Stealing the Secret from the Cover of Heaven

Chapter 445: Imperial Way vs. Extreme Way
Although the Immortal Mountain is known as the forbidden zone of life, it is actually a sacred mountain of the origin of the universe. It is filled with a special vitality of longevity. Living in it for a long time can slow down the consumption of the lifespan of the cultivator to a certain extent.

Although every peak in the Immortal Mountain is eerily dark and shrouded in devilish clouds and mist, the deepest part of the Immortal Mountain is a supreme pure land surrounded by tall divine peaks.

A peach orchard with colorful fallen petals and a few thatched cottages, returning to nature.

There are also small bridges and slowly flowing water, ancient medicinal herbs growing everywhere, and the water in the stream is a magical spring water that is rarely seen in the outside world.

Fairy mist lingers around, like a pure land outside the world, untainted by the hustle and bustle of the world.

Inside a pavilion, three god-like figures were sitting beside a stone table, seemingly waiting for Li Zhi.

Li Zhi saw that they were not their real bodies, but incarnations of divine thoughts manifested by the Supreme Spirit.

On the stone table, there is a red clay teapot, which is boiling Wudao tea. The tea soup is bubbling, and it exudes a fascinating fragrance.

Li Zhi was a little surprised when he saw this. They actually added some pieces of Wudao Tea Fruit into the tea.

Wudao Tea Fruit is a kind of fruit that the ancient Wudao tea tree only produces every ten thousand years. Although it cannot allow people to live again, its effect in helping people attain enlightenment is far better than Wudao tea.

Except for the supreme being in the Immortal Mountain, outsiders have no chance to see this supreme treasure.

"I'm Li Zhi, a Taoist priest. Nice to meet you three Taoist friends." Li Zhi walked to the stone table and greeted the three people very politely.

"Please have some tea." The three of them had no intention of getting up. Instead, the old man sitting on the north side simply made a gesture of invitation to Li Zhi. Then a stream of tea flew out from the red clay teapot on the table and was poured directly into the teacup in front of Li Zhi, but it was only one-third full, which was obviously done intentionally.

"You want to discuss Taoism with me, but I wonder if you are qualified. Please have some tea." The supreme being sitting opposite Li Zhi, the Stone Emperor, also known as the Lord of the Immortal Mountain, said as he looked at him. Then another stream of tea flew out of the red clay teapot and poured into the teacup.

"You are special, even more special than the holy body of this life. Please have some tea." The old supreme who was sitting on the south side of the stone table also spoke, and at the same time, a stream of tea flew out of the red clay teapot again, completely filling the teacup.

Before this, he was the one who took action while sitting in the Immortal Mountain, trying to capture Ye Tong, Yang Xi and Jin Ming.

Seeing the tea in front of him that was poured by the three supreme beings in three times, Li Zhi just smiled lightly, then walked to the stone table, picked up the teacup and poured it into his mouth in one gulp.

"Good tea!" After savoring it for a while, Li Zhi began to praise.

The three incarnations of the Supreme Beings saw that after Li Zhi drank the tea in one gulp, he did not feel any discomfort, and there was not even any sign that he needed to use his internal energy to dissolve the imperial laws of the three of them contained in the tea. Only then did they truly recognize Li Zhi's strength.

"Master Changshou, you are now qualified to sit with us." Shi Huang spoke first.

"Please take a seat." The other two supreme beings also invited Li Zhi to take a seat.

If Li Zhi couldn't even digest the tea they had infused with the imperial law, they would probably not have invited him to take a seat, but would have directly invited him to die.

Li Zhi did not feel that the three Imperial Supremes' probing was an offense to him. Instead, after sitting down on the same stage with them, he began to comment: "The Imperial Law combined with the Enlightenment Tea is really a special flavor. In this case, I will borrow flowers to offer to Buddha and invite the three Taoist friends to drink a cup of my Enlightenment Tea."

Afterwards, Li Zhiyi pointed, and three more streams of tea flew out from the red clay teapot on the table and were poured directly into the empty tea cups in front of the three supreme beings.

