The first method was to use a treasure that could eliminate karmic debt.
Xuanyuan happened to have one.
The Supreme Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure—the Twelve-grade Pure World White Lotus.
It had been a reward from the system for checking in.
As the most mysterious of the four twelve-grade lotus platforms in the Primordial World, the Twelve-grade Pure World White Lotus was born with the Law of Purification. It could purify anything and was the nemesis of all negative forces.
Naturally, this included eliminating karmic debt.
What's more, using the Pure World White Lotus to eliminate karmic debt required no cost or sacrifice.
However, it had a drawback: the process took far too long.
After all, the Twelve-grade Pure World White Lotus's primary function was purification, not the elimination of karmic debt like the Twelve-grade Karma Fire Red Lotus.
Given the terrifying karmic debt weighing on the three of them, it would take at least ten thousand years to eliminate it bit by bit with the Twelve-grade Pure World White Lotus.
Ten thousand years wasn't that long in the Primordial World.
Many powerful beings spent tens of thousands, or even over a hundred thousand years, in a single period of closed-door cultivation.
But Xuanyuan couldn't wait that long.
There were fewer than four hundred years until Hongjun's second lecture.
Unless he abandoned the task, he had no choice but to find another way.
Fortunately, Xuanyuan knew of a second method for eliminating karmic debt.
That was to use merit!
Merit was like a universal panacea in the Primordial World.
It had countless uses. It could improve one's cultivation, foundation, fortune, opportunities, and treasures or spiritual roots, among other things.
Naturally, it could also eliminate karmic debt.
Merit was incredibly important to all living beings in the Primordial World.
Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult to obtain.
No one was willing to use their precious merit to help someone else eliminate their karmic debt.
Of course, that didn't include Xuanyuan.
When he checked in after a million years, the system had directly rewarded him with ten billion Great Dao Merit.
He had already spent 1.3 billion Great Dao Merit to repair the Nascent Souls of the Twelve Ancestor Witches and Jiu Feng.
Xuanyuan still had 8.7 billion Great Dao Merit.
After making a rough calculation, he determined that three million Great Dao Merit would be enough to eliminate the karmic debt weighing on Kong Xuan, the Great Peng, and Sihuxiang.
With a thought, Xuanyuan summoned the Great Dao Merit disc and separated three clumps of merit from it, each containing a million Great Dao Merit.
"Go!"
The three clumps of Great Dao Merit flew into Qianyuan Palace and entered the bodies of Kong Xuan, the Great Peng, and Sihuxiang.
As the Great Dao Merit entered their bodies, the three of them shuddered. The red karmic debt that had been wrapped around them quickly dissipated.
"Break through!"
The instant their red karmic debt disappeared, the three of them felt their spirits surge. The realm that had troubled them for hundreds of years, keeping them from breaking through, was now completely unobstructed.
In the blink of an eye, Kong Xuan, the Great Peng, and Sihuxiang all advanced to the Daluo Golden Immortal realm.
Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown; Five Energies Returning to the Origin.
All three had bloomed eight petals—a sign of children of fortune.
A smile appeared on Xuanyuan's face. He was in an excellent mood.
"Not bad. Eight-petal blooms. Their talent is on par with Yuanshi, Tongtian, Nuwa, and the others. They have the potential to become Saints."
"Ding! Six-Eared Macaque, Kong Xuan, Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird, and Sihuxiang have all advanced to the Daluo Golden Immortal realm. Congratulations, Host, on completing the task."
"Rewarding Host with ten thousand years of cultivation, ten billion Great Dao Merit, and the chance to advance any Innate Spiritual Treasure to a Chaos Spiritual Treasure."
"Please select the spiritual treasure you wish to advance!"
A string of system notifications rang in Xuanyuan's mind.
The Great Dao Merit disc behind Xuanyuan visibly grew larger, its golden radiance growing ever more dazzling.
At the same time, his cultivation rapidly increased.
In the blink of an eye, he broke through to the peak of the Daluo Golden Immortal realm.
Not long after, Xuanyuan broke through again, reaching the complete Daluo Golden Immortal realm.
And he had used only about half of the ten thousand years of cultivation granted by the system.
The remaining five thousand years of cultivation would be enough to advance him to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm.
In other words, the Quasi-Saint realm.
At this crucial moment, however, Xuanyuan stopped. He didn't continue his breakthrough.
