Chapter 97: Immortals and Deities: Rules and the Great Dao

Inside the guest room.

Fang Shi was pondering the application of the Dao character, thinking only of enhancing the power of his Gravity Dao character.

The Gravity Dao character is not actually called that; it is named Carrying the Mountain.

Gravity Dao character is merely Fang Shi's own term, for he feels that, compared to the name Carrying the Mountain, Gravity is closer to its essence.

Fang Shi had originally wanted to call it Gravity, to see if the Attribute Panel could display it that way.

But the Attribute Panel did not agree, as if this Dao character could not yet bear the title of Gravity.

"It is somewhat difficult; I can barely alter this Dao character."

"This Dao character is too refined; it is essentially the peak of the Divine Sense stage."

Fang Shi shook his head and sighed, relying on his physical constitution.

He had been tinkering with this Dao character, adding and modifying it at will.

But no matter what, the power of this Dao character simply would not increase.

It was basically not as powerful as the original version.

Fang Shi had even created a Dao character with negative values; he had also asked other cultivators.

But they basically could not exchange a better Dao character either.

"True Person Fang, we have a matter to request an audience."

At this moment, a voice emerged from the talisman, waking Fang Shi from his deep meditation.

"Who is this?"

Stepping outside the door, Fang Shi saw that the Daoist boy who had served him these past days had brought a young man.

"I am Cui Tianyu, the third disciple of True Person Long Yu, here to request an audience with True Person Fang." The young man bowed respectfully.

"So it is the distinguished disciple of True Person Long Yu. Please enter, please enter."

Fang Shi led Cui Tianyu into the room, then said, "Nephew Disciple Cui has come; what urgent matter do you have?"

Cui Tianyu said, "This junior indeed has a request to make."

"Speak freely."

"True Person should understand that our current situation is not good."

Fang Shi nodded: "You are right, but is there a solution?"

Cui Tianyu said, "There is, but the various Great Cultivators are unwilling to go."

"So you came to me?"

Cui Tianyu said respectfully, "True Person hates evil as if it were an enemy, disregarding your own cultivation, and has descended the mountain many times to slay demons and eradicate monsters."

"You are a model for us cultivators of the Dao."

Fang Shi spoke plainly: "Just say what it is directly. If I can do it, I will agree; if I cannot, then so be it. Do not beat around the bush."

Cui Tianyu said, "This is actually not a request from me, but from my master."

"The Evil Gods are powerful; they have now occupied fifty percent of Yizhou."

"The remaining fifty percent, no one knows when it will fall."

"My master has learned that the Evil Gods plan to hold a grand sacrifice at the Eight Directions to weaken the seal."

"If they succeed, the remaining fifty percent will face a collapse that reaches the heavens."

"Therefore, Master wishes to dispatch cultivators to go and disrupt it."

Fang Shi pondered, "I fear this matter is not easy to do; otherwise, you would not have come to me."

Cui Tianyu said, "It is indeed difficult; many Great Cultivators are unwilling to act."

Fang Shi's heart stirred, and he immediately understood the situation.

These past days, he had been discussing the mysteries of the Dao and making friends everywhere, feeling he had gained a great deal.

Occasionally descending the mountain to kill monsters, he felt incredibly relaxed and free.

He did not know why the Evil God faction had not sent out any formidable experts.

At first, Fang Shi thought the monsters had not arrived yet; in the end, he discovered they simply would not come at all.

But even so, the Evil God side was still expanding rapidly.

Relying on their numerical advantage, they were slowly eroding from the rural areas into the county towns.

As for the cultivators, aside from fighting as assistants to refine the Nine-Turn Jin Dan, most were unwilling to go and clear out the monsters.

This was not because they were stupid, but because they were too smart.

Smart enough to cherish their own cultivation and unwilling to kill lightly.

Just as before Li Zicheng entered the capital, the officials and merchants of the Ming Dynasty all said their granaries were empty and were unwilling to contribute money or effort.

Yet when their families were raided, their warehouses were full of silver and grain.

Moreover, the Cultivation World basically has no proper organizations.

