Living beings in the Primordial World were divided into five ranks according to their level of life. From lowest to highest, they were Acquired Living Beings, Innate Living Beings, Innate True Spirits, Innate Gods and Devils, and Innate Divine Beings.
Their corresponding potential, leaving aside Acquired Living Beings, was Heavenly Immortal, Primordial Unity, Daluo, and Quasi-Saint Realm.
In other words, as long as Innate Living Beings didn't die, they all had hope of cultivating into Heavenly Immortals. Innate True Spirits all had hope of cultivating into Primordial Unity. Innate Gods and Devils could reach Daluo, while Innate Divine Beings could reach the Quasi-Saint Realm.
This was the Primordial World: the heights a person could reach in the future were determined from birth.
Why was cultivation said to be a path of defying Heaven? Because cultivation's true nature was to make people constantly transform, thereby raising their level of life and breaking free of their own fate.
Going against fate and breaking the destiny set by the Heavenly Dao—what was that if not defying Heaven?
At first, the Heavenly Immortal bloodline Jiang Yuan sensed was the bloodline of an Innate Living Being. Now, as the bloodline within him further awakened, he sensed an even stronger bloodline: that of an Innate True Spirit.
It was a bloodline inherited from the first generation of the Human Race. If he awakened it, he could gradually transform into an Innate True Spirit and raise his potential to the level of a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal.
Before the great figures, Primordial Unity Golden Immortals could only be called minor characters. But across the entire Primordial World, they shone like stars, powerful enough to rule over millions of miles of land. Who would truly dare look down on them?
Thus, for the vast majority of living beings in the Primordial World, cultivating into a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal was already their greatest dream.
But for Jiang Yuan, it still wasn't enough. Not nearly enough. His goal was to become an undying, indestructible Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal.
So he needed to start from a high point. Ideally, he would have the bloodline of an Innate Divine Being; failing that, he still needed to awaken the bloodline of an Innate God and Devil.
"Keep going. I can't stop transforming before the Kun Fish's source is drained dry!"
Feeling that the Kun Fish still had some life in it, Jiang Yuan hurriedly used the Creation Jade Disk to squeeze more of its source from it, intending to use everything it had to pave his path ahead.
"Roar!!!"
As the Kun Fish howled in despair, more and more of its source surged toward Jiang Yuan. In turn, the bloodlines hidden deep within his body were further roused. The streams of innate God-Devil blood, imbued with the aura of the Great Dao, began to awaken one after another.
The first to awaken was the innate God-Devil blood of the Human Ancestor Suiren. Next came the Azure Dragon blood of Suiren's wife, the Dragon Lady.
The Dragon Lady was the granddaughter of the Ancestral Dragon and the daughter of the Dragon Emperor. She had been born an Azure Dragon. Azure Dragons were the imperial clan of the Dragon Race, on par with Innate Gods and Devils.
Jiang Yuan was the thirty-sixth-generation descendant of Suiren, a direct descendant of both Suiren and the Dragon Lady. Naturally, he carried the blood of both the Human Ancestors and the Azure Dragon.
He had thought that the transformation would end there. But to his surprise, this Kun Fish was extraordinary. Even after helping Jiang Yuan awaken two innate God-Devil bloodlines in succession, it still hadn't been drained dry and continued to serve its purpose.
With a boom, two more God-Devil bloodlines awakened within Jiang Yuan: one swirling with starlight, the other suffused with the aura of Creation.
The Starlight Bloodline came from the Three Lights Divine Water, while the Creation Bloodline came from the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil.
Ten thousand years ago, Lady Nuwa had taken the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil and infused it with her own blood essence and the Three Lights Divine Water to create the Human Race.
Thus, the Human Race was born with four great bloodlines. The strongest was the innate Divine Being bloodline inherited from Lady Nuwa.
The other three were all innate God-Devil bloodlines: the Star Bloodline, inherited from the Three Lights Divine Water; the Creation Bloodline, inherited from the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil; and the Human Ancestor Bloodline, born within the Human Race itself.
Now, all these innate God-Devil bloodlines had awakened within Jiang Yuan. The price he paid was that the Kun Fish's essence was completely drained, leaving behind only a dried corpse.
