Gu Yuanqing could hardly be blamed for entertaining this thought.
With the North Spring Realm in his hands, he could gaze upon its mountains to comprehend the Great Daos within.
Yet the North Spring Realm was only a nascent world. Though all the myriad Daos were present, they ran alongside one another, each woven into the others. Even mountain observation could hardly reveal them all.
It was like the light of the great sun: the naked eye saw only white light. Other means were needed to discern the universe hidden within.
The ways of termination and Destruction also lay hidden within the North Spring Realm, but ordinary contemplation revealed only their outward manifestations, not their foundations. They were concealed within vitality, behind the flourishing of all things. Mountain-gazing enlightenment alone could hardly let him "see" deeper or more clearly.
In the past, he had kept a respectful distance from the Rule Divine Artifact Dao because this world's Great Daos were fused with the power of Rule Divine Artifacts. To truly comprehend their gods and their Daos, he would have to draw that power into himself.
In a sense, that would mean cultivating another's Dao, using it as his own foundation. It ran counter to his original intentions and might leave hidden dangers, tainting the foundation of his own Immortal Path.
The Immortal Mountain Trial, however, was entirely different. The spiritual light gained by defeating others contained only their insights and cultivation experience, which he could use as a mirror to verify his own cultivation.
This way, he would not become entangled in the karma of the Rule Divine Artifact Dao. He would merely take those insights as nourishment, turning them into lamps to illuminate his own Dao Path.
Gu Yuanqing looked down into the Heaven and Earth Pool. Jinxu, transformed