Chapter 2015: Remembering Oneself

"Hurry, hurry, we're going to be late!"

"It seems that the Ping Shi is going to talk about Dao Zu, one of the Ten Ancestors of yesteryear. She is the one who has the most say on whether 'shu' came from 'sui' or 'dao'!"

In Nantian Sui Zhou, on Yunlong Fudao, holy power transformed into a rainbow. Two youths were quickly making their way through the clouds.

The one in front was full of vigor and hurried along.

The one being dragged behind was sleepy-eyed, with two large dark circles under his eyes, looking as if he had just been pulled out of bed.

Despite their rush, they were still late for what was said to be the most precious early class after entering the sect.

When the two arrived at Qunxing Feng, passed through the Kuajie Tianji Formation, and then quietly sneaked into the Inner Sect Lecture Hall of Yinyang Dao Palace, Ping Shi had already begun her lecture some time ago:

"...Therefore, Shi, Ming, and Nuo are all external ancestors; none of them are ancestral gods nurtured by our Tianjing Yuntu."

"Shi Zu Kong Yu Hen merely usurped Dao Zu Yi Ji's name under duress, occupying that 'position' during the period when Dao Zu was propagating her teachings but not yet in the world. This is the truth."

Ping Shi lectured on the stage, while below in the cloud-sea seating, over ten thousand people listened.

Among them were old scholars who studied the history of ancient ancestral gods, old senior students who practiced Sui Shu but not Dao Shu, and some who believed that Shi Zu was indeed one of the Ten Ancestors.

Clearly, not everyone agreed with her statement.

However, as soon as Ping Shi finished speaking, a voice of rebuttal immediately echoed from below:

"Ping Shi, I have a question."

"Shi was before Dao. Could it be that Dao Zu, who cultivated memory, altered historical memory, kicking Shi Zu out of the Ten Ancestors' ranks, and you were unaware of it?"

At this, a stir arose.

The idea wasn't particularly bold; it was a common doubt.

However, throughout history, there had never been a definitive conclusion. If it was Ping Shi, as the only strong practitioner in Tianjing who cultivated the historical path and used the river of history to discern truth, perhaps her answer would be closest to the truth.

"A bit interesting..."

The sleepy-eyed fellow in the back was also roused by the noise and perked up a bit.

Cultivating Dao was boring; what he loved most was hearing gossip about these ancestral gods. In fact, if everyone could cultivate the historical path, he would find it the most appealing.

Imagine gaining power just by researching ancestral god gossip—how fun!

"It's interesting, isn't it, Li Yun? Otherwise, why would I drag you here?" The young Tong Sheng chuckled, then nudged the arm of the person next to him and whispered, "Senior Brother, Senior Brother, what did Ping Shi just roughly say? I was delayed and missed the beginning..." He then slipped him a Ling Que.

The Senior Brother with the square face was initially annoyed, as he had been engrossed in Ping Shi's beauty and was interrupted. But when he turned and saw the Ling Que, he grinned, his expression saying, "You truly understand me":

"Nothing much else."

"She was just telling a different history, saying that this 'Nantian Sui Zhou' we're on used to be called 'Nanyu Zuitu'."

"And this 'Tianjing' isn't the ancient Tianjing, but a 'New Tianjing' reshaped 129,600 jian before. She said it also incorporated the power of 'Shi Jing,' which is why the name 'Shi Zu' was left among the Five Great Tian Zhou."

"If you were in that era, what we are in now would be called 'future'."

Tong Sheng gasped.

Could Ping Shi trace the truth of such ancient events? Was this the power of the historical path? Truly amazing!

"Did she talk about Dao Zu?" Tong Sheng asked. It concerned his upcoming Dao Shu cultivation, and he would regret missing it.

"Sounds like she's just about to..."

As the square-faced Senior Brother spoke, Ping Shi, at the front of the cloud-sea platform, lightly dismissed the question and returned to her previous point:

"Speaking of Dao Zu, most people probably only have the impression of her original name, 'Yi Ji', right?"

