Immortality begins with meditation puppets

The cycle of life and death, from ancient times to the present, is a profound and unpredictable path. Countless people have tried to follow this path, but only a few have achieved anything.

In the eyes of those great supernatural beings of ancient times, the supreme being of one lifetime was enough to equal the immortal destiny of ten thousand lifetimes. They devoted all their creations to this one life, and whether they became dragons or phoenixes depended on this one life. They burned everything, and even if the final result was not satisfactory, they had no regrets.

This idea was prevalent in ancient times because the great supernatural beings born in ancient times were mostly those who received the deepest and most abundant blessings from heaven and earth. They knew that if they did not succeed in this life, they would never be able to match their talents and endowments in the next life or the life after that, let alone achieve anything.

Among them is the Great Sage Wukong's cry that he will only cultivate for one lifetime, without asking about the past or the future, and will not hesitate to confront the powerful Heavenly Court in the previous version, so as to give his all in that lifetime.

The Wu tribe was the one that carried out these ideas and thoughts most thoroughly.

The Wu Clan, the first beings born from heaven and earth, had no past and did not seek a future. They only wanted to be the overlords of this world. For this, they were willing to risk everything and confront all other races at that time except the Wu Clan, wanting to use the power of their own clan to silence all other races.

Ultimately, with the rise of the Heavenly Emperor, who united all races and beings to resist the Witch Clan, the scattered races were united into one. From being at the mercy of the Witch Clan, they gradually rose to a position of confrontation and resistance, ultimately leading to the Witch Clan's annihilation in a single battle.

The Wu Clan, instead of striving for a better afterlife, became merely a stepping stone for the Heavenly Emperor to achieve invincibility in the present and become the supreme ruler of the Heavenly Dao.

Logically speaking, the Wu clan, who do not cultivate for the afterlife, will completely disappear from all the heavens and myriad realms after this battle, and will never have any chance to step onto the stage of heaven and earth again.

What's truly unreasonable is that among the Wu tribe, an anomaly like the Ancestral Wu Houtu was born. She didn't cultivate for the afterlife, but she was always worried about the future of the Wu tribe. This was because the Wu tribe only focused on physical cultivation and made no progress in the various arts and crafts. In the beginning of the world, the Wu people ate raw meat and drank blood, living in trees. As time changed, other tribes began to live in spirit houses, refine furnaces and pills to improve the quality of raw materials, and refine weapons and draw talismans to make up for their lack of combat power. The Wu tribe, however, still only knew how to wield swords and spears and fight fiercely.

When the war between the Lich King and the Demon King reached its climax, the Heavenly Emperor and his myriad races had already forged numerous starships and puppet ships in the heavens. The Demon Saints each possessed a postnatal or even innate spiritual treasure, as well as countless magical artifacts, armor, mounts, and spirit beasts.

How could the Witch Clan not be defeated in this situation?
On that day, thousands of giant starships attacked Mount Buzhou, forming the Zhou Tian Star Array. Countless people with supernatural powers waved array flags and performed the Hunyuan Heluo technique. Those weak races that were previously no match for the Wu Clan used the power of arrays, magic weapons, talismans and other creations of cultivation to crush the Wu Clan to death.

The ancestral witch Houtu was filled with regret, lamenting that there was no medicine for regret in this world.

At this very moment, he gained the favor of the Reincarnation Dao Pattern, and learned that if he used this Dao Pattern to establish the Underworld and become the person in charge of one of the three paths of Heaven, Earth and Man, he could use the authority of the Lord of the Underworld to give the Witch Clan another chance to live and prove themselves again.

Thus, the Ancestral Witch Houtu, along with a host of ancient powerful beings, formed alliances and maneuvered among various forces, ultimately creating the Ancient Underworld and establishing the ancient system of the coexistence of Heaven, Earth, and Man.

And just as she wished, after establishing dozens of Yuanhui in the ancient underworld, the Earth Goddess, through her years of creating the underworld, taking in the souls of the dead, and clarifying the six paths of reincarnation, reaped immeasurable merit. With her power of reincarnation, she gave each member of the Wu clan a chance to live another life.

After these witches came back to life, in order to make up for the inherent arrogance and complacency of the witches and their lack of creativity, the Goddess Houtu vigorously promoted intermarriage between the witches and humans within the witch tribe, so as to give birth to the witch-human tribe.

The shaman inherits the physical qualities of the shaman race and also possesses the power of the primordial spirit, allowing him to advance simultaneously in both physical and spiritual cultivation.

Because they have incorporated human genes, they possess the shrewdness and intelligence of humans. Unlike the witches, they don't easily get stuck in a rut and can't get out of it. They know how to adapt and are more talented in cultivating various arts.

