Chapter 457 - 406: Profound Yellow... Primordial Spirit...

’Two Dharma Gates... The Profound Yellow Dao Certification Method, and the Primordial Spirit Daoist Method...’

Qi Yun recited in his mind, the light in the depths of his cyan gold eyes flickering faintly.

After a long moment, a thought stirred in his heart.

The Nether Spring Dharma Body, seated cross-legged upon the Blood Sea Lotus Platform, was connected to his thoughts and had already sensed the main body’s confusion.

Nether Spring sat cross-legged, a lazy yet discerning playfulness in his blood-red pupils.

"Main body... are you pondering what comes after Proving the Dao?"

Qi Yun nodded slightly, his gaze serene.

"You just mentioned the Fruit Position..."

He paused, a trace of gravity appearing in the depths of his cyan gold eyes.

"According to you, if someone were to prove the same Fruit Position as you, how would it be determined—who is primary, and who is secondary?"

Upon hearing this, a flicker of understanding crossed Nether Spring’s blood-red pupils.

He grinned, his smile holding a strange, sinister quality, yet also a self-evident pride.

"Naturally, it’s a matter of who is more capable."

He raised his right hand, spreading his five fingers. In his palm, the wisp of Daoist Intent connected to the Blood Sea slowly swirled.

"In essence, every advancement in a True Monarch’s Realm is, at its core, a process of refining the Fruit Position."

"The more Dao Insights you pour into the Fruit Position, the stronger your control over it becomes."

"Spread your teachings far and wide, gather followers from the masses, nourish the Fruit Position, and merge the Dao with the self."

His five fingers slowly closed, and the wisp of Daoist Intent in his palm coalesced into a miniature, illusory Blood Sea Fruit Position shimmering with a dark red light.

"At that point, the Fruit Position is me, and I am the Fruit Position."

Qi Yun listened quietly, the light in the depths of his cyan gold eyes flickering faintly.

After a moment, he spoke slowly.

"So you’re saying—if a True Monarch who proves the Dao later has a broader and more profound understanding of the teachings, they have a chance to turn the tables and seize that Fruit Position?"

Nether Spring was taken aback for a moment, then nodded.

"That possibility does exist."

He paused, then shook his head.

"However, it’s infinitesimal."

"After years and years of nourishment, the Dao Fruit will become increasingly attuned to the first True Monarch who proved it."

He grinned, his smile filled with self-evident contempt.

"To put it simply, it takes on the shape of the first True Monarch."

"A later True Monarch wanting to turn the tables? Heh..."

He shook his head lightly.

"It’s almost impossible."

For a time, silence fell in the depths of the Blood Sea’s world.

Only the subtle, surging sound of the tide, like the whisper of the long river of time, echoed slowly in this world that belonged to Nether Spring.

Qi Yun didn’t reply immediately.

He just stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his cyan gold eyes seeming to gaze toward a higher, more distant existence in the unseen world.

After a long while.

He suddenly raised his eyes.

In the depths of his cyan gold eyes, an incomparably sharp light suddenly flared.

"Then what if..."

He paused slightly, enunciating each word slowly.

"...they prove the Dao at the same time?"

The smile on Nether Spring’s face instantly froze.

The lazy playfulness in his blood-red pupils vanished in an instant, replaced by an indescribable gravity.

He was silent for a moment before speaking slowly.

"Proving the Dao at the same time... or, rather, with very little time in between."

He looked up at Qi Yun’s cyan gold eyes, the light in the depths of his own blood-red pupils flickering violently.

"The main body means... two people who cultivate the same teachings prove the Dao and become True Monarchs at the exact same moment?"

Qi Yun nodded slightly.

Nether Spring’s brow furrowed, a look of genuine contemplation appearing on his sinister face for the first time.

"Proving the Dao at the same time... The Fruit Position would have just descended, not yet fully merged with either person, its Status suspended and undecided..."

He slowly raised his head, the light in his blood-red pupils glinting.

"In that case, it’s true. Either one could become the primary True Monarch."

"And the other one..."

He paused, his voice dropping even lower.

"...can only take the secondary position, be constrained by the primary, and serve as a stepping stone for their Dao path."

As his words fell, a deathly silence descended upon the Purple Mansion.

Nether Spring was silent for a long time before he finally spoke, his voice as hoarse as two pieces of rotten wood scraping together.

"But... would anyone really do that?"

He looked up at Qi Yun, his blood-red pupils full of doubt.

"Suppress their Realm, wait bitterly for who knows how many years, just to wait for a stranger cultivating the same path to become a True Monarch, and then ascend at the same time?"

