2: Chapter 2 Bai Ze's First Encounter with the Dream

Darkness receded like a tide, and Lu Mingyuan found himself standing within a hazy halo of light.

Beneath his feet was a floor paved with warm white jade, extending to the edge of his vision. The sky held neither sun nor moon, yet it was permeated with a soft, milky-white glow that illuminated the surroundings with absolute clarity. In the distance, the outlines of mountains were visible, though they seemed veiled in light gauze, indistinct. A faint fragrance drifted through the air, reminiscent of sandalwood but not quite, clearing the mind and brightening the spirit of anyone who caught its scent.

"Where is this?" Lu Mingyuan looked down and found he was still wearing his half-dry scholar's robes, the scars on his hands still present and feeling real to the touch.

As he wondered, the light ahead grew brighter.

A cluster of auspicious clouds emerged from the Void Realm, and a beast stepped out from atop them. Its form resembled a lion but with a single horn; its entire body was snow-white, with fur that flowed like silk satin with a warm luster. Its four paws tread upon the clouds, its tail swayed gently like that of a Dragon, and its body was surrounded by a faint golden halo. Most peculiar were its eyes—clear as colored glass, with what seemed like galaxies swirling within, possessing a wisdom so profound one dared not look directly at them.

Lu Mingyuan's breath hitched.

He had read the baopuzi and the Yunji Qiqian, so he naturally recognized the beast's appearance: "Bai Ze... the Divine Beast Bai Ze?"

Bai Ze approached slowly, lotuses blooming beneath its feet, each step rippling out circles of golden light. It stopped three zhang in front of Lu Mingyuan, nodded slightly, and spoke in human tongue, its voice as warm as the clinking of jade: "The scholar has good eyes."

"This junior, Lu Mingyuan, pays respects to the Honored God." Lu Mingyuan suppressed the shock in his heart and bowed deeply according to Confucian etiquette. "May I ask why the Honored God has summoned this junior into this dreamscape? What guidance do you have for me?"

"I wouldn't call it guidance," Bai Ze said with a hint of a smile in its voice. "As for you, you fell asleep holding a strand of my Natal Spiritual Hair that I shed three hundred years ago; your soul naturally followed the pull of Karma here. It is also an Opportunity—that spiritual hair was hidden within the Incomplete Manual of the classic of mountains and seas. If the mountain flood hadn't blocked your path, you wouldn't have entered the temple; if you hadn't held reverence in your heart and cherished the ancient scroll, the spiritual hair wouldn't have recognized you as its master."

Lu Mingyuan remembered that strange strand of hair and suddenly understood: "So that's how it is... And that ancient scroll?"

"It was kept by my former master," a hint of reminiscence flashed in Bai Ze's eyes. "He was the last 'Sky-Patrolling Censor' to walk the human world, and he fell five hundred years ago during the Great Catastrophe of Heaven and Earth. That volume of the classic of mountains and seas is no ordinary copy; it is a true version empowered by his 'All-encompassing Clarity' Divine Ability, containing true records of Primordial geography, strange beasts, and Essence Spirits, as well as... omens of the Dharma-Ending Kalpa."

"Dharma-Ending Kalpa?" Lu Mingyuan caught this unfamiliar term.

Bai Ze did not answer directly, instead asking: "Do you know why you were able to recognize me at a single glance?"

Lu Mingyuan pondered for a moment: "The baopuzi records: 'Bai Ze can speak, understands the nature of all things, and knows the affairs of ghosts and gods.' The description of its appearance is exactly the same as yours, Honored God."

"Many books record my appearance, but those who can truly identify me upon seeing my face are but one or two in a century." Golden light swirled in Bai Ze's eyes. "You possess the 'Body of Omniscient Clarity,' born with a spiritual sense far exceeding ordinary people, though it has yet to undergo Awakening. Just now, when you saw the blood-light in the Northwest and felt a sense of dread, that was your spiritual sense sounding an alarm."

As its voice fell, the single horn on Bai Ze's forehead lit up with a soft glow.