He had his own plans and schemes.
Since returning to Qianyuan Mountain, Xuanyuan had spent two or three thousand years thinking about the path he wanted to follow, even though he hadn't actively cultivated.
He would break through to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm, comprehend Law Power, and Prove Dao as a Primordial Grand Unity Golden Immortal, becoming a Law Saint.
This path was indeed powerful.
In a battle at the same level, one would be far stronger than a Heavenly Dao Saint.
Take Old Ancestor Yang Mei, for example. Though he Proved Dao by Law later than Hongjun, he was still stronger than Hongjun.
If the Heavenly Dao hadn't interfered and exiled Old Ancestor Yang Mei to the Chaos Void, preventing him from entering the Primordial World, Hongjun never could have dominated the world alone. Old Ancestor Yang Mei would have taught him a lesson long ago.
After all, during the Dao-Devil War, Hongjun had not only tricked Yin-Yang Ancestor and Qiankun Ancestor into their deaths; Old Ancestor Yang Mei had nearly fallen into his trap too, almost suffering death and the destruction of his Dao.
The two sides had long been sworn enemies, locked in a fight to the death!
With the Heavenly Dao's interference, the Primordial World couldn't tolerate anyone Proving Dao by Law.
From the moment Old Ancestor Yang Mei embarked on the path of Proving Dao by Law, the Heavenly Dao was bound to reject him. He couldn't even enter the Primordial World openly.
Of course, Xuanyuan had no such concerns.
He was an Ancestor Witch of the Witch Clan, formed from Pangu's blood essence. He bore the merit of the world's creation and possessed a vast amount of Great Dao Merit.
Even the Heavenly Dao wouldn't dare make a move against him.
The reason he wasn't taking the pure path of Proving Dao by Law was that Xuanyuan had even greater plans.
He intended to go to Zixiao Palace first and wait for Hongjun's second lecture. He would learn the method of slaying the Three Corpses, then have each of the three Corpses follow the path of Proving Dao by Law.
He could even have one of his clones follow the path of Proving Dao by Force.
He would combine the strengths of all three paths!
Once he broke through to the Primordial Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm, Heavenly Dao Saints like Sanqing, Jieyin, and Zhunti would be no match for him. Given enough time, neither Hongjun nor the Heavenly Dao would be able to do anything to him.
That was Xuanyuan's plan.
It was an exceedingly ambitious one.
Only someone like him, with the system's support, would dare make such a plan.
Anyone else, even if they knew of this path, wouldn't dare try it lightly—and wouldn't be able to succeed.
That was because the method of slaying the Three Corpses required one to sever the Good Corpse, Evil Corpse, and Self Corpse, effectively dividing the Nascent Soul into four parts.
Once the Nascent Soul was incomplete, one could no longer cultivate the Great Dao of Laws to perfection and break through to the Primordial Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm.
The Twelve Ancestor Witches had been unable to become Saints precisely because their Nascent Souls were incomplete.
Only Xuanyuan possessed enough Great Dao Merit to repair his Nascent Soul after slaying his Corpses.
That was why he dared to take such an unusual and dangerous path.
"Please select the spiritual treasure you wish to advance!"
The system notification rang in Xuanyuan's mind again.
Xuanyuan had already prepared for this.
When the system had first issued the task, Xuanyuan had seen this reward. That was what made him decide to take the Six-Eared Macaque, Kong Xuan, and the other two as his disciples.
He directly took out the Qiankun Cauldron he had obtained from Hongjun and said with a chuckle, "I choose the Qiankun Cauldron!"
"Ding! Host has selected the Qiankun Cauldron. Beginning advancement!"
"Ding! Advancement complete. Congratulations, Host! The Supreme Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Qiankun Cauldron, has advanced into a Chaos Spiritual Treasure—the Chaos Cauldron!"
"The Chaos Cauldron is a Chaos Spiritual Treasure. When Pangu created the world, it couldn't withstand the force of creation and split in two, becoming the Qiankun Cauldron and the Creation Cauldron. This cauldron contains an endless amount of Chaos energy. It can Return to Origin and increase the quantity and grade of the items inside, up to the Supreme Grade Innate Supreme Treasure level. It also has the heaven-defying ability to turn acquired items into innate ones. It can be used to refine treasures as well as pills."
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