Time flew by.
Several million years passed, and Hongjun arrived near the place of opportunity.
"This is it!"
"The place where this old Daoist's opportunity lies!"
"There must be great fortune within!"
Although he had prepared himself before coming,
and the wonders of the surrounding area had already surprised him,
when Hongjun truly reached the place of opportunity,
he still couldn't help but feel shocked.
He couldn't help praising it.
"What a Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land!"
"It's far more mysterious than any place this old Daoist has ever seen!"
"Just this grand formation alone will take ages to study!"
"It seems to have formed naturally, yet also undergone changes afterward. It's impossible to fathom with the primordial spirit alone!"
"I'll have to bring out the Creation Jade Plate!"
With that thought,
Hongjun brought out the Jade Tablet.
Before long,
Hongjun, who had been studying the grand formation for ages,
suddenly felt his heart jolt.
His long years of study had made the formation somewhat familiar to him.
He was still far from breaking it,
but he could now see things he hadn't been able to before.
At that moment,
the reason his whole body jolted
was simple.
He had finally seen a change.
Or, rather...
He had seen the opportunity hidden inside the grand formation!
A phantom!
It looked like a human-shaped Dao Body, but was clearly different from an ordinary human form.
"A tail?"
"And there are nine of them?"
"A Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox?"
Hongjun muttered, somewhat puzzled.
But after thinking it over,
he found it only natural.
"Right!"
"This area is where the Qingqiu Fox Clan originated!"
"It makes sense that the opportunity would contain the Dao shadow of a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox!"
"Come to think of it, I suppose I'm taking an opportunity that originally belonged to the Fox Clan?"
"But this is the Primordial Wilderness. Opportunities go to those capable of claiming them!"
"I can hardly be blamed!"
With that thought, Hongjun continued studying the formation.
His anticipation grew even greater.
He even began guessing what the opportunity inside the formation might be, based on the phantom.
"A Chaos Spirit Fox?"
"That must be it!"
"I just don't know whether the opportunity inside the formation is his Dao technique or his Spirit Treasure."
"Or perhaps..."
"Both?"
It had to be said that, compared with Chaos Demon Gods,
even Innate Demon Gods with the highest origins
fell short.
So, obtaining anything left behind by a Chaos Demon God
would undoubtedly count as great fortune.
Even Hongjun, as he was now, couldn't remain calm.
Time flew by.
More than twenty million years passed.
Hongjun, who had been in seclusion, suddenly opened his eyes.
His gaze held unmistakable delight.
And, even more,
barely contained excitement.
He couldn't help laughing aloud.
"After thirty million years, this old Daoist has finally broken this formation!"
"And obtained the opportunity within!"
"Hahaha!"
With a smile, Hongjun took a single step and entered the formation.
In the next instant,
Hongjun successfully entered the formation. His Dharma Gate had worked.
But the very next moment,
Hongjun froze.
It wasn't because the formation contained nearly endless Purple Qi,
nor because he sensed what seemed to be insights within the Purple Qi.
Rather, his senses told him
that the place of opportunity he had worked so hard to reach through his deductions
had a...
cultivator in it?
Looking again,
the cultivator was breathtakingly beautiful, wearing a purple Daoist robe, with nine pale purple tails behind her.
Her aura was terrifying.
As though she weren't a Da Luo Golden Immortal!
More importantly, even he couldn't see through her!
Clearly,
this cultivator's cultivation was above his.
How could this be?
Had someone beaten him to the opportunity?
Hongjun's heart jolted.
Then he thought of a possibility, and his brows relaxed somewhat.
"Oh!"
"This old Daoist understands!"
"It must be a Chaos Demon God's Dao Manifestation!"
"No wonder its aura is so terrifying!"
"This manifestation is so lifelike. That puzzled look in its eyes is just like a Demon God returned to life!"
"Excellent! With this opportunity, I'll surely be able to establish the foundation for proving the Dao!"
"Haha..."
For a moment,
Hongjun couldn't help laughing.
But he stopped halfway through.
He couldn't continue.
A cool female voice rang out.
"Old man, who are you calling an opportunity?"
In an instant,
Hongjun was utterly shocked.
He could understand a manifestation having a lifelike expression, but if it could speak as well,
that was beyond his comprehension.
He could only think of one possibility.
