Discussing the Dao at Mount Wanshou, Zhen Yuanzi Slays His Corpse

Dao Xuan took a bite and found it exquisitely delicious. It melted in his mouth, and before he could savor it properly, it flowed into his stomach, transforming into an incomparably pure strand of Wu Earth Essence Qi.

This Wu Earth Essence Qi was unlike any other. It was Innate Wutu Essence, requiring no refinement as it directly merged into his entire body, his limbs and bones, leaving him feeling utterly refreshed.

That single bite was worth several decades of ordinary arduous cultivation. Moreover, something indescribable had appeared within his Primordial Spirit.

Dao Xuan continued eating the fruit, slowly savoring it, yet before he knew it, he had quickly finished the entire Ginseng Fruit.

When Dao Xuan came back to his senses and looked at Zhen Yuanzi again, he found that Zhen Yuanzi had long since finished eating and was smiling at him.

Dao Xuan could not help but praise, "Brother Dao, this fruit truly is incomparably wondrous. This one alone has given me great insight into the Earth Movement Dao. This trip has truly been worthwhile."

Zhen Yuanzi smiled. "Not at all, not at all. It is merely a fruit, hardly worth mentioning! It is also Zhen Yuan's good fortune that Brother Dao has gained something from it."

"Ha ha!"

Dao Xuan laughed heartily at that, and Zhen Yuanzi laughed as well.

After the two ate several more fruits, Dao Xuan said, "Brother Dao Zhen Yuan, since fate has brought us together today, how about the two of us discuss the Dao?"

Delight immediately appeared on Zhen Yuanzi's face. "Excellent!"

Dao Xuan nodded and sat upright on his cushion. With a tremor of his body, four streams of radiance appeared behind him, colored azure, red, yellow, and black. They were precisely the Four-Colored Divine Light.

Using the Four-Colored Divine Light, Dao Xuan manifested the Dao of the Four Symbols Laws. Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind revolved in sequence, mutually generating and restraining one another in endlessly changing transformations, displaying countless profound and exquisite mysteries of the Four Symbols Laws.

Especially at the end, Dao Xuan wove and circulated the Four Symbols, faintly evolving a world. Within that world, countless living beings multiplied and thrived. In the blink of an eye, the world went from creation to prosperity, only to meet its final calamity. The entire world crumbled and collapsed, returning from the Four Symbols to chaos.

This was Dao Xuan's deepest understanding of the Four Symbols Dao. With a single thought, the Four Symbols Dao could carve out a world from chaos, then evolve all things and living beings within it.

Likewise, with a single thought, it could overturn the cosmos, collapse heaven and earth, and return a world to chaos once more.

Zhen Yuanzi watched in rapt attention. Only after Dao Xuan withdrew his divine ability did he finally recover after a long while. He repeatedly praised him, utterly convinced by Dao Xuan's comprehension of the Great Dao.

"Brother Dao can use the Four Symbols to evolve heaven and earth, wield creation, open heaven and establish a realm, and bring forth all living beings and things. It is truly exquisitely profound. I am naturally inferior."

Zhen Yuanzi said, "However, I do have some insights of my own into the Earth Dao. I ask Brother Dao to appraise them."

As he spoke, Zhen Yuanzi's entire body shook, and a cloud of yellow appeared above his head. Resting atop it was a thick book. One glance at it made one feel as though the entire Primordial Land had been condensed within it. Endless Dao rhythms surged forth, startling the heart. This was Zhen Yuanzi's companion treasure, the Earth Book, one of the Three Books of Heaven, Earth, and Man.

Rather than manifesting divine abilities, Zhen Yuanzi displayed this supreme treasure of the Earth Dao. The pages of the Earth Book began turning one by one.

The contents on those pages were extremely blurred. At first glance, they seemed to depict splendid mountains and rivers somewhere within the Primordial World, yet they also seemed not to. Instead, they appeared as a mass of Innate Wutu Essence constantly circulating within, changing unpredictably.

