Chapter 481: Chapter 422: The Path of Harmonization, Divine Dao Earth Spirits (Extra for Alliance Hierarch Riding Pig)
Heavenly Master’s Dojo.
It had now become Song Lin’s dojo.
This place was located on the lower levels of Xuanyu City, originally supported by the Eight Ghost Kings.
Now the Eight Ghost Kings had perished, leaving only the Four Great Ghost Kings.
Even so, it was enough to sustain this city.
The Four Great Ghost Kings were the Red-haired Ghost King, the Bat-winged Ghost King, the Roaring Wind Ghost King, and the Thunder Ghost King.
Below the Four Great Ghost Kings was the Three-eyed General.
He was none other than Erlang God. Through the recent great battle, Erlang God successfully cultivated the Nine-Transformation Mysterious Skill to the Seven-Transformation Realm and was appointed by Song Lin as the Guardian Envoy, leading the Mei Mountain Seven Saints and the Four Great Ghost Kings to safeguard Xuanyu City.
Since shedding his identity as a Taoist Soldier decades ago and becoming truly human, Erlang God had become extremely low-key.
Most people knew nothing of Erlang God, and he preferred to stay inconspicuous. Even so, after this battle, he also broke through to the Tribulation Crossing Realm.
At the center of the Heavenly Master’s Dojo, in the grand hall.
Song Lin sat cross-legged, his Divine Thought guarding his Spirit Platform, three inches between his brows, the dwelling place of the Primordial Spirit.
Looking inward at the Spirit Platform, it revealed a world of its own. A pure gold Primordial Spirit sat majestically, inhaling and exhaling the light of heaven, earth, sun, and moon.
The mortal world was akin to a house of fire, symbolizing the suffering of human existence, as if one lived in a mansion engulfed by flames.
According to the Sanmao Heavenly Court’s theories, only by cultivating the three inches between the brows could one transcend the house of fire.
The Primordial Spirit Realm was originally the manifestation and perfection of the Taoist Realm.
Song Lin had initially assumed his Primordial Spirit would be formed by the Eight Sceneries Divine Sword or the Twenty-Four Cloud Seals.
Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a Pure Yang Primordial Spirit. Although it wasn’t derived from any Spell, Pure Yang was foundational, enveloping all things, encompassing everything.
In essence, it was more formidable and held greater potential than any Taoist Realm-based Primordial Spirit.
Upon entering the Primordial Spirit Realm, there weren’t rigidly defined early, middle, or late stages. If they existed, they were subtle distinctions, not bound by strict standards.
This realm compared one’s depth of enlightenment of the Great Dao. Fully comprehending one Dao equated to reaching the Harmonization Realm.
The Dragon Head Master possessed the Dragon Head Master Seal and the corresponding first-rank Three Pure Ones Three Cave Talisman.
Obtaining this seal presented a high probability of gaining Dao enlightenment.
This was why Celestial Masters pursued the Dragon Head Master so fervently—not solely for power, but fundamentally for cultivation advancements.
The Taoist Alliance Celestial Master’s second-rank talismans held similar significance.
Beyond the Taoist School’s third-rank talismans, the second-rank and first-rank talismans were granted by the Heavenly Court. However, with the Heavenly Court no longer present to oversee matters, obtaining and refining the seal automatically conferred the position.
This time, Song Lin did not enter seclusion. Instead, he merely sought to familiarize himself with his realm and Primordial Spirit.
Afterwards, he still needed to return to the story world to proceed with advancing the narrative.
"Now that I’ve reached the Primordial Spirit Realm, the next step is to comprehend the Great Dao," Song Lin thought to himself.
With this realization, he opened the message panel.
Name: Song Lin
Realm: Primordial Spirit Stage
Taoist Realm: Two Thousand Years
Divine Skills:
True Immortal—Nine-Transformation Mysterious Skill (Great Jade Capital Divine Thought), Qiankun Treasure—Twelve Yuan Chen, Celestial Star Pivot Thirty-Six Cloud Seal Talisman (Twenty-Four Cloud Seals), Little Three Emperors Scripture, North Emperor Black Law, Five Qi Chaoyuan to Life Spirit Scripture, Donghua Taoist Soldiers Xuanzi Secret Book, North Emperor Xuantian Technique, Nine-Transformation Rejuvenation Pill Subtle Manifestation Technique, Shenxiao Thunder Skill...
Augmentations: [Emperor Seal][Moon Cultivation Great Witch][Golden Crow Yang Pattern][North Pole Ziwei Dao Pattern]...
Items: Four Great Ghost Kings, Nine Heavens Moonlight Sword Pills, Xuanzhen Heavenly Master Seal, Five Mountains Heavenly Master Seal, Nine Elders Immortal Capital Seal, Yuu Emperor’s Nine Cauldrons, Supreme Elder’s Eight Trigrams Furnace, Eight Horses Sun Jade Chariot, Emperor Sword, Dragon Mansion Jade Gourd, Yellow God Secret Chapter...
