Sacred Spirit Table

Time passed like sand slipping through fingers. Li Cha, riding Mo Ran and accompanied by Shi Qing and the submissive Dragon Eel, had spent over three hundred years searching across the vast, boundless East Sea.

They had traversed countless sea areas rumored to hold traces of immortals, explored numerous islands with abnormal spiritual energy, and even dived into ten-thousand-foot-deep trenches. They had visited the reclusive Whale Clan and encountered more than one wave of Shark Clan or other sea-race marauders who coveted them as "fat sheep," all of whom were dealt with by Li Cha using thunderous methods or ingenious formations. Yet, the legendary Three Immortals Islands—Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou—remained nowhere to be found, with not even a shred of a clue discovered.

On this day, Li Cha and his companions were resting on a small island, watching the Dragon Eel perform one final divination. It used the ancient secret arts inherited from its own bloodline, combined with the study of stars and ocean currents. The Dragon Eel appeared focused, faint water-like Dao patterns rippling around its body. After a long while, it dispelled its magic power in dejection, and with a look of shame, knelt before Li Cha to report:

"Master... according to my calculations, those Three Immortals Islands... I fear they have passed their current window of manifestation and have once again faded into the endless void."

It cautiously observed Li Cha's expression and continued, "According to the patterns, the next manifestation will likely require waiting... until the next Kalpa."

The next Kalpa? One hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years!

Even though Li Cha had been mentally prepared, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly upon hearing this definitive news. Even with his firm Dao Heart, he felt a sense of speechlessness at this moment. Having spent over three hundred years only to end up with nothing—anyone would find it difficult to remain completely calm.

"Hard life!" Li Cha finally spat out these two words, carrying a touch of self-mockery and helplessness. He shook his head, as if trying to shake off this lingering gloom.

"Forget it. Since it cannot be found, it means the opportunity has not yet arrived. There is no benefit in forcing it." He smiled freely, the haze in his heart dissipating. "Let's have a cup of tea!"

This time, he did not take out the Innate Enlightenment Tea he usually drank. Instead, he used leaves from the Pure Spirit Tea Tree, which had been transplanted into the Chaos Pearl and grown increasingly vibrant under the nourishment of Chaos energy.

He used the Five Elements Furnace to kindle the fire and the Shouyang Pot to brew. The Pure Spirit Tea soup was clearer than the Enlightenment Tea, almost colorless, like a clear spring in the mountains. The tea's aroma was not as majestic and Dao-imbued as the Enlightenment Tea; rather, it was more quiet, elegant, and ethereal. It seemed to exist yet not exist, yet it was exceptionally persistent, lingering at the tip of his nose and in his heart, impossible to shake off.

Li Cha picked up his cup and took a light sip. The taste was indeed slightly bland; he could barely feel any flavor upon the first entry. But as he savored it, an indescribable aura of pure spirit spread along his throat and tongue, cleansing his lungs and viscera, soothing his mind, and quietly dissolving the slight restlessness and fatigue brought about by three hundred years of searching. Though it lacked the effect of sudden enlightenment, it possessed a unique, tranquil quality that washed away the worldly dust and returned one to their true self.

"Not bad, it has a different flavor." Li Cha nodded in praise, his mood becoming increasingly peaceful.

Seeing the Dragon Eel standing by, watching with eager eyes, he bestowed a cup upon it. The Dragon Eel was pleasantly surprised, quickly taking it and drinking it in one gulp. As the tea entered its belly, a gentle yet pure vitality and Dao rhyme flowed through its demon body, which appeared healed but was actually riddled with hidden injuries. Soft green light radiated from its body, and it wore an expression of pure enjoyment. A single cup of tea cleared away all its hidden injuries and even advanced its cultivation by a sliver.

"This... thank you, Master, for your generous gift! This servant... this servant..." The Dragon Eel was so excited it became incoherent. It knelt down again, its massive eel head bowing deeply. Its awe and gratitude toward Li Cha reached their peak. A single cup of tea had such miraculous effects; this Master's methods were truly unfathomable!

Li Cha accepted the kowtow calmly, but his gaze was already cast into the distance, his mind immersed in the state of "stillness" and "truth" brought by the Pure Spirit Tea. The three hundred years of searching had not yielded his goal, but his travels across the East Sea had broadened his horizons and greatly improved his state of mind. Now, triggered by the Pure Spirit Tea, various insights flowed like streams into the sea, quietly surging.

Suddenly, he felt a stir in his heart, a flash of inspiration.

A faint green light flickered around him, and a phantom of the Innate Enlightenment Tea Tree flashed behind him before vanishing. Immediately, a branch about a zhang long and as thick as a thigh flew out from his body on its own, hovering before him.

This branch was extraordinary! Its entire body presented a warm, green-gold luster, and the wood grain subtly matched the flow of the Five Elements, layer upon layer, as if recording the evolution of the world's creation and destruction. Even more miraculous was that within the annual rings, countless dense and profound divine patterns grew naturally. The essence of these patterns was seventy or eighty percent similar to the Innate Dao patterns on the main trunk from back when he was the Primordial Chaos Spirit Tea Tree in the depths of his memory! It was merely simplified countless times over.

"The time has come!" A sharp light flashed in Li Cha's eyes, and he understood in his heart. The opportunity to craft that piece of tea ware—the tea table—had arrived!

He rose to his feet, delaying no longer. He ordered Mo Ran to find an uninhabited, barren island far from the influence of any sea races where the spiritual energy was acceptable, and they descended. Immediately, he took action himself, using a large amount of spirit stones and his own mastery of formations to set up layers of concealment and protective arrays around the island, isolating it from the outside world.

