Chapter 376: Primal Spirit Sheds Its Old Husk, Spiritual Altar's First Light Frees the Mortal Frame!

On a desolate planet in the Taiwei Enclosure.

Wang Ping's expression shifted multiple times, deeply conflicted. Should he trust "Mom"—that elusive Water Qi True Monarch—or abandon his status as a Dao Child?

The former was a gamble on his path.

The latter was a gamble on his opportunity.

Without a doubt, the former was slightly more important, dictating whether he could continue his cultivation. However, the latter very likely determined whether he could walk further along it.

In the Immortal Gate's cultivation, talent and a Dao heart had always been secondary.

Take Kunyun, for example. To rise from a Mortal background and become the fifth True Transmission disciple, his talent and Dao heart absolutely wouldn't lose to the direct descendants of True Persons or the Dao Children of immortal realms.

But if the Water Qi True Monarch hadn't pulled him up at the final, critical moment of his life tribulation, giving him a proper backing, how would he have ever had the chance to reach Qi Refining?

That was the key.

Wang Ping lowered his eyes. Given my current situation, defecting to the Water Qi True Monarch is inevitable. Taking any other path to connect with a True Person or True Monarch is practically impossible.

Under these circumstances, what could he rely on to reach Qi Refining?

Even taking a massive step back—assuming his talent was extraordinary and he successfully reached Qi Refining through sheer sweat and effort—what about the realms above? How was he supposed to walk the path of true cultivation?

Learn from Mingyou?

Even Mingyou had attached himself to Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang early on. For him to reach his current achievements, that backing had definitely played a significant role.

"Hah..."

At this thought, the hesitation on Wang Ping's face slowly faded, replaced by steadfast resolve. His previous insights into the Kan Trigram surfaced in his mind.

Although the Kan Trigram is fraught with peril, arriving in wave after wave like water, it does not allow a cultivator to merely drift with the current. Just as its imagery shows, heaven and earth are the two yin, while man resides as the single yang. Therefore, one who cultivates the Kan Trigram must carry yang within yin, hiding firmness within softness, and maintain their Dao heart through endless obstacles.

Just like the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time.

Hiding his true strength on ordinary days was only to deceive the eyes of others. Fundamentally, he wasn't hiding just for the sake of hiding, but so that one day he could reveal his brilliance to the world.

Therefore—

In water qi cultivation, one blessed by the Kan Trigram can hide at any time, but during a breakthrough, hiding is forbidden. Instead, they must be completely open and forthright.

This was the fullness within Kan.

Seeking the perfection of the Dao heart amid layered dangers, steadfast and unshakable—only then could one align with the imagery of the Kan Trigram, achieving twice the result with half the effort in cultivation.

I understand.

Wang Ping opened his eyes, enlightenment filling his heart. The True Monarch told me the answer long ago.

Follow the Dao heart.

If his Dao heart was to just stay low and choose steady survival, he would commit suicide and reincarnate, abandoning his Dao Child status and pinning his hopes on the future.

But if his Dao heart was to strive upward, aiming for a higher path, then he would break through to Corpse Dissolution Immortal and gamble that the Water Qi True Monarch wasn't genuinely trying to ruin him!

There was no choice to make.

If his Dao heart were the former, he wouldn't have stubbornly clashed with Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang over the Eight Trigrams Furnace back then, refusing to compromise even a fraction.

The Dao heart is more important than the Dao path.

Wang Ping instinctively channeled Golden Sea Desiccation, pulling out all stray thoughts and entering a state of epiphany. The furrow of his brow visibly relaxed.

The secret of true cultivation is perhaps hidden within this...

Achieving the Dao through true cultivation to transcend mortality was absolutely not something easily accomplished just by gathering the three corresponding strands of heaven and earth's qi and combining them with meritorious deeds.

There were far deeper trials involved.