Most importantly, although the reproductive capacity of the shamans is not as good as that of the human race, who can give birth after a ten-month pregnancy, it is still much stronger than the shaman race's reproductive capacity, which often takes more than 100,000 years to give birth to a new child. The shamans can give birth to a child after a hundred years of pregnancy, and the lifespan of a shaman is generally several thousand years. This means that as long as they want, a shaman can give birth to more than ten offspring, and there is no problem with reproduction and expansion.

If this continues to develop, in time, the Wuren tribe, which combines the genes of both the Wu and Human races, may truly be able to make up for the regrets of the Wu race in the previous life and achieve the position of the overlord of all races in this life.

This is one of the meanings of reincarnation: to make up for the regrets of the previous life, to learn from the experiences and lessons of the next life, and to reach new heights.

One failure is okay; every cycle of rebirth is another chance.

Such is the fate of a people, and so is the journey of a living being in pursuit of the Way.

It is important to burn through one's lifetime's merits and strive until one is powerless, but one must seize the right opportunity and accumulate enough merits before one can act. If the timing is not right in this life and one's merits are not yet complete, one can simply wait for the next life, and the life after that. As long as one's Dao heart does not falter and one can unravel the mystery of the womb, one can always find an opportunity after hundreds and thousands of reincarnations.

Patience, perseverance, and persistence—these are the core principles of pursuing the path of enlightenment through the method of reincarnation.

The Great Dao is vast and boundless. On the path of cultivation, a single wrong step can lead to the loss of all one's merits in this lifetime. Except for a limited number of exceptional individuals who are able to take every step correctly, or who can quickly correct their mistakes, they can reach the pinnacle of Dao that living beings can theoretically cultivate in one lifetime, namely the position of the Dao Ancestor who is indestructible through countless eons.

The rest of the masses can only use each reincarnation as a stepping stone to progress on the path of cultivation. As long as they do not lose themselves in the process and make progress in each life, they will eventually achieve their wish in one life.

This was the pie that the Goddess Houtu painted for all the gods and demons in ancient times, so that they would willingly enter the cycle of reincarnation. However, no one ever got to eat this pie until the collapse of the ancient underworld, because there were almost no cultivators who could not lose themselves in the cycle of reincarnation.

In this life, you might resist the temptation of living a life of luxury and ease, becoming the most hardworking of the rich second-generation heirs, starting your own business and squandering your family fortune, working until your father is penniless. In the next life, when you are fortunate enough to be reincarnated as a rich second-generation heir again, and you awaken to the mystery of your birth, learning about your past life's experiences, will you be filled with lingering fear about the results of your previous struggles, and thus choose another path of indulging in pleasure and extravagance, yet still enjoying a life of wealth and luxury?
Even if you don't lose your ambition in this life, you will still work hard to start a business with the vast wealth you inherited, and you might even succeed by chance, bringing your family to a higher level. This will make you more determined that as long as your Daoist heart remains, you will always be able to move forward.

But in the next life, you are reincarnated as a person whose ancestors for eighteen generations were born into poverty, with a body that is naturally reborn as a cow or horse. All your efforts are exploited by others, and you can only barely survive when you are powerless to do anything else.

At this point, you awaken to the mystery of your past life, realizing that the gains you thought you had achieved through hard work were simply because you were born on a high platform, on a ladder to the heavens, where you could reach out and pluck the stars. In this life, you have to compete with countless oxen and horses even for the job of holding up the ladder. Only after you surpass others in intelligence, physical strength, and obedience can you be fortunate enough to be one of the millions of oxen and horses holding up the ladder, helping others ascend to the heavens and grasp the bright moon.

At this moment, you recall that in one of your past lives, you were one of the Heavenly Generals. That was the most triumphant moment in your countless reincarnations. You were high above the heavens, receiving offerings from mortals in the mortal realm. When you were in a good mood, you would grant the prayers of mortals, display your divine power and magic, wielding your golden armor and divine spear to slay great demons. Amidst the grateful, respectful, and admiring gazes of countless mortals, you returned to the Heavenly Court with satisfaction.

Upon arriving in Heaven, you hear that a great demon has stormed the Lingxiao Palace from the South Heavenly Gate. You are furious, thinking, "Heaven is not finished yet, how come the South Heavenly Gate, which I guarded, was breached by a great demon after just one trip to the mortal realm?" But you are also secretly pleased, thinking that this trip to the mortal realm to do private work has also proven your value, letting the heavenly officials above know that a brave and skilled heavenly general like you is of great value to Heaven. Promotion and salary increase may be on the way, and you may even be one of the guests at the Peach Banquet, which you never dared to dream of before.

Filled with hopeful anticipation for the future, you and your companions eagerly charged towards the great demon who had invaded the Heavenly Court.

