Bai Jing's Path to Enlightenment

At this moment, the three thousand guests of Zixiao Palace looked at Hongjun, their eyes openly brimming with longing.

Hongjun looked upon the great powers standing at the pinnacle of the Primordial World below him and spoke expressionlessly. "There are three paths to sainthood.

"The first is the path of attaining sainthood through laws. Since chaos was opened, there have been three thousand Great Daos. So long as one cultivates any one of them to perfection, one may attain the Dao Fruit of a Hunyuan Great Luo Golden Immortal.

"Back then, Great God Pangu attained enlightenment through the Law of Strength. This humble Daoist also attempted this path, but ultimately failed to see it through."

The people in Zixiao Palace wore varying expressions upon hearing this. Even the current Sage had failed to walk this path? They did not dare believe they could succeed where even a Sage had failed, much less compare themselves to Great God Pangu.

Moreover, there were still people in the Primordial World attempting to master the path of laws. Among the Three Pure Ones, Laozi cultivated the Dao of Alchemy; Minghe cultivated the Dao of Slaughter; Nuwa, meanwhile, was studying the Great Dao of Creation.

Yet those who cultivated laws seemed unable to make their comprehension of laws keep pace with their own cultivation.

Only the Twelve Ancestral Witches were rather special. They were born wielding the power of laws, so their understanding of laws should be faster, right?

As everyone pondered this, they heard Hongjun continue from above. "The second path is one created by this humble Daoist, called Three Corpse Severing. This humble Daoist likewise became a Sage through it.

"This method uses innate spirit treasures as vessels to sever one's good thoughts, evil thoughts, and obsessions, transforming them into the good corpse, evil corpse, and obsession corpse. Once the three corpses merge as one, one may attain the Dao Fruit of a Hunyuan Great Luo Golden Immortal."

Some of the foremost great powers of the Primordial World seated at the front immediately had blazing looks in their eyes.

The method of attaining sainthood through laws was clearly incomparably difficult, far too remote even for them.

But before them stood a successful example of attaining sainthood through Three Corpse Severing, and he was even willing to share it selflessly.

Furthermore, Three Corpse Severing only required innate spirit treasures. It did not sound overly difficult. Which one of them did not possess at least two innate spirit treasures?

The rest were also filled with yearning. If they worked hard enough, they might be able to find innate spirit treasures as well.

Bai Jing paid no mind to the crowd's varying expressions and began contemplating the path of corpse severing.

Though this path appeared easy to follow, with Hongjun as a precedent, it might not actually be any simpler than attaining enlightenment through laws.

First of all, the total number of innate spirit treasures in the Primordial World was limited. How many Quasi-Sages could they produce altogether?

Moreover, Hongjun had not told them of the drawback of Three Corpse Severing: the three innate spirit treasures used to sever the corpses needed to share the same origin. Otherwise, merging the three corpses into one would be extremely difficult. Even if they ultimately merged, attaining sainthood would still be difficult.

There were not many sets of spirit treasures that met this requirement to begin with: the Three Treasures of Creation, the four lotuses, the seven gourds, the Innate Five Directional Banners, the Innate Five Spirit Pearls, the Heaven-Earth-Human Three Books, the thirty-six Sea-Calming Divine Pearls, and so on.

At the beginning of creation, the Primordial World was filled with spirit treasures, most of which had fallen into Hongjun's hands. Finding three spirit treasures of the same origin had not been difficult then, but how many complete sets of spirit treasures remained in the Primordial World now?

Not to mention that during the later distribution of treasures, Hongjun had deliberately split up complete sets of spirit treasures and given them to different great powers, making this path all but impossible to follow.

"May I ask, Sage, if one has no innate spirit treasure, can an innate spirit root be used to sever the corpses?" A female cultivator at the mid-stage of the Great Luo realm behind Bai Jing asked respectfully.

Innate spirit treasures were scarce in the Primordial World. This female cultivator had failed to find even one after all these years, though an inferior-grade innate spirit root had accompanied her when she took form. That was why she asked.

