In the Primordial World, Mount Kunlun stood as the ancestor of all mountains, a supreme blessed land filled with auspicious energy. Within the peaks, primal spiritual Qi was immensely dense. Clouds and rosy mists coiled around the mountainsides, while the upper halves were shrouded in a thick haze, revealing only hazy, indistinct outlines.
Thousands of cranes soared through the skies above the mountains, countless flora spirits roamed the earth, and numerous exotic beasts galloped across the landscape.
Strange flowers and rare herbs could be seen everywhere, and primordial spiritual medicines were within easy reach.
A thousand years ago, the Three Pure Ones established their teachings and attained sanctification, setting up a grand array at the foot of the mountain to accept disciples far and wide.
Taiqing Laozi practiced the doctrine of non-action and tranquility, taking only Xuandu as his personal direct disciple.
Yuqing Yuanshi placed great emphasis on natural foundations, accepting twelve individuals, including Guangchengzi and Chijingzi, as his personal direct disciples. He also accepted the Taoist Randeng, who had likewise listened to the Dao in Zixiao Palace, to serve as the Vice-Master of the ChanJiao.
Shangqing Tongtian taught without discrimination, welcoming anyone whose heart was steadfast in the pursuit of the Dao, turning no one away. However, he designated only four as personal direct disciples: the Daoist Duobao, Our Lady of Jinling, Our Lady of Wudang, and Our Lady of Guiling. Those who passed the Heart-Inquiring Array entered the inner sect, while all others became registered disciples.
Deep within Mount Kunlun.
Shangqing Tongtian sat high upon the cloud dais, with tens of thousands of Jiejiao disciples sitting cross-legged around him, listening to his exposition of the Dao.
A Sage lecturing on the Dao was no ordinary event. The moment he began to speak, countless auspicious phenomena manifested.
Heavenly flowers fell like a rain of blossoms, and golden lotuses surged from the ground. The profound essence of the Dao filled the Three Pure Ones Palace, and the sounds of the Dao transformed into auspicious beasts such as divine dragons, multicolored phoenixes, and qilin. They galloped through the palace, roaring in mid-air and scattering endless sacred light.
Behind Shangqing Tongtian appeared a massive pillar of light, within which countless radiances continuously flowed and shifted.
Every single strand of brilliance was the manifestation of the power of laws he had comprehended.
Shangqing Tongtian's lecture progressed from easy to difficult, starting from the very initial stage of Qi Refining.
At the lecture platform, the audience listened, completely enraptured and immersed heart and soul in the Great Dao.
When Tongtian established his teaching and attained sanctification, he shouldered the responsibility of civilizing all living beings. This was his first lecture since becoming a Sage, and the Heavenly Dao lent its momentum to bolster him, adding to the majesty of the Sage.
Among the disciples sitting in the outer circle was one named Zhou Chen, who was currently listening in rapt attention.
He was a human of the acquired era, having transmigrated to the Primordial World several thousand years ago.
When he first transmigrated, his heart had been filled with terror.
One had to know that in the Primordial World, Golden Immortals were as common as dogs, Taiyi Immortals were everywhere, and only the Daluo could command any real respect.
As a mortal who had not even reached the immortal realm, he had no guarantee of safety whatsoever, and he could easily be crushed to death by someone else any day.
Fortunately, after his transmigration, he had received a gift from Mother Earth: heaven-defying comprehension.
By chance, Mount Kunlun was not far away. Relying on his foreknowledge, he traversed mountains and rivers all the way to the foot of the mountain, where he passed the Heart-Inquiring Array set up by Shangqing Tongtian and became an inner sect disciple of Jiejiao.
This time, Tongtian was lecturing on the most fundamental methods of cultivation.
He began from the four stages of shedding mortality: refining essence to transform Qi, refining Qi to transform spirit, refining spirit to return to the void, and refining the void to unite with the Dao.
After uniting the void with the Dao, crossing the heavenly tribulation made one an Earth Immortal.
Following that came the Heavenly Immortal Realm, True Immortal, Mystic Immortal, Golden Immortal, Taiyi Golden Immortal, Daluo Golden Immortal, and Quasi-Sage (Hunyuan Golden Immortal).
