Chapter 405: Manifestation of the Great Dao

Seven brilliant energy vortices—the opening of the chakras—propelled Hua Changxi's physical body into an entirely new stage.

At this moment, not a trace of mortal essence remained on her; instead, seven energy vortices rose from within her, circulating like stellar rings, transforming her into a cocoon of light capable of merging with the world.

Inside this light cocoon lay no flesh wrapped in skin, but a chain of light piercing through the cocoon, using the spine as its central axis to link the seven chakras from bottom to top.

The instant Hua Changxi directed her consciousness toward the light chain, her perception began to contract rapidly; amidst dizziness, she shrank into an existence as tiny as an ant, standing upon the light chain itself.

In this moment, through the eyes of the diminutive Hua Changxi, the light chain appeared as the manifestation of the 'Great Dao,' spanning heaven and earth.

The light chain itself was colorless, yet due to the circulation of energy within the seven chakras, it displayed a chaotic halo where seven colors blended together.

Within the light chain, the seven-colored vortices flowed like rivers merging, each containing the other, ultimately resolving into a light chain of 'color beyond color,' as if condensing the 'Dao' of creation into a visible spine.

At the base of the light chain lay the 'Root Chakra Vortex,' deeply anchored in the soles of her feet, serving as the 'Dao Foundation' connecting the chain to the earth.

Streams of energy extended downward like roots, penetrating the light cocoon and vanishing into the void, seemingly linking with the entire realm.

Hua Changxi 'saw' countless threads of faint light extending from the base of the chain, crawling across the land toward mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas; each thread carried the anchoring power of the Root Chakra, synchronizing the breathing of the light cocoon with that of the earth.

The apex of the light chain reached straight up to the 'Crown Chakra Vortex' atop her head.

There lay no longer the mortal Baihui acupoint, but a miniature 'Celestial Interface,' seamlessly docking with the heavenly laws filling the firmament.

Standing upon the light chain, Hua Changxi felt it become a bridge connecting the earth and the sky; she clearly perceived that she was engaging in a profound interaction with this world.

Suddenly, a thought surged within her heart: The physical body attains the Dao!

At this moment, she truly felt her physical body had become a vessel for the 'Great Dao,' while the light chain was the Dao that breathed in unison with heaven and earth and danced alongside the laws.

Moreover, the eighth chapter of the 'Nine Revolutions of the Mysterious Art' corresponded exactly to the Dao-Integration Realm of Dharma cultivators!

Hua Changxi felt somewhat dazed; had she really cultivated her own Great Dao just like that?

Was it really this simple?

Previously, within the Zhurong Tomb, the trial had been to 'prove the Dao through strength'; to be honest, although she had broken through the egg-like space back then, she had not gained any profound understanding of how to 'prove the Dao through strength.'

She only knew she must constantly enhance the power of her physical body; beyond that, she had gained no other insights.

Yet now, with the seven chakras opened and the light chain manifested, she clearly understood what it meant for the physical body to attain the Dao.

As if responding to Hua Changxi's thoughts, the clouds above the Wutong Forest began to dissipate rapidly.

Soon, the originally azure sky transformed into a massive 'Mirror of Laws,' a witness from the realm summoned by the heavenly laws.

Upon the mirror's surface, streams of seven-colored light began to appear.

These seven-colored streams multiplied until they formed energy vortices, which then linked head to tail, weaving into a light chain that pierced through the mirror.

Within the vast and boundless Mirror of Laws, the light chain stood like a 'Dao Marker' inscribed between heaven and earth.

"Whoosh~"

"Whoosh~"

"Whoosh~"

The appearance of the Mirror of Laws startled countless living beings across the realm.

From great mountains and rivers, from secret realms and ancient ruins, terrifying figures continuously flew out, gazing from afar at the location of the Wutong Forest.

Though the faces of these figures remained indistinct, the surging spiritual energy fluctuations surrounding them clearly conveyed their shock and surprise.

Even the appearance of the Zhurong Tomb earlier had failed to draw out these ancient monsters, yet at this moment, they had all appeared simultaneously without prior agreement.

