Following Li Cha's suggestion, Yang Mei shattered the void and headed straight into the boundless Chaos to undergo his Primordial Grand Unity Golden Immortal tribulation, lest he draw unnecessary attention and unforeseen changes in the Primordial Wilderness. Within the grotto-heaven, Li Cha and Wang Shu relaxed slightly, yet the cup of Primordial Chaos Spirit Tea had stirred towering waves in their hearts.
The Chaos Dao Rhyme and world-opening Spiritual Energy contained within that tea were simply too vast. Not only had they helped Yang Mei see through the gate to Primordial Grand Unity, but they had also left profound echoes within Li Cha and Wang Shu. Both of them clearly sensed that the originally solid barriers to their cultivation had loosened. Their opportunity for a breakthrough lay right before them!
"Fairy, opportunity must not be missed. We should enter seclusion as well." Li Cha made his decision at once. With a sweep of his sleeve, he completely sealed every passage into and out of Yun Hua Grotto-Heaven, activating the Qiankun Seal and Sever Formation and the Heavenly Stars Gathering Yuan Formation at full power. The grotto-heaven became impregnable, while vast amounts of spiritual energy gathered to support their breakthroughs.
Wang Shu nodded solemnly. The two said no more, each finding a spiritual energy node within the grotto-heaven, sitting cross-legged, and sinking into deep meditation as they began to charge toward higher realms.
There was still less than half a pot of brewed Primordial Chaos Spirit Tea left in the Shouyang Pot. Though the tea had already been steeped once, the remaining Dao Rhyme and spiritual power were still far too overbearing for Mo Ran, Shi Qing, and Dragon Eel. Drinking it directly might cause their bodies to explode.
Before entering meditation, Li Cha stirred his thoughts and used the Spring Wind Transforms Rain Technique. He drew upon the Spiritual Spring within the grotto-heaven and diluted the remaining tea broth countless times, turning it into a fine spiritual rain containing faint Chaos Dao Rhyme that fell evenly across all of Yun Hua Grotto-Heaven.
As the spiritual rain descended, every living being in the grotto-heaven benefited. Ordinary flowers, grasses, and trees, nourished by the rain containing supreme Dao Rhyme, instantly grew wild and lush, shining with spiritual light. Quite a few spiritual plants with decent foundations even awakened rudimentary intelligence and sent out joyful waves of thought.
Mo Ran, Shi Qing, and Dragon Eel, as those close to Li Cha, gained even greater benefits. Mo Ran's Early Da Luo cultivation, nourished by the spiritual rain, directly reached perfection at the early stage and could break through at any time. Dragon Eel likewise stabilized his cultivation, while his bloodline showed faint signs of purification.
Yet the one who benefited most was Shi Qing, whose cultivation was the lowest! He had been transformed from Pangu's Fingernail and possessed an extraordinary foundation, but he had cultivated for too short a time. Stimulated by the divine essence of the diluted Chaos tea broth, the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique within him began to circulate madly of its own accord, and a heavy earthen-yellow radiance burst from his entire body!
Boom!
A tyrannical aura erupted from within him, smashing directly through the barrier as he stepped into the Late Golden Immortal realm, the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm! More than that, his Dao body, tempered countless times by the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique, was further strengthened under the cleansing of Chaos Dao Rhyme until it rivaled a Post-Heaven Lower-Grade Spirit Treasure! Every gesture carried a sense of mountain-like heaviness and the power to destroy all techniques.
Time passed swiftly. Once Yun Hua Grotto-Heaven had been sealed, more than eight hundred years went by.
When the grotto-heaven's restrictions slowly opened once more, Li Cha was the first to emerge. His aura had grown increasingly profound and restrained, Dao Rhyme flowing across his azure robes as though he had merged with the entire grotto-heaven. His cultivation had astonishingly leaped from Late Da Luo to Half-step Quasi-Saint! He needed only that final step and a suitable opportunity to truly enter the Quasi-Saint realm.
