Chapter 12

"Wasn't he Senior Uncle-Master?"

Jiang Haofeng calmly said, "He was naturally Senior Uncle-Master before, but now that we have heard the Sage's sermon, we should honor the Grand Pure Sage as our teacher. We must never forget the grace of one who imparts the Dao and teaches us."

"That makes sense!" the surrounding Innate Humans nodded.

"I am Yuanshi of Grand Clarity. Moved by the difficulty all living beings of the Primordial World face in seeking the Dao, I follow the will of Heaven and establish the Chan Teaching. With the Innate Supreme Treasure, the Pangu Banner, to suppress its fortune, I shall enlighten all beings. Those of profound merit and virtue may enter beneath my gate. Let the Heavenly Dao bear witness!"

"I am Tongtian of Grand Purity. Moved by the difficulty all living beings of the Primordial World face in seeking the Dao, I establish the Jie Teaching, to carve out a thread of life for the beings of the Primordial World. With the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation to suppress the Jie Teaching's fortune, all living beings of the Primordial World who are fated may enter beneath my gate. Let the Heavenly Dao bear witness!"

Not long after the Grand Pure Sage established the Humanity Teaching, two vast voices resounded through heaven and earth atop Kunlun Mountain. Purple qi spread between heaven and earth, endless phenomena surged, and the mighty pressure of Sages once more blanketed the world!

The third Heavenly Dao Saint of the Primordial World, the Grand Clarity Sage, and the fourth, the Grand Purity Sage, had taken their places!

"Greetings, Grand Clarity Sage!"

"Greetings, Grand Purity Sage!"

Countless living beings of the Primordial World bowed once more.

In a single day, three Sages took their places, instantly stirring up towering waves throughout the Primordial World.

However, what happened at Kunlun Mountain had little to do with the human race.

Time drifted by, and in the blink of an eye, five hundred years quietly passed.

Beneath Shouyang Mountain, hundreds of thousands of humans had gathered. At the forefront stood three thousand Innate Humans, with Jiang Haofeng, Suiren, Da Chao, and Zhisheng standing before them all.

Shouyang Mountain was not yet human territory; it still lay tens of millions of li away from the human race.

The distance was so vast, and this was the peril-ridden Primordial World. Even though all humans could have come, in the end, only a little over a hundred thousand had set out and arrived here.

Purple qi surged through the void, and an ineffable Dao aura spread out. The figure of the Grand Pure Sage appeared atop the mountain peak.

"Disciples greet Teacher!"

The instant the Grand Pure Sage appeared, Jiang Haofeng and the other three thousand humans respectfully spoke.

As the voices of the three thousand Innate Humans fell, the humans behind them froze for a moment, then followed suit. "Disciples greet Teacher!"

The Grand Pure Sage nodded slightly. Without saying anything, he directly began his sermon.

"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao!"

"The name that can be named is not the eternal name!"

"The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth; the named is the mother of all things!"

"..."

The Grand Pure Sage's voice was like the sound of heaven and the words of the Great Dao, containing endless profundities. In an instant, Jiang Haofeng immersed himself in comprehension as though drunk and entranced.

At the same time, heavenly flowers rained down upon Shouyang Mountain, golden lotuses sprang from the earth, endless phenomena rose, and clear light filled the skies. It was clearly a rare land of auspiciousness.

In the blink of an eye, a thousand years passed. The Grand Pure Sage stopped his sermon and swept his gaze across the crowd, passing over Jiang Haofeng, Suiren, Da Chao, Zhisheng, Xuandu, Dating, and Zunlu one by one. Finally, his gaze settled on Jiang Haofeng for two or three breaths before moving away.

"This first sermon ends here. Three thousand years from now, you may come here again to hear the Dao!"

As his words fell, the Grand Pure Sage swept his sleeve. In an instant, heaven and earth spun, and the tens of thousands of humans appeared directly within human territory.

"So powerful!"

Shocked cries rose from the surrounding humans. This place was tens of millions of li from Shouyang Mountain, yet they had arrived in a single instant.

Jiang Haofeng found it somewhat amusing. What did that count for? Never mind tens of millions of li—even tens of millions of celestial feet amounted to nothing before a Sage. Just basic stuff.

"Disciple thanks Teacher for the grace of imparting the Dao!"

Jiang Haofeng respectfully bowed toward Shouyang Mountain.

Only then did the other humans come back to their senses. They immediately straightened their garments and respectfully bowed toward Shouyang Mountain.

