From Lei Jun's perspective,
cultivation could be accumulated. A high cultivation level often only meant that someone had started cultivating early.
It was not a useful measure.
Take the present moment, for example.
The little stone guarding the gate and the Sword Grass—weren't their cultivation levels high?
They were practically on par with Hunyuan!
But when it came to their ceilings and potential, even if you tied them together and multiplied their combined potential dozens of times over, they still probably couldn't compare to Tongtian!
Otherwise,
how could they have failed to leave behind even a Dao title in the original course of events in the Primordial Wilderness?
Tongtian was different.
His potential was immense, and his ceiling was extremely high.
Aside from him,
the other cultivators who had sensed an opportunity and were rushing here also had comparable potential.
They might have been a little inferior,
but not by much.
However,
these cultivators were different from Tongtian.
What they cultivated
was not the Sword Dao Law.
Therefore,
using the same method to test them
would have no effect at all.
It might even scare them away.
The opposite of what he wanted.
After all,
no one would willingly subject themselves to abuse without getting anything in return...
It could only be said
that the little stone and the Sword Grass were a bit too powerful.
But there was no helping it.
They were already the two weakest beings in the entire courtyard.
Just think about it.
Those who hadn't even had Dao titles in life—
could they really be on the same level as beings like Zulong?
The Sword Grass could crush Tongtian now.
But in the courtyard,
it was...
nothing at all!
Utterly unremarkable, in the most literal sense of the word.
"Then,"
"I can wait and see what happens, and await the other 'fated ones.' But before that,"
"this courtyard needs to be changed."
Previously,
the courtyard's sole purpose had been to serve as a place for Lei Jun to settle down in the Primordial Wilderness.
It had no other significance.
That was precisely why
it looked so ordinary.
Of course,
Lei Jun did not mean to make it lavish, like Lei Jun Palace.
There was no need.
He simply wanted to give it more functions.
To be honest,
up until now, the courtyard had only served one purpose.
It was a place for Lei Jun to rest.
Taking in other cultivators
had just been incidental.
But if he was going to add the function of teaching the Dao, he shouldn't be so casual about it.
What's more...
the courtyard ought to have a name.
Calling it the Small Courtyard all the time was fine when no one else was around, but when he thought about word getting out, it somehow felt a little strange.
So, what name should he choose? It also had to reflect its function.
For a moment,
Lei Jun hesitated.
"Celestial Venerable, you seem troubled?"
A woman's voice rang out.
It was Youying.
Unlike the other cultivators, she had never fully entered seclusion and had remained in a half-awake state.
Therefore,
even though she was closest to Lei Jun's Dao Body,
her cultivation
had not advanced the fastest.
In truth,
she no longer cared much about her cultivation.
Previously, she had been fixated on taking human form
because she felt threatened and feared that her Spirit Root and her consciousness might be erased.
Now that she no longer had that worry,
whether her cultivation realm improved or not
was no longer so important.
By comparison,
keeping company with the Supreme Existence in her heart—Lei Jun Tianzun—was what mattered most.
Of course,
that did not mean her cultivation was advancing slowly.
In fact,
she had already reached true Hunyuan.
Among all the cultivators in the Small Courtyard, she ranked among the very best.
This was the subtle result of being reflected by Lei Jun's Dao Body.
Even without cultivating or entering seclusion,
her cultivation still rose rapidly.
Hearing Youying's words,
Lei Jun thought for a moment, then said,
"Youying,"
"before long, a group of people with great fortune will come here. I intend to teach them the Dao."
"But before that, I'd like to renovate the courtyard and add some new functions."
"To make teaching the Dao more convenient."
"What do you think..."
"Would Dao Transmission Academy be a good name, or Cultivation Academy? Or perhaps something else?"
Hearing this,
Youying fell into thought.
It had to be said
that if any of the other cultivators in the courtyard had been asked, nine times out of ten they would have been unable to stay calm.
But Youying was different.
She genuinely wanted to help Lei Jun ease his troubles.
