Burning Merit to Hear the Dao

Three thousand years passed in the Primordial Wilderness in the blink of an eye.

Qing Huan calculated the time precisely and arrived just as the palace gates were about to open.

Before the ancient and majestic gates of the Purple Sky Palace, the two child attendants, Hao Tian and Yao Chi, had long been waiting.

Upon seeing Qing Huan arrive, the two immediately bowed respectfully.

"Greetings, Senior Qing Huan!"

It was clear that over these years of cultivation, both of their cultivation had improved considerably.

Qing Huan smiled faintly and raised his hand in a virtual gesture of support.

"No need for such formality. You serve at the Dao Ancestor's side and possess profound blessings. Cultivate well; your future is limitless."

With that, as though treating them like juniors of his own, he gently brushed the tops of their heads and strode calmly through the palace gates.

Inside the palace, the Three Pure Ones were already seated cross-legged upon their cushions, resting with their eyes closed.

Jieyin and Zhunti of the West beamed when they saw Qing Huan enter and offered a distant Daoist salute.

Qing Huan nodded slightly in return before walking directly to his cushion near the front and sitting down calmly.

Sweeping his gaze across the hall, he saw Fuxi and Nuwa chatting happily with Di Jun and Tai Yi. The atmosphere was quite harmonious.

Qing Huan understood at once.

As expected, the demon race's Heavenly Court is about to be established. These four will all become the pillars of the demon race in the future. Di Jun will become the Heavenly Emperor, Tai Yi will be known as the Eastern Emperor, Fuxi will be Xi Huang, and Nuwa will be revered as Wa Huang.

Even after Nuwa becomes a saint someday.

The name "Wa Huang Palace" will still reveal how inseparably bound she is to the demon race's Luck. As long as the demon race endures, she will have another source of support.

She simply will not be able to participate in the Witch-Demon Calamity after becoming a saint. Otherwise, it would truly be difficult to say who would win...

And Nuwa will also be the demon race's final support...

Thinking of the tragic ending of the later Witch-Demon War, when the demon race would never recover and become stepping stones for some random nobodies of later generations seeking Merit and the Dao, Qing Huan could not help but sneer inwardly.

Who knows where such nobodies as "True Lord Chunyang" and the "Patriarch of Subduing Demons of the Nine Heavens" crawled out from.

They shouted their slogans loud enough to shake the heavens—"Wipe out all demons beneath heaven"! Yet they merely picked on minor demons with no backing, using them to dress up appearances and slaughter cannon fodder.

But when it came to seeking trouble with great demons like Kunpeng, Bai Ze, Ji Meng, and Gui Che in the Northern Continent, why was there not a single slogan-shouting hero willing to kill them?

Even Lu Ya, the demon race's Crown Prince—who would dare lay a hand on him?

They bullied the weak, feared the strong, and fooled the world, yet people still had to worship and praise them. Their performative "demon subjugation" was truly thorough...

Not one of the ten elders who had truly founded the demon race dared to be challenged.

They specifically targeted those without backgrounds. Those elders had eaten so much that their excess had gone moldy and rotten enough to burn as firewood, yet not a single righteous demon-subduing patriarch ever went after them.

Those Patriarchs of Subduing Demons who specialized in patrolling and slaying demons were nothing but a complete joke.

Just as Qing Huan's thoughts turned, an incomparably vast aura containing the majesty of the Heavenly Dao suddenly filled the entire Purple Sky Palace!

The palace gates closed heavily without a sound. Upon the high platform, Dao Ancestor Hongjun's figure had already appeared, ethereal and profound beyond comprehension.

"We pay our respects to the Dao Ancestor!"

All three thousand Innate Deities bowed in unison. Their voices converged and shook the Purple Sky Palace.

Hongjun lowered his gaze, and his calm, emotionless voice rang out.

"This lecture concerns the path of the Quasi-Sage and the opportunity for your Dao attainment. Calm your hearts and listen."

Hongjun's Dao Sound was vast and majestic, transforming into tangible ripples of Dao resonance that flowed endlessly through the Purple Sky Palace.

The three thousand Innate Lifeforms sank into it, utterly entranced, their minds drawn by the profundities of the Great Dao.

Qing Huan sat upright upon his cushion as Heavenly Dao Merit silently burned around him, transforming into gleams of wisdom that aided his understanding of the core essence of the "path of the Quasi-Sage" and the "method of Slaying the Three Corpses" explained by Hongjun.

