Shengxia’s achievement of sagehood was not through the Grand-Purple Qi to become a Heavenly Dao Sage, but rather through the laws.
In Honghuang, there are three ways to attain sagehood. The first is through the Grand-Purple Qi, which originates from the source of Honghuang—like the future Ancestor Hongjun, the Three Pure Ones, Nuwa, and the Two Sages of the West.
The second is through Merit. Later on, Houtu and Nuwa would attain sagehood through Merit. In terms of sheer power, a Merit Sage is just a tiny fraction weaker than a Heavenly Dao Sage.
The third is Dao-Proofing through the laws, which means transcending the Heavenly Dao, remaining unbound and unfettered. With a single thought, one can travel across the vast worlds and survive within the chaos. Even if Honghuang were to cease to exist, such a person would still survive.
Have you not seen in the original text that when Hongjun first preached at the Zixiao Palace after attaining sagehood, countless tribes perished in the chaos? Anyone below the Daluo realm could not even dream of entering the chaos.
The Qi of Chaos erodes one's cultivation and destroys one's soul; even Heavenly Dao Sages must tread carefully within the chaos.
In the original text, when Nuwa attained sagehood, she could only establish the Palace of Wa at the very edges of the chaos bordering Honghuang—as anyone who has read the novels knows.
Therefore, for Shengxia to attain the realm of the Chaos Daluo Golden Immortal was to attain ultimate freedom and liberation.
Now, as the very first Chaos Daluo Immortal in Honghuang, the Heavenly Dao manifested as a child of five or six years old and came to Wuyi Mountain.
Shengxia already knew: could this possibly be a good thing for the Heavenly Dao? Of course not.
The Heavenly Dao had come to make Shengxia merge with it, turning him into the most emotionless Heavenly Dao Sage in Honghuang.
Having traveled back in time from modern society, how could Shengxia ever wish to cultivate to the point of losing all emotion? He was still planning to marry all the great beauties of Honghuang!
Shengxia's three Great Dao laws—the Law of Time, the Law of Space, and the Law of Fire—had already been completed through system rewards. An ordinary Chaos Daluo Golden Immortal only needed to fully comprehend a single Great Dao law to attain the Chaos Daluo realm; let alone Shengxia, who was a sage of three Great Dao laws. He was still a long way from the next realm, which was the Chaos Wuji Daluo Golden Immortal—equivalent to a Dao-Embodiment Sage.
Furthermore, Wuyi Mountain, where Shengxia currently resided, was unsuited to serve as a sage's dojo. Whenever Shengxia entered seclusion there, the mountain would sink by an inch every day because it could not bear the karmic fortune of a sage.
Shengxia decided to take a stroll around the East Sea and bring his Golden Body of Merit to perfection. Making a quick calculation with his fingers, he foresaw a master-disciple affinity with Tongtian, one of the Three Pure Ones, and thus prepared to send an avatar of his Golden Body of Merit to apprentice under him.
Shengxia gathered the Enlightenment Tea Tree, the Luobao Money, and the various spiritual plants and spirits located within Wuyi Mountain. Now that he was a sage, moving mountains and filling seas was effortless—he could move whatever he pleased whenever he wished.
When a sage travels, purple qi comes from the east for thirty thousand miles, cranes lead the way, and divine deer follow in his train. Shengxia had no mount, so he journeyed leisurely, leaving the lesser spiritual plants unpicked. After all, being a sage, he ought to leave some opportunities for others.
According to legend, after Pangu split the heavens and the earth, three massive chunks of chaotic landmass fell into the East Sea of Honghuang. The first was Penglai Fairy Island, which was the largest; the other smaller islands were too tiny to bother considering.
Those other two islands were Yingzhou Island and Fangzhang Island, but their time had not yet come, and they had not yet emerged into the world.
With his sage divine sense, Shengxia could locate those hidden islands no matter where they were trying to hide.
As soon as Shengxia stepped out onto the surface of the sea, he had already alerted the East Sea Dragon Clan. There they were—shrimp soldiers, fish generals, dragon ancestors, and dragon grandchildren—prostrating themselves and kowtowing in unison: "Greetings, Shengxia Sage! We wish the Shengxia Sage boundless longevity, ultimate freedom, and ultimate liberation!"
Shengxia had not wanted such an overwhelmingly grandiose travel arrangement, but the travels of a sage naturally manifest divine portents.
Shengxia dismissed the aquatic throng and accompanied the Dragon Clan as their guest. Because of the Dragon-Han calamity, the Dragon Clan now possessed only two or three Daluo Golden Immortals at best—nothing like the dragons of the primeval era.
Ao Lie, the leader of the Dragon Clan, invited Shengxia to the seat of honor, and then the dishes were served: all manner of rare delicacies, exotic blossoms, miraculous fruits with wondrous aromas, and immortal nectar and jade dew were brought out in full array.