The Mandala Path

After traveling throughout the Western Continent for thirty thousand years, Luo Qing had already discovered signs that the Devil Dao was about to emerge.

Within the orthodox Immortal Dao, the Mandala Path passed down by the Holy Ancestor had already begun to grow increasingly powerful.

The Mandala Path was a cultivation system in which countless immortals cultivated together under a clear hierarchy.

The Holy Ancestor—who was also Demon Ancestor Luohou—occupied the highest level of the Mandala Altar.

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

From Earth Immortals to Grand Luo, and then to Demon Ancestor Luohou.

After being developed in this manner, the Mandala Path was divided into eight levels.

However, the Mandala Path's core competitive advantage was Luohou's creation, the spirit-descending technique.

Lower-level cultivators could borrow the Dharma Power of higher-level cultivators for their own use. In the frequent struggles of the Primordial World, this was a crucial means of preserving their lives.

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

For higher-level cultivators, it was also extremely alluring.

The more Dharma Power the lower-level cultivators borrowed, the more the higher-level cultivators could gather the lower-level immortals beneath them and accelerate their own cultivation.

It seemed like a cultivation method in which everyone benefited.

As a result, after tens of thousands of years, the Mandala Path had blossomed throughout the Western Continent like a pyramid scheme.

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

Seeing others advance their cultivation through this method, large numbers of Golden Immortals and Metal Gods also began constructing their own Mandalas.

The Holy Ancestor's Mandala flowers could be said to have already bloomed across this continent.

Yet beneath the prosperity, Luo Qing felt chilled to the bone as he traveled throughout the various regions.

It was as though he could already see the cries of misery that would one day fill the Western Continent.

The Mandala Path could be called a wondrously exquisite bait cast down by Demon Ancestor Luohou.

Under the analysis of the Eye of the Great Dao, no trace could escape detection.

Luo Qing could not claim to understand the entire Mandala Path perfectly, but he had grasped seventy to eighty percent of it.

At present, whether it was the Mandalas worshiping the Holy Ancestor or those other immortals and gods who had independently borrowed the Mandala Path to construct their own Mandalas,

their ultimate source was Demon Ancestor Luohou. Once they invested themselves in the Mandala and used the Mandala cultivation method,

their lives had in fact already rested on a single thought from Luohou.

The Mandalas and Dao Fields—the sacrificial altars—that Luo Qing had learned about in his previous life

were mainly methods for gathering faith and Incense Fire, then distributing it according to the various Innate Positions within the altar.

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

After conducting deeper research, Luo Qing discovered that these hierarchically ordered altars known as Mandalas

—whether the Demon Ancestor's Mandala or the similar altars of later Buddhism and the Daoist Sect—

were in fact all imitating the Great Dao.

The ultimate Dao resided above the chaos, the Chaos Great Dao below it, and beneath that were the Three Thousand Great Daos, such as those of the Primordial World.

Clearly, the Great Dao itself was strictly hierarchical, requiring one to climb upward step by step.

Similarly, there were the Innate Positions of the Innate Sacred Beings.

Regardless of which Great Dao it was, the farther upward one went, the fewer positions there were.

This was also one reason for the enormous disparity in numbers between the various levels of Innate Gods—the supreme, high, middle, and low levels.

An Innate Position represented one's place within the Great Dao. Like the Mandala, the higher one went, the fewer positions there were.

"To use the Mandala Path to transform myself, I must first exclude Luohou's influence."

"Fortunately, I don't need to borrow cultivation—only origin. That will save me quite a bit of effort."

After spending a great deal of time, Luo Qing once again thoroughly integrated all the secret techniques and immortal arts passed down by Luohou.

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

However, Luohou had most likely created the Mandala by relying on his unfathomably profound cultivation.

As a late-stage Golden Immortal, Luo Qing did not possess such means.

Luo Qing turned his gaze toward the Fire Spirit Ring, then shook his head at once.

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

As for the other four Innate Spiritual Rings, their attributes were somewhat unsuitable.

What Luo Qing needed was fire-attribute origin. His miniature Mandala would also possess only the fire attribute.

"Five Source Spirit Disk!"

In the end, Luo Qing still took out this Divine Treasure.

However, it contained the origin of the five elements. To transform it into what Luo Qing envisioned, he would still need other forms of assistance.

A hundred years later.

A great array 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 abode.

"The Spirit Array is complete, and the incantation has also been perfected. It's time to open my mountain gate wide!"

Luo Qing looked at the Spirit Array before him, rubbed a Jade Slip in his hand, and smiled.

Fire Element Artifact Forging Treasure Technique

This was the cultivation secret technique Luo Qing had specifically created for this Mandala System by imitating Luohou.

Anyone who cultivated this technique would automatically enter the Mandala System.

