Chapter 3633 Heavenly Merit

Obtaining it prevents one from being tainted by karma!

Furthermore, with the protection of merit, it can prevent the arising of inner demons and the invasion of external evils. Even during tribulation, it can indirectly weaken the power of the heavenly tribulation.

After truly understanding the effects of Heavenly Merit, Shen Changqing couldn’t help but gasp.

“Hiss… If that’s really the case, Heavenly Merit is extremely important for cultivators!”

Until now,

Shen Changqing had only a superficial understanding of Heavenly Merit.

Only now, having truly obtained it, could he understand its effects.

In short,

Heavenly Merit is immune to most negative influences. It prevents the

arising of inner demons! It makes it difficult

for external evils to invade!

Even during tribulation, it increases the chances of success.

Most importantly,

Shen Changqing also discovered that

if someone were to kill him while he was protected by merit, he would suffer a karmic backlash.

However, the degree of this backlash depends on the amount of merit accumulated.

This effect is a method that makes other powerful individuals wary.

In Shen Changqing’s eyes, the significance wasn’t great, but regardless, having this merit would give him an extra trump card for survival.

“It’s a pity that merit is so rare. I suppressed hundreds of calamities in the Immortal Realms and only managed to generate one instance of Heavenly Dao merit. I wonder what level this kind of merit is at!”

Shen Changqing internally observed the golden light of merit in his sea of consciousness. With a thought, a faint golden light swirled around him.

Finally—

all the golden light transformed into a somewhat insubstantial golden light of merit above his head, like a divine sun.

As Shen Changqing’s thought subsided, all the strange phenomena dissipated.

After several attempts, Shen Changqing stopped using the power of Heavenly Dao merit and instead turned his gaze to the other Immortal Realms.

Originally, he killed the calamities purely to harvest their essence to accelerate the growth of the Demon God.

But now,

Shen Changqing had another goal:

to collect Heavenly Dao merit.

Naturally, the more Heavenly Dao merit the better.

If he accumulated enough merit, Shen Changqing believed that once he manifested it, other cultivators would likely turn tail and flee.

After all, killing someone with great merit incurs heavy karma.

Accumulated karma, once sufficient, will bring down divine punishment.

Given the intensity of the heavenly punishment from the upper realms, even a half-saint, a great saint, or a supreme being would find it difficult to withstand.

However, truly accumulating that level of merit is naturally not easy.

Nevertheless, this suppression of the calamity has given Shen Changqing another motivation.

“Most cultivators probably don’t know how to obtain Heavenly Dao merit, and whether those ancient forces know is unknown!”

Regardless, obtaining Heavenly Dao merit is extremely difficult.

Suppressing calamities in hundreds of immortal realms by oneself only brought down Heavenly Dao merit once, demonstrating the immense difficulty involved.

Next,

Shen Changqing continued to sweep through various immortal realms.

After the last calamity in the Immortal Realm was suppressed, golden light of merit descended upon the world once more.

Just like the previous golden light,

this one contained the same Heavenly Dao merit.

As the two beams of merit merged, Shen Changqing felt his consciousness and spiritual platform become increasingly clear.

“Heavenly Dao Merit!”

Shen Changqing now had a deeper understanding of how to obtain Heavenly Dao merit.

Since obtaining his first wisp of Heavenly Dao merit, the golden light of merit in his sea of consciousness had gradually increased with each slaying of the calamities.

Although the rate of increase was slow, the improvement was real.   Shen Changqing had grasped the key to

this change .   ”The first wisp of Heavenly Dao merit is considered a seed of merit. As long as one performs actions beneficial to the Heavenly Dao, their merit will naturally increase.   For merit to be directly bestowed by the Heavenly Dao, it requires accumulating merit to a certain level.   Without the first wisp of Heavenly Dao merit as a seed, it’s difficult to collect merit from slaying evil beasts—”   Simply put, the descent of the first wisp of Heavenly Dao merit is like unlocking a shackle, a shackle that allows cultivators to access Heavenly Dao merit.   This change   is naturally a good thing for Shen Changqing.   It means that as long as he continues to slay and suppress evil beasts, even without direct Heavenly Dao merit, the merit he possesses will gradually increase.   Over the years, Heavenly Dao merit will have a chance to rise.   Realizing this,   Shen Changqing suddenly thought of something, and his expression changed slightly.   ”Was it to allow the evil calamities to spread freely in the various immortal states to accumulate Heavenly Dao merit?”   He had never considered this possibility before.   He had initially believed that the various immortal states were hesitant to act because they feared the power of the calamity and didn’t want to fight it head-on, resulting in mutual destruction.   However, after witnessing the existence of Heavenly Dao Merit, Shen Changqing couldn’t help but overturn his original judgment.   This   might be related to Heavenly Dao Merit.   Of course,   nothing is absolute, but in Shen Changqing’s view, the underlying events were highly likely influenced by Heavenly Dao Merit.   They were using the calamity to accumulate merit.   As   for why the various forces later took action to exterminate the great calamity, it was both to reap merit and, presumably, because the calamity had undergone some kind of change, forcing these forces to act prematurely.   Meanwhile,   supreme powers like the Taiyi Holy Land had other forces suppress the calamities in various immortal realms.   The reason for this was likely that they didn’t care about the small amount of merit from the other immortal realms.   After all, they had already secured the lion’s share of the merit from suppressing the great calamity; the small amount from other immortal realms was naturally insignificant.   When this thought popped into his head, many of Shen Changqing’s previous doubts and questions suddenly became clear.