The three supreme beings immediately felt the true meaning of Li Zhi’s Tao contained in the tea.

"You have been able to reach your current state. I am very curious about what your path is." The old man on the left hand side picked up the teacup with a smile and tasted the tea that was filled with the true meaning of Li Zhi's Dao.

“Fellow Daoist Changshou, you can achieve perfection in your own path without becoming an emperor. I am also very curious about how you did it.” The old supreme on the right also picked up the teacup and tasted it.

"This emperor does not see the reverence for heaven and earth in your Tao." The Stone Emperor opposite was looking at the Tao runes that kept gathering and dispersing in the tea, and said after a moment, then he drank the tea containing the true meaning of Li Zhi's Tao in one gulp.

As the former supreme emperors, they have absolute confidence and can bear the laws of Li Zhi.

Moreover, their eyesight is much better than that of Ye Tong and the other three.

Everyone could see the aura of the pinnacle of humanity hidden in Li Zhi's body. It was the same as they had back then, a special aura that stood at the highest point of humanity. It was fundamentally different from the aura of the pinnacle that was missing in the bodies of alternative enlightened people.

Even if they do not undergo the ultimate sublimation, the degree of perfection of the Dao in their bodies is somewhat inferior to the state of mind of perfection of the Dao that Li Zhi has revealed now.

After drinking Li Zhi's tea, the three of them could clearly sense that the perfect true meaning of the ultimate way was at the same level as their imperial laws, but slightly different.

"Fellow Daoist has not yet become an emperor, so why can you achieve perfection in your own path?" The old man on the left asked the question in his mind after tasting the tea.

The other two also put down their teacups and waited for Li Zhi's answer.

The supreme being in the Immortal Mountain is also one of the few supreme beings in the forbidden area who does not regard Li Zhi as a potential threat. None of the people who besieged him in the myth battlefield back then were from the Immortal Mountain.

On the contrary, they all agreed that Li Zhi was an extremely special being, and perhaps they could see hope of becoming an immortal in Li Zhi.

"Have the three fellow Taoists not discovered that imprinting one's own great Dao between heaven and earth when becoming an emperor is a wrong choice that deviates from the true meaning of practicing the five secret realms of the human body?" Li Zhi said calmly.

"Please help me solve my doubts, fellow Taoist." The Supreme on the right asked very directly.

Li Zhi said: "All of you fellow Taoists have been supreme emperors who have merged with the Heavenly Heart Seal, but have you ever really understood the past and present lives of the Heavenly Heart Seal? Why do cultivators like me need to merge with the Heavenly Heart Seal if we want to achieve the perfection of the Great Dao?"

“Without the assistance of the Heavenly Heart Seal, the Tao Fruit will eventually be flawed when making the final leap. All those who have achieved Taoism in alternative ways throughout history have demonstrated this point,” said the old man on the left.

"In order to be sealed in the Immortal Source and prolong your lifespan, all of you fellow Taoists cut your own flesh and blood, thus falling from the throne of the Emperor. But you should also understand that some people have never cut their own flesh and blood, but are still able to get rid of the influence of the Heavenly Heart Seal. Haven't you ever thought about the reason?" Li Zhi said lightly.

"You want to talk about the woman in the ancient forbidden land?" Shi Huang said lightly, but his words seemed to show some fear of the ruthless emperor.

If the Supreme Emperor wants to crown himself, he must cut himself with a sword, but cutting himself with a sword will make them fall from the position of the Great Emperor. In Li Zhi's opinion, this is an extremely abnormal situation, and it is also an external manifestation of the imperfection of the great way they have cultivated.

If their own Dao is perfect, simply severing the connection between them and the Heavenly Heart Seal will not damage their Dao Fruit, nor will they fall into the realm of the Imperial Dao. They will still stand at the pinnacle of the Supreme Dao.

Unlike now, there is actually not much difference between them and the alternative enlightened ones, it is just that they have the experience of standing at the top of the extreme, which makes them appear much stronger than other alternative enlightened ones after their realm falls.

