Li Shanhe Taiji Heavenly Palace. The Taiji True Person’s seven orifices gushed out red smoke, injured at the root by that cross-realm thunderous sound, his face twisted in agony.
The crimson red smoke represented his cultivation level.
From Celestial Immortal to peak, all his blood transformed into azure energy, known as Flying Immortal. When azure energy turned into red clouds, it signified the highest attainment in Daoist cultivation!
His entire vital energy manifesting as scarlet energy and red clouds was a characteristic of the Daoist Heavenly Heart Realm!
However, the Taiji True Person thought that since achieving Heavenly Heart, he had not encountered such a bizarre blow for thousands of years! It was terrifying and appalling, even a Heavenly Heart could not avoid injury!
But after a few breaths, the Taiji True Person’s expression began to change, gradually shifting from anger to joy.
He muttered to himself, his voice growing increasingly impassioned, becoming more and more excited!
“Although I didn't obtain the Heavenly Dao’s karma this time, and wasted the might of the Jade God Disk, I have gained an unexpected harvest! This is a change from Heaven!”
“I never expected that in this world, there are still people who can gather sincere thoughts, this is a feedback obtained from the mutual resonance between Heaven and Man. In the past, when powerful cultivators forged new paths, countless descendants followed with devotion. These pathfinders were called Heavenly Venerables, Patriarchs, Supreme Ones, or even Deities.”
“But after too many paths were forged, the paths in the world gradually reached their end, all techniques became exhausted and lacked novelty. People then traced back to the source, seeking more powerful and ancient techniques to forge their own paths with them.”
“Thus, as the paths of techniques withered, sincere thoughts became difficult to gather. This is an unrequited influence on the surrounding Heaven, Earth, and Man, emanating from the heart. Heavenly Heart Realm experts also seek to gather sincere thoughts for proselytizing; for the Heavenly Heart Realm, this power has great utility.”
“But even if enough sincere thoughts are collected, they cannot completely replace Heaven’s actions. The Heavenly Heart Realm has replaced Heaven’s heart. This should have brought one closer to Heaven, but instead, it receives no response, because who would pray to themselves?”
“And ordinary Immortals cannot forge their own paths, let alone influence the surrounding phenomena of Heaven and Earth. Most Immortals nowadays are merely following the paths of their predecessors, how can they forge new ones?”
“Those who contribute sincere thoughts to others become the sustenance of that person, unless the one being prayed to completely disregards these people and does not control their desires, otherwise…”
Red clouds continuously flowed from the Taiji True Person’s seven orifices. He murmured to himself, immersed in the excitement of discovering a new world.
There was a powerful being in the mortal realm who, on a path already fully explored, had forged something of his own and received a response from Heaven.
“Man and Immortal, Immortal and Heaven, Heaven and Dao! The Heavenly Heart Realm acts by replacing Heaven’s heart with the human heart. But the Heavenly Heart cannot replace all mortal hearts. Like the Buddha’s followers such as the Great Sun Tathagata, they also need to use the might of the Dharma Realm to forcibly control mortal hearts, which is not a superior method.”
“True replacement of Heaven’s heart with the human heart, and after achieving Heavenly Heart, one’s own being becomes like the beings, one’s own heart like the hearts of all beings. This is the true Heavenly Heart!”
The Taiji True Person gradually became frenzied, sighing and lamenting repeatedly. This matter had not happened to him, but to a cultivator in the mortal world. The moment he saw the other person through the Taiji Diagram, he recognized him.
One of the two Immortals of the Hidden Immortal Sect remaining in the mortal world, who had previously repelled the Great Sun Tathagata, now held considerable renown in Li Shanhe, as this person named Ji Xiang had offended far too many factions.
Of course, there are no absolute enemies or friends. Every cultivator fights for their life against Heaven. Before becoming an Immortal, they followed Heaven’s will. After becoming an Immortal, they became defiant of Heaven. Heaven needs Immortals to execute its will, but it does not need Heavenly Heart or Primordial Chaos experts who are more powerful than Immortals.