"That's right, Dao Zu's true name is Yi Ji, and she cultivated the Way of Memory. But what you don't know is that this was her name before her 'guiling'."

"Strictly speaking, after Dao Zu's guiling, she is Dao Zu, but also not Dao Zu. She should be called 'Dao Qiong Cang'."

What did that mean?

Tong Sheng was bewildered, his mouth agape.

Even the dark-eyed Li Yun showed a hint of curiosity.

Only the square-faced Senior Brother remained as before, still immersed in Ping Shi's grace.

"Holy Demon Medicine Ghost Arts, Sword Dragon Battle Dao Heaven, surely you haven't forgotten this formula of the original Ten Ancestors?"

"The names of the Ten Ancestors were all determined before they had their 'guiling', whether it be Sheng Mo, Yao Gui, Shu Sui, or Yi Dao."

"To investigate Dao Shu, one must investigate Dao Zu; to investigate Dao Zu, one cannot bypass memory and truth; to investigate memory and truth, one must review Dao Zu's meticulously planned life... Everyone, please listen to my account."

Ping Shi's voice was like a clear, melodious bird in an empty valley, captivating and enchanting.

As she spoke, she gently stroked the cloud-sea, and profound changes occurred on it, forming a small cloud disk that displayed the history of the Sheng Shen Continent, the predecessor of the New Tianjing.

"Dao Zu Yi Ji was born after Sheng Zu Sheng Xin, becoming the second ancestral god of Sheng Shen Continent. She ascended to Tianjing and later befriended Nuo, Ming, and Shi."

"At this time, the various Ancestors had not yet undergone guiling, so they each developed their methods to achieve the perfection of the Great Dao... Sheng Xin's path of 'two into one, one into zero' once led the historical development of Sheng Shen Continent. This gave Yi Ji much to contemplate."

"Here, I must interject: in terms of talent alone, Yi Ji was not as good as Sheng Xin. She only had great fortune in the Way of Memory. Her greatest ability, on the contrary, was 'drawing lessons from others'."

The cloud-sea was silent, with tens of thousands of people holding their breath.

Clearly, everyone was completely engrossed in the history of the Sheng Shen Continent; even the square-faced Senior Brother was captivated by Ping Shi's narration.

"Dao Zu Yi Ji was not adept at innovation, so she also followed the path of 'two into one, one into zero', but with a slight variation in detail."

"After witnessing Sheng Xin 'severing the self', splitting out Mo Zu, and then suffering a backlash, Yi Ji's choice was not to simply imitate. Instead, to be safe, she severed multiple 'selves', calling them 'others'."

"Relying on 'others' to control 'me' – this was the path Yi Ji had chosen early on. She designated the 'me of memory' as the 'first generation', 'power' as the 'second generation', and 'wisdom' as the 'third generation'."

"The remaining ones, the fourth generation, the fifth generation, were all various avatars and Tianji puppets. According to the law of the jungle, the fittest would survive and constantly select the best, replacing the 'third generation', until the most perfect 'third generation' appeared, reclaimed the power of the 'second generation', inherited the return of the 'first generation's self', and thus achieved the path of 'guiling' ancestral god ascension."

At the back of the cloud-sea, Tong Sheng listened with wide eyes.

This was a bit too exaggerated. Could a person be so crazy as to sever their self into so many parts, designating them as 'others', and then be able to reclaim them all in the end?

Clearly, there were many in the cloud-sea with similar thoughts, and soon a murmur arose. Someone asked, "Then, is the returning 'self' still 'me'?"

Ping Shi smiled faintly: "Let's put this aside for now. Just know that first there was 'Yi Ji,' and later 'Dao Qiong Cang,' and both are Dao Zu."

The cloud-sea returned to dead silence.

Everyone was concentrating, listening attentively, waiting for the next part.

"The path of 'relying on others to control me' through survival of the fittest is incredibly long."

