Nine Parts True, One Part False

The Dao of Great Luo? The crowd below was speechless upon hearing this. We traveled all this way, just to hear you speak on the Dao of Great Luo?

Yet no one dared to voice their complaints, choosing instead to listen with an open mind as they waited in silence.

Hongjun said no more and began his lecture.

In an instant, the sound of Hongjun's preaching filled the entire Zixiao Palace. His voice was ethereal, as if expounding the ultimate principles of heaven and earth.

At first, the crowd remained unimpressed, but gradually, they were drawn in, unable to tear themselves away.

This was because the Dao of Great Luo that Hongjun taught was far more comprehensive and systematic than the fragmented paths they had each explored on their own.

At the same time, all manner of auspicious phenomena began to manifest within Zixiao Palace.

Celestial music echoed in waves, heavenly tones reverberated, celestial maidens scattered flowers, and golden lotuses sprang from the earth. Torrents of spiritual energy surged forth, incredibly pure, easily refined into Magic Power.

The many great cultivators present all entered a state of enlightenment, each one utterly captivated. They no longer harbored any doubt toward Hongjun and listened with full attention.

However, there was one exception—the Ancestor Witch Houtu of Earth, who had also entered Zixiao Palace.

Houtu was an Ancestor Witch born from Pangu's Essence Blood. She did not cultivate a Primordial Spirit, only tempered her physical body. Now, as she listened to Hongjun's lecture on the Dao of Great Luo, it was entirely focused on the cultivation of the Primordial Spirit.

Thus, Houtu could not understand a single thing Hongjun said. Helpless, she thought to herself, At least I came alone this time. If any of my brothers had come with their tempers, they'd probably have turned this saint's Dao field upside down.

Though she could not comprehend the Dao Hongjun taught, the spiritual energy within Zixiao Palace was abundant. Houtu absorbed it to temper her flesh, so at least she wasn't just sitting there idly.

And so, time flew by. Three thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside Zixiao Palace, as Hongjun ceased his lecture, the many great cultivators below gradually awakened.

Each face bore an expression of lingering desire, their eyes fixed intently on Hongjun.

Those gazes—how they yearned for him to continue!

Unfortunately, Hongjun had too much integrity, too much discipline. He said three thousand years, and it was exactly three thousand years, not a second more.

The crowd could only withdraw their gazes in disappointment. Still, this lecture had been a great harvest for them all.

Over these three thousand years, everyone had made breakthroughs to varying degrees. Their understanding of the Dao of Great Luo had grown clearer, and they had even gained faint insights into how to cultivate beyond it.

"The next lecture will be in three thousand years, on the Dao of Quasi-Saint," Hongjun said again.

He was about to send everyone out.

But upon hearing this, the crowd immediately clamored, asking Hongjun what a Quasi-Saint was.

Was Quasi-Saint the realm beyond Great Luo?

Hearing their questions, Hongjun seemed to hesitate for a moment, then did not immediately dismiss them.

He raised a hand, and everyone felt an invisible pressure, instinctively falling silent.

Hongjun then explained, "Indeed, Quasi-Saint is a realm beyond Great Luo."

"However, this realm is both a realm and not a realm. The Quasi-Saint realm was created by me."

"Under the Heavenly Dao, the ultimate realm is that of a Saint, also known as the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal of the Origin."

"But the gap between Great Luo and Sainthood is too vast. Thus, I created a method called Severing the Three Corpses."

"The Three Corpses are formed from one's good thoughts, evil thoughts, and self-thought. Severing one thought and transforming it into a corpse greatly advances one's Dao."

"Through this method of Severing the Three Corpses, one can break through the Golden Immortal of Great Luo. Yet even so, one remains far from becoming a Saint. Therefore, I established an intermediate realm, called Quasi-Saint."

"Severing one corpse places one at early Quasi-Saint, two corpses at mid Quasi-Saint, three corpses at late Quasi-Saint. If one goes further and merges the three corpses back into one, returning to the origin, one can attain Sainthood on the spot."

The crowd below listened, utterly entranced, their hearts racing with excitement.

After all, what Hongjun described was too stirring—creating a realm where none existed before.

And even more absurdly, cultivating Severing the Three Corpses to its peak could lead to immediate Sainthood?

Thud!

Suddenly, a very clear sound of someone kneeling echoed through the hall. The crowd looked over in bewilderment to see Zhunti kneeling on the ground, furiously kowtowing to Hongjun on the platform.

Bang! Another sound rang out as Zhunti shouted loudly, "I beg the Teacher to take pity on the poverty of the West and teach me the method of Severing the Three Corpses!"

"Damn it!"

The crowd finally reacted—this bastard had no shame!

The next moment, thud, thud... One by one, the great cultivators knelt down, shouting in unison, "We beg the Teacher to teach us the method of Severing the Three Corpses."

Good heavens. Looking around, there were hardly any who still held onto their dignity.

Even those who did, seeing everyone else kneeling, eventually followed the crowd and knelt down.

Since everyone was kneeling, they might as well kneel too.

In an instant, only Houtu remained seated in her original spot.

After all, Houtu couldn't even understand Hongjun's earlier lecture, and now this Severing the Three Corpses method—she was well aware it was likely useless for the Witch Clan. So she refused to kneel.

At this moment, even Hongjun on the platform seemed taken aback by the crowd's reaction, as if momentarily stunned.

"Enough!"

After a moment, Hongjun sighed, as if moved by everyone's sincerity. "Since you plead with me, I shall pass on this method of Severing the Three Corpses to you."

With that, Hongjun pointed a finger, and a technique appeared in everyone's mind.

This technique was precisely the method of Severing the Three Corpses.

As Hongjun had stated, this method of Severing the Three Corpses truly pointed directly toward the Hunyuan Dao.

By severing the three obsessions—good thoughts, evil thoughts, and the self—and then entrusting them to an Innate Spiritual Treasure, one could greatly advance their cultivation.

The more powerful the Innate Spiritual Treasure, the stronger the severed obsession incarnation would become.

Moreover, the incarnations gained from Severing the Three Corpses were profoundly mysterious. Each one was an entirely new self, indistinguishable from the original, capable of independent existence while remaining interconnected.

Compared to any incarnation or clone techniques they had known before, this was infinitely more profound.

After obtaining the method of Severing the Three Corpses, everyone was thrilled. After all, wouldn't this mean that in the future, they too could attain sainthood like Hongjun?

Perhaps they might even surpass him, overtaking the predecessor.

One could only say this was the fearlessness of ignorance. Everyone thought they had gained an advantage, unaware that they had fallen into a true pitfall, one that would bring them lifelong hardship.

Even if some remained wary of Hongjun, finding it hard to believe there was such a selfless person in the world—one who not only became a saint but also lifted up his juniors so they could become saints too—

Once others began Severing their Corpses and their cultivation soared, how many could still keep their reason and vigilance?

Sometimes, schemes and plots were not the real threat. What was truly fearsome was this kind of open, aboveboard stratagem.

The method of Severing the Three Corpses that Hongjun gave could not be called false. But with nine parts truth and one part falsehood, no one could see through it.