Chapter 8: Discourse on the Cultivation of the Five Immortals of the Three Paths; Fang Realizes His Soul Enters the Journey to the

A sleepless night.

After obtaining a heaven-sent opportunity like the Diluojiang, it took Fang Longye two hours to calm the joy in his heart.

As the east gradually turned white, Fang Longye emerged from the water and, as usual, began to absorb the Purple Qi from the East, using half to nourish his inner elixir and half to transform into Dharma power.

Once the Purple Qi grew old, he returned to the palace mansion, ingested a three-hundred-year-old Solomon's Seal, and sat in meditation to 'Guide' and regulate his breath.

It must be said that 'Ingestion' and 'Guidance', which were classified as supernatural powers among the seventy-two earthly fiend arts in later generations, still possess some substance.

Of course, this is not to say that every one of the seventy-two earthly fiend arts can be considered extraordinary.

Having cultivated for quite some time, and based on the supernatural abilities he had gradually developed, combined with the seventy-two earthly fiend arts in his memory, there were indeed many among them that were merely making up the numbers.

Just as he was pondering, the voice of Qingshe Niangniang suddenly reached his ears: "Come to the mansion to see me!"

Fang Longye was startled, realizing this was a divine sense transmission; as someone in the Chengdan Realm, he could also do this, though only within a ten-mile range.

He blinked his eyes, then, regardless of whether Qingshe Niangniang could hear or see him, he said respectfully: "Yes, Niangniang~"

The Yaoshan where the Green Snake Mansion was located was only about seven hundred miles from his current position. In just a moment, he arrived at the entrance of the Green Snake Mansion.

This time, it was actually the Butterfly Spirit guarding the entrance herself, and she greeted him as soon as she saw him.

"Fellow Daoist Longye~" "I have troubled you, Fellow Daoist Caidie." The two exchanged bows and greetings.

Fang Longye had not failed to return to the Green Snake Mansion in these dozen years or so, and through his deliberate efforts to befriend her, the two demons, who were not originally close, had developed some friendship.

According to her, although he looked fierce, he had been quite polite since his spiritual wisdom became clear, unlike other demons who were rude and unreasonable.

"Fellow Daoist Caidie, do you know why Niangniang is looking for me?" Fang Longye asked via divine sense transmission as he followed her into the Qingshe Dongfu.

"With such a great commotion last night, can't she ask about your cultivation progress?" The Butterfly Spirit covered her mouth and chuckled, while transmitting via divine sense, "Rest assured, it is a good thing."

Fang Longye set his mind at ease and then paced into the hall where Qingshe Niangniang privately summoned her subordinates.

It was the same layout as before, with exotic flowers and rare herbs dotted throughout.

The difference was that there was now a stone chair below the stone bed at the top of the hall, and Fang Longye knew it was reserved specifically for him.

"Greetings, Niangniang!" Fang Longye was about to bow and kowtow, but his body was stopped by Qingshe using Dharma power: "After the heaven's grace of the Diluojiang last night, everyone benefited. I estimate that you will soon be able to achieve the Yin Spirit. There is no need for such grand salutations in the future."

"This~" Fang Longye hesitated for a moment, then stood up and thanked her, accepting the gesture.

"Sit~"

Fang Longye sat down carefully and then asked: "I wonder what task Niangniang has for me?"

Qingshe chuckled: "What? Can't I summon you if there is nothing to do? In these years you have been cultivating outside, the number of times you have come to pay your respects to me has been few and far between."

"Niangniang, please forgive me~" Fang Longye hurriedly stood up to bow and apologize.

"Sit down, I am just joking with you. Who hasn't cultivated their way up from a low realm? I understand the concerns in your heart when you face me." Qingshe Niangniang waved her hand, and Fang Longye sat back down on the stone chair.

"Niangniang, this~" Faced with Qingshe Niangniang's candor, Fang Longye felt some misgivings.

"I know what you have always been worried about. But now I am going to explain to you the cultivation matters above the Primordial Spirit Realm. Haven't you always wanted to know? As for other matters, we will talk about them later."

Hearing this, Fang Longye wanted to speak but stopped, temporarily putting aside the misgivings in his heart, straightening his posture, and waiting quietly for her explanation.

Up to this point, he remained completely ignorant of the cultivation after achieving the Yin Spirit.

During this time, he had tried to probe the Primordial Spirit Realm demons under Qingshe Niangniang, but even the Butterfly Spirit, who was amiable toward him due to his deliberate efforts to befriend her, refused to tell him, only saying that he would naturally know once he achieved the Yin Spirit.

Gradually, he also understood that this kind of grace of imparting the Dao was likely restricted by Qingshe Niangniang to be performed only by herself.

Now that Qingshe Niangniang was about to explain the matters of cultivation, Fang Longye naturally put other things aside first.

Seeing Fang Longye assume a posture of listening attentively, Qingshe Niangniang revealed a satisfied smile and began to explain the matters of cultivation to him, detailing the specifics. "Our Demon Clan's cultivation may differ from the Human Race before the Yin Spirit. But after the Yin Spirit, it is much the same; basically, everyone must face the choice of their future path, and there is only one chance to choose."

"After achieving the Yin Spirit, if one chooses to ignore everything else, discard the physical body, absorb the physical body by turning it into essence, and continue to cultivate solely with the Yin Spirit body, finally refining the Yang Spirit.

This path is known as the 'Ghost Immortal Path'.

This path is extremely difficult. Unless the practitioner's physical body is destroyed, or they are originally a fierce ghost, basically no cultivator will choose this path.

