1155: Chapter 343: Nine Echoes_3 1155: Chapter 343: Nine Echoes_3 Ji Feixue looked at Su He, her expression cold, yet her eyes held a smile, but her Intention wasn’t focused, her Spirit Soul divided, half on Su He, half on comprehending the truth Su He had just spoken.
Su He’s brows furrowed slightly, and as he communicated with the Ascending Immortal Drum, he did not sense where Thai Zu’s assistance lay.
Was Thai Zu teasing him, or did he really want him to rely on his own abilities to strike the drum?
Striking the Ascending Immortal Drum was a private matter; the first three sounds might be aided, but from the fourth sound onward, no outsider could absolutely lend a hand.
But at that time, Thai Zu, if he truly wanted to interfere, surely had the means.
The others remained silent as cicadas in winter, waiting quietly, but Su He did not make a move, and a faint humming sound arose again.
Yet there was no doubt about whether Su He could sound the Ascending Immortal Drum; rather, they wondered if the solar eclipse was preventing this Dao friend from performing.
The fifth and sixth sounds were dazzling, arousing a mysterious trust in Su He; the seventh was somewhat lacking, but one could still grasp the immense complexity of the Yin Yang Dao.
Yin Yang is The Great Tao and also the foundation; with Yin Yang, there must be derivatives, perhaps derivatives of The Great Tao obscured by the eclipse?
Indeed, one should not choose this time to strike the drum.
Su He was quiet for a long while, not seeing Thai Zu’s move, and the corners of her mouth curved into a slight smile; Thai Zu wanted him to strike by himself.
Su He chuckled, then don’t blame him for cheating.
The Great Tao encompasses three thousand, Su He hadn’t walked down a single path—he possessed them all!
Su He closed his eyes, his hand resting on the Ascending Immortal Drum, and in his heart he silently recited the Tao Te Ching, a streak of Tao Rhythm falling from the palm of his hand onto the Ascending Immortal Drum.
The Tao Te Ching belonged to Su He.
In this world, he alone possessed it, incapable even of imparting it; it was Su He’s private possession, etched into his Spirit Soul, merged with his True Spirit, indestructible, unerodable.
Naturally, it could be used.
To this day, Su He’s mastery of Tao Rhythm had reached a point where he could control it, not merely scattering in all directions indiscriminately with each recitation; Su He could now condense and direct the spread of Tao Rhythm, controlling its intensity and scope.
A touch of Tao Rhythm fell upon the Ascending Immortal Drum.
The entire Ascending Immortal Drum trembled momentarily, as if shuddering, as if brought to a stunned halt, and then a burst of blue light flourished.
A stroke of blue light shone in all directions, and along with the light a drum’s sound seemed to descend from Nine Heavens, as if rising from Nine Nether.
The drum’s sound was immense, requiring one’s full attention to even perceive it.
Great sound is the sparsest voice!
The drum’s resonance undulated as the entirety of Mystery Huang grew silent in that moment, birds suspended mid-flight, fish hovering in water, every Divine Sense within Guiwang Mountain ceasing.
After hearing seven sounds of the Ascending Immortal Drum, Divine Senses peering this way all froze in mid-air, not daring to stir in the slightest for fear of missing the sound, for fear of losing even a trace.
Even if ignorant of the details, unaware of what was happening, they instinctively listened, instinctively sought understanding.
In the drum’s sound was Tao Rhythm, its vastness inconceivable, its breadth inexpressible, its depth unfathomable, as if this drum’s sound was everything in the world, the source of all beings…
Beside Ji Feixue, Dongxu, entranced by the sound of the drum, moved as if controlled, step by step toward the Ascending Immortal Drum, his body gradually transforming into starlight, bit by bit merging into the drum.
Not only the listeners to the drum but even Su He himself stood still in midair, utterly captivated by the drum’s sound.
Having memorized the Tao Te Ching extensively, and having perceived Tao Rhythm often, he had developed a certain resistance, yet the Ascending Immortal Drum’s unique rendering of Tao Rhythm assaulted him far more than it did any other listener.
As the Tao Rhythm retuned to his body, he had a feeling as though he was encountering his own self.
That Tao Rhythm seemed like his own rhythm.
The Dao was him, and he was the Dao.
It was always so; the Tao Te Ching inherently could not be distinguished from him; upon this realization, the Tao Te Ching seemed to have found its place.
Inside Su He, brilliance erupted, the characters as large as fists, manifesting from the obscurity, falling onto the Flesh Body, Consciousness, into his Inner World, appearing and disappearing intermittently.
On close inspection, every character took the form of the Dragon Turtle and Peacock, either swimming or soaring.
Though you wish to identify them, no matter how you try, you can’t distinguish them.
It was like reading characters in a dream, where they should be recognizable, but they remain forever unreadable.
But at the very moment these characters appeared, the Ascending Immortal Drum sounded another beat, resonating through the cosmos.
The drum’s surface became a mirror, revealing three characters: the Way that can be followed…
Boom!
The Ascending Immortal Drum fell to the ground, as if unable to bear the weight of these three characters, crashing to earth from the sky, cracking and splintering as if it would break apart.
“Master, spare me!” Dongxu’s voice came from the Ascending Immortal Drum, “I…I cannot endure!”
His voice strained as if he were bearing a great mountain.
Su He came back to his senses, reaching out towards the Ascending Immortal Drum, pulling back, and the characters “the Way that can be followed” fell into his palm and then vanished.
In Su He’s Inner World, several characters flickered, revealing their true form, readable now.
The Way that can be followed, is not the eternal Way!
These words slowly ascended, then descended, settling atop Top of Tai’a Mountain, hanging high, giving the impression that they were within arm’s reach and could be grasped at any moment, but upon real contact, they were elusive and distant, uncatchable.
The creatures of the Inner World felt nothing, even those of the Seven layers of the Step-heaven Netherworld Realm—the Yi River and the Ghost General—showed no response, as if unable to see the characters drifting around the world, nor the opening passage of the Tao Te Ching above Tai’a Mountain.
Only a White Tiger in armor stood dumbfounded, cocking its head at Tai’a Mountain.
In the outside world, once the three characters no longer suppressed it, the Ascending Immortal Drum collected its cracked form, wobbled and took to the sky once more, and then vanished from sight.
With the disappearance of the Ascending Immortal Drum, it took a long while for people in all directions to exchange looks, disbelievingly asking, “Nine…nine rings?”
Their realization dawned not like the Tao Master’s eight rings but…nine rings!
Nine rings, personally passed down by the Taoist Ancestor!