The sound of preaching flowed through the Purple Cloud Hall, each sentence and each word containing boundless Daoist wisdom.
However, the Lu Clan's Grand Elder and the others couldn't hear a single word he said; they just couldn't help but scrutinize Zheng Fa with their eyes.
Zheng Fa listened with utter fascination.
This second sermon contained cultivation methods from various races, but for most people, the gains were both significant and limited.
If you are Dragon Clan, you will hear the most exquisite cultivation methods of the Dragon Clan here, which will be of great benefit.
On the other hand, you don't quite understand the cultivation methods of other races.
Only one type of person can improve themselves by using the Cultivation Method of other races.
Such people have extremely high comprehension; they can draw inferences from one instance to another, absorbing the beneficial essence from Cultivation Method that are useless to them, and applying this knowledge to other situations, integrating it into their own cultivation.
This is what is meant by "the one with great enlightenment" in the requirements of that meditation cushion.
Zheng Fa wasn't particularly insightful; he was simply not picky about food, not only eating a variety of things but also being somewhat of a mongrel.
Hongjun explained the cultivation methods of the Dragon Clan, and he himself was a true dragon with pure blood. When it came to the Phoenix Clan, he was adorned with colorful feathers and focused on cosplay.
The Nuwa actually only collected seventy-two kinds of biological structures, which is not many compared to the three thousand Great Daos.
But she has high standards; the races she chooses are among the most powerful in the world.
Although Hongjun's sermons were fairly impartial and he did not show much favoritism to any race, the races with strong talents naturally had deep foundations, complex and profound cultivation methods, and high potential, so he naturally spent more time on them.
Therefore, nearly half of the content of Hongjun's sermons is related to these seventy-two creatures.
As Hongjun preached, Zheng Fa understood how the Dragon Clan should purify their bloodline to create a true dragon body that could roam the four seas.
I also understood how the phoenix is reborn from the ashes, gathering the purest vitality between heaven and earth in death.
For him, Precelestial Divine Ability were as clear as the lines on his palm; the true forms of Demon Race giants were clearly visible to him.
Seventy-two of the most powerful, ancient, and closest to the Great Dao in the world flashed through his mind.
They were lifelike, becoming more and more perfect, and their aura grew stronger day by day.
Zheng Fa had no more doubts about how these seventy-two magical species cultivated to become Loose Immortal and condensed Dao Fruit.
He even felt that among these three thousand guests, those Precelestial Divine, dragons, phoenixes, witches, and demons might not understand their own race's cultivation methods as well as he did.
But Zheng Fa's demands went far beyond that!
With a thought, the seventy-two figures shattered into fragments within his consciousness, turning into countless starlight.
He intends to use these seventy-two most powerful species in the world as a reference to condense a perfect Dao Body that is most suitable for himself, or rather, most suitable for the Human Race.
Whether it was his imagination or not, when the seventy-two figures shattered, the preaching in his ears seemed to suddenly grow three times louder, like a surging wave rushing towards him. Immediately afterwards, he was immersed in the ocean of preaching, oblivious to everything else.
He was obsessed, but others could only remain silent.
What surged toward him was not only the sound of his sermon, but also a shower of golden flowers.
These golden flowers layered upon layer until they wrapped Zheng Fa into a cocoon. At first, people could still see Zheng Fa's changing figure through the outer shell of the cocoon. Later, the golden flowers became so thick and dense that outsiders could only see an oval-shaped ball of light, which became brighter and thicker.
The Gu God stared at the ball of light for a long while, then suddenly turned to look at the White Bone Devil Ancestor.
What are you looking at me for?
"Can I learn your Ten Thousand Transforming Bones?"
"..."
Upon hearing this, the White Bone Devil Ancestor stared at the ball of light for a long while before saying irritably, "What a coincidence, I want to learn too."
The Gu God remained silent, watching the ball of light stand on the futon. The two of them pupated forward together, and they pupated very quickly. In just two or three months, it had moved to the third row. Half a year later, Zheng Fa's futon had been squeezed into the first row, getting closer and closer to White Lotus and the Creation Daoist.
The Buddha statue behind White Lotus, which was originally radiant with precious light and contained such a treasure as the Sarira Relic, was naturally dazzling. However, in front of Zheng Fa's strangely shaped ball of light, it appeared exceptionally dim and even pitiful.
Even more somber was White Lotus's expression.
He glanced at Zheng Fa out of the corner of his eye, his expression growing increasingly serious, as if he were trying his best to comprehend the teachings of Daoist Hongjun. However, the ball of light, like a wild bull, gradually approached from his right, then mercilessly trampled over his position, leaving him behind.
White Lotus remained expressionless, seemingly calm, but the Buddha statue behind him flickered a few times and shattered.