So she thought it over very carefully.
After a while,
she ventured an answer.
"Celestial Venerable,"
"I see that the Stone Steps you created seem to contain a test of pressure. Those whose hearts aren't sincere cannot climb to the summit. They seem like a path of seeking the Dao!"
"What's more, you stand at the pinnacle of the Primordial Wilderness. Even if you pass down your lineage and teachings, they should be something these people seek out for themselves!"
"So..."
"Why not call it Seeking Dao Academy?"
Seeking Dao Academy?
Lei Jun paused slightly and repeated the name in his mind a few times.
As he did,
he was also weighing it
to see whether the name was suitable.
He had to admit,
the words "seeking Dao" fit very well.
After all,
whether they were the Innate Gods who had sensed an opportunity and come here, the cultivators already in the courtyard,
or even Lei Jun himself,
weren't they all on the Path of Seeking Dao?
Choosing this name
could also serve as a constant reminder to himself.
The Dao had no end.
And the Path of Seeking Dao was arduous; one had to remain single-minded at all times
to find the ultimate Great Dao.
The truth of myth!
"Good!"
"Then let's name it Seeking Dao Academy!"
"It fits the Stone Steps perfectly!"
With that,
Lei Jun's thoughts stirred.
He swept his hand through the air.
The courtyard, unchanged for so long, let out a rumbling sound.
The Small Courtyard suddenly began to transform.
For a moment,
many cultivators awoke from their seclusion.
Some were confused,
but fortunately, the changes came and went quickly.
When the rumbling stopped,
all the cultivators understood at once that the once nameless Small Courtyard
now had a name.
It was an academy.
It was called... Seeking Dao!
Seeking Dao Academy!
At that moment,
all the cultivators felt a jolt in their hearts.
Though they didn't understand
why Lei Jun had decided to name the Small Courtyard.
But clearly,
something would change
before long.
Some sharp-minded cultivators, combining this with the changes in the outside world, could already guess at a few things.
Then, recalling
Hongjun, who had become a Sage not long ago, and the voice with which he had made his announcement to the Primordial Wilderness,
it seemed...
Lei Jun Tianzun was going to preach the Dao as well!
It was just that his method of preaching seemed different from Hongjun's.
Hongjun had lectured on the Dao.
But Lei Jun Tianzun had...
set up an Academy?
It had to be said:
in the Primordial Wilderness, many concepts had not existed from the beginning.
They had formed later.
Before they took shape, no one could understand them.
The concept of an "Academy"
was just like that.
Yet the cultivators present, who had witnessed the courtyard's transformation, had all touched upon Hunyuan to some degree. Even if they couldn't understand it at once, they could use the changes
to make deductions,
or work it out through calculation.
Before long,
a cultivator let out an astonished cry.
It was for a wondrous little fish in the pond within the courtyard.
It looked like an ordinary fish,
yet an awe-inspiring might seemed to coil around its body.
Clearly,
the fish was only one form.
It was temporary,
a shape it had deliberately manifested while undergoing some kind of transformation.
Once its transformation succeeded,
an astonishing change would take place. This fish was none other than Zulong!
He had gained much enlightenment during Lei Jun's last "lecture on the Dao,"
and his cultivation and realm had both improved considerably.
But his greatest gain
was the form he had taken now.
Though he looked like nothing more than a fish, he possessed astonishing power.
He could even match a Hunyuan cultivator!
And once he completed his transformation,
even...
ordinary Hunyuan cultivators would not be his match.
Because after his transformation,
he would have successfully achieved "Return to Ancestry" and gained another identity beyond that of Zulong...
the Chaos Heavenly Dragon!
Of course,
he still fell far short of a true Chaos Heavenly Dragon.
But no matter what,
once he succeeded,
his innate nature would have ascended to the level of a Chaos Demon God!
The change could hardly have been greater.
His strength
would naturally increase beyond imagination as well.
And now,
it wouldn't be long before his transformation was complete.
