Unlimited priesthood

Chapter 156 Enlightenment
Fish Dragon Island, Earth Spirit Array.

Shen He sat cross-legged in the void, activated the Heavenly Demon Technique, and his spiritual consciousness soared, entering a strange realm.

The Great Law of Transformation and Freedom: The Root of All Paths!

This enlightenment demonic art is very simple to cultivate. As long as one has sufficient control over the body, one can elevate one's spiritual consciousness and enter the realm of freedom to comprehend the principles of heaven and earth.

This was far too easy for Shen He, since he cultivated three methods simultaneously: martial arts with the skill of subduing dragons and tigers, immortality with the method of generating and transforming the five elements, and divinity with the technique of controlling spirits by destiny. The three correspond to the three aspects of a cultivator's essence, energy, and spirit, so his control over his body and spiritual consciousness goes without saying.

With the aid of this Heavenly Demon Secret Technique, Shen He felt his spiritual consciousness surge, and he entered an incredibly profound realm in a way that was currently difficult to understand.

That is... the Realm of Freedom!
What kind of carefree paradise is this?
Shen He couldn't explain it either.

He could only feel that in this strange realm, his spirit and consciousness were infinitely elevated, as if he had reached the great realm of immortals and Buddhas, gods and demons, heaven and earth.

He saw it, he understood it, he comprehended it completely—the existence called "Tao".

The principles of Yin and Yang, and the Five Elements.

Illusion and reality, spirit and flesh.

Body and mind, heaven and earth.

……

There's one thing Shen He has to admit: his talent is really just average.

With such average qualifications, how did he manage to get to where he is today?
It’s hard work!
It's practically a cheat code!

Shen He never shies away from the fact that he is a "cheater". He owes half of his achievements to his professional panel and innate skills, and the other half to the accumulation of time and his own hard work.

Diligence can make up for lack of talent, and perseverance can wear away stone. With the help of my profession and several lifetimes of arduous cultivation, I have achieved the results I have today.

But this also shows how ordinary his aptitude and comprehension are. If it were those exceptionally talented geniuses, with such help and accumulation, they would have soared to the heavens and achieved immortal status long ago.

He, however, had cultivated through dreams for several lifetimes, accumulating nearly two thousand years of experience, but his highest achievement was only the fifth-order Golden Core.

The difference is evident!
But it doesn't matter.

If you don't have the qualifications, use cheats to make up for it!
In this free and unfettered realm, Shen He felt as if his thoughts, his consciousness, and his spirit had been infinitely elevated.

He saw the various principles of heaven and earth, and the various rules of the world. Although they were probably just superficial appearances or even illusions, he still benefited greatly from them.

By comparing oneself in this way, one can see obvious shortcomings and flaws.

All sorts of doubts and bottlenecks were unveiled at this moment, revealing their true nature to him.

Great freedom, great freedom!
He is free to transform, I am free to transform.

My will is God's will, and my heart is God's heart.

The workings of heaven and earth, the principles of the great Dao...

Immersed in this ocean of "knowledge" and "reason," even someone as experienced as Shen He would find it incredibly wonderful, completely captivated and unable to extricate themselves.

If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening!
die?
Do not!
He can't die yet!
I can't die yet!
Shen He cannot die!

In an instant, alarm bells rang.

Shen He suddenly awoke, his spiritual consciousness sinking downwards, instantly escaping from that strange realm.

"puff!!!"

The moment his spiritual consciousness left, an indescribable heaviness came over him, causing him to fall from the air and plunge into the lake below.

"Gululu!"

The warm lake water and abundant inspiration instantly seeped into his body, but Shen He was unable to move.

All I could feel was exhaustion, an utter emptiness, a weariness that left me with no strength to even move a finger.

After an unknown period of time, the lake water began to churn, and a person emerged from it.

It is Shenhe!

He surfaced, but did not leave, remaining immersed in the spiritual energy lake that was integrated with the earth vein array, allowing his thirsty body to absorb the nourishing spiritual energy and restore his depleted life force.

Shen He did not move, but his spiritual sense spread out, and he saw himself in a strange way.

Now, his hair is completely white, not the white of an immortal cultivator, but the deathly white of an old man on his deathbed. His long hair is dry, fragile, and even broken, like weeds.

Even when immersed in the spiritually rich lake water, it could not be nourished and restored. The adjacent skin and flesh turned grayish-white, loose, wrinkled, and developed numerous spots, along with a strange stench.

He is no longer a young man, but an old man on his deathbed, or even a corpse whose breath has not yet dissipated in its grave.

This is the drawback of the Great Law of Transformation and Freedom of All Paths!

The spiritual consciousness is sublimated, the vital energy is consumed, and finally the life essence is damaged.

Shen He finally understood why so many people died trying to "enlighten" themselves through this technique.

The feeling of spiritual sublimation, the freedom of transformation, seeing the fundamental principles of the Great Dao, and the original state of heaven and earth was truly wonderful.

It was so wonderful that even a transmigrator like him, who had experienced several lifetimes of life and cultivated for nearly two thousand years, could not extricate himself from it.

If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening!
So they died, died in that Free and Unfettered Realm, died within the bounds of reason. Shen He almost followed in their footsteps; if he hadn't woken up at the last moment, he would probably be a corpse by now.

Terrifying! Terrifying! Absolutely terrifying!
However, the gains were far greater than expected.

