Immediately, Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged, sitting six feet away opposite the red-clothed crone, with his hands placed on his knees, resembling a student in search of knowledge, looking very serious and earnest.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was so courteous and polite, moreover, his aura was also very ethereal and dusty, he nodded and said, “Your cultivation, having reached the eighth change of the Fish Dragon, I believe that you will soon begin to comprehend the Sacred Dao. Then, what exactly is the essence of the Holy Dao?”
“Some people say that the Holy Way is to constantly seek knowledge, constantly learn, and constantly explore, making one’s knowledge more profound, and ultimately, to penetrate everything in the world, making the spiritual qi reach the realm of transcendence. For example, spiritual qi cultivators and cultivators of the Confucian Way.”
“There are also those who say that the Sacred Way is an underworld rule. For example, the fact that the sun shines above the leaves of a tree and leaves a shadow on the ground is a rule; the fact that water flows from a high place to a low place is also a rule.”
“Humans realised the first rule, and so, too, they knew that by hiding in the shade of a tree, they could take advantage of the coolness. Human beings have learnt the second rule, and so, too, they know that by flowing downstream, they can travel a thousand miles in a day.”
“Only, these are the most basic rules in nature, and as long as they are intelligent beings, they can easily perceive and comprehend them. Thus, enhancing the ability to adapt to the environment and do something incredible.”
“The rules of the Sacred Dao, however, are even more subtle, and ordinary people simply cannot perceive its existence. Only by constantly learning and comprehending it can a cultivator comprehend it and become a Half-Saint or Saint.”
“The Sword Dao is a type of Sacred Dao, representing the sharpest side of the Sacred Dao.”
“Of course, the Natural Dao, the Holy Dao, the Sword Dao, and even the mysterious and unpredictable Way of Time and Way of Space are actually all Heavenly Dao.”
……
…………
The red-robed crone’s sermon, which lasted for nine days and nine nights, not only contained the Dao of the Sword and the Dao of Nature, but also, gave Zhang Ruochen some explanations about space and time.
With her cultivation and age, her own knowledge, of course, was quite profound. The things that were explained were all-encompassing, ranging from astronomy and geography to the masses.
The red-robed crone was like the embodiment of heaven and earth, and could be described as omniscient.
Even though, she was not a Time and Space Transmitter, her understanding of space and time far exceeded that of Zhang Ruochen, making Zhang Ruochen out of reach.
Some of the things she explained were completely opening a brand new door for Zhang Ruochen, as if she was enlightened, causing Zhang Ruochen’s heart to become clearer and his view of everything to gradually become clearer.
Zhang Ruochen had absorbed Qi Hong’s knowledge of the Sword Dao and Sacred Dao, and originally, there were still some muddle-headedness, and he was unable to comprehend a lot of things until this moment, when he actually had a feeling that he was going to be able to integrate them.
“Wow!”
A pillar of light rushed out above Zhang Ruochen’s head.
In the next moment, his martial soul coalesced within the pillar of light, taking on a human form that looked exactly like Zhang Ruochen.
At the same time, the first Saint Dao Rule, which continued to coalesce, eventually took form as if it was an extremely thin ray of light, fusing with the martial soul.
Immediately after that, the second Holy Dao Rule, the third Holy Dao Rule ……, coalesced out one after another, as if it were a spider silk.
It was unknown how much time had passed before Zhang Ruochen’s martial soul, which had stabilised, unexpectedly condensed a total of thirteen Saint Dao Rules.
The red-robed crone nodded and said, “To be able to coalesce thirteen Saint Dao Rules at a mere cultivation level of the Fish Dragon Eighth Transformation is already quite good.”
With the realm of the red-robed crone, to be able to make her say the word “not bad” was already an extremely high appraisal.
One must know that a Fish Dragon Ninth Transformation cultivator who was able to condense twelve Saint Dao Rules could already go on to impact the Half Saint realm.
Only, the true pride of heaven, even if condensed twelve holy dao rules, will not easily break through, but to continue to enlightenment, continue to accumulate, and strive to condense more holy dao rules.
Why do this?
Twelve holy rules, and the cultivator’s holy soul has been fused into one, that is, the cultivator’s twelve holy road. Even if, a Half-Saint comprehended the thirteenth Saint Dao Rule, it could not be integrated into the Saint Soul.
This was because, once one broke through to the Half-Saint realm, the cultivator’s Holy Soul would be completely formed and become solid, and would not be able to continue integrating the Holy Dao Rules. At that time, the Holy Dao Rules that were comprehended could only become an aid to oneself.
A half-saint could only continue to perfect the twelve Saint Dao rules, or, choose one of the Saint Dao rules as his main cultivation and cultivate it to the extreme before he could become a Saint.
Only, in the Saint Soul, the more Saint Dao Rules that were fused together, the power of the Saint Soul would definitely be stronger and more comprehensive, with endless benefits for future cultivation.
The red-robed crone continued, “Between heaven and earth, there are nine ‘Eternal Ancient Ways’, seventy-two ‘Supreme Holy Ways’, three thousand ‘Great Ways’, and one hundred thousandkinds of ‘minor paths’.”
“In the Fish Dragon Realm, the stronger the Saint Dao rules that are integrated into the Saint Soul, and the more Saint Dao rules that are integrated, the higher one’s future achievements will definitely be.”
