176: Chapter 176 Extraordinary Time, Law Ritual, Talent, and the Calamity of Loss

Savage nodded in agreement and then continued.

"You are quite fortunate. Even in my Bronze Academy, lectures by mid-stage existences are a once-in-a-century occurrence. To attend their classes, one must book twenty years in advance and pay a significant price to obtain the qualification."

"You have all just ascended to the Transcendent stage and do not understand that in the eyes of mid-stage existences, even a hundred years is like a single year to a mortal—it passes in the blink of an eye."

"As for the time it takes for a primary Transcendent life form to cultivate to the perfection of Level 3, according to the statistics of our trial teams over the years, it averages around 500 years."

"Of course, everyone here is an outstanding figure who has pioneered their own system, so you should not need that much time."

"But then again, your current systems are not yet complete, the energy is not very abundant, and your cultivation techniques are still in the experimental stage, so according to our statistics, it shouldn't differ too much."

After hearing Savage's words, the Incarnation could not help but sigh with emotion.

"Once one becomes a Transcendent, it is difficult to adapt to such a long lifespan. Even I feel that the lecture times at the Transcendent academies in the Milky Way Galaxy are somewhat slow."

"That is normal. Mid-stage life forms often spend hundreds of years in seclusion just to comprehend laws."

"In Transcendent academies, mid-stage scholars usually take turns teaching in groups of five, which is why there is a twenty-year interval between classes."

"Otherwise, some research experiments alone require decades or even a century of participation; such an arrangement is the only one that fits the free time of mid-stage existences."

While the two discussed the scheduling of time for the Transcendent stage, the group of Transcendents still managed to gain a rough understanding of it.

After everyone took their seats, Ling Li and Ling Hua continued to pour spiritual tea for the Transcendents.

As more spiritual tea was poured, a refreshing fragrance permeated the entire hall, instantly refreshing the mind and calming the soul.

Savage spoke first.

"Let me start. I have already gained some understanding of your cultivator system, so let me show you the path of our [Bronze Sacrifice System] first."

Immediately, the [Soul-Suppressing Azure Heaven Tower] flew out from his body, and a wave of chanting sounds echoed throughout the hall.

"Praise the Soul-Suppressing Azure Heaven Law-Defining Priest, possessing great power, great wisdom, and great magical ability, saving the suffering and subduing all demons and ghosts."

"Praise the Soul-Suppressing Azure Heaven Law-Defining Priest, possessing the Azure Underworld Heaven, the Demon-Slaying Warship, and the Azure Heaven Tower, defining the laws of nature and subduing all dark demons and evil gods."

...

Subsequently, with the help of the sacrificial vessel, Savage's own Law imagery manifested. In the void, infinite humanoid life forms were offering sacrifices to him, and countless scenes of suppressing demons and ghosts and capturing evil gods emerged.

The Law Ritual Ceremonies corresponding to [Suppression] and [Capture] condensed and appeared before everyone's eyes.

These Law Ritual Ceremonies had some patterns similar to Law runes, but after incorporating the special ritual ceremonies of the [Bronze Sacrifice System], their functions were much more complex and comprehensive.

Lu Tianxin discovered that the [Mountain Stream] Law rune he had comprehended was like a firefly compared to the bright moon; it was extremely small and crude.

The Incarnation, as a Zifu True Person, could perceive much more. Beyond the conventional concepts of suppression and capture of life, this also involved suppression and capture at the levels of energy, bloodline, genes, information, laws, and souls, striking and suppressing from different angles in an all-encompassing manner.

As long as there was a weakness in one direction regarding these broad concepts, it would be seized upon and expanded to continuously create an advantage, ultimately achieving the effect of suppression.

Fortunately, this knowledge of Daoist practice was merely an understanding of the Laws, endowing the ritual ceremony with the power of comprehensive suppression; it was not combining these related Laws with the concepts of suppression, as that situation would have already touched upon the high-stage level.

In the Incarnation's current shallow understanding, the high stage at least requires one Law to be complete and form a self-sustaining cycle, so that it does not fall or decline due to the Law defects of the Zifu stage.

Thus, of the two paths to achieving the high stage, one is to continuously deepen and perfect it, and the other is to gather multiple Golden Natures and fuse them together to attain the Fruit Position.

Although Savage's special ritual ceremonies involved a very wide range of aspects, they were still far from forming a self-sustaining cycle; they hadn't even touched upon the possibility of cyclic feedback development and were still stuck at the level of increasing the scope of the suppression concepts.

However, the mere implication released by the [Suppression] and [Capture] Law Ritual Ceremonies left these primary Transcendents feeling dizzy and unable to withstand the impact of such a large amount of complex information.

As time passed, apart from his three disciples who were still struggling to observe and memorize, the others had already closed their eyes and fallen into deep contemplation.

Ling Li and Ling Hua fainted as soon as they saw this implication and were carried to a side room by Lu Tianxin.

Of course, Savage's discourse was not delivered verbally; instead, he tried his best to demonstrate it to everyone through a series of abilities and Law Ritual Ceremonies, rather than using inefficient and easily distorted communication methods like language or mental fluctuations.

Therefore, until one reaches the level of touching the cosmic Dao, all such explanations of one's Daoist practice are done through actual actions.

After Savage finished the demonstration, the group of Transcendent existences took a full two and a half hours to digest it and return to their senses.

The Incarnation asked his disciples.

"How was it? How much were you able to memorize?"

Lu Tianxin replied.

"This disciple is dull-witted and could only manage to memorize 10% in a rough manner. As for comprehending and understanding it, I am afraid it will take quite some time."

Below him, Chen Tianping and Ye Tianyi were at around 5% to 7%.

And the other Transcendents were all at around 3% to 4%.

Hearing this, Savage was somewhat surprised and said to the Incarnation.

"It seems the Black Iron Human Race has a unique talent for comprehension. The primary Transcendents we carefully select in our Bronze Academy can only memorize 1% to 2%. In particular, the Real Person's disciples have comprehension abilities that surpass ordinary people, and they do indeed have the potential to achieve the mid-stage."

"In our Bronze Academy, only a portion of the prodigies, who possess special talents and have had many heavenly treasures invested in them, can exceed 10%."

"This is one of the reasons why we set up mid-stage lectures every twenty years; these demonstrations of Daoist practice alone are enough for them to contemplate for over a decade."

"You are too kind, Savage. My disciples were born carrying the destiny of this Transcendent system's birth, so they do have a bit of comprehension."

"I only fear that their mental fortitude is not up to par, and they will fall during the Tribulation of Loss when ascending to the Zifu stage."

Taking this opportunity, the Incarnation explained the situation of the Tribulation of Loss to the Transcendents.

"The so-called Tribulation of Loss occurs when one's mental state cannot match the surging power, making it impossible to control, and when one lacks enough experience to support oneself in overcoming numerous temptations to climb single-mindedly toward the higher Dao."

"You all need to understand your own hearts as early as possible. Especially you three, Tianxin, Tianping, and Tianli; you were all taken under my tutelage in your twenties or thirties. Having suddenly obtained such great power, you must remain humble and patient to avoid being tempted by external demons."