"Disciples thank Teacher for the grace of imparting the Dao!"

Within Kunlun Mountain, the Grand Pure Sage paused, then a faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"Good!"

After paying their respects, Jiang Haofeng and the Innate Humans immediately returned to Central Phoenix Mountain and began secluded cultivation, pondering what they had gained from the sermon without daring to slacken in the slightest.

How precious was a Sage's sermon? It absolutely could not be taken lightly. Absorbing even the slightest bit of it was an enormous harvest—and with the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book, it would not be limited to merely absorbing a little.

The Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book was inherently skilled at learning and imitation. It could learn merely by watching others circulate their profound arts or unleash divine abilities, let alone from a proper sermon. Even without the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book, Jiang Haofeng had learned the Grand Pure Immortal Method simply through listening to the Dao.

Moreover, his cultivation had risen by one level, from the early Golden Immortal Realm to the middle Golden Immortal Realm.

With the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book as his foundation, comprehending the Grand Pure Immortal Method to perfection would not be a problem.

This advancement referred to the improvement of his mana realm. The Nine Revolutions Profound Art of the witch race cultivated only the physical body and not mana. Jiang Haofeng's late Golden Immortal Realm cultivation was entirely a realm of the fleshly body.

As a human created by Empress Nuwa using Nine Heavens Breathing Soil and Three Lights Divine Water, Jiang Haofeng had possessed Golden Immortal Realm cultivation in both body and mana from the moment of his birth. His foundation was flawless and complete, solid and deep—a truly excellent vessel for cultivation.

Jiang Haofeng sat cross-legged in his room. With a thought, the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book in his mind slowly opened. An old man with indistinct features appeared within its illustration. The image was exceedingly blurred, and only his rough outline could barely be made out. It was precisely the Grand Pure Sage who had given the sermon earlier.

"Worthy of a Sage. He truly is difficult to imitate. After a thousand years of imitation by the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book, it has only obtained one-tenth of his spiritual essence."

Over the past thousand years, Jiang Haofeng had listened to the Dao attentively while the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book automatically simulated the Grand Pure Sage's spiritual essence and recorded the scene of his sermon.

As expected, the scene of the Sage's sermon had been completely recorded, but only one-tenth of the Sage's spiritual essence had been imitated.

Moreover, among the imitated spiritual resonances, there was only one divine ability—Grand Pure Immortal Light!

But that made sense. This was a sermon, not a battle. Only a protective divine ability like Grand Pure Immortal Light would be running at every moment, allowing the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book to record it.

For a single protective divine ability, the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book had spent a thousand years recording merely a tenth of its spiritual resonance. As expected of a Sage—when facing such a supreme existence, even the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book found things far more difficult.

Of course, that might also be because no one was controlling the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book. In the end, it was merely a supreme treasure; to unleash its full might, it still needed someone to wield it.

If Jiang Haofeng possessed power on the level of a Sage, then with the mysteries of the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book, he would not need long to imitate seventy or eighty percent of that spiritual resonance.

He was thinking too far ahead. He was only a little Golden Immortal shrimp, not even having set foot upon the Dao path. Sainthood was even further beyond sight. There would be time to think of such things once he became a Quasi-Saint and entered the Dao path.

Jiang Haofeng suppressed his thoughts and sent his will into the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book. In an instant, all manner of mysteries surfaced in his heart. Grand Pure Immortal Light, the protective divine ability wielded by the Sage, was presented before Jiang Haofeng in its simplest form.

Ten years later, a pale golden mysterious light rose around Jiang Haofeng. An ineffable Dao rhythm of myriad methods failing to touch him swept outward. The faint layer of golden light appeared as though a casual wave of the hand could disperse it, yet it was in truth one of the finest protective divine abilities under heaven.

Immortal light protected the body; myriad methods could not touch it. Be it divine abilities or spirit treasures, none could harm me in the slightest!

Protective divine ability—Grand Pure Immortal Light!

Furthermore, Jiang Haofeng's mastery of Grand Pure Immortal Light had reached one-tenth that of the Sage. One-tenth might not sound like much, but that was one-tenth of a Sage's mastery.

The Grand Pure Immortal Light Jiang Haofeng now wielded was equivalent to the Grand Pure Sage suppressing his own strength to the Golden Immortal Realm, then using one-tenth of the resulting Grand Pure Immortal Light's power!

