Xiuxian: I studied abroad in modern times

Chapter 586 Mahayana Perfection, Favored by a Sage

The sermons flowed through the Zixiao Palace, each sentence and each word containing boundless Taoist wisdom.

However, the Lu Clan's Grand Elder and the others couldn't hear a single word, and could only stare at Zheng Fa with their eyes.

Zheng Fa listened with great fascination.

This second sermon contained cultivation methods from various races, but for most people, the gains were both significant and minimal.

If you are a dragon, you will hear the most exquisite cultivation methods of the dragon race here, which will be of great benefit.

On the other hand, you don't quite understand the cultivation methods of other races.

There is only one type of person who can improve themselves by using the cultivation methods of other races.

Such people have extremely high comprehension. They can draw inferences from one instance to another, absorbing the beneficial essence from techniques that are useless to them, and applying this knowledge to other situations, integrating it into their own cultivation.

This is what is meant by "the one with great enlightenment" in the requirements of that meditation cushion.

Zheng Fa wasn't particularly insightful; he was simply not picky about food, not only eating a variety of things but also being somewhat of a mongrel.

Hongjun explained the cultivation methods of the dragon race. He himself was a true dragon with pure blood. When it came to the phoenix race, he was adorned with colorful feathers and focused on cosplay.

Nuwa only collected seventy-two kinds of biological structures, which is not much compared to the three thousand Great Daos.

But she has high standards; the races she chooses are among the most powerful in the world.

Although Hongjun's sermons were fairly impartial and he did not show much favoritism to any race, the races with strong talents naturally had deep foundations, complex and profound cultivation methods, and high potential, so he naturally spent more time on them.

Therefore, nearly half of the content of Hongjun's sermons is related to these seventy-two creatures.

As Hongjun preached, Zheng Fa understood how the dragon race should purify their bloodline to create a true dragon body that could roam the four seas.

I also understood how the phoenix is ​​reborn from the ashes, gathering the purest vitality between heaven and earth in death.

For him, innate divine powers were as easy as reading the lines on his palm; the true forms of demon race giants were clearly visible to him.

Seventy-two of the most powerful, ancient, and closest to the Great Dao in the world flashed through his mind.

They are lifelike, becoming more and more perfect, and their aura grows stronger day by day.

Zheng Fa no longer had any doubts about how these seventy-two magical species cultivated to become Loose Immortals and how they condensed Dao Fruits.

He even felt that among these three thousand guests, those innate saints, dragons, phoenixes, witches, and demons might not know as much about their own race's cultivation methods as he did.

But Zheng Fa's demands went far beyond that!

With a thought, the seventy-two figures shattered into fragments within his consciousness, turning into countless starlight.

He intends to use these seventy-two most powerful species in the world as a reference to condense a perfect Dao body that is most suitable for himself, or rather, most suitable for the human race.

Whether it was his imagination or not, when the seventy-two figures shattered, the sermon in his ears seemed to suddenly grow three times louder, like a surging wave rushing towards him. Immediately afterwards, he was immersed in the ocean of sermons and became oblivious to everything else.

He was obsessed, but others could only remain silent.

What surged toward him was not only the sound of his sermon, but also a shower of golden flowers.

These golden flowers layered upon layer until they wrapped Zheng Fa into a cocoon. At first, people could still see Zheng Fa's changing figure through the outer shell of the cocoon. Later, the golden flowers became so thick and dense that outsiders could only see an oval-shaped ball of light, which became brighter and thicker.

The Gu God stared at the ball of light for a long while, then suddenly turned to look at the White Bone Demon Ancestor.

"Watch what I do?"

"Can I learn your Myriad Transformations Bone technique?"

"..."

Upon hearing this, the White Bone Demon Ancestor stared at the ball of light for a long time before saying in an annoyed tone, "What a coincidence, I also want to learn."

The Gu God remained silent, watching the ball of light stand on the futon. The two of them pupated forward together, and they pupated very quickly. In just two or three months, it had moved to the third row. Half a year later, Zheng Fa's futon had been squeezed into the first row, getting closer and closer to Bai Lian and the Creation Daoist.

The Buddha statue behind Bai Lian, which was originally radiant with precious light and contained such a treasure as the relics, was naturally dazzling. However, in front of Zheng Fa's strangely shaped ball of light, it appeared exceptionally dim and even pitiful.

Even more somber was Bai Lian's expression.

He glanced at Zheng Fa out of the corner of his eye, his expression growing increasingly serious, as if he were trying his best to comprehend the teachings of Hongjun Daoist. However, the ball of light, like a wild bull, gradually approached from his right, then ruthlessly trampled over his position, leaving him behind.

Bai Lian remained expressionless, seemingly calm, but the Buddha statue behind him flickered a few times and shattered.

