TDU Chapter 530
Chapter 530 Upheaval
Yu Nian’An was frightened by Qi Xia’s state. “Huh…?”
“Would you stand on that land steeped in the stench of blood and wait for me?!” Qi Xia wailed. “Would you wait for me in that purgatory on earth?! Would you wait for me beside mountains of piled corpses?! How am I supposed to escape from there?! How am I supposed to see you again?!”
“Xia… you…” Her lips trembled; she didn’t know what to say.
“An, do you have anything else you want to say to me?!” Qi Xia’s tears poured down uncontrollably, the searing pain in his chest like blade after blade stabbing into his heart. “I’m about to wake up! I’m going to wake up any second!! I want to hear you speak… can you talk to me a little more? Say anything at all! I just want to stay with you right now because the moment I open my eyes, it’s purgatory on earth!”
“But I’m right here…” Yu Nian’An’s eyes reddened as well. “Xia, what’s happening all of a sudden? You’re scaring me… haven’t we always been fine?”
“I lost! I’m going to lose!” Qi Xia shouted hoarsely, completely unmoored. “An! They took you away from me! I thought I could crawl out of hell and come back to live the same life with you as before… but I was wrong. Now I have to exhaust every last bit of strength just to dream of you once. For this single meeting, I’ve clawed and crawled through hell for decades!! And now…now I’m about to believe it!!”
“Believe… what?”
“I’m about to believe that you don’t exist at all!” Qi Xia was trembling from head to toe as he reached out and seized Yu Nian’An’s arm. “Every answer leads to this single path!! Tell me, what am I supposed to do?!”
What showed in Qi Xia’s eyes was the utter collapse of conviction. It was as though he had fallen into despair toward everything.
“I… don’t exist?” Yu Nian’An laughed softly through her tears. “Xia, did you know? There are many paths (道路) in this world…”
{Boom}!!
Qi Xia was startled by the sudden thunderous roar and instinctively turned to look out the window.
The sky outside was splitting apart, scattering pinpricks of starlight.
Before he could say anything, he suddenly frowned.
He realized that what Yu Nian’An had said today was not quite the same as before.
This line, one he had heard countless times, had gained a single extra word.
“An… what do you mean by ‘There are many {Dào} paths (道路) in this world?” Qi Xia asked, his lips trembling. “Before, wasn’t it always just… {paths (路)}?”
(TLN: Hard to explain, but basically she always used to use the character ‘路’ to refer to paths. Now, there’s an extra ‘Dào,’ because 道路 also means paths. You all know the nuance.)
“Xia, did you know?” Yu Nian’An’s eyes gradually lost their focus, leaving only one sentence upon her lips. “There are many paths (道路) in this world, and each…”
A chill seized Qi Xia. He hastily released Yu Nian’An’s arm and staggered several steps back.
“Right, did you know?” Another voice sounded beside Qi Xia’s ear, unmistakably male, and utterly unfamiliar.
He hurriedly looked around, only to find no one there. Within this empty, desolate house, there was only himself and Yu Nian’An.
Qi Xia turned again toward the window. The crack in the sky was spreading wider and wider, and at that very moment, the sun overhead began to contract.
“What… what is happening?!” Qi Xia shook his head violently, feeling everything plunge into utter chaos.
“Xia, did you know?”
“Right, did you know?”
A man’s voice and a woman’s voice sounded at the same time beside his ears. Every hair on Qi Xia’s body stood on end, as though something ancient and distant were being summoned awake.
“There are many paths (道路) in this world…”
“The {Dào} encompasses three thousand six hundred doors…”
(TLN: 道法三千六百門, roughly translates to ‘The Dao encompasses 3,600 methods (/doors)’, representing countless paths that practitioners may pursue. )
The two voices fused together, crashing again and again into Qi Xia’s mind, leaving him utterly incapable of thought. Above him, the crack in the sky continued to widen, and in an instant, the sound of heaven collapsing and earth shattering reverberated through the void.