The Dao heart, or a cultivator's personal principles—whether their conduct aligns with the true meaning of the corresponding trigram—is perhaps the most vital key of it all.

Without this, it wouldn't be enough to resonate with the trigram's imagery.

This was a supreme secret of the Dao!

"What a pity..."

At this thought, Wang Ping let out a long breath and broke into a genuine smile. "If I were a cautious person by nature, I wouldn't have been so endlessly conflicted."

He could have just followed his heart, killed himself, and reincarnated.

But alas—

"I'm just a guy who can't play it safe."

If he couldn't look ahead to higher Realms, then whether his path was severed made no difference to him. It was merely a question of stopping at Corpse Dissolution Immortal or stopping at Qi Refining.

Since that was the case, why not make the gamble?

"I'll bet... that Mom still loves me!" Wang Ping looked up at the sky, voicing his inner thoughts aloud. Then, he simply sat down cross-legged on the spot.

He began his breakthrough!

A Corpse Dissolution Immortal's breakthrough was different from Qi Refining. To push for Qi Refining, one had to fully survive their life tribulation. The rules of destiny did not allow for any loopholes.

However, a Corpse Dissolution Immortal didn't need such troublesome requirements. As long as the tribulation burden was heavy enough, one could still attempt the breakthrough even without surviving the life tribulation. Destiny tacitly permitted this. Or rather, in the eyes of destiny, a Corpse Dissolution Immortal with a severed path was, by their very existence, a manifestation of a life tribulation.

After all, the vast majority of Corpse Dissolution Immortals...

Even if they were high-spirited upon breaking through, believing themselves in no way inferior to a Qi Refining practitioner, the passing years only brought them mounting agony. By the end, they wished for nothing more than suicide.

That state of making absolutely no progress no matter how hard one tried was nothing short of the ultimate torture for a cultivator. It was no exaggeration to call it a tribulation.

Back then, Kunyun was only schemed against by Mingyou and Dashun Taizu, yet the tribulation burden he accumulated was already enough to shift to the Corpse Dissolution Immortal path. It was just that he didn't want to take it. For me, it will only be easier. After all, my life tribulation is far greater than Kunyun's. It's more than enough to transition into a Corpse Dissolution Immortal three or four times over.

At this thought, Wang Ping shifted his focus.

He entered the space of the Taiping Sutra.

Suicide, and rebirth!

A lightning-fast instant death and revival on the spot granted him a freshly minted, fully compatible body. Just in case, Wang Ping killed himself one more time.

Two bodies: one primary, one backup.

Having made ample preparations, Wang Ping entered a state of deep meditation.

Mana, Divine Powers, his destiny form—all profound mysteries began to gather in his dantian. Then, they gradually surged upward, carrying his soul and true spirit straight into the Bottomless Abyss.

At the same time, his Martial Dao's Divine Intent was frantically warning him. His intuition told him that danger was drawing ever closer. Shasheng was closing in on his location.

However, the more this happened, the calmer Wang Ping became.

He could feel that as all the Immortal Dao imagery in his body fused together, his original fleshly body seemed to turn into a burdensome shell.

With a mere twitch, he could shed this burden.

No, he didn't even need to go to that much trouble. His accumulated tribulation burden was too heavy, and his cultivation base too majestic. Becoming a Corpse Dissolution Immortal was completely beneath him.

A bottleneck simply didn't exist for him.

He only needed to do one thing—

Stand up.

...

Almost at the same time, outside the desolate planet.

As a beam of Buddhist light pierced the void, Shasheng's figure stepped out from within. His eyes were blindingly bright, reflecting the figure of Wang Ping sitting cross-legged.

What is he doing?

Although his Heavenly Eye could see Wang Ping's location, it couldn't observe exactly what he was doing. Shasheng could only tell that Wang Ping was meditating.

After pondering for a moment, he reached a logical conclusion:

Perhaps he is recovering mana.

