The Great Dao Manifests, Yang Mei Attains Enlightenment

"This old man is truly foolish!"

"Truly!"

"Possessing a blessed land of creation without knowing it, instead sighing in admiration at Dao Principles difficult to comprehend within the void!"

"Every grain of sand here, every speck of dust, even the courtyard walls..."

"Are all condensed from Dao Principles!"

In that moment.

Yang Mei lost his voice.

His tone carried a thick sense of disbelief.

But the facts lay before him.

He had no choice but to believe.

Yang Mei took a deep breath, striving to calm himself.

Only now.

Did Yang Mei truly understand what kind of place he had come to.

Compared to before entering.

It was even more exaggerated than he had imagined!

Every brick, every tile, every stone, every tree here—none were not solid Dao Principles, even the courtyard walls and the mountain gate were the same!

The only difference from those pebbles was that the pebbles contained Spiritual Light.

Without Spiritual Light.

The pebbles would just be part of the courtyard.

Thus.

If one asked what root and origin those pebbles had, their root and origin was "Dao"!

Suddenly.

Yang Mei was stunned once more.

Wasn't this just a Chaos Demon God?

Of course.

To be precise, it should be a "weakened version" of a Chaos Demon God.

But in essence, it was the same.

Because Chaos Demon Gods, like these pebbles, were all forged from "Dao"!

And existences similar to these pebbles.

With a rough sense.

Their number was not small!

Thus.

His earlier guess was completely wrong.

And utterly mistaken.

His understanding of this Small Courtyard had to be reassessed.

It wasn't that some Chaos Demon God was still alive.

To some extent.

It should be that countless Chaos Demon Gods were still alive, or had been "reborn" here.

"By the Great Dao above!"

"Could this old man have..."

"Come to a place where the Great Dao manifests itself?"

The Small Courtyard was very special—not only were the perceptions inside and outside different, but its suppression of cultivators was also terrifyingly strong.

Though Yang Mei had touched upon Hunyuan and mastered the Dao of Space.

Here, he was like an ordinary person.

Without much overwhelming power.

Even his Primordial Spirit could not perceive very far, which was why he needed the pebble's reminder to react.

There was no help for it.

This place was forged from "Dao"—even if one grasped the Dao of Space, so what?

In a place full of Dao Principles.

An existence that grasped Dao Principles truly held nothing special.

Just like...

A top scholar from some place who passed the imperial exam and entered the highest academy—back home, he was the best of the best, but within that academy, there was nothing much to say about him.

Because the highest academy had many top scholars!

Yang Mei's situation right now was exactly that.

Was he special?

Special!

But that was relative to the Primordial Wilderness.

Relative to this Small Courtyard?

He was like a mortal!

Thus.

Even an "ordinary" pebble could trip him up and make him suffer a great loss!

From this.

Yang Mei's guesses about the Small Courtyard changed several times.

Each time more unimaginable than the last.

At first.

Yang Mei was outside the courtyard.

He thought this place was left behind by some Chaos Demon God who had escaped the Kaitian Tribulation Period.

After entering.

He overturned that idea.

He thought it was Pangu reborn.

Unexpectedly.

That guess was also wrong!

After witnessing the true miraculous nature of the Small Courtyard, he couldn't help but speculate that this might be the manifestation of the Great Dao!

Otherwise, how could he explain the condensed Dao Principles?

After all.

Elsewhere, even laws were formless, elusive opportunities that required insight to grasp even a little.

For example, the Primordial Wilderness.

But here, "Dao," which was a level higher than laws, could actually be condensed into bricks and stones.

So much so that the entire courtyard.

Was constructed from "Dao"!

If this had nothing to do with the Great Dao, Yang Mei simply wouldn't believe it.

He even.

Directly guessed that this was the place where the Great Dao manifested in the Primordial Wilderness!

So...

Something like that pebble, an existence akin to a Chaos Demon God, could appear!

This time.

Yang Mei thought his guess must be correct.

Yet.

No sooner had he exclaimed than a voice came.

Slapping him in the face again.

"Eh?"

"Isn't this Daoist Yang Mei? Why are you here? And..."

"In a Dao Body human form?"

The voice came from a certain Mountain Stone.

On the Mountain Stone.

There was a Spirit Beast half a person's height, like a "Little Dog," and the voice came from its mouth.

Full of confusion.

Daoist?

The owner of this voice knew This Old Man?

And what did its words mean?

For a moment.

Yang Mei was somewhat confused.

With confusion, he looked over.

Then.

It was fine not to look, but the moment he did, he was utterly stunned.

At this moment.

The "Little Beast" that appeared in his perception seemed very unfamiliar at first glance.

Only upon closer inspection.

Could he discern some familiarity.

Combining this with the words just spoken, Yang Mei guessed.

"Shi Qilin, fellow Daoist?"

The Little Beast raised its head, speaking proudly.

"That's right! It is This Seat!"

Yang Mei was taken aback.

He couldn't help but exclaim again.

"Shi Qilin, fellow Daoist, it really is you!"

"Sigh~ Why are you here, and how have you touched upon Hunyuan?"

"Didn't you sacrifice yourself to the heavens?"

At these words.

The Little Beast gave a light snort, still haughty.

Standing on the mountain stone, it spoke from on high.

"Hmph!"

"Why can't This Seat be here?"

"Not just me, those two fellows Zulong and Yuan Feng are also here!"

