The sensation of integrating with the Dao was exceedingly wondrous for Huang Tian. The Heavenly Dao was not a physical entity, nor did it possess a distinct consciousness. Thus, the process of Dao integration was profound and abstruse beyond words.
Yet once the integration succeeded, his comprehension grew far deeper. From that moment onward, he could wander the long river of time in the Earth Immortal Realm and trace it back to the very beginning.
And he did precisely that. Returning to when heaven and earth were first cleaved open, he became the world's first cultivator and first one to attain the Dao, passing down myriad wondrous arts to boundless sentient beings, revered as the ancestral founder of the Three Teachings!
Afterward, he continued strolling down the long river of time, leaving his imprint across infinite temporal junctures. Thus, in every segment of myth and history, his figure was present, and his name echoed throughout the entirety of time—
'After integrating with the Heavenly Dao, I am virtually omnipotent within the Earth Immortal Realm. Not only can I wander the river of time at will, but the so-called grand trend of Heaven also hinges entirely on a single thought of mine.
'If I so willed, the next grand trend could be the great prosperity of the Daoist sect, of the Heavenly Court, or even making the demon race flourish.'
He pondered quietly, 'However, I have little interest in such preordained grand trends. Let all creatures strive freely under the frosted sky; allowing everything to develop on its own may be far more conducive to the birth of miracles—
'Of course, that does not mean leaving it entirely unsupervised. Now that I have integrated with the Dao, I can naturally watch over the Earth Immortal Realm's shifts at any moment. Even if there were a one-in-a-trillion chance that demons and fiends rose to dominance and turned the mortal world into purgatory, I could still step in to change it.'
Evil shall not triumph over good—that was his bottom line. As for the rest, let them be.
With a gentle wave of his hand, the preordained grand trend of the Buddhist sect's rise instantly collapsed—
At this very moment, in Xi Niuhezhou, the Lotus Tranquility Void-Calming Buddha, who was quietly guiding the cultivation of the Six-Eared Great Sage, underwent an abrupt change in expression.
"Why has this happened?!"
Hurriedly, he deployed his heavenly secret divine ability to calculate, but the more he deduced, the uglier his expression became.
For just moments ago, he could still clearly perceive that the Heavenly Dao favored the Buddhist sect, and the momentum of the West's rise was steadily accumulating. Yet now, he could not sense any heavenly secrets regarding the grand trend whatsoever!
"Why has our sect's opportunity to flourish vanished all of a sudden?!" Thoughts surged wildly through his mind, and he soon guessed a possibility.
"There is no need to guess. It was the Great Heavenly Venerable's doing." Suddenly, a familiar voice entered his ears—it was the World-Illuminating Ever-Abiding Buddha speaking to him across the void. "The Great Heavenly Venerable must have succeeded in Dao integration. As such, his will is the will of Heaven in the Earth Immortal Realm, and whatever trend he ordains will be the future grand trend."
Hearing this, the Lotus Tranquility Void-Calming Buddha knitted his brows. He wanted to say something, but in the end held his tongue and merely let out a soft sigh.
The Buddha, however, did not share his despondency; his voice remained calm. "In truth, this may not necessarily be a bad thing."
"What does the Buddha mean?" the Lotus Tranquility Void-Calming Buddha asked, puzzled. "Under the original grand trend, our sect would have flourished for at least a million years. But now—"
The Buddha said, "Let me ask you: can you perceive the shifts in the grand trend a hundred years, a thousand years, or even hundreds of thousands of years from now?"
"No. The heavenly secrets have become obscure," the Lotus Tranquility Void-Calming Buddha answered.
"Thus, it is evident that the Great Heavenly Venerable does not truly favor any single faction. Everything lies in the unknown. If guided well, perhaps our sect can flourish for tens of millions of years or even longer, rather than a mere million years."
The Lotus Tranquility Void-Calming Buddha understood at once. Under the previous arrangement, after the West flourished for a million years, the grand trend would gradually tilt toward other factions. But now, nothing was preordained. So long as they maneuvered well, the West could remain mighty all the way until the end of the Earth Immortal Realm.
However, there was a catch: if the West could remain mighty indefinitely, so could the other factions. It was impossible to say who would truly become the darling of the next era.
What was most likely was that the various factions would maintain a tenuous balance of power. If the Buddhist sect grew too strong, the Daoist sect and Heavenly Court would join hands to counter it, and vice versa.
"A grand trend is accumulated and converged bit by bit," the Buddha said calmly. "Continue with the matter of the Six-Eared Great Sage. Do not abandon it simply because changes have arisen."
The Lotus Tranquility Void-Calming Buddha nodded. "I understand."
The shift in the Heavenly Dao's grand trend alarmed not only the West; the Heavenly Court, the Daoist sect, and the various factions were all thrown into joy or concern, each beginning their own calculations.
None of this concerned Huang Tian anymore. He was carefully savoring the changes within himself.
'The legendary Daluo transcends all time and space; even if the heavens crumble, it remains unharmed in the slightest. Right now, I barely have a semblance of that. However, it is confined solely to the Earth Immortal Realm. Once my power leaves this realm, it will rapidly weaken...'
