Taoist Master Xuanhuang

"Hehe, you really want to learn?" Xuanmao chuckled smugly.

This is much more comfortable for the cat than my cultivation level being higher than my third brother's. It's like the cat is asking me for wisdom. This indirect reaction means that my wisdom can also be a teacher.
"I want to learn, Second Brother," the Dream Eater said earnestly.

The black cat raised three paws and said, "It's actually very simple. I've summarized it as [one absolute and two unchanging]."

"One absolute and two unchanging?" The Dream Eater was taken aback.

"That's right, it's that simple. You wouldn't understand if it were more complicated. One is absolute loyalty to the Lord, and the other is unchanging original intention and unchanging identity... Isn't it simple?"

"These three things complement each other. The most important one is absolute loyalty to the Lord. You can't go wrong with that. Even if there are some problems, they are minor. When you are absolutely loyal to the Lord, you can have a smooth journey in this world that the Lord has built, because this world revolves around the Lord. Don't you think so?"

"Yes!" The dream-eating tapir nodded.

It is said that the world cannot revolve around you; you must adapt to the world.

But it's different here; the world truly revolves around the Lord.

What my second brother said was that as long as one is absolutely loyal to the master, there is no major mistake. I didn't think of that at the time. If I had thought of my master's identity as a spirit beast, would I have been so foolish as to become a subordinate?

The Lord's pride is my pride; why should I be subordinate to someone as proud as I am?

One is absolutely crucial.

"The unchanging original intention actually comes from an absolute, which is a logical and complementary progression. Upholding one's original intention, and what is the original intention? It can be a high level of cultivation, it can be becoming a patriarch, it can be changing one's destiny, it doesn't matter. As long as you uphold an absolute, clearly understand your original intention, and then resolutely remain unwavering, there will be not too much confusion."

"To maintain your identity, you must know who you are. This is based on an absolute foundation. First, you are the master's spirit beast, which is your identity. Second, you are the chieftain of the spirit beasts. You must understand this position. Only if you are loyal will the master's fortune protect you. Only if you are loyal to your identity as the chieftain of the spirit beasts will the spirit beasts' fortune gather around you."

"This is what your second brother, me, has summarized: one absolute and two unchanging principles. Do you think it makes sense?"

"The black cat said smugly."

It was like a sudden awakening, a thunderclap in my ears!

The Dream Eater discovered that it was actually quite simple. What its second brother was talking about was a matter of principle. As long as it adhered to principles, remained true to its original aspirations, and clearly understood its own position, there wouldn't be any major mistakes.

If you always remember that you are the Lord's spirit beast, and you can keep that in mind, there won't be so many problems.

Our original aspirations and identity remain unchanged; this is our positioning and goal.

You are a spirit beast, you were before, you are now, and you will be in the future. If you are firm in this belief, you will have less confusion.

"Thank you, Second Brother. I have benefited greatly from this." The Dream Eater expressed its sincere gratitude.

Xuanmao suddenly realized: "You were really taught a lesson?"

The third brother's behavior didn't seem fake, nor did it seem like his eldest sister was giving him special treatment, as he had suspected.

"Second brother, you still don't believe me? You'll really get a scolding from eldest sister," said the Dream Eater.

"Alright, it seems to be true. I have plenty of experience with this. Just correct it based on my 'one absolute and two unchanging' principles. It's fine... Also, don't stay in the dream world all day. Although it's beneficial for cultivation, it's not good either. The growth of wisdom requires tempering. You can't just stay in the dream world."

Xuanmao finally fulfilled his role as the second brother; he was confused himself, but that didn't stop him from educating others.

"Yes!"

Having finally said goodbye to his second brother, the Dream Eater returned guiltily to his headquarters in Qingyun Mountain, to the palace of the Third King.

Second Brother is right. We can't always stay in the dream world; we need to experience the outside world.

Besides, there's no point in going to the dream world to cultivate right now; I'll just recite scriptures for a while first.