“And everyone walks their own…”
“And each person clings to a single root…”
(TLN: This is the second half of ‘道法三千六百門，人人各執一苗根 (“The Dao encompasses 3,600 methods, and each person clings to a single seed (/root).)’ Basically, it expresses the vastness and diversity of the Dao. There are countless ways to practice, cultivate, or approach the Dao, symbolized by the number 3,600. Yet each person has their own innate aptitude or the “one seed” they can grasp, which means every practitioner’s path is unique.)
Hearing those two sentences simultaneously, Qi Xia felt as though he had encountered something unspeakably terrifying. A bone-deep chill spread from his head to his feet, freezing him through. Yet he had no idea where this terror came from. He only knew that it refused to fade, lingering and coiling around him, impossible to shake no matter how hard he tried.
Who was it?
What was he talking about?
“Xia, did you know? There are many paths (道路) in this world, and everyone has their own.”
“Right, did you know? The Dào encompasses three thousand six hundred doors, and each person clings to a single root.”
Qi Xia kept retreating until his back struck the door. The Yu Nian’An before him had completely lost all traces of human vitality. She merely repeated the same words over and over, like a broken recorder.
And every time she spoke, another man’s voice would appear beside Qi Xia’s ear at the same moment.
The two voices were like twin curses, circling endlessly within his mind.
“What do you mean by {Dào encompasses three thousand six hundred doors}…?” Qi Xia found it difficult to comprehend. “Who are you?!”
Countless fragments of memory crashed violently through Qi Xia’s mind.
At that moment, the voice of the Mortal Dragon echoed beside his ear: “As long as you can attain three thousand six hundred {Dào}…”
Then the aged voice of White Tiger followed: “What exactly is this thing called {Dào}…? Three thousand six hundred of them? So that’s how it is… so he still remembers Master’s words…”
The Dào encompasses three thousand six hundred doors, and each person clings to a single root.
I want you to collect three thousand six hundred {Dào}.
There are many paths (路) in this world.
Qi Xia now had only one thought… he had to escape.
If he stayed here any longer, he would truly lose his mind.
Shivering all over, he turned and pushed open the door. Outside stretched a long corridor, lined on both sides with wooden doors.
“Xia…”
“Right…”
“There are many paths (路) in this world…”
“The {Dào} encompasses three thousand six hundred doors…”
Stop…
Qi Xia screamed in his mind over and over: ‘No more… stop already…’
“And everyone has their own path.”
“And each person clings to a single root.”
Qi Xia ran forward through the corridor, the old wooden floorboards groaning beneath his feet. At the same time, the doors on either side of him began to creak open one by one.
“Enough of this…” Qi Xia shouted, his voice trembling. “What… what do you want from me?!”
“And everyone has their own path...”
“And each person clings to a single root...”
“Shut up!!” Qi Xia screamed, trying desperately to cover his ears, but abruptly felt thick hair growing around them.
“What…?” He came to a slow halt, staring down in disbelief at his hands, now completely covered in white fur. Once again, a jolt of incomprehensible blockage surged through his mind.
“What am I…”
“White Goat gege…”
A tender, childlike voice sounded from behind him. Qi Xia swallowed nervously, then turned around with deliberate caution.
A blackened, rotting corpse had appeared behind him, clutching several {Dào}.
“White Goat gege…” The corpse raised its hands slowly toward Qi Xia.
Qi Xia did not feel fear at the sight. Instead, a profound sense of guilt struck him like a runaway train, crashing into the depths of his heart.
“Mouse…?” The words escaped him unconsciously.
The next moment, the corpse’s barely discernible features twisted, and something resembling a mouth slowly opened.
“White Goat gege, you really did not lie to me.” The corpse giggled continuously. “No matter what I have become, you always recognize me…”
TL Note: Told u this novel takes inspiration from cultivation tales