In the blink of an eye, ten thousand years passed, and Shangqing Tongtian's first lecture came to an end.
Zhou Chen awoke from his state of total absorption, feeling a lingering sense of unfulfillment.
"This lecture ends here. The next lecture will be in thirty thousand years."
As soon as Shangqing Tongtian finished speaking, his figure vanished from the cloud dais.
"Respectfully sending off our teacher."
After Shangqing Tongtian left, the Jiejiao disciples rose together, bowed to their teacher, and then each set about carving out their own dwelling caves within Mount Kunlun, entering seclusion to digest the insights gained from the lecture.
Zhou Chen also sought out a secluded, uninhabited spot, carved out a dwelling cave, and began to conceive the cultivation method he desired.
Relying on his heaven-defying comprehension, Zhou Chen had fully understood everything Shangqing Tongtian had lectured on this time. Although he had not yet practiced it himself, listening to Shangqing Tongtian's exposition deepened his comprehension of the Great Dao continuously. Countless heavenly flowers and golden lotuses melted into his body, propelling him straight through the bottleneck to break through to the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
Yet, this Heavenly Immortal Realm was not what he truly wanted. According to Shangqing Tongtian's teachings, breaking through to the Earth Immortal Realm shed mortality to become an immortal and greatly increased one's lifespan, but there would always come a day when that lifespan reached its end. Only by attaining the Golden Immortal Realm and plucking the Dao fruit of longevity would one gain boundless lifespan—though it was merely lifespan.
Only upon reaching the Daluo Golden Immortal Realm could one achieve eternal existence, transcend the river of destiny, condense one's own Dao fruit, and attain ultimate freedom and ease. Yet, even so, one could still be struck down and killed by others.
This was something Zhou Chen could not tolerate. What he wanted was to eternally enjoy freedom, to be equal with the Dao, eternal, imperishable, undying, beyond annihilation, everlasting and indestructible, where even a single thought remaining could allow him to return from the source of the Great Dao. As long as the Dao existed, he could never be erased.
Zhou Chen sat cross-legged in his newly opened dwelling cave and began to ponder.
In the memories of later generations, the Mythological Daluo was equal to the Dao, eternal, imperishable, undying, beyond annihilation, and so forth. All of these existed within the "Dao"—a single thought could give birth to chaos, remaining eternally indestructible, where a single thought was eternity, and even if a single thought remained, one could return from the source of the Great Dao.
As long as the Dao existed, one could never be obliterated. Their existence was unnamable and ineffable; even if witnessed, one could only perceive a mass of primordial Dao source and order. Their existence surpassed all time, years, and space, rising above all tangible and intangible things, soaring above the boundless, uncountable "non-existence," transcending the very source of all things. In short, they were the Dao itself—the Dao existed, and the Ultimate Non-Being remained indestructible!
There were no such realms as Quasi-Sage, Hunyuan Golden Immortal, or Sage. Daluo was the ultimate pinnacle of the Dao, surpassing the Dao Ancestor of the Primordial World, for the Dao Ancestor had merely harmonized his body with the Dao and had not cultivated himself to the state of being the Dao.
But how should this Daluo realm be cultivated?
Surpassing all time, years, and space, rising above all tangible and intangible things, transcending the source of all things, such that one's own body was the Dao.
Zhou Chen fell deep into contemplation, quietly meditating.
He pondered how to cultivate time, years, space, the tangible, and the intangible.
After meditating for a long time, he finally gained a faint flash of enlightenment.
If he were to cultivate this path, it would require the simultaneous cultivation of the physical body and the primordial spirit—the physical body cultivating the tangible, and the primordial spirit cultivating the intangible. Only thus could it be achieved.
At that moment, a bright light appeared in Zhou Chen's eyes. He thought of the starry river of the universe, of the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers, and combining this with what Shangqing Tongtian had lectured, he finally found a clear direction for the cultivation of the Earth Immortal.
Earth Immortal: capable of opening up a starry river, condensing one's own realm, with a physical body that shatters the void, obtaining the longevity of heaven and earth, and making one's own time and space independent.
Sublimating through the ages, being unique across eternity, asserting oneself alone through the years with no second, capable of moving the power of heaven and earth, stepping into the dimensional axis of time and space, and preserving one's own Dao body.
