Three Great Incarnations

With certain people secretly fanning the flames, the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Tribes fell under ever-deeper suspicion, while the calamity's Sha Qi grew increasingly powerful. A decisive battle could erupt at any moment.

After Red Cloud broke through to Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, his understanding of the calamity deepened, and he was all the more shocked by the strength of the Three Clans.

Before entering Great Luo, when he looked upon the Three Clans, they were flowers in a mirror, moons in the water. Only after entering Great Luo did he realize that he had merely glimpsed a leopard through a tube—just the tip of the iceberg.

When he broke through Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, transcended the river of time and space, and interfered with fate and karma, Red Cloud sensed gaze after gaze. Every one of them belonged to a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal.

There were other gazes as well, whose mere peripheral glances made Red Cloud feel immense pressure. Had the Illustrated Record of Literary Fortune and the Heaven-Measuring Ruler of Primordial Chaos not suppressed his fortune, his origins might have been sensed from afar, and they could have come knocking the very next moment.

"Whew. Before Great Luo, one is a fish in the river. After Great Luo, one is an angler on the riverbank."

Red Cloud sighed. The instant he broke through Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, he had changed from a chess piece into a chess player.

A chess player was still a chess player, but chess players came in all sizes. Red Cloud was plainly one of the most insignificant.

After breaking through Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, Red Cloud had the qualifications to sit back and watch the winds and clouds shift, but not the qualifications to take part in them.

As for the Dragon-Han Calamity, Red Cloud had no intention of participating. It was enough to remain an observer drifting beyond the battlefield, while incidentally fishing in troubled waters and making a fortune from war.

His era lay in the next calamity. The following Witch-Demon Tribulation would be when Red Cloud truly displayed his brilliance.

With that thought, Red Cloud looked toward the incarnations nurtured by the three origins of water, fire, and wind. Their appearances had already become clear, and their respective temperaments could be seen from their outward forms.

Innate beings had no distinction between male and female. Their appearances were born from their hearts; they were neither male nor female, yet could be either male or female—bodies in which yin and yang had yet to divide, chaos remaining whole.

For the appearances of his incarnations, Red Cloud was not bound by the memories of his previous life. He had decided to make them male.

The water incarnation was a gentle-looking woman with a mild temperament. She primarily cultivated Formation Dao and secondarily cultivated the Water Law. She was named Water Cloud Daoist, and her primary cultivation method was the Water Cloud Diagram, adapted from Red Cloud's Red Cloud Dao Scripture.

The fire incarnation was a burly, rough-looking man with a fiery temper. He primarily cultivated Alchemy Dao and secondarily cultivated the Fire Law. He was named Fire Cloud Daoist, and his primary cultivation method was the Fire Cloud Scripture, adapted from Red Cloud's Red Cloud Dao Scripture.

The wind incarnation was a dashing, handsome man with an unrestrained temperament. He primarily cultivated Artifact Dao and secondarily cultivated the Wind Law. He was named Wind Cloud Daoist, and his primary cultivation method was the Wind Cloud Record, adapted from Red Cloud's Red Cloud Dao Scripture.

When it came to naming them, the three Clouds all bore Cloud in their names, inheriting the character from Red Cloud: Water Cloud, Fire Cloud, Wind Cloud.

The three incarnations were now Primordial Unity Golden Immortals. Based on the origins they occupied, they could take form upon reaching Primordial Unity Golden Immortal Perfection. With sufficient foundation, they could even achieve Great Luo upon taking form.

For an Innate Divine Being, taking form was also an opportunity to defy fate and change one's destiny. With enough accumulation, it might not be impossible to raise one's innate foundations somewhat.

Thus, although Red Cloud had broken through Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, he still did not rush to take form. He needed to continue accumulating his foundation and make his roots as solid as possible.

Red Cloud held great expectations for his incarnations. One could tell from their primary Daos alone: "alchemy, artifacts, formations" were the Three Pure Ones' specialties, yet the three Clouds might not necessarily be inferior to the Three Pure Ones in the future.

Moreover, while the Three Pure Ones excelled in alchemy, artifacts, and formations—Supreme Purity in pill refinement, Jade Purity in artifact refinement, and Upper Purity in formations—none of the three had attained the Dao through "alchemy, artifacts, and formations."

Though the Great Dao had three thousand paths, and every path could lead to enlightenment, the differences between the roads one walked were enormous.

The Dao of Laws placed laws before Dao, and was also known as the Innate Dao. It took the laws of the Heavenly Dao as its template. Cultivation was easy in the early stages, focused on imitating the Heavenly Dao, but difficult in the later stages, because those who learn from me may live, while those who resemble me must die.

