After the artisans' repairs, the Eight Directions Illumination Tower looked brand-new.
On the top-floor Star-Watching Observatory, Lu Wuzhen wore a Black-and-White Daoist Robe and held a white orb of light in one hand, as though cradling the bright moon. His entire bearing radiated a measure of divine majesty.
"The Five Directions' Divine Gifts are all but impossible to obtain. There are countless cultivators under heaven, yet only fifteen acquire one every sixty years. Spiritual energy is scarce in this world now, so we can only nurture our root bones with divine gifts. Entering the Sixth Realm requires at least two or three, and to Found a Sect and Become a Patriarch requires Five Qi Returning to the Origin at the very least. Now that the Imperial Court has bestowed this upon you, I must admit, even I am filled with envy."
Dressed in a white robe, Xie Jinhuan no longer bore any of the roguish air of the "Danyang Little Silver Dragon." He merely replied with a smile:
"I see you've already obtained three such opportunities, Senior Lu. With this one too, wouldn't you be just one step away from establishing a teaching as its founding ancestor?"
Lu Wuzhen shook his head. "It isn't that simple. Even within the Sixth Realm, there are differences in strength. The weakest are miscellaneous-school cultivators, who have scraped together one or two opportunities. Their cultivation is profound, but it hardly forms a coherent system. Monk Wuxin and I fall in the middle. Through the legacies of Purple Sun True Person and Bodhisattva Yunian, we obtained pure yang or pure yin.
"The strongest have achieved Five Qi Returning to the Origin, uniting yin and yang into one, leaving them without a single weakness. But that only perfects the body. Breaking through still requires an enormous