Chapter Eighty-One: Taking the Initiative

After reaching the Great Perfection in the Realm of Integration with the Dao, one could directly advance to the next stage: the Realm of Seeking the Dao.

To seek the Dao is to question the heavens, and at this time, cultivators would face the most severe heavenly tribulation of their lives. Within this tribulation, one might perceive the laws of heaven and gain the power to shatter the void. It is said that such power could even allow entry into the Immortal Realm, becoming a supreme existence. However, if one failed to glean the laws of heaven during the tribulation, there would be only one outcome: relinquishing the physical body and turning to spiritual cultivation, continuing on as a soul. Of course, there were also the truly unfortunate, who would be struck to dust by the tribulation, denied even the chance to become a spirit cultivator—a fate said to be reserved for only the most heinous of villains.

At this point, it is necessary to explain why the tribulation of seeking the Dao is considered the most severe a cultivator will ever endure. After all, any cultivator will face more than one tribulation in their lifetime.

Nine Catastrophes and Thirteen Tribulations: it is said that any cultivator who endures them all can also achieve Great Perfection in the Realm of Seeking the Dao and gain the power to shatter the void.

The so-called Nine Catastrophes are: greed, anger, ignorance, hatred, love, evil, desire, the heavens, and fate. It seems as though an invisible hand tests the minds of cultivators, manifesting calamities out of these nine emotions throughout their journey. If one can overcome them, their heart attains steadfastness, and they may directly challenge the Dao. If not, inner demons will invade; at best, one goes astray in cultivation, at worst, succumbs to madness and death.

The Thirteen Tribulations, on the other hand, are trials unique to cultivators. The path of cultivation is one that goes against the will of heaven, and the heavens will not tolerate such defiance.

Once someone attains the Realm of Dao Heart and becomes a true cultivator, the heavenly tribulation begins to brew. In other words, anyone who enters the Realm of Dao Heart is destined to face a tribulation every five hundred years, without exception.

Of course, there is one exception: those who, within five hundred years, advance directly to the Realm of Seeking the Dao, undergo its tribulation, and survive it. Such a person is exempted from all previous tribulations. However, no one in the annals of Longxiang has ever accomplished this.

Therefore, the so-called Thirteen Tribulations would only take six thousand five hundred years to complete. If one fears the tribulation of seeking the Dao, they might as well endure the Thirteen Tribulations; by doing so, they could still reach Great Perfection in the Realm of Seeking the Dao.

Anyone who thinks this way is doomed to endless regret. It is not that no one has tried this path, but after repeated failures, cultivators have come to understand that the tenth of the Thirteen Tribulations is at least as powerful as the tribulation of seeking the Dao, if not more so. With each subsequent tribulation, its power doubles. Even those who have achieved Great Perfection in seeking the Dao likely could not withstand the thirteenth tribulation.

Thus, to endure nine catastrophes and thirteen tribulations and reach Great Perfection in seeking the Dao exists only in legend. No one is known to have truly accomplished it, for those with the ability to do so would long since have chosen to survive the tribulation of seeking the Dao directly.

With this, one can understand why the grand elders of the Snow Wind Pavilion remain secluded within the sacred grounds, never venturing forth. Having already set foot in the Realm of Dao Heart, they must now seize every possible moment to cultivate, hoping to achieve greater strength before their first tribulation, so as to increase their chances of survival.

This is true not only for the Snow Wind Pavilion, but also for the Flowing Cloud Sect—indeed, for nearly every sect under heaven. Thus, the highest cultivation Lin Xiaobao had ever seen was merely the peak of the ninth stage of the Spiritual Dao.

At this moment, both he and Si Mengling realized that before them stood a master of the Dao Heart Realm. How could they not be alarmed?

Never mind that they were only at the first stage of the Spiritual Dao; even someone at the peak of the ninth stage would be no more than a child before a master of the Dao Heart Realm. The power of the Dao is something the Spiritual Dao Realm cannot comprehend, and its might is beyond their imagination.

“What should we do?” In their time together, Si Mengling had grown accustomed to letting Lin Xiaobao take the lead.

Gritting his teeth, Lin Xiaobao took out several dozen first-grade spirit jades from his storage bracelet and quickly set up an array across a radius of several dozen yards.

This time, Lin Xiaobao was no longer carefree as before; each step was taken with the utmost caution. After all, the concealment array he was laying now needed to evade the search of a Dao Heart Realm master.

When the formation was finally complete, Lin Xiaobao said, “Let’s just wait here.”

Neither of them was willing to retreat. Since they had decided to stay, they needed to prepare. With the array in place, Lin Xiaobao felt much more at ease. According to Elder Wu, as long as the spirit jades lasted, the Moonlit Spirit-Sealing Array would be impossible for anyone below the Dao Embryo Realm to detect.

Although the spiritual power stored in spirit jades was inferior to that of spirit stones, it would be enough to last three to five days. As for why he hadn’t sought advice from the two elders, Lin Xiaobao knew it would be pointless. He had tried many times before, and the answer was always the same: “As long as your life is not in danger, everything else you must handle yourself.”

Settling his mind, Lin Xiaobao began to practice the True Fire Sutra of Taiyi. Guarding such a rich source of spiritual energy and not cultivating would be a tremendous waste—one day of cultivation here was worth a week outside.

By Lin Xiaobao’s reckoning, if he cultivated here for a day, he could afford to spend six days playing once he left—why not take advantage of it?

Upon entering the Spiritual Dao Realm, Lin Xiaobao found the spiritual energy in his dantian, refined by the True Fire Sutra of Taiyi, to be scorching hot. It seemed that before reaching the Dao Heart Realm, he might be able to transform his spiritual power into spiritual fire.

The True Fire Sutra of Taiyi, a secret art from Elder Mo, was a fire-based technique that was not only formidable in battle but also invaluable in alchemy. Unfortunately, Lin Xiaobao’s cultivation was still too shallow; it would be a long while before he could transmute spiritual power into spiritual fire. Still, he no longer needed the heavenly spirit fire from the Alchemy Pavilion to refine basic pills.

Three days passed, and there was no further disturbance on the horizon. Had the two not felt the awe-inspiring might of heaven that day, they would have doubted whether any of it had happened at all.

The spiritual energy within the jades was all but spent, and the Moonlit Spirit-Sealing Array began to weaken. “Let’s go take a look,” Lin Xiaobao said, rising to his feet. He knew that as the array weakened, if a Dao Heart Realm master truly was nearby, then even if he and Si Mengling remained motionless, they would be discovered without the array’s protection.

Rather than wait to be caught, it was better to take the initiative.

Si Mengling said nothing, but the sword now drawn in her hand made her intentions clear.

With a few swift movements, Lin Xiaobao gathered the spirit jades from the ground. Though most of their energy had been depleted maintaining the array, for someone as destitute as Lin Xiaobao, even a little was better than nothing.

Once all preparations were made, the two of them quietly advanced toward the front.