On the island, Li Cha prepared to begin crafting the tea table.

Calling it "crafting" was more of a process of "guiding" and "inscribing." This branch was already a part of a Heaven and Earth Spirit Root and contained supreme Dao rhyme; it required no excessive smelting or modification. The key lay in how to stimulate and fix its inherent Dao nature and supernatural powers.

Li Cha took out his companion spirit treasure, the Spirit Origin Ruler. This ruler was both a blade for exorcising demons and an instrument for enlightenment; it served perfectly as a carving knife. He held his breath and focused, using the ruler as a blade to carefully trim both ends of the branch so it could stand steadily. He then slightly refined the sides to make it appear more ancient and elegant. The prototype of a tea table had already emerged.

Next was the most mentally taxing part: inscribing the runes. Li Cha forced a drop of his own essence blood, which contained his Dao rhyme, from his fingertip. Mixing it with his divine sense, he applied it to the tip of the Spirit Origin Ruler. He leaned over, like the most devout craftsman, and began to carve stroke by stroke onto the smooth surface of the table.

What he carved was no random pattern, but the primordial form of the Primordial Chaos Spirit Tea Tree—that heaven-supporting, earth-spanning entity of innate Dao resonance deep within his memory—using countless intricate, innate runes as his brushstrokes. Every line contained his own understanding of the tea Dao, his reminiscence of the ancient chaos, and his aspirations for his future path.

Subsequently, he carved the totems of the four holy beasts—the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise—onto the four table legs. The Azure Dragon coiled, governing vitality; the White Tiger roared, governing slaughter (and warding off evil); the Vermilion Bird spread its wings, governing civilization (tea fire); the Black Tortoise lay dormant, governing support (profound virtue). The Four Symbols of the holy beasts subtly corresponded to earth, fire, water, and wind, stabilizing the four directions and echoing the Five Elements Furnace and the Shouyang Pot.

This was an extremely slow and delicate process that allowed for not even the slightest error. Li Cha was completely immersed in it, forgetting the passage of time. His divine sense and mana flowed like a trickling stream, continuously pouring into the carving knife, guiding those runes and totems to slowly merge with the divine patterns of the wood itself.

One year, two years... ten years, twenty years...

When the final stroke was completed, the image of the Primordial Chaos Spirit Tea Tree on the tabletop and the holy beast totems on the legs seemed to come alive in an instant! All the runes, Dao patterns, and totems suddenly lit up, connecting with one another and blending their auras until they finally formed a natural, layered system of forty-four Postnatal Spirit Treasure restrictions.

"Hum!"

A clear, resonant hum echoed throughout the array space! A brilliant five-colored radiance shot into the sky, only to be slowly reined in by the barriers of the array.

As the light faded, a tea table stood quietly before Li Cha.

The table was three feet and three inches high, subtly conforming to the wonders of the three talents—Heaven, Earth, and Man—and the principle that the three give birth to all things. Its entire body possessed a deep, warm, dark-gold luster, as if it had weathered the vicissitudes of myriad ages. The holy beast totems on the four legs were lifelike, with faint phantoms of the beasts circling them, suppressing destiny and stabilizing the four directions. On the tabletop, the carvings of the Primordial Chaos Spirit Tea Tree were deep and profound, with Dao resonance flowing incessantly; gazing at them for too long felt as if one could witness the very dawn of chaos.

Postnatal Supreme Spirit Treasure—Sacred Spirit Table, complete!

As soon as the table was finished, Li Cha felt his own destiny tremble slightly, becoming more solid. More importantly, when he placed the Five Elements Furnace and the Shouyang Pot onto the Sacred Spirit Table, the auras of the three tea-Dao spirit treasures, which shared the same origin, instantly connected and resonated, spontaneously forming a miniature, endlessly circulating tea-Dao domain!

Within this domain, Li Cha's insights into the tea Dao were clearer than ever before. His control over water and fire, and his grasp of the characteristics of tea leaves, had all been elevated to an entirely new level. His tea Dao finally had a foundation upon which to rest, and he had taken a crucial step forward!

At this very moment, an irresistible opportunity for a breakthrough, like a spring thunderclap long in the making, exploded deep within his Dao Heart!

The barrier to the late stage of the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal was clearly visible!

Li Cha suddenly looked up, his gaze seemingly piercing through the endless space toward the center of the Primordial World, where the towering mountains reached from the earth to the heavens.

He sensed clearly that the opportunity for his breakthrough was not here in the East Sea, but at the foot of Buzhou Mountain—in that valley where he had been sealed by the Heavenly Dao for two hundred thousand years, a place that was both his prison and, in a sense, his "birthplace."

There, the Dao resonance from his struggle against the Heavenly Dao remained, the laws he had triggered when he first took human form lingered, and, most importantly, his deepest and most primordial karmic connection to this Primordial World resided.

"Mo Ran!" Li Cha put away the Sacred Spirit Table and his various utensils, then dismantled the great array on the island, his voice carrying a tone of unquestionable resolve. "Return to Buzhou Mountain!"

"Yes, Master!" Mo Ran and Shi Qing replied in unison.

Mo Ran trotted across the clouds, carrying Li Cha and Shi Qing, while the Dragon Eel transformed into a streak of water light and followed closely behind. The group did not linger a moment longer, turning into a high-speed streak of light that cleaved through the sea of clouds and waves, galloping toward Buzhou Mountain.