Ever since the Celestial Dragon had shared the profound mysteries of fate, position, and altars with him, Shen Long had settled his heart and resolved to cultivate diligently. He felt that his awakening had come late, leaving him with little to offer, and he was unfamiliar with the current state of the Dragon Clan, making it unwise to rashly interfere.

When Shen Long expressed his thoughts to the Celestial Dragon, the latter agreed without hesitation, as was customary for dragons. However, the Yellow Dragon had his reservations, always eager to find a partner for battle.

Thus, Shen Long used the excuse of needing to understand the Dragon Clan better to quietly cultivate in his palace. Initially, he was unsure how to proceed, merely relying on his spirit to comprehend the Dao in the void. However, he soon realized that this method was far too slow; he needed a structured cultivation system.

At first, he considered asking the three ancestral dragons for their cultivation methods, but he hesitated. His path was entirely different from theirs, and it wouldn't do to draw attention to the fact that he wasn't cultivating a method of his own creation.

In stillness within the Dragon Palace, Shen Long reflected on his past life. Suddenly, a spark ignited within him, and he opened his eyes, his gaze shimmering with a golden-purple light.

"How could I be so foolish?" he thought. "My understanding of the great Dao is too scattered. I can’t create my own techniques at once; why not sort through my understanding of the Dao and find my own path?"

With that, he sat quietly, his spirit weaving through the symbols of the Dao. He observed each symbol connecting into chains, these chains interlacing to form a net of the Dao, relishing in the experience.

Suddenly, clarity dawned upon him, and he distilled a profound saying from the principles of the Dao. The character for "Dao" appeared in his mind, causing a tremor in his heart. "Dao... why does this feel so familiar? Where have I seen it before?" Shen Long sensed he had forgotten something crucial. If he could remember, the issues with his techniques would dissolve, and his cultivation would surely advance.

Intuition was vital for cultivators, and Shen Long believed this wholeheartedly, so he racked his brain in search of the answer. In his deep contemplation, he approached the brink of madness, his mind growing foggy, teetering on the edge of danger. Just then, the character "Dao" flickered, illuminating the entire space of his heart.

Startled, he emerged from the haze of madness, still fixated on the golden glimmer of the character in his heart, searching his memory. Suddenly, an epiphany struck him.

"Of course! How could I forget?"

In his previous life, he had lived in a society rich in information, filled with many classic texts of the Dao. Even in a world devoid of Daoist practices, these texts were revered as classics, comparable to the sayings of the great Dao.

Excited, Shen Long projected his spirit into the void, reciting the Dao De Jing by Laozi:

"The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. Nameless, it is the origin of heaven and earth; named, it is the mother of all things. Therefore, always desireless, one can see the mystery; always desiring, one can see the manifestations. These two have the same name but differ in essence; both are called profound. Profound and more profound, the gateway to all mysteries."

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As the symbols of the Dao flowed into Shen Long’s spirit, his heart evolved, generating countless profound sayings, and his spirit rapidly grew in strength.

Fueled by excitement, he continued reciting:

"The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without contention, staying in places that others disdain, thus it is close to the Dao. Dwelling in the right place; with a heart like a deep abyss; being good to others, speaking with sincerity, governing well, achieving what is possible, acting at the right time. Only by not contending, can one avoid blame..."

He finished the Dao De Jing and went on to recite other widely respected texts, like the Huang Ting Neijing and the Huangdi Neijing.

Once he finished, he was not yet satisfied and turned to Buddhist scriptures. Despite his previous life’s aversion to the rigidities of Buddhism, he recognized that the surviving texts held value. He began to recite the Heart Sutra:

"Once Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing deep Prajna Paramita, and saw that all five aggregates were empty, thus he overcame all suffering. Shariputra, form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form. Form is precisely emptiness, emptiness is precisely form..."

While the content of the Buddhist scriptures aimed to guide people toward goodness, Shen Long found within them useful insights for his understanding of the Dao.

He went on to recite the Diamond Sutra, the Avalokiteshvara Sutra, and even the Great Compassion Mantra, which he had detested in his previous life.

His heart filled with more and more profound truths, yet Shen Long remained unsatisfied. He reviewed every aspect of his life from his past—society, economy, daily life, notable figures, events, famous sayings, movies, and novels, anything he could recall in hopes of extracting wisdom that could deepen his understanding of the Dao.

Having exhausted his memories, he immersed himself in the sublime experience of cultivation, blending his insights with the principles of heaven and earth.

...

A day passed in the cave, while a thousand years had passed outside.

Time flew by like an arrow, and three thousand years had elapsed since Shen Long entered seclusion.

Quietly seated in the Dragon Palace, Shen Long’s aura began to rise slowly, finally stopping at the peak of the Great Luo realm. He then conjured a three-tiered altar, etched with dense symbols of the Dao—intricate yet orderly.

Suddenly, the symbols on the altar shattered, reforming into new ones. These new symbols connected into chains, and the chains wove together into a net of laws. Various nets interwove to form a new altar, now four tiers high, displaying three thousand symbols of the Dao.

Shen Long opened his eyes in disbelief. "Whoa, three thousand paths of the Dao—could it be that I'm like Hong Jun?"

He immediately dismissed the thought. Hong Jun could not possibly be a dragon; otherwise, how could the dragon clan have fared so poorly in legends of his past life?

"At least I’ve finally caught up with the other three dragons in terms of heavenly positions—my cultivation speed is now one hundred and eight times faster!"

"Let me check this jade slip first!"

This slip was given to him by the Celestial Dragon, containing records about the Dragon Clan, its rights and duties, and essential knowledge about cultivation in the primordial world.

In the primordial realm, beings cultivated through heavenly transmission, creating their own methods, or following the ancestral techniques of their species.

The hierarchy of power in the primordial world is as follows:

* Earth Immortal: The most basic level of beings, born with this strength due to the recent formation of the primordial world.

* Celestial Immortal: A higher realm above Earth Immortal, attainable by most beings.

* Taiyi Realm: Divided into Taiyi True Immortal, Taiyi Mysterious Immortal, and Taiyi Golden Immortal. This realm is the mainstay of power in the primordial world.

* Great Luo Realm: Divided into Great Luo True Immortal, Great Luo Mysterious Immortal, and Great Luo Golden Immortal.

* Above this is the Sage Realm: Divided into Quasi-Sage and Sage.

Shen Long was on the verge of entering the Quasi-Sage level, but he understood that merely sitting in stillness wouldn’t lead to a breakthrough.

"Since I need to manage the affairs of the Dragon Clan anyway, I might as well take the opportunity to explore outside. Who knows, I might even break through!"

With that, he vanished from the Dragon Palace.