Zhen Yuanzi Expounds the Dao, the Human Race Faces Peril

Just as the newly formed grotto-heaven within Yuan Ming's body was about to trigger celestial phenomena and leak its aura—

A vast, boundless stream of Wu Earth Essence descended from the void, veiling the entire mountaintop like a gauze curtain. It silently suppressed the surging aura that was about to soar into the heavens, sealing it off from within and without.

Yuan Ming sensed this and immediately calmed his mind. He solemnly bowed toward the void. "This junior, Yuan Ming, thanks Senior Zhen Yuanzi for the favor of guarding me."

Zhen Yuanzi looked at Yuan Ming, his eyes filled with undisguised admiration and amazement. He laughed heartily.

"Your comprehension, little friend, is truly unprecedented! You actually found another path within your frail mortal body, creating the method of the grotto-heaven—containing Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed, nurturing heaven and earth within your body. This method is novel and unique, pointing directly to the origin of the Great Dao. It greatly pleases me, and I admire it immensely!"

Seeing Yuan Ming's deep foundation and clear Dao heart, Zhen Yuanzi found himself growing ever more delighted with him.

He could not help but feel the urge to nurture such talent and wished to offer him guidance, helping him advance further upon his Dao Path.

Pleased, Zhen Yuanzi said, "Little friend, you have only just opened your grotto-heaven, and its foundation is still unstable. Since we have met today, I shall explain the Grotto-Heaven Great Dao I have established."

With that, Zhen Yuanzi began expounding supreme Dao truths atop the mountain, each word blooming like a lotus.

Golden lotuses sprang from the earth, heavenly maidens scattered flowers, and Dao resonance filled the surroundings.

Yuan Ming held his breath, sat cross-legged, and immersed himself completely in the teachings of this great divine cultivator.

What Zhen Yuanzi taught was the most fundamental and essential Dao of Earth—the mysteries of the Wu Earth origin.

Zhen Yuanzi's voice was as dense and solemn as the earth itself. Every sentence contained the supreme laws of the earth element.

Yuan Ming felt his spiritual platform become clearer than ever before. Many obscure points from his past cultivation suddenly became clear.

Within him, the boundaries of his newly formed bodily grotto-heaven, once chaotic, gradually became distinct under the cleansing of the Dao voice. Earthly veins extended on their own, becoming ever more stable and substantial.

Nourished by these Great Dao truths, his cultivation began to rise rapidly, while his understanding of heaven and earth deepened layer by layer.

Amid this profound process of listening to the Dao, Yuan Ming received a sudden insight. He compared and fused his own understanding with the profound meaning of Wu Earth explained by Zhen Yuanzi.

All at once, a spark of inspiration exploded within his sea of consciousness, as though he had touched upon some law at the root of the cosmos.

"Buzz—!"

A vast Dao sound seemed to rise from the depths of his soul. A mysterious yellow Dao pattern quietly condensed and manifested upon the earth at the center of his grotto-heaven.

The pattern was ancient and boundless, containing the weight and compassion to bear all things and transform everything, yet also carrying the supreme majesty to stabilize mountains and rivers and suppress all existence.

The Wu Earth Great Dao!

One of the Innate Realm Five Elements Great Daos, the supreme law governing earth, the center, bearing, and nurturing—it was now truly comprehended and grasped by him.

Though he had only caught a glimpse of its entrance, this Great Dao leading directly to the Primordial Unity had already opened a crack in its door for him.

Because of the formation of this Dao pattern, his bodily grotto-heaven gained its most fundamental "earthly cornerstone," and its potential increased manyfold.

Seeing this, the admiration in Zhen Yuanzi's eyes deepened. He nodded slightly, but his exposition did not cease. Instead, it grew more profound, guiding Yuan Ming onward along this newly opened Great Dao.

Yuan Ming's aura continually rose and settled during the lecture. His control over power and understanding of the Dao entered an entirely new realm.

Zhen Yuanzi sat beneath the Ginseng Fruit Tree, speaking Great Dao truths. The teachings of the Ancestor of Earth Immortals were extraordinary, ranging from the creation of heaven and earth to the circulation of earth veins, from the flourishing and withering of vegetation to eternal longevity.

The profundities of the Earth Book and the Classic of Mountains and Seas transformed into golden lotuses filling the sky, then fell like sweet rain, nourishing the minds and spirits of every listener within Five Villages Temple.

Ordinary cultivators, if their realms differed too greatly, would suffer dizziness and spiritual shock from hearing such lofty Dao sounds at best; at worst, their Dao hearts would be damaged and their cultivation would regress.

Yet Yuan Ming truly remained seated for three thousand years without moving in the slightest!

Dao resonance circulated around him. At times, he was as heavy as the earth, bearing all things—this was the influence of Zhen Yuanzi's Great Dao.

