Drinking this cup of wine meant accepting the two women. Refusing it meant rejecting the twins.
Xiao Ping'an truly hadn't expected the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's twin daughters to take so little after him.
If the twins hadn't possessed such abundant Sacred Blood, he would have doubted they were the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's biological daughters.
Perhaps it was because he was a Great Accomplished Tyrant Body who had defied the heavens to attain the Dao, or perhaps the twins admired the strong. In any case, they were willing to follow Xiao Ping'an and become his Dao companions.
Looking at the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's beautiful twin daughters, Xiao Ping'an smiled.
In the Shrouding the Heavens World, few of those proud daughters of heaven married. They all firmly believed they could attain the Dao and become emperors.
Xiao Ping'an remembered that Feng Huang, in the original story, had looked down on even a Sacred Body like the protagonist Ye Fan.
Feng Huang had only been an ordinary prodigy, not a peerless prodigy of the highest order, yet even she had thought that way. How much more so would those more powerful divine maidens and holy maidens?
Yan Ruyu, the Jade Lake Holy Maiden, Zixia, Weiwei, Huo Lin'er, Dragon Girl, and Golden Heavenly Maiden in the original story had all firmly believed they could attain the Dao and become emperors. They had looked down on every man, and in the end, those outstanding women had all grown old alone.
The Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's two daughters possessed abundant Sacred Blood and were cultivation prodigies as well. They were peerless prodigies who could stand alongside imperial sons and daughters.
Who would have thought the two were actually willing to become Xiao Ping'an's Dao companions?
Am I really that charming? Xiao Ping'an wanted to find a mirror and take a look at himself.
But on second thought, Xiao Ping'an understood what the two women had in mind.
If they were going to marry, a young Great Emperor like Xiao Ping'an was naturally the best choice. Otherwise, they wouldn't marry at all.
Xiao Ping'an had shattered the legend that a Great Accomplished Tyrant Body couldn't attain the Dao. Clearly, the twins were also proud and ambitious, and they knew of the legend, or curse, that a Sacred Body couldn't attain the Dao.
By marrying Xiao Ping'an, they also hoped he would become their Dao protector and help them find a way to break the curse that prevented Sacred Bodies from attaining the Dao.
But attaining the Dao and becoming a Heavenly Venerable required both fortuitous opportunities and comprehension. Most importantly, one had to fight one's way to the top; it wouldn't do without an invincible heart.
In later generations, the Queen Mother of the West's husband, a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body, had died early.
Perhaps the Queen Mother of the West had chosen the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body as her Dao protector back then, allowing her to grow up safely?
After all, a proud daughter of heaven like the Queen Mother of the West was very proud and aloof. Ordinary people weren't worthy of her notice.
According to the original story, however, the Queen Mother of the West had been extremely domineering. When she forged the Western Emperor Pagoda, she had personally killed a Dark Supreme and used him to temper it, showing just how formidable she had been.
From that perspective, it seemed more likely that the Western Emperor had attained the Dao first, then protected the Sacred Body as he grew, personally nurturing a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body to be her husband.
Between the Queen Mother of the West and the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body who had achieved alternative Dao attainment back then, who had been stronger?
In later generations, the Heavenly Tyrant Bodies and Desolate Ancient Sacred Bodies had become bound by an irreconcilable grudge because a Great Accomplished Tyrant Body of this Mythological Era had been killed by a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body. They had even left Great Dao oaths in their bloodlines to fight until one side was dead.
Thus, whenever they met, they fought to the death.
But Xiao Ping'an had not formed a deadly grudge with the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's lineage, much less branded a Great Dao oath into his bloodline.
So when Xiao Ping'an encountered members of the Sacred Body Lineage, he felt no urge for his blood to burn and to charge forward and fight them.
Xiao Ping'an had also discovered that Heavenly Tyrant Blood and Sacred Blood did not seem to reject each other, and there was no reproductive barrier between the two physiques.
In other words, the Heavenly Tyrant Body and the Sacred Body Lineage could actually have children together at this time.
Moreover, the two supreme bloodlines seemed capable of drawing on each other's strengths and helping each other flourish.
Perhaps the twins had realized this too, and that was why they were trying to join with Xiao Ping'an and produce exceptional descendants.
Sure enough, when Xiao Ping'an attained the Dao, the suppression of his bloodline had awakened the twins.
The twins were also surprised to discover that the suppression of the Heavenly Tyrant Blood had no effect on the Sacred Body Lineage. Instead, it provided a certain boost.
That was why the twins had broken out of the Divine Source and emerged from their seal.
They had originally planned to visit Xiao Ping'an themselves, but unexpectedly, he had come here of his own accord. It was a pleasant surprise for them.
