As for the strongest ancient scriptures for each secret realm, that referred to surviving scriptures with established lineages that belonged to the human race. The scriptures of the Nine Heavenly Venerables were mostly lost, while those of the Primordial Myriad Races, such as the Undying Heavenly Emperor's, were unsuitable for human cultivation.
For the Immortal Platform Secret Realm, however, cultivating both Supreme Yin and Supreme Yang was certainly the strongest approach.
For now, he would cultivate the Dao Scripture first. He could hardly go wrong with it.
Jiang Zhu stopped dwelling on it, closed his eyes, and calmed himself completely.
The Sea of Bitterness lay below the navel and could be the size of a palm, while the Dao Palace lay above it, corresponding to the five viscera enclosed by the ribs.
The five deities within the Dao Palace were intimately connected to these organs. They could produce Dao power and generate vitality, making this a place that truly nourished life.
The heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys were collectively called the five viscera, also known as the Five Spirits. They stored essence and qi without letting them escape, harbored life without decay, and constituted an exceptionally powerful secret realm of the human body.
Those who could nourish their spirits would not die. With the Five Spirits ever present, eternal spring would endure; the Five Qi would flow, connecting heaven and earth in an unbroken stream, allowing one to exist forever in the world.
The Dao Palace was a secret realm that could not be overlooked. To become undying, one had to labor diligently within it; to climb another level and comprehend the immortal Dao, one also had to evolve the five elements here.
Jiang Zhu refined the Ancestor Ginseng Divine Liquid. Rich vitality enveloped his entire body, and abundant wood essence transformed into hazy mist containing terrifying divine power.
The Other Shore vanished, the blooming flowers vanished; clouds rose and dissolved, and a divine palace emerged. Jiang Zhu clearly saw a Heavenly Gate above his Sea of Bitterness. Once he charged through it, he would enter another secret realm.
His Sea of Bitterness shone and trembled. Black waves surged sky-high through the Bitter Sea, while above it, the manifestation of a true dragon battling an immortal blazed. The Divine Bridge spanned the sky and extended beneath his feet, carrying him toward the Heavenly Gate. Even from far away, he could already see an entirely new world within.
As Jiang Zhu continued forward, he soon arrived before the heavenly palace. The aura of divinities emanated from its great gate. He sensed Dao power and approached it directly.
The next moment, he entered a new world brimming with vitality. The qi of the five elements rose like five columns of essence-smoke, surging into the clouds.
The Five Qi soaring into the sky could be seen for a hundred li around, though in these remote mountains and ancient forests, he might have been the only person nearby.
Now that he had entered the Dao Palace, he still had to choose a divine treasury to cultivate.
Without needing much thought, Jiang Zhu decided to cultivate the Liver Divine Treasury first.
"The liver houses the soul, stores the blood, and governs the sinews. It belongs to wood among the five elements, and governs rising and movement. Moreover, wood essence is abundant right now, so the Liver Divine Treasury should be my first choice."
The human body corresponded to heaven and earth. The Heart Divine Treasury was the sun in the body's heavens, the root of all vitality. It was the most crucial of all and the foremost of the Dao Palace's five stages.
By cultivating the Liver Divine Treasury first and following the cycle of the five elements, he would achieve twice the results with half the effort when he later cultivated the Heart Divine Treasury.
The world of the Dao Palace was hazy, filled everywhere with mist, waiting for him to develop it. He could only follow his instincts to seek out that divine treasury.
"The liver is a yin organ. It stores blood and belongs to yin, but its qi governs rising and movement, readily becoming excessive and rebellious. Thus, it is the thief among the five viscera."
Jiang Zhu followed his instincts straight ahead. Soon, he broke through the mist and arrived before it.
The Liver Deity resembled dragon-shaped smoke and had yet to assume human form, showing that it was still taking shape. To become undying and hope for everlasting life, one had to begin here.
Essence and qi formed the foundation of the human body. Upon entering the Dao Palace Secret Realm, one had to transform essence into spirit and bring the deities into being.
"Raise and guide heaven and earth, grasp yin and yang, stand alone and guard the spirit..." The Dao Scripture echoed in his heart.
Innate essence accompanied the body at birth and marked the beginning of one's inner heaven and earth. When form took shape, spirit arose; when form withered, spirit perished.
