The great fire blazed.
Both the Jiaxia Kingdom and the Jiashang Kingdom were stirred.
Clad in wings of light, the queen bee stood upon the damaged hive, leading her daughters as they gazed at the flames on the treetop.
Within the raging flames, a qi seed was resonating with the tides of vital energy between heaven and earth.
"Your Majesty-is this the Mystic Gang Realm?"
"Indeed. He is sensing Heavenly Gang and refining his Dao qi to purity-watch carefully, all of you, and feel the changes in the sky."
As Ao Ding burned away his "mortal husk," the clear firmament of the nine heavens surged with it. The firelight reflected the sky's shifting colors; no longer clear and blue, it resembled endlessly churning, terrifying waves.
"Those human cultivators truly enjoy heaven's favor-" Watching the sea of clouds unfurl across a thousand miles, the queen bee could not help sighing.
When she had attained Mysterious Gang in the past, had she ever stirred such vast tides of vital energy?
The beauties of the Jiaxia Kingdom stood upon a square platform, gazing from afar at the brilliant flames atop the Xuanjia Immortal Tree.
However, the many beauty ants lacked sufficient cultivation. Only their ruler, having inherited the "Jiaxia Kingdom's spiritual domain," could discern Ao Ding's present state.
The eldest princess gazed at the unceasing blaze in the air and asked curiously, "Mother, is this the Mystic Gang Realm? Has he broken through?"
"How could it be as simple as a breakthrough? He concentrates his qi until it becomes supple, returning through the Dao to the innate state. From now on, his body can truly be called a 'Dao body.'" After some thought, the ruler smiled. "Cultivators like this have the most tender flesh. Many Demon Courts offer bounties for an 'innate Dao body.' Legend says that eating such an 'innate crimson infant' can extend one's lifespan and grant eternal youth!"
Compared with those two groups of spirits, Lu Xiu seemed rather anxious and unsettled.
Hearing the appreciation in Sun Chen's voice, he could not help asking, "Senior, Brother Ao's limbs look like they've all burned away-can this really end well? And by my reckoning, he's already been burning for a quarter of an hour."
"A quarter of an hour?"
Sun Chen laughed heartily.
"Excellent burning-the longer he burns, the better." Old Daoist Sun reached out and tapped Lu Xiu's forehead. "Look closely-"
The boy immediately felt a tingling numbness across his forehead, as though something were moving there.
The next moment, his field of vision abruptly opened up.
He saw boundless, brilliant colors flowing between heaven and earth.
The Xuanjia Immortal Tree was a sky-supporting pillar wrapped in golden and azure currents. Beneath it, densely packed dark-red points of light gathered into a kingdom. Halfway up the pillar of qi was another cluster of equally dense azure points of light, huddled together.
"This-is this the immortal tree and those two kingdoms?"
Looking farther up, he saw countless colors of vital energy and Heavenly Gang circulating above the nine heavens.
Thunder, rain, wind, light...
The many energies surged against one another, resonating with a "sun" above the Xuanjia Immortal Tree.
Looking closely at that brilliant blaze, he saw gray-black currents vanishing little by little, leaving only purer, brighter colors.
"We cultivators seek the eternity of our true nature. Alas, those of low cultivation cannot even see their own 'true nature.' For that, we must use a clumsy method-refinement. We continually temper away impurities and continually purify our essential selves."
The essence of cultivation.
First came replenishment and restoration; then came tempering and purification.
"When you enter the Mystic Gang Realm in the future, you too must take the step Ao Ding is taking now. Only... how much we can purify at this stage depends upon our own fortune."
Watching the fireball, like an infant within its mother's womb, Sun Chen looked away in envy.
"The Mysterious Gang Realm is the beginning of returning to childhood, the starting point of longevity. At this realm, cultivators shed their old skin and aged appearance, making themselves younger. Afterward, their aging slows as well, preserving their youth. When this old Daoist reached this stage, my greater age meant I could only return to a body like that of a three-year-old child."
Sun Chen had entered Mysterious Gang at twenty-four, relatively late among the True Disciples, but his foundations were profound. After advancing, his skin had become as tender as a three-year-old child's, much to his master's dissatisfaction.
According to his master, shedding one's old form to become like a Scarlet Infant was the superior method in the Mystic Gang Realm.
However, even among the six sects' True Disciples, few could truly accomplish it. Most only transformed to resemble children of three to five.
