With a helpless sigh, Zong Shou inscribed another talisman in the void—a clear character for 'Purity.'

Han Fang, seeing this, finally relaxed somewhat. He knew Zong Shou's divine soul was pure, so this 'Purity' character was certainly not the root cause. He guessed the fellow must possess some other means to resolve the flaw in the Heaven-Swallowing Primordial Essence Art.

"It is this talisman! Junior Brother truly has an ingenious mind. Before the Heaven-Swallowing Elder disappeared, rumor had it he was nearly driven mad due to the mixing of his True Qi and the tainting of his Primordial Spirit. While the Heaven-Swallowing Primordial Essence Scripture is a wondrous technique of heaven and earth, its backlash is equally immense—"

After a few sentences, he noticed the look of impatience in Zong Shou's eyes. Han Fang knew he had strayed too far from the topic. He cleared his throat lightly. "Then, is your purpose here regarding what comes after the Day Roaming Realm? The matter of body-forging and manifesting the True Form?"

"Precisely!"

Zong Shou nodded, a look of intense focus appearing in his eyes. "My foundation is built upon the Heaven-Swallowing Primordial Essence Great Law. If I do not prepare early, I fear the hurdle of forging the body and manifesting the True Form will be difficult to cross. Hence, I have come to seek guidance from Senior Brother!"

Han Fang’s brows also furrowed, and he sank into thought, starting to speak several times only to draw his words back.

After a moment, his eyes lit up. "I cannot offer much on this matter. Looking at your Primordial Spirit, the Heaven-Swallowing Primordial Essence Law has essentially become an innate divine ability for you. Unless you completely dissolve and reconstruct your Primordial Spirit. However, doing so would delay you by at least a year, and it would be a pity to lose that divine ability to inhale the heavens and earth. But if you cannot proceed with body-forging the True Form, perhaps we can borrow from the techniques of Buddhism—"

"Buddhism?"

Zong Shou’s brow twitched, showing astonishment.

"Indeed, Buddhism!"

Han Fang nodded, letting out a light chuckle. "All the secret transmissions of our School of Universal Life are a fusion of the essence of the Confucian and Daoist schools, hence we follow the path of the Spirit Master in body-forging the True Form. Buddhism is different from us; their step is first to forge the Dharma Body (Fa Xiang)."

Zong Shou was aware of this; he had sparred with Buddhist disciples in his previous life. Those Buddhist disciples indeed cultivated the Dharma Body first.

Consequently, Daoist Spirit Masters, before entering the Immortal Path, were more adept at various spiritual methods, manipulating spiritual energy with diverse tactics. Buddhists, however, cultivated singular divine abilities, their methods few but their might immense.

It was truly difficult to judge which was superior between the two. In the end, all rivers flow back to the sea. Buddhists still needed to gather their True Form, and this lineage of Daoist Spirit Masters also needed to condense their Dharma Body.

However, for him, following the path of the Dharma Body seemed like a viable way to temporarily bypass the bottleneck of forging the True Form.

"But if you truly wish to gather a Dharma Body, the path you walk will be unlike anyone else’s. There is no precedent to draw upon; the Dharma Bodies of the true Buddhas cannot be followed. The Divine Sovereigns of the Daoist school also have foundations vastly different from your Heaven-Swallowing Primordial Essence Law. This road is exceedingly difficult to tread—"

As he spoke, Han Fang recalled, "I remember there were several Buddhist classics in the Transmission Hall that might assist you. In the Scripture Repository Building B, there are also a few volumes, such as True Explanation of the Ten Thousand Heavens Dharma Bodies, Primordial Penetration Formlessness, Sea of Dharma Bead Formation, and Lesser Primordial Form Sutra; these would be quite beneficial to you. If that is insufficient, you may seek them in Scripture Repository Building A. However, that will require seeking permission from the Head Disciple—"

Zong Shou's heart sank slightly. Since Han Fang called the path difficult, it must be unimaginably arduous.

He then offered a sincere, deep bow to Han Fang to express his gratitude. Without his Senior Brother's guidance, he might have floundered for years without finding a clue.

Han Fang let out a wry smile and waved his large sleeve, an external force lifting Zong Shou’s body. "No need for such formality. In truth, I haven't helped much. As your Senior Brother, I am ashamed. Now, I also await with great anticipation to see what heights the Heaven-Swallowing Primordial Essence Scripture—a technique comparable to the peerless Great Laws—will reach in your hands. Though forging your Dharma Body presents some difficulty, once this form is established, the benefits will surely be limitless—"

Zong Shou smiled, not taking Han Fang’s words to heart. Any fool could discern the perfunctory comfort woven into his Senior Brother’s speech.

He currently had no mind to dwell on the efficacy of the Dharma Body; he only sought to successfully pass this trial.

Following Han Fang’s directions, he retrieved True Explanation of the Ten Thousand Heavens Dharma Bodies, Primordial Penetration Formlessness, and several other texts related to the Dharma Body. He discovered that not all of these were purely Buddhist; one or two were Daoist, such as Primordial Penetration Formlessness, which was a Daoist method.

Not knowing which Immortal Path powerhouse had authored it, upon opening it, he found the text profoundly mysterious and difficult to grasp its subtlety.

He could only store them in his Qiankun Bag for later, final study. Conversely, the booklets left by the few eminent Buddhist monks, though using equally confusing terminology, were somewhat easier to comprehend.

He searched around further, hoping to find any other classics that might prove helpful.

Suddenly, his heart gave a sharp jolt, and his gaze fixed upon a bookshelf across the way. On the sixth level, a golden volume stood out with startling abruptness, leaping into his vision.

