The seventh level of refining the already enlightened nature involves using the tangible to nourish the intangible, and the substantial to fill the void. Tigers are born from water, dragons emerge from fire; when dragons and tigers clash, they are fiercely refined and tempered, opening all the spiritual apertures of the body. Using the innate to control the acquired, nature and life become one, completing the Great Elixir of Rejuvenation, undergoing seven returns and nine transformations. At this point, the divine nature is preserved, and the Dao heart remains unshaken.
The eighth level of self-refinement involves calming the mind, preserving the spirit, and achieving clarity. It aims to transform the innate true energy within the body into spirit, allowing the spirit to roam freely. When the spirit is active, it moves; when it moves, it changes; when it changes, it transforms. One can enter a state of deep meditation, free from the illusions of the world, thus refining the mind into a spirit.
The ninth level of refining the mind is about returning to emptiness. When one refines to the point where all existence is empty, and there is no trace of purity and emptiness, one hovers between heaven and earth, in a state where one is neither self nor not self, neither empty nor not empty, where heaven and earth may be destroyed, but emptiness is indestructible.
Heaven and earth are obstructed, but emptiness is unobstructed; therefore, the spirit fills the void, and the law pervades the entire universe. This is the greatest and supreme law of the Yellow Heaven, and nothing can surpass it.
Of course, this nine-level Yellow Heaven Great Law was an achievement from decades ago. Since the Chosen One appeared in the world, since the Chosen One of the Way of Peace came to this world, the whole world has naturally upgraded!
As a result, Sun En's cultivation level also rose again and again! By this time, having gathered the power of the entire world and received personal instruction from Zhang Jiao, his strength had become incredibly formidable.
Especially in the past few decades, since unifying the world and establishing the Earthly Dao Kingdom, he has been in a state of harmony with the Dao and has become one with Huang Tian. As a result, his strength has been increasing at all times!
Now, the "Yellow Heaven Great Law," which originally had only nine levels and, even at its peak, was only at the third rank limit, has been elevated to twelve levels. Consequently, Sun En's strength has also reached the fourth rank limit.
With just one opportune moment, he could break through to the fifth rank and become an Earth Immortal! Clearly, once the world merges, Sun En's strength will undoubtedly advance even further!
With a single step, Sun En appeared on the altar, standing beside Lu Dun. Of course, Sun En's other disciple, Xu Daofu, also arrived at this moment.
"Master, news has come from Grandmaster that it's time to make our move," Lu Dun said excitedly.
Unlike his senior brother Xu Daofu, who was proficient in military affairs and politics, Lu Dun preferred cultivating Taoism, so he was the one who usually looked after the altar. He was also the one who rang the bell just now.
Seeing this, Sun En nodded. Then he looked at Xu Daofu standing to the side.
"How are the preparations going?"
"Now, after the world has been upgraded, the world's population has grown from tens of millions to more than 360 million. Among them, there are 330 million Han Chinese and 30 million non-Han Chinese."
"Over the past few decades, since the establishment of the Dao Kingdom, the number of people in my Celestial Masters Sect has been steadily increasing. Now, we have more than 23,000 inner disciples with the Innate Realm cultivation level!"
"Among them, more than 3,000 people are responsible for various teaching affairs, while the remaining 20,000 people have been trained into an elite force according to the training methods passed down by the ancestor. This elite force is composed entirely of innate masters. Just ten of them can surround and kill a grandmaster. Just one hundred of them can surround and kill a great grandmaster. With a thousand of them in formation, they can even surround and kill an ordinary human immortal."
"In addition, with the support of the whole country, the state soldiers who have reached the limit of the acquired realm have been trained to a total of 200,000! As for the rest, they are just county soldiers and prefectural soldiers, whose total number is about a million, which is not worth mentioning."
"In addition, among the thirty million Hu people, there are also a million elite cavalry available. Although their strength is not great, they are still quite good as cannon fodder. Furthermore, in terms of strength, Master, you have now reached the limit of the fourth rank. You only need an opportunity to break through to the fifth rank and become an Earth Immortal."
"My junior brother and I both possess the strength of the late stage of the fourth tier. The Xianbei chieftain, Murong Chui, also has the strength of the late stage of the fourth tier. Sword Saint Yan Fei also has the strength of the late stage of the fourth tier. And Xiang Yutian, Mu Qingliu..."
Listening to Xu Daofu's account, Sun En was quite satisfied. Over the past few decades, the Dao Kingdom had developed rather rapidly; at least its strength had increased many times over!