"Let’s not even talk about whether they could wait long enough to find such a person."

"Even if they did, how could they guarantee they’d be able to overpower the other?"

"What if the other person took the primary position? Wouldn’t they be..."

He didn’t continue, because the consequences were too terrifying to contemplate.

A secondary True Monarch, while still a True Monarch, would be nothing more than a vassal to the primary.

Their Dao path would be severed at the very moment they proved the Dao.

Qi Yun listened quietly, the light in the depths of his cyan gold eyes growing ever deeper.

He didn’t answer Nether Spring’s question immediately.

After a long while.

He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but carrying a certainty that seemed to see through everything.

"In this Grand Thousand World, anything is possible."

"You’re saying..." Nether Spring’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Qi Yun didn’t answer.

...

Outside the Purple Mansion, on the battlefield, the sounds of fighting, screaming, and the clash of Magical Treasures were still deafening.

But Qi Yun’s Heart and Spirit had already sunk completely into the profound and mysterious deductions concerning his own Dao path.

After a long while.

He slowly withdrew his gaze. In the depths of his cyan gold eyes, the discerning gravity gradually settled, replaced by an unprecedented clarity.

He stood with his hands clasped behind him and recited in his mind:

’The Profound Yellow Dao Certification Method...’

This method was a broad path carved out over countless millennia by innumerable sages of this world, who had exhausted their lifeblood and trod over corpses to create it.

There were thousands of teachings and numerous paths to proving the Dao, and for every step, there was the experience of predecessors to follow.

As long as one set foot on this road, it was like walking along a predetermined great Dao that had been verified by countless people.

Though there were thorns, obstacles, and myriad tribulations ahead.

But beneath one’s feet, there was always a path.

Moreover, once one succeeded on this path and had the protection of a Fruit Position, they could open a Divine Court.

The Divine Court is the foundational domain of a True Monarch, the external manifestation of his own great Dao.

Within the Divine Court, there are its own Laws, its own order, forming a world unto itself.

In that world, the sun and moon rise and set, plants wither and flourish, and all living things multiply—all according to the True Monarch’s will.

And within that Divine Court, the True Monarch is the sole ruler, a true god.

More importantly.

With a Fruit Position, even if a True Monarch were sound asleep, he could continuously absorb the world’s karmic fortune, the Telekinesis of all living beings, and fragments of the Great Dao to nourish his own Dao path.

Furthermore, with the protection of the Fruit Position, they could divine karma and interfere with fate.

As long as they didn’t interfere with the karma of an existence on the True Monarch Level.

Even if they were to erase a Great Master, the price paid would be merely a bit of lost Cultivation.

How tyrannical was that?

How magnificent?

The strength of this path lay in its slow accumulation for a powerful release, its stable foundation, and the lack of need to personally attend to every matter.

But the weakness of this path...

Qi Yun lowered his gaze slightly, looking at the now-faded bright yellow afterglow in his palm.

...was its over-reliance on the Fruit Position.

The Fruit Position is the foundation of a True Monarch, the place where their True Spirit resides, and the proof of their Dao path’s achievement.

But likewise—

it is also the True Monarch’s greatest flaw.

If someone stole their Fruit Position, if a successor usurped their rightful place.

Then everything would vanish like smoke.

Even after ten thousand years of arduous cultivation, even after overwhelming Heaven and Earth, even after merging the Dao with the self.

In the end, it would all be for naught, merely paving the way for another.

Although that possibility was infinitesimal.

Although it required the perfect alignment of time, place, and people, with not a single element missing.

Although there had never been a precedent in the Profound Yellow Origin Realm!

But as long as the possibility existed, it was a flaw.

Qi Yun fell silent for a moment, then his thoughts turned once more.

’The Primordial Spirit Daoist Method...’

This was a new path he had forcefully carved out between life and death at the Spirit Mountain Sacred Realm, amidst the debates of the five hundred Arhats, under the watchful eyes of numerous True Monarchs, and with the aid of the Dharma treasure from ’Above the True Monarch’.

It does not rely on a Fruit Position, nor does it seek an indestructible quality.

Using the Primordial Spirit as the foundation and the Dao Heart as the proof, one ascends with their Dao and establishes themself as a Monarch.

The beauty of this path lay in completely breaking free from reliance on a Fruit Position.

After Proving the Dao, there is no Fruit Position to constrain you, none who can usurp it, and none who can steal it.

The Dao resides within the self; I am the Dao.

Free and unfettered, without any restraints.

But the weakness of this path...

