Dragon Canon

Just as Wei Yuan was about to dodge, he suddenly felt another pang of dread. The ground trembled slightly, and a strange sensation—a mixture of icy cold and searing heat—swept over both of them.

The Vajra Guardian was searching for them using a great mystic ability. Wei Yuan immediately held his breath and stopped moving.

The Vajra Guardian’s perception swept back and forth several times. Reluctant to give up, it would sweep through the area two more times before finally ceasing. Wei Yuan was about to exhale deeply when he realized his mouth had already been covered.

Wei Yuan felt a surge of irritation: how could she be so reckless at a moment of life-and-death? He pushed the girl away and cautiously extended his perception, intending to gauge the situation outside.

But his perception hadn’t traveled more than a few zhang upward when he suddenly felt a searing heat. He was forced to withdraw it. That heat carried the power of World-purifying Lapis Lazuli Fire and inflicted additional damage to perception. Wei Yuan dared not touch it.

Judging by the distance, the heat had already penetrated more than two zhang into the earth. What was happening on the surface? Could it be that the Vajra Guardian had started burning the mountain?

The mountain was not devoid of life. The grass, the trees, and the countless small creatures living in the forests were all living. Some, having listened to the sutras day and night, had already awakened their spirituality. In the Homeworld, they would be regarded as spirit beasts and nurtured with care no matter how weak they were at birth.

If the Vajra Guardian were truly setting the mountain ablaze, wouldn’t that be slaughtering sentient beings?

Since there was no way out above, the only option was below. Wei Yuan extended his perception downward, and things seemed a little more hopeful this time. Even after probing dozens of zhang, he encountered nothing but rock.

Wei Yuan was calculating the distance and comparing it to the terrain in his memory. He was trying to see if he could dig a passage out from underground—ideally with the exit leading to the cliff. But just as his perception reached a hundred zhang, nearly at its limit, he suddenly sensed a chilling, icy aura. The aura was indescribably malevolent, and even the slightest proximity sent shivers down Wei Yuan’s spine.

As it turned out, they were caught between a rock and a hard place. Wei Yuan was on the verge of losing his mind—what kind of hellish place was this?

However, he trusted his instincts implicitly. There were very few things that could instill such intense fear in him—the Outside walker he had encountered in the Coldbelow was one such example.

As if that wasn’t enough, the all-consuming Buddhist flame above was the less deadly option. When he scanned it with his perception, the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree was at least swaying normally. But the moment he neared the icy, malevolent aura below, the spirit plant had come to a completely standstill. Even its sword qi were frozen as if time itself had stopped. That was how he knew that whatever lay below was absolutely off limits to him.

Just as he was fretting over this, the girl climbed on top of him again, wanting to take a few more bites.

Wei Yuan snapped, “We’re about to die, and you still have the energy to fool around?”

The girl replied, “It’s precisely because we’re about to die that I want to fool around! Once we’re really dead, we won’t be able to do anything anymore....”

Wei Yuan paused, and to his surprise, he found her words made some sense. He wasn’t the type to give up easily, but who would have thought he’d be driven into such a desperate situation? If he were truly going to die here, there were still so many things he hadn’t experienced....

The girl began to wriggle, growing hot as she pressed and rubbed against him, as if desperate to burrow into Wei Yuan’s very being.

For some reason, her touch ignited a fire within Wei Yuan, one that he couldn’t suppress no matter what he tried!

Wei Yuan struggled to resist and kept pulling away from the girl not because he found her repulsive, but because he hated losing control of himself. But the surface was curved, so no matter how far he retreated, he would just slide back down.

The girl clearly sensed his resistance. She suddenly let out a soft giggle that rang like a bell in his ears, so melodious it touched the very depths of his heart. She wriggled again, this time with a deadly intensity.

Wei Yuan sucked in a deep breath as he clung to his last shred of clarity.

The girl asked, “We’re both going to die, so why not have some fun before the final end comes? I was going to marry you anyway.”

“Maybe there’s still hope. I’ll think of a way....”

The girl suddenly grew angry. “You just think I’m ugly!”

Wei Yuan could only offer a sincere reassurance. “You’re not ugly. You’re just not that pretty is all.”

The girl had no knife in her hand, or she would have swung it already. Childhood sweethearts or not, it deserved to be cut clean off[1]!

