Chapter 670: Dao Seed

What does it feel like to die of old age?

Fang Xing had indeed felt it in the Great Qian world.

Even though he possessed a touch of supernatural power, he could still not halt his body’s decay—the torment of watching himself grow weaker bit by bit was truly hard to overcome.

In his final years, he even felt like a corpse slowly rotting away…

Had he not already shattered the memory seal, he might have sunk into it completely.

Then, in pursuit of immortality and extended life, he did all manner of mad and ridiculous things.

Indeed, in his later years, alchemists had come to offer him “elixirs of immortality” or tried to guide him toward becoming a transcendent.

To Fang Xing, who was himself a true transcendent, this was utterly absurd.

Moreover, their intent to poison him with heavy-metal pills was as unhidden as could be.

The result, naturally, was that he had all those alchemists and Daoists slaughtered, then ordered several imperial princes and royal grandsons to commit suicide, along with a batch of civil and military ministers to be buried with them…

When he lay upon his bed and breathed his last breath—

BOOM!

The heavens and earth lit up.

Fang Xing suddenly found himself back in that land of clear mountains and pure waters, facing the face formed of white clouds.

He instinctively scanned the surroundings but found no trace of the female Dao Lord.

“Sigh… Though she had some skills, I never expected her to be kicked out of the dungeon so quickly…”

“Was she worn down by palace intrigues? Or exhausted from governing?”

“I wonder how she scored? Did she earn the right to take the Primordial Spirit Treasure?”

“And this World Spirit—everyone entered the same dungeon, so why are we returning to different places? Can’t you even play fair?”

Fang Xing mentally grumbled, then turned to the World Spirit: “World Spirit, how would you rate my character?”

The mist-wreathed face seemed to glance deeply at Fang Xing, then waved its hand.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Wind surged, clouds roiled, and a massive golden scroll unfurled across the sky.

Then, lines of golden seal script appeared.

These seal scripts seemed eternal and unchanging, yet constantly shifting at every moment.

Fang Xing understood their meaning at a single glance.

【Character Rank】

【Character Rank First: Ye Weixian!】

【Character Rank Second: Fang Xing!】

【Character Rank Third: Wan Dao Liu!】

…

“Ye Weixian… who is that?”

Fang Xing asked curiously: “A Dao Sovereign?”

“No…”

The mist-formed giant face smiled: “I said only one cultivator took the Primordial Spirit Treasure, but what Ye Weixian took was even more precious than a Primordial Spirit Treasure… too bad, that was a one-of-a-kind opportunity.”

“As for you, with your rating, you may choose one item from these treasures.”

The World Spirit waved again, and light flashed across the golden scroll—the golden seal script changed once more:

【One: One Primordial Spirit Treasure (choose from: Primordial Linglong Tower, Open Heaven Axe, Chaos Pearl, Creation Cauldron…）】

【Two: A complete set of the Xu Feng Nine Transformations technique, including full cultivation resources…】

【Three: One Tianji Puppet】

【Four: Three thousand cubic units of the River of Reverse Flow】

【Five: One Flame-Sun Miracle Tree】

【Six: Seven Suihan Pearls…】

…

“Most of these… I don’t understand. Is there a detailed description?”

Fang Xing asked.

“No, it’s a rule set by my master. But I can tell you each of these is a treasure nearly impossible to find in the outside world—some even came from my master’s journey beyond the ‘Unspeakable Realm’… In other words, they are transcendence relics!”

The World Spirit said: “If you obtain even one, even if you remain a Dao Lord, attaining the trait of transcendence won’t be difficult…”

Fang Xing’s gaze swept across the list, a hint of regret in his heart.

“I really want… to steal this World Spirit. Too bad I can’t beat it—and besides, it’s giving me treasures, so stealing would be embarrassing.”

“Transcendence relics? So some of these might aid in forming the transcendence trait? Even eternal beings would covet them…”

“Too bad, they’re useless to me. Better to exchange for a Primordial Spirit Treasure.”

Fang Xing studied the list.

Honestly, he had great interest in the legacy of transcendents.

But right now, the Primordial Spirit Treasure that could immediately boost his power was most important.

“I choose One!”

Fang Xing said: “The… Open Heaven Axe.”

“Not the best choice, nor the worst,” said the World Spirit. Then—

The heavens and earth suddenly darkened, and countless chaotic currents emerged.

A slash of axe-light cleaved through the chaos and landed before Fang Xing.

It had a single-edged blade, its entire body a chaotic hue, the handle rough-hewn from an unknown black wood.

“Open Heaven Axe?”

Fang Xing reached out; merely touching the axe’s body, he felt an unfathomable power surging, along with astonishing sharpness.

“Primordial Spirit Treasure—Open Heaven Axe: a rare treasure born from the primordial source of a multiverse-level world… When you ascend to the Third Step Dao Lord, you may attempt to subdue it, transforming your ‘Great Dao Dao Seed’ into a ‘Primordial Dao Seed’…”

The World Spirit explained.

“The Great Dao has always been there. Even if an eternal being opens a Dao, once opened, it immediately becomes bound to the myriad worlds…”

“Thus, the Great Dao is simply the Great Dao—there is no such thing as Primordial Great Dao or Posterior Great Dao!”

“The true distinction lies in the cultivator!”

