His cultivation stabilized at Golden Core late stage peak, divine sense covering dozens of li, spiritual power in his body surging like rivers, his condition adjusted to unprecedented optimal. Tang Xiao Qi broke through the cave entrance's simple prohibitions, again stepping into that unfamiliar barbaric mountain forest. Sunlight through branch gapssprinkled down, the forest filled with moist earth and vegetation fragrance, occasionally coming a few distant beast roars, everything full of primitive vitality.
He stood on a mountain peak, gazing far into the distance. Mountains stretched continuously, forest seas rose and fell, in the distance the outline of plains could be faintly seen, even further away seemed to be cooking smoke, showing the existence of human population. This heaven and earth was vast and unfamiliar, completely different from the southeastern region and Central Plains scenery he was familiar with.
However, he didn't have much confusion or unease in his heart. The leap in cultivation brought confidence, and even more deeply, the clear guidance brought by that slowly rotating, warm platinum light-emitting Dao seed in his dantian.
He looked inward, feeling every weak pulse of the Dao seed. It was like a newborn infant, though its foundation was already stable and profound, it lacked some crucial "nutrients," making it unable to truly become active and reach complete perfection, thereby triggering the Nascent Soul heavenly tribulation.
This "nutrient" was not heaven-and-earth spiritual qi, nor some specific heavenly material and earthly treasure.
It was "experience," it was "realization," it was the "myriad phenomena Dao rhyme"condensed by the world's myriad states and the world's hundred states.
His Dao was "guardian" and "purification," originating from the human world, rooted in the human world, and ultimately returning to the human world's "human world righteous Dao." The sprouting and growth of this Dao seed could not be separated from the objects it guarded and purified—this complex world and the billions of living beings living within it.
Relying solely on closed-door cultivation and absorbing heaven-and-earth spiritual qi might accumulate power, but could not make this Dao seed truly understand what "guardian" was, what "purification" was, even less able to experience the complex true meanings of joys and sorrows, good and evil intertwined, vitality and destruction coexisting contained within.
The Dao Ancestor's preaching granted him the "principle" of the Great Dao, pointed out the direction. But the "practice" part required him to walk it himself, to practice it.
He needed to enter the world.
He needed to be like a true traveler, even like an ordinary mortal, to walk, to observe, to listen, to help, to experience.
He needed to see the world's beauty, to feel the preciousness needing protection; also to directly face the world's filth and suffering, to practice the true meaning of purification—not high-above judgment and elimination, but integrated understanding, guidance, and sublimation.
He needed to experience mortals' birth, aging, illness, and death, love and hatred; to understand cultivators' Dao-seeking hardships and sect disputes; to witness the rise and fall of civilizations and the power and cruelty of nature... Letting this Dao seed representing "guardian and purification" absorb and digest all the Dao rhymes contained in this worldly myriad phenomena.
Only in this way could the Dao seed truly grow and perfect, like a weathered tree, its roots deeply planted in the earth (the mundane world), its branches stretching toward the sky (the Great Dao), finally blooming and bearing fruit, condensing the Nascent Soul representing life level's leap!
This was his next mission—mundane world refining the heart, practicing Dao in the world.
With understanding in his heart, the path ahead became clear.
He no longer anxiously sought the specific path to return to Qingxu View, nor was he obsessed with immediately reuniting with Mu Xue, Ao Qin, and others. Since the Heavenly Dao Palace had randomly transmitted him here, perhaps there was unseen arrangement, this place was the starting point for him to practice his Dao path and nurture the Dao seed.
He restrained most of his spiritual pressure, only keeping fluctuations approximately at Foundation Establishment early stage, this way neither attracting attention nor able to handle most ordinary dangers. His brocade robe also changed to a set of ordinary blue cloth clothes, looking like a low-level wandering cultivator traveling everywhere.
He decided to start from this mountain forest.
He didn't ride escaping light, but like a true traveler, took steps, walking on the rugged mountain paths. Divine sense still spread out, but no longer for searching threats or opportunities, but with a more peaceful, more inclusive attitude, to perceive everything in this mountain forest.
He "saw" a young sapling stubbornly growing in a giant stone crevice, absorbing meager nutrients, stretching branches toward sunlight—that was life's tenacity and desire for existence, the tiny beauty "guardian" needed to cherish.
He "heard" two demonic beasts bloodily fighting for territory, finally the victor devouring the loser, becoming more fierce—that was the cruel competition and destruction in natural laws, the "chaos" and "violence""purification" needed to understand and guide, perhaps he could try to resolve their meaningless slaughter, rather than simply defining the victor as "evil" to purify.
He encountered a team of medicine gatherers trapped by miasma, barely alive. He didn't directly use powerful purification power to dispel the miasma, but appeared as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, using his understanding of vegetation and medicine properties, collecting antagonistic herbs nearby, brewing them into medicine soup for everyone, watching their eyes change from despair to gratitude, he felt the Dao seed in his heart slightly warm, having a more concrete feeling about "guardian"—guardian, sometimes didn't need earth-shaking power, appropriate help and guidance were equally precious.
He also discovered an ancient battlefield remnant entangled by yin souls and resentful qi, ordinary living beings dared not approach. He stopped for a long time, not immediately using purification light to forcibly deliver them, but tried to "listen" to the residual obsessions and grief in that resentful qi, understand the cause and helplessness of that war. Finally, he used a gentler purification Dao rhyme with comforting and guiding meaning, slowly soothing those restless grievances, helping them dissipate in peace. After doing all this, he felt the Dao seed seemed more transparent, his understanding of "purification" deepened—purification could be compassionate sending off, not cold elimination.
He walked like this, neither fast nor slow, experiencing. Crossing mountains when encountering mountains, crossing waters when encountering waters. Helping lost hunters find direction, mediating water source disputes between small villages, healing injured spirit beasts, also silently clearing some low-level evil spirits plaguing an area...
He integrated himself into this heaven and earth, practicing his own Dao with actions. Every tiny act of guarding, every successful purification or guidance, was like sweet rain, nourishing the Dao seed in his dantian. The Dao seed's light grew warmer and more restrained, but the "principle" and "intent" contained within grew thicker and more agile.
He understood that this road was long, perhaps needing several years, even longer. But his heart was filled with peace and firmness.
The Nascent Soul realm was no longer unreachable. When the Dao seed absorbed enough mundane world myriad phenomena, truly understood and carried all forms of "guardian" and "purification" in the world, that would be when it ripened and condensed the Nascent Soul!
His footsteps stepped out of this barbaric mountain forest, toward the broader human world. A cultivation concerning the Dao path's foundation had officially begun.