After passing through a Forbidden Law barrier with the elasticity of jelly, Fang Yang stepped into the interior of the immortal estate.
The immortal estate contained its own space. What appeared enormous from the outside held a small world within—the true nature of a grotto-heaven. A grotto-heaven possessed a relatively independent spacetime, complete with its own laws of heaven and earth.
The instant Fang Yang entered the immortal estate, he distinctly sensed that his personal time flow had accelerated several hundredfold. In that moment, the beating of his heart, the circulation of his mana, and everything else accelerated as well.
The sensation was profoundly mysterious. Those below the Golden Immortal realm might not even have noticed the changes within themselves upon entering such a state.
Looking around, Fang Yang delightedly discovered that the immortal estate was a miniature Heavenly Court.
Within the immortal estate were palaces, towers, immortal mountains, and islands. Thick Heavenly Veins threaded through the void, bringing the freshest spiritual qi to heaven and earth.
Notably, there were no sun, moon, or stars within the immortal estate. All illumination came from the Heavenly Light emitted by the canopy of heaven. The light was gentle, yet it perfectly illuminated the entire palace complex.
The space was arranged according to the Five Elements directions, with a massive treasure vault at each point: the Primordial Gold Hall, Heavenly Wood Hall, Black Water Hall, Flowing Fire Hall, and Pure Land Hall.
These five treasure vaults were treasures in themselves, formed from the hearts of the Five Elements Spiritual Veins. From each vault flowed a thick spiritual vein.
The five spiritual veins of Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth ultimately converged at a single point in the center of the space.
At the center stood a Floating Immortal Island. Upon it rose an Ancient Palace, its plaque still blank and unnamed. Vast Five Elements Spiritual Qi formed a swirling vortex around the palace, an awe-inspiring sight.
"What a Qingcheng Grotto-Heaven. Its reputation was truly well deserved. With this dojo, my cultivation speed before reaching the Great Luo realm will increase by a thousandfold!"
Fang Yang was not exaggerating. The time flow within Qingcheng Grotto-Heaven was 365 times faster than in the outside world, while its spiritual qi density far surpassed that of Ningzhen Island.
By that calculation, Fang Yang's cultivation speed would definitely be more than a thousand times faster than it was outside.
Fang Yang knew little about the Grand Unity Realm and could not make a judgment about it. Still, the Time Acceleration function of Qingcheng Grotto-Heaven was undoubtedly useful.
Fang Yang made a circuit of his territory and inspected the palaces and treasure vaults. Seeing that no treasures had been left behind, he finally set his mind at ease.
The five treasure vaults were utterly empty. Apart from mountains of Spirit Crystals condensed from spiritual qi, there were no treasures at all.
Spirit Crystals might still have some use in small worlds. In the Primordial Wilderness, they could only be donated to the west to aid its impoverished living beings.
Standing on Central Immortal Island, Fang Yang gazed up at the plaque above the main hall and pondered its name. He would be living and cultivating in this palace for years to come, so he needed a name he liked.
"The Dao of observing heaven, the practice of carrying out heaven; the Dao lies within the universe, and the law lies between heaven and earth."
A thread of Golden Light gathered at Fang Yang's fingertip as he wrote in the air. With several swift strokes, characters like iron paintings and silver hooks appeared upon the plaque. "This hall shall be called the Observing Heaven Hall!"
A Golden Immortal could perfectly control his body. Whatever characters he wished to write in his heart would emerge exactly that way. Once those three characters appeared, even Fang Yang admired himself a little.
"Becoming Immortal is wonderful. I have endless time to improve myself and become even better."
Back then, he had practiced calligraphy until his hands cramped, yet he could never produce legible characters. Who would have thought that one day, he would write such fine calligraphy?
After tidying up his dojo, Fang Yang began cultivating once more.
He continued cultivating World Creation and Transformation. Until he had mastered this divine ability, he would not cultivate any others.
Although Sect Master Tongtian had taught Fang Yang the Heaven Intercepting Seven Swords, he had also warned him to remain grounded and not chase after more once he had gained something. Abandoning an unfinished divine ability to cultivate a more profound one was an unwise approach.
Fang Yang understood. Naturally, he would not immediately cultivate the Saint-level Divine Ability known as the Heaven Intercepting Seven Swords. Before that, he needed to unify the Mystic Gate's divine abilities through All Laws Return to One and cultivate them to the level of Law-Self Unity.
Law-Self Unity was a broad concept. Person-Sword Unity, Person-Formation Unity, and similar states all fell within it.
