owlsbooks Chapter 67 Second-Rank Flawless Dao Platform
Chapter 67 Second-Rank Flawless Dao Platform
Shen Qing had once heard his master say that the ancient people observed the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth and comprehended the Great Dao. At this moment, Shen Qing felt that his understanding was exactly the same as that in the legend.
It was as if the Great Way itself was preaching to him personally.
Shen Qing gradually forgot that he was still lying in the coffin, forgot that he was covered with three feet of frozen soil, and forgot about Huang Shi's existence.
His mind was completely immersed in the sound, like a dried-up riverbed suddenly flooded by a torrent, frantically absorbing the sweet rain that had fallen from the sky.
Daoyin was gradually explaining to him the ultimate truth of this world.
He "saw" an ancient scene: the beginning of time, a state of chaos, before the separation of Yin and Yang, and the mixing of the five elements.
Then, an unparalleled will awakened in the chaos. The pure energy rose to become the sky, and the turbid energy sank to become the earth. At the moment the heaven and earth separated, the primordial energy of the five elements burst forth.
The five fundamental forces of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth each condense and take shape. Some become mountains, some flow into rivers, some become wind, clouds, thunder, and lightning, some are buried deep underground as spiritual veins, and some are integrated into all things in the world, becoming the most primal life force of living beings.
This was the original form of heaven and earth, where the five elements were almost materialized, filling every corner of heaven and earth.
Back then, there was no need to be picky about aptitude when it came to cultivation. Birds, beasts, flowers, trees, and plants could all resonate with any of the five elements and naturally embark on the path of cultivation.
Those who are born with the ability to sense all five elements simultaneously are the most outstanding cultivation prodigies of ancient times.
The so-called completeness of the five elements does not mean impurity, but rather perfection.
The five elements interact and counteract each other in an endless cycle, allowing for rapid progress in cultivation, far surpassing that of a single spiritual root.
But as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth gradually dwindled, everything changed.
When the spiritual energy can no longer support a cultivator of the Five Elements absorbing the five kinds of primordial energy at the same time, the differentiation of aptitude begins.
A cultivator with a single spiritual root specializes in one path, which requires less effort, makes breakthroughs easier, and gradually leads to superior aptitude.
Having two spiritual roots is the next best thing, having three spiritual roots is barely enough to cultivate, and having four or five spiritual roots becomes increasingly difficult as you progress. What was once considered a superior talent has become a useless spiritual root in the eyes of the world.
It's not that the way of Heaven has changed, but that the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth has changed.
The Great Dao remains the same, but the heavens and earth that bear it can no longer support this kind of cultivation.
This is the truth behind the theory of spiritual roots: it is never the heavens and earth that select cultivators, but rather the cultivators who are forced to adapt to the heavens and earth.
Since ancient times, no one in the world has attained enlightenment with perfect mastery of the five elements. It's not that they didn't work hard enough, but that this world can no longer support a true cultivator with all five elements.
Shen Qing himself possessed a mixed spiritual root of four elements, which was considered a low-grade talent in ancient times. However, under the guidance of Dao Yin, he clearly "saw" his true nature for the first time.
The fire elemental energy surged along the three Yang meridians of the hand, transforming into earth elemental energy that sank into the dantian.
Earth-elemental spiritual energy originates from the dantian, descends along the three Yin meridians of the foot, and converges with the earth's energy at the Yongquan acupoint, drawing a faint trace of metal-elemental energy from the depths of the earth.
The metal element energy ascended along the Du meridian, slowly transforming into the water element spiritual energy that he lacked most. Nourished by the earth and metal elements, the water element spiritual energy gradually took shape.
The water element's spiritual energy descends along the Ren meridian, nourishing the wood element, while the wood element's spiritual energy ascends along the liver meridian, igniting the fire element.
Back and forth, the originally incomplete Five Elements were actually connected into a complete and smooth closed loop, and the missing Water element in the Dantian was thus replenished.
The moment the five elements were fully connected, Shen Qing's dantian seemed to be relit.
It is not the raging flames of burning spiritual liquid, but a delicate balance of the five elements, each in its proper place, mutually generating and restraining each other.
Fire is not fierce, earth is not stagnant, wood is not weak, metal is not lacking, and water is not dry. The five elements circulate continuously in a closed loop, and each flow is more harmonious.
The original rudimentary Dao foundation within the dantian burst forth with dazzling light the moment the Five Elements were perfected.
