looked as though he possessed the overwhelming aura of a God of War who had descended upon the Mortal Realm.
Wang Bugui ceased his fight only when it was noon and he went into the forest to look for some fruit and ancient herbs to satiate his hunger. He rested for only an hour, before resuming his training at the rock formation. He began by adjusting the weight of the stone slabs to three tons before using them to practice his moves.
The various stances from the mystical skill's pictorial guide began appearing in his mind again, and the surrounding training ground turned into a colorless world again. His body was a brush, and the stone slabs his ink, and he began drawing out a scenic ink painting.
Once in a while, he became one with the moves imprinted in the space around him, as the endless mantras and techniques melded into his stances. He began to gain a better understanding of the mystical technique and gradually familiarized himself with the moves. Soon, he could run through an entire cycle of the martial arts fluidly.
He stopped training his maximal power only when it turned dark, and his shirt was soaked in sweat everyday he returned back— the sweat he wrung off from it was enough to fill a small bucket each time. He would then return back to Yuxu Palace, consume the effective medicine that Yun Jinghong had prepared for him, take a short break before bathing in herbal medicine. After that, he would dedicate his remaining time to cultivate his blood prana power.
This day, Wang Bugui was taking off his sweat soaked top as he hurried back to the palace after training, sweat pouring from his tough, ripped body. He stopped suddenly as he passed by the Purple Waterfall and turned to look back at it, marveling at how spectacular it seemed, even in the night.
What drew his attention was a set of profound and complicated carvings of a formation that had appeared on the white stone platform, something that he had not noticed before. He thought about it for a moment before striding forward to take a closer look.
"Why are there magical inscriptions here? Could it be the doing of Master?" Wang Bugui thought with chin in hand as he stood away from the Purple Waterfall. If it was made by Yun Jinghong, he would have told him. He gazed at the mysterious inscriptions and noticed that they were carvings of a vast sky, the beautiful space decorated by countless of stars.
"Buzz!"
All of a sudden, a light began to glow brightly from the sea of stars, and a star gate was formed out of the light the stars gave out. It split the Purple Waterfall apart, entirely untouched by water. Wang Bugui walked up to it and slowly pushed it open, feeling as if it was calling out to him.
"This waterfall was constructed out of a galaxy obtained by our founding father. Could there really be an entire galaxy behind this gate?" Wang Bugui muttered to himself as his eyes opened wide in amazement. He was very curious as to what lay behind the gate, and he removed the pendant from his neck and held it tightly in his hand. He made up his mind to investigate further. After all, he had the pendant with him, and he could cut through space to escape if need be.
He stepped into the star gate without a further thought. The instant he stepped through the entrance of the gates, he was instantly hit by a vast sea of stars, as if he was in a small bit of the galaxy by himself. The pendant gave off a blue glow which shielded Wang Bugui, allowing him to acclimatize and breathe.
He observed his surroundings carefully and counted exactly 50 stars in the skies. Every set of seven stars was grouped into a Big Dipper Formation, surrounding and protecting a gigantic star that shone brightly and hung above all of them. This star was known as the First Prime Star, and it was the most important one of them, as well as the Path of Humankind. There were various theories about it from different schools of thought, but most of them mentioned it.
It could be interpreted as the flow of Tao in the Heavens was damaged and insufficient, therefore a portion of it escaped and became 'humans'. It meant that the Heavens were only part of Tao, and humans were the final component for it to become whole with Tao again. If any human could grasp this final component, he or she would gain enlightenment.
There was also another school of thought which claimed that the missing component was Tai Chi, a force that existed long before the creation of Heaven and Earth. This school interpreted the missing component as everything that was borne out of Tai Chi. Whatever the theory, however, the influence of the missing component was emphasized upon, and Wang Bugui believed that this star was likely to be very important as well.
"This is..." The boy muttered, completely shaken up by his new surroundings. The stars were as big as the moon itself, and the huge star looked as gigantic as the entire Earth. However, there was no form of life on any of the stars, and he traveled amongst them with pendant in hand, realizing that they were planets that had gone completely silent.