At this, Lu Xiu instinctively turned to look at Sun Chen.
"Transforming into an infant? Wouldn't that mean having to grow up all over again? Do the immortal sects even have wet nurses specifically to look after children?"
Good heavens!
The moment his gaze landed on Sun Chen, Lu Xiu jumped in fright.
He saw a dim ball of light, its surface covered in cracks.
"What wet nurses?" Sun Chen laughed and scolded him, giving the boy a hard smack on the head.
"Our skin becomes like a child's, and our five organs are nourished until free of leakage and disease. That only means we have returned to the innate state, brimming with vital essence. We don't actually shrink! Those immortals with crane-white hair and youthful faces may have snowy hair, but their teeth and faces are young, and their bodies are light as swallows. Those are signs of restored youth and longevity!"
Lu Xiu gave another sheepish chuckle and stood beneath the tree with Sun Chen, waiting for Ao Ding to finish his purification.
Only-
A day passed, and the flames on the treetop still burned.
In Lu Xiu's vision, that golden radiance was already incomparably pure, no longer yielding any gray-black vapor, yet Ao Ding still did not stop.
"Senior? He's already reached this point? Can he still burn anything out? Just how long does he have to burn?"
After some thought, Sun Chen said, "If he can burn for seven days and seven nights, his path to becoming a True Person will be established. If he can burn for nine days and nine nights, hmm... even this old Daoist's realm would fall short of his. But in his present state, three days and three nights would be his limit. Generally, one day and one night is enough."
"One day and one night-" Lu Xiu rubbed his arms, goosebumps threatening to rise. "Doesn't he... hurt?"
Burning for an entire day and night sounded agonizing!
"He visualizes the Northern Yin Diagram and practices White Bone Contemplation-the very first step is to stop fearing pain and keep the mind steady-he should manage?"
Recalling Ao Ding's behavior in the Ghost Immortal Yin Abode, Sun Chen grew uncertain.
He thought to himself, This lad clearly hasn't cultivated enough. He's too timid. In principle, after seeing so much of the white-bone hells, he shouldn't have been so frightened at Junior Sister's place. It was only an underground dharma realm built from a stream of Ninefold Netherworld Yellow Springs Water. What was there to fear? Though secluded and eerie, it still had an immortal's elegance. Wasn't it prettier than the white bones of hell? There were neither mountains of skeletons and corpses nor vicious demons and evil ghosts... if even a place like that terrified him, he really might struggle to endure this day and night.
"Not bad-compared with the suffering of observing Oil Cauldron Hell, I can still withstand the force of these flames."
Ao Ding quietly watched his body burn.
His consciousness rested within the qi seed in his Dantian, transcending into another inconceivably wondrous space.
Before his eyes were the surging tides of vital energy between heaven and earth.
Every wave and every whirlpool was a strand of Dao qi rolling through those tides.
Heaven and earth had formed from primordial unified Gang qi, giving rise to a hundred and twenty thousand kinds of Gang qi. These various kinds of Gang qi suffused heaven and earth, forming the myriad phenomena of the world. The sun was Gang qi; the moon and stars were Gang qi. Mountains were Gang qi; trees, grasses, and flowers were Gang qi as well... and as those hundred and twenty thousand foundational kinds of Dao qi mingled and absorbed one another, they produced tens of millions, hundreds of millions more kinds.
The Mysterious Gang Realm required one to use a qi seed to refine one kind of heaven-and-earth Dao qi, turning it into one's own magical power.
"The classics record that heaven rises ninety thousand layers high. Looking at these tides of heaven and earth now, surely there are more than ninety thousand layers?"
Countless kinds of Dao qi overlapped densely, evolving into layer upon layer of heavenly realms and immortal lands. Countless divine beasts and Celestial Persons traveled through the tides.
For instance, not far away was an azure-robed boy carrying a basket as he trod upon the clouds, a manifestation of one kind of Taiyi Dao Qi.
On another cloud was a white elephant with a kindly face, a manifestation of a kind of Dao qi that delivered all beings and saved lives.
Amid these tides of heaven and earth, Ao Ding even sensed the spiritual imprints of countless True Persons and demon kings.
Eight thousand Demon Courts?
Those were merely the ones currently recorded and verifiable.
And what of the immortal sects' True Persons?
Beneath the six sects were myriad Dao lineages.