The girl didn’t move for a moment. Suddenly, she let out another giggle and held a finger up before her eyes. Then, a faint, yellowish glow appeared at its tip.

The light was dim, but it was enough to illuminate her face.

It was a face that should only exist in a dream—delicate, radiant, and clean. Her beauty was pure and unadulterated, but also wild and untamed. It was enough to drive anyone crazy. For example, she was currently biting her lower lip and looking at Wei Yuan, as if she were pointing her finger right at his nose and taunting him!

The faint glow lasted only an instant, but that face was already etched deep into Wei Yuan’s heart.

“You...” Wei Yuan was about to say something when a hand covered his mouth, and she whispered into his ear, “You’re going to die, and you’re still hesitating. You’re not impotent, are you?”

That was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Wei Yuan threw all caution to the wind and pinned her down.

Alas, proving oneself was a supremely difficult task; a truth that Wei Yuan didn’t yet understand at this time.

In the darkness, after a series of fierce yet chaotic and fumbling movements, Wei Yuan realized that he wasn’t making much progress. As if on cue, that infuriating voice rang in his ears again, “What on earth are you fumbling about?”

She shifted slightly. It was such a small movement, but it was like a knife right through his heart. In an instant, Wei Yuan felt his primordial spirit soar to the nine firmaments, where he gazed down upon the Pure Land Buddha-realm and contemplated his past life as a toad.

At the same time, a passage from a scripture he had read before flowed through his mind: When Tai Chi moves, Yang is generated; movement reaching its extreme becomes stillness, and from this stillness Yin arises. When stillness reaches its extreme, motion resumes again. One movement and one stillness[2]—

Before Wei Yuan could grasp the profound meaning behind his elder’s subtle words, the woman had already reached the extreme of stillness and resumed movement, giving rise to yang.

Wei Yuan was forced to fight back. It was live or die.

In the darkness, a crisp laugh suddenly rang out. She said, “I see! You’re still a chick!”

Wei Yuan was furious! He moved!

At this moment, words were futile; only iron and blood could prove his worth. But haste makes waste; his upper hand barely lasted a couple exchanges when his heart suddenly skipped, and his mind yelled, “Oh no!” Sure enough, movement reaching its extreme became stillness.

Seizing this rare moment of calm, Wei Yuan hurriedly asked, “Are you sure we can’t survive?”

“Of course! Why would I lie to you at this point?” The woman replied while shifting from extreme stillness to motion.

......

Silence fell once more in the darkness, and Wei Yuan seized the moment to ask, “When did you regain consciousness? Were you pretending not to be awake this whole time?”

“This is the Pure Land. The moment you enter it, it’s like being lost in the womb—you can’t help but think you’re someone else. You’re the anomaly here, to be able to break free from the mystery of the womb so quickly.”

Wei Yuan exclaimed, “The mystery of the womb!? Was this a suicide quest?”

“That’s another question. I’ll answer it in the next phase,” the woman said, then shifting from extreme stillness to motion.

Wei Yuan now understood exactly what the next phase was: it would be the moment after movement reached its extreme and became stillness.

Silence fell once more in the darkness, and Wei Yuan repeated his question, “Was this a suicide quest?”

Having experienced the Paper Wedding Gown before, Wei Yuan had become extremely adept at dispelling such illusions. He had also observed the village’s entire transformation from the sidelines. Yet no matter how he looked at it, this was a dead end. A Vajra Guardian had popped up after he killed the demon king, and he had a nasty feeling that an Arhat or a Bodhisattva would pop up even if he somehow managed to kill the Vajra Guardian. Forget a Dao Foundation, not even a True Lord could survive such a situation.

Wei Yuan simply couldn’t fathom it. He and the Xiang Marquis shared zero grudge against each other—why would he go out of his way to kill him? He couldn’t really think that if Wei Yuan died, his Master wouldn’t go on a killing spree, right?

The woman giggled softly. “Do you think the Xiang Marquis is trying to harm you?”

“Logically speaking, he shouldn’t be. His life is far more valuable than mine.”

“Originally, if the demon king had killed us, the Pure Land would have shattered, and this cycle of reincarnation would have come to an end. We would then enter a small world containing the true blood of an Arhat. At that point, I would have taken on the karma, and you would have inherited the true blood. Who could have known that you would solve the mystery of the womb and kill the demon king outright?”

