The Nine Mountains Realm Boundary is a place where the sky cannot be seen.
Not to mention in the mortal realm of the Nine Mountains, even in the Heavenly Palace Nine Isles, as far as the eye can see, there is thick fog, and the sun and moon are usually invisible, let alone the stars.
But now things have changed.
Zheng Fa rose slowly, accompanied by the Sun-Moon Bell, and golden and purple lights bloomed, reflecting each other in the air.
The thick white fog that used to be so dense that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face melted away in an instant when illuminated by this light, just like snow meeting the sun.
Looking at the sky from the Nine Mountains Realm, one sees a clear expanse, with only blue sky and white clouds.
The buildings that stand on the nine islands, sometimes hidden and sometimes revealed in the clouds, are truly like palaces in the sky.
The Incense Power offerings surrounding Zheng Fa, like seven-colored clouds, cast soft, multicolored light upon these buildings, making them even more beautiful, like a fairyland.
But Zheng Fa saw this scene very differently.
He sat upright in the courtyard, his mind subtly connected with the Yang Spirit Body.
From his perspective, the power of the Incense Power was actually a sea of Divine Sense!
Zheng Fa had never heard of mortals Divine Sense before, so he naturally assumed that only those with cultivation could develop Divine Sense.
But what happened today shattered his understanding:
This colorful sea of Incense Power is actually composed of countless strands of Divine Sense, which even Zheng Fa could hardly perceive.
A single Divine Soul is insignificant, but the Nine Mountains Realm now has a population of hundreds of millions. When they are gathered together, the power of their Divine Sense far surpasses that of Zheng Fa himself.
"So that's how Incense Power Divine Way."
Zheng Fa quickly gained a much better understanding of the essence of Divine Way cultivation.
In the relationship between Divine Sense and cultivation, there is a paradox that Zheng Fa was unaware of:
Cultivators rely on their Divine Sense to guide Spiritual Qi during their practice; how can mortals, who lack Divine Sense, achieve this?
This scene proves to Zheng Fa that everyone has Divine Sense, but mortals' Divine Sense is too weak to be projected outwards. They are not even aware of it themselves, let alone its Law Technique power.
However, when the Incense Power and the divine Divine Way gathered these faint Divine Sense together, a miraculous change occurred.
In Zheng Fa's perception, the Yang Spirit Body at this moment was actually able to use this Incense Power power to replace Divine Sense.
This Yang Spirit Body Divine Sense are now incredibly powerful, far surpassing that of an ordinary Nascent Spirit Transformation.
What surprised him even more was that the Sun-Moon Bell was the foundation of the Nine Mountains Realm. After the Yang Spirit Body merged with the Sun-Moon Bell, it received the blessing of this realm. Within the Nine Mountains Realm, it actually had a combat power that was comparable to the Fusang Wood. In other words, this Yang Spirit Body might only be a Spirit Transformation outside, but within the Nine Mountains Realm, it could actually rival a Loose Immortal.
"... The speed of Divine Way is truly beyond comprehension."
Zheng Fa stared at the Yang Spirit Body, feeling that it was somewhat outrageous:
You should know that his Yang Spirit Body was originally only at the initial stage of Yang Spirit cultivation, but as soon as he entered the Divine Way, his strength advanced by leaps and bounds to this extent.
Even knowing that this Yang Spirit Body was his own clone, he still had to say—cheating is shameful!
But this is not the greatest benefit of the Divine Way, at least not the greatest benefit for Zheng Fa:
The light, though shining across the Nine Mountains Realm, could not resolve his crisis.
Moreover, Zheng Fa already has more than enough combat power among the Loose Immortal immortals.
But since the Divine Way could rule the Xuanwei Realm for an entire era, it was naturally not that simple:
With a thought, his Yang Spirit Body slightly opened its eyes and looked up at the Sun-Moon Bell.
The Sun-Moon Bell slowly drifted down and disappeared into the top of the Yang Spirit Body, completely merging with him.
The Yang Spirit Body opened his eyes, and the power of the Incense Power around him surged like waves, pressing against each other and converging into a vortex.
In an instant, Spiritual Qi from almost half of the Nine Mountains Realm surged towards the vortex, flowing into the Yang Spirit Body and making his form even more solid.
"This is..." The Old Yuan to have realized something, his eyes widening in surprise.