As for the fact that Xianyuan could not seal the emperor, Li Zhi thought again and felt that this was probably a beautiful misunderstanding.

The real reason why the emperor cannot use the immortal source to seal himself is probably not that the emperor-level strongmen are too strong, but the Heavenly Heart Seal integrated into their bodies that is causing trouble.

If a true emperor wanted to seal himself with the source of immortality, before severing the connection between his own Dao fruit and the Heavenly Heart Seal, it would be equivalent to sealing all the laws of heaven and earth in the outside world together.

That's why the fairy source cannot be sealed.

But after they cut themselves off, they still had the bodies of the emperors, but they were able to seal them with the source of immortality.

Therefore, they were unable to use their immortal origins to seal themselves off, simply because when they were in power, the Dao Fruit was closely connected with all the Daos of heaven and earth.

Naturally, the result will be that the so-called emperor will not be able to proclaim himself.

You know, in the ancient times of immortals, the source of immortals was enough to completely seal even true immortals in it to spend a long time.

Even the so-called immortal source today has long lost its miraculous effect as it did in the ancient times.

But there is no problem in using it to seal the Supreme of Humanity.

From this perspective, most of the great emperors and ancient emperors who need to cut themselves off and fall from the throne to get rid of the influence of the Heavenly Heart Seal actually have incomplete Tao fruits.

The reason why they can stand at the highest point of humanity after achieving enlightenment is not because their path has really reached the pinnacle.

If they could rely on their own strength to elevate their Taoism to the pinnacle, even if they severed their connection with the Heavenly Heart Seal, they would still be perfect emperors.

The Qing Emperor ten thousand years ago is the best example.

Even after severing the connection between himself and the Heavenly Heart Seal, all living beings would mistakenly believe that the Green Emperor had passed away.

However, because Qingdi's own Dao Fruit is flawless, he truly stands at the pinnacle of the ultimate Dao. Even without the assistance of the Heavenly Heart Seal, he is still a flawless emperor.

Li Zhi's words made the three supreme beings fall into deep thought.

"Did we make a mistake from the beginning?"

The three supreme beings had different thoughts, but their eyes all showed a look of deep thought.

"Whether it is right or wrong, I think the three Taoist friends can make their own judgments. I am just stating a fact." Li Zhi said lightly.

“It turns out that our so-called invincibility is based on the blessing of all the laws of heaven and earth. After losing the mark of the heart of heaven, we can’t even stand at the top of the extreme way. We were once emperors, respected by the universe, and suppressed all the laws. It was so glorious. But now it seems so sad, ridiculous, pitiful, and lamentable..." The Supreme on the right said with an inexplicable expression.

"Becoming an immortal? Perhaps it has been our wishful thinking from the beginning. Even if the gate to the fairyland is wide open, are we really qualified to go in and become immortals?" The old man on the left said with a little disappointment.

"Master Changshou, I don't want to verify whether what you said is true or false. I only believe in my own eyes and personal feelings." At this time, the Stone Emperor also spoke.

Anyone who told them that their Great Emperor Dao Fruit was actually flawed would be something they could not accept for a while. "In that case, let me see your flawless Imperial Dao Law today." Li Zhi naturally did not think that he could make these Supreme Beings believe him with just a few words.

Then, a black halberd flew out from a thatched cottage not far away and appeared directly in the hands of the incarnation of the Stone Emperor's soul.

Obviously, Shi Huang still had expectations for the immortal path on Feixian Star, and he didn't want to send out his true body to fight with Li Zhi now. He wanted to use his limited lifespan to continue fighting on the immortal path in the future.

Therefore, he planned to use his weapon to discuss the Dao with Li Zhi.

The ultimate weapon is the continuation of the great way of the Supreme Emperor, and contains their complete imperial laws.

The halberd made of black gold with dragon patterns is a treasure that was born together with him by heaven and earth. It can be regarded as his closest companion who has grown up with him. This companion magic weapon eventually became an ultimate weapon in the hands of the Stone Emperor, which is enough to represent the Stone Emperor to demonstrate his imperial laws.

