Primordial Era: The Great Celestial Venerable on the Road to Mythology

Chapter 55 Enlightenment in the Netherworld, Clear Vision of the Path

In the netherworld, the six realms of reincarnation slowly rotate, and the souls of the dead, like a woven tapestry, silently sink into the depths of reincarnation.

Haotian sat cross-legged beside the Wheel of Reincarnation, meditating for countless days. On this day, he suddenly opened his eyes, a divine light flashing within them, like a reflection of a galaxy, deep and boundless.

He had fully comprehended the mysteries of the six realms of reincarnation.

This gain was of extraordinary significance to him. Not only did it complete the cycle of reincarnation within his body, but more importantly, it allowed him to see his future path and truly understand the essential differences between primordial ancestral energy, magical power, and the Great Dao.

His current body is formed from the primordial primordial energy. This energy is the "one" of all things, neither born nor dying, neither increasing nor decreasing. It contains all kinds of changes, yet it has never changed—because it gave birth to all things, rather than transforming into them.

The difference is extremely subtle.

The fact that it gave rise to all things means that the ancestral energy is the source and the foundation. Rather than transforming into all things, it means that the ancestral energy has never disappeared or diminished.

Just as spring water gushes forth from a spring, flowing thousands of miles, eventually reaching the sea, evaporating, forming clouds, and falling as rain, the cycle repeats itself endlessly, while the spring continues to gush forth, neither increasing nor decreasing.

This is why Haotian will never run out of power. Even when the Dharma-ending Age arrives and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is depleted, he will still maintain his supreme power, remaining unmoved and unaffected by anything.

Because the ancestral energy never needs to be replenished from the outside world—it is the largest supply station in itself.

This Qi is supremely divine and wondrous, endlessly generating life. The heavens can say they give birth to all things, but all things cannot return to the primordial Qi. This is an essential irreversibility, the fundamental difference between source and flow.

This means that no matter which world Haotian enters, his strength and realm will not diminish due to the different world rules.

No matter how many worlds "stack boxes" to increase combat power or expand their worldview, Haotian's strength will always be great. He will always be the Heavenly Emperor of his world and will always hold the power of the Heavenly Emperor.

He has reached the pinnacle in the realm of matter and energy, and from now on he no longer worries about matter and energy.

More importantly, he possessed an infinite Dao foundation. This Dao foundation was not only infinite, but also advanced—it had already ascended to the highest dimension, and was no longer at the same level as the Dao foundation of ordinary cultivators.

For ordinary cultivators, refining essence into qi is to push their foundation to its limit, forging the cornerstone of the supreme Dao, shifting from seeking externally to seeking internally, and eliminating the influence of the world on the cultivator.

Haotian, however, skipped this step directly, possessing an unparalleled Dao Body from birth—that is the foundation of the Great Dao—and embarked directly on the path of the Dao.

So, what exactly is the second realm—Refining Qi into Spirit?

Haotian originally thought that "god" was the primordial spirit, and "refining qi into spirit" was the cultivation of the Great Dao. Therefore, he had been studying the Great Dao laws of various worlds and had made considerable progress: he analyzed the Great Dao laws contained in innate spiritual treasures, comprehended the operation of the thirty-three heavens of the primordial world and the ancient stars, replicated the Great Dao of the perfect world, and finally comprehended the reincarnation law of the Netherworld.

Each achievement made his inner world more complete.

However, after he replicated these laws one by one and used the primordial primordial energy to create the corresponding worlds within his body, he discovered a problem—

The primordial starry sky, the thirty-three heavens, and the underworld could still coexist. But the Great Dao of the perfect world was incompatible with them in any way.

Forcibly stacking them together is like placing two books on a table; they appear to be joined, but in reality, there's no connection. Even if they share the same principles, they cannot be integrated.

Haotian was very puzzled, but after careful investigation, he finally found the root cause—

Dimension.

The energy derived from the primordial primordial energy will have different dimensions depending on the world. Although they share the same origin, they are irreversible. Therefore, even if the things derived from them appear similar, they are not the same thing in essence.

As for why Lu Ya and the others were able to unleash their full power when they went to the Perfect World last time, it was because Haotian himself was there and they were entrusted with the authority of the Heavenly Court.