Everyone is not in any subordinate relationship; at most, they respect you because your cultivation is profound.

Add to that the deterrent power of the Sage Laws, and even if True Persons like Long Yu wish to rectify the atmosphere of the Cultivation World, it is very difficult to accomplish.

Furthermore, taking a step back, the Evil Gods have not yet attacked.

The three top-tier Divine Sense Great Cultivators have not yet failed their breakthroughs.

Everyone is not truly refusing to help.

So why rush? Let things proceed as they are.

Perhaps tomorrow the work will be accomplished, and all crises will be resolved.

Only a few outliers like Fang Shi are the main force clearing out the infected.

"If True Person is willing to agree to this matter, I will present this treasure to you."

Speaking, Cui Tianyu took a dark, dull black bead from his robe.

"What is this object?"

Cui Tianyu said, "This is the Materialization Bead; it can condense ethereal, intangible objects into substance."

"And the most important point is that this bead is effective against heart demons."

Fang Shi smiled inwardly; Senior Long Yu indeed pays attention to every cultivator and understands his needs very well.

"I have heard that the rules of the Sages cannot be broken by anything; condensing a heart demon into substance, is there a price?"

Cui Tianyu said, "True Person speaks correctly; this price is that the user's soul will also condense into substance, ensuring the confrontation between the user and the heart demon is fair."

"Then that hardly counts as a price."

Where lies the most difficult aspect of dealing with a heart demon?

It is that it is a formless, substance-less soul entity, and furthermore, it resides in Fang Shi's Upper Dantian.

Fang Shi is completely unable to use violence to directly destroy it.

He can only fight a guerrilla war with the heart demon inside the Upper Dantian using his soul, while simultaneously preventing the heart demon from striking secretly.

If it condenses into substance, it loses the ability to gather and scatter at will.

Fang Shi can completely lock onto the heart demon and engage in a soul-to-soul hand-to-hand combat directly within the Upper Dantian.

At that time, it will be a moment of purely comparing spirit and will.

"What are Senior Long Yu's specific requirements?"

"Disrupt the progress of the sacrifice; if you truly lack the strength, interfering with the sacrifice is also acceptable. No matter what you do, as long as you can delay the time the seal is broken."

Fang Shi's expression shifted: "Can the reward be advanced?"

"This?" Cui Tianyu hesitated slightly.

"Yes!"

A figure directly manifested from the Materialization Bead.

This was an old man with white hair; his appearance was ancient and unique, looking at a glance like a high True Person with the Dao.

Most importantly, when Fang Shi saw this old man, his mind shook.

The old man's appearance was not an ink wash painting, but like the real world, a truly real person.

Fang Shi suddenly felt an impulse in his heart to ask the old man what exactly was going on.

But seeing Cui Tianyu's expression of having seen it all before, he felt such a move would be inappropriate.

"Pay respects to Master!" Cui Tianyu hurriedly performed the salute.

"No need for formalities," True Person Long Yu said, performing a salute toward Fang Shi, "This old Daoist has been busy with affairs recently and failed to welcome your noble guest from afar; I hope your noble guest will forgive me."

Fang Shi also hurriedly rose and returned the salute: "What True Person has done is all for the prosperity and life of the people of Yizhou; no need for such courtesy."

True Person Long Yu shook his head and said, "I must also thank True Person Fang for his help."

"The calamity of the Evil God has deep and far-reaching harm; if not handled well, it will not be a matter of just one prefecture of Yizhou."

Fang Shi asked, "Then is it actually possible for the Evil God to break the seal?"

Back then, several Earth Immortals joined hands to perform the sealing.

Moreover, those Earth Immortals were veteran Earth Immortals who had been famous for a long time.

Therefore, Fang Shi was somewhat worried that even if three Earth Immortals appeared at Qingyu Mountain.

It might not be enough to resolve the crisis.

True Person Long Yu naturally understood Fang Shi's thoughts: "It is impossible; the seal back then was not that simple."

"After so many years, the Evil God's power is no longer at its peak."