"Alright, let's begin."
As he spoke, a patch of yellow sky appeared above Sun En's head. The enormous altar beneath his feet, covering hundreds of acres, also lit up instantly.
With a series of earth-shattering sounds, the earth's dragon veins were directly mobilized. Amidst the earth-shaking tremors, countless forces flowed from the dragon veins to the altar and were poured into the Yellow Heaven.
At the same time, Huang Tian emitted waves of invisible energy, which resonated with Huang Tian above Zhang Jiao's head in the main world.
Before long, the two were on the same frequency, and the entire borderland world began to move without anyone noticing!
"Good, good, good! It seems that we can enter the Han Dynasty in just half a month!"
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Chapter Twenty-Three: The Seven Great Worlds Invade the Han Dynasty
Before we knew it, half a month had passed.
"Fengxiao, how have our preparations been going over the past half month?" Lin Yang asked impatiently, looking at the increasingly thickening aura of calamity in the sky.
Anyone who looks up and sees the sky turn from blue to pitch black would feel down. It's truly unpleasant to live through days when a great calamity is about to strike, yet hasn't actually arrived.
"My lord, in the past half month, we have notified all the more than two million people in Jiangdong. Moreover, because our territory has just been expanded, the people are relatively concentrated. Now, they have all been arranged by village."
“Each village is home to a thousand people, among whom are a hundred militiamen to maintain order. At the same time, there are warning formations and sound transmission formations in place, so that we can be notified immediately in case of any changes.”
"In addition, these villages will transmit intelligence to the central government every hour. If no intelligence is received within the agreed time, the surrounding villages will be alerted and an investigation will be launched."
"In addition, the cement roads have been completed. Now, cement roads connect more than two thousand villages throughout Jiangdong. These cement roads are three zhang wide and one zhang thick, and are of excellent quality. In the event of an emergency, troops dispatched from the central government can arrive within two or three hours," Guo Jia said excitedly.
After all, with cement, the central government's control over local areas will be greatly strengthened in the future! In just two or three hours, the army can reach the local areas from the central government. Are you scared yet?
Moreover, this cement road is incredibly affordable and of excellent quality. It's very cheap, truly inexpensive, yet the quality is superb. The cement road it's built on is far superior to the old mountain paths, dirt roads, and stone slab roads!
Even the stone-paved roads are inferior to these cement roads in some aspects; they are truly a powerful weapon of the military!
“Cement roads are good, but railways are even better! Although railways are many times more expensive, they are also many times faster. How is the train development going these days?” Lin Yang asked with concern.
Frankly speaking, Lin Yang is increasingly unable to see the current situation clearly. History, too, has long been distorted by the butterfly effect. Memories are essentially unreliable.
Therefore, Lin Yang sincerely hoped that the Great Han could continue to exist! At this time, the importance of the train became apparent.
Once there are trains and railways, even the most basic kind of train, the kind that can only travel fifty or sixty kilometers per hour, it would only take a little over a month for troops to reach any part of the Han territory from Luoyang!
What does this mean? It means that the rule of the Han Dynasty will be many times more secure! With the Han Dynasty standing tall and supporting them, Lin Yang will have ample time to grow and develop, won't he?
Otherwise, no matter how high your potential is, if the Great Han is finished, what's the point if Lin Yang can't grow on his own?
"For trains, the main engine is steam. In the past, we always thought about optimizing the steam engine to its best, such as saving spirit stones, how to use spirit stones most effectively, and how to reduce the cost of the steam engine to the lowest level, etc."
"Therefore, the final version was naturally revised again and again, with continuous efforts to optimize it. Under such circumstances, the time consumed was naturally increased. And now, due to the Taiping Dao, there is naturally no time to refine it in detail, so the best version was directly adopted."
“Just three days ago, Master Ou Yezi had already produced five or six steam engines of identical size and specifications. Now, the production line has even been set up. Judging from our current scale, once we are fully in production, each production line can produce one engine per day,” Guo Jia said excitedly.
After all, as the chief steward of Wu, even if he didn't understand it before, he now comprehends all sorts of industrial terms. He knows production lines, national standards (short for Wu standards), industrialization, the Industrial Revolution, and so on by heart.
"Very good, don't rush, take it slow. We are still in the very initial stage, and the great calamity is far from its peak."
After offering a word of comfort, Lin Yang continued, "However, now that we have a production line that can continuously produce this item, the construction of the railway also needs to be put on the agenda."