Among my subordinates, only Duomian Guai chose this path because his physical body was damaged at the time."

"The second path: if, after the Yin Spirit leaves the body and interacts with heaven and earth, it returns to the physical body and takes the opportunity to completely disperse into the physical body, it can make the physical body sentient, and from then on, one relies entirely on the physical body for cultivation.

Viewing the physical body as the foundation of existence and a treasure raft for crossing calamities, one gradually eliminates the Yin quality, tempers the will, and finally proves the Pure Yang Precious Body.

This path is known as the 'Human Immortal Path'."

"Although this path is not good at perceiving Heavenly Secrets, nor is it good at cultivating the Dao or practicing Dharma, its divine strength can shake the heavens and move the earth, and its combat power is astonishing.

And our Demon Clan's physical bodies are inherently stronger than those of the Human Race, and we prefer to fight with our physical bodies. In addition, by cultivating this path, in the process of refining the Pure Yang Precious Body, we can also continuously tap into the power within our Bloodline and obtain many insights and supernatural powers from our predecessors. Therefore, this path is quite popular among our demon cultivators."

"There is a third path: after the Yin Spirit returns to the physical body, it does not disperse but resides in the Purple Mansion, cultivating both nature and life, advancing side by side.

Although the progress of cultivation at the beginning is not as rapid as that of extreme path practitioners like the 'Ghost Immortal Path' or 'Human Immortal Path', one can possess the ever-changing nature of the Ghost Immortal Path's Primordial Spirit, while also slowly pursuing a powerful physical body comparable to the Human Immortal Path, possessing an infinite future.

Of course, since this path is so perfect, it naturally requires the practitioner to possess excellent comprehension, looking up at the Dao of the firmament and looking down at the Dharma of the earth. Otherwise, even if one proves the Immortal Dao, one will not go far.

Fortunately, a great being, pitying the difficulty of our kind in seeking the Dao, opened up a path that allows cultivators who cannot continue on this path to move forward." Speaking of this, Qingshe Niangniang's face could not help but reveal a look of reverence.

"According to that great being, cultivation is essentially learning from heaven and earth. Since one cannot go further in terms of comprehension, it is better to merge with the earth and mountains, first becoming an immortal who lives forever, using the Dao field that is integrated with oneself to perceive the Great Dao, and finally planning for transcendence.

Because this path requires the Primordial Spirit to absorb the Earth Vein spiritual energy and form an infant shape to merge with the Dao field, and because cultivators who take this variant path often harmonize Yin and Yang and inhale and exhale spiritual energy in order to perceive the Great Dao through the Dao field they are integrated with, the place where they reside gradually becomes a Blessed Land. Therefore, this type of immortal is called the 'Earth Immortal Dao'."

Earth Immortal Dao? Fang Longye's expression changed, and a guess arose in his heart.

"As for the heavenly path I mentioned earlier that only those with extraordinary comprehension can continue to follow, it absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, draws the essence of the sun and moon, and it is said that because it is too perfect and steals the creation of heaven and earth, heaven will also send down calamities and tribulations, so it is called the 'Heavenly Immortal Path'."

"Finally, there is a special path, the 'Divine Immortal Path'. Divine Immortals receive the Divine Dao Talisman to hold the authority of heaven and earth, accept the offerings of all living beings, and cultivate Incense Vow Power. However, once achieved here, one is also bound by it. It can be said that one succeeds because of incense and fails because of incense. One day, if there is no one to offer sacrifices and one is abandoned by all living beings, one will inevitably fall from the divine altar."

"The 'Divine Immortal Path' is special in that the first four types of immortals can all cultivate it concurrently. But among other practitioners who cultivate the Divine Immortal Path concurrently, only the Heavenly Immortal is not affected by its characteristics.

Concurrent cultivation by an Earth Immortal affects their final cultivation of transcending the limitations of the Dao field; concurrent cultivation by a Human Immortal affects the tempering of their human immortal will; as for the Ghost Immortal, there is no impact at all; the 'Divine Immortal Path' is even a righteous Great Dao that perfectly fits the Ghost Immortal."

"Strictly speaking, the Divine Immortal Path is a variant branch of the first path, just as the Earth Immortal is to the Heavenly Immortal."

"In other words, there are five immortals in the world: Heaven, Earth, Divine, Human, and Ghost."

"May I ask Niangniang, what is the name of that great being who opened up the 'Earth Immortal Dao'?" Fang Longye asked cautiously in order to verify his conjecture.

"How could you or I dare to mention the name of such a great being? Because of this merit of opening the path, this great being is honored by all living beings as the 'Ancestor of Earth Immortals'."

"As for more information, I do not know either. After all, it is said that this great being's Dao field is far away in Xiniu Hezhou, and is it not more than hundreds of millions of miles away from Beiju Luzhou?"

Journey to the West, it really is Journey to the West!

"Xiniu Hezhou", "Beiju Luzhou", "Ancestor of Earth Immortals", and the Five Immortals from "Within the heavens and earth, there are five immortals: namely heaven, earth, god, human, and ghost."

No wonder~ However, even after confirming that this is the Journey to the West World, Fang Longye's emotions only fluctuated for a moment before returning to normal.

Because judging by the current situation, those memories from his past life could only serve as a reference; how could a complete world be that simple?

Just take the plot of Huluwa and compare it to what he is experiencing now; apart from the characters possibly being the same, where else is there the slightest resemblance? And how could the real Qingshe Niangniang be summarized by those few scenes from the original plot?

A newbie asking for follows, bookmarks, and comments~ If there are any shortcomings, please feel free to offer guidance, thank you!

(End of this chapter)