"After all, the most perfect third generation needs to constantly evolve, taking only the essence and discarding the dross, until it evolves into a generation with peak wisdom and brilliant strategic planning."

"This journey lasted from the Sheng Xin era to the Sui Yin era, finally ending in the Lian Ling era."

"During this period, Dao Zu Yi Ji imprisoned herself behind the river of memory, using the power of memory to completely erase her existence from the perception of the world. Even 'guiling' ancestral gods, if not deliberately pursuing it, would not know of Dao Zu."

Even the dark-eyed Li Yun couldn't help but exclaim.

To deliberately pursue it, one would need a point to pursue, wouldn't they?

If the Way of Memory concealed all existence, how could an ancestral god, even after 'guiling', trace Dao Zu Yi Ji from the first point?

—There was simply no "first point"!

"I presume everyone understands now. Hiding behind the river of memory is equivalent to hiding behind the minds of normal people, in the shadows of the world where no one would ever inquire."

"In this situation, anyone who can perceive the existence of 'Dao Zu' is either not a normal person, whose memory is chaotic and knowing it would be useless as no one would acknowledge it."

"Even if someone truly understood and spoke about it, they would only be treated as a curious tale, a fabricated 'belief', and its authenticity would not be verified; in fact, it couldn't be verified."

"After all, before Dao Zu Yi Ji willingly exposed herself, the name of Dao Zu wasn't even among the Ten Ancestors, nor were there any inheritances or traces of her in the world."

"And Sheng Xin, Shen Nong Bai Cao, Sui Yin, and others, influenced by the Way of Memory, already had no cognitive awareness of Dao Zu Yi Ji's existence. Furthermore, Yi Ji's actions were not directed against the ways of other ancestral gods; on the contrary, she avoided their Great Daos, solely to perfect her own Dao. This posed no danger to the various ancestors, and naturally, it wouldn't trigger any perception that would cause the ancestors to delve deeper for no reason."

"Therefore, we can simply summarize it as..."

Ping Shi gazed at the evolving history on the cloud-sea, spreading her hands, her voice filled with awe:

"If Dao Zu ultimately failed to achieve 'guiling', then the Way of Memory truly never existed. There was no Dao Zu among the Ten Ancestors; she simply died in hiding, and this would have no impact on history, as some history is simply unknown to people."

"If Dao Zu ultimately achieved 'guiling', then the Way of Memory would return, the true memories of the world would awaken, true knowledge would awaken, and the momentum of Dao Zu's 'guiling' would be unstoppable. This would indeed be true history, and what could be done about it?"

"No matter how uncomfortable it is, you have to accept it. This is memory, just like your exes in your memory."

Li Yun's expression contorted, and images of Qianqian, Yuan'er, A Leng, Du Du, Xiaobai... flashed through his mind.

Everyone said he was heartless, but in reality, he had loved every one of them.

Everyone said he was promiscuous, but in reality, he had loved each of them deeply.

Tong Sheng, however, was bewildered. What was an "ex"? He had no exes; he had been single for eighteen years since birth.

"So, Ping Shi's meaning is that the last third generation, named 'Dao Qiong Cang,' successfully replaced the first generation 'Yi Ji,' achieved the 'guiling' ancestral god status, and completed the final step of the Way of Memory?" There were quite a few people in the cloud-sea listening attentively, not all of them led astray by Ping Shi.

"That's right." Ping Shi nodded slightly, a charming smile on her face. "But it's more than that."

Without waiting for questions, she continued to explain:

"Dao Zu Yi Ji herself had no small ambition; otherwise, she wouldn't have devised such an intricate and lengthy plan to calculate the perfect 'guiling' path for an ancestral god."

"Naturally, the various 'selves' she severed, also called 'others', also had considerable appetites."

"By the time of the third generation, 'Dao Qiong Cang,' she had already mastered various Daos, dabbling in Lian Ling, life, reincarnation, formations, Tianji, stars, spells, swordsmanship, ancient martial arts... and so on. She had achieved remarkable feats in all of them. Although not the absolute best in any one Dao, she was still among the top."

