Divine radiance filled the sky, immortal splendor surged in vast waves, and purple qi came from the east.
He Mu sat upright upon the divine throne atop the dais and began expounding the boundless Great Dao. At once, the sounds of the Dao rang out, and wondrous visions unfolded in succession.
Brilliant divine light shone between heaven and earth. Golden crows descended, bathing great suns in the Eastern Sea; jade rabbits rose in the south, their lunar light shining eternally; the Jianmu tree upheld the heavens, giving rise to three thousand worlds; and Immortal Kings patrolled the skies, bringing peace to the countless people of the ten continents.
Regardless of race, closeness, background, or status, everyone who came gained something. All could listen as He Mu expounded the Great Dao of heaven and earth and explained the ultimate principles of the universe.
Everyone present, whether from within the divine land or beyond it, seemed to receive a baptism of the Great Dao. To the cultivators who had come, his words were like evening drums and morning bells, like ambrosia poured upon their heads, and their attainments in the Dao advanced rapidly. Even the mortals who had come to bow in worship were instantly transformed, gaining the prospect of a hundred-year lifespan and protection against all malign influences. Their aptitude even improved, perhaps allowing them a glimpse of the path of immortality in the future.
He Mu's preaching continued for nine uninterrupted days. During those nine days, he also examined himself anew. Though he had yet to formally contemplate the Heavenly Heart Imprint, this could still be considered his first time putting his Heavenly Venerable Dao Fruit in order since attaining the Dao. All in all, even he benefited considerably from this sermon-indeed, he gained a great deal. His own Great Dao had subtly advanced, which came as something of a surprise even to He Mu.
The days of preaching finally ended, but the heavenly sounds of the Great Dao He Mu had expounded lingered throughout the divine land. All living beings there had attained profound understanding and were utterly entranced, while many still felt they had not heard enough.
When those profound sounds of the Great Dao finally faded completely, everyone beneath the dais raised their heads. Led by the Quasi-Venerables and Great Sages, they bowed in reverence and declared,
"Heavenly Venerable, your virtue is boundless! We bow before you! May you live eternally, never to perish, and may your immortal Dao flourish forever!"
The overwhelming cries echoed above the divine land for a long time, almost shaking the entire Divine Continent.
In He Mu's eyes, billowing power born of mortal prayers surged toward him alongside those voices resounding through heaven and earth. It had even begun to turn into faith, faintly imparting a sense of immortality to him.
Across all of Shrouding the Heavens, the power of mortal faith could be counted among the strongest and most mysterious forces.
In later ages, Amitabha Great Emperor had studied this path deeply, using his sarira to carry faith in the hope of ascending to immortality with his entire religion;
As the supreme deity revered by all races, the Undying Heavenly Emperor had also studied this path and forged a divine-self incarnation no weaker than a flawless Great Emperor to conquer the world on his behalf;
Even in the Perfect World era, the Ancestral Guardian Spirit of the Immortal Ancient Era had relied on this path to create a cultivation method for guardian spirits, attained the rank of Immortal King Giant, and stormed into the foreign realm seven times and fought back out seven times, displaying peerless brilliance;
In the Sacred Ruins era, a supreme being had even used it to attain the throne of Heavenly Emperor, becoming a Dao Ancestor in a single stroke and earning the reverence of myriad worlds.
Each and every one of these examples showed that studying the path of faith held tremendous promise. Unfortunately, in the era of Shrouding the Heavens, ancient sovereigns and Great Emperors often paid little attention to this path, at most using it to bolster their own combat strength. To He Mu, that seemed rather wasteful.
Of course, He Mu also understood that faith and the power of prayer ultimately came from living beings. They were external things-something he could draw upon, but not something he should depend on.
Still, studying the power of faith remained immensely significant to He Mu at his current stage. He therefore placed the matter on his agenda.
After all, He Mu had no reason to let such an extraordinarily profound power pass him by. No one wished to enter a mountain of treasures only to return empty-handed.
After some careful thought, He Mu suddenly recalled that the sovereigns and emperors of later ages had not been entirely wrong to regard faith as poisonous. Mortal prayer power bound one most deeply to living beings through karma. In Ye Fan's era, for instance, the Mythical Shore formed from Heavenly Venerable Lingbao had established karmic causes with all living beings without repaying them with corresponding fruits, and ultimately everything was destroyed in a single day.
Amitabha Great Emperor had done very well in this regard. He balanced faith and used it to give back to living beings, so his faith no longer had any weaknesses and instead became increasingly robust. This was precisely why Mount Sumeru in later ages had been so extraordinarily powerful and endured through the ages, difficult to shake even with Emperor Weapons or an emperor's baleful aura.
Unfortunately, Amitabha Buddha had taken the wrong path. Rather than following the immortal monks of the Immortal Ancient Era in seeking supreme strength within himself, he had relied solely on his Buddhist followers' faith to force his way onto the path of immortality. In the end, the Western Desert was utterly destroyed, and not a single one of its myriad buddhas remained. It was enough to make one wring one's hands in regret.
Fortunately, that tragedy in the Western Desert was still millions of years away, and that astonishingly brilliant Buddha Emperor was far from being born. For now, it merely served as a warning to He Mu himself. It even offered valuable lessons for his study of mortal faith, though he wondered whether that could barely qualify as a good thing.
With the preaching concluded, the myriad races returned one after another to their respective corners of the universe. Ziwei, previously bustling with activity, welcomed a peace it had not known for some time.
He Mu was already seated upright within the Central Heavenly Palace. Establishing faith, investigating the Immortal Corpse, studying the black qi he had intercepted-these matters passed through his mind one by one, and he set them aside in turn.
He knew perfectly well that even on the human path, he was still far from reaching its end. In this Mythological Era, when traces of immortals still remained and forbidden zones stood everywhere, he could not call himself invincible.
To resolve all the matters before him, the most fundamental requirement was absolutely invincible strength. He had now attained the Dao, and with Nine Secrets: Dou, he could rank among the foremost Heavenly Venerables throughout history. If he could advance another step, he should be able to sweep aside everything in this world. Then all his problems could be easily resolved.
At present, he lacked neither time nor means. Naturally, he should improve his strength as quickly as possible, preparing to face any challenges that might arise, until he became an immortal amid the mortal world.
With that thought, He Mu sat upright with his legs crossed. His divine sense passed through endless space and reached the immeasurable heights of the universe. This had always been the universe's most mysterious place, unknowable and ineffable. Myriad Daos interwove there, forming layer upon layer of barriers that only a Heavenly Venerable could pass.
At the very center of this strange place, a wondrous imprint rose and fell amid the myriad Daos, radiating terrifying divine might at every moment. It was none other than the Heavenly Heart Imprint.
The next instant, He Mu's divine sense merged with the Heavenly Heart Imprint almost without resistance. He was about to begin his first secluded cultivation since attaining the Dao, using the Heavenly Heart Imprint to advance in the shortest possible time.
As for how far his cultivation would have progressed when his seclusion ended?
No one could know. Even He Mu himself began to feel a faint sense of anticipation.
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