"As long as the Evil God's power is suppressed, then at that time, even a single Earth Immortal can eliminate the calamity."

Fang Shi asked again, "Why do the Earth Immortals of the world not take action?"

"If they took action, where would the need be for us to take such risks?"

This was Fang Shi's confusion; these past days he had asked around, but most cultivators did not understand much.

Now that he has met a top-tier Divine Sense cultivator, he cannot help but ask.

True Person Long Yu fell silent for a while: "Tianyu, you leave the room first."

"Yes, Master." Cui Tianyu understood; the following matters were things he could not hear.

After Cui Tianyu left, True Person Long Yu suddenly said, "Person from the outside world, how do you feel about this heaven and earth?"

Fang Shi's heart was stirred by towering waves: "What does True Person mean by this?"

True Person Long Yu stroked his beard and chuckled: "Why do you pretend to be confused with me?"

"Since you left Tongchang County, I have long since noticed you."

"Do you remember the old man fishing by the river? Look at me again carefully?"

A flash of lightning crossed Fang Shi's mind: "You cast a cognitive barrier on me."

Since True Person Long Yu said this sentence to him.

Fang Shi's head felt as if some barrier had been opened.

If True Person Long Yu's current image were rendered as an ink wash painting, it would be exactly the same as the old man fishing.

"It was not I who cast a cognitive barrier on you, but this heaven and earth."

Fang Shi asked, "This heaven and earth? What exactly is the matter with this heaven and earth? Why are the figures of the entire world distorted?"

"But from the perspective of material attributes, it has no difference from the heaven and earth outside?"

True Person Long Yu smiled and said, "Because this heaven and earth does not exist within the material realm."

"Material realm? What does this mean?"

True Person Long Yu said, "Do you know the appearance of the multiverse?"

Fang Shi tested the waters, "The Multiverse? Does that not mean individual worlds float like bubbles within the Sea of Chaos?"

True Person Long Yu shook his head, "What you say is both right and wrong. Viewed purely from a material perspective, the Multiverse is indeed like that."

"But the Multiverse possesses not only material attributes, but also spiritual attributes."

"Only by considering both material and spiritual attributes simultaneously can one determine the coordinates of individual worlds."

"And this realm of heaven and earth possesses an extremely high spiritual attribute, floating on the outermost edge of the Multiverse."

"Beyond that outer layer lies the dreams of all sentient beings and the ethereal, intangible spirit."

"The world you come from lies at the innermost layer of the Multiverse, which is also the center of the Multiverse."

Fang Shi was startled, "How is that possible? Traveling from the innermost layer to the outer edge would consume how much energy? Yet I clearly felt no such energy fluctuation."

True Person Long Yu smiled, "You are attached to appearances. Travel within the Multiverse is not determined by the quantity of energy."

"It is determined by connection. Just as a human's spirit and dreams exist in the outermost layer, does a mortal possess such immense power?"

Fang Shi suddenly said, "It is not impossible. The spirit is the greatest power."

"There are also Spirit Masters within the Multiverse."

"I have heard that those with powerful spirits can create something from nothing, fashion matter from the void, and do anything."

True Person Long Yu was speechless, "The great powers you speak of do indeed exist. For instance, the Awakened Ones of the Western Sect are all masters of the spirit."

"The Law of Spirit they master means the stronger the spirit, the stronger the person."

Fang Shi said, "Then what exactly is the situation with this realm of heaven and earth?"

"I clearly remember that before I came to this world, I was in an underground ancient city."

"An ancient city identical to Tongchang County. And after I emerged from the place of ascension of a senior, I arrived in this place."

True Person Long Yu spoke with deep meaning, "I have said so much before; could it be you still have not thought of it?"

"Could this be a dream? The dream of the Golden Corpse of the Tongchang Ancient City?"

"No, you guessed wrong. How could a mere Golden Corpse possess such immense power?"

"But is the Golden Corpse not equivalent to a Earth Immortal?"

True Person Long Yu laughed heartily, "Who told you the Golden Corpse is equivalent to an Earth Immortal?"

