Stones from Other Mountains Can Polish Jade

The way of the Sage shifted with the world.

Yet because the Two Sages had different foundations in their Great Dao, they made different choices.

Sect Master Tongtian chose to let matters take their course, while Primordial Heavenly Venerate chose to make arrangements in advance, attempting to steer the greater trend in a direction favorable to himself.

Naturally, the karmic consequences brought about by Xuan Yin's breakthrough into the True Immortal realm and his Refining False into True went far beyond this.

In the northernmost lands, Divine Lord Xuanwu Zhiming, who had been dozing lightly, suddenly opened his eyes. His Grand Unity will followed the endless River of Time and Space toward the future. "Interesting! Taixuan, Dangmo... True Martial Emperor?"

At the same time, Wu Zhiqi, who had just joined the Demon Court, frowned. "Could it be that the Demon Clan Heavenly Court is destined to collapse?"

Karma was often like this: pull one hair, and the entire body moved. He believed the Sages would not conjure such a future in the Great Luo Heavens without cause... Yet now that he had joined the Demon Court, he had no other choice. A portion of his True Spirit had already been bound by the Monster Summoning Banner!

"No, I can't just sit here and wait for death!"

Wu Zhiqi activated his ability to Avoids Death and Extends Life, seeking a sliver of survival for himself. "Perhaps I can go to Mount Kunlun and ask a Sage for help?"

The figures of the Grand Pure Sage and Sage Tongtian flashed through his mind.

The Grand Pure Sage's deductions had allowed him to glimpse a corner of the future, but the Sage revered the Way of Non-Action. He might not necessarily help him sever his shackles.

As for Sect Master Tongtian, though he was said to carve out a thread of survival for all living beings, what price would Wu Zhiqi have to pay to ask him to act?

Primordial Heavenly Venerate, who disliked demonkind, was naturally beyond his consideration.

Besides Wu Zhiqi, in the Primordial True Realm, two immortal embryos—one at a place called Meishan and another at Flower-Fruit Mountain—also flickered with faint light, as though consciousness had awakened within them ahead of time.

Meanwhile, Ziwei Star in the Primordial Starry Sky suddenly flashed with a glimmer of light as well.

"Strange?"

Demon Emperor Jun's brows furrowed slightly. Holding the River Diagram and Luo Book, he deduced the heavenly secrets, yet found nothing. He could only turn to Eastern Emperor Taiyi beside him. "Taiyi, are you certain we completely killed Ziwei before?"

Within the Primordial Starry Sky, Ziwei Star possessed the ability to command all stars. In order to control the Zhou Tian Xing Dou, they had slain Ziwei Emperor not long ago.

At this moment, the Imperial Star was dim, all but proving that Ziwei Emperor had fallen into the Calamity of Self-Loss.

But now that Ziwei Star had suddenly flashed with light, he could not help but suspect that Ziwei Emperor had returned from the Grand Unity Calamity of Self-Loss.

Eastern Emperor Taiyi shook his head. "The Grand Unity is undying, so there is indeed a chance of return. But now, Brother and Xihe command the stars through the Solar Star and Lunar Star. The Imperial Star is dim, and without sufficient fortune, Ziwei should be unable to return for the time being!"

Although he and Dijun were both Innate Divine Beings born from the Solar Star, neither of them intended to walk the Dao of the Sun.

Dijun cultivated the Imperial Way.

Eastern Emperor Taiyi, on the other hand, took the Chaos Bell as his foundation and wished to emulate Great God Pangu by splitting open the heavens and proving the Dao.

But regardless of which path they took, fortune was critically important. That was why they had acted against East King Duke and Ziwei Emperor in succession.

Now, East King Duke was dead, Queen Mother of the West had secluded herself in Mount Kunlun, and Ziwei Emperor had also fallen. The only threat remaining to them was the Wu Clan. By all logic, this should have been the time for them to achieve their hegemony.

Yet for some reason, a faint sense of foreboding arose in both their hearts at once.

"A variable!"

Within Pangu Hall on Buzhou Mountain, Time Ancestral Witch Zhu Jiuyin peered into the River of Time and Space and likewise discovered subtle changes in the future's greater trend.

He wished to continue looking, but they were currently in the midst of a tribulation. Tribulation Qi spread everywhere, concealing all heavenly secrets within the endless reaches of time and space!

Logically, as Pangu's descendants, the Wu Clan should not face any great calamity. Yet Tribulation Qi had now spread across the entire Wu Clan... As an Ancestral Witch, he naturally had to find them a path to survival!