“Subduing a Primordial Spirit Treasure and becoming a Primordial Great Dao Lord is the cultivator’s own transcendence…”

!

After the World Spirit’s explanation, Fang Xing roughly understood.

Theoretically, Fourth Step Dao Lords always appear, and eternal beings open Daos—naturally, the Daos they create are Primordial Daos. So why, when later cultivators take them over, do they degrade into Posterior Daos?

That makes no sense.

The essence of the Great Dao is one and the same—there is no Primordial or Posterior distinction.

The true difference lies in the Dao Lord himself!

The Dao Masters and Dao Lords of the Fourteen Realms are those who fully control a single Dao, gaining the Dao’s power as reinforcement.

But fully comprehending a Dao does not mean complete mastery.

Only the one who opens the Dao can achieve that.

Dao Masters and Dao Lords, after seizing an unclaimed Dao, imprint their true soul upon it, twisting the Dao to gain control—this twist is called the ‘Dao Seed’!

At the Fourth Step Dao Lord stage, one must reverse the Posterior imprint back to Primordial, forming a ‘Primordial Dao Seed’!

With a ‘Primordial Dao Seed,’ control and amplification of the Dao far surpasses that of ordinary Dao Masters.

To outsiders, it appears as if the Dao itself has been elevated to a Primordial Dao.

In truth, only the cultivator himself has been elevated!

Even when reaching the stage of opening a Dao, abandoning the original Dao, the Primordial Dao Seed remains, growing even more tightly fused with the cultivator, ascending into an ‘Eternal Dao Seed’!

With the ‘Eternal Dao Seed’ as reinforcement, the eternal being’s mark spreads across countless planes, granting indestructible power.

“This axe is good… fits my Pan Wu Dao very well.”

“Pan Wu Opens Heaven?”

Fang Xing gripped the handle, stroking the axe’s blade—deeply satisfied.

Even without preliminary subjugation, this Primordial Spirit Treasure radiated power far exceeding ordinary Emperor Weapons!

Worse still, it contained a Primordial Spirit Treasure origin that could help him rapidly break through the barrier to Third Step Dao Lord!

“Primordial Dao Seed… Eternal Dao Seed?”

Fang Xing sighed inwardly: “Too bad… I’m only a Second Step Dao Lord.”

He looked at the World Spirit: “After my trial, have other cultivators entered the secret realm?”

The World Spirit did not answer, only waved its hand: “You have completed the trial and received your reward… it is time to leave.”

In an instant, Fang Xing felt the world spin wildly.

When he regained his senses, he found himself on the surface—ejected from the world’s primordial region.

“Sigh… So stingy. Do you think I’d go steal others’ rewards?”

He sighed, then casually tore open the void ahead.

In an instant, his cultivation avatar crossed infinite distances and appeared before his main body.

The Open Heaven Axe in his hand naturally passed into his main body’s grasp.

“Fine treasure.”

Fang Xing’s eyes gleamed, and the overwhelming power of the Pan Wu Dao surged down.

Compared to his cultivation avatar, which had only reached the threshold of a Dao Lord, his true body had already advanced to the Second Step of a Dao Lord and had traveled far within this realm.

He possessed ample power to assimilate this primordial spiritual treasure and unlock its full potential more deeply.

“Indeed… the moment I saw it, I knew the Axe of Creation matched the Pan Wu Dao perfectly…”

“If I assimilate its primordial essence after reaching the Third Step of a Dao Lord, I will surely forge a ‘Primordial Pan Wu Dao Seed’!”

“Below transcendence, cultivation through the Thirteen Realms—fully comprehending the Laws—and the Fourteen Realms—commanding a single Dao—still does not make these things truly yours.”

“But once a Dao Seed forms, even if you abandon the Dao itself, the Seed remains—something entirely your own!”

“Afterward, you must transform the Primordial Dao Seed into an Eternal Dao Seed—a process requiring ‘Dao Separation’…”

“After Dao Separation, the nature of the Dao Seed transforms… For example, a Dao Sovereign originally comprehended the True-Illusion Law, then mastered a Dao related to True-Illusion… then, as a Fourth Step Dao Lord, he attained the Primordial True-Illusion Dao… finally, he carved out the ‘Immortal Dao’—and when his ‘Primordial True-Illusion Dao Seed’ broke through the Fifteenth Realm to Eternal, it naturally became the ‘Eternal Immortal Dao Seed’!”

“Even later, when he practiced reduction to attain emptiness and abandoned the ‘Immortal Dao,’ the ‘Eternal Immortal Dao Seed’ remained within him, fused with his primordial essence, granting him Eternal-level power…”

“No single being can eternally possess a Dao. Thus, cultivating Laws and Daos is like grabbing pork—once the meat is gone, the grease still clings to your hands. This ‘grease’ is the Primordial Dao Seed, isn’t it?”

“Moreover, after reaching Eternity, one actively carves out new Daos, greatly benefiting the myriad realms—like expanding the cake…”

This journey through the secret realm left Fang Xing with no more confusion about his future cultivation.

“Next, to confront the insect race of the Great Xia Universe… I must push harder in the Qing Yuan Great Realm.”

Fang Xing left his cultivation avatar behind and casually slashed the air.

Through the fully assimilated Gate of All Realms, he immediately arrived in the Qing Yuan Great Realm, within the Lingbao Palace…

(End of Chapter)