Chapter 573: The Yang Spirit

The Dao Dust Pearl hovered within the Wangchuan Great Array, and soon, a phantom image emerged from the spirit pearl!

At first, it was somewhat ethereal and unstable, but soon this figure, condensed by the Dao Dust Pearl, was no longer illusory, appearing just like a living person. He wore black and white Daoist robes, a jade lotus crown on his head, and his face was as fair as jade; it was the appearance of Qian Chen in his past life, with a few slight characteristics of his current one.

He appeared to be only just of age, yet he was already extraordinarily handsome!

This was precisely Qian Chen's Yang Spirit!

He slowly opened his eyes, adapted to his current Yang Spirit body, and sighed, "No wonder some cultivators abandon their physical bodies once they reach this step!"

"This Yang Spirit is just like a living person, no longer possessing the weakness of the Yin Spirit being restrained by certain Daoist techniques. Casting divine abilities and performing escape techniques is even more profound than with a physical body; it is a body of vital energy forged from divine abilities. If one considers it purely from the perspective of Daoist techniques, the physical body truly may not have much use."

"After all, a Yang Spirit cultivator can forge a Dharma body themselves using divine abilities, adapting to whatever Daoist technique the body requires. Even if it were to 'entertain ten thousand women by night,' I fear there are Dharma bodies forged from certain dual cultivation divine abilities that could achieve it. By comparison, the physical body appears somewhat cumbersome!"

Qian Chen squeezed his right arm; indeed, there was a resilience like flesh and blood, but he knew this was merely an illusion. Whenever he wished, he could disperse his Primordial Spirit into the formless, and what would be wrong with transforming into the vital energy of the Five Elements?

"The second turn of the Jin Dan, extreme Yin giving birth to Yang, has already broken through that step. But a Yang Spirit like this still needs hundreds of years of tempering to completely shed its Yin quality and achieve a Pure Yang Primordial Spirit! Fortunately, I have long had accumulations; as long as I reach the third turn, I can thoroughly perfect the Yang Spirit..."

The Yin Spirit and Yang Spirit were originally the path of the ancient divine cultivation lineage!

Ancient divine cultivators imitated the path of gods, cultivating the divine soul, starting with visualization, then experiencing sensory response, soul departure, divine wandering, tribulation shedding, Yin Spirit, and Yang Spirit—finally achieving the Primordial Spirit.

If one says the Yin Spirit is still close to a ghost and requires the forging of a Dharma body to be like a god, then the Yang Spirit is the true divine soul achieving godhood, capable of completely detaching from the physical body!

In fact, before the Supreme Dao, the more ancient divine cultivators did not have the realm of the Primordial Spirit; reaching the Yang Spirit was considered achieving the true fruit!

One could attach to a magic treasure as a body, known as a corpse-shedding immortal; or one could turn to cultivating the divine path, transforming into a god...

On the contrary, the body of vital energy forged by divine abilities—that is, the Dharma body that can be cultivated by the current Yin Spirit—was a Dao fruit created by the Penetrating Law lineage...

The current methods of Xuan Sect cultivation have gradually matured, incorporating the paths of many ancient Xuan cultivators such as Qi Refining, Penetrating Law, Jin Dan, and Soul Transformation. By the time of the Supreme Dao Ancestor, the Primordial Spirit realm was opened, transforming the mysterious into the immortal, surpassing many ancient Great Daos in one stroke.

Only then was the original orthodox divine path suppressed, becoming the orthodox method of the Xuan Sect, holding the Great Dao!

When one speaks of it, this evolution of Daoist techniques is not entirely progress. The previous Great Daos of Qi Refining, Penetrating Law, Jin Dan, and Soul Transformation also had their own wonders. Although most have been integrated into the Primordial Spirit Great Dao, certain subtle aspects have still been preserved.

The divine ability body-forging of Penetrating Law cultivators certainly achieved the current path of Dharma bodies, but certain subtle profundities of the single-law-penetrating-heaven did not circulate down.

