"Immortals among mortals, gods above ancestors..."
If the Magic Ancestor had not been able to see through all of Ba Zunan's consecutive Dao techniques, natural manifestations, and perfect displays at first glance, that was only natural.
After all, in His understanding of the Great Dao, even if Ba Zunan did not refine spirits and instead walked the Sword Ancestor's path, he should still have been capable of transcendence.
No matter how one put it, no one should have been able to return to zero in a single step. "Discern the self, and the Great Dao transforms."
This was an immutable law of the Holy Spirit Continent since time immemorial.
It was also the first bottleneck the Holy Ancestor had encountered before ascending to godhood and becoming an ancestor.
Throughout most of the Holy Spirit Continent, the height of Dao techniques, compared to the perfect Dao techniques of the Heavenly Realm, reached only eight out of ten.
Thus, through normal cultivation, one could not attain the nine-out-of-ten Transcendent Dao Transformation.
Without reaching nine out of ten, one naturally could not approach the perfect ten out of ten—namely, ascending to godhood and becoming an ancestor.
Therefore, Dao Transformation, Transcendent Dao Transformation, and ascending to godhood and becoming an ancestor formed a step-by-step sequence. It was the path normal cultivators were meant to take.
Yet Self-Discernment was stuck before even the first step.
After all, once one discerned the self and underwent Dao Transformation, the self would return to Heaven and Earth. Like Hua Weiyang, one would assimilate into the "Dao."
Though one would live as long as Heaven, it was no different from death. One could no longer ascend to the Heavenly Realm.
How could this be resolved?
Those beneath the Ancestor God Realm could not comprehend it.
Even a Holy Emperor—if