Hongjun cried out in alarm,
as though facing a great enemy.
"Has the Demon God truly been reborn?"
At that moment,
the Little Fox inside the formation was just as confused.
She had been
cultivating inside the formation
for a long time,
always hoping to become a true Da Luo and then leave the formation.
She hadn't expected that
although she had gained quite a bit and her cultivation had improved greatly,
she still couldn't break the formation.
Until now,
when an old man had actually entered from outside the formation.
That alone was strange enough.
But after entering, he started babbling nonsense.
He even brought up Chaos Demon Gods.
What a joke.
If she had the cultivation of a Chaos Demon God, would she still be trapped in the formation?
And besides...
"Old man! Your cultivation is so low—you're not even a Da Luo Golden Immortal. How did you get into the formation?"
"Hm?"
At those words,
Hongjun stood frozen, confusion rising in his heart.
He could put up with being called weak. After all, there was indeed a gap between their cultivation levels.
But saying he wasn't a Da Luo Golden Immortal—
what was that supposed to mean?
He couldn't take it.
Hongjun's face darkened as he replied,
"This old Daoist... is at the peak of the Da Luo Golden Immortal realm!"
"Huh?"
The Little Fox's expression went blank. She lightly brought her slender hand down.
Hongjun instantly landed flat on the ground,
unable to move.
At the same time,
a voice that made Hongjun spit blood rang out.
"Who are you kidding? Is there anyone as pathetic as you among the Da Luo?"
By now,
even Hongjun knew that the being before him wasn't some Chaos Demon God.
She was a real cultivator.
And her cultivation was far above his!
With a casual lift of her hand.
He could suppress him.
Forget resisting—even reacting was difficult!
This was the first time Hongjun had suffered a setback since taking human form.
For a moment,
Hongjun felt not only stifled,
but utterly bewildered.
What?
Was the old Daoist's Da Luo cultivation that flimsy?
Impossible!
The old Daoist was at Peak Da Luo!
Just then,
the purple-robed woman who had suppressed him spoke.
Her voice was as lovely as ever,
like a heavenly melody.
"A mere Taiyi dares to pass himself off as Da Luo? How laughable!"
"Even I don't have the credentials! I only dare call myself Peak Taiyi!"
"And you think you do?"
"If you dare spout nonsense again, I'll give you a beating. That's all there is to it!"
"Understood?"
At that moment,
Hongjun fell silent.
Still, he took a deep breath and humbly asked,
"May I ask your honored name, Senior?"
"This junior is Hongjun."
"Would it be possible for me to seek your guidance in the Dao of cultivation?"
"If I gain any insight,"
"this junior can help you leave this place without suffering the Heavenly Dao's punishment!"
"How does that sound?"
Little Fox's expression was inscrutable.
Her tone was strange.
"You there—should I say your comprehension is astonishing, or that it's terrible?"
"I came here at Heaven's direction to encounter an opportunity."
"And yet you say I'll be punished by the Heavenly Dao if I leave?"
"You're the one who ought to be punished! Where do you get your confidence?"
In an instant,
Hongjun's mind went blank.
Wrong again?
Still bewildered,
Hongjun asked, utterly confused,
"May I ask which 'Heaven' you mean, Senior?"
"How many Heavens are there in the Primordial Wilderness?"
Little Fox's expression grew even more inscrutable.
Her tone was certain.
"Why, Lei Jun Heaven, of course!"
Boom!
In an instant, Hongjun's heart shook violently.
His worldview shattered.
As expected,
there was more than one Heaven in the Primordial Wilderness.
This Heaven was not that Heaven!
Lei Jun Heaven!
Elsewhere,
far away on the East Sea Shore, Lei Jun watched the two of them interact with great interest.
His expression was odd,
and when he saw Hongjun's reaction, he couldn't help smiling.
By now,
Lei Jun had made his first move on the chessboard.
He had achieved his aim:
to make Hongjun understand
that there was more than one Heavenly Dao! This was crucial.
After all, Hongjun could sense Heaven's Mandate.
As his cultivation improved, and with the Creation Jade Plate in hand,
he would gain increasingly clear insight
into the secrets of Heaven and Heaven's Mandate.
By the end of the Dragon-Han Calamity, even before becoming a Saint,
he would be able to vaguely sense
what he was meant to do after proving the Dao.
