“If they let go of everything, how can they understand the world, themselves, and ascend to a higher state?”

As soon as those words were spoken, the world seemed to freeze.

Even the air that swayed the disciples’ hair no longer seemed to dare to blow before those words.

For most of the people and beasts there, the Dao and Immortality were still very distant matters. But what was preached that day was not about an extremely lofty, complex, and distant state.

It was about the simple path that each of them walked every day. It was about trampling over everything they had believed in until that moment.

As everyone progressed in cultivation, the need to sleep was replaced by meditation, hunger disappeared, thirst ceased to be felt, heat no longer caused sweat, and cold no longer made one shiver. And as they advanced, even breathing would no longer be necessary.

Thus, in the conception of cultivators, the correct path was abandonment.

Abandon emotions, for familiar faces would disappear as one persevered in cultivation.

Abandon sensations, for they make one fragile.

Abandon small pleasures, for they become obstacles and a waste of time in the pursuit of a longer life.

It had always been like this, and that was the norm.

Every cultivator either died in the belly of a beast, on the edge of another’s blade, or sitting inside their own cave in a failed attempt to reach a greater realm.

It was as if, at the end of their lives, only cultivation and an attachment to a life that had never truly been lived remained. There was no cultivator who, upon seeing their final days approaching, went out to see the world and enjoy a few good moments one last time.

And Liu Taixuan, inside the necklace, widened his eyes in shock upon having such a revelation.

His mind was blank, his world spinning, and even an extremely loud buzzing filled his senses.

He realized that when his life was coming to an end, he had merely sent a voice transmission to his beloved grandson from the place where he was in seclusion—a brief farewell. He had not even stepped outside to embrace him or see him one last time before returning to focus on attempting a breakthrough.

At that moment, it had seemed so natural that he, and perhaps not even his grandson, had noticed the strangeness of it. How… inhuman all of it seemed.

He had known from the beginning that he would fail. His grandson, whose immense sadness he had been able to perceive, had known as well. But neither of them had said it aloud. They had only waited until the final moment for a miracle… that never came.

But at that second, right after Wen Tai’s words had ended, he finally realized that he had been blind to everything around him, focusing only on cultivation, and had lost too much because of it. And with such realization, the world finally seemed to open up before him.

A feeling of extreme detachment arose, and he had felt that before. It was the precursor to an epiphany.

His eyes began to close involuntarily, ready to analyze everything within himself, just like the last time.

But at the moment when only a small slit remained, his heart trembled, and he refused to let them close.

Struggling with all his strength against that feeling of detachment, he forced his eyes open, and when he did, an explosion of light and colors invaded his mind, washing away all the perceptions about himself that had begun to emerge.

At that moment there was no past or future in his thoughts, only his present self and the beautiful world before his eyes, which he saw through the necklace.

‘The world… seems so… different…’

His intense red eyes looked lost and perplexed, moving from side to side as he observed the world outside, which seemed more vibrant, more alive, and more… complex.

When he looked at a water fountain, he saw seemingly hidden patterns within the current—patterns that seemed to dictate how the water flowed, how it spread, how it wetted things, and how it gave life.

But those patterns seemed slightly distorted, and he did not fully understand them. His soul seemed to feel that he had no compatibility with that type of pattern.

His gaze then turned to the sun in the sky, and once again there were the patterns. Patterns that dictated how to illuminate, how to give warmth, and how to nourish all things.

And once again those patterns did not seem compatible with him. He felt a slight blockage in his perception, although these were clearer than the ones in the water. He had the feeling that, if he persisted, he might be able to understand a little, but it was still not the right path for him.

His eyes were dazzled. Everywhere he looked, he saw the patterns, and the more he saw, the clearer his perception of them became.

‘Dao.’

That word echoed in his mind.

‘The path of all things.’

He had finally understood, and a small smile appeared on his lips.

‘It was always there… how could we have been so blind.’

Joy and sadness divided his heart as the effects of the epiphany receded.

He was happy for finally understanding, but also sad for having realized it so late. If he had had this perception back then, he might have continued living, and his grandson, under his protection, would never have died.

‘Unfortunately, it is already too late, and I could not save my grandson.’

A sad sigh escaped his lips, but his eyes drifted toward a beautiful blonde girl sitting beside a black-haired boy, and suddenly became firm, yet gentle.

‘But I can still protect the treasure he left behind.’

A terrifying aura began to emanate from his body, filling the entire necklace, yet firmly contained within it, not affecting the people outside.

His aura was much stronger than before, and his temperament seemed more ethereal, but also gentler.

With the end of the epiphany, the patterns were no longer as clear. But now that he knew where to look, the old man could still see them, hidden within all things, though with less focus.

And as for his Dao?

A smile appeared on his lips.

He had already discovered it.

Behind him, violent flames suddenly burst forth, forming the terrifying image of a firebird with enormous blazing wings spread wide, and with intense green eyes full of vitality.

SKREEEE!

A beautiful and majestic phoenix cry came from those flames, which radiated vitality, protection, and power.

“My Dao is a protective Dao, a burning Dao, a proud Dao. My Dao is that of the protective flames, the path of the Phoenix!”

With firmness, he spoke those words, and the direction of his future seemed clearer than ever.

His Dao had emerged in the final second of the epiphany, when Wen Tai’s words resonated within him.

