Comprehending the Dao, Attaining the Dao, Proving the Dao (Part 1)
Regarding Comprehending the Dao, Attaining the Dao, and Proving the Dao, Tang San also considered this aspect. Although the details were slightly different from Zhou Qing's, they were largely the same.
He never expected that the profound and mysterious teachings of Daoism would be so simple.
The Dao is in Shit and Urine!
For some reason, Tang San thought of this sentence and realized how great the wisdom of the ancient sages was.
This sentence comes from: Zhuangzi, "Knowledge Wandered North".
Dongguozi asked Zhuangzi, "Where is the so-called Dao?"
Zhuangzi said, "It is everywhere."
Dongguozi, "It is acceptable only after a certain date is set."
Zhuangzi said, "Even ants..."
He said, "How lowly is he?"
He said, "It is in the weeds."
He said, "Why is it getting worse?"
He said, "It's in the tiles."
He said, "Why is it getting worse?"
He said, "In excrement and urine."
Dongguozi did not respond.
The "Tao" spoken of by Daoism has never been some mysterious and mysterious existence, but rather everything in reality—ants, weeds, tiles, excrement, and so on. All things that exist have the Tao.
The Dao is omnipresent, but ordinary people cannot perceive it. The changes in the Dao that are most perceptible are the changes in the Four Seasons Climate, the withering and flourishing of plants, and the rotation of the Sun Moon.
Therefore, Daoism cultivation methods, regardless of their level or strength, are closely related to the changes in the heavens and earth. Thus, one must perceive the changes in the heavens and Comprehending the Dao and comprehend the Tao at the beginning of cultivation, rather than trying to understand the Great Tao after achieving success. If one cannot Comprehending the Dao before achieving success, then it will be even more difficult to Comprehending the Dao after achieving success!
Surprisingly, the Mysterious Heaven Skill lacks such crucial details...
Either the Tang Sect's ancestors lost this part!
Or—
The method by which the Tang Sect obtained the Mysterious Heaven Skill Gong is similar to the way he obtained it! Otherwise, if the Daoist sects intended to pass it down, why would they keep it a secret?
Tang San leaned towards the latter, and the last vestige of guilt in his heart gradually vanished...
···
Heaven Dou City.
The Preliminary Competition have ended, and the next stage will be the Promotion Competition.
Unlike the Preliminary Competition, the Promotion Competition are individual competitions. Although each team still sends out seven participants, they face off one by one. The winners stay on the field, while the losing team sends out more students until one team loses all of their students.
The Promotion Competition will rank the teams that have passed the Preliminary Competition rounds, so that the teams will receive a bye in the Finals and there will be no elimination.
"Brother Qing, since there is no elimination, what is the purpose of the promotion round?" Wang Sheng wondered, "What's the point of ranking in advance? When the finals start, won't we still have to compete again? Isn't it just because we can get a bye in the finals, so we have to compete with other teams?"
The Finals consist of six rounds.
In the first round, the Heaven Dou Royal First Team, the Star Luo Empire Royal Family Team 1, and the Spirit Hall Team received a bye, while the other teams competed for the remaining fifteen qualifying spots.
In the second round, the top two teams from the Two Great Empires regions Promotion Competition bye, while the three teams that received a bye in the first round joined in, making a total of sixteen teams competing for eight qualifying spots.
Third Round: Including the two teams that received a bye in Round 2, there are a total of ten teams. The two teams that did not receive a bye in the top two rankings will receive a bye, while the other eight teams will compete for four spots.
Round Four: The top six will compete to determine the top three. No more byes!
The fifth round of the Finals adopted an individual Promotion Competition format, with the top three teams competing for the first place.
The two losing colleges will compete for second place.
The final round: The first and second place teams will face off in a team battle.
In Wang Sheng's opinion, while a bye allows teams to rest and prepare, it's really a bit... unbearable to fight to the death in one-on-one Promotion Competition.
"In order to select talent for the empire."
