"Such a thing really happened?"
"Any one of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao is unquestionably a colossus. Just what was inside that giant city in the heavens that could forge such mighty immortal sects?" Upon hearing this, Li Fan immediately put on an expression of utter astonishment and gasped in disbelief.
Fang Zaiji nodded slightly. "When I first learned of this, I was also somewhat skeptical. But later, after inquiring from many sources, I was able to essentially confirm that this matter is true. The reason the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao could rise so suddenly was precisely by relying on the opportunities they obtained in Tiandu!"
Without waiting for Li Fan to ask further, he continued his tale: "Rumor has it that although Tiandu was completely empty with not a trace of living people, a figure sat cross-legged in the pavilion at its very center. Beside the figure, a young boy attendant stood by their side. One could not make out the figure's face, but they appeared to be preaching the Dao to the empty void before them. Countless profound and wondrous Dao discourses, like the resounding toll of great bells and cauldrons, echoed in everyone's ears. What was even more miraculous was that the content each person heard was completely different.
"Everyone listened enraptured, utterly entranced. When they awakened from their enlightenment and wished to keep listening, they discovered they could no longer hear anything from the figure. Instead, the attendant boy beside the figure lightly waved his hand and drove them out of the pavilion.
"The cultivators who were expelled compared what they had just comprehended, only to realize that everything was rooted in what they had originally studied. Yet it was vastly more profound and esoteric—infinitely more exquisite, thousands of times over, than what their sects had passed down!
"After that, no matter how hard they tried, they could never enter that pavilion again."
Fang Zaiji sighed softly. "These cultivators knew deep down just how precious this opportunity was. After quietly departing Tiandu, they one after another notified their fellow sect members to come. But perhaps precisely because of this move, the Profound Heaven Sect caught wind of it. While hunting down the cultivators who had emerged from Tiandu, they dispatched their minions to completely seal off the giant city in the heavens.
"This insolent action seemed to have displeased the figure in Tiandu, who sent out the attendant boy to meet them in battle. The details of this battle remain unknown. The outcome, however, was that although the Profound Heaven Sect retreated with their tails between their legs, the other cultivators were also barred from entering Tiandu ever again.
"It was just that every year, from time to time, wisps of purple qi would drift down, dispersing across various regions of the Xuanhuang Realm. If a fortunate person obtained one, while it could not compare to hearing the figure preach the Dao in person, it was not far off!"
Li Fan pondered for a moment, then frowned. "Where did Tiandu go after that? Why did so few people in our time ever hear of it?"
"Tiandu hung suspended in the sky for a full ten years. Ten years later, just as it had descended from the heavens upon its arrival, its departure was equally silent and went unnoticed by anyone.
"Moreover, not long afterward, the conflict between the Profound Heaven Sect and the immortal Dao sects escalated to an irreconcilable point. Amid the great war that engulfed the entire Xuanhuang Realm, no one had any attention to spare for the already vanished Tiandu."
Fang Zaiji sighed with emotion. "By our era, Tiandu had already become a legend that only existed in idle chatter."
At this moment, Li Fan also wore a look of realization. "I remember now. I once read in the Heavenly Profound Mirror that ahead in Yuandao Province, there was a Dao Integration cultivator named Heavenly Venerable Blue Feather. He claimed to belong to the lineage of the Tiandu Grand Dharma Master. However..."
A hint of doubt appeared on Li Fan's face. "I heard that in ancient times, Tiandu crashed down for some unknown reason. In fact, one can still see the Tiandu Ruins on the ground today..."
"What? Tiandu crashed?" Now it was Fang Zaiji's turn to be stunned.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" After a moment, Fang Zaiji categorically dismissed the notion. "If Tiandu had truly collided with the Xuanhuang Realm, there's no telling which side would have suffered worse!"
"Sir, your meaning is..." Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Indeed. Tiandu, in all likelihood, came from the legendary Immortal Realm! And that figure inside Tiandu was probably a legendary immortal! The reason the cultivators of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao couldn't see her face back then was precisely because upon ascending and becoming an immortal, her level of life had undergone a transformation, far surpassing anything ordinary cultivators could comprehend!" Fang Zaiji declared with great conviction.
*An immortal again. And it didn't crash down...?* Li Fan remained noncommittal. He thought of the unknown entity coiled high above Yuandao Province, devouring time itself. Perhaps some upheaval had indeed occurred, leading to the emergence of that bizarre phenomenon?
Seeing Li Fan's skepticism, Fang Zaiji gave a cold snort. "Without seeing it with your own eyes, naturally you cannot comprehend the might of a True Immortal. If you were as fortunate as I was to obtain a wisp of Tiandu Purple Qi, you would know I speak no lie. By the way, Blue Feather's claim of originating from the lineage of the Tiandu Grand Dharma Master might not be nonsense either. That is because within the Tiandu Purple Qi, there is quite a bit of the Tiandu Grand Dharma Master's heritage."
Li Fan was slightly startled. "Sir, you obtained a wisp of Tiandu Purple Qi?"
Fang Zaiji said with a trace of smugness, "Of course! Back then I was still an ignorant child; I merely gained the fortune without knowing where it came from! Otherwise, how could an ordinary person like me with no sect or faction ever cultivate to the Dao Integration realm? And why would those proud and haughty disciples of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao take the initiative to mention this hidden past to me? It was all because they sensed the resonant charm of Tiandu Purple Qi on me."
"Is the Tiandu Grand Dharma Master that figure inside Tiandu?" After remaining silent for a moment, Li Fan asked again.
Fang Zaiji rolled his eyes at Li Fan. "What are you thinking? I already told you that figure was very likely a True Immortal. Since she was an immortal, unless she took the initiative to reveal it, how could mortals ever know her identity? Besides, they were merely fortunate enough to listen to her preaching the Dao. I doubt even the founders of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao back then would dare claim to have received the immortal's true teachings.
"The one we refer to as the 'Tiandu Grand Dharma Master' was the Daoist attendant boy beside the figure. After merely listening beside the immortal for a short while, cultivators were able to establish the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao. The attainments of the Grand Dharma Master, who stood attendance by her side all along, were naturally profound to an unimaginable degree.
"Most of what is contained in the Tiandu Purple Qi consists of the Grand Dharma Master's insights into the immortal's teachings of the Dao, and it encompasses virtually everything under the heavens. For a mortal, obtaining just a fraction of it is enough to benefit from for an entire lifetime.
"What I obtained back then was some of the Grand Dharma Master's insights into artifact refinement." Fang Zaiji glanced in the direction of Yuandao Province again and spoke slowly.
Li Fan understood now as well.
Back then, what the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao had received was direct guidance from an immortal.
The Tiandu Purple Qi, on the other hand, was the realization of the Tiandu Grand Dharma Master, who had listened to the immortal preaching the Dao year after year. Handed down second-hand, it was considerably weaker than the direct teachings of an immortal. Yet even so, it could effortlessly forge a Dao Integration cultivator.
*This is the true distinction between immortal and mortal. The chasm between them is even greater than that between mortals and cultivators,* Li Fan could not help lamenting inwardly.
Chapter 663