" Incense Power is a form of Divine Sense, so it can naturally be used for cultivation." Zheng Fa voiced his conjecture, which made the other cultivator's expression even more horrified. "We cultivators all need to use our Divine Sense to draw Spiritual Qi into our bodies. Now, because of the power of this Incense Power, the Divine Sense of this Yang Spirit Body is vastly different from before, and the range of Spiritual Qi it can absorb is naturally incomparable."
In the courtyard, Senior Sister Zhang and the others looked at each other, their expressions filled with admiration.
Everyone understands what this means—it can be said that if the Yang Spirit Body wants to cultivate in the future, it will not lack spiritual power, but only the understanding of the Great Dao!
"This is even better than your Heaven-and-Earth Furnace Technique."
The Old Yuan held back for a long time before finally letting out a sigh.
Zheng Fa nodded in agreement.
The method of the Heaven-and-Earth Furnace is certainly useful, but it still couldn't break through the limitations of Divine Sense.
Ultimately, the Nine Mountains Patriarch can only increase the density of spiritual energy in the surrounding space, but the power of Incense Power can expand the range of spiritual energy absorbed by the Yang Spirit Body tenfold or a hundredfold.
More importantly, the spiritual power that the Nine Mountains Patriarch can provide is limited.
When Zheng Fa Nascent Soul Realm, the Nine Mountains Patriarch, who was in the Spirit Transformation stage, was naturally a super-capacity power bank. But now that Zheng Fa has reached the Spirit Transformation, the Nine Mountains Patriarch's Spiritual Qi is barely enough.
If Zheng Fa were even stronger, then the Nine Mountains Patriarch wouldn't be as useful.
While it might be useful in a battle to solve an immediate crisis, it makes little difference in cultivation.
However, it seems that the Divine Way Method does not have this problem. The stronger the Incense Power, the broader the Divine Sense of the Yang Spirit Body, and the more spiritual power it can absorb.
"This Divine Way Method is so powerful." After the Old Yuan exclaimed in amazement, he frowned, "But the Heavenly Venerable is dead. I'm afraid this is a great loss..."
Zheng Fa nodded slightly, looking at the Yang Spirit Body. He saw that the body's eyes sometimes showed confusion, sometimes joy, and sometimes even a sinister smile. He couldn't help but sigh softly.
Did I send it?
Immortal Li frowned, deep in thought. He was sure he wouldn't forget such an important matter, but the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from Zheng Fa did indeed bear some traces of the Supreme Dao.
"This... this would harm Zheng Fa, wouldn't it?"
"Harmed Zheng Fa?" First Seat Mingde was taken aback, but then saw the old man, a Nascent Spirit Transformation, nodding. He was even more puzzled: How could passing on the secrets of the Supreme Dao to Zheng Fa be considered harming him?
Immortal Li touched his forehead, sighing, "The power of Incense Power, seemingly a treasure for cultivation, is actually dangerous. The thoughts and desires of the masses are nothing but poison to cultivators."
First Seat Mingde asked in surprise, "What do you mean by that?"
"After the Dao Venerable created the Yang Spirit Method, the Divine Way flourished. This method was extremely fast to cultivate and quickly became the mainstream of the Xuanwei School." Immortal Li shook his head. "But this method eventually declined, and the problem lay in the minds of sentient beings."
The old man continued:
" The Founder is right. Sentient beings are ignorant, and their thoughts are complicated, even filthy. Since those who cultivate the Divine Way have benefited from the Incense Power, they naturally have to bear these thoughts as well."
"Therefore, Divine Way practitioners are filled with the desires, greed, and ignorance of their followers..."
"The more believers there are, and the stronger the cultivators on the Divine Way become, the more these thoughts arise, akin to drinking poison to quench thirst."
The First Seat Mingde felt a chill run down his spine, finally understanding why the Founder had said he had harmed Zheng Fa.
"This..."
" Zheng Fa is probably using Divine Way Method to quickly confront that True Immortal Lu," Immortal Li frowned. "But achieving mastery in the Divine Way path is incredibly difficult, almost like ascending to heaven. If things go wrong, even Vast Sun Mountain might not need to intervene..."
The crowd exchanged glances, understanding why Immortal Li was so bothered.
The Supreme Dao wants Zheng Fa to stop True Immortal Lu from attaining the Golden Immortal, so Zheng Fa absolutely cannot die. But now that Zheng Fa is practicing such a risky Divine Way Method, if something goes wrong, wouldn't the Supreme Dao's efforts be in vain?
