Chapter 1623: The Dao of Dao

“So you're the sect leader now?” Lu Yun’s jaw dropped.

“Yep,” Qing Yu nodded.

“And you’re the one behind… all of the schools here?” Lu Yun pressed on.

“Yep,” Qing Yu nodded again. “It’s just the Dao Academy of the world of immortals. Didn’t you create that by copying the schools of the ancestral planet?”

“I feel like I’ve been leaving all of my work for others to do. I should’ve been the one to oversee this,” Lu Yun chuckled ruefully.

“You don’t need to worry about these trivial tasks,” Qing Yu shook her head. “You’re the true master of both the immortal dao and formula dao. I’m just running some errands for you, you have more important things to accomplish.”

Lu Yun continued chuckling wryly; he knew that his beloved was consoling him. He’d run off to the chaos before concluding matters in the world of immortals. Thankfully, his exploits there had been met with a good end. The final chaos tribulation had been a great shuffle that resulted in the six sacred palaces forming a sacred land of immortal dao.

When he arrived in the Hongmeng, he ultimately left untouched the remaining plans that the potentates and fourth realm powerhouses had crafted and ran off to the fourth realm. Qing Yu, the little fox, the Yama Kings, and their subordinates had had to deal with the aftermath.

He’d always been the one to start things off and then… leave it to someone else to finish.

But when viewed from another perspective, if his personal touch was needed for everything and anything, what was the point of him creating factions and recruiting subordinates? Were they to just simply develop and prosper in peace beneath his protection? What difference was there between them and pigs in a pen then?

Lu Yun could create a great dao, but perfecting it wasn’t one of his strengths.

Unbidden, he pulled Qing Yu into his embrace.

“Formula dao seems to have developed many branches,” Lu Yun remarked with surprise when he noted the changes.

“The collective wisdom of the fourth realm is far greater than that of the world of immortals and chaos,” Qing Yu smiled. “Particularly that of the Nihil World Sovereigns. The countless inner worlds they’ve fashioned also give birth to an endless quantity of living beings. Their combined intelligence is the equivalent of infinite worlds of immortals.

“Formula dao has improved in a qualitative way during the short month you were gone. If it wasn’t immortal dao already assimilating its roots, I’d suspect that it would also absorb immortal dao if it keeps developing in this vein.”

Formula dao had been divided into three major categories during Lu Yun’s absence—formula calculation, formula refinement, and formula cultivation.

Formula calculation was as its name indicated, the use of basic formulas to derive and further theorize everything about existence.

Formula refinement was the summation of calculation, the practical application of theory in actual refinement.

Formula cultivation was the process of cultivating formula dao—cultivating soul force. Soul force was now sifted into even finer categories. Apart from units of measurement and levels, grandmaster was divided into more exact levels.

After Lu Yun’s return, a fourth branch of formula destiny and a fifth of formula truth also appeared. Formula destiny was employed in the pursuit of determining fate, so that one could avoid danger and seek out opportunity. It had come to be after Qing Yu added certain ideals from the Dragonquake Scripture to formula dao.

Formula truth studied dao and truth—the trajectory of all things in existence, order, and law. The five elements and six orders of the highest degree, for instance, the laws of many worlds, and the rules by which the sun set and moon rose were all within the purview of this branch.

Within formula dao, these last two were the most complicated.

Lu Yun rubbed his forehead as he listened to Qing Yu’s explanations.

“No wonder I feel like my thoughts are a bit of a mess, but this is a good thing,” he chuckled ruefully.

“It’s all a result of the ‘mathematics’ from the ancestral planet that you showed everyone.” Qing Yu pinched his cheeks. “There are so many different schools of thought in mathematics—geometry, algebra, functions… Even theory can be divided into infinite types, to say nothing of calculation methods.

“Formula dao is similar to mathematics. If there comes a day when there are just as many divisions in formula dao as there is in math, then I think that will be when formula dao truly reaches great perfection. Everything in the known, unknown expanses, and even vaster worlds will be easily analyzed and derived by formula dao.”

Lu Yun felt a headache set in the more passionate Qing Yu became.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop,” Qing Yu giggled when the lost expression deepened in her dao partner’s eyes. “You don’t need to learn any of this, just sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor.”

Lu Yun bobbed his head rapidly. Not only did he not need to learn all this, but he didn’t need to join the complicated discussions around them either.

“Do you know that many people’s dao right now is wrong?” Qing Yu’s face suddenly took on an inscrutable cast and her voice adopted an ethereal tone.

“Many people follow the development trends of existence to return to their origins, thereby attempting to derive the origin of dao,” she murmured. “Once they find it, they set foot on it without looking back. Take the dao of fire as an example, many use the various flames in existence to derive the primitive dao of fire. They travel down this path without hesitation, but don’t you think this is an erroneous decision?”

Lu Yun frowned slightly.

“It’s similar to how formula dao is now. Formula dao was once simply used to analyze combat arts. That’s the easiest way to pick it up. The heart of fire dao is fire, burning fire. That is its primitive and most simple meaning.

“The truly complicated is what the primitive dao gives rise to. The entanglement of countless great daos giving rise to everything we see in existence… that is what we should be seeking. It’s similar to how the most primitive formula dao gave rise to formula calculation, formula refinement, formula cultivation, formula destiny, formula truth.

“The most simple of formula dao is the basic formulas—those are the core formulas of the great dao. Formula dao illustrates these in the easiest manner and then combines the basic formulas in a variety of ways, employing an array of calculations to determine more advanced formulas. That is truth.

“Using the most primitive dao as the origin point and attempting to walk forward from it makes the journey increasingly difficult. Hence, what one achieves is also increasingly brilliant.”

“I see.” An explosion went off in Lu Yun’s thoughts as he took another step forward and reached World Manifest. “The primitive great dao is actually very complicated. In math, one plus one is a simple equation, so simple that it’s basic common knowledge. But if one wishes to prove it? It’s still a very tough task.”

He ruffled Qing Yu’s hair with a smile. “I know what you mean—that whenever we can understand and derive the truth behind the most basic orders and formulas, that is when we will stand at the apex of reincarnation and end these infinite loops.”

“Infinite loops, huh? If it wasn’t for Mo Yi telling me about those, I would still be in the dark.” Qing Yu suddenly glared ferociously at Lu Yun.

He smiled sheepishly and ducked his head.

<blockquote><b>Translator's Thoughts</b>Sends up a quick prayer that the amount of theory chapters to come will be few and far in between, heh.

</blockquote>