Chapter 5: The Sage Speaks (Recommended Collection)

  Yuanshi Tianzun took a glance and began to expound his sacred great way, his voice was not loud, yet it resonated in the hearts of everyone, echoing in their minds, truly extraordinary.

  In the beginning of heaven and earth, there was something formed from chaos, born before heaven and earth. Quietly and vaguely, it stands alone and unchanging, circulating and never perishing, it can be called the mother of heaven and earth. I do not know its name, I forcibly call it "Tao", and forcibly give it the name "Great".

  The great is said to be far, the far is said to be return. Therefore, the Way is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, and Man is also great. In the world there are four greats, and the myriad creatures live in one of them. Man follows Earth, Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Way, and the Way follows Nature.

  The great Way is universal, it is in all things. Therefore the saying: "The Great Way is everywhere, and yet it is nowhere." Heaven and earth are not benevolent, they regard all things as straw dogs; the sage is not benevolent, he regards all people as straw dogs. The space between heaven and earth is like a bellows, empty but never exhausted, moving but never at an end. Much speech leads to exhaustion, it is better to keep to the middle.

  ……….

  The saint spoke the Tao, and nature was not the same as usual. Only when Yuanshi Tianzun began to expound the great Tao did the surrounding area experience a meteor shower, with golden lotus flowers bursting forth from the ground and auspicious clouds converging from all directions, as strange and wondrous phenomena repeatedly arose and recurred.

  The Great Way is formless, the Great Way is extremely simple. In the ordinary, there are infinite mysteries, as the mysterious and profound sounds of Yuanshi Tianzun continuously emerge from his mouth, causing people to unknowingly become enchanted by them.

  Yuanshi Tianzun's lectures on the Tao are liked by gradually going from shallow to deep, and the great Tao he teaches is slowly becoming obscure and difficult to understand.

  Without pausing, still speaking slowly and clearly, expounding his own Jade Pure Way.

  At first, Shengong Bao could still understand it, but later on, it gradually became vague and difficult to comprehend, finally becoming completely incomprehensible. This shows that the great Tao of the sage has no fixed cultivation qualifications and is impossible to experience.

  However, it's rare for a sage to lecture on the great way. Lord Shen Bao listened intently and memorized it in his heart, leaving it for later when he would have the power to cultivate and comprehend it after his strength increased.

  The way of the saint is also the way of man. The principle of 'the highest good is like water' makes Shengong Bao understand a lot, but what he values more is 'Heaven and earth are not benevolent, using all things as straw dogs; saints are not benevolent, using the people as straw dogs.' Shengong Bao deeply agrees with this.

  The sage occupies the vital energy of heaven and earth, standing at the peak of the world, overlooking all things in time, not stained by cause and effect, not provoked by worldly dust, countless kalpas are not born or destroyed, everything in the world is just a matter of snapping fingers for the sage.

  The dispute among saints is only a dispute over face and momentum, the struggle for fortune. The countless calamities are nothing but a game of chess between saints, seeing who can plan higher and achieve more merits and fortunes. Whoever gets the most will have their Taoism flourish greatly.

  Every time the heaven and earth undergo a catastrophe, although there are great causes and effects, it can also be said that there is great merit. The war between witches and demons, excessive slaughter caused the aura of the vast wilderness to surge into the sky, endless karma and industry forces made the long-lasting fortune of the two tribes of witches and demons exhausted, at the same time, the human tribe suffered huge losses in the great war between the two tribes of witches and demons but gained a great fortune, thus walking onto the historical stage, dominating the vast wilderness continent, while the two tribes of witches and demons declined from then on, shrinking to one corner of the wilderness.

  But Jiang Ziya presided over the confinement of the gods, saying that he was the main character of the confinement is not excessive. However, in the end, all the gods in the world were confined, but he himself ended up with nothing gained.

  Not only that, Jiang Ziya was originally dull and untalented. However, during the Great Calamity of the Investiture of the Gods, although he obtained great merit from presiding over the investiture, he also formed a deep connection with all those who were subdued, and it is still unclear whether the karma accumulated or the merit gained was greater.

  However, Shengong Biao's speculation is mostly due to karma. From Jiang Ziya's outcome, although he was finally allowed by Yuanshi Tianzun to manage the Kunlun Mountains of Dizhen (Earth), and became the master of a sect, but from then on, his cultivation did not progress an inch, and he died old and lonely.

  Jiang Ziya was mostly a card in the hand of Yuanshi Tianzun, replacing Yuxu Kunlun to preside over the sealing of the gods and obtaining great merit. However, due to the power of karma, Jiang Ziya alone bore the consequences, and the tragic outcome also made Shen Gongbao feel a chill.

  "Sages use the heavens and earth as a chessboard, and all living things as pawns. Hmph! Even if I am just a pawn, I will be an autonomous one. One day, I too will make my own moves!" Shengong Bao secretly steeled himself in his heart.

  Shen Gong Bao didn't think about it halfway, and threw the Jade Void Great Dao said by Yuanshi Tianzun to the back of his mind. However, the other people were listening as if they were drunk, constantly gaining insight. Those with high innate qualities, such as Yun Zhongzi, naturally had their dao cultivation soaring, feeling comfortable and at ease. On the other hand, those with poor innate qualities, such as Jiang Ziya, furrowed their brows, sweating profusely, but couldn't even wipe it away, only wanting to comprehend as much of the saint's great dao as possible.

  Yuanshi Tianzun used to spend three years and five periods lecturing on the Great Way every time he opened his altar, but this time he suddenly stopped after only 49 days.

  Everyone saw Yuanshi Tianzun suddenly stop, and they all woke up from the vast and majestic river of the Great Dao. They secretly thought it was strange that Yuanshi Tianzun did not continue to lecture on the Great Dao.

  Shen Gong Bao also came to, saw that the various strange phenomena around him had disappeared, and knew that Yuanshi Tianzun was no longer expounding the great Tao. On the one hand, he secretly regretted his distraction, on the other hand, he began to recall the great Tao he had just remembered.

  But then he thought back and was suddenly shocked, because the various great ways remembered in his mind had all disappeared, as if he had never remembered them before, leaving only some superficial things that he had already understood.

  At this point, Shengong Bao finally realized that the Great Way is indeed mysterious and profound. If you understand it, you understand it; if you don't, you don't. There's no room for even half a bit of compromise or superficial understanding. Memorization is also useless, as the Great Way is an intangible and formless thing - how can it be remembered?

  In the year of Ziwei Palace, Hongjun Daozu enlightened "Zao Hua Yu Die" in the chaos and opened the great way to create heaven and earth. The content of the great way is collected in a pre-heavenly spiritual book called "Huang Ting Nei Jing Jing". Later generations who cultivate must sing "Huang Ting" every day, perhaps only by obtaining this thing can they understand the great way at any time.

  The Scripture of Inner Scenic Views of the Yellow Court records the 3,000 great Dao teachings expounded by Patriarch Hongjun. Each teaching can lead to sainthood. It is said that Patriarch Hongjun lectured on the Three Thousand Great Dao Teachings at the Purple Mist Palace for three thousand years and transmitted them down to teach and transform worldly people.

  The heavens and the earth have already had a fixed number of saints, with nine being the maximum. Therefore, there can be at most nine people who learn from the "Huang Ting Nei Jing Jing" and achieve the great way of the saint. When the Zi Xuan Palace opened its lectures, the three clear saints were able to study due to Pangu's merit in opening up the heavens. Later on, Nüwa and the two western saints also had a deep accumulation of good fortune, so they too studied the "Huang Ting Nei Jing Jing". The Eastern Emperor Taiyi, the monarch of the demon tribe, was also fortunate enough to study some of its contents, but unfortunately fell during the Great War between the Sorcerers. Finally, there is the current co-ruler of the Heavenly Court, Jade Emperor Yu Huang, who also studied the contents of this book. After all, he had been a disciple of Hong Jun Dao Zu as a child and had listened to his teachings for a long time, so naturally, he was one with deep affinities.

  In this way, there are only six saints in the world. However, it is still possible to attain enlightenment and become a saint through the "Huang Ting Nei Jing Jing". Three great saints will be born, Dong Huang Tai Yi has already fallen, Yu Huang is still an aspiring saint, but who knows when the last chance to study the "Huang Ting Nei Jing Jing" will come.

  (Note: Hongjun Dada has already merged with the Tao, so he shouldn't be considered a saint anymore.)

  Shen Gong Bao returned to reality, putting aside his fantasies, as Guang Cheng Zi finally asked the question that everyone was wondering about.

  Only Guang Chengzi got up and knocked his head, saying: "I don't know why the teacher stopped, in the past it was always three to five years of lectures, why only 49 this time?"

  Yuanshi Tianzun said faintly: "I want to go to the Purple Mist Palace, you all disperse, next time at the opening of the altar!"

  Then, the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign celebrated with clouds and radiant light, heading towards the Thirty-Third Outer Heaven. The target was the Purple Mist Palace, which had been closed for a long time. The Purple Mist Palace was located in the midst of the Thirty-Third Outer Heaven's Chaos, where there were many Nine Heavens Divine Thunder and Chaotic Winds. Moreover, the violent Chaos energy would cause people to disintegrate, making it impossible to reach the Purple Mist Palace without extraordinary cultivation or the protection of a Pre-Heavenly Spiritual Treasure.

  At this time, a auspicious cloud appeared on Jin'ao Island and went towards the Purple Cloud Palace, it was the leader of Tongtian Sect.

  In the midst of Xuantu Tian, Taicheng Laozi unfolded a five-colored auspicious cloud to enshroud his body, with three-colored divine pearls revolving around his head, surrounded by tens of thousands of purple qi, and he was also heading towards Zixuan Palace.

  Nüwa Palace, Nüwa Niangniang stretched out her hand, the mountains and rivers, the society and the grain, protected herself, with thousands of halos surrounding her, auspicious clouds automatically appeared, flying to the thirty-third heaven.

  The Western Paradise, the two saints also went to the Zi Xuan Palace together with the four saints from the East at about the same time.

  Just a moment ago, the six saints all heard the words of the Daozu who had been united for a long time: "You come to the Purple Mansion!"