Merit often depicted as golden light, represents the positive karmic force bestowed by the Heavenly Dao upon cultivators who perform deeds beneficial to the world or assist in maintaining balance. This merit can be accumulated through virtuous actions, such as protecting the weak, defending natural harmony, or eliminating threats to the world.
The Golden Light of Merit is a valuable and coveted force because it can eliminate disasters, solve difficulties, and accelerate a cultivator's progress on the path of cultivation, it also can help cultivators to block some of the thunder from Heavenly Tribulation. Those with profound merit are protected by the Heavenly Dao, making them difficult to kill even by the most powerful beings.
Merit is incredibly valuable, but it comes with a hidden cost. When a cultivator absorbs the golden light of merit, their soul experiences a subtle fluctuation, a gentle but insidious imprisonment imposed by the Heavenly Dao. This fluctuation is so subtle that only cultivators of the highest realms, those who have reached a level of power equal to the Heavenly Dao, can detect and undo the manipulation.
For all others, the merit they receive comes with a debt-a debt that shackles their mind and soul to the will of the Heavenly Dao. The benefits of merit are real and tangible. It enhances cultivation, improves one's luck, and offers protection from disasters. However, the price of these benefits is steep.
The Heavenly Dao refines the Tao into the golden light of merit and bestows it upon those who perform deeds beneficial to the world or the Heavenly Dao itself. In doing so, it ensures that the cultivators who receive this merit are bound to its will, their freedom curtailed in exchange for power.
This subtle control is the Heavenly Dao's way of maintaining order. By granting merit to the most powerful beings in the world, it ensures that they remain under its influence, unable to rebel or break free from its grasp.This instinctual control ensures that the natural order remains undisturbed and that no being can fully escape the influence of the Heavenly Dao.
This unseen shackle often becomes a hindrance for powerful cultivators attempting to ascend beyond the highest realms of their world. Many perish not just due to the ferocity of the tribulation but because they are still bound by the debts incurred from absorbing merit.
To free oneself from this subtle control, a cultivator must repay the benefits received by giving back to the world of equal or greater value. Some cultivators unconsciously repay their debt (not prompted by Heavenly Dao), because some believe the truth of giving and taking, and that the most expensive things are labeled by "free", while the other is because they just have a kind nature.
The truth of merit itself remain secret, this secret is known to only a few, and the price of merit remains one of the most closely guarded mysteries of the cultivation world.