He settled his mind and entered a unique state. In an instant, he felt as if he were the Earth Immortal Realm itself, and then "gazed" out toward the boundless Chaos.
Possessing might far beyond that of a Golden Immortal, his divine sense encompassed an extraordinarily distant and expansive reach.
Earlier, when he had just attained the Golden Immortal stage, he had also released his divine sense to sweep through Chaos, predictably finding no worlds at all.
Yet this time was different.
'As a Dao-integrated being—or rather, a pseudo-Daluo—the moment I unleash my divine sense, I instantly locate hundreds of thousands of worlds, large and small!'
What was more, he discovered someone both familiar and unfamiliar: the Dao Ancestor, who had once ventured his true body far into Chaos!
Planet Haiqi, Changzhen Country, Liubao City.
In the eastern district of the city, traffic flowed like water. Along the street sat an ordinary little bookstore, appearing old yet cozy bathed in the glow of the setting sun.
Huang Tian, manifested from a wisp of thought and dressed in a black jacket, strolled leisurely into the bookstore.
The shop was about seventy square meters. Several dark-brown wooden bookshelves stood against the walls, divided into six tiers from top to bottom with slightly chipped paint, leaving aisles just wide enough for two people to squeeze past each other sideways.
Two long tables were set in the middle of the store, piled with bestselling books. In front of the tables stood two chairs, upon one of which a young girl sat quietly reading.
Several middle-aged men and college students walked slowly through the store, occasionally pausing before a bookshelf to pick up a book and read while standing.
Behind the cashier counter sat an elderly man wearing reading glasses, reading attentively. In his sixties, with graying temples and clean attire, he gave off the distinct air of an older-generation intellectual.
Noticing Huang Tian enter, the old man lifted his head, a sudden flash of astonishment in his eyes. "Great Heavenly Venerable?!"
Though the words were spoken aloud, the few patrons in the store seemed not to hear a thing, engrossed in the books in their hands.
"I never expected Fellow Daoist to dwell in this world, much less run a bookstore." Huang Tian took a book from a shelf, casually flipped through it, and chuckled. "This world is merely a minor world."
With a sweep of his divine sense, he knew that this world possessed only extremely thin spiritual energy, so there were practically no cultivators or superhumans. The occasional one or two who managed to develop genuine skill were either honored guests of the wealthy and powerful, or recluses living far from the world as aloof masters detached from fame and fortune.
The dignified Dao Ancestor of the Earth Immortal Realm needed only a single breath to blow this entire world to dust, yet who would have thought he would linger here instead of seeking opportunities in other major worlds?
The Dao Ancestor understood Huang Tian's meaning and gently shook his head. "It has been more than three hundred thousand years since I left the Earth Immortal Realm. I found two major worlds, but unfortunately, no matter how much I tossed and turned in those worlds, I could find no opportunity. Out of options, I could only continue traversing Chaos.
"Not until I arrived in this world did things change. I originally intended only a brief stay, but on a whim, I opened a bookstore here. Up to now—well, it has been forty years."
He sighed with emotion. "In these forty years, I have vaguely glimpsed a hint of the path forward and gained some modest insights."
Huang Tian carefully observed his state. He appeared utterly ordinary, having returned to simplicity and truth. Huang Tian could not help but praise, "Fellow Daoist's realm is the highest among all the immortals I have ever seen."
This Dao Ancestor was still very, very far from Daluo, but he was already far ahead of the other Golden Immortal mighty figures in the Earth Immortal Realm.
The Dao Ancestor smiled and said, "In terms of realm, I am far inferior to the Great Heavenly Venerable."
Having said that, he hesitated before asking, "Forgive my presumption, but I wonder how far the Great Heavenly Venerable is from true Daluo?"
Huang Tian did not mind explaining a thing or two to him. "A single step away—yet this step is like a heavenly chasm."
The Dao Ancestor straightened his posture and listened attentively. The opportunity to hear a Dao-integrated being explain how to ascend to Daluo was incomparably precious.
"After merging with the Heavenly Dao, I vaguely came to understand that to take that next step, there are roughly three methods. The first is to open up boundless heavens, attesting one's own Dao through those heavens."
The Dao Ancestor was stunned. Open up boundless heavens? How could a Golden Immortal possibly achieve that!
The boundless heavens were not a single major world like the Earth Immortal Realm, but an aggregate of countless worlds!
The scale of such an aggregate was on an entirely different level compared to the Earth Immortal Realm alone.
Huang Tian was not surprised by his astonishment. Even he himself, having successfully integrated with the Dao and wielding pseudo-Daluo power, was temporarily powerless to open up boundless heavens. Perhaps after countless chaos cycles, with deeper accumulation, there might be a minuscule possibility of doing so.
"The second is to seek within one's own Dao and comprehend the true essence of Daluo. But this is even harder."
Many Golden Immortals had never even laid eyes on a Daluo existence; how could they suddenly realize the true essence of Daluo?