The True Person imprints Ao Ding now sensed numbered far beyond ten thousand.
There were also the Buddhist schools, the divine Dao, the ghost Dao...
Countless spiritual imprints circulated within the vital energy tides, gathering into visions of immortal palaces, Buddhist realms, netherworlds, and more.
Steadying his mind once more, Ao Ding began sensing the Dao qi connected to him.
Instantly, the Dao qi roaming within a thousand miles swarmed toward Ao Ding.
Well now-
It really was just as the classics said.
When a qi seed resonated with heaven and earth, hundreds, thousands, or even countless kinds of Dao qi would take the initiative to align with it.
Living beings were born and nurtured between heaven and earth, naturally nourished by its myriad phenomena. How could they align with only a single kind of Dao qi?
Seeing a purple-robed emperor holding a golden seal approach him, Ao Ding instinctively retreated.
Then an azure lion roared and charged at his "qi seed," but Ao Ding dodged it as well.
Next, a lotus-bearing boy, a multicolored brocade carp breathing clouds and mist, and a jade flute playing immortal music approached him, and he evaded them one by one.
"Though these kinds of Dao qi are wondrous, they aren't the most suitable for me-the Gang qi that suits me best should still be deep within the tides..."
Watching the countless kinds of Dao qi constantly crossing and changing before him, Ao Ding suddenly opened his left eye in a furious glare, staring straight at the overlapping immortal lands and heavenly realms high above.
"Come here-"
At his roar, the vital energy tides of heaven and earth shook violently, and a streak of golden light sped down from the vault of heaven.
Clang-
The golden light charged imperiously through, knocking aside countless sovereigns, Celestial Persons, divine beasts, and spiritual treasures before crashing straight into Ao Ding's arms.
In that moment, Ao Ding vaguely glimpsed the golden light's true form.
It was a vessel with an indistinct shape, its handles and feet faintly visible.
The next moment, his consciousness was knocked back into his body.
It hurts-it hurts so much-
An endless burning sensation came from what remained of his body.
Ao Ding looked within himself. Now, only his head and a connected spinal cord remained.
But as the qi seed drew in and expelled qi, a pure, golden stream of Dao qi slowly flowed through his body, becoming the "True Heaven Golden Gang" that belonged to Ao Ding alone.
As the golden Gang circulated, Ao Ding's five organs and four limbs reappeared little by little...
"They-they really grew back!"
Beneath the tree, Lu Xiu pointed at the great fire in the treetop in delighted surprise.
Sun Chen nodded. "This is the Mysterious Gang Realm. The qi seed becomes Mysterious Gang, and only then does one glimpse the path of longevity.
"Some say that the cultivation path by which mortals advance to become True Persons is a process of being born anew. It begins with Qi-Seeding, forming a seed of vital essence. Then, step by step, the seed grows before merging with heaven and earth and being conceived, continually nurtured in the birthing chamber of 'heaven and earth.' Finally, in the Primordial Embryo Realm, one truly becomes a fetus and is born into this world anew. Those successfully born are True Persons like us. Though this theory is somewhat biased, it has broadly won the acceptance of the various cultivation lineages. For instance, one lineage of the Jade Cauldron Sect believes that a person must undergo nine births and nine deaths before this worldly shell can truly shed its turbid appearance and embrace the purest true nature. Ao Ding's tempering of his Dao body in fire now essentially accords with the theory of the Nine Refinements of Life and Death."
Lu Xiu lowered his head in thought. Though slow-witted... even he could tell that this theory seemed to fit many legends of immortals.
"Not only our immortal sects; most other lineages also accept this point. The Northern Yin Ghost Dao, for instance, believes that all worldly beings are dead things. Humans, demons, ghosts-all are unbearably turbid dead things. They are fish eyes! Only by being born anew can they be considered alive, becoming gold, jade, and precious gems. And this process of rebirth is the process of becoming a True Person."
Bang-
Suddenly, the pool beside the roots dried up, and a drop of Ninefold Essence Divine Water leaped from the water, flying straight into the flames on the treetop. It sank into Ao Ding's left eye, becoming nourishment for the True Person's Eye.
Immediately afterward, the flames burst apart completely and went out.
A perfectly unharmed figure jumped down from the treetop.
"You two, I succeeded!"
Unable to conceal his pride, Ao Ding shone with golden light as he landed directly before them.
Before you continue