Chapter 44: Advancement

Condensing the first Innate Divine Prohibition in the Innate Gourd was one complete cycle of cultivation, taking less than three days.

But condensing the second Innate Divine Prohibition took Chen Daoxuan nearly six days.

Then the third Innate Divine Prohibition took nearly nine days.

Three, six, nine, twelve…

Every time he condensed one Innate Divine Prohibition, the time required for the next one increased by three days.

And with every Innate Divine Prohibition the Innate Gourd condensed, Chen Daoxuan could clearly sense that the Primordial Destruction Heavy Pupil in his right eye would undergo a transformation.

Within his eye, another ring of grey thunder-pattern appeared.

His own Great Dao Primordial Spirit, Flesh Dharma Body, and every other aspect would likewise undergo a mysterious baptism whose effects were not visible.

And because, while condensing the Innate Divine Prohibitions, the Innate Gourd would use him as its foundation to draw upon the Great Dao Power of the six Great Daos he had comprehended — Five Elements, Yin and Yang, Four Symbols, Cause and Effect, Thunder, and Slaughter.

This made Chen Daoxuan's comprehension and cultivation of these six Great Daos more than ten times faster than in the Yuanling Realm or the Tianling Great Realm.

Thus, roughly every three months, while condensing the Innate Divine Prohibitions, he could also comprehend and condense a wisp of Law Imprint.

……

In this manner of cultivation, time slipped by swiftly.

In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed.

Within the Cuivei Immortal Mansion.

Chen Daoxuan sat cross-legged, cradling the Innate Gourd in his hands.

As he now succeeded in condensing the Innate Gourd's forty-ninth Innate Divine Prohibition.

The Innate Gourd and the Primordial Destruction Heavy Pupil in his right eye radiated grey thunder-light, merging into one.

In an instant, from the depths of the unseen, countless comprehensions regarding the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Thunder welled up in Chen Daoxuan's heart.

At the same time, he seemed to traverse time and space, arriving in the Great Universe of ages past, becoming a wisp of indestructible, eternal, self-existent Innate Indestructible Spiritual Light, witnessing the creation of the Great Universe, living through its development…

He did not know how long had passed.

Suddenly, Chen Daoxuan's spirit returned.

A turn of thought revealed that ten years had already passed since he had refined the Innate Gourd to its forty-ninth Innate Divine Prohibition.

But those ten years — the experience of traversing time and space, observing the creation and development of the Great Universe — felt to Chen Daoxuan like a fleeting dream.

It seemed as though he remembered everything, but upon careful reflection, Chen Daoxuan could recall nothing at all.

And the more he tried to think it through, the faster it faded.

Chen Daoxuan understood in his heart that his ten-year experience was a portion of the Innate Memory contained within the Innate Gourd's innate spiritual nature.

And it was merely an incidental byproduct arising from his merging with the Innate Gourd.

……

But Chen Daoxuan could clearly sense that this dream-like Innate Memory contained the mysteries of the Three Thousand Great Daos.

At this, in an instant, Chen Daoxuan gradually gathered his thoughts, and his mind began to settle into clarity.

Slowing the fading of the Innate Memory within his mind.

Leaving only a faint notion — to comprehend the mysteries of the six Great Daos: Five Elements, Yin and Yang, Four Symbols, Cause and Effect, Thunder, and Slaughter.

As well as the most profound Dao contained instinctively within the Innate Memory of the Innate Gourd.

This one Dao, in Chen Daoxuan's perception, was not among the Three Thousand Great Daos, but a supreme Immortal Dao.

【Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Dao】.

What are the Three Thousand Great Daos, and what is the Immortal Dao?

In Chen Daoxuan's comprehension.

The Three Thousand Great Daos are akin to the objective laws of heaven and earth from his previous life, as well as that life's society's laws, morality, human hearts… and so on.

The Immortal Dao, however, exists within them, yet transcends them.

The Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Dao is akin to this: while conforming to the objective laws of heaven and earth, and conforming to morality and law.

One harnesses the objective laws, commands morality and law, to destroy everything one wishes to destroy — yet remains unharmed oneself.

……

Although the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Thunder inheritance he now cultivated through the Innate Gourd lay within this Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Dao.

He only knew the what, not the why.

He merely cultivated and used it step by step.

But now, the mysteries of the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Dao contained within this Innate Memory allowed Chen Daoxuan to begin a deeper understanding.

Moving from the original state of knowing the what but not the why.

Toward a transformation into knowing the why.

……

If he could comprehend even a little, Chen Daoxuan did not hope to reach the point where he could freely condense the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Thunder on his own.

But reaching the point where he could wield the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Thunder without relying on the Primordial Destruction Heavy Pupils, without harming himself — that was very possible.

……

In the blink of an eye, another ten years had passed.

Chen Daoxuan opened his eyes, sensing that the Innate Memory within his mind had completely vanished.

He gave a soft sigh.

"My cultivation realm is still a bit too low!"

After these ten years of comprehension, although he had already gained something regarding the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Dao, Chen Daoxuan could sense there was still some distance before he could wield the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Thunder without relying on the Primordial Destruction Heavy Pupils.

……

After a long while, Chen Daoxuan gathered his thoughts.

Before coming out of seclusion, he carefully perceived and reviewed the improvements in every aspect over the past thirty years — the first, middle, and last decades.

The first ten years.

He cultivated the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Thunder, condensing the Innate Gourd into forty-nine Innate Divine Prohibitions, while the Primordial Destruction Heavy Pupil in his right eye advanced to display forty-nine rings of grey thunder-light.

Faintly, the forty-nine rings of grey thunder-light gave off a sense of merging and sublimating.

As for his comprehension of the Great Dao, because condensing the Innate Divine Prohibitions was ten times faster than in the Yuanling Realm and the Tianling Great Realm.

Over those ten years he condensed forty Law Imprints.

……

However, these forty Law Imprints were only Chen Daoxuan's Great Dao comprehension from the first ten years of this thirty-year seclusion.

The middle ten years, although spent immersed in re-experiencing the Innate Gourd's innate memories.

Were subtly and naturally also condensing thirty Law Imprints along the way.

As for the final ten years, although mainly devoted to comprehending the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Dao, he once again condensed ten Law Imprints.

Bringing his total over these thirty years to eighty Law Imprints condensed.

This kind of improvement was entirely equivalent to two hundred full years of bitter cultivation for Chen Daoxuan after he obtained two Innate Objects one hundred thirty years ago and his comprehension was enhanced by the Innate Spiritual Charm.

Now Chen Daoxuan only needed to head to the Yuanling Realm, spend some time comparing the Great Daos of the two domains, and he could return these eighty Law Imprints to their origin, condensing them into eighty Great Dao True Talismans.

If one added in the Great Dao True Talismans Chen Daoxuan had comprehended and condensed over the preceding several hundred years.

Then the total number of Great Dao True Talismans could, in one stroke, reach one hundred seventy-three.

However, these were all scattered across six Great Daos: Five Elements, Yin-Yang, Four Symbols, Cause and Effect, Thunder, and Slaughter Dao.

Among them, his comprehension of the Five Elements Great Dao was the deepest and most numerous, while his comprehension of the Slaughter Dao was the shallowest and least.

He only needed to condense these eighty Law Imprints into eighty Great Dao True Talismans, and the number of Five Elements Great Dao True Talismans would exceed ninety, allowing him to begin perfectly carrying out the fourth Great Dao Baptism and break through to the Soul-Outsourcing Middle Stage.

……