Finally, the most abstruse Self Corpse slowly took solid form.
It looked the most ordinary of all—simply Lu Xuan as he appeared in daily life, dressed in a plain azure robe, his gaze calm as water, as though he had seen through the eternal cycle of reincarnation.
There was nothing in its hand, yet it seemed to grasp an invisible source point of the Dao.
It had no inclination toward good or evil, no fluctuations of emotion. It merely “existed” in its purest form, the most essential core of Lu Xuan after all external attributes had been stripped away.
It was the bridge connecting the Good and Evil Corpses, and also the root that governed them both.
The Three Corpses stood apart, their auras utterly different, yet they all sprang from the same source, forming a subtle and stable balance.
As Lu Xuan sensed the Three Corpses’ entirely new forms, his understanding deepened.
“So that is how it is… Severing the Three Corpses is not merely to sever them out, but for the sake of ‘joining with the Dao.’”
He murmured to himself.
The Evil Corpse could preside over conquest and wield the Chaos Bell’s power of attack and slaughter. It was a sharp weapon for protecting the Dao, used to face all external demons and tribulations. Within its destruction lay the vitality of “breaking down in order to establish anew.”
The Good Corpse could preside over teaching, spread Daoist methods, gather fortune, and protect a region. It was the support for accumulating merit and stabilizing one’s foundation. Beneath its compassion, there was also the majesty of “a vajra’s wrathful glare.”
The Self Corpse sat at the center, harmonizing good and evil, clarifying the true heart, and deducing the Great Dao. It was the fundamental guide for advancing along the path of Dao, the embodiment of the “I” that transcended all things.
The three complemented one another; not one could be lacking. If one cultivated only good, one would fall into softness and weakness, unable to resist external evils. If one cultivated only evil, one would sink into slaughter and eventually incur heavenly condemnation. Only when good and evil coexisted, governed by the self, could one behold the full picture of the Great Dao, with yin and yang aiding one another, and Hunyuan within reach.
“This method is the true path of ‘Severing the Three Corpses.’”
Divine light shone clear and bright in Lu Xuan’s eyes.
What he had severed during the battle in the Realm Sea had only been an embryonic form based on his understanding at the time. Now, after settling and deducing it, he had finally returned to the most core and most powerful form of this method.
With a slight movement of his mind, the hostility in the Evil Corpse’s eyes receded, and it nodded faintly to him.
Then it transformed into a streak of black light and merged into the Chaos Bell. At once, even more ancient carvings of war and slaughter appeared upon the bell’s body. Its aura of attack was withdrawn within, yet it seemed even more terrifying.
The Good Corpse, meanwhile, wore a smile and held the Heart Lamp. With a single step, it actually passed straight through the chaos palace and appeared above the Golden Crow clan grounds.
It did not reveal its true form. Instead, it transformed into an invisible, peaceful Dao resonance, scattering sweet rain while expounding the Dao and chanting scriptures.
For a time, all living beings throughout the Golden Crow clan grounds felt their minds grow tranquil, and their comprehension seemed to improve by several degrees. Many clan members who had been trapped at bottlenecks suddenly saw the path ahead.
The Self Corpse remained seated opposite Lu Xuan, deducing the Great Dao together with his true body and perfecting the details of the method.
Lu Xuan knew that with this method as their foundation, the seven quasi-Immortal Kings of the Golden Crow clan—and even all living beings with hope of cultivating this method—would undergo an essential transformation.
What they needed to face would no longer be the vague concepts of “attachment, thought, and origin,” but the more concrete “good, evil, and self,” which could better illuminate the heart.
This was undoubtedly far more dangerous, because facing the good and evil within one’s own heart was a much greater trial of the Dao heart than dealing with external attachments.
But once one succeeded, the gains would also be incomparably immense. It would be a dual sublimation of both Dao heart and strength!
Within the chaos palace, the Dao sounds grew ever more profound.
Using himself as the model, Lu Xuan began to systematically organize this perfected method of “Severing the Three Corpses.”
A brand-new cultivation era that pointed directly to Hunyuan and interrogated the true heart—
With the redefinition of the Three Corpses, its curtain was officially drawn open.
In the future, the myriad heavens would surely be stirred into even greater waves by this distinction between good, evil, and self, and would bloom with an even more resplendent radiance of Dao fruits!
Just as Lu Xuan was in the chaos palace, preliminarily perfecting the Three Corpses method of “good, evil, and self,” and as the Good Corpse incarnation quietly bestowed its grace upon the Golden Crow clan grounds—
A vast, upright, and peaceful spatial fluctuation came from beyond the Immortal Domain. It carried no hostility whatsoever; instead, it bore an ancient and noble Dao resonance.
At the outskirts of the Golden Crow clan grounds, ripples spread through the starry sky, and an ancient, simple warship forged from chaos stone and branches of the World Tree slowly sailed out of the void.
