Raking In Merit
An old man in white robes stepped out of the rainbow light. His hair and beard were streaked with gray, and he had the bearing of an immortal sage. Seeing this defensive Grand Formation, he took out a White Jade Token.
The token was pure white throughout, smooth and warm to the touch, with strands of light circling it. A single glance showed it was no ordinary object.
A magnificent palace was engraved on its front, while the character "Jun" was carved on its back.
The old man tossed the token into the air. Rosy light flashed, and the token slipped into Jade Capital Mountain like an old horse that knew the way.
A moment later, Jade Capital Mountain's defensive Grand Formation opened.
An old man in purple robes appeared at the entrance to the Grand Formation and laughed heartily. "Hahaha... Fellow Daoist Yang Mei, I, Hongjun, have been waiting for you!"
Yang Mei made a Daoist salute and said in a clear voice, "Sorry to have kept you waiting, Daoist Hongjun. I came as soon as I received your message, but have the other fellow Daoists arrived?"
"Several fellow Daoists have already arrived and are resting in my Daoist abode. If you don't mind, fellow Daoist, please come to Zixiao Palace for a talk!" Hongjun said, returning the salute.
"Please!"
With a single step, the two crossed hundreds of millions of miles of mountains and rivers, arriving directly before a towering, majestic palace.
The hall stood in the void, radiant with light, wreathed in purple Qi and filled with the lingering strains of immortal music. Auspicious purple clouds rose around it, gathering into rosy mists—a truly immortal sight.
High above the great hall hung a majestic plaque, shimmering with light and bearing the three large characters "Zixiao Palace."
Hongjun led Yang Mei into a great hall, where immortal Qi swirled and Dao Rhymes hung in the air. Sixteen enormous pillars that seemed to hold up the heavens stood in two rows along its sides.
Several people with vast, imposing presences were already seated in the hall.
Seeing Hongjun lead Yang Mei inside, they all rose to greet him.
Yang Mei looked closely and saw six Daoists in all.
Each of the six had an extraordinary presence and was a mighty figure of the Primordial World at the Quasi-Sage realm.
Moreover, their origins ran deep. All of them were reincarnations of the souls of the Three Thousand Chaos Gods from the chaos era.
It could be said that nearly half the Quasi-Sage great powers of the Primordial World were gathered here.
Hongjun laughed freely. "Fellow Daoist Yang Mei, allow me to introduce them. These fellow Daoists are Yin-Yang, Five Elements, Qiankun, Bengtian, Fate, and Destruction!"
"Greetings, fellow Daoists!"
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Yang Mei!"
After exchanging greetings, everyone took their seats.
Yang Mei then asked, "Besides those of us here, will any other fellow Daoists be coming?"
Hongjun smiled and nodded. "There is indeed one more. All of you should know him."
"Oh!? We know him? Who might it be?" Everyone was curious.
Suddenly, Yang Mei's eyes lit up, as though he had thought of the answer. He hurriedly asked, "Could it be the person who appeared in that treasure mirror not long ago?"
Hongjun laughed heartily. "That's right. It is Fellow Daoist Fuxi, who fought the Quasi-Sages of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans beneath Buzhou Mountain!"
"Fuxi!"
At that name, their expressions varied. Some were excited, some indifferent, and some wary, but none dared look down on the power that name represented.
Seizing the opportunity, Hongjun urged them on. "With Fellow Daoist Fuxi joining us and the help of all of you, we are certain to win this battle in one stroke!"
"Please wait a little longer, fellow Daoists!"
But as the years passed, Fuxi still did not appear on Jade Capital Mountain.
With no other choice, Hongjun sent out another message talisman.
Just as the great Tribulation swept through the Primordial World and slaughter filled heaven and earth, many who would become great powers emerged in human form.
