Thirty-Six Petal Bloom

Hongjun's willingness to help him was something Qing Xuanzi had already guessed.

From the moment Hongjun had opened his mouth and asked to take him as a disciple, he had suspected it: Hongjun was seeking a way out.

Though merging with the Dao was a shortcut to attaining the Heavenly Dao Realm, it was extremely dangerous.

Any mistake would mean eternal damnation.

In the primordial world, only the Human Dao and Earth Dao could contend with the Heavenly Dao.

He was the child of fortune of the Human Dao. Taking him in would not only grant Hongjun fortune, but also serve to win him over.

Otherwise, how could a mere Golden Immortal like him possibly catch Hongjun's eye?

Hongjun wanted to win him over and befriend him so that, in a critical moment, he could lend a hand.

At the very least, he could make the Human Dao show more consideration and prevent Hongjun from completely perishing.

Turning back to the matter at hand, Qing Xuanzi began calculating whether his cultivation technique gave him enough confidence to meet Hongjun's requirements.

Clearly, the cheat Pangu had given him was powerful, and his chances were excellent.

The cultivation technique Qing Xuanzi had obtained from Pangu was the Five Grand Primordial Arts, a technique no one had ever cultivated.

Because cultivating this technique required one to begin with Taiji.

And Taiji corresponded to the pinnacle of humanity. Only those with a Congenital Dao Body could cultivate it.

The so-called Five Grands progressed in order: Taiji, Taisu, Taishi, Taichu, and Taiyi.

The pinnacle of humanity was the Congenital Dao Body. The human race was born with Dao Bodies, so the Five Grand Primordial Arts had been prepared for the Congenital Human Race.

In truth, Pangu could also have cultivated it, but this technique had only appeared in his inheritance after the Thirty-Six Petal Green Lotus disintegrated.

By then, Pangu already bore the mission of creating heaven and earth and had no time to cultivate it, so he guided Qing Xuanzi instead.

It was also because Qing Xuanzi had failed to make progress in cultivation that Pangu gained enlightenment at the final moment.

Only after Qing Xuanzi attained the body of a Congenital Human could he cultivate the Five Grand Primordial Arts.

That was why Pangu had sent him to the time of humanity's birth.

The stage of comprehending and cultivating the Dao corresponded to Taiji and was called the Dao Comprehension Realm. The Mixed Origin Great Luo Golden Immortal was the pinnacle of this stage and also the starting point of the next.

The Dao Control Realm corresponded to Taisu. At this stage, one began to grasp the essence of the Dao. The Mixed Origin Taiji Great Luo Golden Immortal was in this stage, whose pinnacle was the Mixed Origin Limitless Golden Immortal.

The Dao Dominion Realm corresponded to Taishi. Its starting point was the Mixed Origin Limitless Golden Immortal. Great Dao Saints and Great Dao Supreme Saints were in this stage, whose pinnacle was the Taishi Great Dao.

The Dao Creation Realm corresponded to Taichu, while the No Dao Realm corresponded to Taiyi.

Pangu himself had only reached the Great Dao Saint Realm, so he could not deduce the subsequent portions of the technique.

Thus, the Five Grand Primordial Arts in Qing Xuanzi's mind only extended to the Taishi stage.

The Taiji stage had nine revolutions:

The first revolution was Earth Immortal, the second Heavenly Immortal, the third True Immortal, the fourth Mysterious Immortal, the fifth Golden Immortal, and the sixth Grand Unity Golden Immortal.

The seventh was Great Luo Golden Immortal, the eighth Hunyuan Golden Immortal, and the ninth Mixed Origin Great Luo Golden Immortal.

Qing Xuanzi was currently at the fifth revolution. Based on his cultivation experience, he was highly confident that he could reach the eighth revolution within ten thousand years.

He was nearly eighty percent certain.

After all, he had attained the fifth-revolution Golden Immortal Realm only a thousand years after Pangu's lecture.

He had merely lacked the body of a Congenital Human, which was why he could not become a Golden Immortal. Yet the moment he became a Congenital Human, he directly became a Golden Immortal.

If that was the case, even accounting for the greater difficulty of the later revolutions, he truly had an eighty percent chance of advancing another three revolutions in ten thousand years.

After thoroughly sorting out his cultivation path, Qing Xuanzi raised his head and replied, "If all goes smoothly, I have an eighty percent chance."

"Good. If that is the case, this old Daoist will go mad with you once," Hongjun agreed.

An eighty percent chance was extremely high in the primordial world.

After all, this was the primordial world, where anything could happen. An eighty percent chance was practically guaranteed success.

The remaining twenty percent accounted for unforeseen variables.

Hongjun then continued, "In ten thousand years, I will tell you the plan in advance. Simply act according to it."

"Thank you, Master."

"Enough. This meeting between you and me was also fate. This old Daoist never expected someone like you to appear. Your appearance has made the primordial world far more interesting, worth this old Daoist taking a risk."

Hongjun left, and Qing Xuanzi officially began his journey of cultivation.

A thousand years passed, and Qing Xuanzi attained the Grand Unity Golden Immortal Realm.