He looked up at the sky, troubled, and said, "Why couldn't I control my mouth?"
Just then, a crow suddenly cried out from the sky.
A Golden Crow, its body ablaze with fire, flew towards Zheng Fa in the sky.
Flames gathered behind it, resembling a long tail feather, with a crimson-gold chariot trailing behind it, upon which rested a great sun canopy.
The Golden Crow streaked across the sky and landed in front of Zheng Fa.
Zheng Fa stepped into the carriage, which transformed into a great sun, streaked across the sky, and carried Zheng Fa away without a trace.
Those within the Nine Mountains Realm felt an inexplicable surge of joy, even those from outside the Spirit Transformation, such as First Seat Mingde, experienced this.
As everyone was still in shock and doubt, Immortal Li spoke, "The Divine Venerable has taken his place, and the sun and moon have established their order. This Divine Way Method, Zheng Fa, can be considered complete."
Upon hearing this, everyone was unsure whether to be happy or sad.
After pondering for a while, Immortal Li seemed to have thought of something, "Wait a moment, I'll go and have a talk with Zheng Fa."
Seeing that Immortal Li had suddenly come to find him, Zheng Fa was also a little puzzled.
"Alliance Leader, are you practicing Divine Way Method?"
Seeing Zheng Fa nod, Immortal Li sighed, "Then it seems you've also experienced the trouble caused by the power of Incense Power."
Zheng Fa also looked somewhat shaken.
The distracting thoughts that arise from the power of Incense Power are countless.
Some people wish for Spirit Stone to fall from the sky.
Some people think of large houses and big homes.
Even more extreme are those who desire to ascend to immortality in a single day, to be surrounded by three thousand fairies.
There are also some evil thoughts lurking in people's hearts, which are not visible on ordinary days, but are clearly revealed in the Incense Power.
The Yang Spirit Body, immersed in this world, is as if drowning in a sea of desire, constantly in danger of losing its mind.
Fortunately, the One Qi Transforms into Three Purities is profound. Although he could sense these desires, he felt as if he were reading a book that had nothing to do with him.
However, Yang Spirit Body suffered greatly from it, and Zheng Fa could only awaken him from time to time.
If Zheng Fa himself had cultivated Divine Way Method, he would probably be regretting it now.
Immortal Li shook his head and sighed, "It's my fault."
Zheng Fa was stunned for a moment. He had trusted Immortal Li a lot more now and was more interested in observing the Yang Spirit Body. He hadn't heard Immortal Li and the others discussing anything.
Therefore, they didn't quite understand what Immortal Li meant by those words.
"Never mind..." Immortal Li remained silent for a moment before explaining his purpose, "Actually, it's not entirely hopeless."
"Um?"
"My predecessors in the Supreme Dao also practiced Divine Way Method in their early years," Immortal Li explained. "Through their refinement, these Divine Way Method have two methods that can somewhat circumvent these flaws."
Zheng Fa was surprised to hear this.
But then Immortal Li said directly, "Firstly, it is the fundamental inheritance of my Supreme Dao, and it is impossible for me to pass it on to you."
"Fundamental Inheritance"
"Yes, the * Supreme Dao Scripture of Forgetting Emotion * was created by the Dao Venerable. Although it is Divine Way Method, it is extremely effective in restraining the desires of sentient beings."
Zheng Fa suddenly looked at Immortal Li and tentatively asked, "Forgot?"
Immortal Li nodded slightly, seemingly unwilling to elaborate, and then said, "Another method is not top secret, and it is very suitable for you, Alliance Leader."
Zheng Fa became interested upon hearing this. "What method?"
" The Grotto-Heaven Method."
Zheng Fa looked puzzled, then heard Immortal Li explain, "The so-called grotto-heaven is what you call the Heavenly Stele Realm. In my Supreme Dao lineage, it is called a grotto-heaven. The Dao Venerable once said that the so-called Heavenly Stele is the boundary marker of the immortal's grotto-heaven."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa was startled, but he didn't reveal his thoughts, only replying, "Then the Grotto-Heaven Method is..."
"Essentially, it's about using the power of Incense Power to refine the treasures of the grotto-heaven," Immortal Li explained. "Our ancestors of the Supreme Dao discovered that those who cultivate Divine Way Method can temporarily maintain their true nature by combining with treasures of the grotto-heaven."