Before, he had always looked inward, but he had never understood himself, and thus had not discovered the Dao. But when he entered epiphany and focused on the world outside, he finally saw the Dao everywhere.

Thus, he understood the world for the first time that day, yet he did not find his path there.

Then, at that moment, Wen Tai’s words arose in his mind:

‘By understanding the world, you can understand yourself and thus forge a firm path beneath your feet, walking much farther than anyone before you.’

Upon remembering this, something clicked.

In the world, he saw the flames that had always accompanied him since birth, because of his affinity for fire.

He saw the necklace full of vitality around him, which had allowed him to persist and now live a second life.

And finally, he saw his granddaughter, whom he wished to protect fiercely, burning everything that tried to harm her.

That was the world around him, his world. Only then did he finally allow himself to look at himself.

He was Liu Taixuan, a fierce patriarch, a proud cultivator, a gentle old man, and a loving grandfather. Nothing more, nothing less.

With such realization, he understood the world, understood himself, and with that… finally forged his path.

Clenching his fists, he felt an extreme power surge through his soul, far beyond anything he had ever felt before.

Just the projection of the phoenix on his back alone would be enough to burn alive his past self at his peak period, when he was still alive, which filled him with confidence.

‘Heh… let’s see if that little brat dares to keep provoking me, his grandfather, recklessly again.’

Liu Taixuan laughed maliciously, already imagining himself kicking Aotian’s butt in the coming days.

Unfortunately, just as the old man began to feel proud, he felt a slight exhaustion and had to hastily withdraw the fierce flames he had externalized, while his ghostly face turned pale.

As soon as he withdrew his power, he immediately realized the problem, which made him frown before letting out a bitter sigh.

‘It seems that, because I no longer have a body or vitality, with my soul being kept whole only by the life energy of the necklace, I didn’t truly enter the Mahayana realm…’

‘But it also can’t be said that I didn’t enter it. I’m in something like… half a step into the Mahayana realm?’

That was the best description he could come up with, as he scratched his head bitterly.

‘Well, that’s already good. Although I can’t spend my energy freely, fortunately now with the Dao, even without a body, I can already recover a bit of it instead of only losing it like before.’

‘As for rebuilding my body… the Infinite Dao Sect should have a way.’

The old man’s face began to redden when he thought about that part. He looked at Aotian, who was sitting in the distance, focused on other things, and felt a wave of embarrassment as he thought bitterly, already somewhat certain:

‘That boy is going to provoke me a lot when I ask to join the sect, isn’t he?’

…

Aotian still did not know about the old man’s great breakthrough, nor about his thoughts, but if he knew, he would certainly say:

“Don’t worry, old man. There’s no need to doubt it, I will definitely provoke you!”

Not knowing this for now, Aotian was focused on the people around him and smiled slightly as he saw the result of the sermon.

Rihai, at his side, much to his surprise, had truly entered epiphany—against all odds. Her eyes were already closed, and her aura was growing stronger, which stirred a hint of envy in him, but even more joy.

Through his ancestors, however, he could sense that the world was still giving his wife a small extra push, helping her sustain the epiphany she had achieved on her own. Without that assistance, it would quickly fade because of the problem of having two bodies at the same time.

And it was not only her who had entered this wonderful state.

His words during the sermon, even without the help of the world, were already extremely profound enough to cause terrifying changes in people’s understanding.

This, together with the bonus of the aura of the ancestor of the Heritage Pavilion, Zhao Wenming, made it much easier than normal for the disciples to let go and enter a state of completely empty mind.

Thus, once again in the Infinite Dao Sect, that state, normally extremely rare in a cultivator’s life, was triggering in several points of the crowd at the same time as if it were something easy and common to happen.

Among three hundred and sixty thousand cultivators and tens of thousands more beasts, an abnormal number of just over three thousand members of the sect had entered epiphany.

The number might seem small, even a little less than 1% of the total number of people there, but it would still shock anyone who heard about it.

If this were told outside, people from all over the world would run there frantically just to try to receive the effect of that sermon.

In the world, cases of epiphany were rare. But there, in the Infinite Dao Sect, with that single sermon on that day, one in every hundred people had entered that supreme state, something simply unbelievable.

But while Aotian rejoiced as he saw his points increase, he suddenly froze when he saw a certain person entering epiphany in the middle of the crowd.

Lei Yun, the former Mahayana he had brought from the small world along with the others to participate in that sermon, since he thought it would be unfair to let them miss it, was there having an epiphany for the third time since joining the sect.

Aotian’s mouth twitched violently as he felt the bastard reach the third level of Nascent Soul as if it were nothing.

When Lei Yun had joined the sect, his realm had been behind Aotian’s, but now he was already several years of progress ahead of him.

‘Damn epiphanies, why are you so biased?!’

Aotian felt like biting a cloth and pulling it in frustration before shouting and cursing at the world.

‘It’s so unfair, I also want to cheat with epiphanies!’

He gritted his teeth, indignant.

This was truly the famous case of complaining with a full belly.

It was only when he saw his EPs that he could finally restrain his complaints.

His eyes then began to shine, while an uncontrollable smile returned to his face.

‘Time for three new friends to join the sect.’

[Epiphany Points: 3,632]

[Avatar Shop:

Outer Elder – 1 EP

Inner Elder – 10 EP

Sect Leader – 5000 EP [Not Purchasable]

Ancestor – 1000 EP]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep