The Programmer Cultivator

Zhang Deming’s expression shifted. ”So, Master Dang, you’re familiar with what happened? Would you be able to tell us? If it’s not convenient, then please forget I asked.”

Dang Xiangjun glanced at them and said, ”It’s not an unspeakable secret. However, these events involve the Sect’s development, and coupled with reasons involving Leiyin Temple, they were deliberately obscured by the Sect.

The incident itself isn’t the problem; it was hidden because of the potential fallout.

Given your standing, you are all qualified to know of this matter. There’s no harm in telling you, so long as you don’t go spreading it around.”

Zhang Deming immediately nodded. ”I will keep that in mind.”

Yuee Mengsheng and the other two nodded as well, indicating they understood.

Dang Xiangjun began to speak. ”Back in the day, the Five Elements Blessed Land was considered one of the top powers among the Nine Great Blessed Lands. It was even once a contender to become the Third Holy Land.

But how difficult is it for a Blessed Land to ascend to become a Holy Land? The Buddhist Sect has the Merit Pool to serve as its Dao Spirit, allowing the Great Aspiration Dao to overwhelm all other paths and thus achieve the status of a Holy Land.

The Hongmeng Holy Land, of course, is a special case. It is the origin of all Daoist Sects in the world.

When its Grotto Heaven was first raised high and it became a Holy Land, there were no other Holy Lands looming over it. Furthermore, its Magic Daoist Spirit is connected to the countless Daos of Hongmeng—the origin of all paths. It is an existence akin to the Celestial Dao itself.

Then you have the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land, which came later. That was the result of their Spirit Nurturing Masters spending several thousand years in seclusion to develop their Grotto Heaven. Not only did they fill it with High-Tier Disciples, exotic Spirit Beasts, Plant Spirits, and High-Tier Artifact Spirits, but they also used the spiritual remnants of Luan Yuling to cultivate a Dao Spirit for the Spirit Nurturing Path.

Although it was a nascent Dao Spirit, thanks to the efforts of the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land’s only Half-Step Scripture Level Spirit Nurturer, it was exceptionally active and brimming with Spirituality.

It even surpassed the Merit Pool and showed the potential to catch up to the Magic Dao Spirit of the Hongmeng Holy Land. From this, you can see that the success of the Three Great Holy Lands was, without exception, due to each possessing a Dao Spirit to anchor its respective Dao.”

The Celestial Dao has been absent from the Hongmeng Realm since the great war of antiquity. What Cultivators today call the ’Celestial Dao’ is, for the most part, a reference to the Dao Spirits, or to the self-regulating web formed by the entangled Spirituality of all Daos and their mutual constraints.

The Daos of Hongmeng today are like a net spread across the entire realm. To have one’s Grotto Heaven ascend and establish a Holy Land, the most fundamental requirement is to pull a single thread from this net and nurture a corresponding Dao Spirit.

A true Celestial Dao, like the one from Hongjun’s Integration, has not existed in the Hongmeng Realm since the great war of antiquity.

Dang Xiangjun glanced at the group before continuing, ”The rise of every Holy Land is predicated on the birth of a Dao Spirit. This Dao Spirit must suppress the Spirituality of all other paths, only then can it be blessed by immense Qi Fortune and come to define an era.

This was true for the ascension of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land, and it was true for the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land as well.

But as for the Five Elements Blessed Land of that era, despite its power, it had neither pioneered a new Dao nor possessed any uniquely representative path.

No matter how powerful it became, it couldn’t break free from the established web of Daos. And if it couldn’t distinguish itself from the rest, it couldn’t be blessed by Qi Fortune. Without that, it was impossible to create the kind of unstoppable momentum where heaven and earth themselves lend their power.

Had there been no other Holy Lands looming over it, other possibilities might have existed.

But at the time, two Great Holy Lands were pressing down from above, while the eight other Blessed Lands were constantly pulling it back. Since it couldn’t build that unstoppable momentum, it was impossible for its Grotto Heaven to ascend and for it to achieve the status of a Holy Land.

After all, the Spiritualities of all existing Daos in Hongmeng are entangled, forming a web of laws akin to the Celestial Dao. Unless a path can distinguish itself and give birth to its own spirit, its land can never become holy.

This is the inevitable result of the Daos being entangled for so long. They mutually empower one another, but they also hold one another in check.

The Five Elements Blessed Land understood this principle, so it attempted to either pioneer a new Dao or extract an existing one to nurture a Dao Spirit.

After countless years of struggle, the Five Elements Blessed Land found its path, but in doing so, it incurred the wrath of all.”

A look of realization dawned on Zhang Deming’s face. He looked at Dang Xiangjun and asked, ”The Devouring Dao of the Demon Path?”

Dang Xiangjun seemed surprised that Zhang Deming knew anything about such a secret matter. He paused, shot Zhang Deming an astonished look, and then said:

”The Devouring Dao was indeed a factor, but that only happened after they were forced into a corner. Initially, as a Blessed Land, they had not resorted to such a path.

However, the path they chose was one that Cultivators found even more intolerable—a path that not even Demon Cultivators could accept.

They planned to nurture the Celestial Dao anew, to replace the existing system of Dao Spirits with a true Celestial Dao. The Five Elements Ancestor of that time even attempted to walk the ancient path of Harmonization Dao—to merge with the Dao, oversee the world, rule over all living beings, and establish an Immortal Family’s imperial court.

If they had actually succeeded... the consequences would have been unthinkable!

If the Five Elements Blessed Land had actually taken that step, it wouldn’t have been a matter of becoming just another Holy Land. It would have been a direct ascension to the heavens, placing it above both Spirit Mountain and Hongmeng. A blade would have once again been hung over the heads of all Hongmeng Cultivators.

For this reason, once their plan was discovered, the Five Elements Blessed Land incurred the wrath of all. Faced with such a backlash, forget a mere Blessed Land—not even the Hongmeng Holy Land could have necessarily withstood it.

With the Holy Lands and Blessed Lands joining forces, the Five Elements Blessed Land’s grand plan—the Celestial Heart Path of using the Celestial Heart to nurture a new Celestial Dao and achieve ascension through Harmonization Dao—was crushed with the ease of snapping a dry twig before it could even begin.

The Five Elements Blessed Land was caught in the fallout. It plummeted to rock bottom, becoming the lowest-ranked among the Nine Great Blessed Lands.

Moreover, its Five Elements Ancestor, as the architect of this Harmonization Dao plan, was deeply connected to the Celestial Heart Path.

When the path was annihilated, he suffered an irreparable wound to his Dao, and his entire Dao Foundation was shattered.”

Dang Xiangjun fell silent for a moment, as if lamenting the complexities of the Hongmeng Realm and the perils of cultivation. After a moment, he continued: