Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

On the shaded side of Bai Jiao Mountain, wind and cloud surged, as two terrifying auras churned the heavens.

Spiritual Qi hung down from the high sky, incomparably dense, actually turning into threads of spiritual rain that fused into the falling raindrops. As the rain plunged into the great river, each drop seemed to weigh a thousand catties, raising waves half a zhang high.

On the fishing boats by the riverbank, fishermen clad in straw raincoats—men whose food, clothing, and shelter year-round all depended on their boats—saw their faces drastically change. Above their heads, beneath the dark clouds, faintly could be seen two beams of brilliant light clashing and grinding against each other in a fierce confrontation.

These fishermen, born and raised on the river, superb swimmers all, were at this moment trembling all over. One after another they prostrated themselves on their boats, pressing their bodies tightly against the planks out of boundless awe, murmuring prayers under their breath, only thus able to gain a sliver of peace in their hearts.

So-called: when immortals fight, mortals suffer.

In the eyes of ordinary people, an Upper Three Grades Great Cultivator was no different from an immortal, able to stir wind and cloud with a flick of the wrist. If mortals like them were careless enough to be dragged into it, they would surely die without a burial place.

The grinding clash of those two beams of light shattered the oppressive storm clouds pressing over the city, piercing a terrifying gaping hole in the sky.

After the two terrifying figures in the firmament collided savagely once more and suddenly separated, a man in green robes hung suspended high above, a few traces of proud arrogance flowing between his sword-like brows.

Tao Shengjiang, now the second ancestor of the Tao Family, had displayed intelligence beyond his peers at the age of three. Later, he received the Tao Family’s nurturing through medicinal baths with rare Spiritual Materials for two full years, and at five formally stepped onto the path of the Dao by Energy Introduction.

From childhood he had Great Cultivators of the Tao Family guiding his cultivation, each step taken with great steadiness. At fifteen he reached the peak of the Lower Three Grades, the following year he entered the Sixth Grade, at twenty the Fifth Grade, at thirty advanced to the Fourth Grade, and after another three years reached the peak of the Fourth Grade.

Having come this far, the thirty-three-year-old Tao Shengjiang could be said to be high-spirited; everyone in the Tao Family held boundless expectations, hoping the family would produce a Great Cultivator who achieved the Upper Three Grades before the age of fifty.

But the threshold of the Upper Three Grades Great Cultivator blocked Tao Shengjiang for a full thirty-one years. For an ordinary person, thirty-one years was half a lifetime. One must know that from the Ninth Grade to the peak of the Fourth Grade, Tao Shengjiang had spent only twenty-eight years in total.

Even so, to become a Great Cultivator at the mere age of fifty-nine still shocked Donglai County at the time, and even Qingzhou itself. Three Religions Cultivators were different from Martial Artists; their lifespan was naturally long.

Once one entered the Upper Three Grades, a Three Religions Great Cultivator’s lifespan at minimum stretched several centuries; at fifty-nine, Tao Shengjiang did not even count as being in his prime—he was still merely a young man.

Enjoying the full resources of the Tao Family clan, Tao Shengjiang, who had met virtually no bottlenecks on the path of cultivation aside from the Upper Three Grades, was naturally proud and lofty. Now that the old ancestor of the Tao Family was in seclusion,

he was already the true helmsman in charge of the Tao Family today.

"Reputation falls short of meeting in person. The Wine-Sword Hermit, Li Heng? Hmph, to my eyes you’re nothing more than that."

Tao Shengjiang’s eyes showed disdain as he glanced at the gray-robed figure who had been blasted back more than ten zhang by his strike. The wariness he had felt in his heart to begin with dissolved by more than half.

The Wine-Sword Hermit, Li Heng—Tao Shengjiang had often heard this name from the mouth of the uncle who had instructed him since childhood. In terms of seniority, Li Heng was a generation above Tao Shengjiang.

He belonged to the same generation as his uncles. It was said that in his early years Tao Shengjiang’s third uncle, Tao Dingbian, had met Li Heng in Dong County, where the two became old friends. When Qingfeng Temple held its disciple recruitment examination, they went to take it together.

Later the two of them passed the examination side by side and entered the gates of Qingfeng Temple as disciples.

On the cultivation path, Li Heng suppressed his third uncle at every turn. Whether in talent, or in comprehension, or even in the degree of importance Qingfeng Temple attached to them, it was always so.

Later, Li Heng made a great uproar in the Ancient County Li Family, and afterward even took the initiative to withdraw from Qingfeng Temple.

At this point their fates diverged. Tao Shengjiang’s third uncle, Tao Dingbian, remained at Qingfeng Temple in quiet cultivation, while after leaving Qingfeng Temple, Li Heng encountered death again and again.

Subsequently, when attacking the Upper Three Grades, he failed, his Dao foundation and Divine Soul both damaged; whereas over a decade later, Tao Dingbian, having broken through the life-and-death barrier at Qingfeng Temple, successfully assaulted the Dongxuan realm in one stroke, thereby completely surpassing Li Heng.

The Li Heng before his eyes could be said to have been the nemesis of his third uncle’s first half of the cultivation life, yet now, in Tao Shengjiang’s view, his reputation was truly undeserved—nothing more than that.

"Li Heng, on account of you being my third uncle’s old friend, hand over that wretch and I’ll spare you this once."

Tao Shengjiang spoke from on high, "You, a cripple as you are now, still wish to shelter that wretch? Today he is doomed to die. Since I want him dead, there is no one in Donglai County who can save him!"

"Cough, cough, cough—!"

In midair, the gray-robed old man who had just steadied his figure let out a fit of urgent coughing. A look of pain crossed his face, but in the next breath his eyes narrowed slightly, and he gave a sly chuckle.

"If I don’t try, how will I know?"

Li Heng slapped the faded wine gourd at his waist; with a "pang," the stopper popped open, and the wine surged like a Flood Dragon overturning rivers straight into his throat. As the wine poured down, Li Heng’s head of messy black hair danced wildly without wind; his aura began to climb step by step, faintly as if about to break through the shackles of the Half-Step Fourth Grade.

The shattered Force Field reformed; the sea of clouds turned into towering waves. Though it still could not directly stand on equal footing with the Grandmaster’s Force Field unleashed by Tao Shengjiang, it nonetheless entrenched itself in one domain.

"Stubborn fool!"

A trace of surprise flashed through Tao Shengjiang’s eyes. In an instant he raised his hand, and at the moment his five fingers clawed out, the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth converged from all directions.

The Water Spiritual Qi roaming between heaven and earth surged. Donglai County had many waterways, and the Donglai River was especially renowned; the Water Spiritual Qi within the county was abundant. Since ancient times, many of Donglai’s powerhouses cultivated the water attribute—this was true of Three Religions Cultivators and Martial Artists alike.

With one palm thrust out, the Power of Heaven and Earth fused in an instant. Amid the sound of rolling giant waves, it condensed into a terrifying blue giant palm over ten zhang in size. As that giant palm swept across the sky, it continued to draw in the Water Spiritual Qi from the surrounding heaven and earth, its already enormous size still swelling rapidly.

As the giant palm scythed across the firmament, the layers of air solidified one after another; under that palm, heaven and earth themselves seemed to transform into a prison cage.