Just as Tang Xiaoqi's fingertip, condensing his entire Dao thought, understanding, and emotion, was about to touch that gray-white stele engraved with "How to Prove the Dao"—
"Buzz!"
The stele seemed to be awakened from eternal slumber, suddenly erupting with warm and vast chaos light! That light wasn't blinding, yet instantly filled the entire front courtyard, drowning everyone's figures within it. Within the light was contained an indescribable vast suction—not acting on the physical body, but directly on the soul and Dao heart!
Xiao Qi felt his consciousness seemed to be pulled from his body, cast into a boundless, beginningless and endless chaos void. Here there was no up or down, no time or space, only the most primal, constantly birthing and dying evolving chaos airflow.
And in the center of this chaos, a grand, indifferent voice, as if representing the universe's own will, directly thundered in his soul's depths, repeating that ultimate question:
"How to prove the Dao?"
This voice carried no emotional color, yet possessed terrifying power that pierced all illusions and pointed directly at the source, shaking his entire foundation, interrogating the meaning of his existence.
Before this absolute chaos and interrogation, any flowery words, any clever speculation seemed pale and powerless. Only the most essential, most pure Dao heart could respond.
Xiao Qi's "consciousness" condensed into form in this chaos void. He "looked" toward the direction the voice came from, his gaze calm and determined. Scenes from the past flashed rapidly before his "eyes":
The demonic flames rising to the sky at Azure Mountain Villa and his father's resolute back...
His master's expectant yet worried gaze at the Clear Void Observatory's mountain gate...
Third Senior Sister Liu Yun's seemingly strict but actually caring "special training"...
Eldest Senior Brother Mu Qingfeng's steady and reliable sword gift and exhortations...
Second Senior Brother Luo Feng's sincere friendship beneath his joking manner...
The tacit understanding fighting alongside Mu Xue, the heroic spirit drinking and chatting with Ao Qin...
The gratitude of Flowing Cloud Sword Sect's Zhao Mingxuan and others after surviving calamity...
The wisdom of sages absorbed in the Scripture Pavilion, the Chaos Pill Fire subdued in the Pill Refining Room...
And all the countless ordinary or extraordinary living beings he had seen along this journey—their joys and sorrows, their struggles and hopes...
All these images, emotions, and insights finally converged into an incomparably firm, incomparably clear torrent, washing and tempering his Dao heart.
His Dao had never been about pursuing individual transcendence and freedom, nor about controlling power to destroy heaven and earth.
His Dao originated from the most simple attachment and reluctance to part, achieved through the most firm responsibility and duty.
Guarding those he cared about, guarding those beauties worth cherishing, guarding this world that gave him birth and raised him.
Purifying the filth that eroded beauty, dispelling the darkness that blinded minds, guiding the lost back to the right path.
This guarding was not stubborn possession, but shelter that gave vitality and freedom. This purification was not cold ruthless erasure, but guidance that awakened truth and order.
His Dao was recognizing the existence of endless darkness and chaos in the world, yet still choosing to believe in light, and being willing to struggle and sacrifice for it—this was the "righteous path of the human realm"!
No need for flowery vows, no need for complex arguments.
He raised that hand formed from consciousness, not to write, but to perfectly merge his Guardian Sword Heart tempered through tribulations, with his Purification Origin that cleansed filth and awakened vitality, transforming them into the purest, hottest Dao thought. Like a brand, he fiercely "carved" it toward that chaos, toward that indifferent interrogation!
No substantial strokes, no sound of declaration.
But the instant his Dao thought landed, in that chaos void, it was as if thunder exploded! Ten large characters condensed from pure Dao rhyme and will, emitting warm platinum light, appeared from nothing, illuminating this eternal chaos:
[This body guards all living beings, this heart purifies the universe!]
The instant the ten characters appeared, that grand indifferent voice abruptly ceased.
The entire chaos void seemed to freeze, then the endless chaos airflow began rotating and converging at unprecedented speed, finally transforming into a warm and vast torrent, like finding its home, madly pouring into Xiao Qi's consciousness-formed figure!
This was not an infusion of power, but the Great Dao's recognition and gift! It was baptism and blessing for his firm Dao heart!
Outside, in the front courtyard.
Under the shocked gazes of Mu Xue, Ao Qin, Ling Jueyi, and others, the stone stele that had erupted with chaos light suddenly gathered its radiance inward. And Tang Xiaoqi standing before the stele—his raised fingertip hadn't truly touched the stele's surface, but on the stele's rough gray-white surface, ten platinum-white characters identical to those in the void actually appeared on their own, written in wild, cursive strokes, naturally formed from Dao rhyme—
This body guards all living beings, this heart purifies the universe!
As the ten characters appeared, an indescribable, warm and majestic aura, as if containing the most good and righteous will between heaven and earth, explosively spread from Xiao Qi and the stele as its center! This aura was so pure, so firm, that everyone present felt their hearts shaken, as if their own Dao hearts were being washed clean.
Brilliant light exploded in Ao Qin's dragon eyes as he looked at those ten characters, then at Xiao Qi whose aura was undergoing some mysterious metamorphosis, his heart filled with shock and complexity. He finally understood why Xiao Qi could create miracles again and again—his Dao heart's purity and firmness far exceeded his imagination!
On Mu Xue's ice-locked stunningly beautiful face, clear emotion appeared for the first time. Her cool eyes reflected those platinum ten characters, as if seeing some "truth" that had always existed in concept but was difficult to touch.
Ling Jueyi's hand tightly gripping his sword hilt slightly loosened. The guardian will contained in those ten characters actually caused his sword heart that pursued ultimate sharpness to produce an indescribable resonance... and hesitation?
The others all showed varying expressions, but without exception, all were deeply shaken by the will contained in these ten characters and the heavenly phenomenon they triggered.
"Rumble—"
Just as those ten Dao characters completely solidified on the stele, that tightly closed main hall gate of the Transmission Hall, which hadn't opened for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, issued a heavy and ancient rumbling, slowly yet firmly opening a crack inward!
An aura even more pure and ancient than outside, as if containing the Great Dao's ultimate mysteries, flowed from the crack, making everyone's spirit rise!
The hall gate had opened!
And the key to opening this gate was not power, not calculation, but Tang Xiaoqi's original heart's answer of "guarding is the Dao"!
Xiao Qi slowly withdrew his finger. The platinum Dao rhyme around him gradually gathered inward, but his eyes became even deeper and brighter, as if able to pierce through illusion and see truth. He glanced at the others beside him still contemplating or struggling, then looked at the open hall gate. Without any hesitation, he took a step, taking the lead in entering the Transmission Hall, symbolizing supreme fortune and ultimate trial.
His answer had received the Great Dao's recognition. Whatever lay ahead, he would uphold this heart and press forward without turning back.