Lu Yun was also quite interested in spirit dao and immediately employed formula dao on it after Dongfang Mo conveyed it to him. Meanwhile, the latter fully immersed himself in formula dao.
Although he wasn’t a formula genius the likes of Qi Fengyun, Dongfang Mo could still easily grasp it thanks to his formidable cultivation level. The basic formulas and calculation methods of formula dao were effortless to understand and simple to comprehend.
“I see, so this is spirit dao!” Lu Yun gained a general understanding of this particular dao after employing formula dao on it.
It cultivated the heart and spirit so that one would walk the path of the heart and strengthened them to rule over other beings. It expressed the same idea using a different approach from Lu Yun’s nascent spirit observation method. In contrast, his method used the eye to observe and heart to perceive so that one could form a nascent spirit.
Spirit dao used the heart to observe and the tangible to coalesce spirit, distilling the spirit of all things to command them through the heart. One skilled in spirit dao could use the heart to direct the world.
“Spirit dao is to absorb the spirits of all things and use them to temper one’s own body. This is indeed more sophisticated than the immortal dao’s method of refining qi through meditation,” Lu Yun murmured. “But there are drawbacks to it as well. If the target’s spirit exceeds the limits of the cultivator’s heart and mind, the cultivator runs the risk of becoming the subject instead. There might be a way to take care of this problem in the future, but I can’t derive a proper solution as of yet.”
“You’re correct.” Dongfang Mo opened his eyes and continued with resignation, “There is no solution to this. One must always be stronger than what one is trying to conquer.
“The spirit dao that I’ve shown you is just a basic spirit method. There is much that needs to be done to turn it into a true great dao. But with formula dao, I can try combining it with your nascent spirit observation method so that the end product can train both the internal and external!”
The nascent spirit observation method focused on the inner world as it used the nascent spirit to project all things. The spirit method focused on the outer world as it used the heart to conquer external beings.
If the two could run concurrently, then immortal dao’s foundations would grow even stronger. Most enticing of all was that the images projected by the nascent spirit observation method could possess their own spirit; they wouldn’t need direction from the cultivator.
That would be the equivalent of projecting real life forms.
Lu Yun and Dongfang Mo heartily laughed together.
“Good, fantastic! If spirit dao can be melded into immortal dao, then immortal dao will prosper in Myriadsea World and the fourth realm! No, immortal dao will have a place even in the world vaster than the fourth realm!” Dongfang Mo clapped his hands.
“A world more vast than the fourth realm?” Lu Yun blinked and asked subconsciously.
“That’s right! It’s too big for us to see at our current level, but I’m certain that it exists!” Dongfang Mo replied firmly.
Lu Yun thought of the endless loops he’d experienced. If there really was someone who controlled the reincarnation of this boundless world, then they must be too big for him to imagine. Perhaps this endlessly repeating world was just the tip of a pin to them.
“Our problem right now is that it isn’t easy for the immortal dao to grow stronger and claim a spot in Myriadsea World. Things can’t be as loose as the current situation if we want to refine Myriadsea World into a world of immortal dao sequence,” Lu Yun took a deep breath. “Immortal dao needs a unified immortal court or nation to anchor it. If we continue down the same path, immortal dao will still be treading water in the same place after a hundred million years. A world of sequence would be completely impossible.”
“I’ve also thought of this,” Dongfang Mo shook his head. “The Immortal Myriadtree is deeply rooted in Ruina and cannot be shaken. If immortal dao organizes into a cohesive whole, it will be suppressed by the other daos of the world and even destroyed.
“My strength isn’t enough to defend against the entire world, so I can only continue to play weak.”
He wanted to stride forward in a blaze of glory, but he was just one man. He’d nurtured countless disciples over these years, but they were all murdered by others before they had time to develop into their own.
Only Dongfang Ao was left, and Dongfang Mo had sealed away the other’s cultivation level in order to protect his disciple. If Dongfang Ao released the seal and displayed his strength as an immortal king, the masters of the other daos would likely take action themselves and personally kill him.
Thus, Dongfang Mo had no choice but to section immortal dao into various sects and allow them to develop as they would, establishing worlds of immortals. He would later think of a way to combine all of the worlds into one world of sequence.
However, he’d still underestimated the determination of the other great daos in Myriadsea World.
Conflicts abounded in immortal dao—anyone who dared call themselves an immortal nation or sect were attacked by the others. Even if they ultimately triumphed and kept their name, they would be grievously injured.
The Truecloud Sect once possessed two worlds of immortals and was stronger than the Unsullied Immortal Island, but their strength tumbled downwards after one of their worlds was blown to pieces.
Qi Fengyun’s younger sister had been quick-witted and possessed potential greater than her brother, but had died due to the sect young lord’s jealousy. Xia Wan’s jealousy had been fanned by others as well.
Monster spirits had besieged Truecloud Nation and almost destroyed it. Apart from some reasons that could not be mentioned, the major reason was that Truecloud Sect had shown signs of rising again in recent times. The nation was part of its foundations and supplied a constant stream of new disciples.
Destroying Truecloud Nation meant severing the sect’s roots.
Thus, some of immortal dao’s internal conflicts were a result of influence from other daos. The monster spirits even directly intervened to slowly consume it from within.
……
“Aren’t you going to take revenge for your disciples dying at their hands?” Lu Yun frowned.
“I did, but I wasn’t successful,” Dongfang Mo sighed. “The emperor commanded me to create a world of immortal dao sequence—”
“Hold it right there!” Lu Yun cut him off. “You can’t just continuously give way and suffer in silence if you want to create a great dao!”
“What else can I do?” Dongfang Mo responded in a muffled voice. “Immortal dao’s roots are in Ruina and I am a public enemy…”
“Then to hell with it all and it’s either you or them!” Lu Yun sneered. “You don’t need to search out whoever killed your disciples, just slaughter their most promising disciple! They’re the ones who started it!
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” A dangerous light glinted out of his eyes. “We’ll match them blow for blow if they dare take us to task for it. I’m sure that the other great daos would be delighted to sit back and watch two tigers fight. They won’t interfere.”
“What do you want to do?” Dongfang Mo’s heart skipped a beat. His ambitions had been to hew a world of immortal dao sequence, but they’d gradually shifted to protecting the immortal dao in this world.
If it was destroyed, then all hope would be lost.
“We’ll annex them all, of course.” Lu Yun grinned.
