Taoist Master Xuanhuang

The following ten thousand years, although lacking the initial thousand years of glory.

However, in terms of accumulation, these ten thousand years were an era of great accumulation and explosion, with both loss and glory.

What's disheartening is the passage of time; eventually, some people completely fall behind and are eliminated, and this elimination comes at the cost of death.

The first batch of cultivators who rose with Qingyun, those whose talent couldn't keep up and reached their limits, finally reached the limit of their lives. Even the extraordinary ones had a lifespan limit before they entered the fourth-order True King realm.

They reached the limit of their lifespan and died naturally, and they were a group of peak third-tier cultivators who could not break through to the next level.

The theme of that period was "death".

Some risked everything to forcibly trigger the heavenly tribulation, only to die in the calamity; others, lacking sufficient resources, couldn't even trigger it and died as time passed.

Some were unwilling to let their illness disrupt the world, some took a detached view and chose death, some tried every means to prolong their lives, and some even went astray in the process.

Under the pressure of a life-or-death crisis, their wisdom exploded, and they actually forged new paths, but these were minor paths, not worthy of the attention of true masters.

Some pseudo-true kings emerged, or better ones, based on the spiritual root method, created methods to prolong life similar to the Earth Immortal method. Even more extreme ones, based on the second dantian and the second dream, created their own small secret realms, dream illusions, and other methods.

This greatly expanded the scope of Xuanhuang Daoist practices.

At this point, Xuanhuang had already entered the sixth-order Venerable Lord level, which, according to the Great Chaos, is called the Heavenly Soul Realm, just one step away from the seventh-order True Spirit Saint.

The closer Xuanhuang gets to this level, the more at ease he feels. From the fourth-order true self, to the fifth-order fusion of earth spirit, to the sixth-order fusion of heavenly soul, it means that Xuanhuang is now a complete self.

The so-called seventh-order true spirit is nothing more than the complete fusion of the true self, the earthly soul, and the heavenly soul, which gives birth to the level of true spirit.

True spirits are immortal and indestructible, and their power is sufficient to contain the Dao, which transcends the laws.

The seventh level is the level at which the true spirit governs the Dao. It allows one's true spirit to merge into the Dao, and then the Dao is immortal while I am immortal. This is the level of the seventh-level true spirit.

Laws are ultimately divisions of the Dao; only when laws are fully integrated and condensed can they constitute the Dao.

The seven levels of Xuanhuang contain three Daos: reincarnation, return to nothingness, and Yin and Yang.

The Dao does not distinguish between strong and weak. Although there may be distinctions between strong and weak, these are all human judgments. In reality, there is no distinction between high and low.

It is always human beings, not the Way, that are not strong enough.

It's just that some paths are more expansive, while others seem shallower.

However, the concepts of superficiality and profundity here are also subjectively defined.

Conversely, what most living beings perceive as powerful may actually be weak.

Because they are weak, they are easier to understand, and therefore more widely circulated and studied. Some principles seem very ordinary and simple, but they are actually the most difficult because few people can comprehend them and have not comprehended the deeper levels of the principles, so they appear shallow.

The simplest example is the cycle of reincarnation and the wood element in the Five Elements theory.

It seems that people naturally assume that the Way of Wood is inferior to the Way of Reincarnation.

However, this comparison is incorrect. What is powerful is humanity, not the Dao. Because of a shallow understanding of the Dao of Wood, people mistakenly believe that the Dao of Reincarnation is stronger.

But true masters are those who can comprehend the cycle of wood, and who have grasped the essence of the way of wood to the level of concepts.

At this point, who would dare say that the Way of Wood is inferior to the Way of Reincarnation?

Secondly, entering the seventh-order True Spirit level is not that simple. In terms of willpower, one must achieve the King level, which means reaching the fourth order. This is the minimum requirement.

The strength of one's will also indicate the ease or difficulty of integrating with the Dao.

The stronger one's will, the stronger the Dao one integrates, and the stronger the true spirit one provides. The stronger the true spirit, the more Dao one will integrate in turn.

If all Daos exist in a hundred forms, the difference between fusing a hundred and fusing dozens is significant.

The seventh stage is such a path; integrating one's own understanding of the Dao to 100% is the entirety of seventh-stage cultivation.

If an eighth-level powerhouse wanted to kill a seventh-level True Spirit Saint, it wouldn't be impossible.

The corresponding Dao can be erased. For example, if a seventh-level True Spirit Saint has fused with 30% of the Dao, an eighth-level expert only needs to erase 31% of it. All the Dao that the seventh-level True Spirit Saint has comprehended and fused can be erased.

However, once the fusion is complete, things may change. Once the seventh stage is perfected, it means that I am the Dao, but the Dao is not me.

It's not easy for an eighth-tier powerhouse to eliminate such an existence.

It would require erasing an entire path, which is possible, but the cost would be different.

After all, the eighth rank is the level of cause and effect, not the ninth rank which transcends cause and effect and is eternal.

Every path is a collision of great chaos, a birth from nothingness.

This means that every path is a product of chaos. Erasing a complete path is to create a huge causal relationship with the 'will' of the Great Chaos.

If enough cause and effect are accumulated, not to mention transcending cause and effect, one will be assimilated by the will of the Great Chaos.

There are also cases where the eighth-order death has completely disappeared.

Therefore, achieving a perfect seventh rank is the most difficult. As long as it's not 100% perfect, even 99% is quite simple.

The Dao is the collision of existence and non-existence in the Great Chaos. Even if only a pitiful one percent remains, it will instantly replenish itself from nothing to something.

If the Tao has existed, it will never perish.

People like Xuanhuang are even more difficult to deal with. With the integration of three paths, killing him would be equivalent to erasing all three paths, which is extremely difficult.