Once Zhou Chen had conceptualized the notion of the Earth Immortal Realm, a bright light flashed in his eyes. This was the Earth Immortal concept he had formulated based on his understanding of the Mythological Daluo.
With the concept established, he began to create a cultivation method, quickly forming an idea based on some of the fantasy novels from his past life memories.
The train of thought was that quantitative change leads to qualitative change. Based on the fictional cultivation technique *Divine Elephant Prison-Suppressing Technique*, which posits that the human body is composed of countless microscopic particles, Zhou Chen decided not to cultivate divine elephants, but instead to cultivate stars—wouldn't that mean cultivating a starry river?
As for the physical body shattering the void and achieving independent time and space, Zhou Chen interpreted it as condensing his stellar Dharmic power to a degree even more advanced and dense than the void and the power of time and space.
As for the subsequent transformation, he had not yet figured out how to proceed, but there was no rush. He would first practice the part he had deduced and verify whether it was viable.
With a thought from his mind, his body emitted a massive suction force. The spiritual Qi of heaven and earth near the dwelling cave frantically poured into his body, where it was slowly refined to open up stellar particles.
Time hurried by, and in the blink of an eye, thirty thousand years passed. Zhou Chen was startled awake by the sound of a drum—this was the sounding-fish drum used by Shangqing Tongtian to summon the Jiejiao disciples. The time for the second lecture had arrived.
Zhou Chen ended his state of cultivation and checked the one hundred million stellar particles he had opened up within his body, his mouth twitching slightly. The spiritual Qi required by this cultivation method was simply too astronomical! During this period, Zhou Chen had been frantically absorbing the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth near his dwelling cave without stopping. And this was Mount Kunlun! If it were anyone else, forget an Earth Immortal; even a True Immortal couldn't absorb such a massive amount of spiritual Qi. Yet he had only opened up one hundred million stellar particles, with another seven hundred and forty million remaining uncreated, to say nothing of the subsequent condensation and compression required.
Zhou Chen did not dwell on it further. The time for the lecture was almost here, and he needed to hurry to the Upper Qing Palace to listen.
As he stood up, an unusual sensation washed over him. He paused slightly, sensed it for a moment, and then a smile bloomed on his face. Ignoring it, he stepped out of his dwelling cave and headed toward the Upper Qing Palace.
Just now, Zhou Chen had actually perceived the resistance of the Primordial space, as if it were restricting his movements. After a brief moment of thought, he knew his idea was correct; otherwise, he wouldn't have perceived spatial resistance. If one could not even perceive it, how could one speak of breaking through and transcending beyond it?
When Zhou Chen arrived at the Upper Qing Palace, most of the Jiejiao disciples had already been waiting for a long time. This was a Sage's lecture, after all, and unless there were critical matters, everyone would arrive early to wait, lest they miss the timing of the lecture. Those like Zhou Chen, who only arrived upon hearing the sounding-fish drum, were ultimately a small minority.
Zhou Chen casually found a spot to sit cross-legged and quietly waited for the lecture to begin.
Before long, Shangqing Tongtian suddenly appeared on the cloud dais in the center of the Upper Qing Palace.
"Greetings, Teacher!"
The Jiejiao disciples bowed to Shangqing Tongtian in unison.
After Shangqing Tongtian gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, he began his lecture. The auspicious phenomena of heaven and earth appeared once more: heavenly flowers formed from pure primordial spiritual Qi drifted down from the sky, and golden lotuses surged from the depths of the earth.
Zhou Chen looked at these heavenly flowers and golden lotuses with a look of eager desire, then immediately circulated his cultivation method to frantically absorb them.
This time, Shangqing Tongtian did not continue explaining the method of cultivation, but instead lectured on techniques—the techniques of divine abilities and spells, methods for combat and self-protection, encompassing major divine abilities of the Heavenly Gang number and minor divine abilities of the Earthly Fiend number.
Zhou Chen used one mind for two tasks, frantically absorbing the heavenly flowers and golden lotuses to open up stellar particles with all his might on one hand, while attentively listening to the divine abilities and spells lectured by Shangqing Tongtian and engraving them firmly in his mind on the other. Fortunately, he possessed heaven-defying comprehension; otherwise, he would never have dared to attempt such a feat.