When Haotian was condensing the Primordial Ancestral Qi body, the Heavenly Emperor's authority had already merged into the Ancestral Qi, and he was elevated to a higher dimension.

The reason why power holders can exert their strength is because the power of the Haotian authority, like the ancestral Qi, breaks through dimensional limitations, and their authority is bestowed by the Haotian authority, which is why they can do so.

Without this authority, no matter how powerful they are, they cannot interfere with each other across different dimensions—you can see the other, but you cannot harm them; the other can see you, but they cannot harm you either. Like the people in a painting and those outside the painting, they are worlds apart, never to meet.

So, how do we solve this problem?

The answer is simple—dimensional ascension.

Elevating the primordial spirit to the same dimension as the primordial ancestral qi, enabling it to interfere with any dimension, is sufficient.

The Great Dao and Primordial Spirit that we cultivate now are real in the primordial world, capable of influencing all things. But if we go to another world, these become illusions, like the moon in the water or a flower in a mirror—visible but untouchable.

He named this primordial spirit, which had not yet ascended to a higher dimension, "Yin Shen" (陰神).

The concept of Yin deficiency and Yang excess refers to Yin being deficient and insubstantial, unable to interfere with other dimensions; while Yang is substantial and tangible, capable of influencing all realms.

Although his primordial spirit merged with the ancestral energy, he was still able to control the ancestral energy and did not successfully ascend to a higher dimension.

The true essence of refining Qi into spirit lies in transforming the Yin spirit into the Yang spirit. The Yang spirit can influence all dimensions and even freely switch between the real and the illusory, traveling to places inaccessible to the physical body—the Great Void, the Great Yi, the Great Beginning, the Great Origin, the Great Simplicity, the Great Ultimate…

Those mysterious and indescribable dimensions can only be perceived by the physical body, but cannot be reached; only when the spirit transcends the illusory and enters the real can one touch these mysteries.

Of course, that's a realm after refining the spirit, which is still a bit early for Haotian at present.

What he needs to do now is to refine Qi into spirit—to transform the Yin spirit into the Yang spirit.

How can a yin spirit be transformed into a yang spirit? In fact, the answer is already given in the literal meaning of the words.

Let's look at the character "炁".

The top part, "无" (wú), represents illusion and formlessness. The four dots below are not water radicals, but fire radicals—just like in characters such as "烈" (liè), "焦" (jiāo), and "热" (rè), the four dots below are variations of fire.

The Daoist term "Qi" precisely elucidates the true essence of refining the spirit:

Refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit—refining ancestral qi, using the fire of ancestral qi to refine the primordial spirit, removing the illusion of yin essence and transforming it into the reality of yang essence.

This is the process of refining Qi into spirit.

As for comprehending the great principles of various worlds, it is not entirely useless, but rather a misguided approach that puts the cart before the horse.

When the primordial spirit transforms into the yang spirit, it can look down upon lower dimensions from a higher-dimensional perspective, and comprehend the Great Dao in an incredibly rapid manner. It can even complete comprehension and absorption in an instant by relying on the yang spirit's ability to switch between reality and illusion.

Unlike now, where people painstakingly try to comprehend the great principles of different worlds but achieve little—because the great principles of different worlds are fundamentally incompatible, and even if the principles and theories are the same, they cannot be integrated into one.

Unless two worlds collide, producing a special effect that opens a connection between dimensions, and the Heavenly Dao seeks to merge with the other to strengthen itself, they will never exist in the same dimension.

This is the defense that allows all the worlds in the myriad realms to exist safely. Otherwise, any powerful being could easily devour or destroy a low-level world.

As for methods like Heavenly Dao suppression, those methods have absolutely no effect on strong individuals, especially those who transcend the limitations of the world.

After understanding all this, Haotian gave a bitter smile.

The path he walked had no predecessors' footprints, no ready-made methods; everything had to be forged step by step by himself. Taking the wrong path was perfectly normal.

Fortunately, he still possessed the Primordial Ancestral Qi and had endless time.

"Though the road is long, we will reach our destination if we keep walking," Haotian said softly, his gaze resolute.