The core principle of Law-Self Unity was that any divine ability, formation, or sword art, when cultivated to its peak, could become one with the practitioner's own Great Dao, much like Old Ancestor Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao.
In gaming terms, it meant cultivating active skills into passive skills, turning their traits into attribute points and adding them to oneself.
Fang Yang was still far from the Grand Unity Realm. Only after comprehending the realm of Law-Self Unity could his Primordial Spirit bear the profundities contained within the Heaven Intercepting Seven Swords.
Fang Yang sat cross-legged in the Observing Heaven Hall. Spiritual qi surged around him like a vast river and sea as he began his secluded cultivation.
Granting life to Myriad Things was merely the most superficial aspect of World Creation and Transformation. Cultivated to its highest level, this Daoist art could point directly to the Great Dao of Creation.
Like Empress Nuwa, one could not only create life, but also grant living beings emotions and thoughts through one's own will.
Fang Yang's World Creation and Transformation did not even qualify as elementary. He could not yet transform matter and energy, nor could he alter the forms and properties of matter.
No matter how profound a Daoist art was, progress came little by little. As long as one was willing to study and accumulate, insignificant gains would eventually build into great achievements.
Fang Yang entered seclusion for thirty thousand years in one stretch.
Very few people possessed the patience to spend thirty thousand years specifically comprehending a single divine ability. There were countless divine abilities under heaven, so there was no need to stubbornly contend with one whose killing power was lacking.
Fang Yang was willing to spend that time. He had secluded himself in Qingcheng Grotto-Heaven for thirty thousand years, but only thirty thousand days had passed in the outside world.
After eighty years of arduous cultivation, Fang Yang gained enormous rewards.
He thoroughly realized that the core of World Creation and Transformation did not lie in "creation," but in "transformation." Its true meaning was to rotate the Five Elements, transform yin and yang, and return Myriad Things to their true nature.
Fang Yang pointed at a drop of water before him. In the next instant, it turned into flame. He pointed again, and the flame became a leaf... Gold, Wood, Water, and Earth transformed and changed freely according to his will.
Then he picked up a pebble. With a movement of his mana, the pebble in his hand melted into a mass of molten iron. The molten iron flowed through the air, cooled, and became a sharp Treasure Sword.
Even more wondrously, Fang Yang flung the Treasure Sword away and exhaled a mouthful of mana. The mana abruptly transformed into a lump of flesh and blood, which writhed and swelled before instantly becoming a brightly colored rooster with powerful legs.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
The rooster cried out, flapped its wings, gripped the Treasure Sword in one claw, and actually began practicing swordsmanship.
"Five Elements Transformation, Yin and Yang Mutual Generation, Mass-Energy Conversion—World Creation and Transformation is truly marvelous. To achieve Law-Self Unity, I must go to Golden Ao Island and retrieve the complete Thirty-six Heavenly Spirits. With the other Heavenly Dipper Great Laws as references, I can complete Law-Self Unity more quickly."
After mastering one Heavenly Dipper Great Law, Fang Yang's mana had increased by nearly seventy percent. If he could cultivate it to the level of Law-Self Unity, his mana would likely soar severalfold.
Such was the power of Mystic Gate Orthodox Law, something those Heterodox Paths could never compare with.
Of course, Heterodox Paths had their own advantages: they took unconventional shortcuts, were easier to cultivate, and allowed for faster advancement.
If two people of equal aptitude cultivated Mystic Gate Orthodox Law and Heterodox Path Methods respectively, then during the early stages, the Daoist cultivating Heterodox Path Methods would be stronger than the cultivator of Mystic Gate Orthodox Law.
This could be seen from the performance of the disciples of the Chan and Jie Sects during the Investiture of the Gods War. The Ten Heavenly Lords and Lü Yue cultivated Heterodox Paths, and even the Twelve Golden Immortals could not defeat them.
But in the later stages of cultivation, cultivators of Mystic Gate Orthodox Law would absolutely be stronger than cultivators of Heterodox Path Methods.
When the Twelve Golden Immortals encountered Disciples of the Sect of Interception who had cultivated Mystic Gate Orthodox Law to a profound level, they were utterly outclassed. Before Fairy Yun Xiao, Zhao Gongming, and Saint Mother Jin Ling, even when the Twelve Golden Immortals resorted to overwhelming numbers, they were no match for them.
The path Fang Yang chose was the path of Saint Mother Jin Ling and Fairy Yun Xiao.
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