First Sermon

Once everyone in the hall had quieted down, Old Ancestor Hongjun paid no heed to their hidden thoughts and guesses and began directly expounding the Principles of Heaven and Earth.

"Upper Qi is called Beginning, Middle Qi is called Origin, and Lower Qi is called Profound. What Profound Qi gives birth to lies in emptiness, what Origin Qi gives birth to lies in the grotto, and what Beginning Qi gives birth to lies in nothingness. Thus, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things."

"All things bear Yin and embrace Yang, blending their Qi to achieve harmony. This is the Supreme Ultimate."

"The three transform and give birth, reaching the Nine Profounds. Returning from nine to one is the truth of the Dao. Yang Purity forms Heaven, dregs condense into Earth, and their union forms humanity. When the three are divided, all things receive life, the sun and moon shine in their places, and the Five Attributes are given names. Such is the sage."

"The Dao is like a rushing torrent, yet its use is never exhausted. How deep it is, like the ancestral source of all things. Blunt its sharpness, unravel its tangles, temper its light, and mingle with its dust. How tranquil it is, as if it might exist. I do not know whose child it is; it seems to have existed before the Emperor."

A sage's sermon was indeed extraordinary, profound beyond compare.

Within Purple Heaven Palace, strange phenomena sprang up everywhere. Golden flowers condensed from spiritual charm drifted down one after another, while golden lotuses of spiritual energy surged from the ground. Innate Spiritual Qi mixed with Dao rhymes and transformed into all kinds of rare birds and exotic beasts. There were spirit turtles frolicking, immortal cranes dancing, spirit deer leaping, and qilin raising their heads. One wondrous scene after another appeared without end.

In the early stages of the sermon, the Dao techniques Old Ancestor Hongjun expounded were not particularly profound. They were merely an introduction to the cultivation methods of various living beings.

The living beings of the Primordial Desolation World were divided into Innate and Acquired. Some of the top Congenital Divine Demons possessed rich origins and a Stable Foundation, so when they underwent Form Transformation and emerged into the world, they were already at the Grand Luo Golden Immortal Realm. When ordinary Innate Beings underwent Form Transformation, they could usually achieve the Heavenly Immortal Realm, or even the Golden Immortal Realm. However, the vast numbers of Acquired living beings still needed to cultivate slowly from below the Immortal realms, ultimately passing through the Immortal Tribulation and completing the process of transforming from mortal to immortal and cultivating an Innate Dao Body.

During this first sermon, Old Ancestor Hongjun carefully organized and imparted the cultivation methods for these Acquired living beings. Once those who had listened in Purple Heaven Palace spread them afterward, these methods would benefit the masses of the Primordial Desolation World.

As the sermon continued, after finishing the cultivation path of Acquired living beings, Old Ancestor Hongjun began discussing the cultivation methods of Innate Beings. He explained not only the profound aspects of the various Immortal Dao Realms, but also the methods for condensing the Dao fruits upon reaching perfection in the Grand Unity and Great Luo realms. It could truly be called all-encompassing.

For spiritual cultivators, the sermon also discussed how to condense the Three Flowers of the primordial spirit. Those Innate Qi-Eating Beings with incomplete inheritances could use this knowledge to fill in the gaps in their Dao techniques. For Demon Cultivators, it also contained the way of the Nascent Soul Dharma Idol, which could be studied to temper a powerful Demon Beast body.

Aside from this, there were also various Innate Dao Techniques and Divine Abilities, as well as heterodox methods such as refining Dao Forging Artifacts.

The wealth of practical knowledge left everyone below listening as if intoxicated. Even when much of it did not align with their own paths of cultivation, it could still serve as a reference.

Jiang Yun mingled among them. With the assistance of the supreme treasure, the Dao Derivation Disk, he understood the contents of this sermon quite thoroughly.

This sermon only covered cultivation from the Qi Refining Realm to the Great Luo Realm. With his current cultivation at the Late Grand Unity Golden Immortal stage, it was not too far beyond his level. Aside from some of the Great Luo Realm content, which was extremely obscure and difficult to understand, he listened until his head spun and his vision blurred even with the help of the supreme treasure, feeling as if he were dying from pleasure. He could only force himself to record it all first, waiting until he entered the Great Luo Realm, when his fleshly body and primordial spirit could bear the Laws, before returning to ponder it carefully.