The Heavenly Heart Realm itself encroaches upon Heaven’s domain, capable of altering karma and manipulating mortal hearts with a single thought. With a thorough understanding of Heavenly secrets, it has already reached a height comparable to Heaven.
“Lao Tzu said, Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs. Are Heaven and Earth like a bellows?”
Heaven and Earth nourish all things, yet they do not claim to be benevolent. They do not ask for worship in the form of straw dogs made by all things. Therefore, Heaven and Earth do not speak of benevolence, nor do they contend for benevolence. They nourish all things, seeking no repayment.
The Heavenly Heart Realm occupies this domain, replacing the original Heavenly Heart with the human heart, calling itself the Heavenly Heart Realm. Thus, all things in the world are no longer straw dogs, and the Heavenly Heart will never treat all things equally.
This act breaks the cycle of Heaven and Earth. Zhuangzi said that if the laws of the world are disturbed and the natural order of all things is broken, Heaven will surely not allow you to succeed.
“This is probably why the Heavenly Heart cannot continue to cultivate upwards and attain ‘Dao’. Li Shanhe has techniques but no Dao, while Biao Shanhe has Dao but no techniques. They echo each other. I wonder if even if cultivators from Li Shanhe return to the mortal world, they will be able to attain ‘Dao’. Just like Yin and Yang, they have commonalities, but also differences.”
“There are peerless experts who reverse their cultivation state, pushing their Heavenly Heart’s Yin and Yang into Chaos, containing it within themselves to be called Primordial Chaos. Yet, it is ultimately a theft of Heaven, never truly reaching that level.”
“Bei Han is useless now. The Golden Cicada has disappeared, and the dynasty’s fate has been seized by others. I didn’t expect Dong Hua to still be alive. It’s a pity that the Great Lord Qing Tong is no longer in Li Shanhe. Even if a celestial maiden seizes the dynasty’s fate and becomes a National Immortal, within ten years, she cannot escape the fate of having her powers abolished and being suppressed or killed. This fate is not hers to take.”
In the Taiji True Person’s eyes, the expression had shifted from clarity to madness, and even to obsession.
“Such a person can be my teacher. But as soon as I learn his path, I will kill him immediately. He cannot block my future. I must go to the mortal world to become his disciple, and no matter what, I must thoroughly comprehend this newly born path of lightning techniques from him.”
Lightning techniques are the most common and powerful spells among Daoist cultivators. Since the dawn of Dao, even dating back to the ancient era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, there are legends of the Yellow Emperor using heavenly lightning to kill enemies. When lightning techniques are unleashed, with thunder and lightning, heavenly drums and heavenly axes, they descend in succession, and no enemy can withstand them.
Daoist cultivators in the world are often fond of lightning techniques. Various lightning books, lightning scriptures, lightning talismans, and even fire techniques, earth fire techniques, and other derivative spells have been developed and evolved with the changing times. Not to mention the lightning techniques of Longhu Mountain, Wudang Mountain, and the Shenxiao Sect.
Therefore, the methods related to lightning have long been exhausted.
“Lightning is the mouth of all beings.”
At this moment, the Taiji True Person was excited by the discovery of this new path. He did not care about being injured. Instead, he sent a sincere wish to Biao Shanhe. At least in this instant, he was truly filled with immense respect for the pioneer of this new path.
For an Immortal to forge a new path is like the reappearance of ancient times, a brilliant era where all techniques roared throughout Heaven and Earth.
He was not afraid of becoming the other’s sustenance, because he was a Heavenly Heart Realm expert, while the other, no matter how strong, was merely an Immortal.
The Heavenly Heart Realm can invert karma. Once he has learned all his lightning techniques, then, under the change of karma, it will not be that he learned new lightning techniques because of him, but that the new lightning techniques appeared because he learned them. And he would then become a plagiarist.