"While others who cultivated multiple paths became unfocused, Dao Zu used the Way of Memory as her primary focus, supplementing it with other Daos. Her goal was to advance another half-step and transcend 'guiling' when the Way of Memory reached perfect 'guiling'."

"This ambition was likely shared by many Ancestors, but very few succeeded. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Dao Zu is the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Daos. After all, for those she defeated, the Daos she seized were at least at the level of 'splitting into two' or 'two into one,' and a few even reached the 'guiling' level."

Some in the cloud-sea were still confused and spoke loudly: "But Ping Shi, figures like Sheng Xin and Shen Nong Bai Cao were paramount figures on the ancestral god list, either with extraordinary combat power or superior strategy, far incomparable to the fleeting Hua Zu or Li Zu. How could they tolerate the third generation Dao Qiong Cang gradually progressing towards perfect guiling?"

"Good question!" Ping Shi's beautiful eyes lit up, giving an appreciative look, and she explained:

"This brings us back to Dao Zu Yi Ji's path to enlightenment."

"If we liken 'strength' to 'appetite,' then Yi Ji cut the entirety of the Way of Memory into pieces... like apples."

She stroked her hand, and a huge white apple appeared in the cloud-sea. In reality, it looked more like a flesh cocoon, with a giant seemingly inside.

With quick strokes, the white apple was sliced into thin pieces. She picked up a thin slice with her slender fingers and spoke gracefully:

"When the third generation was in its weak period, its appetite was small, and it could only eat this first slice of apple."

"At that time, the memories of the first generation that it awakened, or rather inherited, were also very limited, not enough to attract the attention of the ancestral gods."

"As the third generation continued to grow and its appetite gradually increased, it could eat the second, third, and even many slices of apple. The power related to the Way of Memory also slowly awakened, beginning to approach the ancestral god realm."

"This would touch upon a 'critical period,' caught between 'being discovered' and 'being able to hide.' This awkward period is roughly at the Lian Ling Half-Saint realm – any further, and either the ancestral gods would discover Yi Ji's plan, or she would completely transcend."

"We said there were many 'third generations.' So why did all the previous 'third generations' die?"

"Because of the 'second generation'. The second generation wielded power and resided within the third generation. Besides lending power at critical moments, its primary responsibility was that when the third generation reached the critical period, but due to any kind of 'overstepping', before being 'discovered', the second generation would act, kill the third generation, and reshape 'memory', causing Dao Zu's 'guiling' path to reset."

I understand!

Tong Sheng's eyes widened, comprehending Ping Shi's meaning.

The existence of the second generation—this design was too ingenious. No matter what, it would detect whether the 'third generation' had overstepped before the ancestral gods, and it was also closest to the third generation, able to kill first.

If the third generation overstepped, then before ancestral gods like Sheng Xin and Shen Nong Bai Cao discovered and interfered with the Way of Memory, the second generation would have already killed the third generation, and no one would obtain the Way of Memory.

Then, the clues to the Way of Memory would be severed, and from the initial anchor point of 'Yi Ji's' grand plan, it would again become imperceptible to anyone.

What remained, however, was a wealth of failed experiences that the next third generation could use, ultimately allowing the last and most intelligent third generation to know how to better control its power from exceeding, and thus perfectly pass through that awkward critical period.

"So powerful..."

"And so complex..."

The dark-eyed Li Yun murmured silently.

This was cultivating Dao with one's mind, possessing the strongest power yet being so cautious.

If Dao Zu didn't succeed, who could?

In comparison, the calculations of other Ancestors in their path to enlightenment weren't calculations at all; they were just good luck, happening in an era where no one could shake their power.

Dao Zu's plan was a brilliant scheme that "necessarily" led to the achievement of a 'guiling' ancestral god, even in the Lian Ling era when countless talented individuals from various Daos flourished and ancestral gods emerged in succession.

"But Dao Zu failed, didn't she?"