The Dao Ancestor fell silent. He was in fact walking this very path. Though he knew the way ahead was vast and nebulous, and that he might never comprehend it even after hundreds of millions of chaos cycles, he could only brace himself and keep going.
"The third is to converge other-selves to nourish the origin."
The Dao Ancestor understood what an other-self was. However, the difficulty lay in how to find one's other-selves. That hurdle alone was enough to block countless individuals.
With a helpless smile, the Dao Ancestor said, "It seems I can only choose the clumsiest method."
Huang Tian said nothing more. Holding the book, he walked to the side and read quietly for a while before abruptly vanishing from the spot.
Looking at the space where Huang Tian had been, the Dao Ancestor let out a long breath and murmured softly, "Where does the Dao lie?"
Shaking his head, he ceased pondering. Some things, the more desperately one sought them, the harder they were to attain.
He lowered his head and resumed reading the book on the desk. The reddish-orange light of the sunset shone in obliquely; the bookstore remained as serene as ever, with only the soft rustling of pages turning.
'For me, the most suitable method to attain Daluo is undoubtedly converging other-selves.'
Back in the Earth Immortal Realm, after withdrawing that wisp of thought, Huang Tian pondered silently.
Opening up boundless heavens was something he could not yet achieve, while seeking within his own Dao was exceedingly difficult. Even with his comprehension, he saw no possibility of grasping it within hundreds of thousands of years; the time required was simply too long, making it unviable. Converging other-selves, however, was far simpler—at least for him, who possessed an innate ability.
'Searching blindly for other-selves is pointless. After integrating with the Dao, I illuminated hundreds of thousands of worlds, yet not a single one contained an other-self of mine. Therefore, I must still wait for calls from other worlds.'
Generally speaking, every call that crossed endless dimensions represented a brand-new other-self. He needed only to project a spiritual wisp along the voice line to easily replace it, then continue cultivating and growing stronger. When that spiritual wisp returned, his origin would be augmented.
Thinking this, his expression suddenly shifted, and he said with delight, "With my spiritual wisp avatar successfully integrating with the Dao, my true body has also smoothly broken through to True Immortal! A double blessing indeed!"
On Blue Star, in a simply decorated room in Yandong Garden.
Huang Tian sat cross-legged. The dharmic power inside him surged like a tempestuous sea, circulating through heavenly cycles before slowly converging within his Huangting into a Dao Seed. This Dao Seed gleamed with two hues and radiated five colors, the myriad phenomena of the cosmos manifesting within it like a universe unto itself—the [Yuanji] Dao Seed!
With the Dao Seed congealed, he instantly became a True Immortal!
'Before I transmigrated to the Earth Immortal Realm, I was only at the Dharma Idol realm. Now, about fifteen years have passed in the Earth Immortal Realm, and seven and a half years on Blue Star. Throughout these seven and a half years, I have practically been cultivating every single moment. Finally, I have attained the True Immortal realm!'
He had already attained Golden Immortal in the Earth Immortal Realm, so his true body faced no bottlenecks whatsoever in cultivation. He needed only to absorb and refine dharmic power step by step; once his dharmic power was consummate, he could break through directly.
'Moreover, if I were willing to recall my spiritual wisp avatar from the Earth Immortal Realm, my true body would become a Golden Immortal in an instant. But there is no need for that right now. A pseudo-Daluo avatar provides immense benefits.'
First, it granted him a much clearer comprehension of the Dao; second, at crucial moments, it could unleash power far surpassing a Golden Immortal to launch cross-spatiotemporal strikes!
'In addition, after advancing to True Immortal, as expected, my innate ability has evolved once again!'
He examined it in detail. 'First, my spiritual wisps are no longer restricted; I no longer have the limitation of only dividing two wisps at once. This way, there is no need to recall my spiritual wisp avatars in the late Han world or the Earth Immortal Realm.
'Second, from this moment on, even if my true body and all my avatars are completely destroyed, so long as traces of me remain across the endless boundless heavens and great chiliocosms and cosmic dimensions—so long as anyone remembers me, chants the name "Huang Tian," or understands the concept of "Huang Tian"—I can return across countless epochs!'
Light blazed in his eyes. This second ability was simply too practical! With it, the possibility of his true, permanent death virtually ceased to exist!
Unless a supreme mighty figure stepped in to erase all traces of him across myriad cosmic dimensions, and furthermore erased every concept associated with "Huang Tian," only then could he be prevented from reviving.
'Such an ability is something that not only a mere True Immortal, but even a Golden Immortal could never possess. Perhaps only the legendary Daluo could do so?'
He sank into thought. 'So, what exactly is my innate ability? Could it be that I am actually a Daluo reincarnated to cultivate anew?'
Pondering for a while without an answer, he thought no further of it. The boat will right itself when it reaches the bridge; overthinking served no purpose. Whether he was a Daluo cultivating anew, or truly an ordinary person who had obtained supreme fortune through sheer luck, it did not matter.
'Once I ascend to the Daluo realm, I will know—'
Chapter 207