Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather Chapter 1357: 869: Cultivating the Golden Light Divine Spell (2)

Xuanzhen ultimately selected the site for the Taoist Palace along the banks of Daqing Lake.

Daqing Lake originated from the waters Yang Zhenshan drew from an ancient formation, flanked by the smaller Xiaoqing Lake. These twin lakes link together, constantly replenished by flows from the northern Spiritual Spring that curve southward to blend into the Spirit River.

Through over two decades of natural progression, Daqing Lake's shoreline has evolved into a scenic Blessed Land. Without any human oversight, its pristine landscapes shine with remarkable beauty.

The main drawback lies in the plentiful exotic beasts inhabiting Daqing Lake— assorted fish, shrimp, turtles— with the most aggravating being those odd fish bearing blade-sharp scales, labeled Thorn Scale Fish by the Beast Hall.

Thorn Scale Fish hold immense value. Their spike-like scales match steel's toughness and boast incredible sharpness, readily forged into arrows with simple processing.

Right now, Yao Guang’s Beast Hall rears a substantial population of Thorn Scale Fish within Daqing and Xiaoqing Lakes, dedicated to supplying scales for the Artifact Casting Hall's arrow crafting.

Atop the hillside by Daqing Lake's edge, Xuanzhen overlooked the splendid lake waters.

“This location looks great—the summit provides plenty of room for the Taoist Palace’s main hall, while the sloping hillside suits pavilions and courtyards perfectly!”

“We can erect a water pavilion lakeside, plus a dock nearby. Tracing the river downstream offers a straight path to Jade Capital City!”

Yang Zhenshan examined the nearby terrain and nodded faintly, “As long as you like it!”

Spirit Source Land's populace stays modest, yet expansion has surged across the region.

Structures abound: Flame Mountain eastward, Mystic Iron Ore westward, Green Wolf Mountain northward, and southward tracing the Spirit River, plus many other spots.

The Twelve Floors cluster mainly in Jade Capital City, though every hall and division maintains abundant outposts and installations beyond city limits.

Consider the Beast Hall: Green Wolf Mountain hosts a Green Wolf breeding ground, Flame Mountain a Golden Feathered Fire Crow facility, the southern areas feature scores of ranches for Red Cloud Horses and Cloud Tiger Cubs, Daqing and Xiaoqing Lakes support aquatic farms, Moon Bay shelters a rare fish hatchery, and more.

Spirit Plant Hall boasts even greater variety, featuring Spirit Fruit Gardens, tea estates, herb gardens, Strange Grass Gardens, and others blooming prolifically.

Daqing Lake's chosen spot seems rather secluded, but activity persists nearby. Xuanzhen picked it deliberately, facing the Beast Hall's aquatic breeding base across the water.

Besides, it's merely sixty to seventy miles from Jade Capital City. Lacking direct roads, a boat journey spans just two or three hours, making supply transport effortless.

Location settled, Xuanzhen swiftly delegated Taoist Palace construction to Ziwei Tower, who assembled ten array masters and more than three hundred artisans at Taoist Palace Mountain without delay.

The peak housing the Taoist Palace naturally earns the title Taoist Palace Mountain. Mirroring the Da’an Dynasty's Wuzhen Taoist Palace naming, Xuanzhen in Spirit Source Land saw no need for creativity and stuck with Taoist Palace Mountain.

Heavenly Treasure Tower, once called Secret Skill Pavilion, houses Pill Hall, Artifact Casting Hall, Array Hall, and Hundred Crafts Hall. Given that Spirit Source Land buildings mostly demand arrays, Array Hall and Hundred Crafts Hall handle most builds collaboratively.

Three hundred-plus craftsmen may sound few, but as seasoned experts, they work with impressive speed.

Xuanzhen envisions the Taoist Palace with one central palace, three pavilions, twelve villas, and six supporting structures—a modest project. These craftsmen will wrap it up in a bit over half a year.

Before long, Wuzhen Taoist Palace construction gained momentum, freeing Yang Zhenshan to train in the three Divine Spells from Xuanzhen.

From the trio of Divine Spells, Purifying Heart Divine Spell and Purifying Body Divine Spell prove simpler; Yang Zhenshan grasped them swiftly after a handful of guided practices with Xuanzhen.

Even though mastering these two Divine Spells comes easily, pushing them to deeper proficiency demands great effort.

The stages for cultivation magic include “beginner,” “small achievement,” “great achievement,” “perfection,” and “transformation realm.” Getting started with these two Divine Spells proves straightforward, yet reaching great achievement relies on insight and fortune. Regarding the transformation realm, Xuanzhen remains uncertain, having advanced them only to small achievement and barely grazed the edge of great achievement, utterly ignorant of the Divine Spell’s transformation realm.