The warship was not large, yet it exuded an aura of vicissitudes, as though it had endured countless baptisms of blood and fire. Upon the flag at its prow was engraved the emblem of the Primordial Ancient Realm—the interwoven phantoms of the Wuzhong Bell and the Reincarnation Disk.
The warship docked at the star harbor, and several figures descended.
The ones at their head were none other than Immortal King Wuzhong and the Six Paths of Reincarnation Immortal King.
For these two heaven-supporting pillars of the ancient realm to arrive together was of no small significance.
Behind them followed several outstanding quasi-Immortal Kings of the ancient realm’s younger generation.
Each of them possessed an imposing bearing, their eyes carrying curiosity toward the Golden Crow ancestral land and reverence for that Eastern Emperor.
The old Golden Crow King, Lu Huang, had long since led the clan’s higher-ups to welcome them outside. His expression was respectful, yet neither humble nor servile.
The Golden Crow clan of today had Lu Xuan presiding over it, and was sufficient to stand on equal footing with any power.
“Fellow Daoist Wuzhong, Fellow Daoist Six Paths, you have come from afar. Forgive us for not welcoming you sooner.”
Lu Huang cupped his hands and spoke. Now that he was handling the clan’s affairs in Lu Xuan’s stead, his bearing had grown increasingly steady.
Immortal King Wuzhong’s expression was gentle, yet his gaze seemed capable of piercing through spacetime. He smiled and said,
“Fellow Daoist Lu Huang, you are too courteous. His Majesty the Eastern Emperor created a supreme method, crossed a world-shaking tribulation, and shook the Realm Sea with his might. We have come specially to offer our congratulations, and also to seek guidance.”
Around the Six Paths of Reincarnation Immortal King, six black holes slowly revolved, his aura deep and unfathomable.
He nodded as a gesture of greeting, but his gaze had already turned toward the towering ancient Fusang tree and the chaos palace at its crown. A trace of deduction, nearly impossible to perceive, flashed through his eyes.
“Fellow Daoists, please. His Majesty is already aware of your arrival.” Lu Huang turned sideways and led the way.
The group passed through the magnificent clan grounds, while countless Golden Crow clansmen cast them curious and proud gazes.
They could sense the powerful pressure coming from the two Immortal Kings of the ancient realm.
But even more than that, they felt a sense of shared honor—this was the dignity brought to them by the sovereign of their Golden Crow clan!
When they approached the ancient Fusang tree, the expressions of Immortal King Wuzhong and the Six Paths of Reincarnation Immortal King both grew slightly solemn.
They sensed an atmosphere of the Great Dao utterly different from before.
It was no longer simply blazing hot and tyrannical; it now contained an indescribable sense of harmony.
There was a peaceful Dao resonance that refreshed the heart and spirit, a destructive will held back and not yet released yet enough to make even Immortal Kings’ hearts tremble, and an even more detached calmness that stood above the mundane world and observed all things.
“Fellow Daoist Eastern Emperor’s Dao has become increasingly unfathomable.”
Immortal King Wuzhong sighed softly.
When they arrived before the chaos palace, the palace doors opened soundlessly. The interior was not the resplendent and magnificent scene they had imagined.
Instead, it was a boundless chaos void. Only at the central region did Lu Xuan sit cross-legged atop a Chaos Green Lotus.
Above his head, the Chaos Bell rose and fell, while behind him, three illusory figures with faces similar to his own yet entirely different temperaments flickered in and out of sight.
“Fellow Daoist Wuzhong, Fellow Daoist Six Paths, I trust you have been well since we last met.”
Lu Xuan opened his eyes. His gaze was calm, as though it contained the scene of heaven and earth being split open.
He did not rise, but no one felt it discourteous. At their level, every movement and action accorded with Dao resonance.
“Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Eastern Emperor. Your Great Dao has advanced another step, and you have created an unrivaled wondrous method!”
Immortal King Wuzhong cupped his hands solemnly. He could clearly sense it.
Compared to during the great battle in the Realm Sea, the Lu Xuan before him had grown stronger by far more than just a little. This was an essential transformation.
The Six Paths of Reincarnation Immortal King also spoke, his voice carrying a unique magnetism.
“Fellow Daoist, this method of yours seems to touch upon the secrets of the origin and has drawn a tribulation of the Great Dao. We sensed it and yearned for it in our hearts, so we have come to trouble you. We hope Fellow Daoist will not begrudge us some answers.”
He stated his purpose directly. At the level of Immortal Kings, there was no need for too much circumlocution.
Lu Xuan smiled faintly. He had long since anticipated this.
The commotion caused by the tribulation of method creation was too great, and the profundity of the “Severing the Three Corpses” method—
It was impossible to hide it from these existences standing at the peak of the myriad heavens.