A pillar of light enveloped Lu Mingyuan's entire body. He felt as if his limbs and bones were soaking in a hot spring, a warm current traveling through his Meridians and finally gathering at the center of his brow. Something there seemed to make a soft 'crack' sound, shattering apart.

His vision changed abruptly.

The originally hazy dream world now presented a completely different sight to his eyes: pale golden veins flowed beneath the white jade ground—the trajectories of the earth's Qi; five-colored auspicious clouds drifted among the distant mountains—the manifestation of gathered spiritual essence; he could even see tiny, dust-like points of light floating in the air—the most basic Spiritual Qi particles in heaven and earth.

The most wondrous thing was looking at Bai Ze itself.

In Lu Mingyuan's eyes, Bai Ze was no longer just the form of a Divine Beast, but a massive and orderly convergence of energy. At its core, seven points of golden light were arranged according to the Big Dipper's position, and three hundred and sixty-five acupoints across its body breathed in the power of the stars. From the end of every hair, fine threads of light extended, connecting to a certain Law within the Void Realm.

"This... this is..." Lu Mingyuan was shocked beyond words.

"This is the initial manifestation of the 'All-encompassing Clarity' talent." Bai Ze withdrew the light. "You can look directly at the essence of all things, see the flow of Luck, and observe the veins of the Law. The cultivation world calls this the supreme Realm of the 'Heavenly Eye,' but for you, it is an innate gift."

Lu Mingyuan raised a hand to touch the center of his brow, which felt faintly warm. "This junior does not understand... if I truly have such a talent, why have I not noticed it for twenty years?"

"A bright pearl covered in dust needs a person of destiny to wipe it clean." Bai Ze paced as it spoke. "Your Body of Omniscient Clarity required three conditions to undergo Awakening: first, you must be twenty years old with a stable soul; second, you must be in a place where Spiritual Qi converges; third, you must come into contact with an object of great Karma. This ancient temple was built upon a Spiritual Vein node of Eagle Beak Cliff, you carry my Natal Spiritual Hair, and today happens to be the third day of the seventh month in the Gengzi Year—heavenly timing, earthly advantage, and human harmony; not one could be missing."

At this point, Bai Ze suddenly turned, its glass-like eyes looking directly at Lu Mingyuan. "But talent is also a curse. All-encompassing Clarity allows you to see things ordinary people cannot, but it also means those things... can also see you."

Lu Mingyuan's heart tightened.

Bai Ze looked up at the dream sky, where ripples had appeared at some point, as if something from the outside was peering into this dream. It said in a heavy voice: "You also saw the blood-light in the Northwest. That is a sign of the impending 'Dharma-Ending Kalpa'—The Rift has appeared in the Primordial barrier, outworld Devilish Qi is seeping in, and the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is being gradually polluted. If this kalpa arrives, not one soul in the Three Realms and Six Paths will be spared."

"Dharma-Ending Kalpa..." Lu Mingyuan mouthed the words. "Honored God, do you mean something like the Great Catastrophe of Dragons and Phoenixes or the Witch-Demon War recorded in ancient books?"

"Worse," Bai Ze's tone was grave. "This kalpa is different from before; it is not a struggle for power between factions, but the Heavenly Dao itself being damaged. As for the specific Karma, it is not appropriate to say more right now. I met you today because I sensed the spiritual hair recognizing its master, and secondly..." It paused. "Since you are the one whose All-encompassing Clarity has awakened, you have already been drawn into this great Karma. There is no escaping it."

Lu Mingyuan remained silent for a long time.

He was originally a scholar focused solely on the imperial examinations, seeking nothing more than to have his name on the golden list and bring honor to his family. But the events of this single day—the mountain flood, the encounter in the ancient temple, the Divine Beast entering his dream, and that unheard-of Great Catastrophe—had completely overturned his world.

"What does the Honored God wish for this junior to do?" he finally asked.

A look of approval appeared in Bai Ze's eyes. "Not hasty or impatient; your Heart-Nature is acceptable. I do not ask you to save the world; I only gift you three sentences, which I hope you will remember well."

Its horn lit up again, and three golden runes appeared out of thin air, branded into Lu Mingyuan's palm, turning into faint marks:

"First, talent is not a crutch, but a responsibility. Since you have obtained the Eye of Clarity, you must observe the Righteous Path of heaven and earth."

