That said, the yearning to attain true Immortal Kinghood, as well as the hidden worry over future crises that would require true Immortal King-level battle power to face,
still hung like dark clouds over the hearts of every high-ranking member of the Golden Crow Clan.
Several million years of stability had nurtured prosperity, but it had also planted new challenges.
Whether the glory of the Golden Crow Clan could continue, and whether a new king could be born after Lu Xuan, had become an immense suspense beneath this golden age—one that no one could resolve.
And atop the ancient Fusang tree, deep within the chaotic palace, Lu Xuan’s seclusion still continued.
His aura grew ever deeper and more ethereal, as though it had merged with the breathing of the entire great universe.
He seemed to sense the anxiety of his clansmen outside, yet he did not interfere.
Perhaps, in his eyes, this was both a predicament and a tempering.
A true king had to walk his own path out of desperate straits.
The future of the Golden Crow Clan could not forever be supported by him alone.
The flow of time here seemed entirely different from that of the outside world.
The changes of a million years outside might, in this place, be no more than a few deep rises and falls of the tide within Lu Xuan’s sea of consciousness.
The chaotic qi coiling around him was no longer merely a manifestation of power; it seemed to have transformed into a tangible vessel bearing the rules of the Great Dao.
At times, it evolved earth, water, fire, and wind, reopening heaven and earth; at times, all things returned to ruin, reverting once more to chaos.
The Chaos Bell floated silently, and the ancient, indistinct patterns upon its body grew ever clearer, as though recording endless mysteries from before the opening of heaven, beyond the epochs.
It was perfectly synchronized with Lu Xuan’s breathing and even the fluctuations of his Dao rhythm; the two had almost become one.
Amid this ultimate silence and enlightenment, Lu Xuan’s consciousness was following the veins of the inheritance of Donghuang Taiyi,
launching an assault upon the invisible shackles that, in the unseen, restrained the peak quasi-kings of the Golden Crow Clan from taking another step forward.
He saw it. It was not a simple barrier of laws, but a complex web interwoven with fortune, karma, authority of the Great Dao, and even the living being’s own “attachment to self.”
For the Golden Crow Clan, the existence of him, the “Eastern Emperor,” had itself become an enormous “Dao obstacle.”
His radiance was too blazing, covering the paths of those who came after him. His very existence had almost defined the ultimate height of the Golden Crow Dao in this era.
“Better to guide than to block; better to lead than to overshadow.”
A realization rose in Lu Xuan’s heart.
Forcibly raising the cultivation of his clansmen would be nothing but pulling up seedlings to help them grow.
Only by opening for them an entirely new path—one that could clarify the self, sever fetters, and point straight to the source—could this deadlock be broken.
His divine sense began to take himself as the model, the Primordial Daoist arts as the foundation, and the laws of this perfect world as the soil, carrying out an unprecedented deduction and creation.
On this day, the calm was broken.
Not by an external enemy, but from the chaotic palace itself!
“Dong—”
A bell toll rang out, not produced by the vibration of the bell’s body, yet seemingly originating from the very source of the Great Dao.
It surged forth from the place where Lu Xuan was in seclusion, instantly spreading throughout the entire Golden Crow Clan grounds and even affecting a small half of the Immortal Domain!
All Golden Crow clansmen, regardless of cultivation level, felt their minds shake violently at this moment, sensing a throbbing and cleansing that came from the depths of their bloodline and souls.
The seven quasi-Immortal Kings suddenly raised their heads, astonishing light bursting from their eyes.
They sensed that the incomparably solid barrier to the King Realm within themselves had, under this inexplicable Dao sound, loosened ever so slightly!
Immediately after, under countless horrified gazes, the chaotic qi atop the ancient Fusang tree began to churn violently.
Three vague yet mysterious figures rose from above Lu Xuan’s seated true body, reflecting upon the firmament of the Immortal Domain!
