Haotian turned his gaze toward a black stone stele beside the pool.
The stele stood three zhang tall, its entire surface carved with Chaos Runes. It was the core control stele of Penglai Immortal Island.
As long as he refined this stele, he would be able to control the formations, Spirit Veins, and even the Earth Vein power of the entire immortal island to defend against enemies.
He walked up to the stele, extended his right hand, and pressed it against its surface.
His Late Golden Immortal of the Origin cultivation and the power of Chaos Origin slowly flowed into it, while his divine sense followed the runes on the stele deep inside.
The stele trembled faintly, and its runes gradually lit up, establishing a connection with Haotian's divine sense.
He could clearly sense the flow of the island's Earth Veins, the formation nodes, and even control the movement of spiritual energy across the island.
As thousands of years passed, the runes upon the stele grew brighter and brighter until they finally resonated completely with Haotian's divine sense.
At the instant of resonance, a wondrous sense of control swept through his entire body.
It was as though he had fused with the entire island, feeling every pulse of its Earth Veins.
Every flow of spiritual energy, even the growth of every spiritual herb, was clearly displayed within his sea of consciousness.
"Conceal the island with a thought." His heart stirred as his fingers formed a simple hand seal.
The previously exposed Penglai Immortal Island was instantly enveloped by a pale blue spatial barrier.
The barrier blended perfectly with the surrounding surface of the East Sea. Unless someone deliberately investigated it, even a Primordial Origin Golden Immortal passing by would only think this was an ordinary stretch of sea.
Then, with another thought, the Chaos Concealment Array hidden across the island quietly activated.
Its formation patterns merged into the sea mist, completely isolating the island's aura and suppressing even the fluctuations of its Spirit Veins to the lowest level.
"To think it can achieve such omniscience and omnipotence." Haotian secretly marveled, but he did not lose himself in that sense of control.
He knew this was merely temporary authority reliant on the island's core, not the power of his own Great Dao. Overreliance on it would instead hinder the progress of his cultivation.
He quickly steadied his mind and turned to look at Jade Pool beside him.
"Junior Sister, now that we control the island, let's look around and see what other treasures Penglai Immortal Island holds."
Jade Pool smiled and nodded. The two walked side by side along a spiritual stream on the island.
The sights along the way made Jade Pool exclaim in amazement from time to time. In the cracks between roadside rocks were embedded ores glowing with spiritual light, all excellent materials for refining Spiritual Treasures.
Crystal-clear Spiritual Fruits often hung from the ancient trees in the forest.
Though they were not borne by Innate Spiritual Roots, they still contained pure spiritual energy.
Even the soil beneath their feet carried a faint innate aura, making it exceptionally suitable for cultivating spiritual herbs.
Even more surprising was the number of Spiritual Treasures.
As the two traveled through various parts of the island, they would occasionally discover Spiritual Treasures.
Among them were sword-shaped ones, shield-shaped ones, and jade pendant-shaped ones. A rough count revealed several hundred.
Haotian picked up a sword-shaped Spiritual Treasure and ran his fingertips over its blade, sensing the law fluctuations contained within.
"Most of these are low-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures. A small number are mid-grade, and those five over there are High-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures."
"Were resources in the early Primordial Wilderness really this abundant?" Jade Pool picked up a jade pendant-shaped Spiritual Treasure, her eyes filled with astonishment. When she cultivated on Jade Capital Mountain, she had seen quite a few Spiritual Treasures, but never so many at once.
Haotian nodded, though he secretly pondered to himself.
The remnants of the world's opening had yet to disperse, and the Spirit Veins flourished. Naturally, Innate Spiritual Treasures were common.
But in the future, during the Witch-Demon Hegemony, tribulations would occur frequently, and most of these Spiritual Treasures would likely be destroyed or lost.
By later generations, not only would Innate Spiritual Treasures be rare, even Houtian Spiritual Treasures would become scarce.
His expression remained unchanged as he raised a hand and summoned a stream of Chaos Airflow, condensing it into a temporary treasure vault.
The vault was formed from Chaos Qi. It was pitch-black throughout and came with its own Defense Array, preventing the aura of Spiritual Treasures from leaking out.
Together, the two placed the Spiritual Treasures in the valley into the vault one by one, then continued searching the island.
Any mature spiritual herbs or exposed spiritual materials, whether Innate Vermilion Fruits for refining pills,
Chaos Refined Iron for forging Spiritual Treasures, or Heavenly Pattern Stones for inscribing formation patterns, were carefully stored in the vault.
