Yuan Heng nudged her clever little brain and decided to firmly frame her relationship with the Wu tribe as a strict transaction of interests in front of Taiyi.
She did not want to be targeted by the massive, overwhelming numbers of the Demon Race.
Exactly! She had helped the Wu tribe, but it was in exchange for treasures. If you have needs, you of the Demon Race can also come to her for a trade~
She didn't mind~
Hehehe, she really was a genius.
Taiyi raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He didn't say much else, only casting a meaningful glance at her before returning to his brother's side.
Resting her chin in her hand, Yuan Heng looked thoughtfully at the two 'glowing' classmates in front of her. Had the Wu and Demon races already reached such a state of mutual loathing?
Sigh...
Before long, almost everyone had arrived. What she did not expect, however, was that the two future Sages of the West, with whom she had never had any prior interaction, actually came over to greet her as well.
She, the person in question, was quite surprised, but she didn't think too much of it.
There was no helping it; she was just that outstanding and popular~
Yuan Heng glanced left and right, noticing that the number of attendees for this third lecture seemed even smaller.
Specifically, who was missing...? Strange, where was the Duke of the East? Why didn't she see him this time?
How odd... Could he have already been... taken out!?
Yuan Heng's astonished gaze fell upon the brothers, Dijun and Taiyi, who were in front of her. Wait, did they seriously move that fast?
But before she could think any further, Dao Ancestor Hongjun appeared quietly at some unknown moment. He instructed Haotian and Yaochi to close the doors of Purple Heaven Palace.
Then, the final lecture began.
“This lecture is on the Dao of Sainthood!”
The expressions on everyone's faces varied—joy, excitement, astonishment... Yuan Heng suppressed her previous surprise and reacted quite calmly to this.
For no other reason than that she knew that apart from the Dao Ancestor, the only ones present who could achieve Sainthood were the six sitting at the very front.
Hongjun noticed her state and nodded inwardly with satisfaction. Not bad. Aside from the Three Pure Ones, she was the only one whose expression was perfectly normal.
As expected of her~ This old Daoist's eye for talent is indeed excellent.
Soon, as the Dao Ancestor's voice of the Great Dao resounded, the void reversed the passage of time. Phantoms of past calamities ebbed and flowed amidst the clouds, and the figures of Saints drifted through them... Heavenly flowers shed their brilliant colors while golden lotuses manifested intricate patterns, and auspicious portents appeared one after another.
Yuan Heng closed her eyes, calmed her mind, and earnestly absorbed as much of the teachings as she could comprehend.
After an unknown amount of time, when she began to find it too difficult, she simply gave up. She didn't wait until her brain was completely overloaded before opening her eyes like she did during the first two lectures.
After all, self-awareness is a virtue~
When she opened her eyes, she saw that the six future Saints at the front had already woken up.
She met the eyes of Tongtian, who had turned his head to look at her. Then, she witnessed with her own eyes Yuanshi secretly giving Tongtian a nudge from beside him.
It seemed to be a warning not to look around and to mind his manners.
Yuan Heng: Pfft—
Hahaha, Fellow Daoist Tongtian got disciplined~
Yuan Heng giggled, her eyes curving like crescents. Yet, when she lifted her gaze, she looked right into Dao Ancestor Hongjun's indifferent eyes.
Yuan Heng: ⊙᎔⊙
Smile gone.
But she still offered the Dao Ancestor a well-behaved smile. Hehehe, hello, Dao Ancestor~
Hongjun nodded to her, then closed his eyes once more.
Aha.
My disciple will surely be very happy when she hears that I am going to accept her as my disciple later~
Soon, everyone who was listening to the lecture woke up.
As Yuan Heng scanned her surroundings, she suddenly heard someone speak up, “May I ask the Dao Ancestor, what is a Saint?”
Eh? Who is that?
Let her take a look... Ah, it's Dijun. That makes complete sense.
The Dao Ancestor glanced at Dijun, who had spoken. With a wave of his hand, he manifested the answer to the question, accompanied by a spoken explanation: “To attain the Hunyuan Fruit, entrust one's spirit to the Heavenly Dao, remain indestructible through ten thousand tribulations, untainted by all laws, hold sway over the natural laws, and separate oneself from the karma of the mortal world...”
“So long as the Heavenly Dao is not destroyed, the Saints will never perish... Beneath the Saints, all are but ants.”
After the Dao Ancestor finished describing the formidable nature of a Saint, Yuan Heng once again observed the various reactions of the crowd.
Yearning, worry, burning ambition... and of course, there were some whose expressions were relatively calm, just like Yuan Heng's.
Naturally, Yuan Heng was just pretending, though she couldn't speak for the others.
In her heart, Yuan Heng was beating gongs and drums frantically: It's coming, it's coming! The era where Daluo are as common as dogs, Quasi-Saints roam everywhere, and everyone beneath the Saints is an ant has arrived!
Taiyi, standing next to Dijun, belonged to the ambitious category. He spoke up and asked, “May I ask the Dao Ancestor, how does one achieve Sainthood?”
“The heaven and earth evolve, and there are ten thousand paths to the Dao. However, those who can attain the Hunyuan Saint Fruit ultimately rely on three methods.”
“The first is to attain the Dao through strength... without practicing clever shortcuts or relying on external things, but instead using one's own immense magic power to break through the barriers of the Heavenly Dao, allowing the Primeval Spirit to transcend the shackles of the Heavenly Dao to achieve Hunyuan... This was also the method of Dao attainment used by the great Pangu in the past.”
Ah, so there's a high probability of failure.
Yuan Heng thought back to that tough, manly face that always felt so incredibly close and familiar to her: Great God Pangu...
“The second is called achieving the Dao through severing the Three Corpses. Within the intellect of all living beings reside the Good Corpse, the Evil Corpse, and the Obsessive Corpse. One must find an Innate Spiritual Treasure to house the Primeval Spirit of one of these corpses and sever them one by one, discarding love, hatred, greed, and anger, and erasing all lingering attachments in the heart. When the Three Corpses are perfected and merged back into one, the Primeval Spirit can be entrusted to the void of the Heavenly Dao, thereby attaining the Hunyuan Fruit stage.”
“However, the higher the grade of the magic treasure, the better the result of severing the corpses, and they must share the same origin.”
Ah? If everything is severed, is the person left behind even still oneself?
Yuan Heng blinked, silently evaluating in her mind. And magic treasures of the same origin are hard to find... Nope, not a good option~
Hongjun's voice continued, “The third is the method of attaining the Dao through merit. Repairing the deficiencies of heaven and earth, protecting the life and breath of all spirits... If the Heavenly Dao is moved and bestows boundless merit, one can achieve Sainthood through merit.”
But without the Grand Purple Qi, it's all in vain.
Eh? It seems that both of the latter two paths to becoming a Saint of the Heavenly Dao require the Grand Purple Qi...
Yuan Heng continued to secretly critique in her mind and shook her head. Besides, merit isn't that easy to earn anyway.
Hongjun: “...”
So, my future disciple, what is the meaning of that increasingly doubtful expression on your face?
Hongjun glanced at his future beloved disciple, who was once again caught in who-knows-what mental brainstorming, and continued, “To achieve the status of a Saint of the Heavenly Dao through either of the latter two methods, one must use the Grand Purple Qi as an aid; otherwise, it will be difficult to succeed.”
Ah, she knew it.
The next step is distributing the purple qi, distributing the purple qi... which is also the root of the imminent catastrophe for Fellow Daoist Hongyun.
Rate on N.U.