After all, he would not walk the path of the Three Corpses.

The three thousand Great Daos led to the same destination by different routes; in essence, they were all evolutions of laws.

The Three Corpses Method was exquisite because it was a shortcut—one could attain the Dao of the Quasi-Sage and glimpse the saintly realm through this path even without perfecting one's laws.

Hongjun's saintly voice laid it out clearly:

Slaying the Three Corpses Method of Dao Attainment:

Slay the Good Corpse (Upper Corpse Peng Ju):

Origin: Jade Pillow Pass, governing the dimming and clouding of the eye apertures.

Method: Select an Innate Spiritual Treasure and entrust it with one's pure good intentions.

Use one's natal true fire to temper the Jade Pillow Pass. When the heart becomes clear as a mirror, use the Wu Wei Dao Heart to separate the primordial spirit of one's good intentions, then wield the spiritual treasure to suppress the Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness.

Result: Magic Power will surge severalfold, while one's comprehension of the Heavenly Dao will gather from trickling streams into a vast river.

Slay the Evil Corpse (Middle Corpse Peng Zan):

Origin: Jiaji Pass, disrupting the qi and blood of the middle burner and breeding the poison of the Seven Emotions and Six Desires.

Method: Select an Innate Spiritual Treasure containing murderous baleful qi—preferably a top-grade ferocious and baleful treasure—to carry the severed evil intentions.

Guide the baleful qi through Jiaji Pass and shatter its nest of temptation.

One must endure the trial of the Nine Tribulation Heart Demons and use Earth Fiend True Fire to burn away false emotions and obsessive desires before one can command weapons and stabilize the primordial spirit.

Result: Dao Cultivation and cultivation will rise by another earth-shattering degree. Five Elements Birth and Extinction and Evolution of All Things will lie within a single thought.

Slay the Self Corpse (Lower Corpse Peng Jiao):

Origin: Tailbone Pass, eroding the essence of the lower burner, the root of self-attachment.

Method: A top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure is required. Fuse the essence of one's natal primordial spirit into it and break the Nine Gu Lock of Tailbone Pass.

At the moment self-attachment is completely severed, the True Spirit divides into two. The incarnation and original body will share the same form and heart, mutually confirming each other's true nature.

Result: With the Three Corpses complete, one's Magic Power will become unfathomable and vast as the endless Sea of Stars, initially touching the Chaos Threshold.

Spiritual treasures as blades; their grades determine superiority: The higher the grade of the spiritual treasure used as the vessel, the stronger the Corpse that is severed.

If one uses an Innate Supreme Treasure to slay a Corpse, its Dao Cultivation and power will surpass those of ordinary spiritual treasures by dozens of times!

Three Corpses Unification, extinguishing silence to become a saint: After all Three Corpses are severed, one must use Chaos Origin Qi to temper the Three Corpse incarnations, causing the good, evil, and self-attached thoughts to return to the state of No Self, No Form.

At that time, the body transforms into countless gleams of Dao laws, illuminating the heavens and all worlds.

The Three Corpse incarnations return to the original body, and the primordial spirit resonates and aligns with the Heavenly Dao.

Backlash without a treasure: Without an Innate Spiritual Treasure to serve as a vessel, forcibly slaying a Corpse will inevitably bring the venomous backlash of the Three Corpse Gods, causing both Dao body and primordial spirit to collapse in an instant.

Limit of Tribulation: Before all Three Corpses are severed, becoming involved in a great calamity amid entangled Karma may destroy the bitter cultivation of countless ages in a single day.

The Heavenly Dao bears witness, its shackles remain unclear:

"Severing all Three Corpses is not the end. Extinguishing silence and being reborn is the true path to sainthood."

Qing Huan's thoughts raced as he saw everything with perfect clarity.

There was not the slightest concealment in the Three Corpses Method Hongjun had imparted. Its advantages, disadvantages, gains, and losses had all been explained plainly.

Only with the aid of burning Heavenly Dao Merit had he managed to glimpse this complete method and its dangers and harsh requirements—especially the top-grade ferocious and baleful Innate Spiritual Treasure required to slay the Evil Corpse. Finding one of the same origin...

How was that any different from trying to become a saint...

Of the other three thousand guests in the hall, likely not one could understand its deeper meaning so thoroughly.

Even Taiqing Laozi would have needed to become a saint before discovering the hidden intricacies within...

He merely knew the outcome in advance; now, he finally understood the method...