Chapter 423 – Above Dao Comprehension Is Great Dao, Above Great Dao No One Knows

High in the sky, Lu Chen gazed below at the series of consequences triggered by the scruffy Sword Cultivator slaying the evil flood dragon, falling deep into contemplation.

Initially, he thought what Gu Yue True Immortal wanted him to witness were his pre-Immortal Ascension experiences. But now, it appeared far more complex than he had imagined.

The scruffy Sword Cultivator’s identity required little speculation. Though his appearance was unkempt, his facial features bore a ninety percent resemblance to Gu Yue True Immortal. It was almost certain this was one of Gu Yue True Immortal’s Reincarnations.

Yet the crux didn’t lie in the scruffy Sword Cultivator’s identity, but rather in the impact he created and the subsequent chain of events. Vaguely, Lu Chen began to grasp the meaning Gu Yue True Immortal sought to convey through this demonstration.

At this realization, Lu Chen inquired: “Does the True Immortal mean to suggest that if we allow this Mortal Hindrance to accumulate unchecked, even the Thirty-Three Heavens would experience similar events?”

Gu Yue True Immortal didn’t answer directly, instead saying meaningfully: “Whether the Immortal Cultivation World would face such circumstances – I believe you should know better than I, don’t you?”

After a moment of silence, Lu Chen found his answer. Correlating with the current situation in reality, he indeed glimpsed traces of reality developing toward the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms.

Previously, Lu Chen merely thought the four Forbidden Lands surrounding the real world resulted from the Fusion between the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms and reality, unrelated to the real world’s own Heavenly Dao – merely a conflict between two worlds’ Heavenly Daos.

But after learning about this ‘Mortal Hindrance’-like existence, Lu Chen faintly felt he had deciphered the relationship between Immortals and Mortals, and why the Immortal Alliance cared so deeply about Mortals.

While the Mortal population certainly determined the Spiritual Power concentration in the Cultivators’ world, compared to the Immortal Alliance’s astonishing restrictions on Cultivators and preferential treatment of Mortals, Lu Chen always sensed there existed some unknown relationship between Cultivators and Mortals.

What Gu Yue True Immortal showed him now revealed the answer to this question.

Mortal Hindrance – a special ‘miasma’ composed of Mortal Karma. Normally, this miasma rarely appeared. But whenever large numbers of Mortals died with ‘resentment’, the Mortal Hindrance would multiply exponentially.

Though minor Mortal Hindrance wouldn’t affect the Heavenly Dao, once accumulated to a certain degree, the Heavenly Dao would gradually twist under this miasma’s influence until descending into madness.

To resolve this, only one method seemed viable: prevent Mortals from dying unjust deaths as much as possible, or devise a way to reduce this Karma without affecting the Heavenly Dao.

Almost simultaneously with these thoughts, the concept of the ‘Underworld’ emerged in Lu Chen’s mind. The Underworld’s existence indirectly provided a system of ‘rewards and punishments’, serving as a form of insurance against Mortal Karma in a sense.

Yet whether in the game’s Immortal Cultivation World or the real world’s Central Province, Lu Chen had never witnessed anything resembling the Underworld. Consequently, the Mortal Karma accumulated over such prolonged periods must have reached astonishing levels.Lu Chen even considered that behind the various inhuman actions of the Ancient Immortal Sects might lie the intention to further catalyze the karmic obstacles of mortals in the world.

This had nothing to do with their personal will but was an instinct born from the distortion of the Nine Realms Heavenly Dao.

For once the Nine Realms Heavenly Dao was distorted, the karmic obstacles of mortals became its source of power.

The more mortals died unnatural deaths, the stronger it grew.

Conversely, it would grow weaker.

However, the Nine Realms Heavenly Dao had already taken shape.

Attempting to resolve the issue by weakening karmic obstacles now would be nothing but a fool’s dream.

With this understanding of mortal karmic obstacles, many previously unexplained matters gradually came to light.

For instance, Lu Chen had once wondered:

The reincarnation of Immortals had existed since ancient times.

This was because the True Spirit of an Immortal was extraordinary, difficult to erase by ordinary means, allowing them to continuously cycle through reincarnation and be reborn.

But what about the souls of mortals?

How were mortal souls born, and how did they vanish?

Where did the souls of mortals go after death?

These were all things Lu Chen had not known before.

According to descriptions from others in the game instance,

after the war between the two realms, the Immortals seemed to have found a way to create a complete cycle of reincarnation from the Ancient Immortals.

At first, Lu Chen had thought this so-called reincarnation was merely to help Immortals reincarnate faster and restore themselves to their peak more quickly after rebirth.