In the cloud-sea, there were quite a few brilliant senior students who raised another question: "Dao Zu achieved enlightenment in the end, but she was no longer Yi Ji, but Dao Qiong Cang, wasn't she?"

Ping Shi smiled serenely: "But before I spoke the name 'Dao Qiong Cang', who in this era knew 'Dao Qiong Cang'? Didn't everyone still believe Dao Zu was 'Yi Ji'?"

The senior student who spoke froze, scratching his head. It seemed that was indeed the case.

Ping Shi continued: "From the perspective of 'others' viewing 'me', if we 'others' still believe Dao Zu is 'Yi Ji', then Dao Zu's Dao is complete."

"From the perspective of 'me' viewing 'me', in the era of Dao Qiong Cang, no one knew 'Yi Ji', only 'Dao Qiong Cang', so her 'self' Dao was also completed."

"And if we view 'Dao Qiong Cang' from 'Yi Ji', or 'Yi Ji' from 'Dao Qiong Cang', then 'other' and 'self' rely on each other, which also proves the 'Sword Self' Yin-Yang balance Dao of the Eight Ancestors, and Dao Zu still succeeded."

"You only consider names, not essence, but Dao Zu only considers essence, not names. This is the difference between you and Dao Zu, and also the difference between the Dao of 'relying on others to control me' and the traditional Dao of discerning self... Do you understand now?"

I understand!

Tong Sheng's eyes lit up again.

Dao Zu didn't care whether she was called "Yi Ji" or "Dao Qiong Cang." She only cared whether she could achieve 'guiling' and even transcend.

After 'guiling', every "other" would become "me," and naturally, Dao Zu, the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Daos, should have more than ten thousand names.

"But how does one maintain the 'self'?" Another doubt arose in the cloud-sea.

"This is indeed what most people would think," Ping Shi smiled. "But it's like using a small measure to guess at something vast, or an ant observing the moon."

"At Dao Zu's level, what you perceive as 'the chaotic Her' is actually 'the perfect Me' in Her cognition. What you consider 'chaos' is 'the balance' She painstakingly cultivated in Her eyes. How can you, with your current limited perspective, determine that Her state of existence is 'lost'?"

With that explanation, even Li Yun understood.

He glanced at Tong Sheng beside him, who clearly understood as well but hesitated to speak, looking somewhat reserved.

Understanding his friend's shy and introverted nature, he immediately spoke loudly, asking, "Ping Shi, Ping Shi, which is the orthodox one, Sui Shu or Dao Shu?"

This was precisely what Tong Sheng was puzzled about.

Today, he had come for this very reason.

Ping Shi smiled, casting an approving gaze, clearly deeming it a good question. She said:

"It is often said, 'No art is higher than sui, no scheme is higher than dao.' I presume everyone has heard this saying."

"However, both Dao Shu and Sui Shu draw upon the power of the stars, evolving into Tianji Shu and Sui Yin Shu, respectively. They are distinct yet interconnected, making them equally matched."

"To investigate which is stronger, Dao Shu or Sui Shu, is essentially to investigate the precedence of Dao and Sui, and also to investigate history."

Ping Shi paused, then gently stroked her hand again.

The cloud-sea rippled once more, revealing the various light and dark timelines of the Sheng Shen Continent era.

"From the visible timeline, Shu Dao originated with Shu Zu and later reached its peak with Sui Yin."

"From the hidden timeline, Dao Zu predates Shu Zu, and even the birth of other Ancestors after Sheng Zu."

"However, after Shi Zu became lost, the river of time split into countless branches, running parallel and becoming chaotic. The various ancestral gods can also be considered to have progressed simultaneously and been born at the same time."

"So, which came first, and which came later?"

Ping Shi's lips curled into a slight smile, keeping the ten thousand listeners in the cloud-sea in suspense, before she gently chuckled:

"Both can come first, and both can come later."

Why would she say that?

This was too perplexing.

Fortunately, Ping Shi did not stop but continued her lecture.

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