Chapter 10

As Feng Ye swept everyone down the mountain, he returned to the cave to continue his meditation and cultivation.

This cave was not far from the Sui Ren tribe and was within the protective range of the totem light shield. After all, with Feng Ye's current level of cultivation, leaving the protection of the tribe's totem would mean certain death.

Feng Ye's confidence in his cultivation mainly came from a piece of dragon bone.

In this mythological era, dragon bones were not the medicinal herbs of later generations but the remains of true dragons.

This piece of dragon bone was found in a small valley not far from the Sui Ren tribe. When Feng Ye led his people to hunt, they accidentally entered the valley and discovered it was full of exposed, ghastly white bones. The valley was filled with a sinister aura, and as Feng Ye ventured deeper, he felt a growing sense of unease. His intuition told him that going further would be fatal. Thus, valuing his life above all, Feng Ye immediately retreated to the outer area, where he accidentally found the dragon bone.

However, this was not particularly rare. In this mythological era, various strange beasts frequently appeared, and dragons and phoenixes were not as rare as in later times. The probability of encountering dragon bones was still considerable.

This piece of dragon bone contained some residual spiritual imprints. When Feng Ye first obtained it, he nearly died from the spiritual force. However, he turned misfortune into fortune and, after enduring the impact, managed to integrate the spiritual imprint. The cultivation insights and experiences contained within were naturally acquired by Feng Ye.

These cultivation insights mainly focused on the methods of the Divine Path. Dragons are divine beings, born as gods. Even during the most powerful era of the primordial demons, dragons were not classified as demons.

The Divine Path involves commanding the laws of heaven and earth and harnessing the primordial energy of heaven and earth, making them the darlings of the world. This is quite different from the Immortal Path that Feng Ye had been pondering. However, since the great path is interconnected, combining it with the Daoist scriptures he read in his previous life was very helpful for Feng Ye in formulating his own cultivation path. With his accumulated merit, he was not afraid of going astray, and if necessary, he could seek advice from the elders of the tribe.

Cultivation is divided into four major realms: Refining Essence into Qi, Refining Qi into Spirit, Refining Spirit into Void, and Refining Void into Dao.

Refining Essence into Qi is to supplement the origin and cultivate essence, comprehending the foundation of the Dao and refining the indestructible golden elixir. Refining Qi into Spirit is to cultivate primordial energy and convert it into magical power, using the golden elixir as the foundation to practice the innate spiritual light and achieve an indestructible spirit. At this stage, achieving the spirit is considered a minor success in cultivation. Refining Spirit into Void involves using the spirit as the foundation to refine pure yang energy, refining the innate spiritual light to continuously purify the spirit in preparation for the transcendence. The final stage, Refining Void into Dao, is the last threshold before achieving immortality.

Immortality in the Immortal Path refers to a Golden Immortal, while in the Divine Path, it refers to a Divine Lord. Only at this realm is one truly free from the constraints of lifespan and achieves the initial state of immortality. The true spirit is eternal, and the body remains forever, no longer hindered by wind, fire, or lightning.

In fact, the earliest and most ancient cultivation methods were aimed at becoming a god, as the earliest deities were all innate deities, the first batch of beings born in the universe.

As the saying goes, "In the primordial chaos, the divine and the Dao are one." At the beginning of the universe, countless innate deities were conceived, but there were also many weak beings. To survive, these weak beings began the earliest cultivation, aiming to possess the same power as the innate deities.

As cultivation methods developed, they gradually diverged into the Immortal and Divine Paths. The Divine Path emphasizes control, commanding the laws of heaven and earth and aligning oneself with the Dao. As long as the Dao of heaven and earth remains, the divine body remains unharmed, making them the darlings of the world. The Immortal Path seeks transcendence, aiming to be free from the constraints of heaven and earth, such as causality and the five elements.

However, the differences between immortals and deities are not significant in the earlier realms. Only after Refining Void into Dao do the two paths diverge due to their different goals and cultivation methods.

When Feng Ye was the leader, he had already completed the Refining Qi into Spirit stage. Refining Essence into Qi, in simple terms, is a process of cultivating qi. When perfected, it means that all the meridians are unblocked, and the primordial energy in the body is unified. In this mythological era, with abundant primordial energy, even the weak human bodies can easily achieve the Refining Essence into Qi stage.

Not just Feng Ye, but many people in the Sui Ren tribe also had this level of cultivation. Those human warriors with innate divine power could mostly reach this level. Otherwise, even with the totem shield left by Sui Huang, the safety of the Sui Ren tribe could not be guaranteed. As for condensing the golden elixir and refining qi into spirit, humans might not have the true method of cultivating the golden elixir, but some martial techniques could also achieve this level of power. The elders in the ancestral fire cave of the Sui Ren tribe all possessed this strength, or they would have been exterminated by the nearby fierce beasts long ago.

