An Individual Without a Shadow
“Yes, the lord of Levelwater City is an Apotheosis Realm elder. Grandmaster told me the city’s defence compares to Formation Palace,” informed Zhuge Xiaosheng.
“Doesn’t that mean the city is a dao artefact?” Mu Yu remarked.
“What… is a dao artefact?”
“You have never heard of the term? Our Formation Palace and Pill Cauldron Sect’s Revealing Cauldron are dao artefacts. Xiaoshuai, you remember the text we figured out in Revealing Cauldron? Read it out for Patriarch.”
“That hala bala text? Let’s see… Dao begets one. One begets two. These two forms produce four phenomena. The four phenomena act on the eight trigrams. Yin and yang are the origins of dao. Thoughts must manifest in the mind for them to take form. One more was… Dao is natural. The nine heavens’ dao artefacts are the universe’s guardian. The five elements’ spiritual artefacts beget all things. Prior to the world being named, it was called Mother of All. I have no idea what I just recited. All I remember is, ‘Heaven’s long-lasting reign ends at dawn. The spirit Shadow God binds isn’t part of the five elements’. The last sentence is a reference to me.”
Mu Yu exclaimed, “I get it now. Yin and yang are the origins of everything, exist in dao artefacts and gift it to the mind. Yin yang qis refers to Primordial Ying Yang. I wasn’t sure what it meant since we hadn’t met Dahei and Dabai when we first saw the text. Thinking back on it now, it’s dawned on me that ‘The nine heavens’ dao artefacts are the universe’s guardian. The five elements’ spiritual artefacts beget all things,’ means there are, at least, nine dao artefacts in existence, and all of them have Primordial Yin Yang. Dad is the owner of Revealing Cauldron. I’m the owner of Formation Palace. The five spiritual artefacts refers to this.”
Mu Yu summoned Wood Spirit Sword to his hand. “Shadow God refers to Shifu. The last sentence should actually be understood as ‘Shadow God’s spiritual bind isn’t part of the five elements’, the ‘bind’ referring to you. Heaven’s reign refers to celestial preservation energy found in the nine immortals. When there are less than nine, the world ends, meaning ‘primordial’ ends.”
“What purpose does this knowledge serve?” Zhuge Xiaosheng inquired.
“The nine dao artefacts can prohibit Third Heaven Palace from entering certain places. If Levelwater City is impervious to Third Heaven Palace’s machinations, then the city might be another artefact. Coincidentally, we have one immortal we have no idea where he is – Nian Henxi!”
Xiaoshuai enthused, “If it’s a domain ability that can suppress one’s cultivation and the lord of Levelwater City is Nian Henxi, then his domain ability would be Sp-”
“Spirit Void!” Xiaoshuai and Mu Yu declared together.
“I apologise, but I still do not follow,” expressed Zhuge Xiaosheng.
“After leaving Clearwater City, we went out to sea and met Reverend Xuan Jizi. I suppose you recognise the name, Patriarch?”
Zhuge Xiaosheng nodded. “He was one of our greatest formation casters in history and an inventor of many formations. He was selected to be patriarch. Alas, he elected to remain a simple member and focus on research. Sometime later, he mysteriously vanished.”
“He was Third Heaven Palace’s leader in his era.”
“I… I had no idea…”
“When we entered his Fiend-Sealing Pagoda, we came across a floor with the domain Spirit Void cast on it. That was what we used to deal with Gui Ximing.”
“We diced him!” bragged Xiaoshuai.
“If Levelwater City is a dao artefact or has one guarding it, then a controller of Primordial Yin Yang must be in the city, and I must meet them.”
“Ah, additionally, there is one more thing worth noting: some citizens of the city do not have shadows,” informed Zhuge Xiaosheng.
“People without shadows?”
“Uh… What were their names again…? Oh, Bai Yetian and Bai Yechan! Remember them from Clearwater City, Mu Yu? They don’t have shadows,” Xiaoshuai reminded.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, off the two times Bai Yetian approached us, he stood in the shadow of the rock, so we couldn’t tell, but those tricks of theirs can’t escape my bright, handsome eyes.”
Mu Yu pushed Xiaoshuai over the head. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”
“You going to blame me for this? The man declared he’s from ‘Shadowless Race’. What do you think the ‘shadowless’ is supposed to mean? It’s not my fault you’re not observant. What? What’s with that look?”
“We’ve always been under the presumption that Shadow Syndicate is an extension of Third Heaven Palace. Now, Huang Quan is a shadow assassin, yet he was a spy at Ghost Gate. If Shadow Syndicate is with Third Heaven Palace, Huang Quan should’ve aided Ghost Gate, yet he let us go at Gui Mohan without lifting a finger. I’m suspecting Cheng Yan has learnt some secrets of Shadow Syndicate. That’d explain why Huang Quan is searching for him.
“Shadow Syndicate relies on shadows to commit assassinations. If Bai Yetian doesn’t have a shadow as you say, something is odd. Everyone in Third Heaven, as far as we know, has a shadow. I have a gut feeling that Shadowless Race is a foreign race.”
“Who are Shadowless Sect?” Tian Ran voiced.
“Helian Kong mentioned Shadowless Sect is here to avenge Old White Beard when we were on the island, didn’t he? Remember how he mentioned Old White beard taught Bai Liangsheng or what’s his face?” Xiaoshuai prompted.
“We can’t take everything Elder Helian Kong mentioned on the island at face value as he was still associated with Third Heaven Palace. Patriarch, do you know how to get to Levelwater City?”
“No, unfortunately. Grandmaster led me along a riverbank for some time then threw a token into the river. Before I realised it, we had arrived at the city.”
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