Chapter Twelve Preaches the Way

  In the Eastern Kunlun, there were three cultivators: an elderly one, a middle-aged one, and a young one. Judging from their cultivation, the elderly one had reached the mid-stage of the Mahāyāna Golden Immortal Realm, while the middle-aged and young cultivators were at the initial stage of the Mahāyāna Golden Immortal Realm. These three cultivators were none other than the legendary Three Pure Ones of history, formed by the combination of Pangu's primordial spirit and the Clear Sky Qi that opened up the heavens. As a result, they were born with a part of Pangu's inheritance, which, although limited to the peak of the Mahāyāna Golden Immortal Realm, was still sufficient in the current Primordial Chaos era, where not many people possessed the Creative Jade Butterfly. This gave cultivators with Pangu's inheritance an overwhelming advantage, most notably the Three Pure Ones, the Twelve Great Ancestral Witch Tribes, and the divine residences on the Sun Star and Moon Star.

  Also on this day, the three brothers of Sanqing were discussing Taoism when they suddenly heard a voice saying, "I am Shi Zhong Zhenren, and after a thousand years, I will be lecturing on the Great Way at the top of Bu Zhou Mountain. Those who are destined can come to listen." The most impatient Tian couldn't help but ask first, "Big brothers, who is this true man? Is he really that powerful? Should we go listen to him lecture?" In fact, Tian's idea was to go and listen, but he didn't know what his two big brothers thought, so he asked.

  "Hmph! How could we, as superior pre-heavenly demon gods and the orthodox Pan Gu, go listen to someone else's great dao? Wouldn't that be a loss of face for us, the orthodox Pan Gu? We are also cultivating to become Mahayana Golden Immortals, and I believe it won't take long before we reach the level of Shi Zhong True Man. Going to listen to his dao would not only be a loss of face but also unnecessary."

  In Yuanshi's view, Shi Zhong's current cultivation is only the peak of Daluo Jinxian, after all, in their inheritance, there is only an introduction to Daluo Jinxian, and there is no more introduction afterwards. This is also the reason why Sanqing later worshipped Hongjun as a teacher, and it was because they later worshipped Hongjun Laozu as a teacher that they used the method of beheading corpses to break through Daluo Jinxian, and gave this realm a very cool name called Zhunsheng, which means the precursor to sainthood. Yuanshi has always been extremely arrogant, often taking pride in being the orthodox Pangu, making himself seem so noble.

  At this time, the most authoritative Laozi in Sanqing spoke up. Laozi sat there with a calm expression, slowly opening his eyes and saying leisurely, "Each person has their own destiny, Third Brother, you can do whatever you want, don't be too constrained, otherwise it's not good for your cultivation."

  Actually, I didn't want to go either. Although I don't care about saving face like Yuanshi does, I still couldn't put aside my identity as the Pangu Orthodox and go learn from others. In my opinion, Tongtian shouldn't have gone after hearing Yuanshi's words, so I said this to slightly comfort him.

  Tongtian originally didn't want to go after hearing Yuanshi's words, after all, Tongtian and Yuanshi Tianzun have always gotten along well despite some differences in their views on the Tao. Tongtian didn't want to cause discord between brothers just because of a disagreement over a minor issue. However, after Laozi spoke up, Tongtian had a change of heart and thought that what Laozi said was very reasonable - if he couldn't overcome these small problems, it would hinder his future progress on the Taoist path!

  Tongtian immediately responded to Laozi, "Thank you, brother, for pointing this out. Don't worry, I will definitely go listen to Shi Zhong's lecture on the Great Way." At this time, Laozi thought to himself after hearing Tongtian's words, "I'm so worthless! Why did I ask such a profound question to this straightforward guy?" Alas! One reaps what one sows.

  Tongtian said goodbye to Laozi and Yuanshi, then headed towards Mount Buzhou. In fact, Yuanshi wanted to stop Tongtian, but he thought about what Laozi had just said and didn't make a sound. After all, Laozi had already spoken, and if he intervened now, wouldn't that be embarrassing for Laozi? Since the two brothers didn't say anything, Tongtian took it as their tacit consent. He left behind only a fleeting shadow in the eyes of Laozi and Yuanshi. Now, Tongtian is rushing to grab a good spot, fearing that if he arrives late, there won't be any seats left, which would be a very embarrassing thing!

  At this time, two monks in the Sun Star heard Shi Zhong's words and one of the monks wearing a golden robe said to another monk also wearing a golden robe, "Big brother, shall we go take a look?"

  A relatively young monk asked a relatively older monk, and the older monk replied, "Now that we have already achieved the initial stage of Mahayana Golden Immortal cultivation, what we need to transform next is to refine this Taiyi star into our own innate spiritual treasure. In this way, the entire Taiyi star will be under our control. I believe it won't take long before there will be another breakthrough. As long as you hand over that Pre-Heavenly Chaos Bell of yours for refinement, your cultivation will quickly improve, and you won't need to waste any more time listening to the Tao."

