Inside the Imperial Royal Scripture Vault.

Zhong Shenxiu briefly surveyed the area and discovered that the books were mostly organized into eight sections: "Heaven, Earth, Mountains, Marshes, Water, Fire, Wind, Thunder."

Among them, the Heavenly Department mainly contained the cultivation techniques of various sects.

The Earth Department was filled with various ancient secrets and travel logs of cultivators.

The Mountain Department primarily included geographic maps and diagrams of Earth's geomantic veins.

The Marsh Department dealt with the courses of water veins and the scenery of the East Sea.

The departments of Water, Fire, Wind, and Thunder, on the other hand, leaned towards various miscellaneous studies.

...

He made his way to a shelf in the Earth Department and randomly pulled out a book only to find that it was the latest travel log from the West.

It detailed the internal state and geography of Western countries after the Black Fog had dissipated.

Who knew how many spies like Zhu Qingliu had paid with their lives for such information?

The ink on the latest book was not even dry, seemingly just added.

Zhong Shenxiu drew out a book and found it was the "Examination of the Western Barbarians," which detailed the recent wars between the East and West.

Every minor detail was recorded.

Even battles between immortals were documented this way.

"Arhat's battle, widespread devastation, miles of scorched earth... eventually, an archbishop from the Enrique Kingdom arrived wielding a divine artifact that drove back our immortal... this divine artifact, named 'Lost Paradise,' is considered the highest-tier curse object in the West..."

"Kingdom of Purple Gold Flower, protected by a Pseudo-God, the divine artifact 'Utopia'..."

"The armies occupied the Clement Kingdom, ravaging the city for three days..."

...

"'Lost Paradise,' 'Utopia'... Could they, like the 'Damp Bone Forest,' be singular divine transformations?"

"No wonder the court places great emphasis on reconnaissance and records it here, but sadly... the Arhats are dead, what use is knowing this news?"

"That's not right, perhaps today's court doesn't even grasp the significance of what this implies."

The secrets to becoming a True God were arguably one of the ultimate secrets of this world.

Zhong Shenxiu had also ventured several times and had eventually obtained knowledge from the deity that had fallen in Da Mo.

Not every significant power in the East was clear about the details.

"Although there is a temporary ceasefire, war could break out anytime... even if just for the competition over the singular divinity, the Eastern Arhats wouldn't let go..."

"Even though it is difficult to accommodate and digest, and perhaps impossible to fully assimilate... after all, this is the only hope of becoming a True God..."

...

Zhong Shenxiu sighed and went towards the front of the Heavenly Department.

Here were placed all the sects' cultivation techniques.

Daoist Three Sects, Demon Six Paths, Loose Practitioners, Outer World Buddhism...

A wide array of inheritances could indeed be found there.

Even many texts that directly pointed to forming a Dharma Body were freely available to peruse.

In terms of value, they were completely comparable to the "Supreme Dragon Tiger Tribulation Suppressing Scripture!"

"East Sea Independent Practitioners might be lacking in heritage, but whether it is the Demon Sects or Daoist Sects, all can enrich my foundation, allowing me to derive my own strongest path to a Dharma Body..."

Zhong Shenxiu directly skipped over the texts from the Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect.

What was collected here was not as rich as what he had learned, after all, things like the Taiyin Refining chapters were definitely absent.

He pondered for a moment before pulling out a scroll from the Miao Ji Zhen Sect regarding the Dan Formation Method, and after reading it, he suddenly felt enlightened.

He then looked at a Buddha Scripture from the Outer World Fan Sect that detailed the path of the Arhat Golden Body, from which he gained even more profound benefits.

Next, he opened the "Yellow Heaven Miao Technique" from the Taiping Sect, gazing upon spiritual texts filled with Dao Rhythm that could make an ordinary cultivator dizzy and delusional. Overexerting oneself in reading them could lead straight to madness, and a gleam seemed to pass through his eyes.

"New methods are born from ancient methods, yet they are completely different... The path of the Dharma Body is a thorough attempt to control worldly pollution..."

After forming the Leakless Primordial Pill, a cultivator first must transcend three calamities to form the Primordial Spirit and then four tribulations to reach the peak of the Primordial Spirit.