Fairy Wang Shu emerged right after him. She remained as cold and peerless as ever, but the moonlight and starlight flowing around her had become purer and more boundless, almost tangible. Her Peak Quasi-Saint cultivation had completely stabilized, and she had even faintly touched the edge of the Primordial Dao Realm. Her aura was flawless and perfectly harmonious, many times stronger than before her seclusion.
The two exchanged smiles, both deeply satisfied with the gains from this period of seclusion. They no longer hurried to cultivate. Instead, they sat once again before the Sacred Spirit Table, brewing tea and discussing the Dao as they digested their gains. However, the tea they drank this time was Pure Spirit Tea produced by the Pure Spirit Tea Tree.
Whether it was Primordial Chaos Spirit Tea or Innate Enlightenment Tea, the Dao Rhyme contained within was too intense. Drinking them repeatedly over a short period would not only bring no benefit, but might also leave one's foundation unstable and Dao Heart unsettled because their Dao realm had risen too quickly. That would be more loss than gain. Pure Spirit Tea had an elegant flavor and the marvelous effects of calming the mind and consolidating one's Dao foundation, making it perfect for this moment.
Amid these leisurely days of tasting tea, discussing the Dao, and quietly contemplating their insights, another thousand years slipped away.
One day, space within Yun Hua Grotto-Heaven suddenly rippled strangely. The ripples did not come from the external formations, but spread from within the grotto-heaven itself, arising at the level of laws. The next moment, a figure materialized from nothingness and appeared silently beside the stone table, as though he had always been there and had simply never been noticed.
It was Yang Mei, returned from Chaos!
At this moment, Yang Mei's aura had undergone an earth-shaking transformation. It was not the overwhelming pressure that could dominate the Primordial Wilderness and suffocate all beings, but a deeper, more fundamental metamorphosis. He stood there, yet seemed not to exist in any specific space, while also seeming to exist across countless dimensions at once. He maintained a strange state with the surrounding world, Li Cha, Wang Shu, the stone table, and even the Tea Cup—one of both intimate connection and absolute independence, a freedom and voidness that had become one with the boundless cosmos.
A trace of understanding and admiration flashed through Li Cha's eyes. Smiling, he picked up the Shouyang Pot, poured Yang Mei a fresh cup of Pure Spirit Tea, and pushed it before him.
"Congratulations, Daoist. After enduring countless tribulations, you have finally attained the Dao Fruit of Primordial Grand Unity and gained great freedom, great ease."
Wang Shu also steadied her heart and respectfully clasped her hands in greeting. Her beautiful face bore unconcealed shock and a trace of longing as she softly asked, "Senior Yang Mei, congratulations on attaining the Dao. This junior dares to ask: what is the essential difference between the realm of Primordial Grand Unity Golden Immortal and the Quasi-Saint realm that we painstakingly cultivate, also known as the Primordial Origin Golden Immortal realm?"
This was the ultimate question that had troubled countless great powers of the Primordial Wilderness.
Yang Mei showed not the slightest arrogance because of his transcendent realm. He calmly accepted the cup of Pure Spirit Tea, but did not drink it at once, merely allowing its elegant fragrance to naturally blend into the ever-forming and ever-dissolving microscopic spaces surrounding him. His gaze grew distant, as though it had penetrated Yun Hua Grotto-Heaven's barriers and seen through endless dimensions and the river of time. When he spoke, his voice was not loud, yet it was like the Great Dao's Resonant Voice, echoing directly in the depths of Li Cha and Wang Shu's Dao Hearts.
"Quasi-Saints and Primordial Origin Golden Immortals are still 'within the pond.'"
He extended a finger and lightly tapped the cup of Pure Spirit Tea before him. Something strange happened. The tea in the cup silently rose into the air, transforming before Li Cha and Wang Shu's astonished eyes into the phantom of a crystal-clear pond about a foot across. Within the pond, little "fish" formed from ripples, representing the various laws of heaven and earth, swam leisurely about. Aquatic grass, representing all kinds of wondrous divine abilities and techniques, swayed with the waves. The entire pond teemed with vitality and contained no small amount of power.