In the next second, a weapon with an extremely aura flew out from between Li Zhi's eyebrows. It was a divine tablet engraved with countless avenue runes, with the four imperial characters "Daozu Changshou" shining brightly, and its aura was no weaker than Shi Huang's Tianhuang Halberd.

Afterwards, the two weapons turned into two divine lights, rushed out of the Immortal Mountain, and directly entered the deepest part of the starry sky outside the Big Dipper domain.

Then the two weapons were fully revived, each releasing the power of the laws contained within. At the same time, the gods of the weapons also took shape, representing the Stone Emperor and Li Zhi respectively.

In an instant, the cultivators in various regions of Beidou felt the extreme aura from outer space.

Countless powerful people looked up outside the domain in an instant.

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The mighty aura of extreme righteousness collided with each other, causing the stars in the sky to tremble, and instantly clearing out all the stars in that star field.

"One side is the Stone Emperor's Tianhuang Halberd, and the other side is a divine stele. Could it be the weapon of Taoist Changshou?"

Before this, many people in Beidou had seen Li Zhi leading three people into the Immortal Mountain, but since Li Zhi went in, no news had been heard.

Now, the Tianhuang Ji, representing the Stone Emperor, has come into the world, and there is another unfamiliar extreme weapon following closely behind, which has caused them to talk a lot.

At the same time, the people in Heaven outside the Beidou Domain also saw the confrontation between the two extreme weapons.

This scene can't help but remind people of what happened hundreds of years ago when Ye Fan led people to Mount Xumi to rescue Huahua.

At that time, Amitabha's Demon-Subduing Pestle and the Ancient Imperial Robe of Shencanling were in a confrontation between the ultimate weapons, but it was just a confrontation and no real battle took place.

Now, two extremely powerful weapons started a fierce battle outside the domain, and this scene shocked many people.

Fortunately, there is Ye Fan, the Great Saint Body of Heaven, and a group of powerful people from Heaven guarding outside the domain, so they don’t have to worry that this action will trigger dark turmoil.

"Master, is Senior Li going to fight with the Stone Emperor?" Xiaosong also came to Ye Fan and asked.

"No, they are just sparring." Ye Fan shook his head, then carefully watched the two ongoing extreme battles.

Although not as intense as a real-body battle, the battle between weapons seems to test the strength and level of the laws contained in the weapons.

The imperial laws wielded by the Stone Emperor's Tianhuang Halberd seemed to carry the supreme power bestowed by all the laws of heaven and earth, as if an ancient emperor who could command heaven and earth was taking action personally.

However, the ultimate law released by Li Zhi's Daozu Divine Monument is pure and has not been affected by any of the laws of heaven and earth. It seems that no matter where it is, it can exert perfect ultimate power.

This fierce battle lasted for less than an incense stick of time before it was over.

The two weapons also turned into streams of light and flew back into the Immortal Mountain.

"Who won this fight?"

After seeing the Jida confrontation end, countless people began to ask questions.

The levels of the Dao represented by the two weapons are too high, and ordinary cultivators cannot tell who is the winner.

Perhaps only Ye Fan saw the result of this competition, but he did not tell anyone the result, not even the people in the Heavenly Court around him.

The various discussions from the outside world did not affect Shi Huang and Li Zhi in the Immortal Mountain.

They did not discuss winning or losing, but simply put away their weapons and continued to drink tea and discuss philosophy.

"Fellow Daoist Changshou, could you please tell me how you reached the pinnacle of the Way?"

Finally, a supreme being asked Li Zhi for his secret method to reach the pinnacle of the extreme Dao. They felt that if they practiced Li Zhi's secret method, it would be possible for their Dao fruits to become perfect again without the need for the extreme Dao sublimation method.

Regain the ability to wield the imperial power at will.

Li Zhi smiled and said, "I am naturally willing to tell you the method, but in exchange, I need to let me read the ancient imperial scriptures written by you, is that okay?"

"This request is very reasonable. I agree." The Supreme on the right nodded.