Preach the Dao, expound the Dao, merge with the Dao!
Unless Lei Jun shattered his ingrained beliefs and made him realize that there was more than one "Heavenly Dao," it would probably be difficult to bring him into the fold.
So,
shattering his understanding was the first step.
"Since that's settled,"
"I can begin the next part of the plan!"
Lei Jun thought to himself.
Lei Jun's approach was simple. In later generations, the method of severing corpses that Hongjun preached was incomplete.
Not one of the Six Saints had successfully merged with the Dao.
That alone made it clear.
So Lei Jun's goal was to alter the technique. Then, when Hongjun preached the Dao, he would be preaching Lei Jun's Dao!
With that in mind,
Lei Jun didn't hesitate.
He used his immense magical power to instill his own Daoist teachings into Hongjun, while leaving behind a note:
"The Purple Qi Opportunity is a method of the Lei Jun Heavenly Dao!"
In an instant,
the winds and clouds shifted.
Somehow, something seemed to have changed.
Then,
Lei Jun could clearly sense the Creation Jade Plate in Hongjun's hands.
It now contained Lei Jun's insights!
However,
Hongjun wouldn't notice those insights for the time being.
The whole process
had taken place without anyone noticing.
From then on,
Lei Jun couldn't be sure whether the Method of Severing the Three Corpses would still exist.
But what Hongjun comprehended certainly wouldn't be that.
Instead, it would be...
the Three Bodies Technique!
Though the names differed by only one character, the difference between them was vast.
The Three Bodies were the Three Lifetimes Body:
past, present, and future.
They corresponded respectively to the Id, the Ego, and the Super-Ego.
With each body severed,
one's cultivation would rise by a level. Those with strong comprehension could even gain divine abilities from it.
Of course,
not everyone could do what Lei Jun could—
"resurrect," "load a save file," and "save."
Those divine abilities depended on one's comprehension.
But it was still possible to truly leap out of the River of Time.
At the very least, one could conceal one's traces.
In short, the benefits were substantial.
Moreover,
the Three Bodies could also be entrusted to spiritual objects.
Just as Lei Jun had done,
each of his Three Lifetimes Bodies was protected by a top-grade Innate Spirit Root.
Other cultivators who practiced this method
could follow suit.
Top-grade Spirit Roots were hard to find, but superior-, middle-, or even lower-grade ones would do.
Even Spirit Treasures could be used!
That was where the technique differed from Slicing the Three Corpses.
To sever the three corpses, one had to entrust them to an Innate Spiritual Treasure.
Otherwise, they couldn't be severed.
The Three Lifetimes Bodies were different.
They could be severed even without a spiritual object.
What's more,
if the Three Bodies were entrusted to spiritual objects, they and those objects could grow together!
So,
whether viewed in the short term or the long term,
the Three Bodies Technique was far superior to the Three Corpses Technique!
After completing all this,
Lei Jun had made his second move.
It had all happened in an instant.
Lei Jun immediately sensed a change.
A trace of delight appeared in his eyes.
"Just as I thought!"
"Changing the greater trends can increase my Permission Right and grant me more Heavenly Dao Authority!"
With greater authority, Lei Jun could now try to do things he'd been unable to do before.
He made a quick calculation,
and understanding dawned on him.
"I still can't go to Pangu Divine Palace, but I can reach one of the Innate Great Arrays on the Solar Star!"
Increasing his Permission Right
would let Lei Jun explore the last few places in the Primordial Wilderness that had been beyond his reach,
and claim the opportunities there.
The place where that top-grade Innate Spirit Root on the Solar Star grew
was one of them.
Lei Jun had visited the Solar Star before,
but had left not long after.
He had realized that, with his abilities at the time, he couldn't force his way into the formation.
And that Spirit Root had not developed a consciousness.
So the thing he wanted
remained out of reach.
With no other choice, he had to leave for now,
and wait until he had another chance to return.
Now,
that chance had come.
With that thought,
Lei Jun left the East Sea Shore with a single thought
and appeared in the Zhou Tian Star Sea.
With another thought,
Lei Jun descended upon the Solar Star once more!
In an instant,
under Lei Jun's terrifying might, even the sun seemed to dim a little!
Before you continue