"Furthermore, as the Divine Way Grotto-Heaven Method grows, the cultivator's cultivation level will increase accordingly, and they will be able to withstand stronger desires for Incense Power offerings."
Zheng Fa immediately thought of the Celestial River Method. It seems that the idea of using Law Treasure to maintain one's true nature really did come from the Divine Way.
Immortal Li added, "This method is actually not very precious."
"Um?"
"What's truly precious are the treasures of these grotto-heavens," Immortal Li said with a smile. "There were many grotto-heavens in the past, but now there are far fewer. In this era, as far as I know, there is only the Nine Mountains Realm the grotto-heavens that have emerged from the world."
That makes sense now.
Even the most precious Secret Method are of little use if they cannot be practiced.
Zheng Fa couldn't help but show some anticipation. Although he wasn't as afraid of Incense Power and desire as others, it didn't mean that his Yang Spirit Body didn't need this method.
The influence of the desire for Incense Power offerings on cultivators is multifaceted:
The most serious consequence, of course, is that it can easily cause cultivators to lose their true nature.
In addition, cultivators are easily distracted by these thoughts during their daily practice, making it difficult for the Yang Spirit Body to meditate and cultivate.
It could even be said that the advantage of cultivating the Divine Way Method lies in the almost inexhaustible Spiritual Qi, while the disadvantage is that one has to dance with Heart Demon every day, making it impossible to calm down and cultivate.
Therefore, Zheng Fa's biggest concern now is how to cultivate the Yang Spirit Body.
"But I must also remind the Alliance Leader," Immortal Li added, "This is not a fundamental solution. For a grotto-heaven treasure to advance, the required Incense Power power is extremely strong, and the cultivator's desires also become stronger."
"Our senior from the Supreme Dao discovered that even the advancement of a grotto-heaven treasure can only temporarily suppress desires, and cannot resolve the suffering of desires among sentient beings. Over time, the cultivators' minds are imperceptibly influenced by the power of Incense Power, becoming deeply entrenched and difficult to reverse."
"Therefore, this Grotto-Heaven Method can only temporarily delay the onset of Qi Deviation; the Divine Way Method... is not a true path to enlightenment."
After thinking for a moment, Immortal Li revealed a secret. "Later, there were no longer many mortals within my Supreme Dao Grotto-Heaven."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa thought to himself that he didn't actually care about the Grotto-Heaven Method's restraint on the desire for Incense Power offerings, but that didn't mean he didn't want the Grotto-Heaven Method!
From Immortal Li's words, Zheng Fa deduced that: the advancement of the treasures of the grotto heavens could also advance the Divine Way cultivators, which meant that this was actually a method for rapid advancement in the Divine Way Method.
When the cultivation of the Yang Spirit Body is disturbed by thoughts of Incense Power offerings, this method is even more suitable for Zheng Fa, who wants to quickly enhance his Yang Spirit!
Others may be wary of the power of Incense Power, and thus worry about gains and losses, even choosing residents of the grotto to achieve a certain degree of purification of their Incense Power offering thoughts.
But Zheng Fa is not afraid!
He bowed to Immortal Li and said, "Thank you for the High Immortal."
"It's alright, I won't pass on this method to you for free." Immortal Li smiled, then said with a bitter face, "To be honest, this is also my fault..."
Seeing his self-reproachful expression, Zheng Fa was even more bewildered and could only sigh:
This Immortal Li, although he doesn't seem very bright, is... a good person.
Zheng Fa soon learned the price of the Grotto-Heaven Method.
In the reception room of Zheng Fa Courtyard, there are two rows of wooden chairs.
Several high-ranking members of the Nine Mountains Sect and the group from the Supreme Dao sat on either side.
Zheng Fa held the Jade Slip for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before handing it to Senior Sister Zhang beside him.
Immortal Li asked, "What is your opinion, Alliance Leader?"
"I generally agree to these conditions," Zheng Fa said, recalling the contents of the Jade Slip. "On the matter of confronting Vast Sun Mountain, my stance is aligned with your sect's, and we are naturally willing to join forces."
In essence, the conditions set by the Supreme Dao Patriarch Xuanding boil down to two points:
One is the united front against Vast Sun Mountain.
Simply put, it's about taking down Vast Sun Mountain together.
It includes detailed clauses on intelligence sharing and mutual assistance, all of which revolve around this theme.
