Daojun, start from Penglai foundation building

"What will be your fate at the end of this cycle?"

The voice of Immortal Lord Baoyu kept echoing in Jiang Sheng's ears, making him think of the Eastern Heavenly Daoist School.

The Eastern Heavenly Daoist School comprises three sacred sites of the Mysterious Gate, two Supreme Daoist Venerables, numerous patriarchs at the Daoist Realm, and countless True Lords of the Upper Three Realms.
The glorious Eastern Heaven and the majestic Daoist sects have prospered thanks to the blessings of this Yuanhui. But what will become of the Eastern Heaven Daoist sects and the Mountain and River Mysterious Sects, which are deeply bound to this Yuanhui, at the end of the Yuanhui?

Jiang Sheng lowered his head and frowned, while Immortal Lord Baoyu stood opposite him with a smile.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths.
Three breaths later, Jiang Sheng looked up and smiled: "Immortal Lord, this era has only lasted forty-one thousand years. As for what happens next, let it be."

"In the end, just do your best and stay true to yourself."

Immortal Lord Baoyu paused for a moment, then chuckled, "Yes, just do your best and stay true to yourself."

"Although this is our first meeting, I find your personality quite agreeable. If we had been born in the same era, we might have been best friends."

"What a pity, what a pity."

After saying this, Immortal Lord Baoyu turned and left.

Jiang Sheng watched as Immortal Lord Baoyu turned around and couldn't help but ask, "Immortal Lord, aren't you going to ask me my name and background?"

"You trust me that much?"

Immortal Lord Baoyu laughed and waved his hand: "We cultivators of the Xuanmen do not believe in Heaven or fate, but we believe in the word 'fate'."

"I bequeath you my legacy, and you protect and pass on my teachings. That is enough. Why ask so many questions?"

Before he finished speaking, the figure of Immortal Lord Baoyu had already disappeared into the distance.

Jiang Sheng gazed at the elegant figure of Immortal Lord Baoyu, bowed deeply to send off the last chosen one of the Three Mysteries Dao Sect. When Jiang Sheng straightened up, he felt a sudden dizziness.
"Lingyuan! Lingyuan!"

The voice called out to Jiang Sheng, sometimes near, sometimes far, and it was so elusive that Jiang Sheng could not quite make out what it was.

"Lingyuan! Lingyuan!"

Jiang Sheng heard it clearly this time; it was Ming Xian calling him.

Mingxian? !
Jiang Sheng suddenly opened his eyes and found himself sitting cross-legged in a palace.

The palace here is empty and dilapidated, carrying an ancient and desolate feeling. Looking around, one can see that the broken dragon-shaped jade pillars are covered with dust, and the celestial murals around are also broken and faded. Even the dragons and phoenixes dancing on the dome have been half turned into dust.

The entire palace looked dilapidated from the erosion of time, with only a faint light flickering deep within, though it too was about to go out.

"Where am I?!"

Jiang Sheng rubbed his temples, wondering how he ended up here.

"This is the palace of that Immortal Lord Baoyu."

"The magnificent palaces and pavilions that you see outside are just appearances solidified by the slow winds of time. Only here is the true appearance of this star."

As Mingxian spoke, he walked out from the depths of the palace, and the faint light he held in his palm was none other than a candle.

Seeing Jiang Sheng awaken, Ming Xian breathed a sigh of relief: "Ling Yuan, you're finally awake."

"I gave you the Candle Dragon Eye, why are you turning it back on me? If something goes wrong with you, how can I face my fellow cultivators in Penglai?"

"Thank goodness you're alright. Tell me, how did you survive those storms of time?"

Jiang Sheng laughed and said, "Brother Mingxian, if I didn't have a way to protect my life, how could I return the Candle Dragon Eye to you?"

"Do you take me for someone who doesn't care about their own life?"

"To be honest, I don't know how I survived the storms of time. After traversing several historical fragments, I arrived here. If Brother Mingxian hadn't called me, I'd probably still be asleep."

Mingxian paused for a moment: "When I met you here, I did try to wake you up; you were asleep but your breathing was steady and unimpeded. I think you must not have completely broken free from that historical era. I can only settle you here for now and go to explore the depths of that palace."

