Vol 2 Chapter 492: A Thousand Daos, Countless Transformations
Above the Eastern Sea of Nine Luminaries Heaven, Zheng Fa raised his true dragon head, waves foaming around the small island as they clustered and bowed toward him.
Now in this ocean, he felt like he had returned ho, finally understanding Lord Shuyu Dragon's joy.
Zheng Fa's playful spirit remained undiminished. With a shake of his dragon body, he transford into a magnificent phoenix, its long tail feathers trailing as it soared through the air, golden and red flas blooming behind it.
Flocks of pure white seabirds flew from all directions, dancing around him in celebration.
The most noble bloodlines among demonkind, divinely created sacred beings, great shamans capable of crushing mountains and scattering clouds—they all took turns appearing on the island.
Lady Nüwa had extrely discerning tastes. Since creating humanity concerned her own Dao path, every species she selected represented the most powerful creatures of this world, and now they all benefited Zheng Fa.
Limited by his cultivation level, the creatures Zheng Fa transford into hadn't reached Dao Fruit strength, yet he could still sense the trendous power within their bloodlines—this innate supernatural endownt was truly sothing ordinary humans couldn't match.
Just as he beca completely engrossed, the sky turned chaotic once more, and a voice transmitted:
"I am Hongjun..."
The second lecture had begun.
A purple light pillar pierced through the chaos, landing before Zheng Fa.
Zheng Fa returned to his original form and stepped into the light pillar, his entire body lifted and rapidly ascending until monts later, he arrived again at Purple Heaven Palace.
Just like last ti, the Three Thousand Guests of Purple Heaven were already seated in the hall. Zheng Fa stood at the entrance when suddenly he heard so commotion behind him.
He turned to look—Creation Daoist and the others had arrived.
First ca Creation Daoist, who nodded amiably toward Zheng Fa.
Gu God and White Bone still maintained their small clique, arriving together.
Golden-Winged Great Peng ca alone;
his good friend Bailian hadn't arrived yet.
Which made sense—Golden-Winged Great Peng had now joined the Demon Tribe Heavenly Court and obtained official status, making it difficult for him to always stay with Bailian.
Soone else followed Bailian.
"Patriarch Bailian will surely achieve great success in this lecture." The voice of the Great Elder of the Lu Clan ca through. Everyone focused their gaze to see eight Nascent Soul cultivators from the Lu Clan following behind Bailian.
Bailian's expression remained composed as he said lightly, "The lecture hasn't begun yet. How can we speak of certainty?"
"In my view, no one else compares!"
Zheng Fa watched with surprise and couldn't help glancing at Gu God, noticing her expression had darkened considerably—previously, these Lu Clan mbers hadn't been nearly this sycophantic toward Gu God!
Then everyone heard the Great Elder of the Lu Clan say: "Thanks to Patriarch Bailian's grace, we were able to receive teachings from both patriarchs and gained considerable insights."
"If even our ager talents could benefit so much, surely Patriarch Bailian must have gained trendously." The Great Elder's tone actually carried genuine sincerity. "Who else but Patriarch Bailian deserves the Hongng Purple Qi?"
Now Zheng Fa understood—it seed Bailian had given these Lu Clan mbers substantial benefits?
Sycofancy leads to rewards?
Yet he couldn't comprehend why Bailian would work so hard to win over the Lu Clan mbers. He looked again at Gu God and saw her expression had turned livid, ten tis more furious than before.
Clearly, the alliance between Bailian and Purple Heaven deeply irritated Gu God.
The Lu Clan...
A flash of insight struck Zheng Fa. He understood why Bailian needed to court the Lu Clan. To all Dao Fruit cultivators here, the Lu Clan's strength was insignificant, but they controlled the gateway to Nine Luminaries Heaven. If the Lu Clan refused to open the gate, people like Zheng Fa would likely be trapped within Nine Luminaries Heaven with no escape.
This was the Lu Clan's greatest trump card within Nine Luminaries Heaven.
For Bailian... for any cultivator aiming for the Hongng Purple Qi, the Lu Clan was crucially important:
For example, if you obtained the Hongng Purple Qi, naturally you'd want to flee—whether you could escape would depend on the Lu Clan's attitude.
Or if soone else obtained the Hongng Purple Qi and you wanted to seize it, whether you could succeed and whether the Lu Clan would open the gates—both were critically important.
"This humble monk will naturally do his best. If fellow Daoists can secure those cushions," Bailian said softly, "it would be our good fortune."
Zheng Fa looked at Bailian, who wore a humble and bright smile.
But his elaborate efforts to win over the Lu Clan mbers made this smile seem rather insincere.
The fourteen of them waited at the hall entrance for half a cup of tea ti when Zheng Fa felt a force gently pulling him forward. Following this force, he settled onto a cushion.