The Qi-breathing of Qi Refining cultivators, the innate one-qi they cultivated, certainly became the foundation of current Daoist techniques. But the great power of ancient Qi Refiners, where one-qi produces ten thousand laws, reaching directly to the root of the Great Dao, without cultivating divine abilities or refining the divine soul, yet being able to contend with innate gods, has also nearly been lost!

This is a profundity that even Qian Chen did not know—the ancient Qi Refiners who could contend with innate gods were figures from the era of the Five Emperors of high antiquity!

Many Qi Refiners were themselves certain innate beings, and the method of Qi Refining was also realized by them from their own breathing and exhaling.

Their combat power was certainly extremely astonishing, but it took millions of years of breathing and exhaling to achieve anything. Many great beings began cultivating from the opening of heaven and earth using the most ordinary methods of breathing.

Whether the heaven-destroying and earth-shattering power of these beings later was the credit of the path of Qi Refining, or whether they were themselves extremely heaven-defying, is difficult for later generations to say clearly.

As for the Jin Dan, in the current Earth Immortal Realm, no one understands the Jin Dan Great Dao better than Qian Chen!

The nine turns of the Jin Dan achieving the Dao Lord originally originated from the Nine-Turn Jin Dan refined by the Supreme Dao Ancestor, and then the External Pill Dao was realized by a group of predecessors of the Xuan Sect, transforming into the Internal Pill Dao.

Its essence is still the principle of the vital energy in the furnace nurturing creation. Although it points directly to the Dao Lord realm, this path has extremely high requirements and is closer to the path of life and nature, emphasizing that "a single Jin Dan swallowed into the abdomen, my life is determined by me, not by heaven." It is a path of internal cultivation, and when discussed, it still lacks some of the heat of external verification!

The human body is indeed a small heaven and earth, and the Jin Dan is the essence of heaven and earth, but externally combining with the great heaven and earth, the unity of heaven and man, is even closer to the essence of the Great Dao!

Therefore, the path finally opened by the Supreme Dao Ancestor was ultimately not the nine turns of the Jin Dan, but the Primordial Spirit path of the unity of heaven and man...

But in the current Daoist techniques, the nine turns of the Jin Dan no longer circulate. Part of the essence of returning the pill is also only a secret transmission of the Doushuai Palace, belonging to the subtle profundities not within the realm of the Jin Dan. And the truly complete Jin Dan Great Dao, besides Qian Chen and his like who possess the Three Treasures of the Supreme, no longer circulates!

Similarly, the Yin Spirit and Yang Spirit realms also have certain subtleties unique to the Soul Transformation Dao, which cannot be summarized by a single realm.

When discussed, ancient Soul Transformation Dao cultivators, besides the Yin Spirit and Yang Spirit, had one more realm, which was corpse-shedding!

Nowadays, this realm is only reflected when ghost cultivators break through to the Primordial Spirit. In the past, when Sima Yan wanted to achieve the Primordial Spirit, he had to be born from death, breaking through the mysterious barrier of life and death...

Therefore, after ghost cultivators break through the mysterious barrier of life and death, they are ghost immortals! Ancient divine cultivators would also charge at the mysterious barrier of life and death after cultivating the Yang Spirit; those who succeeded were corpse-shedding immortals, and those who failed had their souls scattered!

The reason why corpse-shedding immortals can be called immortals, and even one of the oldest immortals of the Xuan Sect, is because after breaking through the mysterious light of life and death, they have already certified longevity and will never again die of old age due to the exhaustion of their lifespan.

They will only face a heavenly tribulation every ten thousand years; if they pass, they will be immortal, among the divine immortals; if they do not pass, their souls will be scattered, with no further connection.

Compared to the wonder of certifying longevity by breaking through the mysterious barrier of life and death, the changes in other Daoist techniques and divine abilities are merely minor details!

Later, because the path of breaking through the mysterious barrier of life and death was too dangerous—if one did not succeed, one died, and there was not even a retreat of reincarnation and re-cultivation—after the Primordial Spirit path was opened, the Primordial Spirit path not only could certify longevity without any hidden dangers, but its Daoist techniques and divine abilities were far beyond what corpse-shedding immortals could compare to, so it was quickly replaced!