"You said you heard my voice, which must be because I took this lamp and pulled you out of the past."

As he spoke, Mingxian handed the lamp in his hand to Jiang Sheng.

Jiang Sheng looked closely and saw that the candle was also shaped like a lotus platform, its entire body seemingly cast from jade. It was engraved with many Daoist marks, and eighteen lotus petals, like stars, were stacked inside and out, protecting the faint candle flame on the lotus platform candle.

From that sliver of candlelight, Jiang Sheng sensed the aura of the Heart's Flame.
Seeing that Jiang Sheng seemed a little lost in thought, Ming Xian couldn't help but laugh and say, "This lamp is what I came here to take."

"The lamp is called the Lotus Lantern, and the fire is called the Heart Flame. Legend has it that this lamp was forged and condensed by the Immortal Lord Baoyu from the star cores of thousands of stars in this star field. Its quality is like jade, indestructible, and weighs over a hundred million catties."

"Without this lamp, there is no way to hold the flame of the heart."

"The Heart Flame is said to be the fire of time ignited by Immortal Lord Baoyu by connecting with the Great Dao through his own cultivation. This fire can use stars as fuel, distort time, and burn away cause and effect. It is said that Immortal Lord Baoyu sacrificed his heart blood to this fire, which gave birth to this strange Heart Flame."

"With this Lotus Lantern and the Heart Flame, even if Shao Yang and Shao Yin possess extraordinary abilities, they will still be defeated by me."

"It seems I'm going to win my bet with Xuan Yi this time. Ling Yuan, now that I've got Xuan Yi's Taiyi Golden Pills, I'll only keep three and give you the other four."

In high spirits, Mingxian waved his hand, already considering Xuan Yi's Taiyi Liujin Pill as his own.

Looking at the rather smug Mingxian, Jiang Sheng's expression was somewhat strange: Mingxian said that this lamp was forged and tempered by the Milky Way of countless stars, which Jiang Sheng believed, but he said that the fire was the fire of the heart.
Jiang Sheng had the Heart Flame in his soul and sea of ​​consciousness, so he could sense that the fire indeed had the aura of the Heart Flame, and it did contain terrifying power. Jiang Sheng also believed that it could distort time and burn away cause and effect.

However, just as a person with only a physical body but no soul is a walking corpse, the candle flame in Mingxian's hand, though terrifying, has no spirituality whatsoever.

Without the fire of the heart's spirit, what is its upper limit, and what is its power?

Thinking of this, Jiang Sheng used his divine sense to look inward at his own sea of ​​consciousness.

But in the sea of ​​consciousness, in the center of that lotus pond where blue and black mingled, on that enormous blue lotus platform, Jiang Sheng's true spirit sat cross-legged on the lotus platform, with a simple lotus lamp that looked like jade and glass placed to one side in front of him, on which a thin candle flame flickered, emitting a faint light.

Unlike the Lotus Lantern and Heart Flame in Mingxian's hands, the Lotus Lantern in Jiangsheng's sea of ​​consciousness was plain and without light, its spirituality restrained, and its candlelight was dim and weak, showing no divine power.

Jiang Sheng, however, knew that the Heart Flame was actively channeled into his divine consciousness, while the Lotus Lantern was taken from the core of the Year Star by Immortal Lord Baoyu.

In an instant, Jiang Sheng understood the arrangement made by Immortal Lord Baoyu.

The Lotus Lantern in Mingxian's hand is real, and the Lotus Lantern in his own hand is also real. In the past, Immortal Lord Baoyu first extinguished the myriad stars in this star field, took their cores and condensed them to forge the Lotus Lantern in Mingxian's hand; and connected with the Great Dao, using his own cultivation and blood to ignite the candle of time, using the surrounding stars as fuel to help it burn.

This Lotus Lantern was placed in the palace of Immortal Lord Baoyu. However, Immortal Lord Baoyu later used his own Dao Fruit to refine a second Lotus Lantern together with the core of the same year star, and used the flame of the first Lotus Lantern to ignite his own divine soul, transforming it into the candlelight of this second lantern.