This ti, everyone's cushion positions still followed the results from the previous lecture.
Bailian and Creation sat in the first row behind the seven main cushions. In Purple Heaven Hall, except for the first row, each subsequent row contained one hundred cushions.
Creation Daoist sat slightly to the left, while Bailian sat more to the right.
Based on Zheng Fa's previous observation of cushion movents, they were arranged from left to right, aning although Bailian currently had greater montum, Creation Daoist had achieved a slightly higher ranking than Bailian last ti.
To Creation Daoist's left were thirty-so more cushions.
Zheng Fa sat at the far left of the fourth row, approximately two hundred positions away from these two.
Golden-Winged Great Peng ranked over nine hundred, while Gu God and White Bone Demon Ancestor were in the fifteenth or sixteenth rows. The Lu Clan mbers were distributed among the last three rows.
As soon as everyone was seated, Hongjun Daoist on the high platform began his second lecture.
Zheng Fa listened carefully and imdiately noticed the difference:
During the first lecture, Hongjun Daoist mainly discussed cultivation realms and so universal cultivation thods.
Simply put, he covered cultivation principles and general guidelines.
For any cultivator of this era, the previous lecture's content was universally valuable—a kind of overarching frawork.
But this ti was different. Right from the start of this lecture, Zheng Fa heard Hongjun Daoist say: "In this lecture, I will expound upon the Three Thousand Great Daos. First, I will begin with the cultivation path of innate sacred beings."
Zheng Fa listened with so confusion—was this how the Three Thousand Great Daos should be understood?
But as he continued listening, he gradually realized that in this era and in later Xuanwei, the aning of Three Thousand Great Daos differed significantly.
In later tis, with humanity dominant, Three Thousand Great Daos actually referred to differences among Dao thods.
But in this era, Dao thods were just beginning to erge, and could even be said to be created solely by Hongjun Daoist. The so-called Three Thousand Great Daos didn't simply refer to Dao thods, but rather to different cultivation thods tailored to different races.
As Hongjun Daoist explained: dragons ride clouds and rain, phoenixes perch in divine fire. Although cultivation realms were roughly similar, because innate endownts differed, each race's cultivation thods varied trendously.
To put it more simply, Hongjun Daoist was combining his created Dao thod concepts with each race's innate talents.
The first lecture covered principles, more abstract generalizations.
This second lecture addressed specific details for various races, categorizing and perfecting them, even providing directly applicable cultivation practices.
Understanding this, Zheng Fa looked at Hongjun Daoist with even greater admiration.
If he hadn't created cultivation thods that all races could follow, how could Hongjun Daoist be called the Dao Ancestor?
To be blunt, didn't cultivation thods exist before Hongjun Daoist?
On the other hand, were pre-Hongjun cultivation thods outside the Dao's scope?
Certainly not. If a cultivation thod existed outside the Dao, it would an the Dao couldn't explain all rules—then how could it qualify as the Dao?
Dao thods didn't appear because of Hongjun Daoist, nor did the Dao itself.
From Zheng Fa's current understanding, Hongjun Daoist's contribution was likely being this epoch's first great synthesizer of cultivation thods—he not only understood almost every race's talents and cultivation essentials, but also extracted a unified theoretical frawork from them, then used this theory to refine these cultivation thods.
The Three Thousand Guests in Purple Heaven Palace weren't actually three thousand individuals;
each represented a massive race behind them. Precisely because of this, Hongjun Daoist could modify cultivation thods based on each person's characteristics. And precisely because three thousand people attended the lectures, the concept of Three Thousand Great Daos erged.
Because Hongjun Daoist's Dao thods encompassed all races, benefiting almost every race, his title of Dao Ancestor received universal recognition in this era.
While Zheng Fa marveled at the vast, sweeping montum of Hongjun Daoist's lecture...
The other listeners from Five Organs Pavilion were having a difficult ti.
As Hongjun Daoist refined cultivation thods for each race, the Great Elder of the Lu Clan felt... specifically targeted!
He sat on his cushion, watching Hongjun's mouth open and close, his mind following with incomprehensible muttering.
When they couldn't understand what the Daoist was saying, they grew anxious, feeling they were missing great opportunities.
After great effort, starting from wild gestures, they spent many years gradually learning this world's language. This ti they weren't anxious but rather... desperate.
They had expected great gains from this lecture, but never anticipated Hongjun Daoist would break from convention!
What he discussed was useless to them—because they were human!
Even though Gu God and other demon ancestors originated from humans, at this mont no humans existed, so Hongjun Daoist naturally wouldn't specifically lecture on human cultivation thods.
