Buzhou Mountain remained as majestic as ever, propping up heaven and earth and emanating an ancient, unchanging aura of authority. The valley at its foot, which had once imprisoned Li Cha for two hundred thousand years, still appeared entirely normal from the outside. Even close inspection would reveal nothing unusual.
After thousands of years of travel and growth, Li Cha returned to this "old place" with an utterly transformed state of mind. He used no concealment technique, simply riding Mo Ran and openly arriving outside the valley with Shi Qing and the Dragon Eel. He could sense that the Spiritual Senses once spying upon this place from the shadows had become far sparser. At the very least, the two "busy people," Hongjun and Luohu, had no time to watch this place.
From the moment he brewed his first cup of tea with the Shouyang Pot, the Heavenly Dao had already noticed that he had escaped the seal. Since it had not imposed a harsher punishment then, it naturally would not bother with him now. So long as the Heavenly Dao did not personally move against him, there were few great powers in the present Primordial Wilderness who could truly threaten his life. Even against the notoriously fearsome Demon Ancestor Luohu, Li Cha believed that if he could not win, escaping and preserving himself with the Chaos Pearl and his many methods would not be difficult.
His gaze fell once more upon the familiar yet unfamiliar Heavenly Dao Sealing Grand Array. This time, he was not a prisoner desperately searching for a flaw, but a grandmaster of formations calmly scrutinizing and analyzing it.
His Spiritual Sense carefully swept across every pattern of the formation, and Li Cha could not help praising it inwardly. He had named this array the Qiankun Seal and Sever Formation. It used the Earth Veins, mountains, and rivers within a radius of a hundred li as its energy foundation, drew upon the radiance of the sun, moon, and stars as its ignition, and, more importantly, its core was faintly linked to Buzhou Mountain's boundless Pangu divine power! It formed an almost unsolvable cycle—so long as Buzhou Mountain did not fall, this formation would never break!
"The Heavenly Dao is impartial after all. It truly left behind a sliver of hope," Li Cha murmured. That sliver of hope did not mean allowing him to break the formation, but rather that the formation relied upon Buzhou Mountain for its existence. In theory, once Gong Gong rammed into Buzhou Mountain in fury in the future and the Celestial Pillar collapsed, this formation would naturally crumble.
But... wait until then? After the Witch-Demon Tribulation of Calamity, how long would that be? At least two immeasurable kalpas! A trace of mockery curled across Li Cha's lips. He did not have that kind of "patience" to waste away here waiting.
"Qiankun Seal and Sever... what a sealing and severing of heaven and earth!" Li Cha reviewed the intricacies of the grand array in his mind. This formation harnessed the power of heaven and earth to seal and cut off spiritual power. Its exquisite principles would also greatly inspire his future cultivation of formations.
Having returned from this journey, having witnessed the vastness and strife of the Primordial Wilderness, experienced the hardships and rewards of treasure hunting, and further perfected his Tea Dao system, Li Cha now looked back at this former "starting point" and felt his Dao Heart grow ever firmer. The liberation and confidence of breaking free from restraint and understanding his own path were things no external force could grant.
And the opportunity for breakthrough he had long sensed now surged like boiling magma, ready to erupt!
He no longer hesitated. With a sweep of his sleeve, he drew 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.
Then, Li Cha circulated his profound art. The vast mana and Dao aura of his Mid Da Luo cultivation receded like a tide, perfectly absorbed and concealed by the Chaos Pearl. In an instant, he looked no different from an ordinary mortal Daoist in azure robes, without a trace of spiritual power rippling around him.
He stepped forward and, just as he had when leaving all those years ago, calmly approached the Qiankun Seal and Sever Formation. The formation's radiance flickered faintly, as though it had identified his "mortal" aura. It did not obstruct him, allowing him to silently reenter this land of imprisonment like a drop of water merging into the sea.
The instant Li Cha vanished into the formation, a great power hidden in the void let out an incredulous gasp:
"Hmm!?"
This person was a renowned formation master of the Primordial Wilderness. Seeing the profound formation here, he had been unable to crack it for a time. He had sat in the void observing it for over a thousand years, yet still had not found the way in. Seeing Li Cha actually enter the formation, he was filled with shock and suspicion and could not help making a sound.