Wang Bugui gazed at the solitary star rotating on its own accord, and felt that he was so tiny underneath its gigantic size, smaller than even a micro-organism.
"How much power would it take to condense such a sea of stars into an object? Is this the power of a true immortal?" Wang Bugui thought, completely in awe of his founding father's skill. Now, he truly understood the difference between immortals and mere humans. He also felt somewhat frustrated at the fact that his father had chose to sacrifice his life during the fight with an enemy with the power of a true immortal— how determined and courage would it take for someone to make such a decision?
Wang Bugui shook his head, deciding not to dwell on painful past events any longer. Just as he was preparing to climb onto the gigantic star for a look, the entire space around him began to tremble.
The smaller stars shrank by about 70 percent, and the main star turned into a purple piece of land that hung in the void. This piece of land was so vast that it stretched for thousands of kilometers wide and its surface area was as big as the entire continent of Asia, so much so that one could not see the ends of its vastness.
A purple palace was suspended in the air at its middle, and covered about one-tenth the surface area of a castle. The words 'Palace of Purple Clouds' was written above the watch tower outside of the palace, and Wang Bugui was speechless as he observed the purple mist swirling around it. "Could there really be people still residing inside?" He thought.
"Come into the palace, I'll wait for you in the main hall." Came the crisp and pleasant sounding woman's voice. There was a tinge of languidness in the lovely tone that she was using, and it seemed to have an demonic indescribable charm. A purple passageway appeared in the sky and dropped down to where Wang Bugui was standing.
The boy began climbing up on the passageway, thinking that he should not turn down the woman's kind offer. He was not worried about her trying to harm him, as he was certain that she must be the divine spirit that Yun Jinghong had told him about.
He was pulled upward with great speed the moment he climbed onboard the purple passageway, and he zoomed past his surroundings, appearing in front of the Palace of Purple Clouds in less than a minute. He noticed a woman of incomparable beauty was reclining lazily upon the throne.
Wang Bugui walked briskly into the main hall of the palace and made a sign of greeting by wrapping one palm over his other fist. "I'm paying my respects to you, divine artefact spirit elder!"
"Haha, what an interesting young lad. However, your greeting should be more than that. You should follow the way humans pay respect to their kings and emperors," said the beautiful woman. Wang Bugui could feel that the power of her charm increased the closer he got to her, but he could not see her facial features clearly. He was sure that it would be incredibly wonderful to behold, at least not lesser than that of those women who could drive men crazy.
"Haha, you're teasing me, senior. I'm called Wang Bugui, and have just returned home after a long while. As such, I've never learned our traditional ways. May I know how should I address you, divine artefact spirit senior, or should I say— Miss?" Wang Bugui asked as he gave a wide smile. He could sense that this senior was amiable in nature.
"Wang Bugui, is it? This name... I'm known as Zi Yuxiao." The woman replied in her languid and charming voice. She seemed to have something to say about the boy's name, but in the end she chose not to.
"What a heroic sounding name you have. May I know why you've summoned me, Senior Zi?" Asked Wang Bugui with a faint smile.
"Heroic... it's about time you learned how to speak to a woman." Zi Yuxiao replied unhappily. She waved her hand before continuing, "Forget it. I summoned you so that I could take a look at your pendant. Will you lend it to me?"
"Since you wish to take a look at it, senior, of course I'll let you have it," replied Wang Bugui earnestly as he removed the pendant from his neck and passed it to her.
"Aren't you afraid that I'll not return it to you?" Zi Yuxiao asked as she received it from him.
"I trust you wouldn't do that, senior. No matter what, you've such power. Why would you snatch something from a junior like me?" Replied Wang Bugui with a laugh.
"Hahaha..."
Zi Yuxiao laughed demurely upon hearing his reply. It was even more pleasant sounding than the chirping of a yellow oriole— a heavenly voice that could charm any living being. Wang Bugui, who was standing close to her, was nearly charmed by her laughter, by luckily he managed to hold onto his principles of Tao even with the pendant in her hands.