As he collected them, Haotian calculated, These spiritual materials and medicines will be useful for alchemy and artifact refinement in the future.
Stocking up will not only help Junior Sister and me improve our cultivation, but will also serve as rewards for subordinates when I establish the Heavenly Court in the future.
Just as the two finished gathering the spiritual medicines from one spiritual field, an unusual fragrance drifted into their noses.
Following the scent, Haotian saw several inconspicuous herbaceous plants growing in a corner of the field.
Some had serrated leaves with a pale green sheen. Some bore dark-red fruits shaped like tiny pellets, while others had thick roots marked by brownish patterns.
These plants were not of high grade, yet Haotian's eyes suddenly lit up.
Their appearance was almost exactly the same as seasonings from Earth in his previous life—Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon bark, bay leaf, and more!
He stepped forward, carefully plucked a serrated leaf, and lightly chewed it in his mouth.
It was spicy with a hint of numbing heat—the taste of Sichuan peppercorn!
He then picked up a dark-red fruit, crushed it, and took a sniff. A rich fragrance rushed at him, identical to the scent of star anise.
"They really are seasonings!" Haotian rejoiced inwardly.
Since transmigrating to the Primordial Wilderness tens of thousands of Yuanhuis ago, aside from occasionally eating Innate Spiritual Fruits, he had scarcely tasted any proper food.
Spiritual Fruits were sweet and refreshing, but eating too many of them inevitably became cloying.
Now that he had these seasonings, he could recreate the delicacies of his previous life. To him, who had long missed the warmth of mortal food, this was undoubtedly a tremendous surprise.
"Senior Brother, what are you looking at?" Seeing him staring blankly at several ordinary spiritual herbs, Jade Pool walked over curiously.
Haotian smiled and beckoned, plucking the other seasoning herbs as well.
"Junior Sister, look. Although these spiritual herbs are not particularly high grade, they are rare treasures."
A wisp of Chaos Qi gathered at his fingertips, and with a casual squeeze, he formed more than ten transparent spatial bottles.
The bottles were solidified from Chaos Qi, each containing its own internal space and capable of preserving items for a long time.
Then, using the technique of the Primordial Heart Sutra, he ground the Sichuan peppercorns into pale-red powder and placed it into a spatial bottle.
He crushed the star anise, cinnamon bark, and the rest into small pieces and put them into separate bottles.
He also squeezed a spiritual herb resembling ginger into a paste and poured it into a stoppered spatial bottle.
Before long, the dozen or so spatial bottles were filled with seasonings of every kind, their rich fragrance spreading through the air.
Jade Pool could not help wrinkling her little nose, her curious gaze fixed on the spatial bottles. "It smells so good, Senior Brother. What are these?"
"They are seasonings that can make food taste better."
Haotian put away the spatial bottles and said with a smile, "But let's not discuss that for now. It is time for us to return to Purple Cloud Palace."
"By my reckoning, more than seven thousand years have passed since we left. Only a little over two thousand years remain before Master's next sermon, so it is time to go back."
"Go back?" Jade Pool froze for a moment, then seemed to remember something and nodded. "All right. Then these seasonings..."
"Once we return, I'll make you hotpot." Haotian smiled mysteriously. "I guarantee that once you taste it, you'll never forget the flavor."
Although Jade Pool did not understand what hotpot was, she had complete faith in Haotian's words.
Senior Brother never lied to her, and judging by his mysterious expression, this hotpot was surely something extremely delicious.
She obediently nodded and helped Haotian reinforce the formations of Penglai Immortal Island.
Haotian was responsible for activating the core formation patterns and completely concealing the island within the sea mist of the East Sea.
Jade Pool, meanwhile, summoned the Pure World White Lotus and used the defensive laws within it to protect the island's perimeter, preventing any accidental activation of the formations.
Once the formations had been set up, the two stepped onto the Myriad Heavens Auspicious Cloud.
The auspicious cloud transformed into a streak of light, broke through the surface of the East Sea, crossed the mountains and rivers of the Primordial Wilderness, and sped toward Purple Cloud Palace in Chaos.
Along the way, Jade Pool frequently looked at the spatial bottles in Haotian's hand, her eyes brimming with anticipation.
Meanwhile, Haotian planned in his heart that after returning, he would first use spiritual beast meat to make the soup base, then add the seasonings gathered from Penglai. He was determined to let Junior Sister taste this delicious hotpot that transcended time and space.
Perhaps feeling that they were still moving too slowly, after spending several hundred years reaching the boundary of Chaos,
Haotian simply activated the token, and the two immediately transformed into streaks of light and returned to Purple Cloud Palace.
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