The primordial era began with the Upper Cave Man.

Perhaps the Eastern Emperor discovered that desires were difficult to suppress, which is why he created this universe in order to deduce a way to resolve them.

The naturally produced spiritual stones are still waiting for their time to be born. Luo Zu is still strengthening himself. It's just that in this world, cultivation level and Daoist method are clearly separated. Cultivation level is cultivation level, and Daoist method is Daoist method. They don't help each other much. This is why many people with profound cultivation level are often beaten up by the children who carry the treasures, or even beaten to death on the spot.

However, the rules are strict. It's not that you can improve your Taoist magic just by having Taoist cultivation. You still need to cultivate your magical power separately. Taoist cultivation only increases your lifespan.

Yes, the calamities of gods and immortals in this realm are also severe. I don't know which story the Eastern Emperor stitched together, but he included things like the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations, the Five Signs of Decay of Heaven and Man, and the Heavenly Tribulations and Human Tribulations. In this way, he restricted the magical power and cultivation of many great supernatural beings, and kept everyone's lifespan within the rules.

When one's spiritual cultivation reaches a certain level, one's lifespan also increases accordingly. When one's spiritual cultivation reaches a certain level, a calamity will descend. When one's lifespan reaches its fixed number, a calamity will also descend. Moreover, regardless of whether you cultivate Taoism, Buddhism, unorthodox sects, or evil practices, you will all face calamities, though they will be different for each individual.

Some calamities are cruel and domineering, some are certain death, some are trivial, some are inescapable, some strike at the very core of one's being, making life worse than death, and some bring utter devastation to all living beings. All the evil deeds in this world are yours to bear.

Yes, with calamities come rules of good and evil karma. One may not have a good end if one cultivates good karma throughout one's life, but if one cultivates evil karma, no matter how high one's spiritual level is, one will not have a good end. Even if you escape one calamity, the next calamity will be even more violent, truly a case of certain death.

Because of these numerous tribulations, various schools of Taoism have developed many methods to avoid and overcome them. The first three tribulations in cultivation include methods to avoid them, such as the Seventy-Two Transformations and the Thirty-Six Transformations, as well as methods to hide in blessed lands and grottoes.

The three calamities are truly difficult to overcome nowadays. This is due to the rules. There are many true cultivators who can absorb more spiritual energy from heaven and earth. However, this realm is shielded from the outside by the Jade Emperor's magic, preventing outsiders from entering and insiders from leaving, thus limiting the spiritual energy of the realm.

Furthermore, since none of the cultivation methods used by various parties are considered orthodox, apart from a few truly powerful individuals, no one can create something from nothing. This limits the number of cultivation methods, while the number of people who achieve immortality increases daily and rarely decreases. Although there are numerous tribulations, everyone has many ways to avoid them, so the number of people who achieve immortality continues to grow.

How could Heaven and Earth bear these Pixiu that only take in and never give out? Thus, there was a calamity of killing gods and immortals. This was a calamity that Heaven and Earth themselves initiated in response to the many tribulations set up by the Great Heavenly Venerable. Many of the previous calamities of killing originated from the human world and killed many immortal gods and immortals.

However, these deities also have their own solutions. Thus, based on the natural cycle of reincarnation, the Six Paths of Reincarnation came into being, along with the Ten Kings of Hell, the Lord of Mount Tai, the Ghost King of Mount Mang, the Ghost Emperor of Fengdu, and so on. They can retrieve the souls of the deities who died in the calamity of death. As long as the power of the Six Paths of Reincarnation goes through one cycle, they can regain their past life's merits and have a new identity and new cultivation, but they are still the same immortal beings.

The Jade Emperor remained indifferent to this matter, merely accepting the Six Paths of Reincarnation as subjects under the Heavenly Court, and also bringing the names of various underworld gods under his own control, corresponding to the celestial stars above and the netherworld below.