Old Ancestor Hongjun's sermon covered an extremely broad range, including pills, artifacts, formations, talismans, and everything else. In particular, the Dao techniques and divine abilities he taught this time included the 108 Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Divine Abilities, greatly supplementing Jiang Yun's Combat Methods.

Three thousand years passed in the blink of an eye. On this day, after Old Ancestor Hongjun finished discussing the Dao fruit of the Great Luo Realm, he suddenly fell silent and stopped.

At the same time, the heavenly flowers and golden lotuses filling the hall all vanished.

Everyone listening below felt an unbearable discomfort throughout their bodies. They involuntarily broke free from the state of Unity of Heaven and Man and all raised their heads toward the figure on the high platform.

Old Ancestor Hongjun remained expressionless. Looking at the yearning gazes of everyone below, he spoke calmly: "Three thousand years have passed, and the first sermon is over. What I have taught this time is merely the outermost reaches of the Dao. After you return, comprehend it yourselves and study it carefully. Do not grow lax."

"Thank you, Sage, for imparting the Dao. We shall heed your teachings," everyone said in unison.

"Very well. The next sermon will be announced separately. When the time comes, you shall return to Purple Heaven Palace." Old Ancestor Hongjun nodded and gave his instructions, setting the time for the next sermon.

With that, light flashed around his body, and he vanished completely.

Immediately afterward, the Purple Heaven Palace gates opened with a rumbling boom.

Jiang Yun followed behind Jieyin and Zhunti and left Purple Heaven Palace with the crowd.

The sermon had ended. Everyone left Purple Heaven Palace in groups of three or five, some preparing to return to their Dao Fields for secluded cultivation and organize what they had gained from the sermon, while others prepared to seek out friends and discuss the Dao together.

Kunpeng left Purple Heaven Palace and cast a resentful glance at the people with whom he had made enemies before entering the chaos alone and heading toward the Primordial Desolation World.

Jieyin and Zhunti did not hurry away. They first took Jiang Yun to find the Three Pure Ones. After introducing themselves and getting acquainted, Zhunti and Jieyin expressed their thanks to Yuanshi. Jiang Yun also made himself known before the Three Pure Ones and received several words of praise.

All of these people had obtained meditation cushions, and while listening to the sermon, each had sensed something unusual beneath them. The cushions were like vortices of providence, gathering immense amounts of fortune before giving birth to an aura that nourished their souls and bodies and accelerated their comprehension of the Dao techniques. Moreover, while they sat on the cushions listening to Old Ancestor Hongjun's sermon, the cushions produced a harmonious fluctuation with the surrounding Laws, guiding them to comprehend the Laws more deeply.

After experiencing this, they had all formed some ideas about the significance represented by the meditation cushions. Having reached the same understanding, they seemed closer to one another than they did to the others. Now, thanks to their joint opposition to Kunpeng, they had become acquainted as well.

After a brief conversation, they bade farewell. Jieyin and Zhunti then took Jiang Yun to find Hong Yun and Zhenyuanzi, where they once again introduced themselves and exchanged thanks.

Zhenyuanzi's Dao Field, Wuzhuang Temple, was near the western Earthly Realm. Thus, Zhunti and Jieyin invited him to travel back with them.

The two groups passed through the chaos together and reached the barrier of the Primordial Desolation World. Suddenly, Hong Yun's primordial spirit stirred, and he faintly sensed something. It seemed that a fortuitous opportunity had manifested within the Primordial Desolation World. After they passed through the barrier, the sensation of the opportunity became clearer and stronger. After the others learned of the situation, they decided to accompany him in searching for it.

Following the sensation, they arrived at Buzhou Mountain and stopped outside a valley. From a distance, they saw the Three Pure Ones standing ahead, so they approached and greeted them.

"Why have you several Daoist friends stopped here? Have you sensed the manifestation of heavenly secrets?" Zhunti asked with a smile.

"Haha, you Daoist friends have come here as well." Yuanshi seemed to be in an excellent mood as he answered, "The three of us were guided here by heavenly secrets. As soon as we arrived, we sensed their manifestation. It seems that some object is about to emerge, and our karmic connection with it is quite deep."

For several mighty practitioners to sense something simultaneously, whatever Spiritual Object was about to emerge was certainly no ordinary treasure.

The time had not yet come, and the treasure had not emerged. The two groups first chatted to the side, while Hong Yun and Zhenyuanzi also became acquainted with the Three Pure Ones.