"What's going on?" Tiger looked at Jiang Wen, bewildered, not understanding why he was in such a hurry. Before he could react, he was being carried away from the palace.
Once they were far away from the Heavenly Fire Palace, the two stopped at the tail of the giant elephant.
Tiger shook off the charred fur, his tiger face full of confusion. When it was being chased and beaten by the Fire Spirit earlier, this immortal was unmoved, so why was he suddenly taking the initiative to save it now?
"There's a dangerous being in the Heavenly Fire Palace." Jiang Wen regained his composure and recounted everything he had just experienced. Upon hearing that the cauldron in the Heavenly Fire Palace was actually being used to refine someone, Tiger couldn't help but shudder.
"I didn't expect there to be such a fierce and malevolent person in this palace. Did that person say who they were?" Tiger asked.
"Do you know the name Chi Feng?" Jiang Wen asked, looking at Tiger.
"Chi Feng? Doesn't ring a bell... wait! It seems like I do remember who Chi Feng is!" Tiger first shook his head, then, as if remembering something, slapped his forehead. "I remember the Immortal Master once mentioned Chi Feng, saying it was his name from a long time ago. Presumably, this Chi Feng is the Immortal Master."
"Chi Feng is Pure Yang Zhenren?" Jiang Wen mused. "In that case, the person in the cauldron is probably Pure Yang Zhenren."
"Impossible! How could the Immortal Master imprison himself? Although I haven't seen that cauldron, I can sense the Pure Yang True Fire burning inside. If it were really the Immortal Master himself, he definitely wouldn't be troubled by his own Pure Yang True Fire." Tiger retorted repeatedly, disbelieving that Pure Yang Zhenren was trapped in the cauldron. After all, it sounded too absurd; no one would be trapped by their own divine abilities.
Jiang Wen put away the wooden whip and paced at the tail of the giant elephant. He looked towards the distant immortal palace shrouded in the mist, and pondered, "Perhaps, the one trapped inside is Pure Yang Zhenren, but also not entirely Pure Yang Zhenren."
"Is the Immortal Master, yet not the Immortal Master? I can't understand what you're saying. You're making it so difficult to understand. I'm also confused." Tiger scratched his head, utterly perplexed by the meaning of Jiang Wen's words. His tiger face showed bewilderment, and even scratching his ears and cheeks couldn't help him figure it out.
"What I mean is, the person trapped in that cauldron might be an incarnation of Pure Yang Zhenren," Jiang Wen said.
"Incarnation? What does that mean?" Tiger was greatly puzzled.
"In that Heavenly Fire Palace, there are three statues of Pure Yang Zhenren. Do you know that in the path of cultivation, there's a method called Severing the Three Corpses?" Jiang Wen said slowly.
"Severing the Three Corpses? What's that?"
Seeing Tiger's clueless appearance, Jiang Wen understood that Tiger didn't understand any common sense of cultivation. Even though he had traveled with Pure Yang Zhenren for some years, his knowledge hadn't increased much.
"Very well, I'll tell you about this Severing the Three Corpses."
Jiang Wen sighed and told Tiger about the Daoist method of Severing the Three Corpses. The so-called Severing the Three Corpses is severing the spirits in the three dantians of the human body. The upper dantian is the Niwan Palace, which governs the divine consciousness and is where the main spirit of the human body resides. The middle dantian is the Crimson Palace, which is where essence resides. The lower dantian is the Sea of Qi, which is where qi resides.
Severing the Three Corpses means severing the Three Corpse Gods.
The Upper Corpse God resides in the Niwan Palace, named Ignorance.
The Middle Corpse God hides in the Crimson Palace, named Illusion.
The Lower Corpse God lurks in the Sea of Qi, named Greed.
"A promising child." Jiang Wen smiled happily. "From the first time I stepped into that Heavenly Fire Palace and saw Pure Yang Zhenren casting the three statues, I felt something was strange. Have you ever wondered why each statue holds different magical artifacts?"
"I don't know, Brother Jiang, please stop teasing me. My brain isn't very good; I don't understand many things, so please just tell me directly." Tiger said frankly, not feeling ashamed that his brain wasn't good. Jiang Wen saw that his tiger face was thick enough, so he didn't make things difficult for him anymore.
Looking at the floating islands, he said leisurely.
"In this Heavenly Fire Palace, the central statue holds a pagoda, the left holds a sword, and the right holds a measuring ruler. The pagoda represents suppression, the sword represents severing, and the ruler represents measuring. This is, suppressing ignorance, severing greed, and measuring illusion. It also happens to correspond to the meaning of Severing the Three Corpses. And the person in the cauldron claims to be one with Chi Feng, and Chi Feng is a name Pure Yang Zhenren once used. Therefore, I speculate that the person being refined in the cauldron must be one of the severed Three Corpses."
As Jiang Wen finished speaking, a round of applause suddenly rang out. A female voice came from behind, and then Chang'e slowly walked out: "Wonderful, as expected of the Chosen One I have my eye on."
"So you were here too." Jiang Wen stared at Chang'e, his expression grave. "It seems that since entering this Pure Yang Secret Realm, you've been following me all along, haven't you?"
"That's not true at all." Chang'e quickly waved her hands. "I've just been waiting for you at the entrance of this cave. How could I have come in and followed you? You're so capable, you wouldn't have been able to not notice me."
"So what exactly is going on? You shouldn't be someone returning from the future, nor that Dao Companion of mine, right?" Jiang Wen held the wooden whip in his hand, quietly looking at Chang'e. From the beginning, when Chang'e started talking to him, he had been wary. It was just that this young woman knew too much about him, which made him deeply puzzled.
To think there would be someone in this world who knows your every move; it truly makes one have to be cautious.
Seeing Chang'e remain silent, Jiang Wen couldn't help but chuckle. "You're not trying to find another reason to justify yourself, are you? Don't try to fool people again and again. If you want me to help you, then be straightforward and state your goal. If you continue to deceive me like this, don't blame me for being unfeeling."
Seeing the wooden whip pointing at her, Chang'e also showed a bitter smile on her face. She sighed and confessed her situation to Jiang Wen: "I'm indeed not your Dao Companion, nor someone returning from the future. I deceived you only because I wanted you to bring me in, to help me pass through these layers of the Pure Yang Cave. As for who I am, I can't tell you for the time being."
"So that's 'no comment'? Why should I help someone as insincere as you?" Jiang Wen frowned and said.
"I can't reveal my identity only because I have no other choice. When the time is right, I will naturally tell you. As for whether you're willing to help me, I have something you can't refuse." As Chang'e spoke, she took out a wooden box from her bosom. Under Jiang Wen's scrutinizing gaze, she slowly opened the wooden box.
Jiang Wen saw that inside the wooden box, a pair of crystal-clear, jewel-like eyes were lying quietly. The eyes were like golden gemstones, still radiating brilliance even after being separated from their owner.
Exquisite and translucent, that was the first impression the eyes gave.
Jiang Wen stared at the pair of eyes, looking at Chang'e in confusion: "What is this?"
"They're called the Saint King Eyes, and they also have a name you're familiar with: the eyes of Heavenly King Jiang Wenji."
"…" Jiang Wen was stunned upon hearing this.