"My second turn of the Jin Dan uses life and death as external medicine. For the third turn, wanting to charge at the Primordial Spirit, my foundation is still insufficient, but breaking through the mysterious barrier of life and death to achieve a corpse-shedding immortal is appropriate."

"It's just that my main body is an innate spirit treasure, and I have long since certified longevity. The greatest benefit of a corpse-shedding immortal has no connection with me, and its divine abilities are far inferior to the Primordial Spirit... At best, it is just making a slight accumulation for the fourth turn to achieve the Primordial Spirit. It really is... a chicken rib!"

Qian Chen sighed secretly.

"However, there are also benefits... charging at the mysterious barrier of life and death, it is almost impossible for me to fail, and there is no risk of my soul being scattered!"

Qian Chen looked at the place where he had shed his body, where there were no remains and not even ashes after his death, and thought: "I can consider this a proper corpse-shedding, right!"

"The orthodoxy of the Soul Transformation Dao is indeed with me!"

As his Yang Spirit gradually stabilized, the last Jin Dan beside him also shattered with a bang.

The Supreme Dao Venerable Pill transformed into a clear radiance, colliding with Qian Chen's Yang Spirit. This supreme divine pill, refined by melting immeasurable heavenly demons, driving vast righteous luck, and absorbing the thoughts of ten thousand people, had a core transformed from a point of Dao rhyme of the Supreme Clarity Heaven, and was also a divine Dharma body of a Supreme Dao Venerable...

At this moment, the clear radiance melted rapidly. Deep within Qian Chen's Yang Spirit, the remaining traces of his fortune, prosperity, and longevity, and all the marks engraved on the Heavenly Court's register of life, death, good, and evil, vaguely manifested as a towering gate, ancient and mysterious, mysterious of the mysterious.

"The two souls of heaven and earth are often outside, the life and death of the heavens transform into the mysterious barrier!"

Qian Chen's Yang Spirit chanted a poem and drew his sword, his own Yang Spirit transforming into a scroll of the Taiji diagram, gathering the remaining life and death energy into a sword, and slashing toward that gate. As the sword light touched it, the seemingly indestructible mysterious barrier of life and death suddenly opened wide, as if it were made of paper.

The third turn of the Jin Dan, achieved in an instant!

Although Qian Chen had long been prepared, he did not expect the mysterious light of life and death to be so fragile.

For ordinary Soul Transformation Dao cultivators, the mysterious barrier of life and death is transformed from the various karmas of the two souls of heaven and earth, the marks of fortune, prosperity, and longevity, and everything else. Breaking through the mysterious barrier of life and death means cutting off one's own life! Then, between life and death, the divine soul undergoes transformation; if one is slightly careless, it is truly the end of having one's soul scattered.

But Qian Chen's main body is an innate inextinguishable spiritual light, which had already certified longevity, and there were no two souls of heaven and earth outside at all; his soul had long since transformed into innate spiritual light!

The entanglement of fortune, prosperity, and longevity, and the various life marks of the past, were merely the remnants of this hut of his, and just now, when he borrowed the spirit treasure to shed his body, he had already cut off most of them...

The remaining fate, transformed into the mysterious barrier of life and death, can be considered quite good to have this hardness!

Slashing through the mysterious barrier and achieving corpse-shedding, Qian Chen knew that the greatest purpose of his third turn was not this. He felt a certain shackle in the dark on his Yang Spirit suddenly fall away, and his Yang Spirit felt light and agile.

As the surrounding darkness disintegrated and receded like a tide, he shockingly invoked the three types of great divine ability Dao rhymes that had merged with the three Golden Cores within his divine soul...

Five-Colored Divine Light, Inverting Yin and Yang, Supreme Fate Controller!

The Five Elements are the material foundation, Yin and Yang are the origin of laws, and the Supreme is the Great Dao of the heavens...

The three great divine abilities, following the third turn of the Jin Dan, suddenly began to merge within Qian Chen's divine soul, a subtle principle that seemed like the creation of the Heavenly Dao.

