Three-Corpse Slaying Is Correct, but Who Says the Great Dao Has Only One Path?

Within Violet Cloud Palace, as Hongjun's question fell, the three thousand Violet Cloud guests who had been immersed in the Great Dao of Three-Corpse Slaying nearly all turned their eyes toward Luxuan.

Those able to sit here were, at the very least, mighty figures of the Great Wilderness. Their divine senses were incomparably sharp, so Luxuan's several frowns while listening to the Dao had naturally not escaped anyone's notice. Yet no one had expected Hongjun to personally pause his lecture and question Luxuan before all three thousand guests.

For a moment, the entire Violet Cloud Palace became excessively quiet.

Bixiao sat in the back. She had originally been wondering whether her master had discovered some issue again, but now that the Sage had truly spoken, her expression immediately became rather subtle.

Well, damn.

She had actually guessed right.

Zhao Gongming also looked toward Luxuan. However, unlike the uncertain and alarmed Violet Cloud guests around him, he did not feel there was anything to be nervous about.

After following his master for so many years, he had long noticed something.

Luxuan never opposed something merely for the sake of opposition.

If there was a problem, he spoke of it.

If there was no problem, he listened.

Even when Dongwang Gong had led a million immortal troops to Penglai's gates, his master could not be bothered to scold him first. He simply raised a hand and settled the matter. Naturally, he would not deliberately contradict a Sage during a Dao lecture just to show off.

Upon the high platform, Hongjun's expression remained calm.

"Please speak freely, Fellow Daoist."

Luxuan did not put on a show of humility and decline for half the day.

He first gave Hongjun a slight bow.

"There is naturally nothing wrong with the Three-Corpse Slaying method that the Dao Ancestor has explained."

As soon as he said this, the expressions of many mighty figures eased somewhat.

Yuanshi in particular.

Seeing Luxuan frown continuously earlier, he had truly thought this man intended to deny the Great Dao of Corpse-Slaying before the Sage.

Since he believed there was nothing wrong with it, why had he looked doubtful?

Sure enough.

Luxuan's next words followed immediately.

"This humble Daoist merely feels that..."

"Three-Corpse Slaying is one path, but it may not be the only path."

Violet Cloud Palace fell silent once more.

It was even quieter than before.

Corpse-Slaying was not the only Great Dao?

Had anyone else spoken those words, the first reaction of many mighty figures present would likely have been to call them arrogant.

The Dao Ancestor had become a Sage before them.

He was now personally explaining the path of cultivation beyond Great Luo.

What right did a cultivator who had only just entered the Quasi-Saint realm have to claim there were other paths?

But the one speaking was Luxuan.

That made the situation entirely different.

The reason was simple.

This fellow had truly ascended from Great Luo on his own.

He had even broken through before Hongjun explained the Corpse-Slaying method this time.

Di Jun's gaze immediately turned serious.

Grand Unity could not help looking at the faint, almost imperceptible Primordial Unity Dao aura around Luxuan.

He had actually been puzzled earlier.

There was no obvious aura of separation around Luxuan like that of an ordinary Quasi-Saint after Corpse-Slaying. Instead, all his laws seemed to have been fused into a single whole.

Now it seemed.

It truly was not Corpse-Slaying.

Hongjun did not grow angry, merely continuing to ask, "If you did not slay corpses, how did you cross the limit of Great Luo, Fellow Daoist?"

Luxuan thought for a moment.

"Returning to one."

"What is returning to one?"

"The Dao returns to oneself, the laws return to oneself, and good, evil, and self all return to oneself."

Luxuan raised a hand.

No divine ability erupted from his palm.

There merely appeared a strand of exceedingly pure Primordial Unity mana.

At first glance, that strand of mana appeared utterly ordinary. Yet the instant the divine senses of nearly every mighty figure at the Quasi-Saint realm touched it, their expressions changed noticeably.

Because it was not any single law.

There was space within it.

There was the Array Dao.

There was water and cloud.

There was Slaughter.

And there was an incomparably profound World Great Dao aura.

The various powers were completely different, yet they did not conflict with one another. Instead, they seemed as though they had always belonged to the same whole.

"This humble Daoist did not sever these things."

Luxuan's expression was calm.

"Instead, I allowed them all to merge into my own Dao fruit."

"The myriad laws may differ."

"But the one cultivating those laws is ultimately only one person."

"Since they are all my Dao, why must I first separate them?"

As those words fell.

Laozi's half-closed eyes slowly opened.

A divine gleam flashed clearly through Tongtian's eyes.

Even Yuanshi's brows, which had only just relaxed, furrowed again. This time, however, it was not from dissatisfaction, but because he was truly considering Luxuan's words.

From the moment cultivators embarked upon cultivation.

They continuously absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, comprehended Great Dao laws, and then transformed everything into their own strength.

Seen that way.

Luxuan's words truly made sense.

