The Wild Taoist

At the pinnacle of the Dao, three flowers gather at the crown. Above the three flowers, the five energies return to their origin. “Below the three flowers... I am invincible.” He spoke in a low, measured voice. “So what?” the Daoist laughed. “Come on! With my sword in hand, the fate of the world is still undecided.” “Very well!” Perfected Qingyun spun and stepped forward, raising a Three Purities bell. The sacred bell rang. “Ding~” His Daoist robe fluttered in the wind as he moved in graceful steps. To everyone’s surprise, he began performing a strange dance. “Ding~” The next moment, the entire town suddenly fell silent. The patter of rain, the howling wind, the splashes of water as the Daoist ran. All of it stopped in an instant at the clear ring of the bronze bell, as if someone had pressed pause on the world. “Ding~” The Daoist was alarmed to discover that he had lost control of his body. Apart from his eyes, he could not move a muscle, not even a finger. He looked ahead and saw countless raindrops suspended in the air, one by one. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked down and saw a circle of water splashing up where his left foot had struck the blue bricks of the long street as he ran. The world sank into utter silence. Only his heartbeat and breathing remained, along with a strange chill. It had nothing to do with the wind or rain, or any change in temperature. It was a shudder that came from the soul. It was as if frost from ten-thousand-year-old ice had wrapped around his whole body, slowly invading every pore, forcing apart his flesh and pouring bone-deep cold into his veins. It spread to every organ and reached the depths of his soul, freezing his very thoughts. This excerpt comes from Chapter 50 and is part of a story arc. You can find it in the table of contents under the “Illusory Realm” arc. You only need to read Chapters 1 and 2 first; doing so won’t affect your enjoyment of the later standalone stories.