Clan Cultivation: Starting from Foundation Establishment on Mount Luoxia

Above the void, there lies the realm of the Great Dao.

The core area where the will of the universe manifests, a forbidden zone that even ordinary True Monarchs cannot set foot in.

Only those beings who have reached the Dao Embryo level and transcended the laws can establish themselves in this chaos.

At this moment, more than thirty figures stood with their backs to all living beings, suspended in that chaos.

Some of them were as tall and strong as mountains, some were as thin as bamboo, some were surrounded by immortal aura, some were filled with demonic aura, some were bathed in Buddha's light, and some were awe-inspiring.

Each one exuded an aura that shook the void—that was the Dao Embryo, the most powerful force in the universe, an existence standing at the end of the path of cultivation.

Each of them held one or more celestial artifacts, the light of which flickered in the chaos like inextinguishable lamps.

Opposite them—in the depths of the void, some unknown distance away—were dozens of gazes meeting theirs.

Some of those gazes were cold, some were fiery, some were sinister, and some were greedy. They were cast from the other end of the endless void, passing through layers of legal barriers, and landing in this void where a new Dao had just been born.

The standoff has lasted for a long time.

There is no concept of time in the Great Dao Realm, but everyone knows that this silent standoff is far longer than what the True Lords below have seen.

Suddenly, a deep, muffled voice broke the silence.

"Fellow Daoist Mengyang."

The speaker was a burly demon cultivator with a tiger's head and a human body, whose demonic aura surged around him as if it were a tangible substance.

He held a stone axe in his hand, its blade covered with cracks, as if it had been eroded by countless years.

He was touching the cracks with heartache, muttering to himself:

"This junior is about to forge a new path; this is a momentous matter. Why didn't you mention it beforehand?"

He grew angrier and angrier as he spoke, and brandished the axe:

"You ruined the semi-immortal artifact prototype that I painstakingly crafted for 931 years and 1 day! You have to compensate me!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than another figure beside him, exuding an aura of demonic power, also spoke.

It was an old man with a hunched back, a bird's head and a human body, his tattered wings trembling slightly, clutching a withered herb in his claws, trembling with heartache.

"Exactly! And there's the sacred medicine I refined over five hundred years, my treasure for laying the foundation for my grandson—gone just like that! Sect Leader Meng Yang, you have to compensate me!"

He shook the withered herb and sighed, "Five hundred and thirty-seven years..."

All eyes of the Dao Embryos fell on the figure at the very front.

He was a middle-aged Taoist priest who looked to be in his forties. He had a thin face, slightly high cheekbones, and his hair was half white and half black, casually tied up with a wooden hairpin. He had a scholarly air about him.

He wore a faded blue Taoist robe and had an ancient jade pendant hanging at his waist. If he hadn't been standing in the Great Dao Domain, he would have looked no different from an ordinary schoolteacher.

The current leader of the Qingxiao Immortal Sect.

Meng Yang.

The Path of the Sun, the Peak of the Dao Embryo.

He turned around and smiled slightly at the two demon cultivators. His smile was as gentle as a spring breeze, showing none of the airs of a sect leader.

"Okay, okay, we'll make it up to you."

He first bowed to the demonic Dao embryo with a tiger's head and a human body: "Fellow Daoist Hu Lie, I'll have some elders from the sect's weapon hall examine your semi-immortal artifact prototype later to see if it can be repaired. If that doesn't work, you can choose any of the treasured materials from the Immortal Sect's treasury."

Hu Lie's eyes lit up: "Really?"

"Really?" Meng Yang nodded with a smile, then looked at the old man with a bird's head and a human body. "Fellow Daoist Yuhua, your sacred medicine... I remember there's a ten-thousand-year-old He Shou Wu in the Immortal Sect's medicine garden. Although it's a bit older, its medicinal properties are similar. I'll have someone send it to you later as an apology."

Yu Hua then put away the withered herb and snorted, "That's more like it."

Meng Yang chuckled, cupped his hands, and said, "I'll compensate you all. Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to protect my junior. I am deeply grateful."