But now, it seemed this complete reincarnation might be far more complex than he had imagined.

It might even include a reincarnation system for mortals.

However, something must have gone awry in the process, or perhaps a necessary condition was missing,

preventing the reincarnation system from being fully established in the real world.

At the very least, Lu Chen had never heard any talk of reincarnation in the real world.

Yet one thing, since the war between the two realms, had continued to affect reality:

the way Cultivators treated mortals had completely changed.

It was worth noting that in the current Immortal Cultivation World, only the Azure Cloud Sect was the most friendly toward mortals.

Although the remaining righteous sects would not commit heinous acts like killing mortals to cultivate their power,

it was common for them to hold themselves in high regard and disregard the lives of mortals.

In fact, one could say that the Azure Cloud Sect was the true anomaly in the entire Immortal Cultivation World, a rare existence.

As he pondered, Lu Chen grew increasingly suspicious of the Azure Cloud Sect’s emergence.

After all, even if the sect’s founding Ancestral Master, the Azure Cloud Immortal, had a favorable attitude toward mortals and established rules for his descendants to follow,

without benefits, or for a task that offered little reward for great effort, how many could persist indefinitely?

Yet the Azure Cloud Sect not only maintained such rules but did so exceptionally well.

This undoubtedly required the patient efforts of many generations.

Would an Immortal truly go to such lengths for mortals?

Recalling the scenes Gu Yue True Immortal had shown him, Lu Chen’s gaze toward him grew peculiar.

Gu Yue True Immortal made no attempt to hide it and smiled openly, saying, “Fellow Daoist, your thoughts are correct. Aside from being Gu Yue True Immortal and the Nine Realms Sword Ancestor, I have another identity: the founding ancestor of your Azure Cloud Sect, the Azure Cloud Immortal.””I actually thought you would have realized this much earlier, young friend. After all, despite your unusual qualities at the time, you should have considered that a True Immortal would never casually bestow his essence blood upon a mere junior with only modest talent.”

“There must have been some specific Karma at play.”

“And wasn’t your most important identity at that time precisely that of a Disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect?”

Lu Chen responded with a helpless smile.

Had Gu Yue True Immortal’s words been directed at any ordinary Disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, they might have held true.

But applied to him, they fell somewhat short.

After all, Lu Chen knew his own circumstances well.

His so-called identity as an Azure Cloud Sect Disciple paled in significance compared to the mysteries of his peculiar mini-game.

His initial assumption about Gu Yue True Immortal’s willingness to assist him had always centered on the True Immortal Cultivation game, not his status as an Azure Cloud Sect Disciple.

However, now that he knew Gu Yue True Immortal’s identity, Lu Chen decided to seize this opportunity to address several lingering doubts.

“Might I ask if the True Immortal established the Azure Cloud Sect precisely because of this Mortal Barrier?”

Gu Yue True Immortal nodded and began explaining his reasons for founding the Azure Cloud Sect.

“You should be aware, young friend, that what I initially established wasn’t the Azure Cloud Sect, but rather the Cloud Sect of the Thirty-Three Heavens.”

“My reasoning at the time was simple: since excessive wrongful deaths among Mortals would affect the Heavenly Dao, I would start with the Immortals and gradually change their perspective toward Mortals.”

“Thus I decided to establish the Cloud Sect, hoping to influence other Immortals and even other Major Thousand Worlds through it.”

“But I soon realized my mistake.”

“Although many Immortals in the Thirty-Three Heavens had cultivated from Mortal origins, there were also numerous beings who were born as Immortals.”

“While it might be possible to persuade the former to treat Mortals kindly, the latter simply don’t consider themselves the same kind of existence as Mortals.”

“After all, in terms of nature, those innate Immortals possess dispositions closest to the Dao itself – devoid of emotion and unaffected by external matters.”

“As for the acquired Immortals, changing their perspectives proved equally challenging.”

“Those capable of cultivating to Immortalhood necessarily possess great determination and extraordinary Opportunities. Their worldviews were already firmly established and difficult to alter.”

“Even if I compelled them through my authority as a True Immortal, they would hardly carry out my instructions willingly.”

“Moreover, while I could suppress them temporarily, I couldn’t control them indefinitely.”

“Especially while other Immortals still existed in the Thirty-Three Heavens.”

“Thus, I conceived the idea of changing worldly perceptions of Mortals starting from the Mortal stage itself.”

“The Azure Cloud Sect was born under these circumstances.”