The Three Thousand Congenital Humans also embarked on the path of the Dao like Qing Xuanzi. Some of the earliest among them had even become immortals.

Three thousand years passed, and all Three Thousand Congenital Humans became immortals.

At that moment, an aura of the Great Luo Realm spread outward.

"It's Qing Xuanzi. Qing Xuanzi has attained the Great Luo Golden Immortal Realm!" Huang was interrupted in his cultivation by that imposing aura and exclaimed in delight.

"Yes, it is indeed Qing Xuanzi's aura. Hahaha, our human race now has a Great Luo Golden Immortal as well!" Tian laughed heartily.

The humans cultivating together atop the mountain all stopped and looked toward the cave dwelling where Qing Xuanzi was cultivating.

There, a flower bud hung in midair, ready to bloom.

Waves of Dao Incense drifted from it as pure white petals slowly unfurled. A golden flower radiated dazzling light.

Immediately afterward, another flower bud appeared beside the golden flower. It bloomed as before and gave birth to another golden flower.

It continued like this: one petal, two petals, three petals, four petals...

It reached eight petals without stopping, then went straight to nine petals, still growing rapidly.

Kunlun Mountain.

"Senior Brother, what a genius! He actually has a nine-petal Great Luo bloom. He has caught up to the innate sacred beings in terms of foundation. Incredible!" Master Tongtian was the first to voice his admiration on Kunlun Mountain.

Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning remained expressionless, but he felt insulted. Throughout the entire primordial world, only the Three Pure Ones currently possessed nine-petal Great Luo blooms.

No one else could possibly possess the talent for a nine-petal bloom. Naturally, he automatically excluded the Dao Ancestor.

Yet now he had been slapped in the face. How could he not feel upset?

And Master Tongtian kept clicking his tongue in praise right before him, while his expression gradually showed signs of turning green.

Mount Sumeru.

Jie Yin and Zhunti had begun paying attention when Qing Xuanzi attained the Great Luo Golden Immortal Realm.

When they saw Qing Xuanzi's nine-petal bloom, their eyes began to flicker, growing brighter and brighter.

"Senior Brother, this child is fated with the Western Sect."

"Junior Brother, have you forgotten? He is the Dao Ancestor's closed-door disciple. You had better put away those thoughts." Zhunti's words nearly broke Jie Yin's composure.

Good heavens, he was their teacher's closed-door disciple, and Zhunti still dared to set his sights on him. Had he lived long enough?

"Senior Brother, since he is our teacher's disciple, that makes him our junior brother. What would be wrong with him joining the Western Sect?"

When Jie Yin heard that, he realized it was true. Were the two of them not fellow disciples as well?

They truly could make plans to draw this junior brother into the Western Sect.

That way, the Western Sect would also have someone with a nine-petal bloom. At the very least, they would be able to hold their heads high before the Three Pure Ones.

"Wait, Senior Brother, are there Great Luo Golden Immortals with blooms exceeding nine petals?"

"Only the Dao Ancestor." Jie Yin blurted it out, but the moment the words left his mouth, he understood that Zhunti had not meant that.

Qing Xuanzi's bloom over there had exceeded nine petals.

"Ten... ten petals, Senior Brother." Zhunti could barely speak properly.

"Yes, ten petals. The Dao Ancestor's level," Jie Yin remarked with emotion.

But what happened next even alerted Hongjun. Qing Xuanzi was still striving to bloom.

Even the outline of an eleventh petal had appeared.

"Qing Xuanzi, you truly have not disappointed me. I want to see whether you can compare with Great God Pangu. I am looking forward to it."

Seated high upon the cloud platform in Purple Cloud Palace, Hongjun's eternally unchanged expression finally shifted.

He was shocked by Qing Xuanzi's monstrous talent.

As for the Three Pure Ones, especially Yuanshi, he had completely shut down. It was too infuriating. Qing Xuanzi could not only bloom nine petals—

He had even charged all the way to eleven petals in one breath. Yuanshi was numb, exhausted. Let everything be destroyed.

Zhunti was so excited that he pinched his thigh and said, "Senior Brother, Senior Brother, I'm not dreaming, am I? I have a bad feeling. I can't feel any pain."

"You f*cking pinched my leg! Let go already, it hurts like hell!" Jie Yin jumped in pain. That fellow had definitely done it on purpose—otherwise, why would he use so much strength?

"Ah, Senior Brother, my apologies, my apologies. I got excited and did that. Didn't you see it? Did you see it? A thirty-six-petal bloom!"

Zhunti was as excited as if he himself had achieved a thirty-six-petal bloom, waving his arms and dancing around.

"Junior Brother, it is his thirty-six-petal bloom. Why the hell are you getting so excited?" Seeing his junior brother nearly faint from excitement, Jie Yin hurriedly tried to calm him down.

"It's fine. This child is ours for the Western Sect. I said so."

Jie Yin looked at Zhunti's domineering expression and felt that something was off. Had his junior brother been cursed?

And the feeling was extremely bad. He always felt as though something was about to leave him.