Mysterious of the mysterious, it seemed like the Gate of All Wonders, slightly opening a crack, and then condensing into a divine ability!

…………

Seeing himself besieged by four people and gradually unable to block them, Gu Chenzi watched the Ghost Immortal Claw of the Underworld Saint reach toward him, while his Profound Yin Two-Five Soul-Severing Flying Knife could no longer turn, and he could only sigh and close his eyes...

But suddenly, a spirit light descended from afar and landed on the flying knife.

With a swish, the flying knife was collected into a small gourd, held in the hand by a boy carved from pink jade.

The Underworld Saint was furious...

But before he could pursue and investigate, he saw the Profound Sea beneath their feet stir with waves, and raindrops drifted from the void above, landing on everyone's shoulders and hands, just like fresh blood.

A sheet of red threads scattered between heaven and earth, dense and chilling.

Blood rain fell from the sky...

From within the blood rain came wails like ghost cries, and soft, low sobbing. A sense of fear, despair, and grief infected all living beings here.

Anyone with a heart could feel the sobbing drifting from this void. The Underworld Saint wiped the corner of his eye and found that he did not know when he had been infected by this sobbing, and had unknowingly shed tears!

The Void Saint held the Wood-Earth Divine Thunder Tablet and looked solemnly at this blood rain that had inexplicably enveloped them.

"This is not some demonic Dao spell, nor is it some external scene phenomenon... This seems to be a phenomenon naturally generated between heaven and earth?"

The Void Saint's voice trembled slightly; the more natural it was, the more terrifying the implication behind this phenomenon!

Blood rain falls from the sky, and ghosts and gods all weep! If it were a demonic Dao spell, some Nascent Souls could achieve it!

If it were an external scene phenomenon, it would at least have to be the appearance of a demon cave, or the fall of a Primordial Spirit True Immortal who could interact with heaven and earth... But if such a phenomenon was not a resonance of vital energy, but an anomaly of the Heavenly Dao, the implication was extremely terrifying!

He seemed to have vaguely heard of such a phenomenon in the sect's classics...

"Seizing the creation of heaven, blood rain falls like millet; divine abilities are born, and ghosts and gods weep!"

The Void Saint finally recalled the rumor he knew and looked up in shock.

The Taiji boy, holding the gourd, looked at the Underworld Saint, who was reaching out his ghost claw toward him again, and curled his lips in disdain: "If it were just now, you would still have a sliver of a chance to escape from the hands of the five of us..."

"But just now, my main body completed the third turn of the Jin Dan and cultivated a heaven-startling divine ability. You are no longer held in any regard by me, the Taiji boy!"

He lifted the gourd and said loudly: "Do you know why the heaven and earth have changed color this time?"

"Only because someone is maneuvering creation, seizing the authority of heaven and earth, causing the Heavenly Dao to resonate, and ghosts and gods to weep daily..."

The Void Saint threw out the Wood-Earth Divine Thunder Tablet in his hand. Countless thunder lights surged, causing this tablet to erupt with immense momentum. Thunder snakes coiled around it, instantly erupting with heaven-destroying and earth-shattering power.

His face was twisted, filled with shock and fear, but at this moment, the Profound Yellow Daoist had already thrown out the Ruyi. The Profound Yellow light, like stars, fell on the back shell of the Divine Ao, blocking the thunder light erupting toward the Heavenly Origin Divine Ao. The Profound Yellow light enveloped the continent, suppressing the array carved on the back shell, causing the power of the array to soar tenfold!

The thunder light of the Wood-Earth Divine Thunder Tablet condensed, its momentum seeming to be about to explode completely, destroying everything.

But suddenly, a hand reached out from the void. That hand was as white as jade, without a single flaw, and it gently grabbed the Wood-Earth Divine Thunder Tablet.

In an instant, the infinite thunder converged, and the Wood-Earth Divine Thunder Tablet transformed into an ordinary, unremarkable wooden tablet full of thunder-scorched marks, falling into that hand...