Luo Qing had established this Mandala System solely to transform himself, and he had no intention of spreading it widely.

Thus, he had only divided it into two levels. Luo Qing occupied the upper level, while those who cultivated the treasure-forging technique occupied the lower level.

Moreover, this Mandala System was not as cruel as the one established by the Demon Ancestor.

This time, Luo Qing followed the principle of equivalent exchange.

Those who cultivated the Fire Element Artifact Forging Treasure Technique could use this method to observe Luo Qing's cultivation of the Fire Element Great Dao and his understanding of Artifact Refining.

The Fire Element Artifact Forging Treasure Technique could be treated as a convenient method of transmitting the Dao.

In exchange, when others used this treasure-forging technique to cultivate,

Luo Qing could also secretly and imperceptibly siphon away part of their fire origin for his own use.

Afterward, they would only lose part of their fire origin. Their lives would not be in danger.

"Although this still harms the natural order, the impact isn't significant. Surely the Primordial Heaven and Earth won't target me over this!"

Luo Qing chuckled and muttered to himself.

With the threshold of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal in sight, his second transformation had already become imperative.

Luo Qing could no longer delay. Otherwise, once he reached the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm, transforming again would become difficult.

"Luo Yi, Luo Er, open the mountain gate wide and recruit disciples starting today. Establish the name of Fire Artifact Mountain!"

"Yes, Master!"

Once everything was prepared, Luo Qing immediately announced the name "Fire Artifact Mountain."

Using the teaching of fire-attribute cultivation and the Art of Artifact Refining as its foundation, he began broadly recruiting mountain-gate disciples in the surrounding area.

However, Luo Qing did not accept just anyone. His primary targets were still fire-attribute Innate Gods.

Although the Western Continent did not possess a fire-domain Ancestral Vein like the Southern Domain,

the Five Elements Great Dao was, after all, the foundation of the Primordial World. In the current Primordial World, saying that half of all the gods under Heaven came from the five elements was no joke.

One only had to look at how the three races—the Phoenix, Qilin, and Dragon Race—could dominate the three regions of the Primordial Wilderness to understand how powerful the gods of the five elements currently were.

With Luo Qing, a late-stage Golden Immortal artifact-refining grandmaster capable of refining mid-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasures, stationed there,

and with two Golden Immortal-level elders, Luo Yi and Luo Er,

although Fire Artifact Mountain could not compare with some of the mountain forces in the inner region of the Wind Spirit Mountain Range, it was still quite eye-catching in the mountain range's outer region.

In less than a thousand years, more than thirty low-level Innate Gods, attracted by its reputation, joined Fire Artifact Mountain.

These gods' cultivation levels were not high. Most were in the True Immortal or Mystic Immortal realm.

Luo Qing did not look down on them. Instead, he happily began transmitting the Dao at Fire Artifact Mountain.

All the gods were fire-attribute Innate Gods. Even if they had never practiced Artifact Refining before, under the enhancement of the Fire Element Artifact Forging Treasure Technique,

their artifact-refining abilities soared rapidly.

At the same time, Fire Artifact Mountain began refining artifacts for outsiders.

As long as one provided two sets of artifact-refining materials, Fire Artifact Mountain would refine one high-quality Dharma treasure on their behalf.

As time passed, the artifact-refining skills of the gods of Fire Artifact Mountain grew increasingly refined.

They refined more and more Dharma treasures, and Fire Artifact Mountain gradually gained a reputation in the southern outer region of the Wind Spirit Mountain Range.

Another three thousand years passed!

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

The most outstanding Fire God among them could already refine fifth-tier Immortal Artifacts.

This was accompanied by some greedy gazes.

Cultivation in the Primordial World was not a harmonious affair.

Fighting and killing were the norm.

Previously, the nearby forces had held back because of Luo Qing, a late-stage Golden Immortal, and had no intention of attacking Fire Artifact Mountain.

But as Fire Artifact Mountain's reputation grew and the number of Immortal Artifacts it refined increased,

anyone could see that Fire Artifact Mountain had now become a treasure trove.

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

"Master, a Golden Immortal elder from White Spirit Mountain has come to visit. He wishes to discuss an important matter with you!"

Luo Qing said, "I know. You may go first. I'll be there shortly!"

After sending Luo Yi away, Luo Qing swept the area around Fire Artifact Mountain with the Eye of the Great Dao.

He saw a mass of Calamity Fiend Qi rapidly taking shape.

"Ha! I thought these people should have come a thousand years ago. I didn't expect them to drag it out until now."

Luo Qing smiled playfully.

In any world, sects and forces that relied on skills such as Artifact Refining and Alchemy were all pieces of fat meat.

When Luo Qing established Fire Artifact Mountain, he had already foreseen this day.

If he wanted to establish a firm foothold, he would still have to see whether his blade was sharp enough!