Primordial Salted Fish: Starting from Refusing to Join the Demon Clan

Deep within the eye of the Northern Sea, all is silent.

After overcoming its tribulation, Kunpeng did not rush to emerge into the world. Instead, it chose to confine itself to the ground, completely isolating itself from all external disturbances.

To go into seclusion.

At that moment, he was completely absorbed in that fleeting insight.

That was a glimmer of opportunity I had captured when I resonated with the spirit of humanity.

For Kunpeng today, this may be the only opportunity to break free from its shackles and ascend from a Great Luo Golden Immortal to a higher dimension.

Humanity, in essence, is the collective will of countless intelligent beings in the primordial world; it is a mirror reflecting the nature of heaven, earth, and humanity.

How fortunate Kunpeng was to have touched upon the ancient Dao traces that had remained in the void since Pangu created the world.

Through these mottled traces, he finally glimpsed the scenery above the Great Luo and saw clearly how the road ahead should be paved.

In the cultivation system of the prehistoric world, there are three known paths to break through the Great Luo realm: the first is to prove one's Dao through merit, forcibly breaking through the barriers by borrowing the power of heaven and earth; the second is the method of severing the three corpses transmitted by Hongjun after he became a saint, using innate spiritual treasures as a medium to sever attachment to good and evil; the third is to imitate the gods and demons of chaos and prove one's Dao through force.

However, Kunpeng had a clear understanding of the situation.

In essence, merit is a gift from the primordial world, which can be taken back at any time. Once you leave the primordial world and enter chaos, you will instantly be reduced to your original form.

The Three Corpses Severing Technique that Hongjun will teach next can be used as a supplementary practice, but should not be the main one.

This path belongs to Hongjun; no matter how well others walk it, they cannot break through or transcend it.

Kunpeng stood on the river of time and space. Having traveled from the future, he knew that none of the three thousand guests in the Zixiao Palace in the future had transcended using this method.

Moreover, Kunpeng strongly suspects that Hongjun's main purpose in transmitting this teaching was to gain the favor and fortune of the Heavenly Dao.

This was used to restrict the primordial beings.

Moreover, the beings of the primordial world were not the chaotic gods and demons. Those gods and demons were born close to the Dao, and each of them was a manifestation of a seed of the Great Dao.

Just as the Demon God of Slaughter said, if Kunpeng had chosen the path of slaughter, he could have directly entered the realm of Chaos Golden Immortal through evolution.

But Kunpeng is unwilling to be anyone's shadow, and even less willing to follow an old, proven path.

As for the method of the Twelve Ancestral Witches, which involves nine cycles of physical transformation to achieve sainthood and transforming into Pangu, although it is domineering and unparalleled, it does not suit Kunpeng's wishes.

He has his own pride.

He was going to walk a path unique to Kunpeng, a path he would forge himself, not one that followed the lead of others.

Over the years, Kunpeng has made several attempts.

He devoted himself to cultivating more than ten major paths, including Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Thunder, Light, and Darkness, and even deduced them all to the peak of the Great Luo realm.

What was the result? His combat power did indeed surge, but his cultivation level remained stuck at the threshold, unable to advance any further.

Only when he touched the Dao traces at this moment did he suddenly realize that simple learning and accumulation could never reach the threshold of Hunyuan (quasi-saint).

There are three thousand great paths, each like a majestic mountain. Becoming a Great Golden Immortal means you have reached the highest point of that mountain.

There is no way forward. If we want to go any further, we can no longer be “learners of the Way” but must become “pathfinders”.

To reach the Quasi-Saint realm, one must carve out a new path in the void atop a mountain, step by step ascending to the heavens, ultimately merging with one's own Dao and achieving a unified whole.

More importantly, Kunpeng saw a cruel truth through the Dao traces—the Primordial Heavenly Dao did not welcome the existence of Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortals.

To attain Hunyuan (primordial chaos), one must first repay the karmic debts owed to heaven and earth.

This does not refer to grudges with other cultivators, but rather to everything that living beings demand from heaven and earth from the day they are born.

Breathing and exhaling, absorbing spiritual energy—everything we do is incurring a debt to heaven and earth.

If one does not transcend this debt, it will remain unpaid forever; to transcend it, one must repay the principal and interest.