Qi Yun closed his eyes slightly, sensing the aura of the Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch.

That aura, compared to the Profound Yellow True Monarchs currently dominating the Celestial Vault, was missing something.

It lacked the profound weight of breathing in unison with Heaven and Earth, of flowing together with the river of time.

It lacked the majesty to open a Divine Court and form a world unto itself.

It lacked the tyrannical power to divine karma at will and interfere with fate on a whim.

The Primordial Spirit Daoist Method relies entirely on oneself.

There is no Fruit Position to empower you, no karmic fortune to nourish you, and no feedback from the Telekinesis of all living beings.

Every step of advancement in one’s Cultivation must be earned through one’s own comprehension and accumulation, bit by bit.

Compared to a Profound Yellow True Monarch, how could the speed not be more than ten times slower?

Moreover, without the protection of a Fruit Position, the True Spirit is like a rootless duckweed, easily washed away and worn down by the river of time with the slightest misstep.

Although it is unrestrained, when it comes to the profundity of its methods and the resilience of its existence...

...it is ultimately a notch below the Profound Yellow True Monarchs who rely on a Fruit Position.

...

Nether Spring listened quietly to his main body’s monologue, the light in his blood-red pupils flickering erratically.

He opened his mouth as if to say something.

But the words died on his lips, and he swallowed them back down.

For he also knew that both paths had their strengths and weaknesses.

The Profound Yellow Dao Certification Method is like a prince regent ruling a nation—of high status and great power, a dominant force, yet ultimately not at the point of Perfection.

The Primordial Spirit Daoist Method is like a Loose Cultivator wandering the mountains—unfettered and free, yet ultimately with a shallow foundation.

Neither path was perfect.

Both were lacking.

He gazed at the dark blue figure standing with hands clasped, at the light of frantic deduction and deliberation in the depths of those cyan gold eyes, and a thought suddenly rose in his mind:

’Which path will the main body choose?’

’Profound Yellow? Or Primordial Spirit?’

...

An unknown amount of time passed.

Perhaps it was an instant, perhaps an eternity.

The dark blue figure standing with his hands clasped finally moved.

Qi Yun slowly opened his eyes.

In the depths of his cyan gold eyes, the light of deduction slowly settled, and the gravity of deliberation gradually faded.

In their place was an unprecedented clarity.

A lucidity that came from severing all hesitation and seeing through all mist.

Then, he smiled.

The smile was faint, so faint it was almost imperceptible.

But within that smile was an indescribable rhythm that seemed to resonate with Heaven and Earth.

Nether Spring saw that smile and his expression flickered. He knew his main body had made a decision.

"Main body, you..."

Qi Yun did not turn around.

He simply stood with his hands clasped, gazing at the Celestial Vault above, and then slowly spoke.

His voice was not loud, yet it was like a thunderclap from the nine heavens, booming explosively.

"The two paths..."

"I choose neither."

Nether Spring’s pupils constricted.

He stared intently at the dark blue figure, the light in his blood-red pupils flashing wildly.

"Neither? Then you intend to..."

Qi Yun didn’t answer immediately.

He just slightly raised his right hand.

His five fingers spread open.

Palm facing up.

His long, fair fingers gently closed into a fist in the empty air.

It was just such a simple motion.

But in the instant he made a fist—

The depths of his Purple Mansion trembled violently! BOOM!

The Daluo Heaven, which suppressed the Ten Thousand Laws and manifested all the heavens, seemed to sense his decision and erupted with an unprecedentedly brilliant light!

The light was blazing and vast, as if it would burst through the Purple Mansion, tear open the void, and shine directly upon the highest, most fundamental existence in the unseen world!

And amidst this Infinite Light.

The dark blue figure finally spoke slowly.

His voice was calm, yet it was like the first sound at the dawn of creation, like the first surge of the tide in the great river of time, and it thundered and echoed throughout this world that belonged to him:

"I will take these two paths—"

He paused slightly.

In the depths of his cyan gold eyes, a light of unprecedented brilliance suddenly flared.

Within that light was the profound and ancient weight of the Profound Yellow Dao Certification Method and the free and unfettered nature of the Primordial Spirit Daoist Method.

And there was something more—a supreme, unprecedented meaning that transcended both, encompassing the strengths of each!

"And merge them into one!"

Each word was like a Celestial Constitution descending upon the world.

"To walk a path—"

He raised his head slightly, gazing into the unseen world, at the path that belonged to him alone, a path he was fated to tread himself:

"That is uniquely mine—"

"The Daluo Dao Path!"

...