Inside the valley, Li Cha naturally noticed the startled cry, but with his breakthrough imminent, he had no mind to concern himself with outside spying.
Upon returning to the valley, the scenery remained unchanged. The air was permeated with the faint destructive aura left behind by Heavenly Punishment. Li Cha stood in the center of the valley, took a deep breath, and ceased suppressing the surging power of his origin.
The next moment, azure light shot into the heavens!
His figure abruptly vanished, and his true form appeared in its place—the Innate Enlightenment Tea Tree!
Unlike before, his true form now stood a thousand zhang tall! Its trunk was as thick as a mountain, its branches spread wide as though reaching for the firmament, and countless verdant tea leaves, born with Dao patterns, rustled without wind and gave off a soft Dao resonance. Billions of azure rays bloomed from the entire tea tree, gentle yet vast, brimming with limitless vitality and the Dao aura of wisdom.
The light was like a mother's soothing embrace, shining upon every inch of scorched land in the valley. Wherever it reached, the deathly aura that had accumulated for two hundred thousand years melted away like ice and snow. Tiny green shoots stubbornly emerged from the blackened earth! From deep within the Earth Veins came the gurgling sound of water, and a clear Spiritual Spring flowed from a crack among the stones at the mountain's foot, winding through the valley and nourishing this parched land.
The valley had become a dead land because of Li Cha.
Today, Li Cha used the immense vitality and Dao aura erupting during his breakthrough to nourish this place in return, repaying this karmic debt.
The final speck of dust in his state of mind was brushed away, leaving it flawless and complete, clear as a mirror.
The time for breakthrough had come!
Li Cha's primordial spirit sat high atop the tea tree, manifesting in a humanoid Dao body. The void above his head trembled as the phantom of a Dao flower, still a bud waiting to bloom, slowly appeared above the Human Flower and Earth Flower.
The Human Flower represented the perfection of essence, qi, and spirit—the foundation of cultivation. When Li Cha took form, his Human Flower had already bloomed to twelve petals!
The Earth Flower represented one's connection to and understanding of the earth and the Primordial World. The successful refinement of the Five Elements Furnace had allowed his Earth Flower to bloom to twelve petals!
Two twelve-petaled flowers were already a foundation unmatched throughout the ages! Yet this was not the end.
The immense power of the two twelve-petaled Dao flowers converged with a thunderous roar like two rushing rivers, charging together toward the most mysterious and unattainable flower—the Heaven Flower!
The Heaven Flower symbolized the ultimate understanding and transcendence of the Heavenly Dao, fate, and one's own Dao!
Under the impact of those two powers, the unopened bud shook violently. Countless profound runes and Dao marks surfaced across it, and the Dao aura throughout the valley was drawn to its limit, even twisting space itself.
At last, amid a silent Dao cry that seemed like World Creation itself, the highest flower bud bloomed proudly beneath invisible pressure and trials!
Billions of threads of clear light filled all Qiankun with Dao aura!
The Heaven Flower—twelve petals in bloom!
Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, all blooming with twelve petals! This was a supreme foundation, signifying that Li Cha had reached the theoretical pinnacle within the realm of Grand Unity Golden Immortal. His future was boundless!
At the very instant Li Cha's Heaven Flower bloomed and his supreme Dao foundation was forged, Mo Ran within the Chaos Pearl seemed to be intensely drawn by a Dao aura of the same origin. Enlightenment struck, and he suddenly opened his eyes as the auspicious aura of the Qilin around him surged!
"Roar!"
He let out an excited low roar that he could no longer suppress and unhesitatingly circulated the Primordial Chaos Great Dao True Scripture taught to him by Li Cha. The barrier that had trapped him at Half-Step Da Luo for so long finally cracked under the blessing of that external supreme Dao aura!
His opportunity for breakthrough had also arrived alongside Li Cha's advancement!
Inside and outside the valley, two breakthroughs reflected one another. As for the great power lurking in the void, he had long been left dumbfounded by the terrifying phenomenon of three twelve-petaled flowers rising from within the valley. Though most of it had been weakened by the grand array, it was still astonishing. Turbulent waves rose in his heart, and he could no longer remain calm.
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