The Way of the Mandala

After traveling the Western Continent for thirty thousand years, Luo Qing had already discovered the nascent signs of the Demonic Path emerging.

Within the orthodox Immortal Path, the Mandala of the Holy Ancestor had already shown signs of escalating.

The Mandala Path was a method of collective cultivation among Immortals with a clearly defined hierarchy.

The Holy Ancestor, who was also the Demon Ancestor Luohu, resided at the highest level of the Mandala Altar.

Grand Luo Golden Immortals occupied the second level, Taiyi the third, and so on.

From Earth Immortals to Grand Unity, and then to the Demon Ancestor Luohu.

In this manner, the Mandala Path was divided into eight tiers.

The core competitiveness of the Mandala Path, however, lay in the spirit-summoning technique created by Luohu.

Lower-level cultivators could borrow the magical power of higher-level cultivators for their own use, a crucial life-saving method in the frequent conflicts of the Primordial Era.

For lower-level cultivators, this path was their trump card for survival and struggle.

And for higher-level cultivators, it was also highly enticing.

The more magical power lower-level cultivators borrowed, the more higher-level cultivators could gather the collective power of these Immortals to accelerate their own cultivation.

It seemed like a win-win cultivation method.

As a result, over tens of thousands of years, the Mandala Path had spread like a pyramid scheme, blooming everywhere across the Western Continent.

A single Golden Immortal could gather hundreds or even thousands of lower-level cultivators beneath them.

Seeing others advance their power through this method, a large number of Golden Immortals and Gold Gods also began to construct their own Mandalas.

The Holy Ancestor's Mandala flower had truly bloomed across this continent.

Yet, beneath the prosperity, as Luo Qing traveled through various regions, he felt a chill run down his spine.

It was as if he could already foresee the future, with the Western Continent filled with cries of agony.

This Mandala Path could be considered a beautiful and exquisite bait cast by the Demon Ancestor Luohu.

Under the analysis of the Eye of the Great Dao, all traces were exposed.

While Luo Qing didn't understand the Mandala Path completely, he grasped seven to eight tenths of it.

Now, whether it was the Mandalas honoring the Holy Ancestor or those constructed by other Immortals and Gods using the Mandala Path, their fundamental origin traced back to the Demon Ancestor Luohu. After they adopted the Mandala and its cultivation method, their very lives were actually at Luohu's whim.

In his previous life, Luo Qing understood Mandalas and dojos as altars for sacrificing, which were more of a means to gather faith and incense, and then distribute it according to the respective positions within the altar.

They were nowhere near as terrifying as the Mandala created by the Demon Ancestor.

After in-depth research, Luo Qing discovered that Mandalas, these clearly hierarchical altars, whether it was the Demon Ancestor's Mandala or similar altars in later Buddhism and Taoism, were in fact imitations of the Great Dao.

The ultimate Dao resided above Chaos, the Chaos Great Dao below, and further down were the three thousand Great Daos, similar to the Primordial World.

This showed that the Great Dao itself was hierarchical and required gradual ascent.

Similarly, there were the innate statuses of the Innate Sacred Beings.

Regardless of which Great Dao it was, the higher one ascended, the fewer the number of positions.

This was also one of the reasons for the vast disparity in numbers between Innate Sacred Beings, top-tier, high-tier, mid-tier, and low-tier Innate Gods.

Positions represented one's place within the Great Dao, and like a Mandala, the higher up, the fewer there were.

"To transform oneself by borrowing the Mandala Path, one must cast aside Luohu's influence."

"Fortunately, I don't need to borrow cultivation base, only origin, which should save me considerable effort."

Spending a great deal of time, Luo Qing once again integrated and mastered all the secret techniques and immortal methods passed down by Luohu.

With the assistance of the Eye of the Great Dao, Luo Qing was confident he could create another Mandala system, completely separate from the Demon Ancestor's.

However, Luohu likely relied on his unfathomably profound cultivation base to create the Mandala.

Luo Qing, a cultivator at the late stage of Golden Immortal, lacked such means.

He cast his gaze towards the Fire Spirit Ring, but first shook his head.

Its level was too low; an Innate Treasure was simply incapable of suppressing a Mandala.

As for the other four Innate Spirit Rings, their attributes were slightly off.

Luo Qing required fire-attribute origin; his miniature Mandala would also be fire-attribute.

"Five Source Spirit Disk!"

Finally, Luo Qing took out this Spiritual Treasure.

However, it was composed of the five elements' origin. To achieve the effect Luo Qing envisioned, it would require other auxiliary items.

A hundred years later.

A grand formation, with the Five Source Spirit Disk as its core and the Five Elements Spiritual Rings as support, was quietly established within Luo Qing's Cave Mansion.

"The spirit formation is complete, and the incantations have been perfected. It's time to open the mountain gates wide!"

Luo Qing looked at the spirit formation before him, rubbing a jade slip in his hand, and said with a smile.