He looked around and bowed to each of the thirty-odd figures.

"Amitabha."

A Buddhist chant rang out. The speaker was an old monk wearing a gray robe, with a gaunt face, downcast eyes, and a string of black prayer beads in his hand.

No aura emanated from him, but with each breath, he subtly resonated with the chaotic energy of the Great Dao realm.

Buddha, Tao, Amitabha.

"Fellow Daoist Meng, there's no need for such formality," the old monk said calmly. "He is your junior, and also our junior. Opening up a new path is a contribution to the universe and beneficial to all of you. There's no need for gratitude."

He raised his eyes, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his cloudy eyes:

"If we don't come, the will of the universe will not stand by and watch, and will urge us on."

Meng Yang nodded slightly to the old monk: "What you say is true, Master. But we should still express our gratitude."

He looked around and bowed to each of the thirty-odd Dao Embryos:

"Fellow Daoists, I will remember your kindness today. If you ever need anything from the Azure Sky Immortal Sect in the future, please don't hesitate to ask."

The other Daoist embryos returned the greetings, and the atmosphere gradually eased.

At this moment, a divine cultivator dressed in a golden divine robe, surrounded by divine light, suddenly spoke. His face was resolute, with a sharp look between his brows; he was none other than the "Haotian Divine Venerable" of the divine path.

"That's not right."

He frowned, his gaze sweeping over the crowd and landing on the remaining figures across the way. "Our junior has already attained enlightenment, so why are there still seven or eight people on the other side?"

"Still standing there, watching us—what does that mean? Do you want to fight us?"

The gazes of all the Dao Embryos turned to the opposite side once again.

Sure enough, most of the dozens of gazes had dispersed, but seven or eight figures remained in place, looking in this direction from afar.

They neither retreated nor approached, but simply stood suspended in the void, gazing at the thirty-odd Dao Embryos across an endless distance.

Meng Yang followed his gaze and smiled slightly.

The smile was faint, yet it conveyed a sense of composure, as if everything was under control.

"Those are the people from the Paradise of All Gods."

He stood with his hands behind his back, his tone calm:

"They didn't leave because their juniors came to sabotage my work, but they were thwarted by an undercover agent I had sent. They failed, and they didn't escape; they were captured by my eldest disciple, True Monarch Minghuang."

Haotian God was taken aback: "Minghuang? You mean that guy who, before even reaching the Dao Embryo level, already mastered the Dao Embryo Dharma Form that only a Dao Embryo can unleash?"

"Exactly." Meng Yang nodded, a look of relief flashing in his eyes. "Although that child's cultivation level is not yet high, his Dharma form has been formed, and he can barely keep the situation in check."

"No wonder," the Heavenly Emperor said thoughtfully. "Then they intend to..."

"I want to bring those younger ones back," Meng Yang said casually, "but I'm too embarrassed to ask."

All the Dao embryos laughed.

Before the laughter subsided, one of the seven or eight figures opposite them suddenly moved.

He passed through the chaotic energy and the torrent of laws, stopping at a distance that was neither too close nor too far from the thirty-odd Dao Embryos.

He was a young man.

At least it seems so.

He had a full head of white hair, a youthful face, and a slender figure. He wore a gray-white robe, the hem of which fluttered gently in the chaos.

He appeared young, but the aura he exuded caused every Dao Embryo present to frown slightly.

decay.

That was the smell of decaying laws and a collapsing Great Dao.

It wasn't that he was corrupted by himself, but rather that he was eroded, shattered, and forcibly pieced back together by some force.

His cultivation level plummeted from its peak, his Dao principles were shattered, and countless unhealable cracks remained in his body.

Even so, he was still a Dao embryo.

A Dao embryo that has been reduced to level eight, cursed and locked, and can never advance any further.

He stopped, clasped his hands together, and solemnly bowed.

His voice was hoarse, yet clearly reached the ears of every Daoist fetus:

"I am Sasaki from the Paradise of All Heavens, codename Phoenix. Greetings, esteemed cultivators."