Merit Descends

As the Dao Sound rang out, Old Ancestor Styx simply released his soul and resonated with all his avatars, helping the avatars comprehend the Dao being preached. Accompanied by the wondrous light of the Blood Scripture, Old Ancestor Styx's avatars also began radiating blood-colored light one after another. In Old Ancestor Styx's definition, the cultivation paths of the Blood God Son avatars and his true body were identical. They transformed their own insights into kindling, helping Old Ancestor Styx comprehend his own Great Dao, while the Three Thousand Chaos Demon God Avatars were used to comprehend the Great Daos that matched their own origins. This was so that, at a critical moment, they could help Old Ancestor Styx step onto a higher path of the Dao!

Therefore, the ones who gained the most from Old Ancestor Styx's preaching were the one hundred and twenty-nine million six hundred thousand Blood God Son avatars, followed by the Three Thousand Chaos Demon God Avatars, and finally the Spiritual Roots and other innate objects within the Blood Sea!

As the preaching progressed, Old Ancestor Styx's own Dao was also sorted out, and he gained new insights. Thus, Old Ancestor Styx became even more impassioned in his preaching. Since it could improve himself while helping the Blood Sea beings, why would he not do it?

As the preaching entered its final stages, the auras of the one hundred and twenty-nine million six hundred thousand Blood God Son avatars rose one after another, collectively advancing by two minor realms. Then, the auras surrounding the Three Thousand Chaos Demon God Avatars also rose by one level, while the spirituality within the Spiritual Roots and Spiritual Herbs of the Nether Blood Sea surged as well. Several strands of spirituality were especially conspicuous!

After the preaching ended, Old Ancestor Styx felt that his own realm had improved tremendously. Some subtle flaws he had failed to notice during his usual cultivation were corrected, making his path of the Dao much smoother. Even his cultivation had begun to stir restlessly, showing signs of a breakthrough!

He had originally planned to end the preaching there, but after seeing that the spirituality within several Spiritual Roots was already on the verge of awakening intelligence, he wanted to give them another push! However, he had already spoken all of his insights, and for a time, he did not know what to do. As he struggled with this, Old Ancestor Styx suddenly remembered the Buddhist and Daoist Classics he had read out of boredom in his previous life. Although some of their contents might not suit this era,

some of the principles within them were still connected. Without hesitating any longer, Old Ancestor Styx immediately gathered his thoughts and began by preaching the Classic of Dao and Virtue. Since he did not remember the entire text, he then preached parts of the Yellow Court Scripture and the Lotus Sutra!

Everyone under Heaven knows beauty as beauty; thus, ugliness exists. Everyone knows goodness as goodness; thus, evil exists. Therefore, being and nonbeing give rise to each other, difficulty and ease complete each other, long and short define each other, high and low incline toward each other, sound and voice harmonize with each other, and front and back follow each other. This is eternal. Thus, the Saint dwells in the affairs of non-action and practices the teaching without words. The myriad things arise, and he does not reject them. He gives them life without possessing them, acts without relying on them, and achieves merit without dwelling in it. It is precisely because he does not dwell in it that it does not depart.

In Old Ancestor Styx's view, although these scriptures followed a different path from his current cultivation—one was a path of cultivation, while the other expounded upon the Heavenly Dao—they had ultimately been written by Saints of later generations who possessed a commanding understanding of the Dao and contained their own insights into it. As the saying went, cultivation paths might differ, but all roads led to the same destination. Their ultimate purpose was transcendence. Therefore, they could still provide Old Ancestor Styx with a certain degree of reference!

After finishing these Classics, Old Ancestor Styx was just about to check on the condition of those few Spiritual Roots!

In an instant, Auspicious Sign qi drifted down in wisps from above, while Heavenly Flowers fell like goose feathers in a heavy snowfall. Even the Nether Blood Sea was pierced by a profound yellow light. Above Old Ancestor Styx's head, another Cloud of Merit appeared. Its vast area was nearly ten times larger than the one that had appeared when the Acquired Dao manifested previously!

Then the Cloud of Merit split into three. Approximately ten percent entered the Blood Scripture, where new restrictions began to emerge. Another ten percent scattered into countless portions and entered the bodies of all the Living Beings who had listened to the preaching this time. The remaining eighty percent descended toward Old Ancestor Styx. He divided it into two portions, throwing one into the Twelve-grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus, ensuring that its advancement would face no further trouble. Old Ancestor Styx collected the remaining Merit for future use!