The Torch Method and the Breathing Method could both let Acquired Living Beings break through to the Pre-Heaven Realm, but they could only awaken the lowest-grade Primordial Bloodline.
But by practicing the Body Refining Method created by Jiang Yuan, one could awaken a stronger True Spirit Bloodline, or even a God-Devil Bloodline.
As for the strongest, the Sacred Bloodline, it was beyond what a minor cultivator in the Pre-Heaven Realm could awaken. It was too powerful; one had to become a Heavenly Immortal to bear its might.
That was why Jiang Yuan had only awakened a God-Devil Bloodline earlier. He had not gone further and awakened a Sacred Bloodline outright.
"The weak have their advantages. Precisely because Acquired Living Beings are the weakest, they have greater potential and can defy fate through their efforts after birth."
Whenever he spoke of this, Jiang Yuan couldn't help sighing. Sometimes, being weak wasn't entirely a bad thing. Because they were so weak, they had one more chance than others to defy fate.
That was right. Every breakthrough was a chance for a cultivator to defy fate.
Compared with Innate Living Beings, Acquired Living Beings were many times weaker, but they had one more chance to break through to the Pre-Heaven Realm. Wasn't that one more chance to defy fate?
Don't underestimate that extra chance. Many people couldn't make it to the end, and perhaps all they lacked was precisely that one opportunity.
"The Heavenly Dao is impartial. Every gain comes with a loss, and every loss brings a gain."
Ancestor Sui nodded, agreeing with him.
"That's true. So although my Body Refining Method is good, it doesn't come without a price."
"First, awakening a stronger bloodline will consume several times, or even dozens of times, more resources than usual."
"Second, the stronger the bloodline one awakens, the more Sacred Dao Aura inherited from the Holy Mother one will carry. This will make our Human Race a panacea in the eyes of foreign races, all of whom will want to swallow us whole."
The benefits of the Body Refining Method were obvious, but one couldn't analyze something by looking only at its benefits. Its drawbacks also had to be discussed. Jiang Yuan was now explaining the drawbacks of practicing the Body Refining Method.
One had to remember that the Dragon Race were kin to the Human Race, and even Mu Jiao had struggled to resist the urge to eat Jiang Yuan. With other races, their response would be even more direct.
"I understand everything you've said. But these are the prices the Human Race must pay if we want to rise."
"If a race gives up its chance to rise because it fears sacrifice, it will be condemned to remain at the bottom, bullied by others, for the rest of its days."
How could Ancestor Sui fail to see these drawbacks? But as he had said, to survive in the Primordial World, they had to be strong enough.
Therefore, as long as it made the Human Race stronger, paying some price was entirely worthwhile—and necessary.
If they didn't become stronger, the price would only be greater!
"You're still too weak. We can't let too many people know you exist. So I've decided to have you live at the Sacred Temple."
"That's where the Holy Mother is worshipped, and it's under the protection of the Sage. Not only is it safe, it can also shield you from all the workings of Heaven. Its spiritual energy is extremely abundant as well."
"You can focus on cultivation there. While you're at it, you can teach some of our outstanding clansmen, passing on the Breathing Method and Body Refining Method you created."
After some thought, Ancestor Sui made arrangements for Jiang Yuan. In short, he was making him a teacher at the Sacred Temple.
Jiang Yuan's Breathing Method and Body Refining Method would certainly be passed down. But it was clearly impractical for him to teach everyone.
So they could only select the best students to teach. Once those students graduated, they could take Jiang Yuan's place and teach the rest of the clansmen. They would pass the knowledge from one person to the next until it spread throughout the entire Human Race.
"Thank you, Ancestor Sui!"
Jiang Yuan quickly thanked him.
The Sacred Temple was the Human Race's foremost holy ground. Inside stood not only a statue of Lady Nuwa, but also the Human Creation Whip, a sacred artifact of the Human Race.
The place brimmed with the aura of creation, and its cultivation environment was so favorable that even some top Grotto-Heaven Paradises couldn't compare. Fewer than a hundred members of the entire Human Race could cultivate there.
Ancestor Sui's decision to let Jiang Yuan live there long-term was more than generous—it was the best treatment imaginable. It was no exaggeration to say he was being raised as a successor.
What could Jiang Yuan say besides thank you?
From then on, he settled in at the Sacred Temple.
At this time, there was no distinction between day and night in the Primordial World. Looking up, one could see the sun, moon, and stars arranged across the Zhou Heaven, all shining brightly.
As a result, all living beings had a very vague sense of time. Their only unit of measurement was the year; there was no concept of days or months, let alone hours or minutes.
Not long after moving into the Sacred Temple, Jiang Yuan realized this. He then wanted to establish a complete system of time for the Primordial World and earn some Merit in the process.
But he soon discovered that he had overestimated himself. He was nowhere near capable of establishing a complete system of time.
Jiang Yuan had thought that all he needed to do was define the concepts of months, days, and hours, divide each year into twelve months, each month into thirty days, and each day into twelve hours. That would be more or less enough.
That was indeed the case, but there was no day and night in the Primordial World, and the moon had no waxing or waning phases. Without those, it was impossible to establish clear concepts of days and months.
Without clear definitions, how could he divide time into days and months? And without those divisions, establishing a complete system of time was out of the question.
"Sure enough, I made the problem sound too simple. To establish a complete system of time, I must first gain the ability to rearrange the sun, moon, and stars."
"It's not as simple as shouting, 'Heavenly Dao, bear witness! The world is flawed, so I've decided to do this and that,' and expecting everything to work out."
Jiang Yuan realized that novels about the Primordial World had misled him. Earning Merit had never been easy. Did he think he could earn Merit just by shouting a few lines and pointing out the Heavenly Dao's shortcomings? Nonsense.
Pointing out the Heavenly Dao's shortcomings wasn't an achievement. What mattered was whether one could fix them.
One had to identify a problem and solve it to earn Merit. If one only pointed out problems without solving them, the Heavenly Dao wouldn't even spare a glance.
"Sure enough, you can't trust novels. I'd better focus on cultivation."
Seeing that the shortcut wasn't going to work, Jiang Yuan had no choice but to give up. He picked up the Yin-Yang Creation Scripture and began cultivating in earnest.
Earlier, inside the Kun Fish's belly, he hadn't gotten a chance to cultivate before Crab General interrupted him. Now that he was back with the Human Race, there was no longer any danger to worry about, and he could finally cultivate in peace.
"Food is heaven to the people. In the Primordial World, I'll reach the Dao through eating!"
"Creation Jade Disk, give me an upgrade!"
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yuan swallowed the spiritual fruit Ancestor Sui had given him to activate the Creation Jade Disk and enter the state of Unity of Heaven and Man once more.
Then he circulated the Yin-Yang Creation Scripture and began devouring the Innate God-Devil Bloodline within him. The first one he devoured was the Azure Dragon Bloodline.
Boom!
As the Creation Scripture circulated, the Azure Dragon Bloodline within Jiang Yuan rapidly disappeared, transforming into strands of pure vitality.
This was Azure Dragon Vitality, the essence of the Azure Dragon Bloodline. Anyone who refined it could use it to condense an Azure Dragon Manifestation.
Bloodline Vitality Transformation!
This was the core of the Immortal Dao passed down by the Dao Ancestor. It held that everything in the world was made of vitality. Thus, vitality could form anything, including bloodlines.