The Creation Daoist's reaction to Zheng Fayue overtaking him was exactly the opposite of Bai Lian's—he smiled, his eyes were gratified, and he even looked happier than anyone else.

He watched Zheng Fa grow further and further away, then turned to Bai Lian and laughed, "Why aren't you listening to the Dao anymore?"

Bai Lian held the Bodhi seed in her hand, her gaze lingering on the cracks on it. After a long while, she sighed and said, "Alas, my Dao heart is already in turmoil."

The Daoist of Creation smiled gently: "It's not a bad thing."

Bai Lian was stunned for a moment, looked up at him for a long time before nodding gently, her gaze unconsciously lingering on the ball of light again.

The ball of light was actually moving at a slower and slower speed, but its forward momentum did not diminish at all, arching to the left one seat at a time.

As the sermons were being delivered, time quietly passed, and the sphere of light finally arrived at the head of the first row of prayer cushions!

Although it was expected, the hearts of Zaohua and the others were still filled with turmoil:
Shi Nandang finally sat in the top position among the three thousand guests, and was truly just one step away from the seventh prayer mat. The primordial purple aura seemed to be within reach.

The crowd waited, but although the sphere of light grew brighter and brighter, it still could not cross this insurmountable barrier until the sermon ended.

Everyone felt a little regretful, thinking that this Primordial Purple Qi could not be obtained simply by listening to the Dao.

As the sermon ceased, the figure of Hongjun Daoist slowly disappeared, and the golden cocoon surrounding Zheng Fa gradually dimmed, revealing his face, which was immersed in the Daoist philosophy.

"Just one step away from achieving the Dao fruit."

"The Daoist of Creation said softly."

Bai Lian nodded slowly. They were all experienced people. At this moment, the Dao aura on Shi Nandang's body was almost uncontrollable. Obviously, he had no more obstacles before the Dao Fruit.

Even the two of them had to admit that Shi Nandang's accumulated strength seemed to be several times greater than theirs back then.

Thinking of this, Bai Lian suddenly turned her head and asked the Lu clan members, "How old was Shi Nan back then?"

The Grand Elder of the Lu Clan calculated with his fingers and said, "Not even twelve thousand years old."

"A Dao Fruit of twelve thousand years." Bai Lian sighed softly, then, as if remembering something, asked the Grand Elder of the Lu Clan, "You said before that Shi Nandang was a member of your Lu Clan?"

"……Yes."

Bai Lian's gaze towards the Lu Clan changed. Not only him, but even the Gu God and the White Bone Demon Ancestor looked at the Lu Clan's Nascent Soul cultivators with strange expressions—how could your Lu Clan lose such talent?
Under the gaze of this group of people, the Lu Clan's Grand Elder opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word. He simply looked at Zheng Fa with a more complicated expression than before.

Zheng Fa's eyelids twitched, and he slowly woke up.

He felt light and energetic, even with a sense of contentment that he had no other desires—although no one had taught him, he had come to the realization that he had reached the pinnacle of Mahayana Buddhism.

According to his previous understanding, he was only one step away from completing the ritual before he could become a Dao Fruit cultivator who had transcended all heavens!

Although the three ironclad rules of Dao Fruit no longer exist, there is still a world of difference between Dao Fruit cultivators and those who do not.

But the rituals… Zheng Fa frowned slightly. He didn’t know enough about the rituals, and most importantly, he didn’t know what the essence of the rituals was.

This is not a difficult thing for others.

For example, the Jade Dragon Lord could smoothly become a wandering immortal by following the rituals passed down through her bloodline.

Zheng Fa was different. He had no reference for his "Huang Ting Jing" and could only create his own ritual. He couldn't do it without understanding the essence of the ritual.

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Shi, on your great progress in cultivation." Just as he was deep in thought, a voice interrupted his contemplation.

When Zheng Fa looked up, he saw the Daoist of Creation smiling at him, his eyes full of joy.

Zheng Fa returned the greeting with a cupped hand.

The White Bone Demon Ancestor and the Gu God rushed in front of him. The White Bone Demon Ancestor hurriedly asked, "What you just used was me..."

"Thank you for your guidance, Fellow Daoist White Bone."

The White Bone Demon Ancestor's eyes suddenly blazed with spiritual fire. He was about to say something when a voice suddenly interrupted: "Your cultivation technique is quite good."

He turned his head and saw Nuwa standing behind him, looking at Zheng Fa with satisfaction in her eyes.

"Without Your Majesty, my cultivation technique could not be perfected," Zheng Fa said earnestly.

The key to the further advancement of the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation was actually the inspiration given to Zheng Fa by Nuwa—the myriad incarnations of the White Bone Demon Ancestor. However, for Zheng Fa to collect the structures of so many innate beings was not only beyond his capabilities, but also because there were very few beings of such power in the current Xuanwei realm.

He could certainly gather some weaker races, but how could that compare to what Goddess Nuwa gathered?
"I never expected that you could create such a method," Nuwa said after a moment's thought. "Very impressive."

"It's really awesome!"

Tongtian Daoren suddenly appeared out of nowhere, stood in front of Zheng Fa, stared at his face from left to right, and laughed: "I didn't expect that with such weak cultivation and physical body, you could actually create such an interesting transformation ability."

...You're quite the complimenter.

Even Yuan Shi, who had previously been quiet and somewhat aloof, nodded slightly and said, "Of all the methods of change throughout history, this method is the foremost."

The Supreme Being stroked his long beard, seemingly deep in thought: "Taking change as the foundation and integrating all laws into one, one has already grasped the true meaning of the Great Dao."

He paused, then laughed: "Truly, the younger generation is formidable."

Zheng Fa could not help but hear the joke in his tone, and cupped his hands and said, "Without the seniors, my technique would be nothing but a castle in the air."

His tone was sincere. The three Qings exchanged a glance, their expressions softening further. Tongtian then asked curiously, "Does your technique have a name?"

Zheng Fa thought for a moment, recalling the origin of his technique, and said, "I call this technique the Seventy-Two Transformations of Earthly Fiends."

"The Seventy-Two Transformations of the Earthly Fiends?" Tongtian pressed. "Could there also be transformations of the Heavenly Dipper?"

"I don't have any ideas yet," Zheng Fa said honestly. "It just happens to be this number. Actually, seventy-two is just a figurative number... I just made it up."

Tongtian's eyes lit up: "You can't even name a thing?"

Who says I can't name things? Wait, what do you mean by "also"?
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Zheng Fa's mind. He remembered that when he read the Investiture of the Gods, he had a feeling that many of the disciples of the Chan Sect had rather nice-sounding names, such as Qingxu Daode Zhenjun, Yuding Zhenren, and Guangchengzi... They all had a bit of an ethereal quality.

The disciples of the Jie Sect fared worse. The better ones were like Yunxiao Bixiao and Wudang Shengmu Jinling Shengmu, who were neither good nor bad. The worse ones were like Wuyun Xian and Yuyi Xian.

The worst off is Lu Yue from Kowloon Island. This guy sounds like he's from the same school as Zheng Fa of the Nine Mountains Sect, but he's just a name.

Judging from the way they are addressed, this sect is not very effective.

He originally thought that there were too many people in the Jie Sect and Tongtian was too lazy to come up with a name, but now it seems... Tongtian is terrible at naming things.
Tongtian seemed to feel like he had met a fellow patient, and he chatted even more enthusiastically with Zheng Fa.

Nuwa and Yuanshi Taishang were not in a hurry to leave. The group stood together, talking about Zheng Fa's Seventy-Two Transformations of the Earthly Fiends, clearly very interested.

Zheng Fa didn't hold back either; on the one hand, this thing was based on the Huangting Jing.

On the other hand, if these people are dead, it won't matter if we hear it; if they're alive... then it's even less of a problem to tell the truth.

The Seventy-Two Transformations of the Earthly Fiends was just a nascent creation, and with the opinions of these individuals, it has been perfected.

……

Bai Lian stood at a distance, feeling a pang of sadness in his heart—he had originally thought that being favored by the two patriarchs was already an incredible stroke of luck.

But now...

Others might not know, but the two patriarchs had told him about the situation here, and he was very clear about the identities and status of the people on the prayer mat.

The Three Pure Ones can be said to be the most noble people in this world. They usually keep to themselves and rarely interact with outsiders—to put it bluntly, they are arrogant and look down on others.

Nuwa's status is also extremely noble. Although she does not participate in the affairs of the demon race, in terms of cultivation, she is the undisputed number one among the demons, with great prestige, and can even be said to be the overlord of heaven and earth.

The four men were now surrounding Zheng Fa with great enthusiasm, seemingly engaged in a philosophical discussion. Not only that, but they also treated Zheng Fa as an equal.

Compared to his interactions with the two patriarchs, this equality was quite different, even absurd.

Bai Lian lowered her eyes, feeling somewhat fortunate—her two patriarchs were still standing beside her, indicating that they valued her, a junior member of the Buddhist community, more.

"Is that person... someone you know well?"

Suddenly, Patriarch Zhunti spoke up and asked a question.

"what?"

Bai Lian looked up and saw that although the two patriarchs were standing in front of her, their eyes were fixed on Shi Nandang.

"Not very familiar, but Shi Nandang is also a junior disciple of Master." Bai Lian answered honestly, "Although he is not a disciple of Leiyin Temple, he has a deep connection with Master."

“I knew it. This kid has a connection with my Buddhist faith at first glance.”

"..."

(End of this chapter)