But the problem was equally obvious.

How could different Great Daos truly merge?

Water and fire clashed.

Yin and yang stood opposed.

Space and Slaughter were even more completely different directions.

If ordinary Great Luo cultivators simultaneously cultivated two or three Great Daos, they could exhaust endless years due to their mutual conflicts.

To unify all Great Daos into one complete Dao fruit.

How could the difficulty be merely a hundred times greater?

Kunpeng could not help speaking up.

"Fellow Daoist Luxuan."

"Different laws clash with one another. If one forcibly fuses them, the slightest carelessness may result in a Great Dao backlash. How can Fellow Daoist ensure that all Daos return to one without destroying your own Dao fruit?"

Luxuan glanced at him.

"I cannot ensure it."

Kunpeng: "..."

The expressions of many mighty figures in Violet Cloud Palace also became somewhat strange.

You had just spoken with such confidence.

Yet when asked how you could ensure it.

Your answer was actually that you could not?

Luxuan found this perfectly normal.

"How can cultivation have any path guaranteed to succeed?"

"Corpse-Slaying likewise cannot guarantee that everyone can sever all Three Corpses."

"The method this humble Daoist walks is indeed exceedingly difficult. With the slightest error, the Great Daos may clash, and the Dao fruit may shatter."

"But difficulty..."

"Does not mean it is wrong."

Hongjun nodded lightly.

"Continue."

Luxuan did not conceal anything.

After all, he was speaking of Great Dao principles, not laying out his specific cultivation method for everyone.

"The Corpse-Slaying Dao uses Innate Spirit Treasures to entrust one's obsessions, thereby clearing the primordial spirit and advancing the Great Dao. Its advantage lies in its clear path, making it easy for later generations to learn."

"This humble Daoist's path is precisely the opposite."

"There is no fixed order."

"There is no Great Dao that must be cultivated first."

"The sole requirement is that everything comprehended must ultimately return to oneself and form a complete cycle with each other."

"If I must give it a name."

Luxuan paused slightly.

"This humble Daoist calls it Primordial Unity."

"Primordial Unity..."

As this name emerged.

For the first time, an exceedingly faint ripple appeared in Hongjun's eyes upon the high platform.

The Three Pure Ones likewise seemed deep in thought.

"Primordial Unity is undivided primordial qi, chaos as one."

Laozi murmured quietly.

Luxuan glanced at him.

As expected of the future Supreme Pure Sage.

His understanding was indeed swift.

"Correct."

"The myriad Daos may divide."

"They may also unite."

"If the Dao fruit itself is a complete world, with the Array Dao as its bones, space as its boundaries, the five elements as its foundation, yin and yang in circulation, and Slaughter protecting the Dao, then why must these Great Daos conflict with one another?"

As Zhao Gongming listened, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Because the direction his master was now describing already bore some resemblance to the Twenty-Four Heavens he had recently been comprehending.

Was not his World Great Dao also using space to carry other laws?

It was only that his master was not placing a world within a spirit treasure.

Instead, he directly treated his own Dao fruit as that world.

This was Primordial Unity!

Di Jun and the others had evidently begun to understand as well.

But the more they understood.

The stranger their gazes toward Luxuan became.

Because the principle sounded rather simple.

Yet actually attempting it was difficult enough to make one's scalp tingle.

It was like someone telling you that you did not need a bridge to cross a river.

You could simply walk across the water.

The problem was.

You first had to learn how not to sink.

Upon the high platform.

Hongjun was silent for a moment.

Then he slowly spoke.

"The Great Dao has three thousand paths, all leading to the same destination."

"Corpse-Slaying is not the only method under heaven and earth."

"Fellow Daoist has opened another path beyond Great Luo. It has its own karmic fortune."

The hearts of many mighty figures in Violet Cloud Palace shook.

Hongjun was...

Acknowledging it?

He was not acknowledging that Luxuan's path was stronger than the Corpse-Slaying method.

Rather, he was directly admitting.

Three-Corpse Slaying had never been the only answer.

Bixiao's lips had already begun to curl upward in secret.

She did not understand all those distinctions of the Great Dao.

She only knew one fact.

Everyone in Violet Cloud Palace had just been studying the Dao Ancestor's Three-Corpse Slaying.

Only her own master—

had already come up with another answer himself.

And the Dao Ancestor had even said—

the answer was correct.

How should she describe that feeling?

It was rather like everyone else was still waiting for the teacher to reveal the standard solution, while her own master had already finished the problem using another method.

Though she should not have laughed.

It really did feel rather satisfying.

Just as Bixiao was secretly feeling pleased with herself, Hongjun on the high platform looked at Luxuan again.

"Since you have already set foot upon this path, Fellow Daoist—

"do you know how one should proceed after the Primordial Unity Realm?"

This time—

even Luxuan sat up a little straighter.

Because, for this question—

he too had only seen part of the answer so far.