Chapter 53: The Emergence of the Seven-Nailed Arrow Manual

"Cang!"

Ancestor Houtu smiled gently. "Now, you have a total of three choices."

"First, you can wait patiently until each of the Twelve Ancestor Witches offers a drop of their essence blood to form a complete set of Twelve Ancestor Witch Golden Cores. Once you obtain this set of golden core power, it may help you break through your current bottleneck and reach even greater heights."

"Second, the power of Houtu's Golden Core has already allowed you to resonate with the power of the Chaotic Great Dao, granting you the initial characteristics of unity between heaven and man. You can use this as your foundation, and with great perseverance and wisdom, rely on your own efforts to break into the Taiyi Divine Demon Realm. For a junior like you, this may very well be a precious experience."

Di Cang asked in surprise, "I thought those two were the only options. Is there really a third choice?"

"Of course," Houtu replied. "I have studied the Golden Core Dao that you created. This primordial soul method is truly profound—it can transform the acquired into the innate, and the higher your cultivation, the stronger your foundation. Now, with your primordial soul and physical body united, perhaps in the Golden God Realm, you can, by relying on the innate Dao patterns hidden within the bloodlines of the Twelve Ancestor Witches, walk the Golden Core Dao anew and achieve another breakthrough through the transformation of your primordial soul."

"In fact, you could even go a step further and create your own unique path to enlightenment. After all, every cultivation method is a summary of the experiences of those who came before. If the ancients could summarize the current cultivation methods, why shouldn't the later generations open new paths of their own?"

"With such experiences, your future cultivation would surely be twice as effective with half the effort, and your potential would be boundless!"

"However," Houtu paused thoughtfully, "if you choose the third path, it will undoubtedly take a very long time. It's entirely possible that, while other Great Witches need only a thousand Yuan Meetings to break through a minor realm within the Taiyi Divine Demon Realm, you may need several times that."

As she finished speaking, Houtu sighed softly.

Though she was not a transmigrator like Di Cang, and did not possess an exceptionally clear vision of the future of the Great Desolation World, the current power structure of the Twelve Ancestor Witches was well known to her. The Great Desolation World was in its earliest days, teeming with infinite spiritual roots and treasures—an era where opportunities lay everywhere.

At such a time, for any cultivator, time was incredibly precious.

For if one fell behind, many unclaimed innate spiritual roots and treasures would be taken by others.

...

If Houtu had suggested that Di Cang should rely on his own efforts to create a divine ability or invent a new elixir, he would have simply given up!

Was Di Cang the sort of prodigy who could rival innate gods and demons in creating new cultivation arts or artifact-forging techniques out of thin air, as the Twelve Ancestor Witches could do with ease?

Absolutely not! Not in this lifetime!

Where in the world could you find such a monstrous genius who could conjure up divine abilities and artifact-forging arts from nothing?

Of course, there must be some—but it would never be Di Cang!

...

However, when it came to creating a new cultivation system or path to enlightenment, that was something Di Cang was somewhat familiar with!

Wasn't this exactly like the Golden Core Dao of the Mortal Stream that he had plagiarized?

"In that case," Di Cang pondered silently, "what kind of cultivation system should I copy to unite my body and spirit, and leverage the power of the Great Dao of the Great Desolation World?"

Di Cang quickly came up with an idea.

He had once read the "Legends of the Swordsmen of Mount Shu," in which the Three Mao True Lords created a profound art, the "Inner Landscape Profound Art," specifically designed to be taught to birds and beasts.

The core principle of this technique was that there is a world within and a world without.

By comprehending the power of the Heavenly Dao, one could use it to shape a world within, corresponding to the world without, thus merging the two and drawing upon the power of heaven and earth for one's own use.

As this thought struck him, Di Cang felt an involuntary tremor shake his heart.

He had already believed that the eighteen bloodline powers dormant in his veins were exceptional, but he hadn't realized that, in seeking a breakthrough, he could so easily recall and connect to various cultivation systems he had once encountered, simply by contemplating his needs.

Di Cang was secretly astonished.

Only now did he understand that the most precious treasures he possessed were not just the supreme innate spiritual treasure, the Ancient Mirror of Time and Space, nor the eighteen supreme bloodlines, but also the insights and cultivation systems he had learned or observed before.

Those things, trivial and unremarkable in his previous world, were now priceless in this one. Perhaps even the most casual idea or realization could bring about sudden enlightenment and a meteoric rise in cultivation.

...

Having pondered it in his heart, Di Cang made up his mind.

He said respectfully, "I intend to spend two thousand Yuan Meetings to pursue the third path. If that path proves impassable, I will return to the first path, then."

"Good."

Seeing Di Cang make his choice, Houtu smiled and nodded.

With the lofty perspective of the Twelve Ancestor Witches, it went without saying what kind of choice someone like Houtu would most wish a junior to make when offering guidance.

...

Having determined his path of cultivation, Di Cang devoted the next two thousand Yuan Meetings to comprehending the changes in the stars of the Great Desolation World. Using the power of the stars to enter the Dao, he sought the three hundred and sixty-five innate acupoints within his body, each corresponding to the power of the stars, drawing their strength into himself and rapidly advancing his physical might.

Upon this foundation, he connected his acupoints to evolve an inner landscape world, opened the ancestral aperture at his brow, and communicated with the world outside his body, allowing his divine demon physique to resonate even further with the power of the Great Dao of the Great Desolation World, causing his cultivation to soar.

It took Di Cang a full two thousand Yuan Meetings to finally step from the perfection of the Golden God Realm into the Taiyi Divine Demon Realm. Yet, in merely three thousand more Yuan Meetings, he advanced from the early stage of the Taiyi Divine Demon Realm to its peak. This was entirely due to the fusion of the Nine Revolutions Profound Art with the Inner Landscape Profound Art, which deepened his body's resonance with the Great Dao and further unlocked his potential. Though the one hundred and eight Great Witches possessed bloodline powers even stronger than Di Cang's, at this moment, they could only be considered his equals.

...

Five thousand Yuan Meetings passed in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, news spread across the Great Desolation World.

The Solar Palace Lords, Emperor Jun and the Eastern Sovereign, intended to change the Heavenly Court into the Demon Court, and the Heavenly Institute into the Demon Institute.

The Twelve Ancestor Witches gathered with Di Cang, all baffled by this development.

They sent envoys to inquire, and only then did the Twelve Ancestor Witches learn the truth.

A thousand Yuan Meetings earlier, Emperor Jun, the Eastern Sovereign, Fuxi, Nuwa, and Kunpeng had stumbled upon the divine remains of a fallen Chaotic Heavenly Demon, reaping great rewards.

Emperor Jun and the Eastern Sovereign acquired a treasure known as the Book of Seven Nailhead Arrows.

Nuwa obtained the Heavenly Demon’s companion spiritual treasure, the Universal Celestial Mirror.

Kunpeng received the Heavenly Demon’s legacy—Heavenly Demon Immortality and the Heavenly Demon Godslaying Technique.

Their party gained abundantly.

In gratitude for obtaining the Heavenly Demon’s cultivation methods, Emperor Jun and the Eastern Sovereign wished to establish the Demon Court to honor the source of their newfound power.