Acquired essence, meanwhile, had to be obtained through refinement, replenishing the spirit and nourishing life.
The Liver Divine Treasury symbolized growth and nourishment. Cultivating it could greatly increase a cultivator's blood and qi and strengthen their vitality.
Boom!
The divine treasury, shaped like dragon-smoke, dispersed the mist. Comfort flooded Jiang Zhu's entire body, and his pores opened as a strange Dao power flowed out and spread into every inch of his flesh.
As he first entered the Dao Palace Secret Realm, his innate essence transformed and gave birth to the Liver Divine Treasury. Like the Heaven-Piercing Jianmu, it held the clear above and the turbid below, linking the vitality within his body so it could flow and be released.
The Dao Palace Secret Realm had opened at last!
Jiang Zhu rose to his feet. A blaze of divine light burst out of his body and surrounded him, actually lifting him into the air and carrying him forward.
By advancing into the Dao Palace and evolving the beginnings of his body's inner heaven and earth, he had raised his cultivation by a considerable margin.
Now, even on Earth in this age of declining Dharma, he could fly through the sky.
Towering Kunlun was vast and majestic, stretching across the six directions and bearing down upon the eight wildernesses, boundless and immeasurable.
This was a primordial wilderness with no end in sight. By comparison, the Kunlun Mountain range of the mortal world was merely a corner, a tiny tip of this main range. Truly stepping inside made one feel insignificant.
Facing it was like facing the vast starry sky. Every mountain rose to a frightening height, wreathed in clouds and shrouded in mist, as though chaos qi filled the air. It was suffused with the aura of heaven and earth's beginning.
If one flew high into the heavens, one could roughly discern that this was a great sleeping dragon. The countless enormous mountains were all the vertebrae of its spine as it lay coiled across the land, magnificent in countless ways.
Crocodile Ancestor kept rubbing the bone fragment in his hand, his expression somewhat dark. More than a month had passed since Jiang Zhu had last spoken with him. Even after mobilizing cultivators around the globe, he had failed to locate the eighth Terrain Map.
He could wait no longer. If that old ghost got there first, all his regret would come too late.
At Crocodile Ancestor's command, the cultivators at the Severing the Dao stage from Earth's various factions who had followed him all sprang into action, preparing to enter this land of fortune.
Just then, someone came to report that the eighth Terrain Map had been found.
"Heaven truly favors me!"
Crocodile Ancestor was instantly overjoyed and ordered them to bring the person in.
Before long, a black-robed man entered. His black hair fell to his shoulders, his build was sturdy, and he held a bone fragment in his hands.
With a stir of Crocodile Ancestor's divine sense, the bone fragment flew toward him and landed in his hand. He examined it carefully.
Soon, Crocodile Ancestor's blood-red eyes gleamed like molten gold. He laughed heartily. "Good, good, good! Truly, it came to me without the slightest effort!"
The bone fragment was indeed one of the Terrain Maps of the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains. He had never expected that it could still be found!
Thrilled, he asked, "You have done well. Offering this item is a worthy contribution. What do you ask in return?"
With lowered eyes and a meek demeanor, Jiang Zhu spoke in apparent trepidation. "This junior has keenly felt the hardships of cultivation. I only wish to cultivate on a planet abundant in spiritual energy."
The person offering the final bone fragment was none other than Jiang Zhu.
Originally, he had not been particularly keen to enter Kunlun, but divine medicines were far too helpful to his cultivation. A trip into Kunlun to obtain some of the divine medicines' essence blood would surely allow him to fully cultivate the true spirit of the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass.
Judging by what had happened when he mastered the True Dragon Transformation, once he fully mastered the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass Transformation, he would gain an opportunity to commune with heaven and earth. When that happened, the Dao Palace Realm would become a smooth, open road.
Now, he had no one to guide him, no extraordinary comprehension, and no divine treasures such as the Bodhi Seed to grant him enlightenment. Groping his way through cultivation alone was simply too difficult. If he could cheat, he had to take advantage of it.
An opportunity this great was truly hard to give up. Besides, he could give Crocodile Ancestor a push and get him into Kunlun sooner.
Thus, after enduring a thousand hardships and searching countless ancient temples, Jiang Zhu finally found the Eighth-Corner Map.
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