Within Faith Divine Heaven, He Mu and Pan sat facing each other.
He Mu reclined high upon a cloud dais in the immortal palace, while Pan sat upright on a meditation cushion facing him, listening to the truths of the Great Dao he expounded.
Profound Dao resonance enveloped He Mu, unfolding into scenes of the supreme Great Dao. Whenever he opened his mouth, heavenly sounds of the Great Dao rang out, and the myriad Daos thundered in response.
In the next moment came Wuliang opening heaven, Daode forging the Dao, Lingbao returning all to Guixu, Changsheng transforming the world...
The Great Daos of the supreme Heavenly Venerables of bygone ages appeared one after another around He Mu, revealing their highest truths for Pan to comprehend.
Then all manner of supreme phenomena manifested: primordial chaos first opening, purple qi arriving from the east, the final destruction of the world, and all things returning to their source.
Following this, the myriad Daos bowed low. Laws and principles permeated Faith Divine Heaven, faintly radiating an immortal brilliance that inspired reverent awe.
At that moment, lotus blossoms flowed from He Mu's lips as he expounded the supreme Great Dao to his Divine Self Body. Meanwhile, he also answered Pan's many questions from time to time, repeatedly drawing him into states of Dao enlightenment.
Seated upright on the cushion below the cloud dais, Pan repeatedly showed delight, doing his utmost to absorb every bit of nourishment available to him. The Dao resonance surrounding him grew ever more profound.
Pan was vastly different from those so-called normal faith bodies or divine self bodies in the conventional sense. He was a highly unique existence.
Back when he created Pan, He Mu had given him an independent personality and a complete origin essence.
Thus, Pan could in fact be considered an independent living being. Although he remained He Mu's Heavenly Venerable Divine Self, he was also a Saint Spirit of faith whom He Mu had nurtured through the power of faith using supreme forbidden means.
Aside from his excessively short gestation, which amounted to He Mu forcibly ripening him, and the connection between their minds, Pan was no different from an ordinary Saint Spirit. He was even more powerful.
For this same reason, Pan possessed an independent Dao Fruit, as though he had been naturally nurtured by heaven and earth rather than bestowed it by He Mu.
Of course, his Great Dao had already been touched by the Wuliang Great Dao and could be said to have been considerably influenced by He Mu.
Now, Pan's cultivation realm was essentially equivalent to that of a Great Perfection Saint Spirit emerging into the world under normal circumstances. He had largely surpassed the level of a ninth-level Quasi-Emperor on the verge of attaining the Dao, nearly reaching the standard of alternative Dao attainment, while his combat prowess far exceeded even that.
Leaving aside other external factors, in an era when no one had attained the Dao, Pan might even have a chance to prove his Dao and truly reign supreme over all races.
There were two reasons why Pan, despite not having attained the Dao, could faintly stand above the supreme beings of the Forbidden Zones and possess combat prowess comparable to a flawless Heavenly Venerable.
First, his true self, He Mu, was the Current Heavenly Venerable, united with the Heavenly Heart. Thus, as his Divine Self, Pan could also receive the blessing of the Heavenly Heart Imprint, with the myriad Daos following him, no different from a Contemporary Dao Attainer.
Second, all the heavens and myriad domains now worshipped Immeasurable Heaven Venerable, providing a virtually endless stream of power of faith. As the embodiment of He Mu's faith, Pan naturally aligned with the faith devoted to Immeasurable Heaven Venerable. This power could be called his very foundation: it blessed his body and was readily at his command, rendering his golden body indestructible and immortal.
With these two factors combined, Pan's combat prowess in the present universe was so great that even a Forbidden Zone Supreme who underwent ultimate sublimation and confronted him head-on would fall at a disadvantage. Instead, Pan would forcibly suppress them.
Unfortunately, Wuliang was both the making and the undoing of him. Because Pan had been forged jointly from He Mu's Heavenly Venerable Great Dao and the power of faith, he was also bound by both the Wuliang Great Dao and the power of faith, utterly unable to break free.
The shackles of the Great Dao upon him were even heavier than those borne by ordinary emperors' children. His circumstances were essentially similar to those of a great accomplishment sacred body, and could be described as-
Sufficient cultivation, a perfected Dao Fruit, yet no hope of proving the Dao.
Under these circumstances, advancing any further would be fraught with countless difficulties for Pan.
Still, Pan was, after all, He Mu's Divine Self Body of faith, like a younger brother or a son to him. He had also worked tirelessly and contributed greatly over the years. No matter what, He Mu had to make some plans for his future.
In He Mu's vision, Pan would certainly be sealed away to await a later age. He Mu would also leave various arrangements to help him perfect himself, allowing him to make the ultimate leap in the future.
When Pan's accumulated foundations reached complete perfection, he might emerge during the primeval age and prove his Dao as an emperor. Drawing upon He Mu's own experiences, he could truly embark upon the Red Dust Immortal Path and forge the supreme legend of two immortals coexisting within his Wuliang lineage.
For now, He Mu was expounding the Great Dao to Pan to strengthen his accumulated foundations and reserves. He hoped Pan could gain insights from this, broaden his own Great Dao, transcend the influence of Wuliang's Dao intent as soon as possible, and truly bring his cultivation to perfection.
The Dao lecture lasted a full hundred and eight days. Throughout those days, what He Mu expounded was vast and profound, encompassing all things.
From the Great Daos of Heavenly Venerables to methods of longevity, from the path of faith to the mysteries of formations, He Mu touched upon them all in his lecture.
After all, this lecture was intended to broaden Pan's foundations and deepen his reserves, so that he could transcend his limitations sooner in the future.
After the hundred and eight days of lecturing ended, Pan remained immersed in the supreme Dao resonance of He Mu's teachings, unable to awaken for a long time. Seeing that Pan was in the deepest state of Dao enlightenment, He Mu did not wake him. Instead, he sealed Faith Divine Heaven and allowed Pan to remain in seclusion, comprehending the Dao.
At the same time, He Mu left a strand of divine thought with a few instructions for Pan. Once he emerged from seclusion, he would naturally learn of He Mu's arrangements.
Having done all this, He Mu left Pan alone within Faith Divine Heaven and paid him no further attention.
Afterward, He Mu decided to visit the Underworld in person to see Longevity Heavenly Venerable's true condition, so that he could determine his next step.
In the next moment, He Mu took a single step, and a Divine Bridge of golden light rose into place, surrounded by the Four Symbols and Four Spirits.
Boundless immortal light surged around him, and he made no attempt to conceal his Heavenly Venerable aura.
With his feet upon the Golden Light Avenue, He Mu made his way to the Underworld in ostentatious fashion.
That will be all for today's updates. My class schedule has been pretty packed lately, and with several progress exams on top of that, I really am feeling mentally and physically drained. (Today's was basic accounting. It seems we're the only university in our tier nationwide that has these progress exams. I seriously want to swear.)
Still, normal updates will resume tomorrow, and I'll make up today's missing update on Friday, so there will be three updates on Friday.
Also, the next few chapters may become a little more tightly paced. I'm planning to move the storyline forward. If you have any good suggestions, feel free to post them in the comments at any time. I'll take them into consideration.
Finally, I'll shamelessly ask you all to add the book to your libraries and keep reading, and to send monthly tickets and recommendation votes. I also changed the cover today. Are you happy with it? (P.S. If you're not, there's nothing I can do. I only had this one cover voucher, and now that I've used it, it's gone.)
Before you continue