Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 179 Teaching students in accordance with their aptitude
For the next few centuries, Yuanshi Tianzun only occasionally gave Chuanying some guidance, and most of the time he completely left him to his own devices.

Finally, when Chuan Ying was about a thousand years old, he triggered the tribulation of enlightenment for the first time. Although he failed to overcome it, he was still considered to have entered the category of initial alternative enlightenment.

This speed is actually incredibly fast, because it means that if no one else proves the Dao before him, he has a chance to make the final leap and directly prove the Dao at the age of one thousand. This speed is actually similar to that of Gai Jiuyou in later generations.

Gai Jiuyou and Emperor Xiang Yufei were close in age, belonging to the same generation, at most a few years older, not by much difference. In other words, Gai Jiuyou, like Xiang Yufei, was a figure from nine thousand years ago when Ye Fan came to Beidou. However, he had already attempted to prove his Dao eight thousand years ago, but failed and suffered Dao injuries. Therefore, Gai Jiuyou reached the point where he could make the ultimate leap in just over a thousand years.

It can only be said that they are indeed the four divine beings certified by Ye Fan, even their cultivation speed is frighteningly fast.

In fact, from the perspective of later generations, Gai Jiuyou's cultivation speed was faster than that of a bunch of peerless geniuses who had sealed themselves down from various eras, as well as the golden generation of geniuses of Ye Fan's generation.

Ye Fan himself was probably over seven hundred years old when he achieved the Great Perfection of the Sacred Body. Moreover, he not only directly attained the Crimson Blood Flawlessness, but also attempted to prove himself as an Emperor in one fell swoop. However, due to the innate limitation that the Sacred Body could hardly become an Emperor, as well as the obstruction of the Supreme Being of the Forbidden Zone, he could only reach the initial stage of attaining the Dao.

In other words, if he had a different, unrestricted physique, he would have a direct chance to attain enlightenment. This is similar to the first incarnation of the Primordial Celestial Venerable, who was able to make his ultimate leap at the age of eight hundred.

Centuries later, when Ye Fan turned a thousand, he achieved enlightenment in an unconventional way, reaching the pinnacle of the Sacred Body, also known as the Breakthrough-level Sacred Body. This speed allowed him to leave others far behind and surpass all other prodigies.

At this time, Ye Fan ventured into the Immortal Star and fought against various supreme beings. Prodigies from all walks of life in the universe took the opportunity to undergo tribulations. Most of them were at the seventh or eighth level of Quasi-Emperor, but there were also a few at the ninth level of Quasi-Emperor.

Although the path to immortality is about to open, the Supreme Beings of the Forbidden Zones did not fall into a deep slumber, but instead seized every opportunity to nip it in the bud. This is the reason why they intentionally hid themselves. However, even without these factors, it is highly unlikely that they would make their ultimate leap at around a thousand years old.

Five or six hundred years later, Ye Tong, even with deliberate suppression, reached the point of the ultimate leap. Other prodigies who appeared were also at the initial, alternative level of attaining enlightenment, capable of the ultimate leap. Therefore, these prodigies from various eras actually needed over a thousand years to achieve enlightenment.

This speed is indeed not as fast as Gai Jiuyou's. Although cultivation speed does not indicate the final achievement, those who progress quickly and steadily are generally not too bad off.

While they weren't as fast as figures like Yuanshi Tianzun and Ye Fan, that was normal. Ultimately, Chuan Ying and Gai Jiuyou had only reached a level where they were certain to attain Dao, and weren't stronger than other Dao-proving individuals. Therefore, compared to top-tier Dao-proving individuals like Ye Fan and Yuanshi Tianzun, who could become Immortals in the Mortal World, they naturally had a significant gap in skill.

Of course, in this timeline, Chuan Ying cultivated the seven ultimate secret techniques created by Yuanshi Tianzun and forged his own path, making his path slightly more complete than in the original timeline.

