Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations

That was… an endless starry sky of immortal beauty.

Vague visuals floated in the starry sky, and it was hard to understand their meanings.

In the Half City Shop, Zou Mo hadn’t had nightmares anymore after he was rescued by Mr. Fang and became an employee in the shop.

But lately, he kept having strange nightmares…

“They… will be imprisoned here forever. Their power can never pierce the endless void. They… can never rise above this world.

“But there are exceptions to everything…”

In his dreams, he seemed to see a figure, but he couldn’t clearly see this person’s face.

Before this figure was blinding golden light.

Then, he seemed to see a cup full of all kinds of horrifying alien bugs. When the lid was lifted, these horrifying existences which had been silent for a long time were disturbed and got restless.

When a pale blue spiritual light fell, he seemed to see countless bugs beginning to devour each other!

However, the scene was not clear and real. In the dreams, things were distorted, and the twisting and the struggling things seemed not to be bugs.

At this moment, a pair of eyes suddenly turned toward Zou Mo.

Instantly, Zou Mo’s hair stood on end.

“Ah!” With a shiver, he instantly woke up at the counter.

“What’s wrong?” Alarmed, Ruan Ning stood up from the seat beside him.

“So… sorry!” Zou Mo said apologetically, “Last… last night, I didn’t sleep well.”

…

Meanwhile, in St. Heinz’s great hall.

“Then… in that ancient war… did anyone truly make that leap forward?” St. Dulan asked in a deep voice.

“In that war, no one made the leap,” St. Heinz said mildly, “Because… that piece of divinity… or the so-called Dao Seed in the East Continent, broke.”

“Bro… broke?!” St. Dulan said in astonishment.

“For people in the East Continent, it needs the combination of the right time, right place, and right people. For us, we need the holy trinity!” St. Heinz explained, “So, we can only wait for another opportunity to arrive.”

…

– At the Heavenly Abyss Sea –

Two figures still stood on the reef on the shore of the Heavenly Abyss Sea.

Violent gales swept across the sea.

Reminiscent glints flashed in their eyes.

“Ascendance to the True Immortal Realm is like… bugs devouring each other.”

“The time is coming… all of the world will fall into chaos… at that time…”

“Perhaps one day, they will destroy themselves this way.”

…

– In the afternoon, at the Immortal Tune Pavilion in the Heavenly Faction –

This ancient and unique pavilion was famous since the ancestral master of the Heavenly Faction had listened to immortal tune and understood Great Dao in this pavilion.

This place was the highest-level Dao-teaching venue in the Heavenly Faction.

It was heard that every person who had the privilege to teach Dao here was at least a senior member with a high position and great power. The Immortal Tune Pavilion was only opened for teaching Dao once in hundreds or even one thousand years.

In the pavilion, the fragrance of rare herbs floated around. The top spiritual scent could refresh people’s mind and help them concentrate with excellent effects. Although Mr. Fang had just decided to give a lecture on impulse, the Heavenly Faction had ordered the disciples to prepare the place with great care ahead of time. Sedately sitting on the futons in the pavilion, they looked as if they had bathed, scented, and even fasted for three days.

Sitting in the front row were the white-robed Elder Xiao Yunhe, the black-robed elder, and a few elders whom Mr. Fang had seen in the great hall.

Behind them were the six most outstanding disciples of the Heavenly Faction. Two of them, one man and one woman, sat in the center.

The white-robed man on the left with a solemn expression was the Elder Senior Disciple Zhuge Qinlong, and he was the most talented young disciple in the Heavenly Faction.

The white-robed tranquil woman sitting on the right was Yu Yin. Although she had entered the faction much later, her talent was on pair with Elder Senior Disciple Zhuge Qinlong.

Then, they saw Mr. Fang walking in from the outside.

When Mr. Fang passed, some female disciples almost had cold sweat popping out.

Cang Feng and some male disciples remembered the special effects in the visuals and also had cold sweat on their foreheads.

“Erm-hem!” He cleared his throat and said, “I didn’t know that I would be invited to give a lesson on Dao, so I’ll make it casual.”

“This opening…??”

“Huh?”

The elders thought, This style doesn’t feel right…?

“The Dao which one can explain is not the unchanging Dao,” Mr. Fang said, “It means that Dao is something that you can understand but not to be talked about. If it’s explained, it’s no longer the permanent Great Dao; it’s only one person’s Dao.”

TL Note: ‘The Dao which one can explain is not the unchanging Dao’ is the first line in Dao De Jing, a Chinese classic text traditionally credited to the 6th-century BC sage Laozi.

“Hiss!” The elders sitting in the front row shivered and stared at Mr. Fang dumbfoundedly.

“The Dao which one can explain… is not the unchanging Dao?!” They chewed on Mr. Fang’s words and felt like they were deep and mysterious.

The disciples immediately memorized the words silently.

Then, Mr. Fang changed the direction of the topic. “So, we must put more thought on ourselves.”

“More thought on ourselves?” The white-robed Elder Xiao Yunhe obviously didn’t understand.

“Yes,” Mr. Fang answered, “You’ll never fully understand it, but you can improve yourself continuously. During the process, your understanding of it will become deeper and deeper.”

“Improve myself? Does it mean… that we must cultivate in seclusion every day in the faction?” The black-robed elder asked in bafflement.

“Of course not.” Mr. Fang said, “Have you guys heard about… E-Sports?”

“E-Sports?!” The cultivators of the Heavenly Faction exchanged a look of confusion.

“I’ll tell you a story.” Then, Mr. Fang began to tell them the story about the duel at the top of Hua Mountain and shattering the void.

TL Note: These refer to classic wuxia novels.

“This… is E-Sports?” Xiao Yunhe asked curiously.

“No…” Mr. Fang said, “E-Sports is different. E-Sports relies on competitions in the virtual world to do this.”

Then, he talked about E-Sports professional leagues… and all kinds of god-like pro players. He discussed the God-like UZI and Demon King Faker.

“God-like? Demon King?” The elders were truly stunned. “Senior, you mean… we can improve ourselves continuously through E-Sports and eventually become…’god-like’?!”

“But…” Xiao Yunhe shook his head and said, “Ancestral Master said that humans’ strength can never break through the natural limit set for humans.

“Not everyone has such high and unique talents as you, Senior!”

“You’re right.” Mr. Fang spread his hands and said, “Your ancestral master only said that humans’ strength couldn’t do it, and he didn’t say anything about skills and techniques. As the saying goes, ‘skills and techniques reach Dao’. If you don’t do E-Sports, who will?!”

“So…” Xiao Yunhe said in shock, “We… need to do the so-called E-Sports?!”