The first figure wore imperial robes and a crown. Its face was identical to Lu Xuan’s, yet it was filled with supreme majesty that ruled over the heavens and grasped the laws.
Around it circled the ultimate radiance of the Law of the Sun, yet it also carried a trace of absolute calm and rationality, like a “god” stripped of all emotion.
This was the “Corpse of Clinging Self,” representing attachment to and control over power, authority, and the rules of the Great Dao.
The second figure was a mass of chaotic flame that constantly changed and leapt.
At times, it transformed into a compassionate Buddha; at times, into a slaughtering demon god; at times, into a laughing child; at times, into an aged elder nearing the end of life.
It symbolized the endless thoughts, desires, good intentions, and evil thoughts of living beings—the aggregate of all “thought.”
This was the “Corpse of Thought-Self,” representing the complex and ever-changing thoughts and desires of living beings.
The third figure was the most indistinct, as though it were only a faint shadow.
It was almost no different from Lu Xuan’s true body, yet it exuded a sense of estrangement, of “not-self.”
It carried all of Lu Xuan’s past experiences, karma, memories, and even part of his origin, yet stood independent from them.
This was the “Corpse of Original Self,” the living being’s cognition of and fetters to the existence of the “self.”
The manifestation of the Three Corpses was not physical reality, but a projection of the rules of the Great Dao. It was the first time the core essence of the method Lu Xuan had created was revealed to heaven and earth!
The entire Immortal Domain fell silent because of it!
Countless ancient existences awakened from slumber and looked in shock at the three figures stretching across the sky, sensing a mysterious Dao rhythm utterly different from anything before!
“What… kind of method is this?”
King Pan murmured to himself. He felt even his Immortal King Dao fruit trembling faintly.
“To sever the self… to clarify the source… inconceivable!”
Immortal King Moluo’s gaze burned brightly as he perceived part of its profundity.
Lu Xuan’s true body remained seated.
But his Dao voice resounded in the hearts of every core member of the Golden Crow Clan, especially the seven quasi-Immortal Kings, like the peal of a great bell:
“When the Dao path is obstructed, it is not from insufficient strength, but because the ‘self’ blinds the eyes.”
“Today, I establish the method of ‘Severing the Three Corpses,’ taking chaos as the foundation and the Great Dao as the blade.”
“The first severing is the ‘Clinging Self,’ shedding excessive attachment to power, authority, and the Dao path, so that one may behold the true nature of the rules and attain clarity of mind.”
“The second severing is the ‘Thought-Self,’ stripping away endless distracting thoughts, delusions, and inner demons, so that the spiritual dais becomes empty and luminous, and the will becomes one.”
“The third severing is the ‘Original Self,’ transcending the restraints of past cognition, karma, and destiny, so that one may behold the true nature of suchness and illuminate the original source.”
“When the Three Corpses are severed completely, the self becomes clear, the Dao path reveals itself, and Hunyuan may be hoped for. This is not the forgetting of emotion, but the utmost emotion; this is not the destruction of self, but the true self.”
This profound method was like sweet rain, falling upon the hearts of the seven quasi-Immortal Kings that had long since dried up.
They had been trapped at their bottleneck for several million years and had accumulated far too much anxiety, attachment, distracting thought, as well as fixed perceptions of their identity as Golden Crows and of Lu Xuan’s shadow.
At this moment, as the method of Severing the Three Corpses entered them, they seemed to see a clear road amid the fog!
They did not need to surpass Lu Xuan, nor did they need to completely turn away from the Golden Crow Dao. Rather, through this method, they needed to sever the “dust” that obstructed them from seeing their own paths clearly.
They had to find the “Dao of the True Self” that belonged to them alone—one that could stand alongside Lu Xuan’s Dao, or even complement it!
An unprecedented light burst from Lu Yu’s eyes. The impatience he had accumulated because of his sharp drive to advance, and his excessive yearning to become an Immortal King, began to loosen.