However, because he lacked the experience of being the Heavenly Court's First Divine General, Chuan Ying's practical combat experience was actually not as rich, especially in high-level matches. After all, in the original timeline, Chuan Ying had fought alongside the Heavenly Court in their conquest of forbidden zones, and thus had encountered many self-severed Supreme Beings.

Currently, apart from the Underworld and the Primordial Ancient Mine, which are on the same side, the other Supreme Beings in the Forbidden Zones have either been destroyed or have gone into seclusion and are nowhere to be found. Even if Chuan Ying wanted to fight, he couldn't find anyone.

However, Chuan Ying's performance did indeed meet the expectations of Yuanshi Tianzun.

Compared to his complete neglect of Chuan Ying, Yuanshi Tianzun paid far more attention to his other disciple, Emperor. After taking Emperor away, Yuanshi Tianzun sealed him within the Immortal Source. He intended to nurture a true immortal embryo, elevating its physique to its peak so that it could inherit his Daoist arts in this life.

So the Primordial Celestial Venerable searched the universe and spent hundreds of years finding five Creation Source Eyes in various terrains. He also went to the Ancient Star of Ten Thousand Dragons and used a supernatural power to obtain the fruit of the True Dragon Immortal Elixir.

Subsequently, he refined all five Creation Source Eyes and the True Dragon Immortal Elixir Fruit into a rare immortal liquid. He used this immortal liquid to cleanse the Emperor's body and marrow, transforming him and making his physical constitution incredibly strong. Almost every inch of his skin was radiating boundless divine light.

It can be said that the Emperor is a strengthening of the Primordial Heavenly Venerable based on the levels of Chaos and Primordial Beginning.

In the original timeline, the Undying Emperor used five Creation Source Eyes to nurture the Little Immortal Phoenix, thus giving birth to a peerless genius who could rival Ye Yishui, the imperial prince born from the eighth generation of Ye Fan.

The Undying Emperor's actions were also related to the fact that there weren't enough Undying Emperors to enter the Immortal Realm. There were only two of them—he and the native Mortal Immortal from the Strange World—and one more was needed to enter the Immortal Realm. Therefore, Little Immortal Phoenix, a peerless genius who was close to becoming an immortal in two or three hundred thousand years, was someone he carefully cultivated to make up the last person needed.

Now, the Primordial Celestial Venerable also used this method to cultivate his disciple, the Emperor, giving the Emperor of this timeline a stronger physique and potential than the original timeline.

It seems that Yuanshi Tianzun treated the former Chuan Ying very differently, neglecting him while devoting himself to nurturing the latter emperor. But in reality, Yuanshi Tianzun was simply teaching according to the individual's aptitude.

With Chuan Ying's carefree and open-minded nature, he should be allowed to explore freely. In this unrestrained and carefree state, Chuan Ying will find it easier to forge his own path and break free from the influence of Yuanshi Tianzun. After all, Chuan Ying is already a very mature cultivator and does not need much interference from him.

But the emperor was still an infant, and everything about him was basically a blank slate. Therefore, the Primordial Celestial Venerable could freely modify him and cultivate him in the direction he wanted.

In a sense, the two disciples that Yuanshi Tianzun accepted were inheritors of the achievements of his two lifetimes.

Chuan Ying inherited the path of his first life, constantly surpassing his limits through the cultivation of the seven extreme realms, and forging his own path.

The baby he named Emperor will inherit the ancient scriptures of his second life and sweep across the world in the most invincible way.

After all, the second incarnation of the Primordial Celestial Venerable transformed himself into a heaven-defying immortal embryo. The scriptures he created in this incarnation were too domineering, and those with insufficient physical strength simply could not cultivate them. Even someone with a physical strength like Chuan Ying could barely manage.

Therefore, he chose an emperor with a stronger physique and further enhanced him. Only in this way could the emperor perfectly cultivate the ancient scripture of this lifetime.

(End of this chapter)