Only the spirit is a significant threshold. The spirit signifies the initial state of immortality, transcending the constraints of the physical body, and the ability to communicate with heaven and earth to calculate the mysteries of the universe. Only at this stage is one considered a true cultivator.

Originally, Feng Ye was solely focused on the Dao, but after witnessing the tragic situation of humans in this era, he formed a strong resolve to develop and maintain the prosperity of the tribe.

After stepping down as the leader, Feng Ye felt a sense of relief. A mysterious force seemed to bless him, and the primordial energy in his body continuously flowed. Feng Ye sensed that his opportunity had arrived.

The "Taiji Symbol Meditation Method" was a visualization technique created by Feng Ye. As the leader, he had many responsibilities and found it difficult to calm his mind. To concentrate, he thought of the meditation techniques from his previous life, using the visualization of an object to calm his mind. The cultivation insights in the dragon bone were fragmented and could only serve as a reference, but they were not sufficient for actual cultivation.

Feng Ye visualized a Taiji diagram, which represents the Dao and the origin of all things.

The Taiji gives birth to the Two Instruments, the Two Instruments give birth to the Four Symbols, the Four Symbols give birth to the Eight Trigrams, and thus all things are born. Feng Ye immersed his mind in the transformation of the Taiji.

With a loud "Boom," Feng Ye felt the barrier between himself and the universe dissipate. He achieved the state of unity with heaven and earth, the ultimate enlightenment sought by Daoists.

A beam of spiritual light suddenly appeared in his spiritual palace, which was Feng Ye's spiritual light, the innate light present since birth.

In the state of unity with heaven and earth, a vortex formed above Feng Ye's head, continuously drawing in spiritual energy into his body. The innate spiritual light descended from the spiritual palace to the dantian. Before the spiritual light entered the dantian, the primordial energy was in a chaotic state, like the primordial chaos before the universe was formed. When the spiritual light entered the dantian, it pierced through the chaos, stirring it up and forming a vortex that gathered the surrounding primordial energy.

The golden elixir, the fundamental foundation of Daoism and the starting point of refining qi into spirit, was formed. During the refining qi into spirit stage, the spiritual light is deeply hidden within the golden elixir. This stage involves accumulating magical power to nourish the golden elixir, then breaking the golden elixir to form the spirit embryo, which further accumulates power and ascends to the spiritual palace, residing in the mudra palace to transform into a pure yang spirit.

In Feng Ye's dantian, the spiritual light and golden elixir continuously gathered his primordial energy and magical power, showing signs of breaking. Taking advantage of the state of unity with heaven and earth, Feng Ye pushed forward with all his might, aiming to directly break through to the spirit realm.

As the saying goes, "It's easy to go down but hard to go up." The innate spiritual light descended from the spiritual palace to the dantian quickly, but ascending from the dantian with the golden elixir back to the spiritual palace was difficult. It had to pass through the five organs, six viscera, and the dantian, and finally reach the spiritual palace. This process also further refined the physical body, making it a harmonious whole.

Fortunately, Feng Ye had laid a solid foundation in the Refining Essence into Qi stage, with all his meridians fully unblocked, making it relatively easy to achieve the return of the spiritual light to the spiritual palace. When the spiritual light and golden elixir entered the spiritual palace, the golden elixir shattered, and a baby, the spirit embryo, emerged.

In later generations, it was believed that the spirit embryo should be formed in the dantian and then ascend to the spiritual palace to transform into a spirit. However, in this mythological era, with abundant primordial energy, there was no need to form a spirit embryo after achieving the golden elixir. Instead, the golden elixir was directly refined, and the spirit was formed by ascending to the spiritual palace. Feng Ye's original accumulation was sufficient, and with the blessing of the heavens after completing his vow, he could directly ascend to the spiritual palace, bypassing the process of nurturing the golden elixir.

In the spiritual palace, the spirit absorbed all the primordial energy released from the shattered golden elixir. The spirit's features were indistinct, and it held the Taiji seal, which appeared above its head, the same Taiji diagram Feng Ye had been visualizing. The Taiji seal continuously rotated, manifesting yin and yang energies that strengthened the spirit embryo.

This was not the end. A red flame appeared in the spiritual palace, dancing around the spirit.

The Sui Fire, a divine skill that Feng Ye had developed, contained a divine nature. It appeared in the spiritual palace, continuously refining the spirit and the Taiji seal, solidifying his realm.

After an unknown period, the spirit suddenly emitted a brilliant light, a beam of spiritual light shot out from the spiritual palace, piercing through the top of his head and illuminating the entire cave.

After being refined by the Sui Fire, the pure yang spirit was finally formed. Feng Ye had directly transcended from the Refining Essence into Qi stage to the initial stage of Refining Spirit into Void, bypassing the Refining Qi into Spirit stage.