The Difference Between Hunyuan and Saints

It was said that Hongjun appointed Dong Wang Gong and Xi Wangmu as the leaders of the male immortals and female immortals respectively, ordering them to govern the Primordial World. Such authority made countless great powers change expression.

Dijun and Taiyi in particular already harbored enormous ambitions. They wished to unify the universe and achieve an unparalleled hegemony, so their expressions were especially ugly at this moment.

But regardless, the two had been appointed by Hongjun. Even if no one was convinced, they did not dare speak up in objection.

And so, the matter was settled.

Ignoring everyone's reactions, Hongjun bestowed the Dragon-Headed Staff and Pure Water Bowl upon the pair, then said, "You may all leave. I will notify you when it is time for the next lecture."

With that, Hongjun's figure flashed and vanished directly before everyone's eyes.

Seeing Hongjun depart, the crowd no longer lingered and filed out of Zixiao Palace.

Dao Xuan likewise followed the flow of people out of Zixiao Palace, watching Houtu, who had left ahead of him and was walking alone into the chaos.

Dao Xuan felt slightly puzzled. Hadn't Houtu been supposed to ask Hongjun about the path of the Witch Clan after the lecture?

Why had she not asked? Could it be that Houtu intended to continue attending his lectures?

If that was truly the case, Dao Xuan had to admire Houtu. After all, during these three thousand years of lectures, Houtu could be said to have gained the least of everyone.

She could not understand a single word of the Great Dao Hongjun had expounded, nor could she cultivate any of the Dao arts and divine abilities on the walls.

That was simply torment.

Yet Houtu had endured it.

Dao Xuan suddenly seemed to understand why Houtu alone was special among the Twelve Ancestral Witches.

Although she had no Primordial Spirit, her determination to seek the Dao was firmer than that of countless others.

And in the unseen, her determination to seek the Dao naturally received its reward.

Shaking his head, Dao Xuan stopped thinking about it. The Twelfth-Rank World-Cleansing White Lotus appeared beneath his feet, and he departed upon the lotus.

After another journey through the chaos, he finally crossed the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane and returned to the Primordial World.

Upon returning to Chaos Island, Dao Xuan discovered that the entire dojo had changed greatly. Many living beings had appeared on the island, making it far livelier.

Dao Xuan nodded slightly. Although the island had originally possessed abundant spiritual energy, much chaotic energy had yet to fully disperse, leaving it extremely desolate.

Only after Dao Xuan collected that chaotic energy for use in opening his Inner World did life gradually begin to flourish upon the island.

Furthermore, Dao Xuan had often preached the Dao on the island in the past, spreading methods of cultivation. This gradually awakened the island's living beings, granting them opportunities and setting them upon the path of cultivation.

Over the years, the number of living beings on the island had evidently continued to grow, making Chaos Island so bustling.

Seeing this, Dao Xuan felt both joy and worry. He was glad that his dojo was no longer lonely.

Yet he worried that as the island's living beings continued to increase, all manner of karmic ties would follow one after another.

If he did not restrain them and establish rules, his peace and quiet would be ruined.

Thus, after some consideration, Dao Xuan casually enlightened a spiritual ganoderma and a ginseng, transforming them into two Daoist attendants.

He then instructed the two attendants to establish some rules for the island's living beings. They need not be overly harsh, but there had to be limits.

For instance, no one could approach where he resided without his permission.

Furthermore, if anyone could not endure the rules he had established, there was another option.

They could leave.

Leave Chaos Island.

Of course, leaving was easy, but returning would be impossible.

Chaos Island allowed departure, but no entry!

That would eliminate the possibility of bringing external karmic ties back with them.

After finishing these matters, Dao Xuan began his closed-door cultivation. His gains from this trip to Zixiao Palace to hear the Dao were simply unimaginable.

Not only had he gathered all three thousand Great Dao laws, and his Lesser Thousand World undergone further changes, but his own cultivation had also broken through naturally, reaching Perfected Great Principle Golden Immortal.

He had even vaguely sensed the mysteries of the next realm, and gained many speculations regarding how he should cultivate from here on.

The realm after Great Principle Golden Immortal was Primordial Golden Immortal. Of course, that was what it had been called before Hongjun imparted the Three Corpses Severing Method.

At the next lecture, Hongjun would presumably impart the Three Corpses Severing Method. Those who broke through using this method would no longer be called Primordial Golden Immortals, but Quasi-Saints.

Dao Xuan's cultivation was currently at Perfected Great Principle Golden Immortal, but his comprehension of the Dao had vaguely taken a step ahead, reaching the level of a Primordial Golden Immortal.

The realm of Primordial Golden Immortal was no trifling matter.

Although everyone in Zixiao Palace was a Great Principle Golden Immortal and seemed to possess vast prospects, distinctions had already become apparent during the previous lecture.

Even among Great Principle Golden Immortals, there were ranks and divisions.

Those Great Principle Golden Immortals who began failing to understand the lecture not long after it started, then turned instead to comprehending Dao arts and divine abilities, could already be considered completely hopeless.

Even if Hongjun later imparted the Three Corpses Severing Method, most of these great powers would be unable to make use of it, much less become Quasi-Saints.

Dao Xuan's cultivation might have appeared exceedingly easy, but that was only because he had obtained many opportunities to achieve his present accomplishments.

Moreover, Dao Xuan's path had not been easy either. If anything had gone wrong along the way, let alone his current achievements, he would likely have perished entirely.

Even now, though Dao Xuan had opened his own Inner World, he still walked on thin ice before it reached completion. One moment of carelessness would result in eternal damnation.

How could the path of cultivation ever be called easy?

Thus, of the three thousand Great Principle Golden Immortals in Zixiao Palace, only several dozen would likely achieve anything in the end.

For these several dozen, becoming Primordial Golden Immortals or Quasi-Saints was practically a certainty.

In principle, each of these several dozen had walked their own path and possessed hope of attaining Hunyuan.

Yet truly reaching that step remained unimaginably difficult.

Of course, Hunyuan was Hunyuan, and Saints were Saints. The two were not the same. Hunyuan referred to Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal, a realm and a Primordial Dao Fruit.

Although Saints also possessed strength comparable to Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortals, that strength was a Karmic Rank granted by the Heavenly Dao, the Heavenly Dao's empowerment, rather than the cultivator's own power.

Thus, this referred only to Hunyuan, not Saints.

Moreover, even for Saints, there was only one position for each candidate. It was not something one could attain merely by wanting it.

Indeed, becoming a Saint was even more difficult than proving the Dao and attaining Hunyuan!

Cultivation knew no passage of time. In the blink of an eye, no one knew how many tens of thousands of years had passed.

On this day, a wave of pressure suddenly came from the direction of chaos once more, while countless phenomena appeared between heaven and earth.

Hongjun's voice also rang out. "The second lecture at Zixiao Palace is about to begin. All those fated may come quickly to hear the Dao!"