Above the Great Dao

"Husband, I've sensed that the evil qi in the world poses much less of a threat to me now!" She was both shocked and delighted.

In the past, to avoid evil transformation, she had to harmonize in Chen Shi's small temple, restricting her cultivation, which had not progressed for a long time. But now she felt that, if she refined a few more strands of Taiqing Purple Qi, even if she harmonized with heaven and earth, she would not be assimilated by the evil qi!

Chen Shi was greatly surprised, "Is Taiqing Purple Qi so powerful? It can even dispel evil qi?"

Little Dun Fairy nodded repeatedly, eager to immediately free her Void Great Realm from Chen Shi's small temple and reunite it with heaven and earth.

But she held back, as she had just begun refining a strand of Taiqing Purple Qi. To rashly harmonize with heaven and earth might still make it difficult to combat the wandering evil qi in the world.

She steadied her heart spirit and continued to refine Taiqing Purple Qi.

Seeing this, Chen Shi also immediately drew in a strand of Taiqing Purple Qi to try refining it.

His cultivation was not as advanced as Little Dun Fairy's, nor did he have the Mysterious Bird Dao Pattern, but his Yin Yang Skill was extremely proficient, and with the Flask of Yin and Yang Essence suppressing it, the risk was greatly reduced. However, he found that he underestimated the Taiqing Purple Qi.

Within his Void Great Realm, the sun and moon rotated, heaven and earth transformed, seas changed into mulberry fields, and after several rounds of refining, he still could not discharge even a little of the power of this small strand of Taiqing Purple Qi.

Chen Shi only felt that he might be about to be burst by the power of Taiqing Purple Qi at any moment. He decisively activated the Flask of Yin and Yang Essence, pouring down a force like the Dao Power of a world, finally suppressing the power of Taiqing Purple Qi.

He calmed himself, his heart still palpitating from fear.

Without the Flask of Yin and Yang Essence, such a magical treasure, he might have had no chance at all of refining Taiqing Purple Qi!

"Fortunately, I completed the Three Lives of All Things missing from the Flask of Yin and Yang Essence, or even with it, I would be unable to refine Taiqing Purple Qi."

Chen Shi gradually activated the Flask of Yin and Yang Essence, mobilizing the Yin Yang Dao Power, transforming the power of Taiqing Purple Qi into the myriad things like the mountains, rivers, sun, and moon, and then converting those things into Yin Yang Qi. His cultivation advanced swiftly!

With the Flask of Yin and Yang Essence, his speed of refining Taiqing Purple Qi was even faster than Little Dun Fairy's. However, during the refinement of Taiqing Purple Qi, Little Dun Fairy seemed to receive enlightenment from the Purple Qi, deepening her understanding of the Mysterious Bird Emperor Pattern, and her refining speed was gradually increasing as well.

The two cultivated on the vine, and Chen Shi, waking up after an unknown period, said to Little Dun Fairy, "I haven't been to court for quite some time; I must go, or I'll be a muddled ruler."

Little Dun Fairy stood up and said, "I'll go with you."

The two were about to leave the Purple Heaven Vine, but the thought of the enchantment upon the vine leaves ignited a warmth in their hearts.

Chen Shi looked up at the sky and said, "At this time, going to court, there's no one there. We aren't in a hurry to go, it's better to do something else first."

Little Dun Fairy, shyly held by his hand, gently nodded.

On the Purple Heaven Vine, the Spirit Grass Dolls were awakened by their movements, peeking to see the vine swaying as if to turn into a goblin, leaving these spirits unable to sleep.

When dawn broke, Chen Shi and Little Dun Fairy went for the morning court.

Hu Feifei, having seldom caught them, immediately dragged Chen Shi to Wenyuan Pavilion to review the memorials after court.

"Your Majesty, don't be muddled!"

The fox spirit noticed something and warned Chen Shi, "Your Majesty, should stay away from women, be close to virtuous ministers, not disregard lesser evils, nor neglect smaller virtues."

Chen Shi barely got away from the numerous affairs, immediately taking Little Dun Fairy quickly out of the Imperial Capital, returning to Heaven Measuring Cliff.

"My love, these past few days have been tiring, let's not rush into cultivation, but do something else first," Chen Shi suggested.

Little Dun Fairy shyly nodded in agreement, and the two rolled up a vine leaf, hiding themselves.

"Your Majesty, this vine leaf is quite cool, and lying upon it is quite comfortable," Little Dun rolled on the leaf and laughed.

Chen Shi found this vine leaf to be very nice, highlighting this fairy with her delicate thin silk, icy skin, and jade-like radiance, truly snow-white, with a creamy fragrance.

The Purple Heaven Vine was swaying again, the Spirit Grass Dolls peeping down, chattering among themselves, wondering if there were spirits causing the constant swaying?

Chen Shi had long discarded Hu Feifei's admonitions, enjoying the good fortune with Little Dun Fairy.

Satisfied, they came underneath the Purple Qi to cultivate.