Yet, achieving mastery over the Golden Light Divine Spell proves immensely challenging.

The golden light represents the Dao's embodiment, the gods' sacred radiance. Gold stands for unbreakable might; Dao seekers wield vast mystical abilities, with splendor shining outward to banish spirits and shatter demonic energies. Much like gold itself, it endures unyieldingly, dazzling and radiant, earning its name Golden Light.

Within the Golden Light Divine Spell lies a concealed cultivation technique, specifically the practice of gathering heaven and earth's righteous Qi and refining the sun and moon's essence.

This golden light safeguards the body, repels ghosts and demons, and can be refined inward to form a golden core, attain enlightenment and advance cultivation; it even empowers magical treasures, allows burrowing through earth, and pilfering from the heavens.

In essence, golden light serves universally, applicable in any scenario, functioning even as a cultivation method without clashing with the practitioner's existing path.

Yang Zhenshan harbored immense hopes for the Golden Light Divine Spell. Upon receiving Xuanzhen’s guidance, he entered secluded cultivation.

Unlike typical Immortal Cultivation Techniques, this Golden Light Divine Spell diverges from the norm. Ordinary techniques draw in spiritual energy from nature for practice, each pulling distinct attributes of that energy.

The Golden Light Divine Spell, however, refines Heaven and Earth Qi, interpretable as the essence of all phenomena—the flux of heaven and earth.

Heaven and Earth embody yin and yang; the Dao holds profound mystery, birthing all existence. Though the Mysterious Path appears infinite, everything falls within heaven and earth's transformative scope, mirroring the Dao.

Heaven and Earth Qi embraces every element, capturing heaven and earth's shifts without fixating on primal origins. Legend holds that heaven and earth's myriad Qi arises from yin and yang's convergence and divergence, making it the foundation of all Qi.

Xuanzhen’s words came across as hazy, leaving Yang Zhenshan baffled during his studies.

For months, he immersed himself in practice, but the Golden Light Divine Spell stayed beyond his grasp.

He simply failed to grasp the true nature of Heaven and Earth Qi.

Heaven and Earth Qi resembled nature’s spiritual energy, yet differed subtly, leaving Yang Zhenshan feeling like a bewildered infant, blind to its profound essence.

That changed when he swallowed a lotus seed from the Taoist Intent Sacred Lotus; in a flash of divine soul clarity, he plunged into deep enlightenment.

The divine ability dwells innately within; mortals forfeit it, while the exalted preserve it. Dao seekers, enduring ceaseless trials, verify and amplify their innate divine powers!

“Supremely Respectful” signifies unmatched reverence. The Dao upholds heaven and earth; the Dao commands all beings, thus it is called Supremely Respectful.

My form is the Dao seeker's body. Humans can pursue the Dao, drawing it near; body and Dao unite as one. This describes perfecting Golden Light around the Daoist Body.

Invisible, termed obscure; inaudible, termed rare. It depicts cultivators transcending worldly filth, cutting sensory bonds, reaching selfless purity.

Vast as heaven and earth may seem, they remain limited; the Dao, however, stretches endlessly.

The Dao links beyond heaven and earth's physical bounds.

The Great Dao appears formless and silent, yet spans the skies and envelops the land, sustaining life without demand.

Within the silent chamber, waves of realization flooded Yang Zhenshan’s thoughts; subtle golden light bloomed from his core, sheathing him completely.

Sudden enlightenment dawned on Yang Zhenshan.

What they call golden light isn't mere nature’s spiritual energy, but the Dao of transformation for all things and heaven and earth—equated to the origin of the Heaven and Earth Great Dao.

Golden light draws power from the Dao’s primal source, embodying unity with the Dao.

These concepts prove profoundly esoteric; despite his revelations, Yang Zhenshan struggled to articulate them, explaining Xuanzhen’s earlier vagueness.

After remaining seated in stillness for a full two hours, Yang Zhenshan gradually parted his eyes, and in that instant, twin golden beams erupted from his gaze.

His eyesight turned utterly bizarre, no longer beholding tangible items, but rather the manifestations of Heaven and Earth Qi.

Now, his vision grew wondrous and eerie, revealing the flowing spiritual energy, the misty Void, the heart of Spirit Source Land, along with countless indistinct and enigmatic entities.

The Void represents a realm transcending true existence, called boundless emptiness, where all is mere illusion and absolute nothing.

Rumors hold that Golden Core cultivators may step into the Void, navigating its depths to attain blazing speed in travel.