Returning to the Old Place to Advance to Late Da Luo

Buzhou Mountain remained as towering as ever, supporting the heavens and anchoring the earth, radiating an aura of eternal, unchanging majesty. The valley at the foot of the mountain, which had once imprisoned Li Cha for two hundred thousand years, appeared completely unremarkable from the outside; even upon close inspection, one could detect no anomalies.

After thousands of years of travel and growth, Li Cha returned to this "old haunt" with a vastly different state of mind. He did not employ any concealment techniques, appearing openly outside the valley while riding Mo Ran and accompanied by Shi Qing and the Dragon Eel. He could sense that the divine senses that had once lurked in the shadows to spy on this place had thinned out significantly. At the very least, those two "busy men," Hongjun and Luohu, had no time to spare for this location.

From the moment he brewed his first cup of tea using the Shouyang Pot, the Heavenly Dao had sensed his escape from the seal. Since it had not seen fit to impose harsher punishments back then, it naturally would not bother with him now. As long as the Heavenly Dao did not personally intervene, there were few great beings in the current Primordial World who could truly threaten his life. Even against the formidable Demon Ancestor Luohu, Li Cha reckoned that even if he were not a match, he could easily escape and preserve his life using the Chaos Pearl and his various other means.

His gaze fell once again upon the familiar yet strange Heavenly Dao sealing formation. This time, he was not a prisoner desperate to find a flaw, but a grandmaster of formations calmly examining and dissecting it.

As his Spiritual Sense swept meticulously over every vein of the formation, Li Cha could not help but praise it inwardly. He had named this the Qiankun Seal and Sever Formation. It used the earth veins and mountains within a hundred-mile radius as its energy foundation, drew upon the brilliance of the sun, moon, and stars as its catalyst, and most crucially, its core was subtly linked to the boundless, majestic Pangu divine power of Buzhou Mountain! It formed a nearly unbreakable cycle—as long as Buzhou Mountain did not fall, this formation would never be broken!

The Heavenly Dao is impartial, yet it truly left a sliver of hope, Li Cha murmured to himself. This sliver of hope did not refer to him breaking the formation, but to the fact that the formation relied on Buzhou Mountain for its existence. Theoretically, one only needed to wait for the future when Gong Gong would strike Buzhou Mountain in his rage, causing the Celestial Pillar to collapse, for the formation to naturally disintegrate.

But... wait until then? After the Witch-Demon Calamity, how many long years would that be? At least two immeasurable eons! A mocking smile tugged at the corner of Li Cha's mouth; he did not have the "patience" to wait here in vain.

"Qiankun Seal and Sever... what a way to seal and sever the heavens and earth!" Li Cha reviewed the intricacies of the formation in his mind. By combining the power of heaven and earth to execute the functions of sealing and severing spiritual energy, the formation's brilliance provided him with great inspiration for his future study of the Dao of formations.

Returning from his travels, having witnessed the vastness and strife of the Primordial World, experienced the hardships and rewards of treasure hunting, and further refined his own tea-Dao system, Li Cha felt his Dao Heart grow increasingly firm as he looked back at this former "starting point." That sense of liberation and self-confidence, born from breaking free of shackles and realizing his own path, was something no external force could bestow.

And the opportunity for a breakthrough, which he had sensed long ago, was now like boiling magma, ready to erupt!

He hesitated no longer. With a flick of his sleeve, he gathered Mo Ran, Shi Qing, and the Dragon Eel into the Chaos Pearl, instructing them to cultivate in peace—Mo Ran, in particular, seemed to have sensed something as well.

Following this, Li Cha circulated his profound arts. The majestic mana and Dao rhythm of his Mid Da Luo cultivation retreated like a receding tide, perfectly absorbed and concealed by the Chaos Pearl. In the blink of an eye, he appeared no different from an uncultivated mortal Daoist in green robes, with not a trace of spiritual fluctuation remaining about him.

He stepped forward, just as he had when he left all those years ago, and walked calmly toward the Qiankun Seal and Sever Formation. The formation's light flickered slightly, as if identifying this "mortal" aura, but it did not block him, allowing him to merge into the imprisoned land as silently as a drop of water into the sea.

The moment Li Cha's figure vanished into the formation, a great being in the void let out a gasp of disbelief:

"Hmm!?"

