Chapter 821

Tai Bai Yun Sheng laughs, saying he has heard the phrase countless times since he began cultivating, and that even mortals know it. Fang Yuan answers that the line comes from Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable, the first rank nine Gu Immortal in history and creator of Central Continent’s Heavenly Court. He calls it extremely brilliant and more widely known than The Legends of Ren Zu. But he says it is not brilliant enough. He condenses it to one word: Dao. ^{ch. 821}

Asked to explain, Fang Yuan says humans hold the highest intelligence of all living beings and can comprehend heaven and earth, which makes man their spirit. Gu are very unique among living beings, with Gu worms holding only meager traces of the Great Dao against Immortal Gu’s fragments, which makes Gu heaven and earth’s essence. Water flowing downward and a Gu Master’s Gu lighting fire are dao alike. By nurturing, using and refining Gu, humans draw on heaven and earth’s power, and those who become Gu Immortals have dao marks carved onto their bodies. Predecessors built every path step by step onto unknown ground. Cultivating Gu, Fang Yuan concludes, is at bottom cultivating dao. ^{ch. 821}

Tai Bai Yun Sheng repeats the line to himself. ^{ch. 821}

Fang Yuan turns to the immortal aperture, blessed land or grotto-heaven, holding dao expressed only in dao marks. His Hu Immortal blessed land draws a river-of-time tributary through its basic time path marks. Its many space path marks keep it very large despite losing its north area. They let its land spirit teleport freely. Richest of all in enslavement path marks, it suits raising foxes and enslaving similar beasts. ^{ch. 821}

Tai Bai Yun Sheng answers with his own blessed land. It is richest in time path marks, so one outside day passes as thirty-three inside it, leaving it very abundant in time-based resources. It is poorest in earth path marks, so it has no mountains and infertile soil. Its space path marks are only ordinary, keeping its area modest, though its sky sits very high. ^{ch. 821}

A blessed land’s dao marks decide its offense and defense. Mortal Gu, carrying only traces of dao, are swallowed and restricted the instant a blessed land’s marks are activated. Immortal Gu, as law fragments, go unrestricted, though a blessed land’s marks can still weaken or strengthen one in battle. Invading Gu Immortals feel the same suppression, offset by the dao marks carried on their own bodies. ^{ch. 821}

The same rule played out in Jade Pool, a public blessed land. There, fighting the demons, Dong Fang Chang Fan’s territorial advantage stopped their mortal Gu. But Jade Pool’s marks, though abundant, were very mixed, so he could mobilize only his own contributed portion, and could not seal their immortal killer moves or force flying Gu Immortals down. ^{ch. 821}

Struck by realization, Tai Bai Yun Sheng works through the lesson himself. Pieced together from many Gu Immortals’ sacrificed portions whose mixed marks cancel out, public blessed lands have weak defenses. A blessed land of sole origin keeps its marks pure, so, he concludes, the purer a blessed land’s marks, the harder it is to take down. ^{ch. 821}

Tai Bai Yun Sheng rises and bows. He says he feels truly enlightened, and will no longer call Fang Yuan junior brother, since a skilled person is a teacher and Fang Yuan has surpassed him on the cultivation path. Fang Yuan waves this off as a casual conversation, saying Tai Bai Yun Sheng already knew the reasoning, only less clearly. Tai Bai Yun Sheng insists it is simple but extremely brilliant, and that Dao surpasses the old phrase. ^{ch. 821}

Fang Yuan’s insight comes from a transmigrator’s advantage. An earlier life spent amid Earth’s science, greatly developed in laws of nature, itself a form of cultivation, let him see logic others cannot. Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable had reached the same understanding in simpler words meant to educate later generations, giving rise to the many separate path inheritances. ^{ch. 821}

Calling Fang Yuan junior brother again would leave Tai Bai Yun Sheng feeling extremely embarrassed. The two talk a while longer before Tai Bai Yun Sheng says his goodbyes. Though they have always spoken by Gu, this face-to-face talk erased the distance between them. Fang Yuan’s manipulation techniques are extremely amazing. This simple conversation about dao leaves Tai Bai Yun Sheng with a lasting impression, and a lasting feeling of inferiority beside him. ^{ch. 821}