Zhou Qing explained, "Brother Wang, have you forgotten what I said before? The purpose of the Continental Elite Tournament is ostensibly to allow outstanding students from various academies to showcase their talents, but in essence, it is a conference to recruit outstanding Soul Master employees."
"It's actually the same as ordinary people looking for a job in the city: if you can do it, do it; if you can't, get out. It's that simple. It's just that this job fair is larger in scale and has more rules. And once you're hired, you can't just leave if you don't want to work there anymore. Otherwise, at best you'll be despised, and at worst you'll be in danger of losing your life."
Wang Sheng immediately understood and exclaimed, "This is what it means to see the big picture from the small details?"
"Uh-huh."
Zhou Qing smiled and said, "The governance methods of Heaven Dou City and Nuoding City are essentially the same. The only difference is that Heaven Dou City is much larger Nuoding City, so it is more prosperous, has more nobles, and even major sects have their own residences here, making the entanglements of interests between them more complex."
Therefore, Nuoding Team will not participate in the Promotion Competition.
Inside the hotel, upon learning that Zhou Qing and the others did not intend to participate in the Promotion Competition, Nuoding Academy Dean, though puzzled, did not refuse. After all, he knew that Zhou Qing and Tang San were always decisive, and they had also befriended a Titled Douluo.
"Sigh~"
Thinking of this, Nuoding Academy Dean sighed.
"What's wrong, Dean?" Zhou Qing asked, puzzled.
"Nuoding Academy will definitely develop in the future, but I'm worried—"
After this year's Continental Elite Tournament concludes, Nuoding Academy will inevitably attract a large number of Soul Master from various factions, and many of them may even stay to serve as teachers in order to investigate the reasons behind Zhou Qing and his group's strength.
In this way, Nuoding Academy might be able to develop by utilizing the knowledge in the minds of these Soul Masters, but Nuoding Academy Dean was also uneasy.
After all, he was just a Soul Elder. If the Soul Master who came were Soul Ancestor or even Soul King, how could he possibly manage them?
They must be treated with reverence!
Bu Yi is now Soul Ancestor, but he is easy to talk to, has a good temper, and is quite respectful to himself, which may not be the case for other Soul Master.
"That's fine. If they don't listen, we can just fire them. After all, it's not like our Nuoding Academy requires them to come to work."
Zhou Qing said that as long as Nuoding Academy Dean stands firm, they will take action if the other party dares to make a move.
Upon hearing this, Nuoding Academy Dean realized that Zhou Qing and his group truly had no intention of joining either side, but rather aimed to establish their own power in the border region Two Great Empires where Holy Soul Village was located. He thought to himself, "Perhaps I really should muster the courage to make a change..."
Although Nuoding Academy Dean was nearly thirty years old, he had traveled to the larger cities in the Heaven Dou Empire when he took over Nuoding Academy from his father. He was quite knowledgeable and could see some of the conflicts between the Heaven Dou Royal Family and the Spirit Hall. He also considered that the Heaven Dou Empire had another enemy country: the Star Luo Empire.
Hiss--
If one wants to focus solely on cultivation, their area is indeed the most stable. Moreover, the road leading to Vast Sea City on the west coast, as well as the road connecting the border towns of the Two Great Empires, are still under construction and being improved. Merchants travel back and forth frequently, and the area has changed a lot in the past three years. With the marine resources transported from Vast Sea City, there is more than enough for Zhou Qing and the others to use for cultivation.
In the past, large cities were mostly built near the Soul Beast Forest and developed by relying on the resources within the Soul Beast Forest. Smaller Soul Beast Forest, or even areas without Soul Beast, were mostly backward and poor. Even if there were vast fertile fields, the heavy grain taxes made it difficult for farmers to develop.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Qing and his group came up with another way of development: connecting the land and sea, making travel orderly and convenient.
The convenience of transportation and logistics has surprisingly given the Nuoding City area the potential to support a large number of Soul Master...
Given all this, how could he not trust Zhou Qing or them?