After several days of absence, not only had the Purple Qi not decreased, but there was even an additional strand.

The two cultivated under the Purple Qi, with Chen Shi noticing his cultivation becoming stronger, the Void Great Realm more expansive, but the fastest improvement was in his physical body.

The enhancement of the physical body by Taiqing Purple Qi was unparalleled. Chen Shi discovered that especially after he activated Wu Qi's Undying Immortal Method, the improvement was even more astonishing. His physical body, like land long parched, crazily absorbed the power of Taiqing Purple Qi!

On this day, after refining a strand of Purple Qi, he suddenly felt as if his physical body had become a bottomless pit, involuntarily drawing the Void Great Realm within!

As the void entered his body, the sun and moon overlapped with his eyes, the starry sky merged with his mind's thoughts, mountains transformed into his bones, the earth into his skin, rivers into his blood vessels, the sea into his qi-blood, and hair into forests. Chen Shi's stature grew taller, larger!

In this brief time, he had achieved the integration of the Void Great Realm, Primordial Spirit, and physical body!

This act signified his official step into the Mahayana Realm!

For the first time, Chen Shi felt that cultivation could be so easy!

In the following days, his cultivation progress was astonishingly swift, visibly seeing the Void Great Realm behind his head gradually shrinking, from a vast expanse of thousands of miles down to hundreds, tens, several acres, and finally, half an acre!

This speed of cultivation advancement was truly incredible!

Chen Shi became engrossed in cultivation, completely forgetting the morning court, only thinking about making breakthrough after breakthrough to climb higher realms.

That day, Chen Shi awoke, looked up and saw two more strands of Taiqing Purple Qi.

He quickly rose, thinking: "This retreat was probably more than ten days, I wonder how things are at the Imperial City."

Little Dun Fairy was still cultivating; Chen Shi did not wake her, and packed up the small temple by himself, first heading to Houde Palace, to meet Lady Houtu, saying, "Godmother, I came to deliver three strands of Taiqing Qi to Liu Daoist."

Lady Houtu summoned Liu Daoist and laughed, "Little Liu, didn't I tell you? His Majesty is indeed a trustworthy person."

She personally plucked three strands of Purple Qi and handed them to Liu Daoist, saying, "Although your cultivation is exquisite, you can only refine a little Purple Qi at a time, be careful not to be greedy."

Liu Daoist tried refining a strand of Purple Qi, astonished as the spiritual power contained within the Taiqing Purple Qi was immense. Just a single strand nearly broke open his cultivation barrier, almost leading him to a breakthrough!

Lady Houtu said, "These three strands of Purple Qi can help transform you, greatly increasing your talent with boundless prospects. You gained such a benefit from three willow leaves, now you should be thankful to His Majesty."

Liu Daoist hurriedly bowed to Chen Shi in gratitude.

Chen Shi helped him up, stopping him from kneeling down, smiled and said, "This was godmother's guidance that brought me such a treasure, you should thank godmother more."

He bid farewell to Lady Houtu and Liu Daoist, returned to the Imperial Capital, and before he could catch his breath, Hu Feifei hurriedly arrived: "Your Majesty, Zhong Wuwang has come to visit, currently waiting in Yonghe Palace!"

Chen Shi's heart moved slightly, "Zhong Wuwang coming at this time, could he be prepared?"

He rushed to Yonghe Palace, Zhong Wuwang and Fang Zhenxiu were waiting there, and upon seeing Chen Shi arrive, Zhong Wuwang waved for Fang Zhenxiu to step aside, looked Chen Shi up and down, surprised, "Chen Zhenwang, your cultivation has not declined but advanced, baffling people."

Chen Shi laughed, "Why do you say that, Er Niu?"

Zhong Wuwang said seriously, "The True King has sat for thousands of years, his cultivation progressed slowly, burdened by state affairs, unable to focus on cultivation, and thereby rarely advancing. With your intelligence and talent, if you devoted yourself to cultivation, you might compete with Heavenly Venerate, rather than being killed by a blow from Heavenly Venerate. With you as the new True King, one would expect your cultivation to be neglected and progress to recede."

Chen Shi, filled with awe, laughed heartily, "I am extraordinarily gifted, managing state affairs while cultivating, progressing swiftly."

Zhong Wuwang snorted, "The True King also had an Innate Dao Embryo, yet he didn't achieve it, nor will you. You've surely neglected state affairs! You're a muddled ruler!"

Chen Shi's expression darkened, "What brings you, Er Niu, to jest with the solitary king?"

Zhong Wuwang said blandly, "I'm here to tell you, there's now an opportunity to enter Despair Slope. When do you plan to go?"

Chen Shi's heart spirit shook slightly, said, "We'll depart immediately! Wait, I need to take a few people, to Despair Slope together!"

Zhong Wuwang slightly furrowed his brow, contemplating for a moment, said, "You can bring people, but the total can't exceed eight. Recently, Despair Slope fought with the Demon Emperor from Demon City, and eight Heavenly Dao Immortals died in that battle."