"No, there's one more innate God-Devil bloodline!"
Jiang Yuan looked within himself and discovered another unfamiliar God-Devil bloodline inside his body.
It was an enormous Kun Fish, swimming through the boundless sea. Every time it inhaled, the sun, moon, and stars trembled as though they were about to be sucked into its belly.
"Ancestral Kun, a powerful Fierce Beast comparable to an Innate Divine Being, formed from the flesh and blood of a Chaos Demon God. This Kun Fish is actually a descendant of the Ancestral Kun."
The instant his thoughts touched the bloodline, Jiang Yuan immediately learned where it came from. It wasn't a bloodline he'd been born with; he had taken it from the Kun Fish.
This Kun Fish was descended from the Ancestral Kun and carried a trace of its bloodline. Jiang Yuan had seized it with the Creation Jade Disk, making it his own.
"What a pity this Kun Fish's cultivation is too low. If it had been a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, the bloodline I seized would have been an even stronger innate Divine Being bloodline, not an innate God-Devil bloodline."
Coming back to himself, Jiang Yuan couldn't help thinking regretfully. Of course, it was only a thought. If the Kun Fish had been a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, then even with the Creation Jade Disk protecting him, Jiang Yuan wouldn't have escaped death.
A Half-Immortal and a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal were completely different kinds of beings, worlds apart.
"Which of the five God-Devil bloodlines should I awaken?"
Looking at the five bloodlines within him, Jiang Yuan hesitated. The bloodlines had awakened, but choosing among them was a major problem.
Normally, a person could only awaken one God-Devil bloodline. Awaken several at once, and they would clash, causing the body to explode.
If Jiang Yuan didn't want to blow up, he had to choose one of the five and turn the other four God-Devil bloodlines into nourishment to strengthen the one he awakened.
"Human Ancestor Bloodline!"
This wasn't even a choice. As a member of the Human Race, of course he would choose the Human Ancestor Bloodline first. It was not only powerful, but also had tremendous room to grow.
The Human Ancestor Bloodline could awaken further and transform into the Empress Wa Bloodline. Not only was it an innate Divine Being bloodline, it was also a Sage's bloodline.
Having made his choice, Jiang Yuan no longer hesitated. He focused his mind on the Human Ancestor Bloodline, fully awakening it and replacing all the blood in his body.
As the Human Ancestor Bloodline awakened, the innate inheritance contained within it also surged into Jiang Yuan's mind.
Innate Supreme Yin Dao Scripture!
Innate Supreme Yang Dao Scripture!
Innate Yin-Yang Creation Scripture!
There were three Daoist scriptures in all, each inherited from Lady Nuwa. The Supreme Yin and Supreme Yang Dao Scriptures were the innate inheritances of Empress Wa and Emperor Xi; they could only be cultivated up to Daluo.
The last scripture, the Yin-Yang Creation Scripture, had been created by Lady Nuwa after listening to the Dao Ancestor's lectures and combining them with her own learning. It was one of the few paths in the Primordial World to attain the Dao, reaching all the way to the Hunyuan Realm.
Without a doubt, the Yin-Yang Creation Scripture was the strongest. But the problem was that Lady Nuwa had attained Sainthood through Merit, not by cultivating this scripture.
In other words, the final section of this scripture on attaining Sainthood was only theoretically viable. Whether it could actually be done had never been tested.
"The Yin-Yang Creation Scripture focuses on Creation, not Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang give birth to all living beings; that is the culmination of Creation. Thus, those who cultivate Creation all begin by studying Yin and Yang."
"I alone am different. I go against this path, forsaking Yin and Yang to begin with all living beings. I study the origins of all living things, fathom the mysteries of Creation, and work backward to grasp the truth of Yin and Yang, attaining a body that will endure through countless tribulations."
After reading the description of the Yin-Yang Creation Scripture, Jiang Yuan pondered it. He didn't know whether cultivating this scripture could lead to Sainthood, but it could grant him a body that would endure through countless tribulations.
If he could endure countless tribulations, what difference was there between that and becoming a Sage?