At other times, an invisible force seemed capable of refining all laws and turning them into nourishment for himself. This was the foundation of the Heaven-Devouring Dao Scripture silently operating.

Then he would return to emptiness, as though transcending all worldly things. This was the effect of the Formless Scripture.

Over those three thousand years, with his unique comprehension and cultivation system, he forcibly understood, absorbed, and transformed the most basic and essential "Dao resonance" from the Great Dao Zhen Yuanzi taught—one far beyond his own realm.

Even Zhen Yuanzi, when his gaze occasionally swept over Yuan Ming during his lecture, revealed a faint trace of imperceptible approval.

The Dao sounds gradually faded, and the celestial flowers and golden lotuses slowly dispersed.

Yuan Ming awakened from his deep state of enlightenment. His divine sense was crystal clear, and his perception of the laws of heaven and earth had sharpened severalfold. Though his realm had not risen, the solidity of his Dao foundation and the clarity of the road ahead could no longer be compared to before.

He rose and respectfully bowed to Zhen Yuanzi. "This junior listened to the Great Immortal's teachings for three thousand years and has benefited beyond measure. I am endlessly grateful! I shall certainly remember this kindness!"

Zhen Yuanzi smiled and nodded, just about to offer a few words of encouragement.

Suddenly!

An incomparably sharp warning carrying the scent of blood and fire stabbed fiercely into Yuan Ming's soul like a red-hot iron spike!

This was an instinctive perception born from his identity as the Human Ancestor and his close connection to the Human Race Fortune.

Yuan Ming's expression changed drastically. He sprang to his feet, his gaze seeming to pierce through endless void toward the Central Plains. He cried out in alarm.

"Not good! My hometown!"

The scene shifted to the Central Plains.

The homeland Yuan Ming had once led his people to carve out through hardship—its orderly villages, its fledgling cities, its diligently cultivated fields—was now engulfed in a brutal blaze of war!

The Central Plains lay directly southwest of the Buzhou Mountain Ruins.

At this moment, a force of Witch Race warriors and a Demon Race army had encountered one another here by chance, erupting into a savage battle.

On the Witch Race side, their leader was a hundred-zhang giant. Sha Qi surged around him, while earth laws coiled about his body. Every movement stirred the pulse of the land. He was a great witch at the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal Realm!

Several Witch Race experts of the Golden Immortal Realm served beneath him. They cultivated neither Primordial Spirits nor Dao techniques, only their bodies and laws. Their fighting style was wild and direct. Every step shook the earth and mountains, and every punch tore apart the sky.

On the Demon Race side, the commander was a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal great demon with wings on its back and the form of a fierce tiger. Demonic winds swept forth, and cold light containing rending laws flashed from its claws.

Golden Immortal demon soldiers stood beneath it as well, wielding all manner of strange demonic arts—poisonous fire, mystic ice, yin winds—covering the heavens and earth.

"Witch Race barbarians, die!"

The winged tiger demon roared and beat its wings. Countless wind blades descended like a rain of death.

Wherever they passed, the city walls built by the Human Race from massive stones and spiritwood collapsed like paper. Humans who failed to flee in time were instantly shredded into bloody mist.

"Demon Race beasts, how dare you violate our land!"

The great witch roared and stomped violently upon the ground. Enormous stone spikes burst from the earth like a forest, skewering countless demon soldiers in midair. Demon blood poured down like waterfalls, staining the fertile land a filthy purplish red.

These two races were both overlords of the current Primordial World, their power reaching the heavens.

The saying, "Quasi-Sages serve as generals, while Great Luo are mere soldiers," might have been an exaggeration, but it still showed the depth of their foundations.

Though the forces clashing here were merely detached divisions, their destructive power was already a world-ending calamity to the living beings of the Central Plains.

The aftermath of their battle was devastating.

A stray blaze of demonic fire fell, turning an entire field of wheat on the verge of harvest into scorched earth. Dozens of Human Race members laboring within it were reduced to ashes along with it.

A shockwave formed by a violent Witch Race battle roar instantly shattered the eardrums and souls of every weak living being within a hundred li. Countless Human Race civilians bled from all seven orifices and fell without a sound.

Mountains and rivers collapsed. Waterways were cut off or even evaporated dry.

The spirits and beasts that depended upon the Human Race for survival, or had been born and raised in this land, died in droves.

Some were pulverized by the battle's shockwaves, others crushed by scattered law power. More fled in endless terror, only to be caught by some stray divine ability or the edge of a weapon and turned into ashes of calamity.

Cries of misery filled the land, and all living beings suffered devastation.

The homeland painstakingly built by the Human Race was as fragile as a dying candle in a gale beneath the collision of the Primordial World's two great powers.

Homes burned, and clansmen wailed.

Through the perception of fortune, Yuan Ming witnessed these horrific scenes as though he were there himself. Far away on Longevity Mountain, he was frantic with anxiety and desperate to return!