In short, the tribulations upon tribulations made the tribulations of later cultivators extremely severe, preventing them from achieving immortality. Thus, some cultivators found a compromise: "I will first achieve immortality, but not immortality. Is that acceptable?"

Heaven and Earth agreed, and thus the five categories of immortals—Heaven, Earth, Human, God, and Ghost—came into being. Heavenly immortals are mostly reincarnations of those with great supernatural powers, and can achieve immortality. Earthly immortals hide in blessed lands and immortal mountains to avoid calamities, and thus also achieve immortality. Human immortals have a lifespan of eight hundred years, and live a long and prosperous life, and thus live forever, but none of them are immortal.

Immortals worship at the Heavenly Court's Sealing Platform as a meritorious deed, and their names are recorded there. They must be able to sense the changes in the heavens and perform tasks at the behest of the Heavenly Court, creating spiritual energy for heaven and earth. Then they will be one with heaven and earth, and thus attain immortality.

Then there are ghost immortals. The cultivation method for ghost immortals is simple; one can cultivate simply by dying. Ordinary people can become ghost immortals after death, and cultivators can also become ghost immortals after death. However, this is why the quality of ghost immortals varies greatly.

Some ghost immortals are so powerful that even the ten Yama Kings cannot hold them back, while others are so pitiful that a gust of cold wind will cause their souls to scatter. However, ghost immortals are naturally gifted in cultivating their powers. As they live in the world for a long time, their cultivation level will naturally increase, and they will not need to cultivate.

The reason for this is that ghost immortals naturally absorb the turbid and yin energy between heaven and earth. In this way, they can correct the spiritual energy simply by wandering between heaven and earth, so that heaven and earth can be restored to clarity. This is just like immortals sorting out the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which can be regarded as doing work for heaven and earth. Therefore, they can live long life, but they are not immortal.

Because these ghosts and immortals cannot escape a tribulation of lightning. Even if the lightning does not strike them, it will still terrify them, and some will even have their souls scattered on the spot.

It is precisely because of these differences in cultivation and the inclination of heaven and earth that the concept of merit has emerged in this world.

"As the saying goes, new for three years, old for three years, patched up for another three years, this world becomes a complete sphere, leaking inside and not letting in outside, except for the mice that eat it all up, and the master doesn't care, it's too clean as soon as he closes his eyes." Luo Zu continued to mock from inside the stone embryo.

After all, being confined within this stone embryo and honestly experiencing the erosion of time on its true spirit, it took a full 36 million years to be cleansed and to witness this world over and over again.

Of course, he was also observed by the great supernatural beings of this world several times. After all, the noise he made when absorbing spiritual energy was not small, but no calamity came. Naturally, he was studied and researched carefully.

However, the final result was that although he inhaled and exhaled spiritual energy, he also distinguished the spiritual energy, rather than simply inhaling and exhaling it all at once. After distinguishing it, it fell into the mountains and rivers and was absorbed by other living beings. Therefore, it was equivalent to doing the work of a god, the instinct of a ghost immortal.

Therefore, even before he was born, he was regarded by a group of local supernatural beings as the king of gods and demons.

A great deity in Heaven has already petitioned the Jade Emperor to issue an edict to arrest and suppress these usurpers, lest they cause chaos in Heaven and commit heinous acts in the future.

But the Jade Emperor ignored them and refused to allow them to remain in the palace.

As time went by, many great gods gradually came to this idea. When they absorbed spiritual energy, they would release the useless spiritual energy back to heaven and earth, no longer becoming dead Pixiu, but living Pixiu. This only delayed the arrival of their own five signs of decay.

Because the five signs of decay are driving them away, some great gods turn to the realm of immortals, working to restore the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Eventually, they may undergo countless tribulations, thousands or even tens of thousands of eons, gradually resolving the calamities of heaven and earth, and finally regaining their own level of cultivation.

This is also why there are so many powerful gods in Heaven. (End of Chapter)