Furthermore, since this advantage is so obvious, why don't other powerful individuals integrate more Dao?

The reason is simple: it's not that it's impossible, but that it's very difficult.

Willpower, and more willpower.

Only with a strong enough will can a stronger true spirit be born, and only a powerful true spirit can merge with and control a stronger and more numerous Dao.

In fact, the true spirit is the manifestation of will.

There is no difference between the true spirit and the will.

When a strong person enters the True Spirit level, it is the will of a fourth-order king, a True Spirit born from the fusion of the True Self, Earth Soul, and Heavenly Soul.

Xuanhuang is different; his cultivation is primarily based on willpower. For ordinary cultivators, the limit of willpower is the fourth-tier King level; the so-called fifth-tier willpower, sixth-tier willpower, etc., simply do not exist.

Because at the moment of entering the seventh level of True Spirit, the will has merged with the True Spirit, and the True Spirit is everything.

Xuanhuang is different; it is true mastery, not just simple fusion.

Others achieve true spirituality by merging with the Dao, and then comprehend and reach a state of perfection.

Xuanhuang directly controls the Dao through his powerful will, so when he enters the seventh rank, he will reach the level of perfection.

A powerful will forcibly controls the Dao; controlling a Dao means achieving 100% integration.

As for why he doesn't merge with other living beings like he would with them, it's unnecessary for him.

He won't do things that are too simple.

Once a being enters the seventh rank, its cultivation time can no longer be measured in one or two years; it takes more than a cycle or a eon.

It is a long, even endless, period of stagnation in making progress.

The Dao is ultimately a collision of the Great Chaos with and without will. Even an eighth-order powerhouse would worry about the existence of cause and effect. A seventh-order true spirit would not be able to fully comprehend it easily, let alone integrate it after comprehension.

This will be a long time.

Forcibly controlling Xuanhuang will avoid this trouble; it can be controlled directly by a strong will.

It's like confining the Dao, then dissecting and studying it thoroughly, and once you've studied it completely, you don't need it anymore.

After all, the eighth-order cause and effect is the beginning of going from existence to non-existence.

It requires deriving from a complete path what was previously nonexistent and unknown.

This is equivalent to increasing the width and depth of the road.

It transcends the general meaning of Tao and enters a deeper, unknown stage.

If it were a path of integration, it would be like walking on thin ice while wearing heavy shackles, or like a small horse pulling a heavy cart.

Then, after entering the unknown level, one must seek emptiness, subtract the previous fusion, and transcend from the Tao, which will be even more difficult.

It's hard to integrate, but it's even harder to transcend.

The seventh and eighth orders represent two extremes.

One side desperately wants to integrate, the more the better; the other desperately wants to break free, the more the better. It's a contradiction.

There's no need for forced control; I've already moved beyond integration, so how can I escape the troubles?
There will also be no feeling of being burdened by forcibly moving forward along three paths.

Once you have thoroughly comprehended the three paths and condensed them into Dao characters, the Dao characters will take shape, which is equivalent to replicating the Dao.

Daoist scripts are incredibly diverse, ultimately arising from the collision of will and non-will within the Great Chaos. They might be a bolt of lightning, a burst of fire, or perhaps the first sentient being capable of thought…?
Or they can be bizarre or all sorts of strange things.

In short, all life is born from the collision of chaos and non-existent will, and is the origin and source of all life.

We should learn from the principles of Heaven and Earth, which are consistent throughout.

Even if one transcends one's own world and enters the vast chaos, it is still a process of learning from heaven and earth from nothingness to something.

The goal of learning has simply shifted from the small world to the vast chaos.

The cause and effect of the eighth order mainly refers to the cause of nothingness and the effect of existence.

Or perhaps they just arrived, and there was a cause but no effect.

Cause and effect can be reversed; at this level, reversing cause and effect is achievable.

You can perceive nothingness from existence, or you can assume existence from nothingness, and then it really exists. I am something that exists, yet I do not know it.

There is no inherent superiority or inferiority in the two paths; the choice is up to the eighth-tier powerhouse.

The Ninth Order of Eternity, in short, is one path that gives rise to myriad paths.

All things exist eternally, therefore they are eternal and indestructible.

Xuanhuang had a feeling that once he entered the seventh rank, it would be the moment of the seventh rank's perfection. At that time, he would definitely be able to completely merge with the golden divine soul, and in an instant, he would complete the transition from the seventh rank to the eighth rank, and then reach the perfection of the eighth rank.

He didn't know if he could achieve the ninth level of the Eternal Path, but he was likely to.

Looking back on my life, the most important thing is to complete the path of will condensation from the first to the seventh level.

This may be the most important mission of my life.

"Seventh rank is my limit."

Xuanhuang realized this.

It sounds a bit pretentious, but that's how it is; it's heading towards the stage he predicted.

A seventh-order will achieves sainthood, wielding three complete paths, and then fully merges with the golden divine soul, which represents a level beyond the unknown.

It's like taking only one step to access the unknown that countless seventh and eighth-level cultivators yearn to comprehend.

Moreover, this is the cause and effect with oneself, not with the Great Chaos, so there is no situation where integration is difficult, and transcending cause and effect is even more difficult.

"Ninth-order Eternity, or perhaps beyond Eternity?"

With a single thought, it swept across the entire universe and then remained in the sacred land of Blue Star, also known as the Mysterious and Yellow Unique Realm.

After ten thousand years of change, Xuanhuang looked back and found nothing left for him to worry about or let go of.

Moreover, entering the seventh level doesn't mean they truly disappear; they seem to be omnipresent.

"So be it!"

...(End of this chapter)