Qian Chen held the water ball condensed by the Wangchuan Great Array in his left hand and the Wood-Earth Divine Thunder Tablet in his right. Without looking at the five people from Penglai again, he fell straight toward the back of the Divine Ao.

The Taiji boy held the gourd, the mouth of the gourd facing the few people. A ray of light sprayed from the mouth of the gourd, and the Profound Yin Two-Five Soul-Severing Flying Knife appeared. The flying knife, which had been broken just now, had now recovered completely intact...

The Taiji boy waved his hand, and the light sprayed from the mouth of the gourd fixed the divine souls of the few people. Only Hong Xuesheng's expression remained unchanged, and no light fell on his body.

Before the light reached his body, countless evil ghosts flew out from the Underworld Saint's body. His Ghost Immortal body, burning with green fire, transformed into a huge evil ghost, dozens of feet tall, with a green face, fangs, and withered hair draped over his shoulders. A pair of sharp claws flickered with ghostly light, even more vicious than ordinary magic treasure flying swords.

Reaching out with a grab, he tore open the void and reached toward the Taiji boy's skull...

But just as his Ghost Immortal body drilled out from the void, in the instant of transformation between reality and illusion, the light ignored the Ghost Immortal body hidden in the illusion and nailed his divine soul. In an instant, the Underworld Saint lost the ability to resist, and his divine soul could not even move a single thought.

The Taiji boy said disdainfully: "Who are you trying to scare with a half-finished Ghost Immortal body? Have you ever seen a real Ghost Immortal who has broken through the mysterious barrier of life and death?"

A deep resentment appeared on the Underworld Saint's face. The flying knife that drilled out from the Taiji boy's gourd turned, and a ghost head the size of a winnowing basket was slashed off...

"You see it now!" The Taiji boy touched his precious gourd and said.

Gu Chenzi, whose injuries had been instantly recovered by the infinite vital energy in the gourd, was dazed, not knowing what he had done at all.

His natal flying sword quickly swept out, slashing off Tian Xuzi's head. The Great Sun Fire Master said in a deep voice: "Donghua, you head-stealing dog!"

The Karmic Fire Red Lotus then flew out, landing on the Mist-Dwelling Wanderer, refining him to death.

The Void Saint stood on the spot, trembling all over, still recalling Qian Chen's move just now—understated, suppressing the restriction of the Taiji Divine Thunder Tablet as if picking something out of a bag, and taking away the spirit treasure!

"The first great divine ability of the Heavenly Gang, the head of all laws, Maneuvering Creation!"

He groaned, looking in despair as the Profound Yin Two-Five Soul-Severing Knife turned around again and slashed off his head. As his final perspective spun, he saw Hong Xuesheng's expressionless face, but there were strands of golden thread on his body, held by the Daoist holding the spirit pearl.

The Immeasurable Sea Emperor looked at the straw man in his hand and couldn't help but shake his head: "I originally intended to give you a surprise, but I didn't expect you wouldn't even be able to wait until then!"

"Hong Xuesheng has long been controlled, isn't the Zhangming Sect..."

The final thought flashed through the Void Saint's mind, and he fell completely into darkness.

The gourd in the Taiji boy's hand collected the corpses of the four people. The gourd turned into vital energy, compensating for the consumption of saving Gu Chenzi...

The five external incarnations, each holding a magic treasure, went together toward Qian Chen. Gu Chenzi looked at Qian Chen, who had shed his body and been reborn, and also secretly clicked his tongue. The Heavenly Origin Divine Ao's eyes were filled with tears, calling out to Qian Chen in grievance, and the Giant Kun beside it, which had suffered the least, also fluttered and surged forward...

Gu Chenzi hesitated for a moment and said: "Fellow Daoist, have you broken through the mysterious barrier of life and death and achieved the Primordial Spirit?"

Qian Chen shook his head slowly and smiled: "Still one step away... but it is a natural chasm!"

Before Gu Chenzi could pursue the question, the Profound Yellow Daoist stepped forward, bowed, and said: "Congratulations to the main body for corpse-shedding into an immortal, from now on enjoying longevity and long vision?"