"Since fellow Daoist wants to comprehend our scriptures, then I cannot let you down. In addition to my own Ancient Imperial Scriptures, I also have three ancient imperial scriptures left by other fellow Daoists who have passed away. I will give them all to you." The old man on the left also spoke.

Immortal Mountain has been home to many supreme emperors since ancient times.

Naturally, there is more than one ancient scripture of the Imperial Way. In addition to the ancient scriptures of the supreme emperors who are still alive, most of the supreme emperors of the Imperial Way who have passed away naturally or were killed by other emperors have scriptures passed down.

"I will not take advantage of you. This is the ancient imperial scripture "Shang Cang" written by me personally." Finally, the Stone Emperor also took out his unique imperial scripture, which was a scripture recorded on stone pages. The material of the scripture seemed to be refined from the stone skin that had wrapped him during the gestation process.

As a powerful emperor who attained enlightenment through the Great Perfection of the Holy Spirit and eventually became an emperor, the Stone Emperor's ancient scriptures contain extremely profound explanations of the relationship between life and nature.

Then, Li Zhi took out the supreme method of "The Five Secret Realms of the Human Body Transformed into Tao Seeds" which he wrote.

The three supreme emperors were all connoisseurs of the art. They saw the value of this method at a glance and handed their scriptures to Li Zhi.

Finally, Li Zhi said: "In this discussion of the Dao, we have all gained what we need and gained something. I will not disturb you from your quiet cultivation. I wish you three can return to the pinnacle of the Dao as soon as possible."

"Fellow Daoist, please take care. I'm sorry we can't see you off." The three supreme beings watched Li Zhi leave the central fairyland of the Immortal Mountain.

Then they did not immediately return to their respective residences to comprehend Li Zhi's method, but instead started discussing with each other.

After all, it was the first time they knew that the source of the cultivation system that enabled them to become emperors was actually the legendary Emperor Huang Tian.

If Emperor Huang Tian had not ignited the divine fire in the bodies of all living beings and planted a seed of Tao in their hearts, they would never have been able to enter the secret realm.

Discussing the Dao with Li Zhi had a great impact on them. It seemed that they saw the truth of the cultivation system for the first time.

However, they had no idea whether they could evolve the five secret realms of the human body into a flawless Tao seed like Li Zhi did.

There is even a kind of intuition that if the five secret realms of the human body are evolved into a flawless Tao seed, the imperial laws in their bodies will undergo unknown changes.

"My two fellow Taoists, do you want to practice this method?" asked the Stone Emperor.

"It is better to wait until you have gained a thorough understanding before trying again. Perhaps you can wait until the path to immortality on Feixian Star is opened before making a decision." The Supreme on the southern seat spoke.

After the three supreme beings discussed, they took their respective spiritual incarnations back into their bodies.

Li Zhi, who returned to the outskirts of the Immortal Mountain, smiled at this time.

He had long anticipated the choices made by these supreme emperors.

Seeing Li Zhi coming out of the central fairyland in the Immortal Mountain, Jin Ming and the other two quickly stood up and walked up to him.

"Master, did you fight with the Stone Emperor just now? Who won in the end?" Jin Ming asked curiously.

"We'll talk about the outcome later. Now that we're done here, it's time to leave Immortal Mountain." Li Zhi said.

"Master, Sister Xian'er also wants to practice under the ancient tea tree of Wudao." Jin Ming said again.

"I got some fragments of enlightenment tea fruit from those fellow Taoists. They are enough for her practice. She doesn't need to come to the Immortal Mountain to practice." Li Zhi said.

"Senior Li, are we leaving now?" Yang Xi seemed a little reluctant. He had originally been thinking about having a battle with the restricted area.

"Junior brother, this is the Immortal Mountain, don't say irrelevant things." Ye Tong glared at Yang Xi. He knew how tense the relationship between the Immortal Mountain and their lineage was.

Now, being able to follow Li Zhi into the Immortal Mountain is already a great honor.

Then, the four of them left the Immortal Mountain in a leisurely manner.

(End of this chapter)