Chapter 1186 Dao Banquet: Breakthrough
1186 Dao Banquet: Breakthrough
Just like all immortal's path, the sword immortals were usually the embarrassment in a room - the butt of the joke, per se. The source of this disparity is that they've lost one of the core aspects of a swordsman - the Dao part. They must rely on their Immortal Qi to replicate their former abilities and swordsmanship realm.
Despite this flaw, they still considered themselves swordsmen and kept that mindset. They trained their Qi and their mind with such a mindset, thus still giving them a slight edge over regular immortals. However, the ones who truly shine in this banquet are the swordsmen with unique Sword Qis.
Wang Wei said he chose randomly the order of preaching, but that was really the case. It's more like an algorithm with the sole purpose of ensuring the best way for this banquet to proceed and be wildly successful. As such, a few unique Sword Immortals preached in the early stages of this round to rile up the crowd and set up some standards. Then, the algorithm chooses people it deduced who would have a lackluster performance and puts them first. No Immortal Sovereign appeared in the first round.
The Immortal Swordsman's preaching session was mild above the first session, with only a few dozen three-years-sermons. The embarrassing/scaring tactic worked, and hopefully, by the end of this event, the number of these weak sermons will be reduced to single digits.
The Immortal Alchemists' main focus was on Yan Liling's universal Immortal Runes, with everyone expressing their understanding and twists. The People from the Myriad Pill World took this opportunity to show the world why it was the center of Alchemy in the lower dimension. This era almost destroyed their status and privileges. Luckily, they adapted in time and were not washed away by the tide of change.
After a few rounds of exchange, it was time for the last alchemist to speak. While no one was paying attention, Yan Liling had a strange aura around her. A book materialized before her, and with the passage of time, more Dao Rhymes entered her body and the book.
'The prototype is done,' she thought, looking at the new [Pill Sage Sutra]. Her new path of pill refining centered around her talent to read the mind. She created a way for materials to awaken a [Pill Mind], essentially their spirituality or wisdom. However, such wisdom has an inherent purpose - to refine better pills.
For example, if she was refining a basic Blood Replenishing Pill with three ingredients: Yang Stems, Water bead, and spirit root. All three materials would awaken their [Pill Mind] and gain sentience. However, their purpose will be to work with each other and the Alchemist (Yan Liling in that scenario) to make the best pills.
As long as someone masters this technique, it will be impossible to create a pill of lesser quality than perfect. And in a skilled Alchemist's hands, it will be relatively easy to create true mortal perfection pills, not just the perfect quality dictated by the Alchemy Association.
'The next step is to take inspiration from the Origin Pill Flame that can refine everything.' Yan Liling thought. Her idea is that even if she awakened the Pill Mind on a non-alchemy material, it should slowly change its nature to become an alchemy material.
'To succeed, I must add a small portion of Good Fortune Dao. Creation would be best - however, that can be added once I'm an Empyrean using the Grandmist Wheel.' There was no need to incur the wrath of Heaven by becoming an Outlaw when there were alternatives.
'I'm getting over myself. There are still some problems.'
Yan Liling had to control herself not to get too far ahead. There were still some problems with awakening a [Pill Mind] for Immortal-Grade Materials as they actually resisted the destiny granted to them. Currently, she has no problem controlling immortal and Dao-grade materials, but based on the simulation in her Sea of Consciousness, even the weakest Emperor-Grade herb will revolt against her control.
Because of this issue, she couldn't even tackle the most brilliant aspect of this technique: [The Alchemy Mind]. Yan Liling did not simply want her materials to gain wisdom - she wanted them to be born with an excellent talent for alchemy but also with vast knowledge and experience.
Upon completion of this level of the [Pill Sage Sutra], refining any pills will be like all the materials were as talented as her and devoted to helping her refine the best pill possible. Such an idea sounds absurd, but Yan Liling already has a direction - Fate Dao. The process of the materials awakening their Alchemy Mind will involve them sharing fate with her - thus acquiring their talent and knowledge.
In fact, this is not even the final form of this scripture. Based on Yan Liling's imagination, the materials should awaken not only her alchemy knowledge but also other people and, if possible, the knowledge of True Heavenly Dao. However, her idea for that stage of this scripture is only vague; she knows she might have to defeat other alchemists to build a database and add Heaven Dao to the mix.
However, the small bit of Fate Dao added already made cultivating this technique a virtual nightmare. She could not fathom how many people would be able to cultivate it once it was truly finished. Regardless, she was happy with the outline she currently had and was more confident in walking the path of skills to achieve transcendence.
Yan Liling readjusted her mood and concentrated. She was saddened that no more alchemists would preach but took comfort in learning by comparison to other professions. She also looked forward to alchemists from the other path.
The sermons continued, and soon, the first person to reach 2000 years appeared. To no one surprise, it was an Immortal Sovereign. Once a person passed the 2000-year threshold, the Dao Rhymes resonated with each other, making the epiphany process deeper; in other words, it was easier for people to understand, digest, and benefit.
While people rejoiced at this sermon, the Immortal Sovereign - a beautiful woman in all red - was not happy. She felt it was an insult for her not to reach the full 3000-year mark. After all, she was technically Tier 11. Sadly for her, her knowledge was severely limited since she spent all her life in the lower dimension. She, along with all the other Sovereigns, does not even know what a person of their level is genuinely capable of.
The sermon continued, and the lady proved she was among the best in her path. Most Immortal Sovereigns bordered 1500 to 2000 years, with the best being 2097 years from a Talisman Maker. Then, it was finally for the last person in that section to preach, and Wang Wei chose the Turtle King from the Martial Hegemony World.
The Turtle King is, without a doubt, the oldest being in the lower dimension and the oldest Immortal Path Practitioner. Many people, including Wang Wei, looked forward to his sermon, and he did not disappoint. The turtle king could not show up with his real body and refused to take human form. Instead, he had to create a human clone to send in his place.
His sermon lasted 2907 years, creating the most intense Dao Rhymes since the start of the event. However, even that was not the most impressive part of his sermon. The turtle had no reservations and discussed a special technique to condense a unique qi capable of granting a maximum battle boost of 30%. This boost is not a Grand Dao boost, but such a technique is still appreciated since it could grant someone victory over a relatively equal opponent.
The most impressive aspect of this technique is its universality. Soul Path people can condense a unique Soul Qi or God Qi, Dao Ancestors can condense a World Qi, Heavenly Kings can condense a King Qi, and Emperors can also have their own Emperor Qi.
The Turtle King's sermon became the first major highlight of this banquet, making the martial artists from the Martial Hegemony World very happy and proud. Those rowdy martial artists would have made a scene if not for the grand occasion.
Once everyone had digested the sermon, it was now the turn of the Soul Area. Although their path was on par with the Dao Path - relatively speaking - it did not change the fact that they did not cultivate individual Dao. The Luck Area with the Heavenly Kings had the least number of people and appeared to be the group that should be next. However, they had their own Dao. In essence, the Fortune Path was an alternative to the Dao Path. The Heavenly Kings used the luck from a dynasty to bear the power of the Grand Dao Source, while Dao Ancestors used an Inner World.
If a Heavenly King chose the same path as Dong Lifen to fuse their dynasty with their Sea of Consciousness, or even if they choose their bodies - they are essentially creating an alternate Inner World.