“Right now, the thirteen Saint Dao rules you’ve condensed are all just minor paths. If you were to break through to the Half-Saint realm right now, then this seedling of yours, which is still quite good, would be considered completely wasted.”
Obviously, the red-robed crone was reminding Zhang Ruochen so that he would not be too utilitarian and destroy himself.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Dare I ask granny, how can I cultivate the Great Dao, the Supreme Holy Dao, and the Dao of Eternal Ancient?”
The Red Desire Crone appeared extremely patient as she said, “Small paths are easy to achieve, but great paths are difficult to cultivate. The Supreme Sacred Dao becomes a great Dao, and the world is unrivalled.”
“Any of the three thousand great dao, is quite subtle, and only a genius with extremely high enlightenment would have the chance to cultivate a great dao’s holy dao rule in the Fish Dragon Realm.”
“As for the seventy-two supreme holy paths, they are even more remarkable, being able to comprehend one of them is enough to be able to use it for the entirety of one’s life.”
“For example, the Way of the Sword is one of the seventy-two supreme holy ways.”
“However, cultivators of the Fish Dragon Realm only have the opportunity to condense the rules of the Sword Dao if they have cultivated the Sword One to the tenth level of perfection.”
Zhang Ruochen came to a realisation and said, “No wonder most of the cultivators who cultivated Sword One to the tenth layer of great perfection in the Fish Dragon Realm were able to become Sword Saints later on, it turns out that it was because, they had integrated the Sword Dao Rules into their Martial Souls. Just this alone is not comparable to other sword cultivators.”
The Sword Dao, was one of the seventy-two supreme holy paths, and those who were able to incorporate it into their martial souls were naturally quite remarkable, and their future achievements were bound to be quite astonishing.
The red-robed crone said, “In the Fish Dragon Realm, comprehending the rules of the Sword Dao and integrating it into the martial soul is merely opening a door. In the future, one must also continue to cultivate persistently, perfect the rules, and add the aid of some minor and major paths to have a chance to become a Sword Saint. For example, the Way of Sharpness, the Way of Dexterity, and the Way of Speed. Any of these minor paths should not be underestimated.”
“The Way of Sharpness, although it is only a minor way, however, as long as one is able to cultivate to an extremely high level, one may not necessarily not have a chance to become a Sword Saint. Only, for a cultivator to use the Sharpness Way as a foundation to strike the Sword Saint realm, even if they have a deeper understanding of the Sword Dao at the time of being a Half-Saint, it will definitely be quite difficult.”
“In the end, any great Dao requires the aid of a lesser Dao. Therefore, the more Sacred Dao rules a cultivator has comprehended at the Fish Dragon Realm, the more benefits they will have in the future.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded, finally having a certain understanding of the minor paths, great paths, and Supreme Holy Dao, so he asked again, “Then time and space, do they also belong to the Supreme Holy Dao?”
The red-robed crone shook her head and said, “Time and space, belong to two of the nine ‘Eternal Ancient Ways’. On top of that, there are seven other Everlasting Ways, which are: truth, morality, origin, light, darkness, fate, and nothingness.”
“Time and space, constructing the world in which we exist.”
“Truth and morality, deriving thousands of knowledge, scattered between heaven and earth.”
“Light and darkness, derived into life and death, good and evil.”
“Of course, the most powerful of the nine ‘Everlasting Ways’ are ‘Fate’ and ‘Void’. Fate can determine everything, and nothingness can destroy everything.”
The words of the red-robed crone were very esoteric and had completely departed from the Martial Dao, even surpassing the Holy Dao, and even with Zhang Ruochen’s current realm, he only seemed to understand.
The red-robed crone seemed to have seen the doubts in Zhang Ruochen’s mind and said, “In fact, with your current realm, it is only normal that you cannot understand. The reason why the old body told you about the Nine Constant Ancient Ways is simply because, with the Temporal and Spatial Divine Martial Seal, you have a good chance of cultivating the rules of time and space.”
“If, indeed, you are able to succeed, in the future, there is a chance that you will become the third Space-Time Controller ever in the Kunlun Realm. Only, for you, this path will be very difficult.”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression was solemn and his gaze was firm as he said, “I will definitely endeavour to pursue the Everlasting Ancient Path with all my might, even if it is tough.”
The red-robed crone, however, shook her head and said, “Since ancient times, in the Fish Dragon Realm, there have been only a handful of people who have been able to comprehend the Nine Eternal Ancient Paths, and each one of them is a wizard of the heavens and the earth.”
“Old me is not asking you to necessarily try to comprehend the two Everlasting Ancient Ways of Time and Space, but, rather, I hope that you will learn to give up when you are unable to do so. By cultivating the Way of the Sword to the extreme, you can still become a figure of the heavens and the earth.”
“Time and space can instead become two auxiliary ways, and it’s not too late to wait until you’re at the Saint realm to slowly enlighten yourself. In this way, your Sword Dao, can be even more powerful.”
Obviously, the red-robed crone did not think that Zhang Ruochen would be able to comprehend the rules of time and space at the Fish Dragon Realm.
That was why she was worried that Zhang Ruochen would get into a dead end, thus being trapped in the Fish Dragon Realm and never being able to reach the Half-Saint realm.
Although, Zhang Ruochen had his own thoughts in his mind, he didn’t refute them and accepted the red-robed crone’s advice with an open mind, saying, “I have remembered the words of Granny, and if in the future, I really can’t comprehend the rules of time and space, I will definitely not deliberately force myself to do so.”