"Second, knowledge is not an ornament, but a power. You must carefully study that true version of the classic of mountains and seas; what is hidden within is not just geography, but a chance for survival."

"Third, kindness is not weakness, but the foundation. Because you held reverence in your heart today, you obtained this Opportunity; when you act in the future, do not forget your original heart."

As the marks entered his body, Lu Mingyuan felt a lot of blurred information streams added to his mind, making it difficult to sort through clearly for the moment.

Bai Ze's figure began to become transparent, and the dreamscape was shaking. "I am merely a strand of Divine Thought left in the spiritual hair, and my energy is nearly exhausted. Before parting, I will give you one more thing."

It lowered its head and lightly bit its front paw. A drop of blood carrying a golden glow seeped out, condensing in the air into a thumbnail-sized crystalline scale, which drifted into Lu Mingyuan's hand.

"This is my 'Natal Heart Scale.' In a moment of crisis, hold it in your palm to summon my true body once—but only once. Use it wisely."

The collapse of the dream accelerated, and Bai Ze's voice grew more distant: "Lu Mingyuan, remember: the Eye of Clarity can see the truth, but it can also see the false. Beneath the surface of all things in this world, there is another layer of reality. Since you have stepped onto this path, you must learn to... see the truth with your Wisdom Eye."

The last four words were like the tolling of a great bell, shaking Lu Mingyuan's Divine Soul.

His vision plunged completely into darkness.

---

Lu Mingyuan sat up abruptly.

The campfire had gone out, with only a few sparks flickering in the ashes. Outside the ancient temple, the storm had gradually subsided, and the sky was faintly bright; it was already dawn. He breathed heavily, cold sweat dripping from his forehead, his hand tightly clutching something.

He opened his palm.

In his left palm, three pale golden rune marks were faintly visible, feeling slightly warm to the touch. In his right palm, a snow-white scale lay quietly, its edges shimmering with a warm golden glow—it was indeed the Heart Scale gifted by Bai Ze in the dream.

It wasn't a dream.

Lu Mingyuan stood up and moved his limbs, finding that the injuries on his body had mostly healed, leaving only faint red marks. Even more strange was when he focused his gaze on his surroundings—

Pale green air currents appeared on the walls of the ancient temple, flowing slowly according to a certain pattern—those were the traces of a residual protective Formation; beneath the ground, there were dark blue light-veins winding toward the Northwest—that was the direction of the underground Spiritual Vein; even in the air, he could see Spiritual Qi particles as thin as mist, drifting slowly with the morning wind.

"All-encompassing Clarity..." he murmured.

Pushing open the temple door, the morning mist in the mountains was thick. Lu Mingyuan looked toward the horizon in the Northwest—where the blood-light had appeared last night, he could now see a very faint dark-red rift remaining deep within the clouds through his Eye of Clarity. It was slowly healing, but black thread-like substances were spreading from the edges of The Rift, causing his heart to sink.

He thought of the "Dharma-Ending Kalpa" Bai Ze had mentioned.

His book box was lost, his path to the imperial examinations was cut off, and the road ahead was uncertain. But at this moment, a strange sense of calm rose in Lu Mingyuan's heart. He turned back to look at the blurred statue inside the ancient temple and bowed solemnly three times toward the position of the offering table where he had discovered the hidden compartment last night.

"No matter what the road ahead holds, this junior will remember the Honored God's teachings."

Carefully stowing away the Heart Scale and tucking the Incomplete Manual of the classic of mountains and seas close to his body, Lu Mingyuan stepped out of the ancient temple. The morning light pierced through the gaps in the clouds, illuminating the muddy mountain path. He suddenly felt something and turned to look at the slope behind the temple—

In his Eye of Clarity, there was a pale golden band of light winding upward, disappearing into the mist.

It was the trace of Spiritual Qi flow, and also... the trace of a path.

Lu Mingyuan took a deep breath of the cold mountain air and stepped toward the band of light.

Behind him, the ancient temple stood silently, a drop of residual rain falling from the eaves and splashing into tiny droplets on the stone steps.