Day 3!
That is, seven days later as the three supreme gods had said.

In the main hall of the Palace of Ten Thousand Spirits, the three supreme gods sat side by side on a high platform.

The Palace of Ten Thousand Spirits is the true embodiment of all spirits and a genuine manifestation of a fifth-tier magic weapon. As the world develops, so too do all spirits.

His changes are based on the growth of his cultivation and inner strength.

At the very beginning, although it could manifest its true form in the main world, it was subject to strong suppression from heaven and earth. Now, the suppression from heaven and earth is negligible.

Overall, it is already a complete fifth-tier magic weapon.

The Palace of Ten Thousand Spirits is not built of bricks and stones, but is based on the Daoist essence formed by fusing the spiritual energy of the three thousand worlds, and the actual building is formed by the accumulation of merit.

Of course, the so-called interception of spiritual energy from the three thousand realms is another ability of his, brought about by the destiny of a cultivator.

The so-called Three Thousand Realms are the spiritual energy of countless small worlds. Destiny cultivators are sent by Him to various small worlds to do tasks, or to conquer and devour them.

In every world that is conquered or devoured, he extracts the most essential spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and then uses it to build his own foundation.

It's not wrong to say that the universe contains the spiritual energy of the three thousand realms.

The opening and closing of the palace doors is like the birth and death of the universe.

The white jade steps have a total of nine thousand steps. With each step, the scenery changes with the seasons, and after walking a hundred steps, one can see the changes of the world.

The twelve pillars supporting the dome are actually living spiritual veins. The jade-like surface of the pillars moves with the rhythm of breathing, and the flowing spiritual essence contains the stars of the heavens.

Looking up at the palace ceiling, a flowing galaxy was embedded within the structure, which was neither metal nor wood, and nebulae gathered and dispersed, transforming into billions of Dao patterns that flickered. (Space and time overlapped here, also originating from the small world he devoured, just like his master Xuanhuang, wasting nothing, squeezing the world to its limit.)
The divine throne hangs high above the long river of time. The Lord of All Beings wears a nine-tassel crown made of the wishes and power of all people, and every silver thread hanging from his hair is tied to the fate of a certain small world.

To his left, the Lord of Heaven and Earth has the face of a young man, but the blood mole between his eyebrows is a swirling vortex of chaos. The two energies of Xuan and Huang alternately manifest the scene of the creation of heaven and earth on his purple Taoist robe.

The most wondrous one is the True Self, who sits upright with his eyes closed like a stone statue, yet his entire body radiates a spiritual glow like ripples on water. Stardust constantly overflows from the hem of his Taoist robe, gathering into a demonic illusion in front of the steps before dissipating, just like the three realms of Heaven.

At this moment, all spirits held their breath, even the fluttering of robes slowed down, for fear of disturbing this unprecedented arrival of the three rulers.

Suddenly, a clear, tinkling sound was heard. The golden bell on the wrist of the Lord of All Beings moved without wind, and half of the palace was instantly swallowed up by vegetation. Giant vines reaching for the sky sprouted from the surface of the giant pillars, and golden lotuses of the Great Dao bloomed on the glazed floor tiles, as if the Dao of Heaven had manifested: the power of the propagation of life could give life to stone without the need for incantations, echoing the authority of "All Beings".

The Lord of Heaven and Earth suddenly opened his eyes. The Milky Way above the palace abruptly drew closer, and the stars transformed into solid meteorites, falling towards the lotus platform. Yet, upon touching the cultivator's hair, they shattered into fireflies, their glow clearly reflecting fragments of light and shadow from the past lives of those present. He tried to reach out and touch the points of light, but his fingertips pierced through the illusion, touching only the cold vacuum of the universe—this was not an attack, but the will of Heaven and Earth reminding all things of their insignificance, a warning to cultivators of their minutiae in the cosmos.