The spiritual liquid was scorched and refined by the Five Elements Dao Fire, and the rudimentary Dao Foundation was also rapidly condensing.
Swordsmanship is his bone, the Way of Education is his vein, and the Way of the Five Elements is his blood. These three great principles intertwine and entwine within his dantian, together forging the foundation of his great path.
After an unknown amount of time, the last trace of spiritual liquid in the dantian was completely refined and absorbed by the Five Elements Dao Fire. The nascent Dao Foundation finally stopped rotating, and an ancient Dao Platform slowly emerged from the deepest part of the dantian.
The platform is wide at the bottom and pointed at the top, with twelve layers of lotus petals, perfectly formed by nature without a single flaw.
Each lotus petal radiates a different kind of light: the sharpness of swordsmanship, the gentleness of moral education, and the harmony of the Five Elements. These three lights intertwine and blend, ultimately revealing a perfectly natural appearance.
This is the perfect foundation.
The Twelve-Rank Flawless Dao Platform is a legendary foundation-building phenomenon that can only be formed by innate deities born and nurtured by nature at the beginning of time.
Even among the ancient cultivation prodigies, the ability to condense a ninth-grade Dao Platform was already an unparalleled talent, and the twelve-grade perfect form was something that very few people had ever achieved in ancient times.
Shen Qing couldn't explain why he had reached this point. Perhaps it was the qualitative change brought about by the perfection of the Five Elements, which enabled him to bear deeper principles of the Great Dao. Or perhaps it was the Dao sound of heaven and earth that opened the gate to the Great Dao that no cultivator had been able to touch since ancient times.
Just then, Shen Qing felt a sharp pain in his upper dantian, Niwan Palace, and it seemed as if an invisible membrane was pierced at his brow. His newly formed consciousness, like a moth breaking free of its cocoon, unfolded for the first time.
Shen Qing closed his eyes, yet he could "see" the hibernating insects wriggling in the frozen soil above his head, he could "see" the withered leaves turning as they were blown down by the wind in the forest, and he could "see" the hot breath exhaled by the craftsmen quarrying stones in the mountains.
Within a radius of dozens of miles, everything in the universe was clearly visible in his divine perception.
This is the divine sense power that only comes after one has established their foundation.
Shen Qing thought the Foundation Establishment stage was over, but he found that it wasn't.
Once the foundation of the Dao was established, the remaining Dao fire slowly seeped into the bones, fascia, and flesh along the meridians.
The first thing to change was the meridians. The meridians, which were originally quite wide, were reforged by the Dao Fire, becoming more resilient. The speed of spiritual energy circulation was three times faster than that of the Qi Refining stage.
Next is the dantian. After perfect foundation building, the dantian space has expanded several times, empty and vast, like a huge pool of water, waiting to be filled with subsequent spiritual energy.
Then, the entire skeleton, tempered by the Dao Fire, became increasingly dense and hard, with a faint golden light emanating from the periosteum.
The skin, muscles, and fascia are also completely reshaped under the nourishment of the Daoist fire.
Shen Qing's originally white hair slowly turned black from the roots, the ink color spreading little by little, dispelling the gray and white.
The wrinkles on the corners of the eyes, forehead, and back of the hands were gradually smoothed out by the power of foundation building as the eyes were closed and the breath was regulated.
The marks left by sixty years of hardship were erased in this great transformation, and his skin returned to the firm appearance of a middle-aged cultivator.
Shen Qing seemed to have been transported back in time, from his frail, sixty-something-year-old self to his peak thirty-year-old self.
The twelve-grade flawless Dao platform within his dantian slowly rotated, each rotation causing a surge of spiritual energy throughout his body.
Shen Qing could feel that his lifespan was being extended significantly.
An ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator might only gain 120 years of lifespan, but Shen Qing could vaguely sense that his vitality far surpassed that of an ordinary person by two cycles of sixty years.
Shen Qing could not estimate this lifespan, after all, there had never been a Foundation Establishment cultivator with a 12th-grade Dao Platform since ancient times.
Shen Qing slowly opened his eyes. The coffin was still pitch black, but with his divine sense, he could feel that the first rays of dawn had pierced through the morning mist on the eastern mountain ridge.
Shen Qing smiled, her eyes stinging slightly, and suddenly remembered a line of poetry she had read in her past life:
The mountains and rivers seemed to block the way, but then a village appeared amidst the willows and flowers.
The sky above him didn't seem so far away anymore.