"At this realm, no matter how high your cultivation or how vast your divine abilities, all you do is continuously strengthen your own 'fish,' refine and absorb more 'pond water,' the spiritual energy and laws of the Primordial World, and comprehend more exquisite 'swimming techniques,' deeper understanding and usage of laws. You may even touch and influence the pond's boundaries and inherent rules, thus coming into contact with the Heavenly Dao."
He paused slightly, giving Li Cha and Wang Shu time to absorb his words. Both nodded. Their current cultivation truly had never gone beyond this scope. Wang Shu drew upon the power of the Moon Star, while Li Cha summoned the vitality of all vegetation in the Primordial Wilderness; both were drawing strength from within this "pond."
"Yet no matter how great one's power or how wondrous one's abilities, as long as one has not leaped out, one has never transcended the pond itself. The Dao you cultivate and the power you rely upon both originate from this pond, from this Primordial World. When heaven and earth flourish, the pond water is abundant; when heaven and earth decline, the pond water dries up. One's own Dao remains bound to heaven and earth and constrained by it."
These words struck their hearts like a morning bell and evening drum.
"And Primordial Grand Unity," Yang Mei continued, his tone carrying a sense of transcendence, "is the act of leaping out of that 'pond.'"
As he spoke, the most spirited of the tea-water "fish" suddenly leaped from the phantom pond! It completely broke free of the water's restraints, hovering above the pond. It leisurely turned around and, from an entirely new perspective, calmly looked down upon the pond that had once sustained its life. Everything within the pond—the fish, aquatic grass, and ripples—remained clearly visible, but it no longer needed the pond water to survive.
"From that point onward," Yang Mei said with the calmness of one who had seen through all things, "one may remain within the Primordial Wilderness, observe it, interact with it, and influence it, yet be fundamentally independent of it. There is no longer any need to borrow the power of heaven and earth. One's inner landscape has already evolved into a nascent universe. One becomes the source of Dao; one becomes the laws themselves. When heaven and earth perish, I do not perish. When the Primordial Wilderness decays, I do not decay. This is 'great freedom,' transcending every restraint. This is the Primordial Grand Unity Golden Immortal."
He looked toward Li Cha and Wang Shu, who seemed to have gained some understanding, and delivered his final incisive summary and distinction:
"Thus, the struggles of Quasi-Saints—whether between Dao and demons, races, or sects—are fundamentally struggles for the water within the pond and for dominion over its rules. They are struggles to become more powerful 'players,' but no matter how powerful they become, they remain within the Heavenly Dao's grand chessboard and are constrained by its rules."
"Primordial Grand Unity, however, has already leaped beyond the chessboard and become a new heaven and earth, new rules unto itself. To the Heavenly Dao, such beings are Daoist friends, fellow travelers, companions on the path of exploring the endless Chaos—not cultivators beneath its command, nor chess pieces."
Having said that, he finally drained the cup of Pure Spirit Tea, which had long since gone cold. After savoring it for a moment, he praised, "Excellent tea. Daoist Li Cha's tea once helped me sort through the threads of space and see my path ahead clearly. Drinking it today, the Dao Rhyme of tranquility and naturalness within it can now reflect the newborn Primordial universe inside me, helping it harmonize its initial turbulence. Wonderful, truly wonderful."
Upon hearing this, enlightenment flashed through Li Cha's eyes. He clapped his hands and laughed softly. "So that is how it is. Tea Dao lies in connection, in harmony, in reflecting all things. It seems that my Tea Dao may not only nourish All Beings of the Primordial World in the future, but also add a distinct fragrance of tea to your newborn Primordial universe, Daoist, aiding its evolution and granting it a little more harmony and vitality."
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