In that free and unfettered realm, Shen He comprehended a great deal, focusing on the three cultivation methods of martial arts, immortality, and spirit control, as well as Xingyi Quan, the Five Elements Technique, and the Spirit Control Scripture. He thought he had perfected them, but he did not expect that there were still many flaws and shortcomings that could be remedied to make him go further.

It's not that he's useless, that he hasn't achieved perfection after a thousand years of arduous cultivation; rather, it's that the perfection he achieved before was only the perfection of a "human," not the perfection of an "immortal," the perfection of the Dao, or the perfection of heaven and earth.

From the perspective of an "immortal," there is still room for improvement, a room for improvement that is beyond human reach.

Not only the previous shortcomings, but also the subsequent development. The cultivation methods of the fourth, fifth and even sixth levels were all comprehended in this enlightenment. The next step of advancing to the Core Formation and achieving the Nascent Soul stage will be a smooth and unobstructed path, and even a journey of rapid progress.

This is the wondrous application of the "Great Law of the Root of All Paths of Self-Transformation".
Life essence is exchanged for comprehension, and comprehension is exchanged for cultivation.

With the fruits of this enlightenment and the various resources at his disposal, Shen He is confident that he can form a Golden Core within ten years, a Great Dao Golden Core that cultivates the three methods simultaneously.

Even ten years is a conservative estimate, because he not only has the fruits of enlightenment and the merit of resources, but also the assistance of his profession.

Shen He opened the career panel and looked at the lifespan section.

Lifespan: 1285/1800.

His lifespan skyrocketed from over three hundred years to one thousand two hundred and eighty-five years.

In other words, this enlightenment consumed nearly a thousand years of life essence.

Extremely terrifying!
Even a Nascent Soul cultivator couldn't withstand such a drain.

Only someone who is immortal can sustain it.

But that's not the point. The point is that he's over a thousand years old.

One effect of the longevity profession is that the older one gets, the longer one's lifespan, the more experience one gains, and the stronger the cultivation effect.

The older you get, the longer you live.

These sound like the same thing, but they are actually two different concepts.

The former refers to lifespan, while the latter refers to lifespan duration.

Shen He is now 1,285 years old and has a lifespan of 1,800 years.

what does this mean?
做个假设，如果说在长生者的职业效果下，寿命100/1800的修炼效率是1，那么寿命1000/1800的修炼效率就是10。

Assuming lifespan remains constant, the longer one lives, the stronger the effects of cultivation.

Although Shen He has not actually lived for more than a thousand years, thanks to the consumption of life essence by the Myriad Roots Great Law, his lifespan on the career panel has still exceeded one thousand.

That's enough. Professional power only recognizes the professional panel; it doesn't care whether you've actually lived for over a thousand years.

Therefore, Shen He's cultivation efficiency is now several times higher than before.

This can be described as an old ghost's cultivation technique!

If he pushed himself to the limit and increased his lifespan to 1799/1800 years, forming a core in a year wouldn't be a problem.

Of course, Shen He wouldn't do that, since it was too extreme and he could easily lose his life.

The current ratio is quite good; it increases cultivation speed without the risk of dying from excessive cultivation.

……

After an unknown period of time, Shen He finally regained his strength, sat up from the lake, and without leaving the Earth Spirit Array Eye, took out various pills to increase his cultivation and restore his health, and began to cultivate on the spot.

Overdrawing one's life force is not only about overdrawing one's lifespan, but also severely depletes the cultivator's essence, energy, and spirit. It must be restored before one can continue cultivating; otherwise, one may very well cultivate to death.

Shen He possesses a large quantity of pills, as well as techniques such as the Devouring Yuan Technique, Xingyi Quan, the Spirit Control Scripture, and the Five Elements Manual. Coupled with the effects of the Longevity Immortal Blessed Land and the Longevity Nourishing Method, restoring his essence, energy, and spirit does not require much effort.

He took the elixir and sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing.

Nine days and nights passed, and Shen He opened his eyes. His body had been revived, and his face had become youthful. He was no longer the terrifying old, living corpse he once was.

Only his long hair, still gray, indicates that the fundamental damage to his life force has not been restored; it has only replenished his superficial vitality.

This only treats the symptoms, not the root cause!
But Shen He wanted to treat the symptoms but not the root cause, in order to maintain the effects of his longevity through cultivation.

Therefore, he deliberately avoided taking some pills that could restore his life force.

However, this only restricts the use of elixirs; the effects of the Longevity Nourishing Method and the Blessed Land of Longevity cannot be restricted. His life essence is still slowly recovering, and his lifespan is also slowly decreasing.

"At this rate, I should be able to form the Golden Core when my lifespan drops to five or six hundred years."

"Before forming the Golden Core, take the pills, and combine them with the Longevity Immortal Paradise and the Longevity Nourishing Method to treat both the symptoms and the root cause, restore to the peak, and condense the Great Dao Golden Core in the most perfect state."

"After forming the core, lifespan will surely increase. In addition, with the life essence that has been restored, one can use the Great Art of Transformation and Freedom of the Root to comprehend the Dao, comprehend the cultivation methods of pills, talismans, weapons, arrays, and the Three Calamities of Karmic Fire, and use sacrifices to slay demons to enhance combat power."

"With this method of cultivation, one should be able to reach the Nascent Soul stage within a hundred years!"

Shen He murmured a decision, finalized the development plan, then closed his eyes and immersed himself back into the realm of cultivation.

(End of this chapter)