One day, among the Kunlun Mountains, which wound on for hundreds of millions of miles, heavenly flowers suddenly rained down and rosy light spread for ten thousand miles. Three beings blessed with profound fortune and virtue came into the world, calling themselves Taiqing, Yuanshi, and Tongtian. They were the Three Pure Ones, the Daoists transformed from Great God Pangu's primordial spirit. All three bore the Merit of the creation of heaven and earth and were the sages destined by heaven.
Afterward, on the Sun Star, which had been formed from Pangu's left eye, two beings of great Divine Ability were born, calling themselves Di Jun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi. The true forms of these two innate deities were three-legged golden crows, and they were born with the bearing of kings of the blazing sun. They entered the world at the early stage of the Daluo Golden Immortal realm, each accompanied by a supreme treasure, worthy of being the demon race's heaven-ordained kings.
At the same time, two fairies of the immortal realm, Wangshu and Xihe, were born on the Taiyin Star.
In West Kunlun, the Queen Mother of the West was also born, transformed from innate supreme Yin Qi.
Seeing heaven and earth in turmoil, living beings unable to find peace, and countless creatures of the Primordial World killed or injured in the war among the three clans, the great powers who had emerged into the world stepped in to protect them.
The Heavenly Dao took note of their good deeds and bestowed boundless Merit upon them as a reward.
Somewhere on the lands of the Primordial World, heaven and earth had fallen apart.
A battle at the Daluo Golden Immortal level had shattered the ground and sent magma splashing everywhere. The power of the laws was in disarray, and even the five elements had lost their balance.
Countless creatures of the Primordial World were trapped on a cliff, about to be swallowed by the fire at the earth's core.
Just then, two immortals, a man and a woman, appeared high in the sky.
The male immortal had an otherworldly bearing and a heroic, distinguished appearance. The female immortal was peerlessly beautiful and graceful, with the poise of a phoenix. They were truly a striking sight.
Seeing the magma surge toward them, the female immortal frowned slightly and threw out a scroll. As it unfurled, it revealed an entire major world.
The creatures of the Primordial World had nowhere to go, but now, like travelers finding light beyond dark willows, they saw a chance of survival amid their despair. They naturally swarmed into the scroll.
Once all the creatures had entered, the female immortal cast a spell to retrieve the scroll, and it returned to her hand.
Just then, golden petals suddenly rained from the sky, and countless golden lotuses sprang from the earth. A ray of light containing supreme blessings descended upon the female immortal and vanished into her.
The male and female immortals were naturally Fuxi and Nuwa, and that ray of light was the Merit bestowed by the Heavenly Dao.
This was of no use to Fuxi, but it was extremely important to Nuwa.
Anyone who wanted to get by under the Heavenly Dao could not do without Merit. It could be called useful for everything.
Those with abundant Merit not only enjoyed deep blessings and turned misfortune into good fortune, but also found a smooth road ahead on their path of cultivation.
If they had enough Merit, they could even use it to attain the position of a sage directly.
Of course, raising one's rank through Merit also had its drawbacks.
Merit could only raise one's realm, not one's strength.
That was fine for crushing those of lower realms, but in a fight between those of the same realm, combat power raised through Merit was the weakest.
That was also why Nuwa was the weakest of the six sages in the original Primordial World.
But a flaw could not obscure the jade's beauty. Even a flawed sage was still a sage, a supreme realm that the countless billions of beings in the Primordial World sought but could not attain.
This opportunity to obtain Merit was quite rare, and it was easy besides.
That was especially true for Nuwa. To protect the creatures of the Primordial World, all she had to do was gather them into the Landscape of Mountains and Rivers, and the State.
The painting contained a major world, with mountains and rivers, a dazzling variety of sights, the sun, moon, and stars, flowers, grasses, and trees, and birds and beasts—everything one could wish for. The treasure also held boundless spiritual Qi to nourish hundreds of millions of living beings.
An opportunity to get Merit for free like this naturally had to be treasured.
Thus, Nuwa threw herself into the task, directly causing her to fleece a huge amount of Merit from the Heavenly Dao.