Daoist Master of Qing Xuan

“Not bad. The Dao formula he is cultivating felt the Dao of the Stars that I mastered and absorbed the essence, and had even recalibrated itself. This is the first time that I am witnessing something like that,” Shen Lian spoke calmly to Guan Longzi.

Wu Ding was paying attention too. If there was anyone who could explain the reason behind this, Guan Longzi would be the likeliest person to do so besides the master who taught him the Dao formula.

Guan Longzi stroke his beard and spoke, “This is rare indeed. However, it is not unprecedented. At the end of cultivation, most will have to go through the process – ‘To become one with Dao’, combining one with Dao. Of course, Fellow Daoist Shen would know how powerful such a person would be.”

Shen Lian smiled and nodded. Not only did he know, he experienced it himself. During his fight with Chen Beidou, he merged with the portion of Dao cropped out by Lingbao Tianzun. It was an experience of a lifetime despite the short period of time in which it occurred.

If one could remain in the state of being one with Dao on a long-term basis, said a person could only be killed with special means – to vibrate his Primordial Spirit out of the void. This would be the only way to attain success.

At this point of cultivation, one could say that their physical being in the world was merely an incarnation. Harming the incarnation would not be sufficient to hurt the person’s foundation. Hence, the person was close to being inextinguishable.

This was why we could only presume that the ancient characters such as the Heavenly King had only gone missing after the great battle. It was hard to say if they had fallen.

It was not that Guan Longzi had no power, he just did not bother to procure it. People like him had their heart set on Dao, and pursued Dao with the purest of heart. Even if his physical body could be destroyed by force, his spirit could not be worn down by the likes of Emperor Xia and Shen Lian.

Without such a heart, Guan Longzi would not have attained the level of success that he did.

However, both power and wisdom were merely means leading to the same end. They were equal. Buddha had both supreme wisdom and supreme supernatural powers.

Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of keen awareness was alleged to have the greatest wisdom. When he attained Dao, he killed countless demon army troops with his great mana.

Shen Lian was similar to them, yet not completely identical.

Guan Longzi continued, “Since the beginning of time, no one managed to attain Dao. However, there were deities and demons birthed with limitless mana. They knew ‘Dao’ since the day they were born. The common spiritual beings who did not have the spiritual wisdom that they did turned to them and started learning through imitation. Sooner or later, they attained supernatural powers and mana. Some of the deities and demons even recorded their ‘Dao’ in the form of Dao formula. Due to the difference between them and the common spiritual beings, the Dao formula did more harm than good for the spiritual beings. At the more advanced state of cultivation, the spiritual beings became psychotic or had their spirit disintegrated. Later, some wise men extracted the essence of the Dao formula and passed it on.

The nature of this form of Dao formula was close to Dao. Coupled with the sentiments of the deities and demons, there was a spiritual response. However, once cultivated, the spirituality would merge with the host. Without the hint of spirituality exhibited by the Dao formula, one would not be able to cultivate it even after securing its essence.

Hence, these Dao formulae were elusive. Since the beginning of time, countless Dao formulae had been lost. As time changed and techniques evolved, coupled with the difference in the host, it was only logical for these Dao formulae to evolve into a form that was suitable for their current host and the world that they were in.

Despite the spirituality exhibited these Dao formulae, it was not a task that could be carried out by them alone. External resources were needed, alongside with the recalibration of the host, the perfect martial exercise that was tailored for the host was birthed. If the host’s body was especially close to the Dao formula, the process of evolution would naturally be quicker and it would be easier to achieve the final step too.

A person who wielded great supernatural powers researched into the uniqueness of this form of Dao formulae and created a form of supernatural power – ‘Imposition of Dao Restriction’. With that, the martial exercise was passed on. Only one person could cultivate his martial exercise, eliminating the risk of exposure and rendering the identification of the origin of the martial exercise an easy task.

When he heard that no one else could cultivate Wu Ding’s martial exercise, Shen Lian thought of his own – ‘The Mastery of Senses’. Shen Lian was especially moved when Guan Longzi mentioned the Imposition of Dao Restriction.

People like Lingbao Tianzun would never impose a Dao restriction. After all, a man of his caliber would not bother himself with the inheritance of martial exercises.

Even if outsiders were privy of everything about him, they would not be able to identify any openings or disharmony. This was something that could only be understood by the likes of Lingbao Tianzun.

Hence, the person who imposed a Dao restriction on Shen Lian’s Art of Spiritual Enhancement was someone else. It could even be Shen Lian’s father.

Wu Ding was completely unaware of the impressive origin of the Flying Stars Incantation that he was cultivating.

Guan Longzi looked at Wu Ding meaningfully and spoke, “Zi Zhao, you are destined to be different. When you were young, you studied under a mysterious Qi cultivator. Even though I am aware of this matter, but I am not sure of the identity of the mysterious Qi cultivator. Can you tell me more about it?”

After all, a person who could pass on this form of Dao formula would be someone impressive.

Wu Ding replied, “Throughout all these years, I have only met my Master thrice. He comes and goes in a rush, but he did not restrain me from telling someone else about his physical appearance. He rode on a black Qilin. He comes and goes like lightning. Also, there is an eye in the middle of his forehead. Everytime that he opened that eye, it seemed as though he knew about everything in my heart.”

“Born with three eyes? That is unusual, it seems like your Master is more impressive that I have expected,” Guan Longzi spoke with a deep voice.

Wu Ding spoke, “My Master said I am too attached to the secular world and he could not take me in as his disciple directly. Moreover, the sect that he is in is not the likes of the Tian Xian, which is why he could not take in disciples officially. So, my Master is still within the ranks of land immortals. You should have found out about this through my uncle.”

“Tianyi did mention something about this. With his capabilities, it would not be difficult for him to find out about your Master’s origin. He just did not want to do it. After all, your Master meant you no harm and there is no need for him to probe,” Guan Longzi detailed slowly.

Wu Ding replied, “Sir, you are right. My uncle would never do anything of that sort.”

He gestured respectfully to Shen Lian and Guan Longzi, “Zi Zhao is grateful to be rescued by the Prince and Sir today. I promise to payback one day. However, Wu Ding has one last request, and I hope that Sir could grant my request.”

Guan Longzi spoke, “Silly, I performed a divine reading when Tianyi was entering Diqiu. It said that he would escape harm unscathed. Now that your lucky star is standing right in front of you, do you still not see it?”

Wu Ding was surprised and realized how silly he was. He bowed to Shen Lian and spoke, “Prince, could you please rescue my uncle? The whole of Yin Shang would be indebted to your kindness.”

Lei Jing spoke coldly, “Are you all not afraid that I will tell my uncle about this? Whether Tianyi could make it out of Xia Tai is up to my uncle.”

She appeared to be cold purposefully, but she was shaken inside. She wondered if Shen Lian would be angered by this. However, the blood of Xiahou coursed in her veins and she could not just ignore this.

For this, Lei Jing glared fiercely at Guan Longzi too.

Guan Longzi smiled and did not say anything. He looked at Lei Jing, as though he saw past her.