"I should say..."

"Many of the fellow Daoists who fell in the Dragon-Han Calamity are here!"

Suddenly.

Yang Mei was dumbfounded.

He realized that his speculation might have gone awry again.

Then.

Before he could think further.

The voice from that stone spoke up again.

It just sounded a bit...

mocking?

"Ah?"

"So you're Yang Mei!"

"No way! This weak? I could knock him to the ground with two hits! Something must be wrong!"

"Or could it be..."

"This Smashing Holy Stone is too strong?"

Hearing these words, Yang Mei was both startled and helpless.

He wanted to retort.

But the facts were right before him.

Before he knew it, he was tripped; before he knew it, he was knocked over...

Then hearing the stone's words.

Smashing Holy Stone!

The "Holy" of Sage?

He had to admit.

That name was a bit arrogant.

But this stone truly had that ability!

At that moment.

Another voice sounded.

"Shi Qilin must have mistaken him—this guy is definitely an impostor. Didn't Yang Mei claim to be one of the Primordial Wilderness's great cultivators? How does it feel like he might not even be able to withstand a single Sword Light from me?"

The source of the voice.

Was a small blade of grass with twelve slender leaves.

The grass was short, barely passing the ankle.

But it was exceedingly sharp.

With just the edge of its leaves, it seemed capable of cutting through anything, including Space-time, and even Karma!

Yang Mei focused his gaze.

And was immediately startled.

Indeed!

This was actually formed from two Dao Principles, plus a bit of Spiritual Light.

One was the Dao of Sharpness.

The other was Sword Dao!

With these two Dao Principles stacked, he, Yang Mei, truly might not be able to withstand even a single Sword Light.

For a moment.

Yang Mei felt deeply frustrated.

Who would have thought that he, a dignified Hunyuan cultivator, couldn't even defeat a blade of grass?

It was utterly absurd!

But there was no help for it; he couldn't very well argue, could he?

He still had to acknowledge his identity.

Yang Mei smiled bitterly.

"This Old Man... truly is Yang Mei!"

"Ah!"

"So it really is him!"

That Sword Grass swayed, its tone carrying obvious disbelief.

Then came a wave of emotion.

"Then that means, with my current strength, if I appeared in the Primordial Wilderness, I could be said to have... no rivals?"

Yang Mei was silent for a moment.

He didn't refute it.

Whether Hongjun could defeat this Sword Grass, he wasn't sure.

But in any case...

He couldn't.

Yet the problem lay here.

Why were there so many Hunyuan-level experts in this courtyard?

Even the dead Shi Qilin had been resurrected!

Furthermore.

There was another doubt that left Yang Mei very puzzled.

"Fellow Daoists, since you all possess such strength, why don't you leave?"

"Even if you don't go to the Primordial Wilderness, you could go elsewhere!"

As soon as he finished speaking.

Yang Mei knew he had said something wrong.

Because whether it was Shi Qilin's gaze, or the fluctuations of consciousness from the Striking Saint Stone and the Sword Grass, they all expressed the same sentiment.

Then.

The three spoke in turn.

"Are you stupid?"

"No wonder you call yourself 'This Old Man'—you really are a piece of rotten wood!"

"I was just thinking of using him to test my Sword Dao, to see if he could be carved. Since he's rotten wood, forget it! Rotten wood cannot be carved!"

Finally.

Finally, Shi Qilin couldn't stand it anymore.

He spoke.

"Daoist Yang Mei, what was it we were all struggling and contending for in the Primordial Wilderness back then?"

Yang Mei pondered for a moment before speaking.

"To Prove the Dao?"

"Exactly!"

Shi Qilin nodded. "It was to Prove the Dao! But if that's the case, why go anywhere else? Isn't it good to stay here? Every inch of this place isn't just close to the Dao—it is the Dao itself!"

"Is there anywhere better for cultivating the Dao than here?"

"Leave? Look around—is there a single Daoist here willing to leave? If This Seat hadn't recently gone into seclusion for insight and hit a bottleneck, forcing a temporary emergence, you wouldn't even have seen me!"

"And furthermore..."

"We are all part of This Courtyard. Only with Lei Jun Tianzun's permission can we leave! Of course, no one wants to leave anyway!"

Shi Qilin's words cleared up some of Yang Mei's confusion.

He was still puzzled.

But many doubts had been resolved.

For example, the most crucial point.

This place...

Whose Dojo was it?

Lei Jun Tianzun's!

Wasn't this the former "Heavenly Dao"?

At this moment.

Even if Yang Mei were denser, he would have understood.

He understood what the so-called opportunity truly was.

And then.

A choice lay before him.

Should he continue wandering the Chaos.

Searching for other opportunities that might take a lifetime to find?

Or...

Become part of the Small Courtyard, like these Daoists?

Before long.

Yang Mei made his decision.

Unlike his hesitation when entering the courtyard, this time he was utterly decisive.

With a thought.

His true form manifested.

In an instant.

A towering green willow appeared in the Small Courtyard.

Forget the Chaos.

Gaining deeper insight into the Dao of Space here.

Was clearly the better deal!

As for feeling uncomfortable here or anything like that...

Was he comfortable in the Chaos?

At this moment.

Yang Mei shed his human Dao Body and took root in the Small Courtyard in his true form as the Space Green Willow.

Instantly.

His comprehension of the Dao of Space surged!

"Indeed!"

"This was the right choice!"