Chapter 8: Breakthrough to the Golden Immortal
As time went by, three thousand years passed in the blink of an eye, and Hongjun stopped preaching at the first moment.

After the first sermon ended, all the great men woke up from their state of enlightenment, all with a look of reluctance on their faces.

At this moment, the innate spiritual energy in the Zixiao Palace rushed towards a corner frantically.

Someone is breaking through? And the noise is quite loud.

It’s not that there were no other people who made breakthroughs when Hongjun was preaching, but everyone was busy seeking enlightenment at the time and had no time to pay attention to others.

In an instant, almost all eyes were drawn to it.

“Brother, it’s… it’s… it’s him.”

Zhunti pointed at Kong Xuan, his fingers trembling constantly.

Everyone: “???”

Watching others break through can be so exciting.

When Jie Yin saw Kong Xuan, his expression was also uncertain.

“Brother, this person has tremendous karma and is plagued by bad luck. How can he possibly reach the Zixiao Palace alive?” At this moment, Zhunti no longer cared about his own image.

Zhunti had already determined in his mind that the reason why he and Jie Yin encountered the chaotic thunderstorm was because they were infected with Kong Xuan’s bad luck.

They are already so miserable just because of their bad luck, why is Kong Xuan fine?
This is not reasonable.

The other people around thought of what Jie Yin and Zhunti said when they just entered the Zixiao Palace, and they immediately understood the general idea.

In other words, what Jie Yin and Zhunti said before were not made up.

All of a sudden, many eyes looking at Kong Xuan became strange, and several people around him even subconsciously distanced themselves from him, fearing that they would also be contaminated by bad luck.

For this thing, it is better to believe it exists than to believe it does not exist.

If we were to ask who among all the people present believed in Zhunti’s words the most, it would definitely be Di Jun.

Because Di Jun had seen the karma of Kong Xuan with his own eyes.

Hongjun frowned slightly when he saw that everyone’s attention was on Kong Xuan.

“Is there anything you don’t understand? Feel free to tell us all,” Hongjun said.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone’s attention returned to Hongjun.

At this time, Kong Xuan had just broken through to the Golden Immortal Realm. Hearing this, he stood up and bowed to Hongjun:
“Teacher, may I ask where the Tao is? What is the Tao?”

Upon hearing this, Hongjun couldn’t help but look at Kong Xuan and asked, “Do you really dare to ask?”

If the Tao can be explained, it is no longer the Tao.

After a brief pause, Hongjun said: “The Tao is in the heart, the heart is the Tao, the Tao is in heaven and earth, heaven and earth are the Tao, all things are the Tao, and the Tao is all things.”

Kong Xuan’s question was profound and Hongjun’s answer was ambiguous, leaving everyone confused.

It just feels inexplicably profound.

Kong Xuan also asked this question subconsciously after his breakthrough in cultivation. After hearing Hongjun’s answer, he seemed to be thinking about something.

“Thank you for your answer, teacher.”

After Kong Xuan, Laozi immediately stood up and asked, “Teacher, how do I prove the truth?”

Compared with Kong Xuan, Lao Tzu is much simpler and direct.

When this question was asked, everyone pricked up their ears and listened attentively.

After all, this is what they all came here for.

“There are three thousand great ways, and countless ways to attain the Way. There is no standard.”

After a pause, Hongjun continued slowly: “There are thousands of ways to attain enlightenment, and I have summarized three relatively traceable paths.

The first is to prove the truth by force, the second is to prove the truth by killing the three corpses, and the third is to prove the truth by merit.

To prove the truth by force is the most difficult, but also the most powerful; to prove the truth by slashing the three corpses, one must slash the three corpses of good, evil, and self; to prove the truth by virtue, one must accumulate infinite virtue.

After hearing this, Laozi fell into deep thought. After a moment, he bowed again and said, “Thank you for your guidance, teacher.”

At this time, Yuanshi stood up and asked: “Teacher, how should we choose the method of enlightenment?” Hongjun shook his head slightly: “The method of enlightenment varies from person to person. It must be chosen according to one’s own opportunity and nature. It cannot be forced.”

Tongtian then asked: “Teacher, if I choose the wrong method to attain enlightenment, is there any way to remedy it?”