As he displayed the Earth Book, Zhen Yuanzi said, "My Dao was entirely gained from this Earth Book. The Four Symbols contain Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, but I am only fated with earth and know nothing of water, fire, or wind."

"Chaos was opened, and the Four Symbols evolved, after which heaven and earth came into being. I know nothing of the Dao of Heaven either, only the Earth Dao. In my view, all things between heaven and earth, all forms of creation, require something fundamental to rely upon. The Four Symbols can revolve, living beings can multiply, and worlds can endure only because earth serves as their foundation."

"The world knows that earth is deep and heavy, yet it does not know that earth is also the mother of all things and the foundation of all Daos. The Heavenly Dao stands alone and lofty, suspended in the void, establishing myriad rules and operating the world, yet only earth silently bears all karma and creation."

"Earth embraces all things. It can endure raging water and fire, tolerate fierce winds sweeping across it, and does not care whether the beings that grow upon it are mighty experts wielding supreme divine abilities or mere insignificant ants, born in the morning and dead by dusk."

"Flood it, burn it with blazing fire, batter it with fierce winds—earth silently endures it all, supporting everything. Whether it is all living beings and things or the lofty Heavenly Dao, all are borne by earth!"

"Brother Dao, what I cultivate is this Earth Dao that bears all things, embraces all Daos, and stabilizes heaven and earth. Your Four Symbols can open chaos and evolve worlds, all things, and living beings, yet all of this is borne by earth. Without earth's support, no matter how exquisite the Four Symbols may be, they would be rootless duckweed, vanishing in an instant as heaven and earth collapsed."

Dao Xuan listened carefully to Zhen Yuanzi's exposition while spreading out his divine sense. Rather than looking with his eyes, he used his mind to sense the Dao rhythms emitted by the Earth Book.

At this moment, he gained a deeper understanding of Zhen Yuanzi's Earth Dao.

Though Dao Xuan did not believe everything Zhen Yuanzi said was entirely correct, there was much within it that could be used as reference and learned from.

Dao Xuan's Four Symbols Dao could be called a Dao of "movement." It used the circulation of the Four Symbols to give rise to creation, open worlds, govern worlds, and even ultimately destroy those worlds and return them to chaos.

Zhen Yuanzi's Earth Dao, however, was a Dao of "stillness." To him, earth was eternally unmoving and unchanging. Broad and heavy, it could contain everything—all laws and all Daos. Even the Heavenly Dao was upheld by earth.

Earth was the foundation of everything!

Beneath the Ginseng Fruit tree, Dao Xuan and Zhen Yuanzi devoted themselves to discussing the Dao. At times they took turns demonstrating their methods, at times they debated each other, and at times they sank into contemplation, completely unaware of time passing.

In the blink of an eye, ten thousand years passed. Zhen Yuanzi had long accumulated sufficient foundations and could have severed a corpse to become a Quasi-Saint at any time. It was only because Dao Xuan happened to visit that he delayed entering seclusion.

This discussion of the Dao with Dao Xuan had also benefited Zhen Yuanzi immensely. At this time, Zhen Yuanzi gradually felt that he could naturally sever an incarnation of obsession and advance to become a Quasi-Saint.

But just then, Dao Xuan suddenly stopped him. "Brother Dao Zhen Yuan, do not sever your corpse yet."

"Hmm?"

Zhen Yuanzi was not angered, merely puzzled. "What guidance does Brother Dao have?"

"I would not dare call it guidance, but I have gained some insights into the method of Three Corpses Severing. Seeing that Brother Dao wishes to sever a corpse, I suddenly thought of them. Would Brother Dao be willing to hear them?" Dao Xuan said.

Only after arriving at Longevity Mountain had he discovered that Zhen Yuanzi's cultivation was still at the level of a Perfected Great Principle Golden Immortal and that he had yet to sever a corpse.