The Creation Daoist's reaction to Zheng Fa overtaking him was exactly the opposite of White Lotus's —he smiled, his eyes were gratified, and he even looked happier than anyone else.
He watched Zheng Fa grow smaller and smaller in the distance, then turned to White Lotus and laughed, "Why aren't you listening to the teachings anymore?"
White Lotus held the Bodhi Seed in her hand, her gaze lingering on its cracks. After a long while, she sighed, "Alas, my Daoist heart is already in turmoil."
The Creation Daoist smiled gently, "It's not a bad thing."
White Lotus was stunned for a moment, looked up at him for a while before nodding gently, her gaze unconsciously lingering on the ball of light again.
The ball of light was actually moving at a slower and slower speed, but its forward momentum did not diminish at all, arching to the left one seat at a time.
As the sermons were being delivered, time quietly slipped by, and the sphere of light finally arrived at the head of the first row of prayer cushions!
Although it was expected, the hearts of Creation and the others were still filled with turmoil:
Shi Nandang finally sat in the top position among the three thousand guests, and was truly just one step away from the seventh prayer mat. The Primordial Purple Qi seemed to be within reach.
The crowd waited, but although the sphere of light grew brighter and brighter, it still could not cross this insurmountable barrier until the sermon ended.
Everyone felt a little regretful, realizing that this Primordial Purple Qi could not be obtained simply by listening to the Dao.
As the sermon ceased, the figure of Daoist Hongjun slowly disappeared, and the golden cocoon surrounding Zheng Fa gradually dimmed, revealing his face, which was immersed in the Daoist philosophy.
"Just one step away from achieving the Dao Fruit."
"The Creation Daoist said softly."
White Lotus nodded slowly. They were both experienced people. At this moment, the Dao aura on Shi Nandang's body was almost uncontrollable. Obviously, he had no more obstacles before the Dao Fruit.
Even the two of them had to admit that Shi Nandang's accumulated strength seemed to be several times greater than theirs back then.
Thinking of this, White Lotus suddenly turned her head and asked the Lu Clan members, "How old was Shi Nandang back then?"
The Grand Elder of the Lu Clan calculated with his fingers and said, "Not yet twelve thousand years old."
"A Dao Fruit of twelve thousand years." White Lotus sighed softly, then, as if remembering something, asked the Grand Elder of the Lu Clan, "You said before that Shi Nandang was a member of your Lu Clan?"
"... yes."
White Lotus's gaze towards the Lu Clan changed.
Let alone him, even the Gu God and the White Bone Devil Ancestor found the expressions on the faces of these Nascent Spirit Transformation from the Lu Clan extremely strange—how could your Lu Clan lose such talent?
Under the gaze of this group of people, the Lu Clan's Grand Elder opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word. He simply looked at Zheng Fa with a more complicated expression than before.
Zheng Fa's eyelids twitched, and he slowly woke up.
He felt light and energetic, even with a sense of contentment that he had no other desires—although no one had taught him, he had realized that he had reached the Mahayana Stage.
According to his previous understanding, he was only one step away from completing the ritual before he could become a Dao Fruit cultivator who had transcended all heavens!
Although the three ironclad rules of Dao Fruit no longer exist, there is still a world of difference between Dao Fruit Dao Fruit cultivators and those who do not.
But the rituals... Zheng Fa frowned slightly. He didn't know enough about rituals, and most importantly, he didn't know their essence.
This is not a difficult thing for others.
For example, the Dragon Lord Shuyu could smoothly become Loose Immortal immortal by following the rituals passed down through her bloodline.
Zheng Fa was different. He had no reference for his " Yellow Court Scripture " and could only create his own ritual. It was absolutely impossible to do without understanding the essence of the ritual.
"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Shi, on your great progress in cultivation." Just as he was deep in thought, a voice interrupted his contemplation.
When Zheng Fa looked up, he saw the Creation Daoist smiling at him, his eyes full of joy.
Zheng Fa returned the greeting with a cupped hand.
The White Bone Devil Ancestor and the Gu God rushed in front of him. The White Bone Devil Ancestor hurriedly asked, "What you just used was my..."
"Thank you for your guidance, Fellow Daoist White Bone."
The White Bone Devil Ancestor's eyes suddenly blazed with spiritual fire. He was about to say something when a voice suddenly interrupted, "Your Cultivation Method is quite good."
He turned his head and saw Nuwa standing behind him, looking at Zheng Fa with satisfaction in her eyes.
"Without Your Majesty, my Cultivation Method could not be perfected," Zheng Fa said earnestly.
The key to the further advancement of the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation was actually the inspiration given to Zheng Fa by Nuwa's Myriad Transforming Body as the White Bone Devil Ancestor. However, for Zheng Fa to collect the structures of so many Precelestial Realm beings was not only beyond his capabilities, but also because there were very few beings of such power in the current Xuanwei.