The twins were no fools. Their father, the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body, was also a powerhouse who had achieved alternative Dao attainment. He had nearly attained the Dao and become a Heavenly Venerable, but regrettably, he had fallen short at the final hurdle and ultimately failed.
They had been born in the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's most glorious years. Having achieved alternative Dao attainment, he could stand alongside ordinary Heavenly Venerables. Numerous Dark Supremes had also acknowledged his strength, considering him their equal.
The twins had also met many children of the Forbidden Zones, the children of those Heavenly Venerables. They could be said to have seen and learned much.
Of course, they also recognized the limitations of their own physiques.
And Xiao Ping'an, a Great Accomplished Tyrant Body, had succeeded in attaining the Dao, allowing them to find a sliver of hope amid their despair.
They could draw upon Xiao Ping'an's method and combine it with the method of the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's lineage to forge a path of their own.
Xiao Ping'an also possessed Immortal Divine Medicine, which could let them live another lifetime and accumulate a deeper foundation.
They thought of their father, the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body, who had been ostracized by nearly all the Life Forbidden Zones together because he had stopped certain Dark Supremes from devouring living beings.
The mighty Great Accomplishment Sacred Body had never taken Immortal Divine Medicine and had died after a single lifetime. It had to be said that this was a regret.
The Great Accomplishment Sacred Body had indeed been a good father, leaving his twin daughters many treasures for cultivation.
But those things could only add flowers to brocade.
What truly moved the twins was the method Xiao Ping'an had created, the cultivation techniques and secret arts he had devised. They had allowed the sisters to see hope that a Sacred Body could attain the Dao.
For that sliver of hope, they were willing to pay any price, including offering themselves and all their resources. Even the Sacred Body Ancestral Star could be part of their dowry.
Before the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body had died, he had even personally refined a large quantity of Sacred Blood, hoping that once his twin daughters embarked on the path of cultivation, they could use this Sacred Body origin essence blood to awaken the origin Sacred Blood within them and become Pure-Blooded Sacred Bodies.
They were even willing to offer up this incomparably precious Great Accomplishment Sacred Body blood.
It could be said that the twins were very sincere about marrying Xiao Ping'an.
"Two fairies, aren't you afraid I'll eat my fill, wipe my mouth, and kick you aside?"
"If that happens, you'll have lost both the lady and your troops."
Xiao Ping'an accepted their cups and drained them in one gulp.
"To attain the Dao with Sacred Bodies, we're willing to pay any price."
"Yes. Cultivation is a gamble to begin with. So many people are willing to stake their lives just to chase a chance at attaining the Dao."
The twin sisters spoke with smiles.
As they spoke, a brilliantly glittering golden weapon appeared in each sister's hand.
The sacred radiance they emitted engulfed both sisters.
Xiao Ping'an's eyes lit up. Although the two weapons were wrapped in dense golden Sacred Light, he had already seen what lay within. The weapons radiated astonishing Extreme Dao divine might.
Yes, those were the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's weapons, weapons that could rival Extreme Dao Weapons.
One was a golden divine bell, the other a glittering golden spear.
The two Extreme Dao Weapons, forged from Dao Tribulation Gold, radiated power as vast as an ocean.
These were the two Extreme Dao Weapons the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body had forged from divine metal he had spent a lifetime collecting.
He had given one to each of the twin sisters.
The twin sisters also gave Xiao Ping'an not only the secret arts for Sacred Body cultivation that the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body had created, but also the Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist, which he had created with the aid of a fragment of another cultivation technique and secret art.
They even gave Xiao Ping'an the two glittering golden Extreme Dao Weapons so he could carefully comprehend the Great Dao essence within them.
Xiao Ping'an looked at the two Extreme Dao Weapons and took them, carefully sensing the Great Dao essence upon them.
In an instant, he vaguely felt something stir, and found an opportunity to take his cultivation techniques and secret arts a step further.
"Since you're being so generous, I'll be generous for once as well and give you my cultivation techniques, secret arts, and insights."
"I hope you'll be able to comprehend something from them."
"Perhaps the cultivation techniques and secret arts the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body created back then are better suited to you, but I can tell you that the scriptures and forbidden secret arts I created are anything but ordinary."
As he spoke, Xiao Ping'an traced a rune with his left hand, and the phantom of the River of Time swirled around it.
With his right hand, he traced a rune that made the void itself threaten to burst apart.
With one hand he severed time, and with the other he severed space.
The Great Dao Runes of the Dao of spacetime unfolded before the two women, and the space there grew incomparably radiant.
"This is..."
The twin sisters' minds shook, their faces filled with shock.
They had thought their father and the Tyrant Body before them were evenly matched, and that their father had merely missed his chance.