At this point, the two lamps are now one bright and one dim. The bright one displays its energy and power, which is real and undeniable; the dim one displays its energy and power, which is obscure and not manifest.

Therefore, even if someone wanted to seize the treasure and destroy the inheritance of the Three Profound Dao Sect, what they would take away was only the powerful and terrifying magic weapon on the outside, while the lamp that truly protected the inheritance of the Three Profound Dao Sect was always hidden in the core of the star.

If one does not know the arrangement of Immortal Lord Baoyu and the reasons behind it, how can one distinguish the strength and authenticity of the two lamps?

In a sense, both lamps are real, but one is merely a fire, while the other contains a spirit.

Jiang Sheng inexplicably thought of an interesting anecdote from Buddhism: It is said that in a certain minor world, there was a devout Buddhist king who commissioned skilled craftsmen to carve a lifelike jade statue of Buddha. Later, a king from another country, coveting the statue, sent troops to attack and destroy the king's kingdom. They searched the entire kingdom but couldn't find the statue, only stone and clay sculptures. After the other kingdom withdrew, the people who restored their kingdom searched for decades without finding any trace of the statue. Finally, a servant in the palace accidentally broke a stone sculpture, discovering jade inside, and thus found the true jade statue.

This anecdote about Buddhism also reveals a saying: the true form exists within the superficial appearance, while the true body exists within the false body.

This revelation perfectly aligns with the thoughts of Immortal Lord Baoyu.

Seeing Mingxian fondling the Lotus Lantern, Jiang Sheng wanted to say something, but in the end, he swallowed his words.

As the Immortal Lord Baoyu said, having received his gifts and protected his legacy, what more can be said when the opportunity has come to this?

Mingxian was in high spirits when a series of urgent messages came through the jade pendant, catching him off guard.

Upon taking out his communication jade pendant, Mingxian's expression instantly turned serious: "Junior Brother Lingyuan, we need to hurry back."

"The war in the Nine Provinces Realm is going badly. Xuan Yi, Xu Yuanzi, and your Penglai's Ling Yu and Ling Zhao are all injured!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Sheng's pupils contracted, and his expression turned serious: "They're all injured?"

"Was it done by the Qiankun Dao Sect or the Yuanyang Dao Sect? Dao Yi Palace and Yin Yang Orthodox Sect alone shouldn't be able to do it, right?"

Mingxian shook his head: "It's neither the Qiankun Dao Sect nor the Yuanyang Dao Sect, it's the Demonic Fiend Three Calamities Lord!"

The Three Calamities Lord?!
Upon hearing this name, Jiang Sheng frowned slightly before his expression calmed down: "Well, demonic cultivators have brazenly appeared in the Nine Provinces Realm and even joined forces with the Qiankun Dao Sect."

"Brother Mingxian, it seems we really should go back."

Looking at Jiang Sheng's calm expression, Ming Xian nodded. He could tell that his junior brother Ling Yuan was truly angry.

In internal battles within the Xuanmen (Taoist) sect, if someone loses, it's simply because they're less skilled, and there's nothing to say about it. But what kind of nonsense is it to let demonic and evil cultivators get involved in internal Xuanmen battles?!
"Let's go, let's return to the Three Realms first, and then enter the Nine Provinces!"

With that, Mingxian and Jiangsheng left Suichen Star and transformed into two streaks of light, speeding back.

The Nine Provinces Boundary, Yan Province.

Inside the Linhai Taoist Palace, a handsome Taoist priest with flowing robes sat smiling in the first seat on the left, watching the singing and dancing in the hall.

Qiankun Dao Sect was indeed a sacred place of the Xuanmen, a pure Yang Dao Sect. The musicians and dancers in the sect were all immortals. When the immortal music and dance were played, the flowing robes and feathered garments were truly mesmerizing. The Daoist sitting in the chief seat on the left was full of admiration.

As the singing and dancing reached their climax, the Taoist looked at True Lord Hanyuan and said, "Such singing and dancing is truly extraordinary. It is said that the Rainbow Feather Dance of the Qiankun Dao Sect is comparable to the Heavenly Court's dance and music banquet in the Three Realms. Seeing it today, it is truly well-deserved!"