He sequentially executed multiple techniques earlier. Breathtaking as they were, they exacted a massive toll on his mana. Without restoring his mana, there is no way he can escape back to the Immortal Gate.

A sound judgment.

Unfortunately, he had arrived faster. Even if Wang Ping had restored his mana to its peak, it would only be a continuation of their previous game of cat and mouse.

Moreover, he now had an estimate and calculation of Wang Ping's methods. On the way here, he had even specially refined a few targeted countermeasures. If they played the game again, Wang Ping wouldn't escape so easily. At this thought, Shasheng immediately strode onto the desolate planet.

But right at this moment.

"Snap!"

Suddenly, Shasheng's vision went black. Wang Ping actually vanished from his Heavenly Eye—this unexpected change caused the Ascetic Monk's brows to shoot up.

What was going on?

Could it be a water qi stealth evasion? ...It made no sense. A mere Tribulation Transcending cultivator, even if able to exert the full might of a Spiritual Treasure, shouldn't be capable of evading the detection of his Heavenly Eye.

With this thought, Shasheng hastened his pace.

In the blink of an eye, he circulated his Divine Footwork and arrived at the exact spot where Wang Ping had last appeared in his vision. And then, a look of sheer astonishment washed over his face.

Before his eyes was Wang Ping, sitting cross-legged with a peaceful expression. But what truly drew Shasheng's gaze was the figure standing right next to him.

Or rather, a profound manifestation.

It was the imagery of subterranean spring veins, the vista of a dormant dragon lurking in the abyss, piercing the netherworld, throwing open the gates of hell, and finally converging into a single beam to illuminate a faintly discernible human figure.

The entity stood there, its gender indistinguishable, possessing only a mysterious form. Behind its head was a brimming halo of light rotating like a ring, attaining its own perfection amidst a thousand hardships and ten thousand perils.

At this moment, even with Shasheng's Buddha heart, he couldn't help but gape in disbelief. He had anticipated many things, but he never expected this to happen... A grand Tribulation Transcending perfection cultivator, laden with meritorious deeds, who had even become a Dao Child beneath a True Monarch, actually ran off to become a Corpse Dissolution Immortal?

Was he insane?

Right then, the mysterious form suddenly rippled slightly. As if it had let out a sigh of emotion, it naturally triggered fluctuations in heaven and earth's qi, echoing with numerous phenomena:

"The primal spirit sheds its old husk; the spiritual altar's first light frees the mortal frame."

A Corpse Dissolution Immortal possessed no autonomy, instead relying on the qi of heaven and earth. Thus, they could not control their words and actions in normal times, inherently accompanied by endless worldly phenomena.

Seeing this, Shasheng brought his palms together and let out a sigh.

"Benefactor, why go to such bitter lengths?"

I never intended to kill you.

Even though he was a Brahma Cultivator, seeing such a figure completely sever his own path still inevitably stirred a trace of pity within him. Why hadn't he submitted to the Brahma Nation?

The Living Buddha's benevolence, the vision of equality for all living beings.

Why couldn't these immortal cultivators understand?

It wasn't just the immortal cultivators. The pioneer who proved the Martial Dao a while ago had also refused to yield. The people of this world were always so stubbornly oblivious.

The next second, the mysterious figure seemed to lift its face, looking at Shasheng from afar. Immediately after, a melodious, laughing Daoist voice rang in Shasheng's ears:

"Fellow Daoist Shasheng, our earlier bout wasn't quite satisfying."

The laughter grew louder and louder, ultimately transforming into the roaring thunder of heaven and earth's qi:

"Let us fight again!"

As his words fell, the mysterious figure leaped up. The already hazy silhouette explosively disintegrated. Amidst the boundless profound imagery, a melodious whale song rippled outward.

Soon after, a dragon-kun surfaced from the profound vista. Taking flight, it transformed into a peng, unfurling a pair of magnificent dark wings like clouds hanging from the heavens, and blasted into the Cosmos!