As expected,

things unfolded exactly as he had anticipated.

“To nurture enemies for personal gain, to use the blood of all living beings to cleanse one’s own merits—the waters of the Nine Heavens Immortal Realm remain as deep as ever!”

Shen Changqing glanced deeply in the direction of the Divine Sun Domain before turning and leaving.

The mid-level Immortal Domains were resolved; he didn’t want to provoke the troubles in the high-level Immortal Domains for the time being.

Therefore,

Shen Changqing decided to return to the Xuan Tian Dao Sect first.

At this moment, the cultivators of the nine peaks of the Xuan Tian

Dao Sect had already suppressed all the troubles in the five Immortal Domains. After all, the strength of the nine peaks was considerable, and with the Longevity Demon God Duan Changsheng in charge, the entire process was uneventful.

However,

Shen Changqing’s return still shook the entire sect. This

was because during this period, Shen Changqing had swept through two hundred mid-level Immortal Domains, suppressing most of the troubles and disturbances.

The name of the Xuan Tian Sword Master had resounded far and wide.

Seeing Shen Changqing’s return now, the Xuan Tian Dao Sect was naturally thrilled.

…

Inside the Yangxin Residence.

Shen Changqing summoned Ji Yang.

“Master!”

The latter was startled upon seeing Shen Changqing.

The killing intent emanating from Shen Changqing was almost tangible; a single glance was enough to send shivers down one’s spine.

If it were Ji Yang at his peak in his previous life, such killing intent would have been nothing to him.

But this Ji Yang was merely an Ancient Immortal, carrying only a few memories from his past life. In

short ,

Ji Yang was only Ji Yang of the Xuan Tian Dao Sect, not the Lord of the Yan Yang Realm in his previous life.

But there was no way around it.

He had slain too many evil beasts over the years, and even with Shen Changqing’s best efforts, that killing intent was difficult to completely eliminate.

Unless he gave himself some time to cultivate in seclusion, truly suppressing this killing intent would not be easy.

“How much do you know about Heavenly Dao Merit?”

“Heavenly Dao Merit…”

Ji Yang’s expression faltered slightly, then he realized what was happening, his brows furrowing as he struggled to recall his memories.

After a moment, his furrowed brows relaxed again.

“As far as I know, Heavenly Merit is something that those who have rendered meritorious service to the Heavenly Dao have a chance to receive.

It’s not easy for ordinary cultivators to obtain Heavenly Merit, after all, the requirements for rendering meritorious service to the Heavenly Dao are extremely stringent.

Moreover, in order for the Heavenly Dao to bestow merit, one must accumulate merit to a certain level.

Normally, even if some cultivators are fortunate enough to do something beneficial to the Heavenly Dao, if their merit accumulation is shallow, it is very difficult to attract Heavenly Merit to descend upon the world.”

“In my memory, there are some cultivators who dedicate their lives to doing things beneficial to the Heavenly Dao, accumulating merit to offset calamities. It is said that

those with abundant Heavenly Dao merit can condense a Nine Directions Merit Golden Wheel. By channeling the power of the Nine Directions Merit Golden Wheel into themselves, they have the opportunity to achieve a Merit Golden Body.

Such a Merit Golden Body allows a semi-saint to be unafraid of the Five Signs of Decay of Heaven and Man, directly reaching the Nine Tribulations Realm.

If one can go further, one can even achieve Sainthood through merit, reaching the Saint Realm in one step, unafraid of the Heavenly Dao’s divine tribulations.

However, Heavenly Dao merit is rare. Let alone achieving Sainthood through merit, even condensing a Merit Golden Body is extremely rare in my memory.”

Merit Golden Body!

Achieving Sainthood through Merit!

Shen Changqing’s pupils shrank almost imperceptibly. He gained a deeper understanding of the effects of such Heavenly Dao merit.

If what Ji Yang said was true, the importance of Heavenly Dao merit was even greater than he had imagined.

After all,

the mere fact of achieving Sainthood through merit was enough to drive most cultivators mad.

Even if one cannot achieve sainthood through merit, as long as one cultivates a Golden Body of Merit, one can be unafraid of the Five Signs of Decay of Heaven and Man, directly aiming for the Nine Tribulations Half-Saint realm.

Under heaven,

how many Half-Saints can actually reach the Nine Tribulations realm?

The vast majority of Longevity Half-Saints stop before the Nine Tribulations, either afraid to undergo the

Five Signs of Decay of Heaven and Man, hiding in some forbidden zone, or failing to overcome them, ultimately perishing in obscurity.

If one could cultivate a Golden Body of Merit, then these problems would cease to exist.

However,

as Ji Yang said,

Heavenly Dao Merit is not easy to find.

Truly cultivating a Golden Body of Merit is even more difficult.

Shen Changqing glanced inward at the Heavenly Dao Merit power in his sea of consciousness.

With the Heavenly Dao Merit he currently possessed, let alone condensing nine Golden Wheels of Merit, even condensing the first Golden Wheel of Merit was far from enough. (End of Chapter)