Those who cultivated the Dao of Laws needed the Heavenly Dao's permission if they wished to attain Hunyuan.

That was right: Primordial Purple Energy.

The Heavenly Dao evolved laws far faster than cultivators who merely imitated it. Without the Heavenly Dao's permission, it was virtually impossible for anyone to attain the Dao along this path.

The Acquired Dao placed Dao before laws. Take the Literary Dao cultivated by Red Cloud as an example: the Primordial World possessed no laws of the Literary Dao, so Red Cloud had nowhere to draw inspiration from or imitate.

As an Acquired Dao, the Literary Dao had been a path of innovation from the very beginning. Every step meant hacking through thorns and brambles.

Once this path was fully opened, and Red Cloud attained the Dao through literature, achieving Hunyuan and becoming a saint, the laws of the Literary Dao would be written into the Heavenly Dao of the Primordial World. At that time, he would become the Literary Ancestor of the Primordial World, with a status equal to Immortal Ancestor Hong Jun and Devil Ancestor Luohou.

Alchemy Dao, Artifact Dao, and Formation Dao possessed the same potential. The Three Pure Ones had originally held the greatest hope of attaining the Dao through them.

But after Hong Jun preached the Dao, they cultivated the severing of the three corpses, became Hong Jun's disciples, and obtained Primordial Purple Energy. In their pursuit of sainthood, they neglected alchemy, artifacts, and formations, and their path went astray.

They could originally have become the Alchemy Ancestor, Artifact Ancestor, and Formation Ancestor, yet in the end they would forever remain beneath Hong Jun.

Instead, the unassuming Jieyin had opened the path of the Buddhist Dao and become the Buddha Ancestor, whom Hong Jun addressed as a fellow Daoist.

This was Fire Cloud and the others' opportunity. The Three Pure Ones might disdain the three Daos of alchemy, artifacts, and formations, but they would not. If they did not want to become the Alchemy Ancestor, Artifact Ancestor, and Formation Ancestor, then the three Clouds would take those positions.

Just as Red Cloud was pondering this, his other incarnation suddenly sent him a voice transmission, asking him to use the Illustrated Record of Literary Fortune to help. It seemed that the incarnation had discovered an innate formation.

Well now, had his incarnation encountered another opportunity?

The incarnation had only received a portion of Red Cloud's fortune, yet how many treasures had it obtained already?

Red Cloud did not hesitate. He cast his consciousness toward the incarnation and activated the Illustrated Record of Literary Fortune to begin comprehending.

Elsewhere, where the incarnation was located.

Red Cloud's incarnation stood atop a mountain, staring southeast. A volcano stood there, its scorching fire energy surging forth so fiercely that even breathing in this place felt searingly painful.

Red Cloud's incarnation was already a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, yet even he felt pain when breathing. One could imagine how dense the fire-element energy here was. It was not merely because of the volcano.

"Literary Dao divine ability, Water and Fire Immunity."

Red Cloud unleashed the divine ability Water and Fire Immunity. A spiraling halo of blue and red light enveloped him, and his breathing became smooth again. The sensation of scorching pain deep within his lungs vanished.

Red Cloud approached the volcano to investigate. With the aid of the Illustrated Record of Literary Fortune's deductions, he finally discovered the innate grand formation.

The innate grand formation was not at the volcanic crater, but halfway up the volcano. There was a valley there that appeared utterly ordinary, yet its fire-element energy was exceptionally dense.

At first, Red Cloud noticed nothing unusual, but after entering the valley, he discovered its mysterious intricacies.

This valley lay at the volcano's Bing-Fire position. The fire energy gathered without erupting, taking the shape of a hidden dragon, while all the fire-element energy exhaled and inhaled by the volcano converged here.

After Red Cloud discovered the issue with this place, he probed it with divine sense. Borrowing the power of the Illustrated Record of Literary Fortune, he eventually confirmed that an innate formation was indeed hidden within the valley.

Next, Red Cloud began comprehending the formation. The Illustrated Record of Literary Fortune operated at full force, making his comprehension twice as effective with half the effort.

In the blink of an eye, a thousand years passed. Red Cloud comprehended the formation, which was called the Innate Bing-Fire Formation.

Its position was Bing-Fire, and the formation itself was also Bing-Fire. It seemed that the spiritual treasure or spiritual root within should possess the fire attribute.

"Let me see what exactly is inside."

Red Cloud walked directly into the grand formation and saw a spiritual root, crimson from top to bottom, its bark like dragon scales.