This was merely in regions far from the Wutong Forest; near the forest, in the Five Great Sacred Lands, the Xuanyuan Prefecture, the Imperial Palace, and other places, the scene was even more lively, with powerful experts continuously appearing, all looking at the Wutong Forest in disbelief.

In the Central Sacred Land, Wei Zhenjie stood with his mouth agape, utterly unsure how to react.

"Has the Great Dao been opened just like that?"

After the Great Extinction of ancient times in the Four Spirits Realm, the laws of the Heavenly Dao had turned into chaos, causing all methods to return to ruin, resembling a blank sheet of paper awaiting inscription.

Only when someone opened the trajectory of a 'Dao' and established the rules of 'this path' could subsequent cultivators follow that trajectory to cultivate this Dao.

If no one opened the path, there would be no fixed route to follow, nor any clear cultivation system to comprehend.

Only when a genius of unparalleled talent appeared could they untangle a clue from this chaos, capture the operational trajectory of a certain source power, and forcibly carve out a trajectory of the 'Dao' within this formless, substance-less chaos.

Once this trajectory was established, it was like lighting a bright lamp within the chaos, guiding the direction for those who came after.

Subsequent cultivators could then ascend step by step along this trajectory pioneered by predecessors, cultivating this Dao in an orderly progression, avoiding the enormous risks and resource wastage of blindly groping in the chaos.

If no one opened a Great Dao in a certain direction, then even if that chaos hid infinite possibilities and power, for the vast majority of cultivators, it would remain nothing more than an ethereal fantasy; that Dao would remain silent, unknown to the world and unpassed to future generations.

Of course, opening a Great Dao was not a one-time effort yielding perpetual benefits.

The stability of a newly opened Great Dao's rules and the strength of its vitality were inextricably linked to its subsequent inheritance.

If, after a Great Dao was opened, successors were lacking, and for a long time no one paid it heed, cultivated it, or promoted its glory, then its trajectory in the chaos would gradually blur due to the lack of vitality and the nourishment of Dao rhyme, slowly sinking into silence until it vanished completely, returning to its initial chaotic state as if it had never existed.

The rise and fall of a realm's Dao lineage was inseparable from the quantity and quality of Great Daos it could sustain and maintain.

The more Daos there were, the more diverse the cultivation directions available to cultivators became, able to accommodate different talents, temperaments, and pursuits.

Some cultivators might be naturally affinity-aligned with fire, allowing them to choose the Path of Fire; others, with hearts calm as water, might enter the Path of Water; and some, even more exceptional, could fuse the strengths of multiple Daos to forge unprecedented paths reaching the heavens.

Such a diversified cultivation system not only maximized the discovery of latent geniuses and potential within the realm but also promoted exchange, mutual learning, and even fusion and innovation among different Dao lineages, thereby forming a vibrant cultivation ecosystem.

When a realm's Dao lineage flourished, with Great Daos standing tall and cultivators each displaying their strengths in a hundred schools of thought contending, the overall strength of the entire realm would naturally rise with the tide, demonstrating greater resilience and potential when facing external threats or exploring the mysteries of higher-dimensional universes.

Conversely, if Great Daos withered and Dao lineages declined, narrowing the path of cultivation for cultivators and making it difficult for geniuses to stand out, the strength of the entire realm would stagnate or even decline.

"Is this the Path of the Physical Body?"

Above the Xuanyuan Prefecture, after a brief moment of shock, Lu Zhenting began to examine the light chain on the 'Mirror of Laws' closely.

Qin Feng said, "It absolutely is; the Path of the Physical Body is founded upon the seven chakras."

The light chain within the Mirror of Laws possessed exactly seven light-flow vortices, which should correspond to the seven chakras.

Among them, the Root Chakra served as the 'Foundation of the Dao,' the Sacral Chakra as the 'Principle of Strength,' the Solar Plexus Chakra as the 'Rhythm of Life,' the Heart Chakra as the 'Constancy of the Heart,' the Throat Chakra as the 'Faith of Speech,' the Brow Chakra as the 'Clarity of Observation,' and the Crown Chakra as the 'Capacity of Heaven.'