Fire Element Artifact Forging Treasure Technique

This was a cultivation secret technique Luo Qing had created specifically for this Mandala system, imitating Luohu.

Upon cultivating this technique, one would automatically be transferred into the Mandala system.

The Mandala system Luo Qing had set up was solely for his own transformation and he had no intention of spreading it widely.

He had therefore divided it into only two tiers: Luo Qing resided in the upper tier, and those cultivating the treasure technique occupied the lower tier.

Furthermore, this Mandala system was not as cruel as the one established by the Demon Ancestor.

Luo Qing's principle this time was equivalent exchange.

Those who cultivated the Fire Element Artifact Forging Treasure Technique could, through this method, glimpse Luo Qing's cultivation of the Fire Element Great Dao and his understanding of artifact refining.

It could be considered a convenient means of transmitting the Dao.

Correspondingly, as others cultivated using this treasure technique, Luo Qing could also, without anyone noticing, steal a portion of their Fire Element origin for his own use.

Afterward, they would only lose a portion of their Fire Element origin, with no threat to their lives.

"Although it still harms the natural order, the impact is not significant. I doubt the Primordial Era Heaven and Earth would target me for this!"

Luo Qing smiled and muttered to himself.

With Grand Unity Golden Immortal within reach, the second transformation was imperative.

Luo Qing could not delay any longer, as it would be difficult to transform once he reached Grand Unity Golden Immortal.

"Luo Yi, Luo Er, from today onwards, open the mountain gates wide, recruit disciples extensively, and establish the name of Fire Artifact Mountain!"

"Yes, Master!"

With all preparations complete, Luo Qing immediately put forth the name "Fire Artifact Mountain."

Using the transmission of fire-attributed cultivation and the Art of Artifact Refining as its foundation, they began to recruit disciples from the surrounding areas.

However, Luo Qing was not indiscriminate in his recruitment; his primary targets were fire-attributed Innate Gods.

Although the Western Continent did not possess fire domain ancestral veins like the Southern Territory, the Five Elements Great Dao was, after all, the foundation of the Primordial Era. It was no mere saying that half of all gods in the current Primordial Era originated from the Five Elements.

One could tell how powerful the gods of the Five Elements were currently just by looking at how the Phoenix, Kirin, and Dragon Clans dominated three regions of the Primordial Era.

With Luo Qing, a late-stage Golden Immortal artifact refining Grandmaster capable of forging mid-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasures, presiding over the mountain, and two Golden Immortal-level elders, Luo Yi and Luo Er, while they couldn't compare to some factions within the inner regions of the Wind Spirit Mountain range, they were quite eye-catching on the outer fringes of the mountain range.

In just a thousand years, over thirty low-level Innate Gods came to admire Fire Artifact Mountain and joined its ranks.

The cultivation of these gods was not high, with most being at the True Immortal or Mystic Immortal realm.

Luo Qing did not mind and happily began to preach the Dao at Fire Artifact Mountain.

All the gods were fire-attributed Innate Gods. Even if they had no prior experience with artifact refining, under the blessing of the Fire Element Artifact Forging Treasure Technique, their artifact refining abilities soared.

Concurrently, Fire Artifact Mountain began to offer artifact refining services to the outside world.

As long as they provided double the refining materials, Fire Artifact Mountain would forge a high-quality Magic Treasure on their behalf.

As time passed, the artifact refining techniques of the gods at Fire Artifact Mountain became increasingly refined.

The number of Magic Treasures they forged grew, and they began to gain a reputation in the southern part of the outer regions of Wind Spirit Mountain.

Another three thousand years passed!

The number of fire-attributed Innate Gods at Fire Artifact Mountain had reached one hundred.

The most capable fire god among them could already refine fifth-tier Immortal Artifacts.

This success was accompanied by envious gazes.

Cultivation in the Primordial Era was far from harmonious.

Fighting and killing were the norm.

Previously, factions in the surrounding areas had refrained from provoking Fire Artifact Mountain out of consideration for Luo Qing, a late-stage Golden Immortal cultivator.

But as Fire Artifact Mountain's fame grew and the number of Immortal Artifacts they forged increased, everyone knew that Fire Artifact Mountain was now like a treasure trove.

Just as Luo Qing was comprehending the Dao charm of the Fire Element laws, Luo Yi came to report:

"Master, a Golden Immortal elder from White Spirit Mountain has arrived and wishes to discuss important matters with you!"

Luo Qing: "Understood. You may go first; I'll be there shortly!"

After sending Luo Yi away, Luo Qing scanned the surroundings of Fire Artifact Mountain with the Eye of the Great Dao.

He saw a mass of tribulation energy rapidly gestating.

"Heh! I thought these people would have come a thousand years ago, but I didn't expect it to be delayed until now."

Luo Qing chuckled playfully.

In any world, sects or powers centered around skills like Artifact Forging and alchemy are always prime targets.

Luo Qing had foreseen this day from the very beginning when he established Fire Artifact Mountain.

Whether he could stand his ground would depend on how sharp his blade was!