Chapter 2 Hongmeng Tao Seal
Alas!
Sitting cross-legged on the giant rock, Feng Zichen let out a long sigh, his heart filled with sorrow.
He was about to die!
If nothing unexpected happened, he would die of old age in about ninety years. In this era before reincarnation, Feng Zichen was not a god or immortal, and had no ability to be reincarnated; death meant certain death.
Acquired beings actually had lifespan limitations; those who did not enter the innate realm had only a lifespan of a little over a hundred years.
A little over a hundred years would have been considered long in Feng Zichen's previous life. But here, in the primordial world where time was measured in tens of thousands of years, it seemed rather insignificant.
Especially those great supernatural beings, who would often seclude themselves for millions of years; a hundred years was but a blink of an eye for them.
But a hundred years was Feng Zichen's entire life.
Moreover, since Pangu created the world, countless beings had died, and no one had ever been heard of dying from the exhaustion of their lifespan.
Death itself was one thing, after all, he had already died once. But to become a laughingstock in the primordial world after death was something to be ashamed of.
Taking a deep breath, Feng Zichen swallowed the innate energy, attempting to refine it. Unfortunately, with each exhale, the innate energy flowed out.
"Damn this acquired body! Is Heaven truly trying to kill me?" he cursed bitterly, thinking maliciously that the Heavenly Dao was deliberately trying to kill him.
In this world, innate energy was abundant, and the acquired realm existed in name only. However, Feng Zichen, well aware of future developments, understood that after the Lich War, innate energy would disappear, and the acquired realm would replace the innate realm as the first realm of cultivation.
At that time, as the pioneer of the acquired realm, Feng Zichen, blessed with boundless fortune, could attain the Great Luo realm even while lying down; with a little effort, becoming a Quasi-Saint was not a dream.
And if Feng Zichen died, this fortune would return to the Heavenly Dao. It was possible that if he hadn't transmigrated, the original number one acquired cultivator would have been killed by the Heavenly Dao's schemes.
Feng Zichen began to doubt the Heavenly Dao, blaming it for all evil deeds, and his disrespect for the Heavenly Dao grew stronger.
Just then, a purple Dao seal faintly glowed in Feng Zichen's mind, sweeping away his distracting thoughts and restoring his clarity.
After regaining his senses, Feng Zichen felt a chill of fear; this was the Primordial World, and the Heavenly Dao possessed sentience. He quickly looked around and, finding no divine punishment, breathed a sigh of relief.
Focusing his attention on the Dao seal in his sea of consciousness, Feng Zichen fell into a daze.
The purple Dao seal was called the Primordial Dao Seal, a superior-grade innate spiritual treasure. Since Feng Zichen arrived in the Primordial World, this Dao seal had appeared in his sea of consciousness.
For the past ten years, whenever he had free time, he would stare at the Primordial Dao Seal. But he had almost exhausted all his observations, discovering nothing except that the Dao seal could maintain clarity.
Did he really have to wait until the Taiqing Daoist began expounding the Golden Core Dao before acquired beings could cultivate it?
Nuwa attained enlightenment only a thousand years ago. When the Taiqing Daoist arrives among humans and begins expounding the Golden Elixir Dao, who knows how many tens of thousands of years will pass? By then, he might be reduced to ashes.
Feng Zichen's heart was filled with resentment. His acquired body seemed completely out of place in this era dominated by innate beings.
Bathing in innate energy, Feng Zichen believed his physical body should spontaneously sublimate and approach the innate body.
But the reality was that, as an acquired body, innate energy disdained to approach him. Even if he absorbed it, he couldn't refine it, only watching it flow out of his body.
Furthermore, the cultivation methods created by Suihuang and the others for their people were uncultivable for Feng Zichen, because their methods all involved using the Yin Spirit to control innate energy, strengthening the Yin Spirit to replenish the physical body. The Yin Spirit, born from the union of the soul and one's innate Qi, can only be condensed by those at the Innate Realm, hence Feng Zichen lacks it.
Refining Essence into Qi, Refining Qi into Spirit, Refining Spirit to Return to Emptiness, Returning to Emptiness to Unite with the Dao.
These sixteen characters are memories Feng Zichen brought from the future.
They contain the cultivation philosophy of the primordial world, from which the Golden Core Dao of Taiqing Daoist evolved.
Feng Zichen originally thought he could shine brightly with them, but reality slapped him hard in the face. He couldn't even do the most basic Qi-guiding, let alone cultivate.
"Am I just waiting to die?"
With a deep sigh, Feng Zichen prepared to go back for dinner. In this primordial world full of discrimination, only food could bring him warmth.
The ferocious beast he hunted today was enough to feed him for several days. As for why he didn't share with his clansmen? Because they looked down on him!
Any adult in the clan could hunt a ferocious beast at the Innate Realm. Besides, among the entire human race, Feng Zichen was the weakest; who would dare to share his spoils?
The newly awakened primitive humans still retained their simple, honest nature. Fearing Feng Zichen might encounter threats while out hunting, they even prevented him from going out and proactively brought him food.
Feng Zichen secretly remembered these actions. But how could an ambitious person be content to simply eat and wait to die?
So, every now and then, he would secretly slip out, relying on his accumulated merit to hunt some ferocious beasts.
Taking out a polished stone, Feng Zichen cut open the beast meat and placed it in a pre-prepared earthenware pot, starting to cook it.
This pot was made by Feng Zichen from clay, without using a single trace of magic power throughout the process. Therefore, after the pot was created, merit descended from the heavens, flying into both him and the pot.
After a while, the meat was cooked, and Feng Zichen couldn't wait to eat. Eating was the only way he had found to improve in the ten years he had spent in the prehistoric world. It was also the motivation that sustained him.
Swallowing the beast meat, a warm current rose from Feng Zichen's stomach, flowing throughout his body, continuously strengthening him.
Unfortunately, Feng Zichen was ultimately just a mortal, and he reached his limit after eating only a little, unable to eat any more.
Every time he finished a meal, Feng Zichen would hate himself for being so weak, unable to eat more. At this rate, reaching the Innate Realm might be impossible even if he ate until he died. But he had no choice; besides eating, he couldn't find any other way to improve.
After tidying himself up, Feng Zichen ran outside, preparing for vigorous exercise to accelerate energy consumption so he could return and continue eating.
Just as he stepped out of his cave, Feng Zichen saw a group of people gathered not far away, doing something he didn't know.
"Zichen, come quickly! Chao Huang and the others have captured a Qilin alive!" someone in the crowd shouted upon seeing Feng Zichen.
"A Qilin?!"
This was a legendary divine beast. Feng Zichen had been in the prehistoric world for so long, yet he had never seen what a divine beast looked like. Filled with curiosity, he hurried over.
Looking up, a divine beast with a dragon's head, a deer's body, and a dragon's tail appeared before Feng Zichen's eyes.
However, something was amiss with this divine beast. The Qilin should be an auspicious beast imbued with sacred aura, but this Qilin emanated a massive malevolent energy, making it even more terrifying than ordinary ferocious beasts.
(End of Chapter)