Merging with the Dao? Attaining the Dao? The path of the Quasi-Sage

"So this was Pangu... opening heaven and earth?"

Ao Changsheng gazed at the vast universe before him, enthralled.

It was a completely different sight from the natural evolution of his inner world under the influence of the supreme Great Dao of Chaos when he had opened it.

But...

It was just as breathtaking.

And only cultivators who walked the Dao of Heaven Opening, the Dao of Force, or the Dao of the World could clearly feel the deeper wonder.

Ao Changsheng had no doubt that even if that initial, faint trace of the Power of Pangu had not been inside the embryonic universe,

but in the Chaos, it could still have opened up a Great Thousand World that was not the slightest bit inferior.

In a sense, this vast universe had not even been opened by him, but by Pangu.

It was a Great Thousand World of limitless potential, opened up by Pangu!

But compared to gaining another Great Thousand World, Ao Changsheng's greater reward was the insight he had gained over the past ten years.

Ten years. That trace of the Power of Pangu had lasted for ten whole years, and Ao Changsheng had watched for the entire time.

During those ten years, insights into the evolution of worlds had kept welling up in Ao Changsheng's mind.

Now, Ao Changsheng was confident that he could quickly nurture the world within him to completion.

His inner world had even begun to stir faintly, as if it wanted to evolve right now.

Ao Changsheng suppressed the stirring of his inner world's evolution. At present, it had not yet accumulated enough power of origin.

If it began to evolve now, its potential would be diminished, and it might even become a flawed world.

So this is a fortuitous opportunity! Ao Changsheng marveled inwardly.

Even he had not expected this. Originally, he had only wanted to mess around... ahem, to test whether this place could trap a Daluo Golden Immortal and serve as a prison.

But unexpectedly, his cultivation had advanced greatly, and he had gained a vast universe of astonishing potential.

Sure enough, when a man is handsome, fortuitous opportunities come knocking at his door even when he's cultivating in seclusion at home.

Ao Changsheng was rather pleased with himself. Only after a good while did he remember the "great benefactor" who had brought him this opportunity.

With a thought, he found Gonggong in the vast universe, and a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face.

"This is..."

"He broke through to Quasi-Sage!"

Ao Changsheng appeared beside Gonggong. Looking at the pressure far surpassing that of a Daluo that Gonggong was unconsciously emitting in his coma, he was quite surprised.

At this time, Hongjun's second lecture had yet to begin, and the Dao Method of Severing the Three Corpses had yet to be passed down. Gonggong should have been the only Quasi-Sage known to the Primordial World.

He really had just caught the last train into the Daluo era!

He had only broken through a few minutes ago, and the Primordial World was already about to enter the Quasi-Sage era.

How heartbreaking!

As Ao Changsheng sighed with emotion, he unrestrainedly examined Gonggong's cultivation with spiritual thoughts possessing Sage-level might.

The last two Quasi-Sage heavyweights he had encountered had been either Chaos Demon Gods like Yangmei, who was close to attaining the Dao, or Hongjun, the future heaven-ordained Sage.

This was his first chance to take a good look at a Quasi-Sage of the Primordial World!

The Great Dao of Water has merged into his body. Is this the Quasi-Sage path the Witch Race walks? Ao Changsheng thought.

This was already the fourth path he knew of for breaking through the Daluo Golden Immortal realm and becoming a Quasi-Sage.

The first needed no explanation. Naturally, it was the Method of Opening an Inner World that Ao Changsheng currently cultivated.

The second was one Ao Changsheng had learned from the Dragon Race's inherited memories. It was the Dao of Hunyuan cultivated by the Dragon Race of High Antiquity-no, by the mighty figures of the Primordial World in High Antiquity.

This was a path that took the Great Dao comprehended during the Daluo realm as its foundation, then used one's own will, insights, and cultivation to create a Great Dao of cultivation belonging to oneself.