  This is the idea of most people in the vast wilderness, after all, in the eyes of most people in the vast wilderness, the cultivation of Daluo Jinxian is the highest, without knowing that there is a realm called Daluodaoguo behind Daluo Jinxian. Those who know this realm are also very confident in their own creation, so it's generally only those monsters who have no way to cultivate and open up their spiritual wisdom who come to listen to the Tao. However, there may be some powerful cultivators like Tongtian, but they are still rare. After all, people who can cultivate are already few in number, let alone someone like Tongtian?

  Although many powerful beings did not come to listen to Shi Zhong's lectures, they were still very puzzled. In their opinion, Shi Zhong's cultivation would not be lowly, and it was possible that he had even achieved the creation of a jade butterfly. However, the fact that someone like him could achieve such a level and still spread his teachings was truly puzzling to many powerful beings in the Hong Huang, including Luo You from the Xumi Mountain in the Western part of the Hong Huang. Luo You's cultivation was already at the initial stage of the Great Dao Law Realm, but he had not used the method of the Great Luo Dao Fruit. Instead, he used a method similar to that of Hong Jun Lao Zu, who beheaded corpses with his prior heavenly spiritual treasure good and evil thoughts. However, Luo You used the different evil energies produced in the heaven and earth to behead the three corpses of good and evil thoughts.

  Luóu smiled softly after hearing Shí Zhōng's voice, "Heh! Interesting! We'll meet again!" After saying that, Luóu didn't do anything else and closed his eyes to continue his spiritual journey.

  In the east of the desolate land, an old man in a mountain opened his eyes, which seemed to have been closed for a long time, after hearing Shi Zhong's voice. He smiled expressionlessly and sighed, "He really has some skills! His cultivation is almost surpassing that of my ancestor, Wuji Old Ancestor! It looks like I'll have something to play with in the future!" After finishing speaking, he also closed his eyes and went into a trance.

  If Shi Zhong were here to see this old man who claims to be Wuji Laozu, he would definitely exclaim, "The water in the vast wilderness is indeed deep!" Because this Wuji Laozu's cultivation is clearly a mid-term Da Luo Golden Immortal who has attained the fruit of the Great Luo Dao, and is at least one level higher than Shi Zhong.

  To know that after reaching the level of Daluo Jinxian, wanting to make further progress is not something that can be solved by simply closing up for a long time. This requires the cultivator to have a deep understanding of the Tao. If one's understanding of the Tao is deepened, their cultivation will naturally increase accordingly. However, if there is no breakthrough in one's understanding of the great Tao, wanting to make a breakthrough in cultivation can be said to be an unrealistic fantasy! Haven't you seen how the twelve Jinxian of the Tianyi Sect were stuck at the same level for many years without making any progress?

  A thousand years may seem long or short, but in the vast expanse of time, it's actually quite brief. After a thousand years had passed, Shi Zhong appeared at the summit of Mount Buzhou. The mountain was already crowded with cultivators, and only those who were Golden Immortals or higher could ascend to its peak. All others remained at the foot of the mountain.

  Here is the translation:

  The stone statue looked down, and indeed, it was a shock to see what was below. What did you expect to see? It turned out that many great gods from the vast wilderness had arrived, with Tongtian sitting on the first cushion. Stone Zhong also placed 36 cushions below, matching the number of heavenly calamities. When Stone Zhong saw only Tongtian, he felt a bit strange - weren't the Three Pure Ones supposed to be together? Why did only one come today? Stone Zhong calculated with his fingers and easily figured out why only Tongtian came, given the huge difference in cultivation between him and the Three Pure Ones. Stone Zhong just sighed silently, "Heaven's will is thus."

  But Shi Zhong didn't have too much regret, because what came was not only Tongtian, but also the twelve ancestor witches. After hearing Shi Zhong's words, the twelve ancestor witches didn't take it to heart either, after all, they were also at the level of great witch and equivalent to the great Luo Jinxian cultivators. However, thinking that someone was lecturing in front of your own door, if you don't go, it would be hard to explain, and if people found out, they would think you're afraid of him! Such a thing is unbearable for the impatient ancestor witches, so they all came to Shi Zhong's lecture place with a stiff upper lip, to observe and see if Shi Zhong had real skills. If he really did have real skills and his siblings weren't a match for him, then it would be better not to provoke him. But if Shi Zhong was just a two-bit swindler making a scene, then they couldn't be blamed.

  However, the reason why the twelve ancestral witches did not erupt in anger just now was that they did not know how Shi Zhong appeared, and they only saw Shi Zhong sitting on the stage with his eyes closed, but could not feel his presence. So the ancestral witches also maintained their calmness when they came, without any unpleasant expressions. Because they were all clearly aware of it, they couldn't afford to provoke Shi Zhong.

  Shi Zhong continued to look back and indeed saw his younger siblings, Shi Tian and Shi Yao, whom he hadn't met in a long time. Although they now looked like teenagers, their aura was unmistakable to Shi Zhong. Looking at their cultivation, they had already reached the early stages of Daluo Jinxian. To think that even Tongtian, one of the current Three Pure Ones, was only at the early stages of Daluo Jinxian, and he was an upper-ranking innate demon god with the legacy of Pangu. The two young ones were also very excited to see Shi Zhong, who transmitted a message to them through divine sense: "Younger siblings, let's talk about this later after I finish my lecture. You both should listen carefully." The two youngsters nodded and sat back down in their original seats.