“And as you can see, compared to the aloof Cloud Sect, the Azure Cloud Sect – now the leader of the Righteous Path in the Azure Cloud World – aligns far better with my vision.”

“Though I would like to establish the Azure Cloud Sect in other Major Thousand Worlds, the remaining worlds belong to other True Immortals’ domains where I have no right to interfere.”

“As for my reasons for creating the Azure Cloud Sect, you’ve likely already discerned them, young friend.”

“There’s only one reason: I don’t want the Thirty-Three Heavens to share the same fate as the Nine Realms.”

“After all, I cannot guarantee that I could escape the Heavenly Dao’s constraints again using the Three Corpses Method.””A single great calamity destroyed ten thousand years of my arduous cultivation, and it took me tens of thousands of years to restore my cultivation.”

“But even for a True Immortal, how many tens of thousands of years can one have? How many times can one emerge unscathed from a great calamity?”

“Besides this, another reason I have done so much is guilt.”

Guilt…

Upon hearing these words, Lu Chen instantly furrowed his brow.

Because without much thought, he guessed the reason for Gu Yue True Immortal’s guilt.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the reason the Nine Realms came into contact with the Thirty-Three Heavens was because of Gu Yue True Immortal.

The Nine Realms Heavenly Dao used Gu Yue True Immortal’s existence to locate the Thirty-Three Heavens.

But this was already an established fact, and regardless of right or wrong, it was difficult to change.

However, there was one point Lu Chen couldn’t figure out.

And he straightforwardly asked about it.

“Since you, True Immortal, have long known about the existence of the Nine Realms, why didn’t you inform the other Immortals so they could be prepared?”

To this, Gu Yue True Immortal replied helplessly, “How can you be sure, young friend, that the True Immortals know nothing about the Nine Realms?”

These words immediately stirred up a storm in Lu Chen’s heart.

The implication needed no further explanation.

Gu Yue True Immortal had actually long informed the other True Immortals about the existence of the Nine Realms, but for some purpose, the other True Immortals did not share this information with the other Immortals, even seeming to subtly promote the war between the two realms.

This reminded Lu Chen of when he first entered the Great Wilderness Pagoda and obtained the Longevity Sword, and those words that suddenly appeared in his ears.

‘Do not trust the Immortals.’

At the time, Lu Chen thought the other party meant ‘Do not trust the Celestial Beings.’

But now it seemed, the other party was warning him to be wary of the Immortals.

But this raised even more questions.

For example, the Nine Realms and the Thirty-Three Heavens were clearly two extremes.

For what purpose were the Immortals deliberately promoting the war between the two realms?

Gu Yue True Immortal looked at Lu Chen’s furrowed brow and immediately saw the confusion in his heart.

He explained, “The reason you can’t figure it out, young friend, is because you have yet to understand what the True Immortals truly seek.”

“Given your current experiences, you must have understood the meaning of Enlightenment as the path to Immortality.”

“And above Enlightenment is the Great Dao, which is the Realm we True Immortals reside in.”

“But at this stage, it is the end for all True Immortals.”

“Although there are three thousand Great Daos and countless minor paths.”

“To fully comprehend a single Great Dao, even a True Immortal would need at least ten thousand years.”

“Legend has it that if one can fully comprehend all three thousand Great Daos, they can step beyond the Great Dao.”

“But comprehending three thousand Great Daos is nearly impossible.”

“Therefore, upon learning of the Gu Xian’s ability to plunder others’ Great Daos, some True Immortals naturally developed other ideas.”

“With this, you should understand, young friend.”

Hearing these words, Lu Chen felt as if he had glimpsed the secrets hidden high in the heavens.

Above Enlightenment lies the Great Dao, and above the Great Dao… no one knows.

Those True Immortals, in order to step beyond the Great Dao, were willing to gamble with an entire world.

Did they not know the risks involved?

No, they were well aware.

But compared to the seemingly insignificant yet slightly promising path of seizing the heavens,

Comprehending three thousand Great Daos themselves was undoubtedly a path that seemed bright but was actually endlessly distant.However, this undoubtedly made the situation far more complex.

Because it meant the outbreak of the war between the two realms was not solely the result of the Nine Realms’ actions.

Rather, it was something both sides’ Immortals could actively promote.

Forget resolving the matter—whether he could even preserve himself within this colossal vortex remained unknown.

Fortunately, not all True Immortals were cold and unfeeling beings.

As he pondered, Lu Chen seemed to recall something and inquired, “The True Immortal previously mentioned using the Three Corpses Method to break free from the constraints of the Nine Realms Heavenly Dao. May I ask what exactly this Three Corpses Method entails?”

(End of Chapter)