Naturally unwilling to accept this, he kept listening attentively, hoping to gain insights by analogy. But every being in Purple Heaven Palace ca from extraordinary backgrounds with talents far surpassing ordinary humans. Forget about learning from others' experiences—he could barely understand anything.
After what felt like an eternity, the Great Elder of the Lu Clan, his mind filled with complete confusion, could no longer contain his inner frustration and looked around at others.
First he checked the surrounding Lu Clan Nascent Soul cultivators and saw they shared his expression—utterly desperate, nearly on the verge of qi deviation. During the last lecture when they couldn't understand the language, they simply felt unlucky. This ti they understood the words but began doubting their own intelligence.
The Great Elder of the Lu Clan pursed his lips and looked forward.
He couldn't see Gu God and White Bone Demon Ancestor's expressions, but judging by the sparse golden flowers around them, these two were probably suffering equally.
The Great Elder felt slightly better, but when he saw Golden-Winged Great Peng, he gritted his teeth in frustration—Golden-Winged Great Peng seed to be gaining trendously, having transford into his original form with both claws planted on the cushion. Golden flowers continuously surged toward him.
Exactly!
When it ca to bloodlines, Golden-Winged Great Peng was actually closest to these ancient beings—otherwise how could he join the Demon Tribe Heavenly Court?
While they gained nothing, Golden-Winged Great Peng could benefit!
The Great Elder of the Lu Clan shifted his gaze, first carefully examining Zheng Fa. Seeing not many golden flowers around Zheng Fa either, he quietly sighed in relief—at least Shi Nandang was similar to them. Right, this Shi Nandang was also human—how much difference could there be?
Thinking this, the Great Elder's mood stabilized again, and he turned hopeful eyes toward Bailian in the first row.
Bailian sat cross-legged on his cushion, eyes closed, expression extrely serious—apparently striving to comprehend.
Behind him manifested an ancient-looking Buddha, with a Bodhi seed precisely at the Buddha's brow.
Golden flowers fell chaotically around this Buddha, eight or nine tis more nurous than those around Golden-Winged Great Peng. Clearly Bailian was gaining trendously from this lecture.
The Great Elder of the Lu Clan watched with intense envy. Although Bailian had shared so content from the first lecture with him, he understood the other couldn't possibly teach everything—likely only sharing superficial knowledge.
This Bailian also possessed the Bodhi seed and received dedicated teachings from two Buddhist patriarchs—compared to them, he enjoyed overwhelming advantages.
Now he actually gained far more than even Golden-Winged Great Peng.
Suddenly the Great Elder's heart stirred as he noticed Creation Daoist, who showed no outward signs but had just as many golden flowers around him as Bailian.
The Great Elder of the Lu Clan paused slightly, feeling wary. Of course he felt so jealousy toward Bailian, but they were basically allies now. If they couldn't obtain the Hongng Purple Qi, then Bailian obtaining it would be the next best outco.
Originally he had been most hostile toward Shi Nandang, but now felt that although Shi Nandang had taken an early lead, he was no longer a concern.
Instead, this deeply reserved Creation Daoist, whose intentions remained unclear, gave him the feeling that this person was certainly not benevolent.
The Great Elder of the Lu Clan observed Bailian and Creation Daoist and noticed their cushions were slowly shifting leftward.
Bailian's cushion moved faster, but Creation Daoist had been leading previously and now moved at a decent pace too. Although the distance between them gradually closed, Bailian couldn't overtake Creation Daoist for a long ti.
The Great Elder of the Lu Clan secretly cheered for Bailian, staring intently at the distance between them. Gradually, Bailian's comprehension during this lecture proved faster, and he seed about to surpass Creation Daoist.
The Great Elder of the Lu Clan secretly clenched his fist, excitent building as he awaited their positions switching. But suddenly blinding light erupted before him.
The light was so intense his vision turned completely white, forcing him to close his eyes while inwardly cursing.
When he opened his eyes and looked toward the light's source, his expression froze in shock. He watched helplessly as a colorful phoenix now stood where Zheng Fa had been monts before.
Hongjun Daoist happened to be explaining phoenix clan cultivation thods. The golden flowers around this colorful phoenix surged like a mudslide, completely subrging it. There were so many golden flowers that they produced that earlier blinding white light.
Shi Nandang... his true form was a phoenix?
The Great Elder of the Lu Clan stared wide-eyed, desperately trying to recall—he'd never heard about this!
He looked at other Lu Clan mbers and saw them gaping with utterly astonished expressions.
Just as everyone felt confused, Hongjun Daoist shifted topics again, discussing another cultivation thod—this one no longer suited phoenixes but applied to a divine beast called Bai Ze.
Everyone watched as flowing light shimred across the colorful phoenix's body, transforming it into a ancient-looking, oddly-shaped strange beast.
Exactly—a Bai Ze.
Reviews
All reviews (0)