"Vairocana Mandala? Vairocana means the Great Sun Tathagata in Buddhism, one of the highest-ranking Holy Buddhas. A Mandala is the convergence of all sages and all merits. This scripture, translated, should be the Great Sun Sacred Virtue Scripture? I don't know who wrote it, but it is quite rare—"

Zong Shou felt an intense strangeness in his heart. He practiced the Heaven-Swallowing Primordial Essence Law, which depleted the excess of heaven and earth to nourish the deficient, depleting the deficient to bestow upon the excess—a law more demonic than the demonic path. How could this relate to the Great Sun Tathagata?

Could he cultivate the Great Sun Dharma Body?

Yet, this surge of emotion was genuine. It felt as if it originated from the depths of his divine soul, his Daoist heart's origin, his soul's core issuing a warning—it was not baseless.

He must have overlooked something—

The Great Sun Tathagata illuminates all things in the world, driving away all darkness. His Heaven-Swallowing Primordial Essence swallows everything, reducing all to nothingness. If cultivated successfully, what would that make him? The Dark Sun Tathagata?

Dark Sun?

With a thought, Zong Shou took the Vairocana Mandala into his hands. He vaguely felt that this book might truly be able to help him.

He searched around afterwards but found no other scripture that stirred him so deeply.

When he descended the stairs, he indeed saw a hint of worry lingering on Han Fang's face. Zong Shou sighed inwardly, realizing his initial assessment was correct: his Senior Brother’s words were mostly meant to comfort him.

However, he didn't dwell on it too much in his heart. At worst, he could ask the sect elders to help reconstruct his divine soul—that was the benefit of a major sect.

With the Nine-Story Pagoda suppressing it, the gaps in his Primordial Spirit were beginning to heal, and his reliance on the Heaven-Swallowing Primordial Essence Law was not as absolute as before.

After bidding farewell to Han Fang and leaving Scripture Repository Building B, Zong Shou continued walking toward the south side of the Universal Life Palace.

Within the Universal Life Celestial Realm, there were the Transmission Hall and the Scripture Bestowal Hall; these housed the sect's true secret transmissions and techniques.

As for the Twelve Scripture Repository Buildings, though holding a vast sea of books and millions of classics, most were merely documentation—records of the enlightenment ancestors' comprehension of the Great Dao, annotations by past powerful figures from various teachings on certain techniques, and miscellaneous subjects like alchemy and artifact refining.

To learn secret arts and spiritual methods, one truly needed the Transmission and Bestowal Halls.

The Transmission Hall spanned five levels, and this was Zong Shou's first time here.

However, studying techniques here was not free; it required a certain measure of 'Merit.'

In the parlance of later-era Divine Emperor games, this 'Merit' was the sect's Contribution Value, identical in nature to the Merit Points he had established on Dry Heaven Mountain.

Since Zong Shou had never been here before, he naturally hadn't earned any 'Merit.' But upon entry, Wei Xu had already 'transferred' him three thousand Merit. According to that Senior Brother, this was the maximum allowed by the sect; any further acquisition would require earning it personally.

At this moment, he felt somewhat uneasy, wondering if his 'Merit' would suffice.

Stepping inside, Zong Shou felt a measure of reassurance. The bookshelves on the first level had labels, mostly indicating around fifty points.

Glancing along, he saw only Fifth Grade, Exquisite Level techniques. Moving to the second level, Sixth Grade, Marvelous Level techniques only cost three hundred points, and as a direct disciple, he received a thirty percent discount.

The Buddhist secret methods related to the Dharma Body that Han Fang mentioned were around the Seventh Grade. However, because they were Buddhist, few in the Universal Life School practiced them, which ended up making them cheaper.

Zong Shou collected all of these, using only about half the allocated amount. Feeling unsatisfied, he went to the uppermost floor. A layer of invisible barrier stood there, but Zong Shou simply brushed his token against it, and it dissolved without resistance. Then, when the surrounding bookshelves came into view, his pupils instantly contracted.

Indeed!

The third level held Seventh Grade techniques; the fourth, Eighth Grade. And this final level housed secret arts and techniques above the Ninth Grade, the Heaven Shaking level!

The Great Yi Vast Sky Netherworld Method that Wei Xu had gifted him was among these.

Zong Shou glanced at the label below, sucking in a sharp breath: Ten Thousand Merit!

He didn't know how this Merit was earned, but he knew it must be an incredibly massive figure; an ordinary disciple of the Universal Life School might never accumulate enough in a lifetime.

Even for the powerful Universal Life School, there were only about two hundred texts on this floor.

Unexpectedly, Zong Yuan was also here, staring blankly at a certain spot.

Zong Shou couldn't inquire immediately. He scanned the surroundings, and after just a moment, his gaze fixed upon another golden Buddhist sutra—the Vajra Realm Great Sun Tathagata Heart Mantra.

Taking it, he flipped it open slightly. The text had a spiritual technique restriction, preventing him from reading it fully, but he could preview the beginning.

The opening lines read: "Vairocana, removing all darkness, universally illuminating all things in the universe, able to benefit and nurture all living beings in the world; the light of the Great Sun is unceasing and imperishable, illuminating the ten directions of the worlds—"

And then, "The meaning of removing darkness and universal brightness is that the wisdom sunlight of the Tathagata permeates everywhere, casting a great illumination, with no distinction between inside and outside, day or night." The subsequent verses were concealed by spiritual techniques, rendering them invisible.

Zong Shou’s brow lifted; he knew this was exactly what he needed. Looking at the cost below, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

—Tenth Grade, Sacred Spirit, Five Thousand Merit!

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