Hearing this, deep within Lu Zhenting's eyes, two clusters of leaping flames seemed to ignite, reflecting extreme desire and uncontrollable excitement: "I never expected the first Great Dao of the Four Spirits Realm to be the Path of the Physical Body; if this Dao is successfully opened, cultivators in the Four Spirits Realm without spiritual roots will indeed be blessed."

Many cultivators who understood something of the 'Dao' were also anticipating, hoping that the Path of the Physical Body would be opened right then.

This anticipation was not limited to the hearts of human cultivators; at almost the same moment, within the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, countless demon creatures awakened from sleep or cultivation.

They keenly perceived that the shackles of their physical bodies seemed to be loosening, the flow of qi and blood within them appeared to accelerate slightly, and their tendons and bones seemed to grow even more resilient.

Simultaneously, throughout the Four Spirits Realm, those human body cultivators who diligently practiced body techniques with the goal of tempering their physiques all, without exception, sensed this mysterious change.

Their muscles, bones, and meridians, honed over years of cultivation, seemed at this moment to receive some kind of response from the laws of heaven and earth.

The cultivation progress that had previously remained stagnant no matter how much sweat they shed now seemed as if gently tapped by an invisible giant hand, revealing a crack so faint it was nearly imperceptible.

The entire Four Spirits Realm seemed to tremble slightly due to this impending birth of the "Dao of the Physical Body," and the air was filled with a burning tension and anticipation.

Where there were those who anticipated, there were also those who were dissatisfied.

In a stone cave deep within the mountains, the Sect Master of the Asura Sect watched the direction of the Wutong Forest with a grim expression.

"The comprehensive revival of spiritual energy in the Four Spirits Realm has only just begun; how can a Great Dao already manifest?"

"Sect Master, the manifestation of a Great Dao is nothing significant. Unless the Hall Master of the Lingguang Hall can pass the trial of heaven and earth, such a manifestation will be nothing more than a fleeting vision, like a flower blooming briefly."

After the Mirror of Laws clearly reflected the seven chains of light, dark clouds as dense as a flock of crows surged over the Wutong Forest like a tidal wave, instantly plunging the daylight of the previous moment into darkness.

'Boom~'

An earth-shattering roar exploded in the sky, making Hua Changxi's scalp go numb and filling the cultivators hiding on the outskirts of the Wutong Forest with terror.

At this moment, these people felt only one thing: they had been locked onto by a destructive force of annihilation.

Flee!

The cultivators fled madly toward the outside of the Wutong Forest without any hesitation; their instinctive will to survive told them that if they did not leave immediately, they would surely perish here.

They could flee, but Hua Changxi could not.

Hua Changxi stared with trembling pupils at the surging black clouds gathering in the sky.

The dark clouds were converging, layer upon layer, with a vortex forming at their center.

Within the vortex, thunder and lightning continuously spawned.

This was clearly a rhythm designed to strike her dead!

Hua Changxi sensed a fatal danger; initially, she still had some confidence in surviving the lightning tribulation, but as the thunder grew increasingly fierce, her mind began to grow increasingly unstable.

Just as her mind wandered, the black flames on her Nascent Soul heart quietly grew, burning more and more intensely.

Before she noticed, the flames had already engulfed her entire heart.

Afterward, Hua Changxi's mind was filled entirely with scenes of her dying under the lightning tribulation; she tried to suppress these negative thoughts, but the more she suppressed them, the stronger her fear became.

Gradually, she was swallowed by fear.

"I don't want to die!"

When this thought occupied all of Hua Changxi's mind, she forcibly sealed her other six chakras, leaving only the abdominal wheel, the center of her power, unsealed.

With the six wheels sealed, first the chains of light within the Mirror of Laws vanished, then the Mirror of Laws itself disappeared, and finally, unable to find a target, the tribulation lightning slowly dispersed.

"What happened?"

"Why did the tribulation lightning disappear?"