Elsewhere, after leaving Shangqing Hall, Xuan Yin returned directly to his Cave Abode. Though he had successfully broken through, he still needed to sort through everything carefully.

The opportunities of the Journey to the West World could be said to have been comprehensive. They were not merely an increase in cultivation, nor merely the acquisition of the As-You-Will Golden-Rod Staff, but also included several divine abilities he had imprinted in the Journey to the West World.

The [Fighting Character Secret] and [Eye of Shattering Delusion] that had evolved from the fusion of the Chaos Demon Ape inheritance and the Heavenly Immortal Great Dao were undoubtedly supreme techniques.

Though he had grasped them, he still needed time to hone them before he could wield them with proficiency.

Beyond that, Xuan Yin had also found a way to imprint the divine abilities of Yuan Hong, Wu Zhiqi, Sun Wukong, and several other top-tier demon kings.

After disrupting the Peach Banquet, he had used a soul-leaving method to exchange bodies and experience the bloodline divine abilities of Wu Zhiqi and the others.

Then, he discovered that these divine abilities corresponded to the Mystic Gate's Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Divine Abilities and Seventy-two Earthly Fiend Divine Abilities!

The Carrying Mountains and Crossing Seas ability among the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Divine Abilities appeared formidable, but it was merely a weakened version of the Arm-Reaching Ape Monkey's Seizing Sun and Moon and Shrinking Thousand Mountains abilities.

The Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey's ability to Avoids Death and Extends Life also had much in common with the Penetrating Walls Insight ability.

It was simply that one was an innate talent divine ability, while the other had been summarized and refined by several Sages of the Mystic Gate through observing numerous Great Divine Ability Users.

These insights would be of immense help to Xuan Yin in cultivating the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Divine Abilities. Perhaps they would allow him to reach the realm of Profound Dao Magic in the future.

The Jie Sect offered education for all. When Sect Master Tongtian preached the Dao, he did not withhold anything from any disciple. Yet those who could cultivate these Heavenly Dipper divine abilities to the major mastery realm could be counted on one hand. Most disciples chose only one or two divine abilities to specialize in.

In truth, these divine abilities were broad and profound. If one could cultivate even one or two of them to a profound level, one could make a name for oneself in the Primordial World.

For example, Immortal in Flames Luo Xuan of the future would undoubtedly become a master of Samadhi True Fire.

Samadhi referred to the essence, qi, and spirit of the human body. Its threshold was extremely low, yet its upper limit was extraordinarily high. In the hands of a Grand Unity cultivator, it possessed the power to burn the heavens and boil the seas.

Yet when some low-level cultivators used Samadhi True Fire, they could not even burn an ordinary little demon to death, as was the case with Jiang Ziya during the Investiture of the Gods tribulation.

"I recall that Wu Zhiqi seemed to have helped me collect a divine ability in the Journey to the West World before. It seemed to be a variant of Samadhi True Fire!"

Xuan Yin carefully searched through his sea of consciousness. The Journey to the West World had been created and evolved by Sages, so the great Dao principles it contained were as vast as the sea and could not be fully comprehended in a short time.

Thus, Xuan Yin had once asked Wu Zhiqi to imprint a copy for him, even including the many restrictions upon the Houtian Supreme Treasure, the Vajra Ring.

It might be of no use to him now, but who knew when it might come in handy?

[Samadhi Divine Wind]

Very soon, Xuan Yin found that divine ability within his sea of consciousness. Wu Zhiqi had imprinted it for him from Great Sage Yellow Wind.

"Samadhi Divine Fire, Samadhi Divine Wind—one belongs to fire, the other to wind, but their principles are the same. Perhaps I can find a way to fuse them!"

During his journey through the Journey to the West World, the deepest insights Xuan Yin gained, aside from the Chaos Demon Ape's Great Dao of Battle, were into the way of Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind of the Four Monkeys of Havoc.

In particular, his consciousness had transformed into the Six-Eared Macaque, listening to the secrets of the Three Realms and Six Paths. He had already gained an extremely profound understanding of the Great Dao of Wind.

Furthermore, as a world evolved from a Saint's Great Dao, the Journey to the West World possessed complete world laws. It also held unimaginable benefits for his continued comprehension of the Great Dao of Earth Immortals and the perfection of the world he had created.

There were certain laws he could copy outright, thereby saving a great deal of time.

After all...

Stones from other mountains could polish jade!