Having reached the Primordial Spirit Realm, his Taoist Realm surged, breaking through the two-thousand-year mark.
He had also successfully refined two Heavenly Master Seals.
"According to typical advancement paths, one should comprehend the Dao contained within the Heavenly Master Seals. However, the Xuanzhen Dao and the Five Mountains Dao aren’t particularly powerful paths."
Of the Eight Masters, five remained.
Song Lin planned to assimilate more Divine Skills.
However, unlike the explosive methods of the Innate Divine Beings, which allowed immediate Dao comprehension through devouring, he would first have to comprehend the Divine Skills before understanding the Great Dao.
He would have to seek the Dao within the story world.
In reality, there were no such opportunities for enlightenment.
Song Lin exited the grand hall.
Suddenly, he sensed the aura of Zhonghuang Zi high in the sky, emanating from the southwestern mountains.
Boarding the Sun Jade Carriage, he flew in that direction.
He saw Zhonghuang Zi standing alone beneath a grand scholar tree.
Before him rested three coffins.
Upon seeing Song Lin’s arrival, Zhonghuang Zi nodded slightly and said, "There are two more Ghost Kings here. They were my predecessors; it’s better to let them rest in peace."
"Naturally." Song Lin was not so ruthless as to desecrate their rest. His gaze turned toward the third coffin. "Who is this?"
"Yuanbo."
The two fell silent.
Three cultivators, each equivalent to the Primordial Spirit stage, had launched a combined assault on the alliance.
Song Lin and Zhonghuang Zi had each taken on one, only then freeing their hands.
The remaining one was left to the others. Yuanbo and Zhengxin had taken on the burden.
Zhengxin was gravely injured, and Yuanbo assumed the role, sacrificing his life to hold off Ao Qing decisively.
"My condolences. Perhaps I can find a way."
"It’s impossible. His Primordial Energy is depleted, and his form and spirit both annihilated; only a sliver of True Spirit remains. Unless an Immortal walks the earth, even that would lead to mere subsistence. Yuanbo wasn’t the type to linger on like that."
"Don’t blame yourself. We fought for ourselves, for the Yin Spring Palace of the past. If we didn’t genuinely believe in your cause from the bottom of our hearts, we wouldn’t have fought so hard."
"I understand. Seeing a kindred spirit pass away fills my heart with unease. I wish to try—there might still be a chance to salvage this."
"Very well..."
Soon, Zhonghuang Zi buried the three, but he did not disperse Yuanbo’s final trace of aura.
Song Lin returned to Xuanyu City.
"Palace Master, Zhong Mountain has arrived."
A Taoist Soldier came to report.
"Good!"
An elderly figure approached slowly.
This was Zhong Mountain, a cultivator of the Taiyin Refining Method.
"I ask you: Within the Taoist sects, for fellow cultivators grievously injured and beyond treatment, can you transform them into Taiyin Refining cultivators?"
The essential condition of the Taiyin Refining Method was that the cultivator must practice it voluntarily; it could not be cultivated passively.
Passive cultivation was possible, but it required refining their Divine Souls or residual True Spirits into Taoist Soldiers or ghosts.
Of course, Song Lin would never allow such a thing; it was an immense disrespect to the deceased.
Zhong Mountain furrowed his brows in thought. After a long silence, he finally said, "There’s a way. I could send my Divine Soul out of its shell, guiding their Divine Souls to absorb the Taiyin essence. However..."
"However, what?"
"This method can help them reconstruct a soul body with self-awareness, but they still wouldn’t be able to cultivate like ordinary cultivators, not even to the extent of absorbing yin energy normally."
"If they wished to cultivate, someone like me would have to directly infuse power into them. Alternatively, certain Magic Treasures could achieve the same effect. Either way, self-cultivation would be impossible."
Zhong Mountain, having been deeply immersed in this field for years, soon offered this solution.
"Unable to cultivate on their own?"
If this was the case, it might be better not to revive them at all.
However, he thought of a method.
This approach required the Heavenly Master Seals and Talismans.
By distributing the authority of heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers over them, this authority could become their source of strength.
The broader the domain they governed, the stronger their power would grow.
Beyond mountains and rivers, even mortal cities could be utilized, assigning them to guard cities, maintain the underworld’s order, and establish temples, allowing mortal incense and faith to sustain them.
This method took inspiration from legends of his previous life.
"Indeed, that’s the solution."
The more Song Lin pondered, the more feasible it seemed.
He decided to call this system [Divine Dao Earth Spirits]—a systematic underworld structure distinct from mortal Taoist sects.
Now that he held some authority, it was time to implement it.