The True Self remained unmoved. As he withdrew his gaze, drenched in cold sweat, the illusion transformed into a tribulation lightning phantom that entangled his Dao Heart. The entire palace echoed with a silent interrogation: "You have cultivated for a hundred years, have you eradicated all the demonic obstacles in your heart?" It pointed directly to the most vulnerable point of his Dao Heart.

A phoenix phantom suddenly emerged from the chaotic air currents hanging from the eaves.

This divine bird, formed from innate Daoist energy, swept over the crowd. Sparks from its tail feathers landed on the sleeve of a sect leader's robe, instantly transforming the defensive array patterns on the cuff into swimming tadpole-shaped Daoist scriptures.

Before anyone could decipher the mystery, the phoenix crashed into the sleeve of the Lord of Heaven and Earth, causing the stars in the sky to tinkle like shattered jade, highlighting the wonder of creation.

The simultaneous presence of three rulers is a rare sight.

The three of them seemed to have made ample preparations for this moment.

In the past, it was difficult to even see the Lord of All Beings alone, let alone the three Lords appearing together. All the major forces that came to the meeting were stunned by this mysterious and vast scene.

At this moment, the Palace of Ten Thousand Spirits cannot be called a palace at all, but a world where the three supreme gods have descended.

Even the cultivators who were used to the grandeur of Qingyun Mountain were awestruck by this sight. A voice kept reminding them that this was the true majesty of the three great divine lords. This was the awe-inspiring presence befitting the three rulers who controlled the entire cultivation world, including themselves.

Even more amazing is...

As the Lord of All Beings gently swept his whisk across the surface, it seemed to pierce the origin of darkness and light, creating enormous illusory light curtains.

The cultivators saw towering figures through the light screen, but they could only see a very few. The higher-level figures were not clearly visible at all; they could only see their feet, or even those feet were not clearly visible, only blurry shadows.

The cultivators who could come were at least at the late stage of the first level of the Extraordinary Realm, and even those were rare. At least 80% of them were at the second level of the Profound Realm. They could only see blurry shadows, so one can imagine how powerful the vast figure in the light screen must be.

"Confucius at the Temple of Literature, along with his disciples, greets the three fellow Daoists!"

A voice pierced through the barriers of time and space, like an ancient sound from beyond the heavens, gently entering the souls of all the cultivators.

The bewildered cultivators finally realized that the towering figure in the light screen was Lord Kong, a powerful figure at the sixth-order Lord level.

"Martial Temple Jiang Shang and his disciples greet the three fellow Daoists, and also greet Venerable Kong and all fellow Daoists." The majestic figure in the second light screen also spoke.

"Roar—!" A dragon's roar resounded.

"Yellow Dragon of the Yellow River Boundary, along with his sons, greets the three fellow Daoists, Lord Kong, Lord Jiang, and all fellow Daoists."

"The Lord of Mount Tai (Emperor Fengdu, Lady Bixia) of the Mount Tai Realm, together with fellow Daoists, greets the three fellow Daoists, and greets Fellow Daoist Huanglong, Venerable Master Kong, and Venerable Master Jiang!"

The fourth illusory light screen also spoke.

These are the four top-tier realms most closely related to Xuanhuang.

When the Venerable One of the Taishan Realm was in charge, his relationship with Xuanhuang was not good. However, after the three Venerable Ones came out of seclusion, they directly changed their previous relationship.

He punished the venerable one who had caused the trouble and personally restored their relationship.

Especially with the True Self Lord going to the Underworld and the Lord of Heaven and Earth going to the Celestial Realm, the immense pressure from the two great realms was finally relieved.

The three Mount Tai Venerables were very grateful, and at the same time, they were also very impressed. The two realms that were fraught with danger for them were actually easily resolved by the three avatars of the Xuanhuang Dao Lord.

They even plan to completely control the two realms, which is truly shameful.

No, it's incomparable. There's simply no comparison.

There's nothing I can do; everything I have comes from a realm, even if Mount Tai is a top-tier realm.

