Refining the Dao into Godhood: A Tale of the Jie Sect

Kunlun Mountain, as the progenitor of ten thousand mountains, is rich in innate essence qi to the extreme. The upper realms are clear, the lower realms are turbid, capable of displaying the infinite phenomena, and even within the spiritual energy, there is a hint of the quintessential essence of the Innate Ancestor Qi.

Xuanqing sits on the meditation cushion of his cave dwelling, on one hand circulating the Taiching Heart Method, while on the other hand he operates the Yuqing Divine Power, catching Innate Ancestor Qi between heaven and earth with the Void Seal.

After that, through the Inner Core Techniques of the Taiching lineage, integrating inside and outside, with the Primordial Spirit joining with the heavenly heart, and the physical body absorbing the Ancestor Qi, he treats himself as a furnace refining a Great Pill.

This is his unique path!

At this moment, within his Primordial Spirit, eight Dao Seeds slowly rise and fall, three innate ones, and five acquired ones, perfectly corresponding to the Three Flowers and Five Qi that cultivators strive to condense, distributed in the Three Talents and Five Elements configuration, shining brilliantly, interweaving continuously and ultimately transforming into eight Daoist Scriptures, imprinting upon his Golden Immortal Dao Fruit.

The three innate Dao Seeds are "Wind," "Thunder," and "Fire." Among them, the "Wind" and "Thunder" Dao Seeds come from the Wind and Thunder Immortal Peach, whereas the "Fire" Dao Seed was granted by the Heavenly Dao after he made fire by drilling wood after his transmigration, which originally was an acquired Dao Seed, but he shamelessly asked Taiching Laozi for a strand of the essence of the "Burning Sky Purple Fire," thereby perfecting and elevating it, transforming it into an innate Dao Seed.

"Burning Sky Purple Fire" comes from the flame of the "Eight Sceneries Palace Lamp," belonging to the innate realm, capable of burning the sky and boiling the sea, and possessing the ability to refine the myriad paths of the void.

As for the five acquired Dao Seeds, they are respectively "Alchemy," "Artifact," "Sword," "Array," and "Talisman," nurtured from the nighttime listening to the teachings of Saints and contemplating the Three Pure Ones' Method.

Alchemy Dao originates from Taiching Laozi, Artifact Dao from Yuanshi Tianzun, Sword Dao and Array Dao from Tongtian Sect Master, while Talisman Dao is a fusion of the three.

Though these few Dao Seeds are but acquired ones, they hold endless potential. Should Xuanqing use them to verify himself as Daluo, he naturally could elevate them to innate.

The Three Pure Ones serve as a reference.

Tongtian Sect Master illuminated the Sword Dao upon the heavenly heart, inscribing Sword Dao on the origin of the Heavenly Dao; thus, the Sword Dao became an Innate Great Dao, its reach unconstrained and boundless.

The same holds true for the other four; the potential of the Acquired Great Dao is in no way less than the Innate.

What Xuanqing aims to do now is to integrate these Great Daos, evolve an innate Ancestor Qi within his body, bring his Golden Immortal Dao Fruit to its utmost ascension, transform it into an ever-changing myriad of phenomena, and metamorphose it into a Taiyi Golden Immortal Dao Fruit.

With a genuine transmission, a single phrase suffices; counterfeit ones fill thousands of scrolls. The core of the Taiyi Realm is to transform the many into one, employing the Innate Ancestor Qi to evolve various rudimentary forms of the Great Dao, constructing an array of all-encompassing phenomena, and ultimately, in the boundless universe of time and space, condensing the true self and the unique, preparing for the ultimate leap through time and space to verify oneself as Daluo.

A solid foundation is, naturally, the better.

Cultivation at the Daluo Realm is just the opposite, taking the path from one to many. When progress can no longer be made, one must resort to slashing the Three Corpses to align with the Heavenly Dao and achieve a further ascension.

Xuanqing's Dao Fruit trembles, shining brightly against the auspicious clouds, connecting the Great Dao of heaven and earth: "Only when medicine meets its qi can the form manifest, the Dao merges with the rare and the natural seamlessly. Swallowing a Golden Pill, I realize my fate is not determined by heaven!"

The eight Dao Seeds instantly transform into eight Dao patterns, imprinting upon the Dao Fruit, three deep and five shallow, implicitly matching the Three Talents and Five Elements, and evolving a ninth Dao pattern—"Refining"!

This Dao pattern seems both innate and acquired, extracted from those eight Dao Seeds. Xuanqing intends to prioritize it in his future cultivation.

"Boom!"

The sound of countless thunders burst forth, streams of Primordial Qi descend, endless immortal light interweaves, spatial ripples arise, as a phantom Dao Fruit continuously rises and falls within the auspicious clouds above Xuanqing's head.