But at this moment,
Zulong felt no complacency and dared not feel even the slightest pride.
Instead, his reverence only grew stronger.
He knew perfectly well who had given him his current achievements.
Without that being,
he would have perished long ago.
So,
compared to when he was in the Primordial Wilderness, he felt only gratitude, not ambition.
In fact,
the higher his cultivation,
the stronger his gratitude and reverence grew.
And after witnessing what was happening now,
he felt this all the more keenly.
In the pond,
he murmured, his voice full of amazement.
"An object that records the Dao and its methods in the world can be called a 'book,' or perhaps a 'tablet,' a 'volume,' or a 'scroll'..."
"But one or two books can't be called an 'Academy'!"
"Only when countless books are gathered together can that be done!"
"So..."
"One could say that this Academy is entirely formed from the gathering of the Dao and its methods!"
At that moment,
Zulong was so shocked that he could hardly describe it.
He couldn't stay calm.
He even couldn't help comparing it to the Creation Jade Plate, which likewise recorded the Dao and its methods.
Clearly,
the Academy could record the Dao and its methods too.
In a certain sense,
the two had something in common.
But when examined closely,
weren't tablet fragments and jade tablets, in the end...
just "books"?
At most, they were a little unusual,
with somewhat richer contents.
In a true comparison,
the Academy was still superior.
"This is an existence even closer to the Dao than the Creation Jade Plate!"
"To be able to come here is truly a blessing!"
After reaching this conclusion,
Zulong was overcome with emotion.
He even couldn't help wondering...
"Could dying in a Tribulation Period not only fail to be a calamity, but instead..."
"be an opportunity?"
It had to be said,
that thought was absurd.
How could anyone think that dying could actually be an opportunity?
But that was simply the truth.
If he hadn't made a Great Oath to offer himself to Heaven, how could he, Zulong, have reached where he was today?
It would have been impossible!
"If I'd known this, why did I compete for fortune back then?"
"It was so much effort for no reward."
"But it's not too late now. It's never too late to cultivate the Dao; the only thing to regret is choosing the wrong path!"
"Clearly!"
"The path I'm on now is the right one!"
Zulong thought this to himself.
Swimming through the pond in the form of a fish, he was thoroughly satisfied with his current state.
At the same time,
his resolve grew even firmer.
That was...
to follow Lei Jun Tianzun unto death!
At that moment,
Zulong wasn't the only one who felt this way. Many cultivators shared similar thoughts.
Yuanfeng,
Shi Qilin,
Qiankun, Yin Yang, and the others—
they were all the same.
Those who didn't think this way weren't lacking in reverence.
They simply lacked the comprehension
to think of it yet.
There was no helping it.
The Academy was simply too wondrous.
Although the little courtyard before had also been constructed from the Dao, it had not been so clearly defined.
But now things were different.
All sorts of Dao methods had taken the form of "books"
and been laid out in the Academy.
As long as they opened a book, they could sense the opportunity to comprehend the Dao methods within.
They still had to comprehend them for themselves,
but compared to before,
everything had changed completely.
Before,
they had to comprehend the Dao methods themselves. It was as if even "seeing the book" was a problem; they had to gain insight before they could see it clearly.
But now?
The book was placed right in front of them, so one whole step had been skipped.
They could begin comprehending it right away!
Their efficiency had doubled!
In fact,
since the books had once been part of the Small Courtyard, they could even skip the step of opening them.
With a single thought,
the Dao method they wanted would appear in their minds.
There was no need to seek insight anymore.
They could begin cultivating it directly!
In this way,
it could be called another Great Fortune!
But it wasn't without "drawbacks." The cultivators simply didn't consider those drawbacks a bad thing.
Because after cultivating through this method,
they would become even more closely bound to the Academy! There would be no possibility of separation.
Not only their Dao Bodies, but even their Spiritual Lights would belong to the Academy.
But to the cultivators,
this wasn't bad at all.
In fact,
they would have preferred it if the knot that bound them had been tied even tighter!
Before you continue