But the opponent comes from the Realm of Heaven. The difference between Realm of Heaven and Realm of Heaven is as vast as heaven and earth.

Boundaries are the gestation of the Heavenly Way, while the Boundary Heaven is the manifestation of the will of Heaven and Earth.

The Way of Heaven is ultimately a synthesis of rules, but the foundation supporting the Way of Heaven is also the will of Heaven and Earth.

In other words, the level equivalent to the Heavenly Dao is the Realm Heaven.

This is a difference in dimensionality. It may seem like there's only one order difference, but that one order is the difference in dimensionality.

The Heavenly Realm can nurture seventh-order True Saints, and not only True Saints, but also those of even higher levels.

As for realms, at most they can nurture a Venerable Lord; the limit is a Venerable Lord, and the gap is too great.

With such overwhelming power, the Xuanhuang Dao Master truly is the Xuanhuang Dao Master.

They dared not address Xuanhuang as Fellow Daoist, for they had all been demoted and could only call Xuanhuang's clone "Fellow Daoist," while Xuanhuang was the true Daoist Lord.

I used to think Xuanhuang was a junior, then I thought Xuanhuang was a peer, and now Xuanhuang is a senior.

"Greetings, fellow Daoists. I am here at your request to participate in this grand event... To be specific, due to the influence of Venerable Jiang and Alliance Leader Sun of the Martial Dao Alliance... the new Conferred Gods are essentially an enlarged realm, merely a copy of the realm to the main world. The so-called Conferred Gods are like the gestation of deities... of course, it is impossible to gestate Venerables or even Venerables of the level of fellow Daoists..."

"We have read Lord Jiang's opinion, and we understand Lord Kong's opinion... However, I must also say that there may not be many key positions available for you all. Some minor mountain gods, river gods, or wandering gods are acceptable, but as for the divine positions in the Realm Heaven, let's not discuss that for now. We need some time, so we will not consider it at this time..."

It seems he was speaking to the two revered masters.

Actually, it's also meant for all the forces involved, to increase the pressure on them and encourage them to work harder.

There's a sense of crisis that all the good spots are taken, so you have to work hard to compete for them.

"Wait a moment!"

Suddenly, a delicate yet bold voice appeared.

Not to mention the cultivators, even the several realm lords were stunned. Who was so bold as to interrupt the words of the God Lord?

Xia Qing appeared nervous but pretended to be bold as she stepped forward.

"My lords, our palace master has some words for me to convey to you." Xia Qing seemed to be going all out.

The three gods were initially very angry, but upon hearing Xia Qing's words, they suddenly lost all their anger.

“Speak!” said the Lord of All Beings.

"Yes!" Xia Qing hurriedly replied, "Our Palace Master said that the divine positions that belong to our Merit Hall must belong to our Merit Hall, and the same applies to any future extensions and expansions. We will not participate in anything else. We hope that the three of you will grant our request."

That really has a shocking, groundbreaking feel to it.

In short, I don't care how you divide it, we won't lose a single penny of what's rightfully ours. I'm making this clear, you can decide for yourselves.

The three gods were all a little embarrassed, and more importantly, they didn't dare to get angry or lose their temper with this person.

The magnificent scene that had been so perfectly arranged was suddenly shattered; the seemingly awe-inspiring and grand spectacle was abruptly destroyed.

"Yes, your temple master is right. Go back. What is rightfully yours will be yours... Fellow Daoists, and leaders of various forces, do you have any objections?" said the Lord of All Beings.

"Ahem, that's right. The Hall of Merit is of utmost importance and cannot afford any mistakes." - Confucius

"The Hall of Merit is of vital importance to the world; it is the center and the balance, it is cohesion and glory—that's absolutely right." Jiang Shang.

"..."

"Palace Master Sun is right, we agree!" Yan Lai said.

"..."

For a time, not a single voice of opposition was heard. The three great gods were silenced, and they dared not express any dissatisfaction.

After all, everyone knows who is special.

...(End of chapter)