Daoist Master of Qing Xuan

Shen Lian finished his speech and allowed it to sink in among the audience. Shortly after, his eyelid twitched; he turned to Jing Qing Tongzi and said, “Tong Er, please head to the gates to usher someone in.”

Jing Qing tilted his head upwards and responded, “Headmaster, may I know how does this person look like?”

Shen Lian smiled and pointed towards the sky, a puddle of clear water was formed and a person’s figure could be seen.

The audience could see the scenery of the mountain gate and were secretly impressed that their Headmaster could display such powers effortlessly without the help of any medium. Even if he had yet to obtain immortality, he was already almost there.

People presumed that Shen Lian had yet to obtain immortality because breaking away from Xuwang and cultivating as a Primordial Spirit to become an immortal Zhenren would have triggered enormous dynamics that would not be able to hide from people.

They had known that Shen Lian did not leave the mountain for the past year and instead cultivated in a forbidden area somewhere within the school, as the school had yet to experience the phenomenon they would go through when someone achieved immortal Zhenren.

These thoughts flashed passed the fellow cultivators’ mind very briefly as it was nothing worth mentioning. They were all focus on the puddle of clear water and could see a middle-aged man in ragged clothes covered with dust on Wenxin Road.

Even if they could not hear any sound, they could tell that this person was a typical mortal.

The cultivator’s definition of mortals were people who showed no signs of Qiaodong and whose mana were not condensed. However, this middle-aged man’s eyebrows were heavy as if he has been through the vicissitudes of life.

His eyes were stripped off of all superficialities and returned to innocence, and that would make a good Dao cultivation seed.

This also showed that Shen Lian’s skills were so refined that the audiences could actually have such a close look at the person.

Jing Qing Tongzi noted of Shen Lian’s order and left the hall.

Shen Lian continued his lecture after commanding Jing Qing.

After he started to understand the five elements of Dao, he had been gradually applying it into his life. He felt that Dao was so vast and anything in the universe could be considered as part of the five elements.

He took on a different path as Ziling as he chose not to be enlightened by the changes of Yin and Yang. Instead, he wanted to focus on the generation and restriction of the five elements.

However, the cultivation of the five elements of Dao was not simple. He could produce the five elements of essenced Qi and transform it into several supernatural powers but the Qi of Dan in him would also turn into the five elements. Once activated, it would feel as heavy as a mountain and it was also very difficult to control.

Even if he was only a heartbeat away from breaking through Xuwang, it was still extremely challenging for him to activate the core of his Qi of Dan.

He could still convert his Qi of Dan to the five elements of essenced Qi and the eight Qi of Taixu, and use all kinds of spells to be enlightened of the endless ingenious Dao. This was because the five elements of Dao were unpredictably deep and he was a lot more powerful now. If he had to fight Yanxu again, it may not be a sure win but he definitely would not be gutted.

It was just a matter of time for him to break through Xuwang, but he still needed a turning point.

Shen Lian decided to not force it and let it be.

He had browsed through numerous books at the Taiwei Pavilion and became very wise. Whenever he delivers his lecture, he would emphasize on Qing Xuan’s Dao techniques. Qing Xuan had one hundred and eight techniques and all of them were Dao martial exercises that focused on the fundamentals of seeking Dao and immortality, not strength and power.

One generation of people created the methods, while the next generation refined the methods to make it more current and complete.

Therefore, the longer the inheritance of a Dao formula, the more disciples would cultivate it and naturally, it would become more abstruse.

Although Qing Xuan’s hundred and eight methods were classified into Tiangang Thirty-six Techniques and Disha Seventy-two Techniques, they were constantly changing and people could not really tell which belonged to which category.

For instance, the Shapeless Sword Incantation that Chen Jianmei cultivated would be considered as one of the Disha Seventy-two Technique. But he was such a rare prodigy that even Grandmaster Yuanqing’s sword will could only be a reference. If he indeed became an immortal Zhenren in the future, the Shapeless Sword Incantation would definitely eliminate a weaker technique to be a part of the Tiangang Thirty-six Techniques.

Although there were distinct differences between the Tiangang Techniques and Disha Techniques in terms of power and Dao enlightenment, Dao formula was not all about strength and might. For instance, the Taixu Strategy was famed as one of the universe’s top method but it was extremely difficult to cultivate it. It required the perfect timing and opportunity to succeed and most people were not suitable to cultivate it.

Moreover, as the Dao formula got more refined, the difficulty of cultivating it would also increase. Every cultivator possessed different experiences, qualities, and perception. The experience of a senior may be useful during the early stages of cultivation but it could also form a perception barrier that would hinder the cultivator’s progress in Huandan.

This did not mean that a senior apprentices’ experiences were not relevant. As long as there were choices available, it would be a challenge of Dao.

In other sects or schools, a disciple could only depend on himself to overcome this challenge. After all, most senior apprentices of celestial schools did not fully understand their own cultivations. Their experience may not be able to match the written records of the previous generations.

Although Shen Lian was not able to fully understand all hundred and eight methods of Qing Xuan, he had his very own approach when lecturing about Dao.

Everything in the universe could never escape from the five elements. Thus, when he lectured about Dao formulas and Dao methods, he would classify them according to the five elements. The five elements were the classification of the universe and not just simply the elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Shen Lian was able to relate every single Dao method and Dao formula to the five elements of Dao. He did not have to go into details and yet the Doyens and disciples were more than delighted to listen to him. He used his very own approach to cultivation to create a new form of understanding towards Dao.

But of course, things would take time and experience as Shen Lian could not enlighten everyone by just delivering a lecture or two.

On top of that, a turning point or juncture would be necessary in order to improve and advance.

There were no shortcuts to cultivations. If there was once, it would be a steep and arduous one.

As his lecture was about to reach the climax, the flying serpent and another person arrived in the clouds. It was the middle-aged man outside the mountain, who happened to be Qi Sanguang, the temple attendant of the Goddess of Grains Temple. He was descendent of Qi Sanwen, and his relations to Qing Xuan was actually quite deep.

Qi Sanguang followed Jing Qing to the Taiyi Peak and all he saw was scattered haze and natural lights instead of a golden palace and jade ladders.

He recognized Shen Lian who was sitting on a floating green lotus while preaching on resonance. Although he was not able to make sense of a single world, Qi Sanguang was respectful. He traveled the mountains and seas to come to Qing Xuan to for immortality.

It had been a long journey and he went through countless challenges. There was no harm in waiting for a while more and that was why he sat down quietly and listened to the resonance.