But Xiao Ping'an's personal demonstration of his method and his Dao had truly shocked them both.
Xiao Ping'an really had far surpassed their father, the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body.
Moreover, Xiao Ping'an's Dao and method were truly profound and unfathomable, exceedingly difficult to understand.
They seemed to contain some cultivation concepts from before the Mythological Era, vastly different from the current cultivation system. They also contained many ancient Great Dao Runes, which were exceptionally difficult to comprehend.
If Xiao Ping'an hadn't demonstrated them personally, they would never have imagined, even on pain of death, that one could comprehend Great Dao cultivation in this way.
Compared with the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's scriptures, the scriptures Xiao Ping'an had created were far too difficult to cultivate, or even to comprehend.
"Well? How much did you understand?"
Xiao Ping'an withdrew his Dao of spacetime, and the countless strange phenomena vanished at once.
He smiled at the two women.
"This is your Dao and method?"
"It's truly astonishing."
The twins' beautiful eyes shimmered like rippling autumn waters.
"In an ancient legend, there was a powerful race called the Gu Race. According to legend, they had a mighty Immortal King among their ancestors, who created a powerful scripture, or cultivation method, known as the Gu Ancestor Treasured Technique. It was entirely different from the current cultivation system," Xiao Ping'an said.
"I was inspired by that legend and used it as a starting point to create a Heavenly Venerable scripture that belonged to me alone, and a Great Dao of my own."
"If you think you can, you may study it carefully."
"If you can't, don't force yourselves. Not everyone can cultivate my techniques and secret arts," Xiao Ping'an said with a smile.
The twins' minds shook. They hadn't expected Xiao Ping'an to possess such heaven-defying comprehension that he had created his own Great Dao path from nothing more than a few legends predating the Mythological Era.
Could Xiao Ping'an have obtained a fragment of such a cultivation technique and secret art? Just as their father had once obtained a fragment said to be from the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Technique, of which only a small part remained, yet their father had forcibly carved out the Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist.
The twins glanced at each other, feeling as though they had glimpsed one of Xiao Ping'an's secrets.
"It's not what you're imagining," Xiao Ping'an said with a smile. "I really did create my own Great Dao based on the cultivation concepts in the legend."
"Besides, cultivation techniques and secret arts from the Chaotic Ancient Era or even the Immortal Ancient Era are outdated methods now. They can't even be cultivated anymore."
"Nowadays, the Five Great Secret Realms cultivation method is the most popular and the strongest. It consumes the fewest resources, and its cultivation speed is also the fastest."
Why had those methods of the Immortal Ancient Era and Chaotic Ancient Era been discarded?
Aside from the darkness and the eerie possibly having contaminated those cultivation systems, a greater reason was that those cultivation methods took far too long and consumed an astonishing amount of cultivation resources. Their combat power was also hard to put into words.
So it really wasn't strange at all that those Immortal Ancient Methods and Chaotic Ancient Methods had been discarded.
Xiao Ping'an did not want the twins to stray onto the wrong path.
Great Emperor Wushi was Immortal King Wuzhong's alternate account, or rather, his reincarnated body after nirvana. The reason the Wushi Scripture was so difficult to comprehend, besides its astonishing requirements for one's physique, was probably that he might have inherited some cultivation methods from the Chaotic Ancient Era or even the Immortal Ancient Era at an early age.
He might simply have kept that secret to himself, instead letting people believe that cultivating the Wushi Scripture had requirements only for one's physique, while overlooking comprehension.
"When our father was alive, he once said that the Spacetime Great Dao, the Space Great Dao, the Reincarnation Great Dao, and the Thunder Great Dao were all among the highest Great Daos and extremely difficult to comprehend. We never imagined that the Overlord Heavenly Venerable had actually cultivated both the Great Daos of time and space."
"No wonder you were able to defy the heavens and attain the Dao as a Heavenly Venerable."
The twins gazed intently at Xiao Ping'an. "Thank you, Heavenly Venerable, for passing this cultivation technique and secret art on to us. It will definitely be of tremendous benefit to us."
They were indeed telling the truth. Xiao Ping'an's understanding of the Spacetime Great Dao was inconceivable, and for them, it was definitely an astonishing gain.
Moreover, this cultivation technique and secret art was suited to Tyrant Bodies, and also to members of their Sacred Body Lineage.
The two were both shocked and delighted.
By now, the twins had fallen for him. Their Dao hearts stirred, and they felt that Xiao Ping'an was their child of destiny.
Looking at the two excited women, Xiao Ping'an said politely, "The Great Accomplishment Sacred Body possessed the ability to order heaven and earth. He created secret arts specifically for Sacred Body cultivation and established the Sacred Body Lineage. I, too, have benefited greatly from him."