First three, then four, completely opposite to the previous path, also representing the inherent disorder and chaos of this path!

The next two crucial stages are the 'body tribulation' and the 'heart tribulation.'

By transcending the body tribulation, one can fully master the transformation into an Immortal and breakthrough to the Dharma Body.

However, while achieving the Dharma Body fully controls the physical transformation into immortality, the madness of the mind is hard to eradicate. Therefore, there is also the 'heart tribulation'. After transcending it, one reaches the peak of the Dharma Body and can attempt to 'die once' to become a disincarnate Immortal!

"In reality... even after transcending the two major tribulations, cultivators may not truly overcome the effects of madness and pollution... otherwise, there would be no need to die."

After browsing through the scriptures of a hundred schools, Zhong Shenxiu felt a chill run down his spine.

He had a premonition that disorder and chaos might be the mainstream, logic, and clarity only temporary. This, he surmised, was the essence of the cultivation methods in this world!

"As to how to transcend these two tribulations, each school has some secret techniques... At this stage, ordinary secret techniques are of little use, scarcely better than nothing."

"For instance, the Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect has the 'Slaying Dragon and Tiger Technique,' which involves slaughtering a dragon and a tiger incarnation, entrusting part of the flesh..."

"Besides, the Taiping Sect has the 'Planting Beans into Soldiers Secret Skill', the principle of which is to breed Daoist Soldiers to entrust and share part of the burden..."

Zhong Shenxiu casually pulled out another book and discovered it was the "Commentary on the Mutual Understanding of Changes"!

It was also a Daoist scripture, yet it discussed the Yin Yang Dao.

Within it, there were also secret techniques for transcending the two tribulations.

That was—procreation!

"A cultivator can pass on part of their pollution through blood relations, entrusting it to their descendants to share the burden..."

"These secret techniques... They're all essentially the same, whether it's slaying incarnations, breeding Daoist Soldiers, or even offspring... aren't they all about... creating a clan?"

"Using the rationality of a clan to share one's own madness?"

"It's becoming more and more akin to the style of the Evil God... No, wait, the people in the Imperial Family and the Zhang family from the Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect all seem pretty normal..."

"Could it be that their ancestral Dharma Body didn't use secret techniques and they transcended the two tribulations entirely on their own..."

"Or... are the truly crazed clans all penned up or outright killed?"

Zhong Shenxiu suddenly felt a chill.

"I am not that kind of person. Instead of harming the life I create, it's better to use the Tribulation Transformation Skill to gather my own madness and pollution in a specific part of my body, and then slay it..."

"Yes, there are such paths in Buddhism, and similarly in Daoism... It's not substituting for tribulation, but taking it on behalf of others!"

"However, compared to Daoism, where one can casually slay limbs or even fingers to face tribulation, Buddhism is too honest. The entire golden body must be put at stake, leaving only the Primordial Spirit..."

"Hmm, is this... 'The Sutra of Reincarnation through Three Lifetimes' from the Tuo Mi Temple?"

Zhong Shenxiu came across another scripture and raised his eyebrows. "This is a secret technique for transcending the body tribulation and breaking through the Dharma Body, which emphasizes not concerning oneself with the body. Directly transform the body into an immortal, seal it, and then have the True Spirit reincarnate... When the True Spirit grows and returns, it can take over the immortalized body and transcend the body tribulation."

"Sometimes one attempt isn't enough, and you might need two more tries, but never more than three lifetimes; otherwise, it's bound to fail..."

"Although this method is good, the key issue is that the immortalized body continually influences the reincarnating True Spirit. How can a newly born True Spirit resist? Without the protection of a great power and extraordinary luck, there is little hope..."

"The bond between the immortalized body and the True Spirit cannot be severed by mere reincarnation. As long as they remain in the same world, even if a Dharma Body True Monarch or even a disincarnate Immortal intervenes, they are mostly helpless..."

"The path of immortality is tough... It's making me want to switch to the Western system, but alas, that system has its pitfalls too."

The ceremonies required for [Controllers] to ascend to [Dominators] or for [Dominators] to rise to [Ancients] are also fraught with difficulties, hardly simpler than transcending the two tribulations...

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