This person was a master of formations in the Primordial World. Finding the formation here exquisite, he had been unable to crack it. He had been sitting in the void for over a thousand years observing it, yet he had still failed to find a way in. Seeing Li Cha enter the formation so easily, he was shocked and could not help but make a sound.

Inside the valley, Li Cha naturally sensed the sound of surprise, but his mind was focused and his breakthrough was imminent; he had no interest in paying attention to prying eyes from the outside.

Back in the valley, the scene remained the same, with the faint, lingering aura of destruction from the Heavenly Punishment still permeating the air. Li Cha stood in the center of the valley and took a deep breath, no longer suppressing the surging power of his origin.

The next moment, green light pierced the heavens!

His figure vanished abruptly, and his true form appeared in his place—the Innate Enlightenment Tea Tree!

Unlike before, this true form was a thousand feet tall! The trunk was as thick as a mountain, and its branches stretched out as if to touch the firmament. Countless verdant leaves, naturally inscribed with Dao patterns, swayed without wind, emitting a rustling sound of the Dao. The entire tea tree radiated billions of rays of green light—gentle yet majestic, filled with infinite vitality and the rhythm of wisdom.

This light, like a mother's caress, shone upon every inch of the scorched earth in the valley. Wherever the light touched, the deathly aura that had accumulated for two hundred thousand years melted away like snow. From the scorched soil, tiny, tender green grass shoots stubbornly pushed their way out! Deep within the earth veins, the sound of bubbling water could be heard, and a clear, cold spiritual spring gushed from a crack in the stone at the foot of the mountain, winding its way through and nourishing the parched land.

The valley had been turned into a dead zone because of Li Cha.

Today, Li Cha used the majestic vitality and Dao rhythm erupting from his own breakthrough to nourish this land, repaying this karma.

The last speck of dust in his state of mind was swept away, leaving it perfect, flawless, and as clear as a mirror.

The moment for the breakthrough had arrived!

Li Cha's primordial spirit sat high atop the tea tree, manifesting in his human Dao form. The void above his head trembled as the phantom of a budding Dao Flower slowly emerged above the Human Flower and the Earth Flower.

The Human Flower represented the perfection of essence, energy, and spirit—the foundation of cultivation. When Li Cha had first taken human form, his Human Flower had already bloomed at the twelfth grade!

The Earth Flower represented the connection to and comprehension of the earth and the Primordial World. The successful refinement of the Five Elements Furnace had allowed his Earth Flower to bloom at the twelfth grade as well!

Two flowers at the twelfth grade—this was a foundation unprecedented in history! But this was not the end.

The immense power of the two twelfth-grade Dao Flowers surged like two rushing rivers, crashing together as they charged toward the most mysterious and elusive of them all—the Heaven Flower!

The Heaven Flower symbolized the ultimate comprehension of the Heavenly Dao, destiny, and one's own path, as well as transcendence!

Under the impact of the two forces, the budding flower trembled violently, its surface shimmering with countless profound runes and Dao marks. The Dao aura within the entire valley was pulled to its limit, causing the very space to warp.

Finally, amidst a silent roar that felt like the moment of World Creation, the topmost bud defied the invisible pressure and trials, blooming proudly!

Billions of rays of clear light illuminated the world, and the Dao aura filled the universe!

The Heaven Flower—bloomed at the twelfth grade!

Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, all blooming at the twelfth grade! This was a supreme foundation, signifying that Li Cha had reached the theoretical limit of the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm. His future was boundless!

At the very instant Li Cha's Heaven Flower bloomed and his supreme Dao foundation was forged, Mo Ran, who was inside the Chaos Pearl, seemed to be pulled by a powerful resonance of the same Dao aura. A flash of inspiration struck, and it suddenly opened its eyes, the auspicious aura of the Qilin surging violently around its body!

"Roar!"

It let out an irrepressible, excited low growl and did not hesitate to circulate the Primordial Chaos Great Dao True Scripture taught to it by Li Cha. Under the blessing of this external, supreme Dao aura, the barrier of the half-step Zenith Heaven that had trapped it for so long finally began to crack!

Its opportunity for a breakthrough had arrived at this very moment, coinciding with Li Cha's ascension!

Inside and outside the valley, two breakthroughs mirrored each other. As for the powerful beings hiding in the void to spy, they were already dumbfounded by the shocking phenomenon of the Three Flowers at the twelfth grade rising from the valley—even though most of it had been suppressed by the grand formation, it remained terrifying. Their hearts were churning with monstrous waves, and they could no longer maintain their composure.