He could certainly gather some weaker races, but how could that compare to what the Nuwa gathered?
"I never expected you could create such a method," Nuwa said after a moment's thought. "Very impressive."
"That's really impressive!"
The Heavenly Dao suddenly appeared out of nowhere, stood in front of Zheng Fa, stared at his face from left to right, and laughed, "I didn't expect that with such weak cultivation and physical body, you could actually create such an interesting Spirit Transformation."
... You're quite the complimenter.
Even Yuanshi Shi, who had previously been taciturn and somewhat aloof, nodded slightly, saying, "Of all the methods of change throughout history, this method is the foremost."
The Taishang stroked his long beard, seemingly deep in thought, "Taking change as the foundation and integrating all things into one, one has already grasped the True Intention of the Great Dao."
He paused, then laughed, "Truly, the younger generation is formidable."
Zheng Fa could easily detect the joke in his tone, and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Without the guidance of you seniors, my Cultivation Method would be nothing but a castle in the air."
His tone was sincere. The Three Pure Ones exchanged a glance, their expressions softening further. Tongtian then asked curiously, "Does your Cultivation Method have a name?"
Zheng Fa thought for a moment, recalling the origin of his Cultivation Method, and said, "I call this technique the Earthly Fiend Seventy-Two Transformations."
" The Earthly Fiend Seventy-Two Transformations?" Tongtian pressed, "Could there also be variations of the Heavenly Gang Dipper?"
"I don't have any ideas yet," Zheng Fa said honestly. "It just happens to be this number. Actually, seventy-two is just a figurative number... I just made it up."
Heavenly Eye lit up. "You can't even name things?"
Who says I can't name things? Wait, what's with the "also"?
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Zheng Fa's mind. He remembered that when he read the Investiture of the Gods, he had a feeling that many of the disciples of the Chan School had rather nice-sounding names, Pure Void Virtue True Lord, Jade Cauldron True Person, and Guangchengzi... They all had a bit of an ethereal quality to them.
The disciples of the Jie School fared worse. The better ones were like Yunxiao Bixiao, or the mediocre Madam Wudang Madam Jinling. The worse ones were like Immortal Wuyun and Immortal Yuyi.
The worst off is Lü Yue from Nine Dragon Island. This guy sounds like he's from the same school as Zheng Fa of the Nine Mountains Sect; he's just a name, nothing more.
Judging from the way they address each other, this Jie School is not very effective.
He originally thought that Tongtian was too lazy to name people because there were too many members of the Jie School, but now it seems... Tongtian is terrible at naming things?
Tongtian seemed to feel like he had met a fellow patient, and he chatted even more enthusiastically with Zheng Fa.
Nuwa and Yuanshi Taishang were not in a hurry to leave. The group stood together, talking about Zheng Fa's Earthly Fiend Seventy-Two Transformations, clearly very interested.
Zheng Fa didn't hold back either; on the one hand, this thing was based on the Yellow Court Scripture.
On the other hand, if these people are dead, it wouldn't matter if I heard it; if they're alive... then telling the truth would be even less of a problem.
The Earthly Fiend Seventy-Two Transformations was just a nascent creation, and with the opinions of these individuals, it has been perfected.
White Lotus stood at a distance, feeling a pang of sadness in his heart—he had originally thought that being favored by the two Founder was already an incredible fortuitous opportunity of luck.
But now...
Others might not know, but the two Founder had told him about the situation here, so he was very clear about the identities and status of the people on the prayer mat.
The Three Pure Ones can be said to be the most noble beings in this world. They usually keep to themselves and rarely interact with outsiders—to put it bluntly, they are arrogant and look down on others.
Nuwa's status was also extremely noble. Although she did not participate in the affairs of the Demon Race, in terms of cultivation, she was the undisputed number one among the Demon Race, with great prestige, and could even be said to be the overlord of heaven and earth.
The four men were now surrounding Zheng Fa with great enthusiasm, seemingly Dao Discussion in a philosophical Dao Discussion. Beyond that, they even treated Zheng Fa as an equal.
Compared to his interactions with the two Founder, this equality was quite different, even absurd.
White Lotus lowered her eyes, feeling somewhat fortunate—her two Founder were still standing beside her, indicating that they valued her, a junior member of the Buddhist School, more.
"Is that person... someone you acquainted with?"
Suddenly, Patriarch Zhunti spoke up and asked a question.
"Ah?"
White Lotus looked up and saw that although the two Founder were standing in front of her, their eyes were fixed on Shi Nandang.
"Not very familiar, but Shi Nandang is also a junior disciple of Master," White Lotus answered honestly. "Although he's not a disciple of Thunderclap Temple, he has a deep connection with Master."
"I knew it; this child has an affinity with Buddhist School from the first glance."
"..."
(End of this chapter)