"Senior, your voice is really something..." Said Wang Bugui as he wiped off the beads of cold sweat on his brow. He was very nearly intoxicated by it, and his hair stood up as he realized how close he was to fall under her spell. He then decided the maintain a safe distance from the beauty.
"What, are you afraid of me?" Laughed Zi Yuxiao.
"No, I'm awestruck by your power, senior. I believe not many people will be able to withstand it." Wang Bugui said as he stroked his head.
"Humph, what a glib tongue you have." Chided Zi Yuxiao. She was soon captivated by the pendant in her hand, and her emotions, which had not been touched for tens of thousands of years, stirred a little.
"Keep this pendant with you carefully. It'll be of great use to you in future!" She advised Wang Bugui sternly before returning the object back to him.
"Do you know about the origin of this pendant?" Wang Bugui asked her, his expression full of hope.
"You'll know in the future. Now's not the time to tell you yet. It'll be of great help in your training and it won't be affected by the happenings in Heaven of Earth. You have to treasure it." Zi Yuxiao said.
"Right. My training has indeed progressed smoothly with it by my side." Said Wang Bugui as he nodded.
"Since it was fate that brought us together, let me give you another item. You'll be able to use it when you're creating your own artefact; a practitioner of Tao should have his or her own magical artefact." Said Zi Yuxiao with a gentle laugh. With a wave of her hands, a gaseous substance of black and white color appeared before them. A terrible power was contained within them, creating cracks in the space wherever it went to, as if the surrounding could not contain it.
"What's this?! This is pure power of extreme yin and yang, no, that's not it. I've seen this power before, and it's not merely yin and yang energy." Said Wang Bugui. He was perplexed, as the felt that he was somewhat familiar with the terrible energy before him.
"Of course you've seen it before. This is primordial vital energy, and the Primordial Palm— the secret skill unleashed by mastering the Eight Limits— can generate such aura. Its destructive power is terrible and limitless, and it's one of the best choices for making one's artefact." Explained Zi Yuxiao.
She then directed the primordial energy into the pendant with her hands, and there was no visible change in the object.
"In this way, no one can easily notice that you possess such a power. Remember to never use it unless necessary. It's hard to predict the hearts of Man, and you should know what the consequences are." She warned.
"Thank you, Senior Zi. I promise you that only people I trust will know that I'm carrying primordial energy around, and I won't reveal it unless truly necessary." Replied Wang Bugui as he thanked her profusely.
"Alright. It's not safe for you to remain here for long, I'll send you back now." Zi Yuxiao said as she summoned the purple passageway again.
"How can I contact you again, Senior Zi?" Wang Bugui asked. He wanted to know if he could return in future to repay the kindness that she had shown to him today.
"Don't call me your senior. You can call me Sister Ziyu, or just Ziyu will do— 'senior' sounds too old. If you really wish to come back again, I can give you a token that you can activate to return here anytime you wish." Chided Zi Yuxiao before passing a purple crystal to Wang Bugui.
"Ha, thank you, Sister Ziyu. If I have the chance to repay your gift of primordial energy in future, I will!" Said Wang Bugui with a smile.
"Fine, fine, you should get moving soon. I believe Yun Jinghong should be worried sick after being unable to find you anywhere." Zi Yuxiao replied languidly as she waved goodbye to the boy.
"Right, see you again, Sister Ziyu!" Wang Bugui said as he waved to her as well, before turning to descend the purple ladder.
"There's finally someone who can take up your mantle. The last person I took notice of was a once in a generation talent, but he was born in the wrong time. I don't know if the person I chose this time round will be successful. Furthermore, he was chosen by that divine object. I don't know if that's his luck or misfortune?"
"In the era of the late arts, only one out of thousands will be able to truly master Tao. It was prophesied that the biggest disaster of our times will draw nearer during these times, and only someone who has truly understood the principles of Tao can save the world. Is this planet truly reborn, or will it wither? I've done what I could, now let's see how this world ends..."
Zi Yuxiao muttered to herself as she sat up on her throne and gazed at the direction Wang Bugui had disappeared in. Her charming voice reverberated around the halls of the palace, and it was still as seductive as ever, but a slight frustration had replaced her languidness.