Thinking of information sharing, Zheng Fa looked at Immortal Li with a meaningful expression. "I didn't expect that the Supreme Dao would value the Comprehensive Mirror so much."
Immortal Li smiled.
Zheng Fa sighed inwardly. Of all the great cultivators he had seen, only those limited by their knowledge were truly foolish.
A live broadcast of a battle of Dao Fruit seemed to have shown the Supreme Dao the power of the Comprehensive Mirror and made them guess the intelligence capabilities of the Nine Mountains Sect.
Nowadays, when people talk about intelligence sharing, there might actually be a hidden agenda of trying to take advantage of the situation.
Even Zheng Fa could guess that the Supreme Dao probably had some secret precautions against the Comprehensive Mirror.
Seeing that Immortal Li remained silent, Zheng Fa shook his head, also feeling that the agreement was fairly fair.
The Supreme Dao also played a significant role in the Nine Mountains Sect:
One of them naturally had to withstand the pressure from the Four Sects, especially the pressure brought by Xie Qingxue.
Most importantly, with the Supreme Dao in charge, Zheng Fa felt that the Nine Mountains Sect was truly safe.
Although Vast Sun Mountain currently only has one True Immortal, he is still wary of Thunderclap Temple's shameless interference. With the Supreme Dao, this worry naturally lessens.
In this respect, their interests are almost completely aligned.
Another point to discuss is the trade terms.
Senior Sister Zhang put down the Jade Slip in her hand, looked up at Immortal Li, and asked, " Artifact Spirit for pills?"
Immortal Li nodded and smiled, "My Taishang Alchemy Dao Xuanwei, and your alliance has some Law Artifact and talismans, well, they are also... quite unique."
It was clear that Immortal Li had pondered for a while before finally finding a word of praise.
This wasn't him deliberately belittling the Nine Mountains Sect, but rather, from the perspective of the Supreme Dao, the Nine Mountains Sect's current Dao of Alchemy and weapon-refining capabilities could only be described as having unique characteristics.
Madam Xuanhua is currently only in the Nascent Soul Late Stage and hasn't even reached the Spirit Transformation, so naturally she can't forge Spirit Artifact.
For the Supreme Dao, especially for Loose Immortal like Immortal Li, these Law Artifact artifacts and Law Treasure are indeed rather low-end.
Immortal Li added, "Oh, it can also be used to change the Grotto-Heaven Method. I forgot to write that down."
Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang exchanged a glance, seemingly hesitant.
To be honest, this Trade Agreement is quite fair.
The Supreme Dao Patriarch Xuanding seemed to have obsessive-compulsive disorder; he listed the price on the back of many of his products, some even down to half a Spirit Stone.
Zheng Fa glanced at it and realized that the price was roughly the market price in the Xuanwei Realm, so no one was losing out.
Immortal Li, however, seemed a little embarrassed. He whispered, "I can give you a discount on the Grotto-Heaven Method, but what about the rest..."
He paused for a moment, then said, " Patriarch Xuanding is extremely meticulous. The Spirit Stone in the sect are carefully counted, and cannot be touched lightly."
Upon hearing this, First Seat Mingde and the others all nodded, clearly sharing the same sentiment.
This Supreme Dao Patriarch Xuanding was probably not a spendthrift person at all:
Many of the items in this catalog are exclusive magical Law Artifact from the Nine Mountains, which First Seat Mingde used to enjoy buying.
And because these things are relatively low-end, perhaps even the disciples of the Supreme Dao wouldn't be willing to earn this hard-earned money.
In other words, this agreement not only did not harm the interests of the Supreme Dao, but also supplemented some of its needs for Law Artifact.
It seems that the Patriarch Xuanding was carefully selected, and it can be said that he had no intention of giving the Nine Mountains Sect any advantage.
Zheng Fa thought for a moment and nodded to Senior Sister Zhang.
Senior Sister Zhang spoke up, "Our Nine Mountains Sect has two problems."
"Speaking."
"Can this product catalog and pricing be changed later?"
Immortal Li laughed, "Of course."
To her surprise, Senior Sister Zhang looked somewhat disappointed and asked again, "How much of these do you want?"
Immortal Li was stunned, his face blank, seemingly not understanding the meaning of the question, and couldn't help but ask, "What?"
"How many of these Law Artifact or talismans do you... want?" Senior Sister Zhang explained slowly, then asked expectantly, "Is there an upper limit?"
(End of this chapter)