Hongjun nodded upon hearing this. "Yes. Any innate object may be used for corpse severing."

Hearing this, Bai Jing chuckled inwardly. When it comes to innate spirit roots, aside from Patriarch Hongjun, no one in the entire Primordial World has more than I do, right? The sixteen innate spirit roots on Yingzhou Immortal Island are all in my hands. I gave one to the Witch Clan, so I still have fifteen!

Seeing that no one below had any further questions, Hongjun continued. "The third path is attaining sainthood through merit. This method is the simplest of the three paths to sainthood, yet it may also be called the most difficult. One must accomplish something of immense benefit to the Primordial World, moving the Heavenly Dao to bestow boundless merit. Then one may instantly become a Sage."

Bai Jing curled his lips. Wasn't this third path prepared for the six people in front?

Oh! No, there's also Houtu, who would transform herself into the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

Other than those seven, who in the Primordial World could possibly walk this path?

Fortunately, Bai Jing had never pinned his hopes of attaining sainthood on this third path. He had his own plans.

As long as he could repair his origin, then use the trace of origin left to him by the Chaos Green Lotus to return to his roots and evolve his true body into a chaos spirit plant, he would possess foundations comparable to a Chaos Demon God. At that point, wouldn't becoming a Hunyuan Great Luo Golden Immortal be certain?

Thus, for Bai Jing, the only difficulty was how to repair his origin.

Judging from his desire for the Three Pure Ones' Dharma treasures before the gates of Zixiao Palace, he would probably be able to basically repair his origin with three spirit treasures related to the Chaos Green Lotus.

Even if there were still some deficiency, he could make up for it by using the Spirit Devouring Art to devour vast quantities of heavenly and earthly spiritual objects.

Therefore, his goal at this stage should be to find a way to obtain three spirit treasures related to the Chaos Green Lotus.

"May I ask, Sage, is there any difference between becoming a Sage through these three paths? Is there any distinction of superiority or inferiority?" Laozi's words interrupted Bai Jing's thoughts.

Bai Jing was also curious what answer Hongjun would give. He stopped thinking and raised his head toward the cushion above.

Hongjun remained expressionless, as though nothing could affect him. He said calmly, "Those who attain enlightenment through strength obtain the Dao Fruit of a Hunyuan Great Luo Golden Immortal, and their combat power is the strongest.

"Those who attain enlightenment through Three Corpse Severing obtain the Dao Fruit of a Hunyuan Great Luo Golden Immortal, and their combat power is second.

"Those who attain sainthood through merit obtain the Dao Fruit of a Sage, and their combat power is third. However, Sages entrust their Dao Fruits to the Heavenly Dao. They are immortal and imperishable, existing alongside the Primordial World."

"May I ask, Sage, what is the difference between a Hunyuan Great Luo Golden Immortal and a Sage?" This time, it was not Laozi who spoke, but Taiyi.

"A Hunyuan Great Luo Golden Immortal is a Sage, but a Sage is not a Hunyuan Great Luo Golden Immortal."

Taiyi offered his thanks and sat back down.

Hongjun waited for several breaths. Seeing that no one else spoke to ask a question, he continued his lecture. Lotus flowers fell from the sky, purple qi came from the east, and endless wondrous phenomena appeared. Everyone listened, utterly entranced.

Bai Jing also quickly entered a state of enlightenment. However, the Dao he comprehended was the Great Dao of Devouring. His physical body had already reached the late stage of the Great Luo realm, only one step away from its peak, and he could now begin to grasp laws.

Using the opportunity of Hongjun's lecture to comprehend the Great Dao of Devouring and raise the power of the Spirit Devouring Art to another level was the path most beneficial to Bai Jing's development.

Who knew how many years passed before the sound of the lecture within Zixiao Palace ceased? The great powers all awakened, feeling a sense of loss.

Hongjun looked at everyone and said, "This lecture has ended. One kalpa from now, the Dao of Sages will be taught at Zixiao Palace. It will also be the final lecture."