Chapter 99 Admonition
Lao Tzu meditated in a quiet room. Even with the magnificent and sacred Jade Void Palace standing there, the place where Lao Tzu was located was still the cave where he and his two brothers had taken human form.
"You've come." Lao Tzu raised his eyes.
Yuanshi quietly sat down cross-legged to Laozi's left. "Brother, what do you need me for?"
"You..." Laozi stared intently at Yuanshi, "You have always been well-behaved and have never caused me any worry."
"I've always thought that Tongtian is unruly and will cause a great disaster if he's not kept in strict control," Laozi said, struggling with his words. "But I never expected that you would actually..." He couldn't bring himself to say it.
"When did you find out, elder brother?" Yuanshi was speechless, calmly facing the accusation from his elder brother.
That composure in admitting his mistake and not correcting it effectively silenced Lao Tzu's thousand words. After a long silence, he finally said with difficulty, "You have always valued Chang Hao. Originally, I did not realize that something was wrong. I was just guessing and had no actual evidence. But when the Queen Mother of the West came... I know you well, so I naturally know that this is not normal."
"You have always been selfless, egoless, and without desires or wants. How did you come to this? Can you change?" Lao Tzu held a faint hope. His second brother, though the most persistent, had never gone astray. Perhaps he could change?
"I have not changed, why are you worried, elder brother?" Yuan Shi didn't know, could it be that even longing is a mistake?
"Love breeds sorrow, love breeds fear. If one day Chang Hao becomes a Daoist partner with another woman, can you bear it?" Laozi hit the nail on the head. He knew his second brother was the most proud and arrogant, and he would never tolerate this. Besides, the mutual generation of Yin and Yang is the right path.
"I can't stand it." Just thinking about it made Yuan Shi's emotions boil, and he even had the urge to kill.
If it really happened, he would never stand by and watch. "I will not let Chang Hao have this day, never." He would stay with Chang Hao and cut off everyone who came near him.
"What a tragic fate!" Laozi's face turned ashen. "How can you do this to Chang Hao's feelings for you?"
“I will obey anything that comes from his mouth, except for this one thing. Even if my elder brother does not allow it, I will still do it.” There was no room for negotiation in Yuanshi’s words.
Laozi closed his eyes briefly. "Aren't you afraid of ruining your Primordial Dao Fruit? Or are you willing to change Yin and Yang for Chang Hao?"
"Of the three thousand Great Daos, is there no room for true feelings? Must one sever all emotions and abandon love?" Yuanshi sneered. "I am who I am, real and without pretense. Why should I be bound by the distinction between Yin and Yang? Brother, go and cultivate your Dao of Forgetfulness. I also have my own Dao, as does Tongtian. I can guard Chang Hao for thousands of years, but if I sit idly by and watch Chang Hao become Dao partners with someone else, my Dao heart will certainly be unstable."
Lao Tzu twitched his lips. He spoke so openly and honestly, yet his understanding of his second brother was still too shallow. "If Heaven does not permit it..."
Yuanshi snorted coldly, "The Way of Heaven is dead, my Way shall be established." His momentum was unstoppable, unlike his usual disciplined self.
"You, you wretched creature," Laozi was furious. "I always thought Tongtian was arrogant, but I was wrong. You are even more lawless than him, and you can even say such things."
"What happened to explaining the Way of Heaven?" Could it be that he had been bluffing all along? Lao Tzu was filled with doubt and suspicion, feeling utterly deceived.
“When things are peaceful, we naturally follow the Dao, value virtue, cherish life and harmony. But when things come to a head, things are different. If I don’t even dare to resist, I shouldn’t even dream of the Primordial Dao Fruit. My future is in my own hands, not in the hands of Heaven.” Yuanshi said matter-of-factly. He was not a mere echo of the Dao.
"Do you dare to say this to Chang Hao directly? If Chang Hao agrees, I will say no more." Laozi thought for a moment and realized that it was better to guide than to block. Why not put out the fire and remove the fuel? Yuanshi was sobered up after being rejected by Chang Hao.
