Transcending two realms to become an earth immortal

In this world, there have been five main paths for living beings to pursue immortality and transcendence since ancient times.

That is:

Heaven, Earth, Man, Gods, Ghosts!

These five paths lead in different directions, ultimately resulting in different spiritual attainments, and the opportunities and conditions required are vastly different.

The Path of Celestial Immortality is inherited from the most orthodox ancient methods of Qi cultivation. This path emphasizes gradual progress:

By consuming and refining one's Qi, laying the foundation for one's Dao, and opening the Purple Palace, the essence, Qi, and spirit are ultimately perfectly integrated to form a flawless Golden Elixir. Hence the saying, "Once a Golden Elixir is swallowed, one's fate is in one's own hands, not in the hands of Heaven."

Further on, the Golden Core shatters, the Dao Embryo condenses, the soul returns to the Great Void, comprehends the mysteries of heaven and earth, and ultimately merges with the Great Dao, becoming a carefree and immortal celestial being.

This path emphasizes a solid foundation and clear steps: refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, refining spirit to return to emptiness, and refining emptiness to unite with the Dao. It is a step-by-step process that leads to the highest level of Dao attainment.

However, the sheer amount of resources it consumes is staggering, requiring immense fortune, luck, and the resources of a vast world to sustain it; otherwise, it would be impossible for it to succeed.

The path to becoming a human immortal does not seek to harmonize one's soul with the Great Dao of the Void, but rather to pursue the immortality of the physical body.

The cultivation method involves constantly tempering the body, cleansing the marrow and bones, and transforming tendons and bones to stimulate the potential of the physical body to the extreme, until one is reborn, changes form, and achieves a powerful physique like that of ancient gods and demons, which can be called "physical sainthood".

Whether it's the martial arts body tempering of humans, the bloodline refinement of demons, or the Blood Sea Asura Technique of the demonic path, they can all be categorized under this path.

When cultivation reaches its peak, one can be reborn from a drop of blood and shatter the void with a single punch, thus proving the Dao through force.

However, while this approach focuses on self-cultivation, it also demands an astonishing amount of external resources, requiring a massive amount of rare and precious materials, blood and vital energy to nourish the body, making it a bottomless pit.

In ancient times, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was abundant, and the paths of celestial immortals and human immortals flourished, producing many great beings.

But it is precisely because of excessive demands, like draining a pond to catch all the fish, that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth gradually depletes.

Just like those spiritual objects that are now considered rare treasures, they were nothing more than ordinary materials for alchemy in the eyes of ancient cultivators, which they squandered at will.

With limited natural resources, how can we withstand such exploitation?

Therefore, as the tide of spiritual energy receded and signs of the Dharma-ending Age began to appear, the paths of Celestial Immortal and Human Immortal slowly became extinct and gradually faded away.

Instead, the way of immortals was adopted.

This road roughly splits into two branches:

First, there is the path of incense and deities. It gathers the faith and aspirations of all living beings, aligns with the authority and rules of a particular realm, and first becomes the King of the Underworld, the local land god, and then aims to ascend to the position of ruler of mountains and rivers, dragon king of rivers, and even Yama, the King of the Underworld, or the Heavenly Emperor above the Nine Heavens.

Secondly, there is the path to immortality. Following the principles of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the celestial bodies, one gathers the corresponding spiritual energy of heaven and earth to forge a foundation for the Dao. Then, one seeks out rare and precious treasures in the world, refining them into one's body to form a point of immortal "golden nature," thus achieving the Great Dao Golden Elixir.

After the Golden Core shatters, the Dao Embryo manifests, and one can then attempt to occupy a corresponding [Innate Fruit Position] in the world.

Once occupied, one can mobilize the power of heaven and earth within the corresponding domain, summon wind and rain, and control a portion of the rules.

However, there is a problem with the path of immortals: the number of divine powers and innate positions is limited.

A divine position or a fruit position can usually only accommodate one person. Unless the original owner dies or voluntarily relinquishes it, the successor will never have the opportunity to be promoted.

This path is like the officialdom of the world; there are only so many high positions, and it's very difficult for those below to climb up.

Moreover, cultivation is extremely dependent on the circulation of spiritual energy in heaven and earth and the favor of the era's fortune, making the competition exceptionally fierce and the internal struggle extremely brutal.

In the near-ancient era, the world further declined, and spiritual energy became extremely scarce, making it difficult even to offer alms to immortals.

Thus, the path of ghost immortals began to flourish, also known as the path of corpse liberation immortals.

This path no longer demands that essence, energy, and spirit advance in tandem, but instead uses the remaining spiritual objects as a catalyst to refine true energy, which in turn nourishes the soul.

The key lies in condensing the three souls and seven spirits to refine the [Yin Spirit]. The Yin Spirit needs to undergo the tempering of tribulations, shedding its Yin nature and transforming into pure Yang, ultimately achieving the unity of Yin and Yang to become the [Primordial Spirit]. If the Primordial Spirit is immortal, and one overcomes the three calamities of death, one can [ascend to heaven].

This path was born out of necessity, requiring the least amount of natural resources and leading to the fastest path to enlightenment, giving countless cultivators a glimmer of hope in the apocalypse. However, the Dao fruit it yields is the lowest among the Five Immortals.

The magical powers of the Corpse-Dissolving Immortals are far inferior to those of the Celestial Immortals, their foundation for longevity is not as solid as that of the Gods, and they lack the formidable combat strength of the Human Immortals. Most of their choices are made out of necessity.

As for the path of the Earthly Immortals, it has almost become a legend in this apocalyptic world, because it is completely different from the previous four paths.