“... So, what do we do now?”

“Of course, we continue!”

“No I mean... wait, this isn’t the kind of ‘continue’ I....”

When stillness reaches its extreme, motion resumes.

......

It was finally the Q&A session again, but Wei Yuan’s voice and breathing were less steady than before. “Is there really no chance for us to escape?”

“You can’t even handle me—how do you expect to handle the Vajra Guardian?”

Wei Yuan wanted to say that this and that were not the same, but she had already moved on to the next phase.

......

When stillness reaches its extreme, motion resumes.

When stillness reaches its extreme, motion resumes.

When stillness reaches its extreme, motion resumes.

......

The phrase “When stillness reaches its extreme, motion resumes” really referred to the natural shift between yin and yang. Theoretically, it could take a very long time or an instant. Wei Yuan had assumed it meant the former, but in this dark, cramped space, he realized he had misinterpreted the scripture. It was actually the latter.

......

Wei Yuan had nothing left to ask, but he felt it would be a waste of an opportunity not to say something. So, he asked, “Aren’t you tired? Why don’t we rest for a bit?”

“Why rest now, when we’ll rest for an eternity after death?”

Such fearlessness! Wei Yuan could only admire her in his heart.

......

The night was long.

......

Wei Yuan had thought that the long night would eventually pass. For a fleeting moment, he had even glimpsed the dawn. But no, it was the tiny flame at her fingertip, used to comb her eyelashes and light up her face so it might deal another blow to Wei Yuan’s heart.

And so the long night dragged on.

......

Wei Yuan was pondering about the movement of yin and yang—why did it never cease?

The sages had already provided the answer in the scriptures, though: if yin and yang were to cease moving, the world would revert to primal chaos—in other words, it would face destruction.

But Wei Yuan had a sudden thought: wasn’t the world in the Last Age of the Dharma already? The only difference was that the world wasn’t being destroyed by a devilish overlord, but a Vajra Guardian.

......

Wei Yuan noticed that the more depleted his body felt, the more active his mind became. He found himself involuntarily dwelling on all sorts of trivialities, even though he had no idea why.

......

When the world finally, truly, fell silent, Wei Yuan felt as though his body was no longer his own. Not even a single hair on his head felt like standing on end, and his body was nothing more than a pile of human-shaped soy pulp.

She was like a snake, slithering across Wei Yuan’s body from left to right, then from right to left. Wei Yuan understood that she was telling him she was only letting him off the hook for now.

Even at this very moment, Wei Yuan’s mind was still in chaos. He couldn’t fathom how things had come to this. But what happened has happened, and to be honest... it didn’t seem like he had been shortchanged.

Although he had only seen her face twice, if only one person in the world could be described as “a scourge upon the nation”, it would have to be her.

The darkness felt stiflingly hot. Heat mixed with the scent of the World-purifying Lapis Lazuli Fire was constantly radiating from above. The blaze above had burned for so long he could only imagine what the world on the surface had become.

The woman rested her head on Wei Yuan’s chest and suddenly said, “I’ve gone a little mad, because I saw an ending I had never seen before. I never expected it to be like this... Come to think of it, I have to thank you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have woken up early and remembered everything that was supposed to be erased. But seeing Dharma Master like that... it’s so frustrating!”

There was a hint of tears in her voice.

Wei Yuan didn’t know how to comfort her, so he simply held her tighter.

She composed herself, gently tapping Wei Yuan’s chest, and said, “My surname is Lee, and my given name is Ruyi. Lee Ruyi[3].”

Wei Yuan repeated the name silently several times, etching it firmly into his memory.

“Don’t forget me... actually, you couldn’t even if you tried. Outside, I am the First Consort of Western Jin.”

Author’s Note:

“From Wuji arises Taiji. When Taiji moves, Yang is generated; movement reaching its extreme becomes stillness, and from this stillness Yin arises. When stillness reaches its extreme, motion resumes again. One movement and one stillness alternate as the roots of each other. Separating Yin and Yang establishes the Two Instruments (Yin and Yang).”

Excerpt from Taijitu Shuo, Zhou Dunyi of Song

1. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ☜

2. Taken from Chinese Text Project Dictionary ☜

3. Not 如意 “as will”, but 如一 “as one”. ☜