86: Tao follows nature

The night wind carried a salty, fishy moisture, blowing the tips of Su Qingzhu's hair atop the Chang'an city walls.

In those eyes of hers, which had recorded countless anomalies, what was reflected was no longer data and charts, but a living scroll of the human world composed of thirty-seven points of starlight.

These markets and these Still Water Altars were like dormant Acupoints, now being slowly awakened by some ancient and gentle power.

She withdrew her gaze, her fingertips sliding across the cool screen of her phone to pull up a report from the Supernatural Research Institute; the words 'trace amount of unknown stable Power Of Will' appeared so pale and powerless.

She gently closed the device and turned to walk down the city wall, her whispers carrying in the wind, so soft she seemed to be speaking only to herself: "The Institute was wrong... This isn't an 'energy' that can be quantified; it's a 'resonance.' It is the simplest pact between heaven, earth, and the human heart."

At a fishing village pier in Lingnan, the air was thick with a pungent mix of fish, diesel, and low-grade tobacco.

Zhang Xuanyi didn't mind at all. He looked like the most authentic local, barefoot with his pant legs rolled up to his knees, revealing sturdy calves.

He casually tossed the shell of his last oyster into the bucket at his feet, letting out a crisp clatter.

The clouded eyes of a one-eyed old man rolled over him, finally digging that blurred face out from a corner of his memory.

"Daoist... is it really you?" The old man's voice trembled slightly. He couldn't forget that early morning, that storm capable of flipping the very heavens.

Zhang Xuanyi gave a 'hei-hei' laugh, revealing two rows of white teeth. He fished another object out of his tattered cloth bag—not a mung bean this time, but a withered thin bamboo branch with several scrawled runes drawn in cinnabar.

"Stick this by your stove," he said, handing over the bamboo branch. "From now on, your fire will be able to warm people's hearts." Having finished, he stood up, patted the sand off his rear, and sauntered off toward the beach as if he had just performed a task more mundane than eating or drinking.

The old man took the bamboo branch in a daze, only to feel it slightly warm to the touch. An indescribable warmth slithered up his arm and into the depths of his heart.

He looked at the bamboo branch in his hand, then at his small stove. Inside the firebox, that flame from last night—green tinged with gold—was dancing quietly, appearing a few shades brighter than before.

Meanwhile, on Mount Longhu tens of thousands of miles away, the old turtle deep within the earth veins let out a long sigh.

The network of light paths on its carapace, representing the star points of those thirty-seven markets, was flickering with unprecedented brightness at this moment.

At the exact moment the Dao Fire in the Lingnan fishing village grew brighter, a faint red dot abruptly lit up at the center of the shell's light paths—corresponding to the location of the capital, Chang'an—before vanishing again, like a false alarm.

The old turtle's massive head turned slightly, seemingly 'looking' in that direction. As its clouded eyelids opened and closed, they were filled with the vicissitudes of eternal time.

It did not urge the Earth Qi further, simply remaining dormant as if waiting for an opportunity, or perhaps guarding against some form of prying eyes.

That whispered phrase, "The Dao does not occupy land; those who occupy land are not of the Dao," was not meant for the hunter in Mohe, but was a warning bell echoing through the entire earth vein network.

Dao follows nature, like spring rain nourishing things. Once it is artificially enclosed, utilized, or even monopolized, it is no longer the Dao, but a demon's den breeding desire.

By the time Su Qingzhu arrived at the Lingnan fishing village, travel-worn and weary, it was nearly dusk.

She spotted that extraordinary flame by the pier at a single glance.

It was too striking: a cyan core with golden edges. It wasn't fierce, yet it possessed a sense of stability that put one's mind at ease.

There were no longer just seven or eight people by the stove; instead, nearly twenty people were gathered in several thick layers.

They weren't trading; it was more like a unique storytelling session.

A fisherman with a missing leg was animatedly recounting how he used half a basket of unwanted trash fish to trade for a neighbor's child not crying or fussing for an entire afternoon; a weathered-looking Awakened was showing off a Peace Talisman he had drawn, saying he only accepted a sincere 'thank you' in return; there was even a ragged street urchin sharing half a steamed bun he had begged for with a lame old dog on the pier.

Everyone was 'setting up a stall,' yet none of them were selling physical goods.

Su Qingzhu's mind was hit with a massive shock. She instinctively raised her camera, but stopped just before pressing the shutter.

She suddenly understood that no lens could record even a ten-thousandth of the true meaning of such a scene.

She squeezed into the crowd and softly asked the one-eyed old man, "Elder, who... lit this fire?" The old man grinned, revealing gaps in his teeth. He didn't point to anyone, but simply patted his chest with a calloused hand and then gestured to the surrounding crowd: "No one lit it. It wanted to shine on its own. When the stuff in your heart needs to come out and you're holding it in, it's uncomfortable. Light a fire, say it out loud, and then you'll feel better."

Late at night, the crowd gradually dispersed, leaving only the stove fire and the sound of the waves for company.

Su Qingzhu did not leave. She sat on a nearby reef and opened her notebook.

She knew the source must be nearby.

Sure enough, at the end of the beach, she saw a figure wearing a faded Daoist robe.

Zhang Xuanyi was squatting there, a mottled old dog lying beside him. It was skin and bones, its form even appearing somewhat illusory.

He stroked the old dog's back stroke by stroke, as if saying goodbye.

After a long while, the old dog's afterimage stood up, gave his shoulder a final affectionate nuzzle, and then transformed into a wisp of extremely faint cyan smoke, drifting toward the pier and silently merging into that cyan-gold stove fire.

Buzz—!

The flame suddenly surged half a meter high, its light flaring brilliantly!

In an instant, every lit window in the entire fishing village—whether dim yellow incandescent bulbs or stark white energy-saving lamps—seemed to be brushed by this firelight, flickering violently for a moment.

Everyone in the village who had not yet fallen asleep—whether it was a fisherman mending nets, a crying infant, or a quarreling couple—felt their hearts inexplicably lighten at this moment, as if an invisible burden that had pressed on their shoulders for a long time had been gently lifted away.

Su Qingzhu's hand holding the pen trembled slightly as she quickly wrote a line in her notebook: "The Dao Fire has been lit, using remnant souls as kindling and the lights of ten thousand homes as the guide, traversing the human world." She looked up toward the sea. The reflection of that stove fire swayed in the shimmering waves, stretching into a beam of light that extended toward the infinite distance. Its trajectory overlapped perfectly with the map of the earth vein light paths in her mind.

At that very moment, thousands of miles away in the capital of Chang'an, on the third basement floor of the National Supernatural Research Institute—inside a massive circular hall labeled 'Unknown Energy Monitoring Center'—all the alarm lights turned on silently. The piercing red light turned the faces of every researcher deathly pale.

On the holographic projection sand table in the center, an unrecorded energy tide—extremely gentle in nature yet immeasurable in scale—was starting from Lingnan and following a profound trajectory, instantly sweeping through thirty-seven precise coordinate points across the country.

A white-haired elder stared fixedly at the energy curve on the screen that was climbing continuously before instantly leveling off. His whole body trembled as he leaned against the control console and growled hoarsely, "Quick! Raise the permissions for all satellites and earth vein sensors to the maximum! I want to know what this 'thing' that suddenly appeared and suddenly disappeared... what exactly is it? What does it want to do?!"