Hongjun’s eyes were calm: “Once you make a choice, it is difficult to change it. You must be extremely careful.”

Seeing this, Nuwa asked, “Teacher, how can I break through to the next level of Daluo Jinxian?”

“The next level after Daluo Jinxian is Hunyuan Jinxian, but as the way of heaven has evolved, Hunyuan Jinxian is no longer suitable for prehistoric creatures.

I have opened up a path to becoming a quasi-saint for this purpose. Next time I give a lecture, I will talk about how to become a quasi-saint.” Hongjun replied slowly.

“It’s not that the Hunyuan Golden Immortal is unsuitable for the creatures of the prehistoric world, it’s because the Hunyuan Golden Immortal has the possibility of transcending the Heavenly Dao, so he was abandoned by the Heavenly Dao.” After hearing Hongjun’s words, Kong Xuan couldn’t help but think to himself.

In fact, Kong Xuan was planning to follow the path of Hunyuan Golden Immortal.

Because Kong Xuan knew very well that the position of a sage had already been determined by heaven, and it was impossible for him to become a sage.

If one wants to attain enlightenment, there is only one path to take: the Hunyuan Daluo Jinxian.

If one wants to attain the status of Hunyuan Daluo Jinxian, one must first achieve Hunyuan Jinxian.

However, Kong Xuan had no idea how to achieve the Hunyuan Golden Immortal.

After finishing the lecture in Zixiao Palace, Kong Xuan planned to return to the Immortal Volcano, hoping to find Yuanfeng’s inheritance.

After all, Yuan Feng is a real Hunyuan Golden Immortal.

After hearing Hongjun’s answer, everyone had their own thoughts in their minds. Nuwa nodded thoughtfully and stopped asking questions.

The crowd continued to raise many questions, and Hongjun answered them one by one.

When everyone had no more questions, Hongjun said, “This sermon is over. You all should go back and practice well. I will give my second sermon in 30,000 years.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Hongjun’s figure merged into the void and disappeared.

Everyone stood up and prepared to return to the Honghuang Taoist Temple to meditate.

“Fellow Daoist Kong Xuan, you caused my brother and I to be trapped in a chaotic thunderstorm. In order to escape from the chaotic thunderstorm, my brother also lost an innate spiritual treasure. Can Fellow Daoist Kong Xuan compensate me?” Zhunti looked at Kong Xuan and suddenly spoke.

“No.” Kong Xuan shook his head.

“Fellow Daoist Kong Xuan, the reason why we are trapped in the chaotic thunderstorm and lost our innate spiritual treasures is because we have been infected by your bad luck…”

“What did you say? It’s too far away. Speak closer. I can’t hear you clearly.” Kong Xuan interrupted Zhunti.

Upon hearing this, Zhunti walked towards Kong Xuan, but was stopped by Jie Yin.

“Senior brother?”

Zhunti turned around and looked at Jie Yin in confusion.

Jie Yin shook his head slightly: “Brother, don’t get close to him. If we are contaminated by bad luck again, we might encounter a chaotic thunderstorm when we return to the prehistoric world this time.”

Upon hearing this, Zhunti’s face changed drastically and he took two steps back.

When he thinks back to the last time he encountered a chaos thunderstorm, he still feels a lingering fear. It was truly a life-and-death experience.

After hearing what Jie Yin said, Zhunti was unwilling, but he did not dare to approach Kong Xuan rashly. He glared at Kong Xuan fiercely and said:

“Hmph, Kong Xuan, this matter won’t just end like this.”

Kong Xuan, however, looked nonchalant and said with a smile: “It’s up to you. Come on if you have the guts.”

Trying to extort the innate spiritual treasure from him is impossible.

Now he has broken through to the Golden Immortal, and with the addition of many other means such as the Five Elements Small World and the Heavenly Dao Wheel, although he is still unable to defeat Jie Yin and Zhunti, he has gained some ability to protect himself.

After Jie Yin and Zhunti snorted coldly, they hurriedly left Zixiao Palace.

When the others saw this, they all walked around Kong Xuan.

Kong Xuan looked indifferent to this.

He walked out of Zixiao Palace alone and was about to leave when a voice suddenly sounded behind him:
“Fellow Daoist Kong Xuan…”

(End of this chapter)