The Taoist priest was witty and elegant in speech and manner. Every move he made was undoubtedly in line with the true teachings of the Xuanmen sect. He was a true Taoist successor. Moreover, the Taoist priest was also exceptionally handsome, and he looked like a reliable and dependable person.

However, this is just an appearance.

Han Yuan Zhenjun looked at the gentle and refined Taoist with a smile on his face, but his vigilance never disappeared: this seemingly gentle and reliable Taoist was actually the infamous Three Calamities Lord.

The Three Calamities Lord, a ruthless demon, is outwardly perceived as a sinister figure shrouded in shadows and calamities. But who knows that this elegant and refined gentleman is actually the true face of the Three Calamities Lord?
Among all the demonic and wicked people in the myriad realms, very few are ugly, and even fewer exude a ferocious demonic aura.

Those demonic cultivators who truly roam the heavens all have, without exception, good looks and impeccable manners, appearing even more so than the true disciples of the sacred lands.

If one were to encounter such people while traveling through the heavens, those unaware of the truth might find themselves having their hearts and souls emptied, yet still remaining ignorant of the other's true nature, remembering their kindness until death.

And this is the true evil lord of the demonic path; as long as you don't expose him, you'll never know what he really looks like.

The Three Calamities Lord was someone who deeply understood the essence of demonic cultivation.

Although this person was ruthless and vicious, he treated people with a gentle and approachable demeanor, and his upright and honest aura showed no trace of demonic influence.

Otherwise, the Three Calamities Lord would not have been able to win consecutive victories against Qinghua Xuanyi, Penglai Lingyu, and Chixiao Xuyuanzi.

Thinking of the terrifying tribulation lightning technique of this Three Calamities Lord, Han Yuan knew that he needed to do his best to win over this ruthless demonic figure. The Qiankun Dao Sect was still counting on him to lend a hand a few more times and fight against the yet-to-be-revealed Penglai Lingyuan and Tianhe Mingxian.

With this thought in mind, Han Yuan smiled and said, "If Lord Jie likes them, you may take these musicians and dancers with you."

Upon hearing this, the Three Calamities Lord laughed heartily: "A gentleman does not take what others love. If I were to take away the dancers and musicians that the Qiankun Dao Sect has painstakingly trained, how would I be any different from a robber?"

"How about this, fellow Daoist, let's make a bet?"

Han Yuan Zhenjun became interested: "Oh? What does Jie Jun want to bet with me on?"

The Three Calamities Lord smiled slightly: "Xuan Yi of Qinghua, Ling Yu of Penglai, and Xu Yuanzi of Chixiao have all been defeated by me. Next, whether it is Tianhe Mingxian or Penglai Lingwei, they will definitely not be able to sit still."

"Once they enter the Nine Provinces Realm, they will surely fight me."

"Why don't you make a bet with me, fellow Daoist, and see how long they can last against me?"

Han Yuan Zhenjun's expression hardened: This Three Calamities Lord has quite the arrogance. Tianhe Mingxian and Penglai Lingwei are both the current leaders of the Mountain and River Daoist School, and are renowned throughout the myriad realms for their profound Daoist cultivation.

But in the eyes of this Lord of Three Calamities, they all seemed to be nothing more than that.

But when you think about the record of this Three Calamities Lord, both Xu Yuanzi, the leader of the Seven Sons of the Crimson Sky, and Xuan Yi of the Qinghua Dao Sect, were defeated by him.

Xuan Yi, in particular, was so powerful before. He fought Lian Ri Cai Yue alone and was even able to overpower him. But when he encountered the Three Calamities Lord, he was defeated in just a few moves. This Three Calamities Lord is truly invincible.

As Han Yuan Zhenjun was about to speak, Wen Yuan said, "Jie Jun, whether it's Qinghua Xuanyi or Tianhe Mingxian, it's nothing that Xie Jun can defeat them."

"How about this: if the Evil Lord can defeat Penglai Lingyuan, not to mention these dancers and musicians, I will also grant Lord Jie a favor, how about that?"

A glint flashed in the eyes of the Three Calamities Lord, and a wicked smile appeared on his lips: "Heh, Penglai Spirit Abyss, huh?"

"I accept this bet!" (End of Chapter)