In a daze, Kunpeng seemed to see the scene when the Great Immortal Yangmei broke through. In order to sever the cause and effect, that Space Demon God directly scattered all his life savings and thousands of innate spiritual treasures, just to take away the origin of that companion willow tree, so as to offset the debt to heaven and earth and gain a chance to transcend.

Witnessing this scene, Kunpeng felt a chill run down his spine. If he were to attain the Primordial Chaos Realm in the future, how much debt would he have to repay to repay this immense karmic debt?

Thinking of this, Kunpeng couldn't help but smile bitterly.

It turns out that the precognition brought by his past life memories, while helping him avoid many detours before becoming a Great Immortal, also led him into the trap of subjective assumptions, causing him to waste his years after becoming a Great Immortal.

Not only did they go astray, but they also unknowingly incurred a huge "usurious debt" to the heavens.

It seems that my wish to live a peaceful life as a salted fish in this vast wilderness will have to go through a lot of turbulent waves before I can achieve it.

The task is arduous and the road ahead is long; only by continuing to cultivate oneself can one have a glimmer of hope.

After this incident, Kunpeng had some thoughts about the path after becoming a Great Luo Golden Immortal.

Since we need to forge our own path, the best way is to create something new.

Kunpeng took out twelve Sea-Stabilizing Pearls.

Although Kunpeng does not possess innate spiritual treasures like the Qiankun Ruler or the Measuring Ruler, it does not mean that Kunpeng cannot use the twelve Sea-Stabilizing Pearls to create a new world.

Five-colored rays of light shone brightly on the twelve Sea-Stabilizing Pearls. Within each of the Sea-Stabilizing Pearls, Kunpeng simultaneously absorbed the Eight Trigrams Dao he had learned from Fuxi and the more than ten Daos he had cultivated.

Twelve true microcosms were created: Qian represents Heaven, Kun represents Earth, Zhen represents Thunder, Xun represents Wind, Kan represents Water, Li represents Fire, Gen represents Mountain, and Dui represents Lake.

However, this was not enough; in Kunpeng's view, the Lesser Thousand Worlds were still too low in status.

He wanted to merge the twelve Sea-Stabilizing Pearls into one, and combine the twelve smaller worlds into one, so that it could reach the level of a middle world.

Thinking of this, Kunpeng's eyes flashed with a sharp light. Since we're going to pave the way, let's start from this small corner of the universe!

Twelve Sea-Stabilizing Pearls hung above his head, their five-colored rays intertwined, each pearl having evolved into a miniature world within itself.

The eight trigrams are strictly ordered, and the yin and yang energies flow. Although they appear mysterious, in Kunpeng's eyes, they are nothing more than scattered chess pieces, unable to form a grand strategy.

"combine!"

With a low shout, Kunpeng formed a hand seal, and the boundless innate immortal spiritual light within his body surged like a river, instantly pouring into the twelve precious pearls.

In an instant, the twelve independent worlds seemed to be drawn by some supreme force and began to tremble violently.

This is not a simple addition, but a fusion of essences.

Using its own Great Dao as its framework, Kunpeng forcefully shattered the barriers between the twelve Lesser Thousand Worlds. The Five Elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—generate each other, while the Four Symbols—wind, thunder, light, and darkness—counter each other, searching for a new balance amidst extreme chaos.

He not only wanted to fuse the pearl, but also to use this process to deduce the principles of birth, death, and evolution of a thousand worlds within a region.

Rumbling--

Deep within the Northern Sea, a rumbling thunder seemed to echo, the deafening roar of colliding forces of the world.

Enveloped in spiritual light, the twelve Sea-Stabilizing Pearls slowly collapsed and compressed towards the center.

The once clear phantom of the world began to blur, and then it reformed in a chaotic aura.

At this moment, Kunpeng seemed to transform into a creator god, using his body as a furnace and the pearl as charcoal.

What he wanted to do was not to refine an inanimate spiritual treasure, but to nurture a world with its own cycle, allowing him to continuously practice the Dao without limit.

With a final, clear hum, the radiant glow of the sky abruptly subsided, and a colossal pearl exuding an ancient and vast aura floated in the void. Within it, one could faintly see mountains and rivers reversed, and the sun, moon, and stars shining together. A boundless pressure from the Middle Thousand Worlds materialized.

It can be fried.

The twelve Sea-Stabilizing Pearls began to shatter, and countless innate Daoist principles intertwined.