Fang Shi asked in confusion, "Golden Corpse equals Legend, Legend equals Jin Dan, Jin Dan equals Earth Immortal; is the Golden Corpse not an Earth Immortal?"

True Person Long Yu said, "In the material world, you may think so. The heavier the material, the closer the power of Immortals and Gods approaches the mortal realm."

"In the world where you reside, it is correct that Immortals and Gods are equivalent to Legends."

Fang Shi interrupted True Person Long Yu's words, "Are you speaking of Immortals and Gods? Are Deities the same?"

"Are the Deities you speak of the incarnations of those Multiverse Rules?"

True Person Long Yu said, "Correct, they are the incarnations of those Multiverse Rules."

"They are indeed great, but the Great Dao of the Immortals is no less."

Fang Shi asked, "Rules? Great Dao? Are they not the same thing?"

True Person Long Yu said, "They are not. Rules govern matter and govern energy."

"It is not energy, nor matter, nor even time, space, or spirit."

"It can even govern time, space, and spirit in reverse."

"You may also call it Authority, or call it Law."

"And the Great Dao is the synthesis of Rules, born from Rules, yet transcending Rules."

Fang Shi asked, "In that case, is the Great Dao not superior to Rules?"

True Person Long Yu said, "Not so. Why are Deities called incarnations of Rules?"

"Because they are the Rules themselves. The depth of their mastery over Rules is incomparable to that of Immortals."

"Immortals themselves merely utilize Rules to condense their Great Dao; in reality, it is a hodgepodge, touching upon many to some degree."

Fang Shi asked, "Then does this mean Deities are stronger than Immortals?"

True Person Long Yu said, "You are attached to appearances again; you cannot always think in terms of strength and weakness."

"Although the Great Dao condensed by Immortals is not weaker than the Rules mastered by Deities."

"But the two cannot actually be compared horizontally in this manner."

"You only need to know that the Great Dao condensed by Immortals is a profound application of Rules."

"Compared to Deities, they may lack in depth, but they far surpass Deities in height."

"Moreover, since Immortals do not deeply master Rules, they are freer compared to Deities."

"However, since Deities master Rules, as long as incense offerings are sufficient, they can improve rapidly, and can even inherit the lingering grace of predecessors, ascending to the heavens in a single step."

"The Great Dao of Immortals requires them to contemplate Rules themselves and summarize their utilization. Improvement is very slow, sometimes not advancing a single bit even over a thousand years."

"In summary, Deities have their merits, and Immortals have their wonders; there is no distinction of superiority or inferiority, only a difference in path."

Fang Shi understood: the Multiverse is filled with paths named Rules.

Deities are the owners of those paths; the farther one walks the path, the more powerful the Deity becomes.

Immortals have no path; they take a bit from here and a bit from there, building their own path.

The longer the path they build, the more powerful the Immortal becomes.

Of course, the actual situation may differ, because Rules and the Great Dao are things difficult for mortals to understand.

But generally speaking, it does not differ much from this explanation.

Fang Shi asked again, "Do Rules not govern matter? Then why is the power of Immortals and Gods lower in worlds where matter is heavier?"

True Person Long Yu said, "Have you considered a possibility: that there is a Rule named Matter, and it is extremely powerful?"

"Rules are not independent; the evolution of one Rule also belongs to the characteristics of another Rule."

"The Rule of Matter suppresses all other Rules, occupying a crucial position in the world."

"By excluding other rules, the power of Immortals and Gods is thereby diminished."

"The world you inhabit is the world where material rules are the strongest."

"But as the invasion of other worlds proceeds, the authority of matter grows weaker, and it will drift upward from the center of the multiverse, gradually rising."

Fang Shi's heart startled; he asked in quick succession, "You know my world is being invaded—what exactly is going on?"

"Is it the Gods, or Immortals, or even other nameless existences?"

True Person Long Yu shook his head: "I do not know. What I know, I learned by peering outward when you opened the passage to this world."

Fang Shi hurriedly said, "Do you know the method to leave this realm?"

True Person Long Yu said, "Of course, but if you wish to leave this realm, it is not so simple."