Now that Jiang Haofeng could wield it, even though his cultivation was only at the Golden Immortal Realm, ordinary Primordial Unity Golden Immortals would be unable to harm him in the slightest!

"As expected of a Sage's comprehension of divine abilities. It vaguely surpasses the very scope of divine abilities and has reached another level."

Having mastered Grand Pure Immortal Light, Jiang Haofeng willed it, and mysterious light flashed across the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book in his mind. The indistinct image of the Grand Pure Sage vanished, replaced by densely packed Innate Dao Script.

At the very front were four great words—Grand Pure Immortal Method. They were precisely the contents of the Grand Pure Sage's sermon recorded by the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book.

With a thought from Jiang Haofeng, his consciousness entered the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book. In an instant, waves of the Great Dao's sound rang through the heavens. In a daze, Jiang Haofeng seemed to have returned to the time when the Grand Pure Sage had delivered his sermon.

Sentence after sentence of the Great Dao's sound echoed through his mind. Yet unlike when Jiang Haofeng had listened to the sermon before, those obscure and incomprehensible words of the Great Dao now became clear and lucid. Things he had once failed to understand suddenly opened his eyes and cleared his mind.

Many details Jiang Haofeng had overlooked at the time resurfaced in his memories, granting him a deeper understanding of the Grand Pure Immortal Method.

Almost instantly, Jiang Haofeng entered a state of enlightenment. The surrounding innate spiritual qi surged toward him, rushing to pour into his body as though afraid of being left behind.

A full three thousand years passed. Only when the next sermon was approaching did Jiang Haofeng slowly awaken.

At this moment, clear qi rose above Jiang Haofeng's head, mysterious light shone around his body, and the faint glow of merit flickered in the depths of his divine soul. Anyone who saw him would have to praise him as a profoundly cultivated cultivator of the Mystic Sect, a True Person who possessed the Dao!

Jiang Haofeng examined his condition, his face filled with delight. His cultivation had already reached the peak of the Golden Immortal Realm, rising by two minor realms in one stroke. His immortal Dao cultivation had directly surpassed his physical cultivation.

It could only be said that a Sage's sermon truly lived up to its name!

Yet the improvement in cultivation was not Jiang Haofeng's greatest gain over these three thousand years. His greatest harvest was still the Grand Pure Immortal Method!

In a single sermon, the Sage had explained the Grand Pure Immortal Method thoroughly—from the True Immortal Realm all the way to the method of beheading the Three Corpses, everything had been laid out with complete clarity. So long as one fully comprehended the Grand Pure Immortal Method, one could cultivate directly to the peak of the Quasi-Saint realm.

Naturally, that was under ideal conditions: sufficient talent and no bottlenecks.

But the Sage's Great Dao was exceptionally profound. How could ordinary people comprehend its ultimate principles? When ordinary immortals listened to a sermon—including Jiang Haofeng when he had not used the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book—they had in fact understood only a portion of it. Yet that portion alone was enough to benefit the immortals immensely.

Basically, no one could completely understand a Sage's sermon. To fully comprehend it, one had to be an existence of at least the same level. Beneath the Sage realm, there was absolutely no possibility of understanding it in full.

But at the Sage level, it was no longer listening to a sermon—it was discussing the Dao.

Jiang Haofeng possessed the Innate Supreme Treasure, the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Book, which had recorded every part of the Sage's sermon. By a twist of fate, he had completely understood the contents of the Sage's sermon!

He had become the only person in the primordial world beneath the Sage realm to completely understand a Sage's sermon!

Jiang Haofeng understood everything the Sage had taught. In other words, Jiang Haofeng could even recreate a Sage's sermon. Other than being unable to personally demonstrate the Great Dao like a Sage, stir the Dao rhythms of heaven and earth, and accelerate his disciples' enlightenment, it would be in no way inferior to a Sage's sermon!

After Jiang Haofeng emerged from seclusion, all three thousand Innate Humans had long since done the same. At this moment, Suiren, Zhisheng, and the others had gathered outside the Ancestral Pavilion, discussing the Dao with one another and verifying what they had learned.

All three thousand humans had gathered here. The forty-nine humans who had been summoned first were taking turns expounding on the Dao in the center, while the remaining Innate Humans sat around them and learned.

Jiang Haofeng looked closely and saw that the strength of the entire human race had risen by a great margin. The ones who had improved the most should have been Suiren, Da Chao, and Zhisheng, the three Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals.