The myth begins with the Lotus Lantern

Chapter 355 Divine Fusion
“Alright,” Princess Iron Fan replied, a hint of anticipation in her eyes. She bowed slightly, as humble as a disciple, then exhaled, calmed her mind, sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and began to meditate in front of Ding Lin.

Before long, he merged with heaven and earth.

Ding Lin watched quietly, the expectation in his eyes fading little by little, turning into indifference. As the sun moved further, the sliver of sunlight had moved behind him, and the light and shadow in the thatched hut were dim. Ding Lin nodded slightly, and half of his face fell into the gloom, obscuring his features. Even before it began, he already knew in his heart that Princess Iron Fan's attempt would not succeed, because although he seemed to have done his best in giving her guidance, he had actually held back a lot.

What is achieved too easily is never easily cherished.

Only when the road is arduous and fraught with danger will one realize how precious the achievement is afterward.

In this way, the gratitude will only grow deeper.

and also……

Ding Lin's eyes flickered.

Sure enough, six months later, Princess Iron Fan's originally peaceful aura suddenly became chaotic. At a certain moment, she suddenly opened her eyes, and a look of confusion flashed in her eyes for a moment.

At first, things went smoothly. The nine laws in the inner cave attracted each other and formed a ball. But then things stopped. No matter how she tried, the Samadhi True Fire could not completely control the other nine laws. It was as if... something was missing. In the end, she had no choice but to steel her heart and use her magic power to compress and forcibly gather the laws. Naturally, she still failed.

“Your Excellency…” Princess Iron Fan looked at Ding Lin.

“It failed.” Ding Lin’s voice was calm. “It’s alright. Achieving enlightenment is never that easy. Failure is the only way.”

When cultivators reach the Golden Immortal realm, they can enjoy endless lifespan. When they reach the Taiyi realm, they can transcend the Three Realms and are no longer bound by the Five Elements. They cannot be predicted and can begin to control their own destiny. In the eyes of immortals, this is the minimum standard for so-called 'attaining the Dao'.

Although Golden Immortals hold a respectable position in the Three Realms, they can only be considered a mid-level force in the Heavenly Court and Mount Ling. Only by entering the Taiyi realm can one truly enter the upper echelons.

The Taiyi Realm is a true watershed moment. Even if one is only a minor figure, they are still considered a third-rank official in the Heavenly Court, worthy of the purple robe. In Mount Ling, they can also be granted the title of Bodhisattva and sit on a lotus platform.

As for attaining enlightenment, that's a completely different matter altogether.

"Your Excellency, I clearly feel that I am about to succeed, but when it comes to the final step, when the laws are to truly merge, I can never achieve perfection," Princess Iron Fan asked after some thought.

"The nine laws you will use to condense the Taiyi Dao Law all belong to the Five Elements: wood, water, and fire. Using wood to generate fire and then using water to balance the fire energy is logically feasible. However, there are so many laws belonging to the Five Elements, and each one has its own characteristics. You need to figure them out thoroughly and distinguish every difference between them. Only then will everything fall into place naturally."

Ding Lindao said it lightly, but without any comparison or standard, success would require a long period of time, plus a great deal of luck, to even have a slight chance.

"The Venerable One once said that he had a 50-60% chance of helping me achieve Taiyi." Princess Iron Fan naturally understood this as well. Her eyes suddenly flashed as she spoke.

“Of course,” Ding Lin said, “Until just now, I may not have made any mistakes in what I said, but the principles are so subtle that you can’t express them with words alone. In the details, there will inevitably be omissions. You must know that a small difference can lead to a huge error.”

"This..." Princess Iron Fan seemed to suddenly sense something, a chill ran through her body, and she hesitated.

"If you are willing to open your mind and allow me to enter the inner landscape for a moment, every detail will be revealed, and you will have a 30% chance of success. If we go further, our souls will intertwine, and with my guidance, we will have at least a 50% chance of success," Ding Lin said slowly. After so much buildup, he finally revealed his true intentions.

"You want to cultivate soul and spirit with me?" Princess Iron Fan's expression changed drastically.

"I only want to help you cultivate." Ding Lin's expression remained unchanged. After a pause, he added, "Helping you is also helping myself. Only by helping you achieve Taiyi can I be free from worries. You also know what the birth and death of the Five Elements means, and what a top-level law means. A situation like today is something that might not happen even once in countless eons. I really don't want to miss it." "If you are really worried, when we merge our spirits, I don't have to enter your inner realm. We can only communicate with each other through divine thoughts. You can only open what you want me to see. If you are worried afterward that I used some tricks, you can simply let go of that thought. It won't cause any harm. In that case, you can rest assured."

"But……"

Princess Iron Fan instinctively wanted to refuse, no matter how eloquently Ding Lin spoke. In essence, this was still about cultivating both the soul and the spirit, and the immortal path valued privacy. She and the Bull Demon King had been married for many years, and even at their most intimate time, they had never done this. Later, the Bull Demon King revealed his true nature and repeatedly had affairs, so there was no possibility of it happening again.

“Princess, are you still holding back? You and the Bull Demon King have already fallen to this point, with resentment and estrangement between you. Forgive my bluntness, but I believe the Bull Demon King is not a benevolent person. You are still clinging to old feelings now, but what will you do if the Bull Demon King comes looking for you again after you leave Five Elements Mountain? To us, everything in this world is illusory; only the skills we have painstakingly cultivated are real. Princess, you must first become a Taiyi, so that you will not appear weak when you encounter the Bull Demon King again in the future.” Ding Lin spoke with conviction.

Princess Iron Fan looked at Ding Lin's face, as if trying to see through his deepest thoughts. It was already impolite of her, as a Golden Immortal, to look directly at Taiyi, but Ding Lin naturally wouldn't hold it against Princess Iron Fan at this moment.

Ding Lin's face showed only sincerity, without a trace of lewdness. He asked himself honestly, he did have some thoughts about Princess Iron Fan, but not to the point of being so inconsiderate. At this moment, what he was thinking was simply to help Princess Iron Fan achieve Taiyi, and then give back to himself. Those little thoughts were at most incidental, but they were definitely not the main thing.

Princess Iron Fan didn't hesitate, letting Ding Lin's words flow like a torrent. She was about to refuse when she suddenly heard the Bull Demon King's name. Her emotions surged. After all, they had been husband and wife for ten thousand years. To turn against each other in an instant... Although she told herself that it was all in the past, the Bull Demon King was only seriously injured, not dead. As long as he existed in this world, there would definitely be entanglements. Letting go would only be self-deception. Suddenly, she felt a surge of resentment. Many memories of the past flooded her mind. The beautiful moments of the past had now become embarrassing. In the end, she still couldn't maintain a dignified demeanor.

"What the Venerable One says," Princess Iron Fan clenched her fists tightly, the words of refusal already on the tip of her tongue, but as she spoke, they inexplicably changed, "I beg the Venerable One to help...help me..."

The last two words slipped out, and my mind suddenly went blank, but a surge of pleasure welled up inside me.

The thrill of revenge!
Ding Lin quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

It became.

There is no greater favor than attaining enlightenment. If he could help Princess Iron Fan achieve Taiyi, he would have incurred her debt of enlightenment. However, this would not be enough for Ding Lin to entrust his life to her. Only if Princess Iron Fan agreed to divine fusion would he be completely at ease. During divine fusion, their thoughts would intertwine. Ding Lin offered a compromise: they could hide their memories from each other. Not only was Princess Iron Fan unwilling to reveal everything, but he was also unwilling to expose his own secrets. Flesh and blood are the physical form, which can conceal the good and evil in people's hearts, their seven emotions and six desires, but they cannot hide in the thoughts of the soul. All Ding Lin needed to do was use the purest contact of divine fusion to make a final assessment.

Princess Iron Fan lowered her head, took a few deep breaths to calm herself, and after a few breaths she returned to calm, or at least appeared to be.

She was able to cultivate to become a Golden Immortal on her own and persevere through adversity. She was strong and resilient. Now that she had made her decision, there was nothing left to hesitate about. After a few more breaths, the turmoil in her heart was calmed down.

Princess Iron Fan closed her eyes, instantly emptying her mind and entering a state of complete absorption in the world. She only remembered what she still needed to do. A pure thought detached from her sea of ​​consciousness and floated above her head.

Seeing this, Ding Lin waved his hands repeatedly and unleashed his magic power to reinforce the restrictions on the thatched hut. Only then did he spare a wisp of his divine sense, keeping the vast majority of his attention focused on the outside, remaining vigilant and on guard.

In the air, two thoughts faced each other, neither moving.

Ding Lin felt awkward. He knew that Princess Iron Fan was waiting for him to take the initiative. Although their journey was only for cultivation, it was still that kind of thing.

Can……

He had never experienced it before.

No way...

(End of this chapter)