Yuanshi glanced at Laozi and said, "I'm not stupid."
How could Yuanshi not know how Chang Hao treated him? Chang Hao had never had such thoughts. Revealing them now was clearly a path to death. He intended to distinguish truth from falsehood, not to seek his own demise.
"Aren't you afraid I'll tell on you?" The old man was furious. He thought his second brother was well-behaved, but he didn't expect that he just hadn't encountered any troublesome matters. As soon as he was involved, his true colors were revealed. He was even more difficult to deal with than Tongtian.
Yuanshi lowered his eyes, calculated with his fingers, and said, "Everything will be auspicious." He was certain that Laozi would not dare to do so.
Laozi's face turned ashen. Could it be that this divination was extremely ominous, and he was the villain causing the trouble?
"Your elder brother is saving face for you, but you should also consider the dignity of the Three Pure Ones and change it completely." Laozi spoke earnestly, wanting to reveal the truth but also burdened with many concerns.
Laozi was also afraid that if Chang Hao found out, Yuanshi would have no more scruples. He could still control him now, and Yuanshi couldn't defeat Chang Hao, but Yuanshi would eventually become a saint. At that time, Chang Hao probably wouldn't be able to handle him.
Laozi also had deep feelings for Chang Hao, truly regarding him as a brother. He feared that the Yuanshi School's barbaric behavior in the prehistoric world might lead them to seize whatever they wanted, which would surely cause things to spiral out of control, leaving him in a real dilemma.
“Impossible,” Yuanshi stood up. “If my elder brother has nothing urgent to attend to, please excuse me for leaving first.” Tongtian had taken Chang Hao somewhere, and with his example as a case in point, he could not trust Tongtian.
To prevent brothers from fighting each other, some things must be strictly guarded and nipped in the bud.
"There is an important matter." Lao Tzu took a deep breath and endured it. He had to endure it and not mess things up.
Seeing Laozi's serious and composed demeanor, Yuanshi stood quietly and listened attentively, knowing that this was an important matter.
"I have already agreed to what the Queen Mother of the West said. Once Donghua regains his human form, I will take him under my wing. However, the most important of the Three Pure Ones is the chief disciple, Donghua..." Laozi's eyelids twitched, "Donghua is absolutely not suitable to be the chief disciple of the Three Pure Ones. You must keep this in mind and select a worthy and talented person to take under your wing as soon as possible."
Although Yuanshi knew that accepting disciples was inevitable, it was something to consider after he became a saint, so he opened his thin lips to refuse.
Laozi's face was full of dark clouds. "This matter is not up to you. I cultivate the Dao of Forgetfulness, and I rarely encounter suitable people. Tongtian is unrestrained and does whatever he wants. He never thinks about the pros and cons. The only one I can rely on is you."
“Brother, you should rely on yourself,” Yuanshi sincerely suggested. “My standard for accepting disciples is a handsome and unparalleled youth like Chang Hao back then. There are probably very few people in the world who can catch my eye.”
"Can't we just make do for a little while?" I was so angry I almost fainted. Yuan Shi really dared to say that. How many people in the entire prehistoric world have a talent like Chang Hao? There really is no hope for him.
"Let it be." Yuanshi said, leaving the trouble to Laozi and the benefits promised by the Queen Mother of the West to Tongtian. It had nothing to do with him.
Having cultivated the Dao of Forgetfulness for millennia without ever moving from my current path, I'm lazy to the bone. To prevent Donghua from becoming the first disciple, am I really supposed to bite the bullet and search the primordial world for someone worthy of my attention? That's far too difficult… so incredibly difficult…
Lao Tzu closed his eyes, letting everything take its course; when the time was right, things would fall into place naturally.
Having dealt with Lao Tzu's calculations of the primordial chaos and the location of Chang Hao's lair, "The East Sea, perhaps?"
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