Once one had created such a Great Dao, one's cultivation would naturally break through the Daluo realm and reach Quasi-Sage. After that came the process of comparing and verifying it against the three thousand Great Daos between heaven and earth.

One took the essence and discarded the dross. Once it reached perfection, it would suppress the three thousand Great Daos, and one would become a Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal.

As for the third breakthrough method, it was the Dao Method of Severing the Three Corpses that Hongjun would pass down in the Purple Firmament Palace, which would also become the mainstream method in the future Primordial World.

Although Ao Changsheng knew this Secret Method existed, he did not know much about it.

And what Gonggong had done now-merging a Great Dao into his own body and transforming it into a near-Dao, extreme-Dao physique-was the fourth breakthrough path Ao Changsheng knew of.

Ao Changsheng did not know which of these four Quasi-Sage paths was superior or inferior, but...

The paths to attaining the Dao were different, yet they led to the same destination!

Whether it was attaining the Dao by severing the three corpses, the path of Hunyuan, Ao Changsheng's Method of Opening an Inner World, or the Witch Race's path to Quasi-Sage,

they all ultimately had only one goal: attaining the Dao!

Ao Changsheng made note of Gonggong's current state and worked through it in his mind. These were all extremely valuable cultivation experiences, and he would definitely be able to use them himself in the future.

Even so, it took Ao Changsheng a full three days to analyze and summarize Gonggong's method of breaking through to Quasi-Sage almost completely.

Simply put, Gonggong's breakthrough method was to merge the Great Dao he had comprehended into his body, transforming it into a near-Dao physique.

It did not merely enhance basic abilities such as strength, speed, defense, and recovery.

With this physique, even when the same amount of Law Power was used to activate the corresponding Great Dao, its might would be several times greater than before.

And according to Ao Changsheng's deductions, this physique should ultimately evolve into an extreme-Dao physique.

It would be able to unleash a thousand or ten thousand times the might he could have brought forth from the same Great Dao as a Daluo Golden Immortal.

"I think I've vaguely grasped what cultivation in the Quasi-Sage realm is really about," Ao Changsheng murmured to himself as he looked at the Witch Race's Quasi-Sage path he had summarized.

The four Quasi-Sage cultivation paths he knew could actually be summed up as cultivation methods based on two ideas.

Merging with the Dao!

And attaining the Dao!

Although he did not know the details of the Method of Severing the Three Corpses, Ao Changsheng guessed that it should be similar to Gonggong's breakthrough method.

It was a method of increasing one's compatibility with a particular Great Dao, thereby bringing forth greater power.

The Dragon Race's Dao of Hunyuan, on the other hand, was a method of attaining the Dao: it used the three thousand Great Daos as references and oneself as a template to create a Great Dao perfectly suited to oneself.

The two paths led to the same destination, yet were completely different.

As for the Method of Inner Heaven and Earth that Ao Changsheng himself cultivated, he felt that it contained elements of both attaining the Dao and merging with the Dao.

Using one's own will, Law Power, and cultivation to nurture and strengthen a world was similar to attaining the Dao.

And each time his inner world advanced, allowing him to comprehend a more complete, higher-level Dao of the World, that was similar to the idea of merging with the Dao.

"Perhaps, when cultivating the Method of Opening an Inner World, one can also freely choose which path to favor."

Ao Changsheng already had a rough idea in his mind of how he would cultivate in the Daluo realm from here on, and even in the Quasi-Sage realm afterward.

Then...

Ao Changsheng quietly tampered with the sleeping Gonggong, ensuring that he would continue to slumber for another eighty-six years.

He, Ao Changsheng, was a man of his word.

If he said he would lock someone up for a hundred years, then a hundred years it would be!

When the hundred years were up, Ao Changsheng, who was experiencing this vast universe so unlike the world within him, opened the passage between it and the Primordial World.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, Ao Changsheng sent Gonggong flying out with a kick, simultaneously hurling a shock of Divine Sense straight into his sea of consciousness.

"Off you go!"