He steps out of his cave dwelling, preparing to face the Heavenly Tribulation that will elevate him to the Taiyi Realm, as ominous clouds gather in the vault of heaven, with countless lightning snakes wildly dancing in the void.

To others, this tribulation might only be a disaster, but to him, who cultivates the Way of Thunder, it is an opportunity to enhance his Thunder Dao Seed with the thunder tribulation!

Such is a heaven-sent opportunity!

With a premonition, Tongtian Sect Master looks towards the direction where Xuanqing is enduring the tribulation, his face revealing a faint smile: "In just over a thousand years, you have understood the Way of Taiyi! Well done, well done!"

Atop Kunlun Mountain, Taiching and Yuanshi Tianzun also sensed something, but after a brief investigation, they paid it no further attention!

After all, they were directly taught by a Saint, and ascending through the Heavenly Tribulation to become Taiyi seemed as simple as eating and drinking.

"Boom rumble!"

As if to confirm the thoughts of the Saint, in just a quarter of an hour, Xuanqing successfully crossed the Heavenly Tribulation, his physical body and Primordial Spirit both stepping into the Taiyi Realm.

His Taiyi Dao Fruit shone brilliantly, resonating with the myriad paths of the void, and bolstered by the celebratory clouds, it rose like a great sun emerging from the clouds.

Afterward, Xuanqing returned to his cave dwelling, consolidating his Dao Fruit and sorting through his knowledge, spending a full hundred years before emerging to visit his sect mates.

Over the years, Tongtian Sect Master had taken in quite a few disciples, none of whom were particularly auspicious or lucky, but instead, they had a knack for inviting trouble.

Daoist Duobao was quite distressed.

As the eldest disciple of the Jie Sect, he was duty-bound to manage the newly recruited disciples, but he was absorbed in cultivation and really did not want to waste energy and vex his spirit over such matters.

Thus, he handed these matters over to Zhao Gongming to deal with, appointing him to act as the elder of the outer disciples, while he himself only occasionally inquired about the status of the sect's disciples.

But Zhao Gongming, while not lacking in cultivation talent and his Realm sufficient to overpower many disciples, was too straightforward, often being fooled by some of them.

He really wasn't a good choice!

Just look!

Only a few days after Xuanqing emerged, he heard that some outer disciples had eaten a Spiritual Beast raised by a Chan Sect's Taiyi True Master and were severely beaten by the latter.

This matter was neither big nor small, but Zhao Gongming, who was extremely loyal, believed that even if those outer disciples of the Jie Sect were in the wrong first, Taiyi True Master should not have acted so harshly, and so he went to debate the matter.

And Taiyi True Master, was also seething with anger. Someone had eaten his raised Spiritual Beast, so was it wrong to give them a lesson?

In the end, the conflict escalated between the disciples of the two sects. Taiyi True Master sought Nanji Daoist to bolster his stance while Zhao Gongming called on Daoist Duobao to reason things out.

As the eldest disciple of the Chan Sect, and Daoist Duobao as the eldest disciple of the Jie Sect, naturally, neither side could give way. Retreating one step would make it harder to maintain their credibility among many fellow disciples, to the point where the disagreement reached the Saints and Yuanshi Tianzun, taking the role of an elder brother, reprimanded the Tongtian Sect Master.

Tongtian Sect Master had a stubborn streak; if you spoke to him nicely, he might save face for you, but if you wielded your status as an elder brother to order him around, he would not give you the slightest face.

"So, this is the reason our teacher and Second Preceptor are quarreling?" Xuanqing looked at Jin Ling Saint Mother and sighed lightly, shaking his head in resignation: "I should go and mediate. It really isn't necessary for things to escalate to this extent!"

He had only learned of the incident after Jin Ling Saint Mother mentioned it, and he hadn't expected that such a trivial matter could spark a conflict between two Saints!

A dam thousands of miles long may fail because of an ant hole, he knew. Some problems, if not resolved promptly, only grow bigger, potentially even evolving into enmity.

Although Tongtian Sect Master and Yuanshi Tianzun had differing beliefs, they were ultimately from the same origin. It would be a shame for such a trifling matter to cause a rift between them.

If The Three Pure Ones had not split, there would not be a Sealing God Tribulation, no grand flourishing of the Western domain, no story of Four Saints breaking the Demonic Banishment.

After all...

As long as the Daoist Ancestor did not appear, the three Saints were powerful enough to set the trends for the world.

With that thought in mind, Xuanqing did not hesitate and immediately went to Shangqing Hall to seek an audience with the Tongtian Sect Master.