The result was completely different from what you expected. In your expectations, you had worked day and night, regardless of the heat or cold, cultivating your martial arts techniques for over ten million years, refining your skills to perfection. As for that great demon, according to your companions, he had only been cultivating for a little over ten years. How could he compare to you?

However, when you actually fight that great demon, you despairingly discover that even with a seemingly ordinary blow from his staff, the immense power emanating from it is beyond your ability to withstand. The Taoist arts and supernatural powers he casually displays are all profound and subtle techniques that you have never learned even after sending your disciples to worship and seeking guidance from great masters.

Only then do you realize that hard work is insignificant in the face of true talent. Ten thousand heavenly soldiers and countless years of cultivation cannot match the innate talent of this monkey. His more than ten years of cultivation is something you can only dream of achieving even after hundreds of thousands or millions of years of cultivation.

Looking back at the present world, you realize that you, who was sent by heaven back then, are no different from you, who are now just a beast of burden. You are both just ladders for those who were born to be at the top.

A bright future, a splendid destiny, a wondrous path to enlightenment, and unparalleled immortal destiny—these are all things that only those born into high positions can enjoy.

Thus, you begin to doubt whether your efforts are meaningful, and your resolve to follow the Tao begins to waver.

Even if you are not completely lost this time, there will be the next life, and the next life after that. In one life, your Dao heart will be completely lost. From then on, even if you are reincarnated countless times, you will never be able to reach that most glorious life again, let alone reach new heights.

This is the experience of many cultivators in ancient times. In fact, being able to be reborn as a human being time and time again is already considered good. Being reborn as livestock or insects is even more torturous and a greater test of one's Dao heart.

Even though no one got to eat the pie in the sky promised by Houtu Niangniang before the collapse of the underworld, neither the ancient nor the present cultivators felt that Houtu was deceiving them, nor did they resist reincarnation.

The reason for this is that reincarnation gives them hope, and if they fail in this life, they can try again in the next.

All of this was the result of Su Qing's repeated destruction of the Five Reincarnation Treasures, enduring the Puppet Immortal's rejection and conflict with the Reincarnation Dao Patterns, and forcibly imprinting some of the Reincarnation Dao Patterns contained within the Five Reincarnation Treasures onto his body. His primordial spirit consciousness gained insights from these Reincarnation Dao Patterns.

We witnessed the original intention of the Goddess Houtu when she created the Underworld, and the process of the gods and immortals going from resistance to acceptance after the establishment of the ancient Underworld and the initial establishment of the Six Paths of Reincarnation. We also saw the confusion and struggle of the cultivators who were unwilling to be lost in this life and who entrusted their path to reincarnation.

In the process, he even witnessed his own past life.

He saw the bright lights, the tall buildings, and the tiny shops in the corners of this bustling scene, deliberately chosen to be inconspicuous and avoid embarrassing customers.

The adult shop owner was his previous life. He had died once before transmigrating. He was a middle-aged shop owner who had worked hard for most of his life, day and night, selecting the latest dolls for customers to put on the shelves, but in the end, he still couldn't save up enough money to get married. In this life, he accumulated good deeds and comforted countless people with dolls, which allowed him to have another good fortune and fall into the cultivation world, becoming a cultivator with the potential for immortality.

Having witnessed the plight and resentment of the adult shop owner, looking back, he realized that in his previous life he was a lowly soldier running through a hail of bullets on the battlefield. In the era of warlord conflicts, he didn't know who he was fighting for, only for a full meal. Today he helped this boss fight against that boss, and tomorrow he helped that boss fight against yesterday's boss. Who won or lost didn't matter at all. As long as he was full and got through the day, he was considered lucky.

Continuing on, there are scholars in blue robes who have repeatedly failed the imperial examinations; farmers toiling in the fields under the sun and wind, tending their crops, but never reaping a satisfactory harvest due to natural disasters and human calamities; a strong primitive man in a primitive tribe who almost hunted the strongest prey and won the right to choose a mate; and a man who, in the beginning of time, received the teachings of an immortal and almost embarked on the path to immortality, but his crude behavior displeased the immortal, causing him to miss his chance at immortality once again...

Having lived through countless lifetimes, he seemed to work very hard in every life, but ultimately he was always frustrated and unable to achieve the success he desired.

Being unlucky once in a lifetime is bad enough, but being unlucky in every lifetime would make one the unluckiest person in the world.
"Therefore, after all the bad luck, good fortune will come. All the good deeds I've accumulated over so many lifetimes of misfortune are due to the good fortune I've accumulated in this life. It's my destiny to have everything go smoothly and for me to have divine assistance!"

Su Qing, observing her past life from an outsider's perspective, remained calm and undisturbed. She then softly recited the words before looking at her future self.

The future is bleak! (End of Chapter)