Dao Sage Mode (First Update)

"Junior Sister, everyone’s already gone, and you’re still watching?"

After Li Chuan flew away, Qin Ruohua came up behind Shangguan Qian and leaned down to tease her by the ear.

Startled out of her daze, Shangguan Qian jumped on the spot, then blushed.

"Who was watching? I was just thinking."

"Junior Sister, don’t tell me you’ve really fallen for Junior Brother Qingfeng?"

Qin Ruohua’s expression grew somewhat serious.

Having fallen deeply into the tribulation of love herself, how could she fail to notice that something was off about Shangguan Qian’s behavior just now?

Shangguan Qian blushed but did not deny it.

"I just think Junior Brother Qingfeng is very special. He’s different from all the senior and junior brothers on the mountain."

"Junior Sister, you must think this through. Once you fall into the tribulation of love, attaining ascension and immortality will become difficult."

At that moment, Cheng Xuanfeng also walked over.

He and Qin Ruohua had already fallen too deeply into the tribulation of love to pull themselves free, but for cultivators, such a thing was hardly good.

"So what? Among the countless cultivators of the major sects, how many can truly attain immortality and ascend? Rather than seeking immortality, I envy you and Senior Sister more."

Shangguan Qian did not seem to care.

At that moment, Chu Yuxiang, the eldest and most perceptive among them, offered a reminder.

"Junior Sister, many cultivators cannot escape the tribulation of love, so there’s no need to worry too much. Besides, Junior Brother Qingfeng truly is outstanding and would be a fine choice.

"However, I must remind you of one thing. Junior Brother Qingfeng seems extremely devoted to the Dao. You should prepare yourself mentally."

Since Shangguan Qian had already developed feelings, there was no need to persuade her otherwise. Such matters could not be stopped; trying to stop them would only backfire.

The key was that this was likely unrequited love.

"Senior Brother, I understand. I only have a favorable impression of him; I’m not deeply entangled in it. If our feelings are not mutual, how could we spend the rest of our lives together? There’s no need to force it. Your Junior Sister isn’t someone who likes to pester others!"

Shangguan Qian answered decisively.

As an Emei sword cultivator, she possessed her own pride. She was not some delicate little woman.

Meanwhile, after flying out of the Emei region atop the Crimson Spirit Fire Pearl, Li Chuan swiftly descended into a forest and took out the teleportation book.

The pages fluttered, and his figure passed through space, returning to the small courtyard he had previously bought in a mortal town.

Before returning to Little Bamboo Mountain, he still had one thing to do.

That was to try Sage Mode!

He had actually planned to attempt this after cultivating a portion of True Essence. However, while testing the Crimson Spirit Fire Pearl he had just refined, he happened to encounter the Profound Yin Sect Elder seeking revenge.

After killing the Profound Yin Sect Elder, he encountered the Seven Sons of the Clouds, then immediately went to Drunken Immortal Cliff and Emei.

Emei was filled with experts, including someone like True Person Bai Mei, who stood at the peak of the Earth Immortal realm. He did not dare experiment with Sage Mode there. If something went wrong and he was mistaken for a demonic heretic, that would be troublesome.

Now that he had left Emei, this was the perfect chance to try it.

To understand Sage Mode, one had to begin with the world of Naruto.

The world where Naruto existed was not a flat heaven and round earth, but a planet. Beyond that planet was a universe, where other lifeforms also existed.

The strongest of these extraterrestrial beings was the Otsutsuki Clan.

Members of this clan were born with immense power and did not need to cultivate like mortals. They used Karma to reincarnate and revive, making them beings who transcended death itself.

They searched the universe for planets with life, then sent clan members to plant the Ten-Tails’ offspring on those planets. It would transform into the Divine Tree and absorb the entire planet’s energy, eventually bearing a fruit that they consumed to complete their evolution.

Kaguya Otsutsuki was one of the Otsutsuki Clan members sent to Earth after they discovered it, but during the process, she fell in love with a human of Earth.

Chakra, meanwhile, was created by Kaguya Otsutsuki’s son, Hagoromo Otsutsuki—the Sage of Six Paths. Seeing that humans could not use techniques or wield natural energy, he was inspired by his research into the Divine Tree and created it.

By combining physical and spiritual energy, Chakra energy was produced, then released through hand seals.

In fact, before Kaguya Otsutsuki brought the Divine Tree to Earth, there were already people on Earth capable of using magic, though they were few.

For example, Miko, Evil Cults, the Three Great Sage Caves, and all manner of gods.

However, after Chakra appeared, it was more convenient and widespread. In the end, it gradually replaced the more difficult cultivation methods that used natural energy to cast spells.

But the Three Great Sage Caves—Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest—discovered that combining the natural energy they cultivated with Chakra could produce even more powerful energy: the so-called Sage Mode.

Absorbing different types of natural energy produced Sage Modes with different traits and functions.

In Mount Myōboku’s Sage Mode, the eyes became horizontal pupils with yellow eye shadow, resembling toad eyes.

In Ryūchi Cave’s Sage Mode, the eyes became vertical pupils with purple eye shadow, horns grew from the head, and they resembled snake eyes.

In Shikkotsu Forest’s Sage Mode, black markings appeared around the corners of the eyes, the forehead bore something like a black target, and the pupils were yellow around the outside and black within.

The three Sage Modes shared several traits: Chakra increased drastically; all ninjutsu, Body Techniques, and genjutsu became much stronger; the five senses and sensory abilities improved greatly; and the body’s recovery ability increased dramatically.

Li Chuan did not know the details of how the Three Great Sage Caves cultivated Sage Mode, but the Sage Art cultivated at the Fire Temple was actually an extremely simplified form of Sage Mode.

That was because Sage Art was also special Chakra created by combining Chakra with a tiny amount of natural energy.

The Three Great Sage Caves, however, fused vast amounts of natural energy with Chakra. If anything went wrong and Sage Mode cultivation failed, one would die outright.

Sage Art only fused a tiny amount of natural energy, making it far safer. Yet it lacked the power of Sage Mode and merely strengthened Body Techniques.

As for the natural energy of the Three Great Sage Caves, he could use the purest Daoist True Essence condensed from the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy he absorbed as a substitute. The effect would not be any worse.

Most importantly, True Essence belonged to him and was completely under his control. Unlike violent natural energy, it could be fused with Chakra in large quantities for experimentation. Even if it failed, there would be no danger.

He had the method and the energy. All that remained was to try.

Sitting cross-legged in the room, Li Chuan first used the Fire Temple’s method to extract physical and spiritual power, then slowly guided the Golden Core in his dantian to release Daoist True Essence and began trying to fuse them.

Boom!

A moment later, a powerful aura suddenly erupted from Li Chuan’s body.

"It worked!"

Feeling his body undergo earth-shaking changes in an instant, he knew that the attempt had succeeded.

He casually took out a mirror. His appearance had not changed much, but the pupils of his formerly pure-black eyes had become Yin-Yang symbols.

"Could these be the legendary Yin-Yang Eyes?"