Dao-Treasuring Peak, Path-Seeking Courtyard.
Space rippled as the Great Powers arrived one after another.
Some sat on wooden stumps, others on stone stools. At their level, they had long ceased to care about empty pomp and ceremony.
The Four Poles Great Powers, Heavenly Lord Luminous Radiance, and the Qiu Old Ancestor all arrived, along with the Mighty Expert Santu from the Netherworld. Once the Peaceful Heaven Dao Master descended, the nine Mighty Experts each took a seat, unfurled their Dao Domains, and stood upon their respective Great Daos, joining forces to create a place of profound mystery.
It shut out prying eyes and eavesdroppers. Even the two Half-Immortals, Zhong Neng and Ji Yuan, could not peer inside with their combined strength.
After savoring a cup of clear tea, Xuanming summoned Xuanxu and the other six True Persons to explain the mysteries of the Earth Immortal Path themselves.
"Esteemed seniors, on the Earth Immortal Path, one's Dao Fruit and life are bound to the mountains and waters, like the two poles of Yin and Yang..."
Upon learning that cultivators had to bind themselves to a region of mountains and waters, sharing its survival and destruction, that their early cultivation ceiling depended on its foundations, and that later advancement of their Dao Fruit hinged on turning it into a blessed land, the Great Powers looked toward the Qiu Old Ancestor.
The Earth Immortal Method shared many similarities with the Alternative Path to Dao Attainment. Acquired spirit treasures, however, were difficult to obtain, and the requirements were steep: only accomplished cultivators with three flowers gathered at the crown could attempt it.
The world's mountains and waters, by contrast, were as plentiful as hairs on an ox, making the threshold much lower.
Though its upper limit fell short of the spirit-type path to Dao