Chapter 9: Bai Jing’s Method of Attaining Enlightenment

At this moment, the three thousand mortal guests in the Purple Cloud Palace turned their eyes toward Hongjun, their gaze openly filled with longing.

Hongjun looked down at the great beings standing at the pinnacle of the primordial world and spoke expressionlessly: “There are three paths to sagehood.

The first path is the path of becoming a sage through the Law. Since the opening of Chaos, there have been three thousand great Dao paths. One only needs to cultivate any one of these paths to perfection to achieve the fruit of a Primordial Great Dao Golden Immortal.

In the beginning, the Great God Pangu attained the Dao through the Law of Strength. I myself have also tried to walk this path but ultimately did not succeed.”

Hearing this, the expressions of those in the Purple Cloud Palace varied. Even the present-day sages had not succeeded on this path? They dared not assume that a path that even sages could not traverse would be easy for them, nor did they dare compare themselves to the Great God Pangu.

Moreover, the path of the Law was not without attempts in the primordial world. For example, Laozi from the Three Pure Ones followed the path of alchemy; the River of Darkness followed the path of slaughter; Nuwa was researching the Dao of Creation.

Those cultivating the Law seemed unable to keep their comprehension in step with their cultivation levels.

The only special case might be the Twelve Ancestral Witches, who were born with mastery over the power of the Law and presumably had a quicker understanding of it.

As these thoughts stirred, they heard Hongjun continue from above: “The second path is the one I created myself, called the ‘Severing of the Three Corpses.’ I too attained sagehood through this method.

This technique relies on innate spiritual treasures as a medium to sever one’s own good thoughts, evil thoughts, and attachments, transforming them into the Good Corpse, Evil Corpse, and Attachment Corpse. When these three corpses merge into one, one achieves the fruit of the Primordial Great Dao Golden Immortal.”

The top primordial beings seated ahead showed obvious heat in their eyes at this.

The Law path was clearly extremely difficult, even seemingly unattainable for them.

But here was a successful example of the Severing of the Three Corpses path, and the method was selflessly shared.

Moreover, this method required only innate spiritual treasures, which sounded not too difficult. Who among them did not hold at least two innate spiritual treasures?

Others also grew desirous; with effort, they might also obtain innate spiritual treasures.

Bai Jing paid no heed to the varied expressions and began to contemplate the Severing of the Three Corpses path.

Though this path seemed easier and had Hongjun’s precedent, it was not necessarily simpler than proving the Dao through the Law.

First, the total number of innate spiritual treasures in the primordial world was limited. How many quasi-sages could possibly be made from them?

Moreover, Hongjun did not tell them the drawbacks of the Severing of the Three Corpses: the three innate spiritual treasures used must share the same root and origin. Otherwise, when merging the three corpses, it becomes extremely difficult, and even if merged, sagehood would be hard to attain.

Originally, there were few sets of treasures that met this condition—such as the Three Treasures of Creation, the Four Lotus Blossoms, the Seven Gourds, the Five Directions Flags, the Five Spirit Pearls, the Three Books of Heaven, Earth, and Man, and the 36 Sea-Calming Divine Pearls.

At the dawn of creation, many treasures lay on the primordial land, most of which fell into Hongjun’s hands. It was not difficult to find three treasures of the same root then. But how many complete sets of treasures remain in the primordial world now?

Not to mention, when distributing the treasures later, Hongjun deliberately divided the sets among different great beings, making this path nearly impossible to follow.

“May I ask, Sage, if one lacks innate spiritual treasures, can innate spiritual roots be used to sever the corpses?” A mid-stage Great Dao female cultivator behind Bai Jing respectfully inquired.

Innate spiritual treasures were rare in the primordial world. This female cultivator had never found one over the years, but at her transformation, she had borne an innate lower-grade spiritual root, hence the question.

Hongjun nodded and replied, “Yes, anything innate can be used for severing the corpses.”

Hearing this, Bai Jing smiled inwardly. “As for innate spiritual roots, aside from Lord Hongjun himself, no one in the primordial world has more than I. The sixteen innate spiritual roots on Yingzhou Immortal Island are all in my possession. I gave one to the Witch Clan, but that still leaves fifteen!”

Seeing no further questions below, Hongjun continued: “The third path is the path of becoming a sage through merit. This is the simplest of the three paths but also the most difficult. It requires accomplishing deeds that greatly benefit the primordial world, moving the Heavenly Dao to bestow immeasurable merit, thus instantly achieving sagehood.”

Bai Jing sneered slightly. This third path was obviously prepared for the six individuals mentioned earlier.

Oh, and also the one who incarnated as the Six Paths of Reincarnation, Hou Tu.

Besides these seven, who else in the primordial world could succeed on this path?

Fortunately, Bai Jing did not expect to attain sagehood through the third path. He had his own plans.

As long as he could repair his own origin and then use the trace of origin left by the Primordial Blue Lotus to trace back to the source, evolving his true body into a Primordial Spirit Plant, he would possess the equivalent foundation of a Primordial Demon God. At that time, cultivating to become a Primordial Great Dao Golden Immortal would be inevitable.

Therefore, for Bai Jing, the only difficulty lay in how to complete the repair of his origin.

Judging by his desire for the Three Pure Ones’ treasures before the Purple Cloud Palace, he roughly needed three treasures related to the Primordial Blue Lotus to basically complete the repair.

Even if lacking, he could supplement them by devouring vast amounts of spiritual materials from heaven and earth through the Soul Devouring Technique.

Thus, his current goal should be to find a way to obtain three treasures linked to the Primordial Blue Lotus.

“May I ask, Sage, is there any difference in becoming a sage via these three paths? Is there a hierarchy among them?” Laozi’s question interrupted Bai Jing’s thoughts.

Bai Jing was also curious about Hongjun’s answer, so he ceased pondering and looked up toward the meditation cushion above.

Hongjun still wore the same expressionless look, as if nothing could affect him. In a calm tone, he said: “Those who prove the Dao through might attain the fruit of Primordial Great Dao Golden Immortal, with the greatest combat power.

Those who sever the Three Corpses also attain the fruit of Primordial Great Dao Golden Immortal, with second greatest combat power.

Those who become sages through merit attain the fruit of Sagehood, with slightly less combat power, but the sage entrusts their fruit to the Heavenly Dao, becoming immortal and indestructible, existing alongside the primordial world.”

“May I ask, Sage, what is the difference between a Primordial Great Dao Golden Immortal and a Sage?” This time, the question came from Taiyi.

“The Primordial Great Dao Golden Immortal is a sage, but a sage is not necessarily a Primordial Great Dao Golden Immortal.”

Taiyi thanked him and resumed his seat.

After waiting a few breaths and seeing no further questions, Hongjun continued his lecture. Immediately, lotus blossoms fell, purple qi flowed from the east, and boundless wondrous phenomena appeared. The audience listened, enraptured.

Bai Jing quickly entered a state of enlightenment. However, his comprehension was of the Devouring Dao. Now that his body had reached the later stage of Great Dao and was only one step from its peak, he could begin to grasp the Laws.

Taking advantage of Hongjun’s lecture, he sought to deepen his understanding of the Devouring Dao, further enhancing the power of the Soul Devouring Technique, the most beneficial path for his development.

After countless years passed, the lecture in the Purple Cloud Palace ended. The great beings gradually awoke, feeling a sense of loss.

Hongjun looked at them and said, “This lecture concludes. Shortly, the Primordial Empress will give a lecture on the path of sagehood here in the Purple Cloud Palace. It will also be the final lecture.”