The four paths—Heaven, Man, God, and Ghost—regardless of the methods used, all ultimately aim to achieve individual transcendence.

Cultivators plunder the essence of heaven and earth and the spiritual energy of all things, just to achieve their own carefree immortality. The world is but a temporary inn for them, and all of us are travelers on a long journey.

If the heavens and earth collapse, one can simply break through the tribulation and ascend to heaven; there is naturally no need to worry.

But earth immortals are different.

What they pursue is "to advance and retreat with the world, and to seek transcendence together".

By integrating oneself with the local environment, perceiving the changes of Yin and Yang, controlling the rise and fall of a region, and guiding the evolution of a civilization from ancient times to the present.

Their ultimate goal is not for themselves to ascend, but to propel the entire world they support and the world they protect to transcend suffering.

This is an immense achievement, but it is extremely difficult to accomplish, so its transmission is rare, and there are very few practitioners. It is almost regarded by the world as empty talk.

In the secret room, Fang Chen concentrated and carefully analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of each of the five paths.

The paths of celestial immortal and human immortal are ruled out first.

These two paths require enormous resources, and even more so, a complete and prosperous world to draw upon its boundless spiritual energy and mysterious fortune, only then can one have a chance to achieve enlightenment.

Even if he managed to travel to an ancient world by chance with the help of the divine artifact Kunlun Mirror, how could he possibly seize the great fortune of that era and wipe out countless enemies who blocked his path?

Even if we were to succeed, if we cannot immediately transcend this turbid and evil world, the physical body we achieve will be worn away day and night by the filth of the end times.

Even more terrifying is that when the world decays and falls into decline, it often breeds indescribable "Heavenly Demons" that specifically seek to seize the cultivation fruits of cultivators. At that time, they may be attacked from both inside and outside, and there is a risk of death, the dissipation of their cultivation, and falling into the abyss.

The path of immortals won't work either. After all, the foundation of this path lies in [position of attainment] and [authority].

However, this world is now on the verge of collapse, with yin and yang out of balance and laws in chaos. The innate positions have probably long been damaged and destroyed, and the authority of the acquired divine offices has also dissipated with the death of believers.

Even if you obtain it, it will be like a castle in the air, full of hidden dangers, and could be annihilated at any time when the world's last breath dissipates.

"Therefore, in this apocalyptic world, eight or nine out of ten cultivators choose the path of Ghost Immortal Corpse Liberation." Fang Chen realized in his heart, "Firstly, it is due to the pressure of the times and the scarcity of resources, and this is the only path with a slightly lower threshold; secondly, it is also a way to seek a quick path to achieve enlightenment, hoping to seize a chance to transcend before the world completely returns to nothingness."

However, the path of the ghost immortal is ultimately a lower-level path.

Not to mention the decline of Taoist practices in this world, even finding a complete lineage of corpse liberation is a problem.

Even if it succeeds, can that inferior path of corpse dissolution truly escape this boundless apocalypse and reach the true Pure Land?

His thoughts were in turmoil. He recalled that year, when that spark of inspiration accompanied the awakening of his past life's memories, and the method engraved in the Kunlun Mirror—

[The Jade Pure Primordial Heavenly Venerable Speaks of the Golden Chapter of the Cave of Mystery and the Palace of Heaven!]

The magnificent numbers embody the essence of Tao.

Without any explanation, this method follows the righteous path of the Earth Immortals, which has been almost forgotten by the world!

Moreover, being bestowed with such an honorific title as "Yuqing Yuanshi Tianzun" must be the highest level of Dharma in this world!

For a moment, Fang Chen remained silent.

In this apocalyptic world where everyone is only seeking self-preservation and personal transcendence, the path of the Earth Immortal is as futile as sand, let alone saving the collapsing world.

In this final calamity, taking this path is harder than climbing to heaven!

The secret room was silent, except for the turmoil in his heart.

Those great cultivators of the ancient times enjoyed the fortune of an era, but their actions were like draining a pond to catch all the fish. They seized the essence of heaven and earth as their private hoard and intercepted the creation of all things to achieve their own success, which led to the depletion of spiritual energy, the collapse of the Great Dao, and ultimately brought about the great calamity of the end of the Dharma.

Such behavior, seemingly leading to carefree longevity, is in reality a theft of the natural order and a means of enriching oneself at the expense of the public.

If all those who come after us follow this path, and everyone only seeks to protect themselves, taking everything and running away, will there be any chance of survival left in this world?

All that will remain is madness and decay, ultimately leading to eternal oblivion.

Heaven and earth nurture all things and educate all living beings, possessing immeasurable merit and virtue. Why then do they suffer such backlash and end up in such a devastated state?

The secret room was completely silent.

After a long time, a message finally came:

"A true man should stand tall in this world, with no shame before Heaven or Earth. What he should seek is to accomplish great things, not to be like the withered bones in a tomb or the bookworms that feed on the universe, merely seeking to prolong his own life and wasting the remaining embers of this world."

"Moreover, the most wondrous, magnificent, and extraordinary sights in the world, and the paths to transcendence, attainment of truth, and sagehood, are often found in perilous and remote places! And few people venture there; therefore, only those with a strong will can reach them!"

"Though the path of corpse liberation to immortality is easy, it is ultimately a side path and an inferior one; the true path of earthly immortality, though perilous, is the smooth road to heaven. How can one, out of fear of the arduous journey, abandon a pearl in the ocean for a pebble among tiles?"

Having said this, it seems her mind is made up:

"Now that this body has entered the mortal realm, it should follow the righteous path of the Earthly Immortals. Even if countless tribulations befall it on the road ahead, though it may lead to nine deaths, it will not regret it!"