"This time, I owed her far too great a favor!"
Cihang watched Qingniao's departing figure, a helpless, bitter smile appearing on his face.
His earlier refusal had not been false modesty. He truly had not wanted to accept such a valuable gift for nothing.
First, she had lent him Hundred Flowers Valley, then she had gifted him an Innate Spiritual Fruit. This was no small favor.
Still, he accepted her kindness. There would be opportunities to repay her in the future.
Later generations claimed that spiritual roots and treasures littered the land during the early days of the prehistoric world, but in truth, Innate Spiritual Roots and spiritual treasures were exceedingly precious at any time.
Without an enormous stroke of fortune, ordinary cultivators would rarely ever see one.
This alone showed how valuable Qingniao's gift was.
Only because she came from Western Kunlun, with a great expert such as the Queen Mother of the West behind her, could Qingniao possess such an Innate Spiritual Fruit.
"Since things have come to this, I'll repay her another day!"
Cihang put away the spiritual fruit and descended into Hundred Flowers Valley.
With the formation command flag in hand, Cihang encountered no obstruction and directly entered Hundred Flowers Valley.
The moment he entered the valley, a rich floral fragrance washed over him.
Thousands upon thousands of exotic flowers and rare herbs grew within the valley. Though they were not Innate Spiritual Roots, none were ordinary plants, truly living up to the name Hundred Flowers Valley.
Although Qingniao had not treated this place as her cultivation grounds, she clearly valued it greatly.
"There's actually a High-grade Spirit Vein here. This is truly an unexpected delight!"
Feeling the dense spiritual energy within the valley, Cihang revealed a satisfied smile.
"Clear Spirit Jade Bamboo—this is perfect for my temporary place of recovery."
Cihang raised a hand and pointed toward the distant bamboo grove. Several spirit bamboos rose from the earth, instantly forming an elegant bamboo house.
The remaining spirit bamboos shifted one after another, forming a profound formation that enclosed the bamboo house.
Though it still could not compare to Mount Luojia's mountain-protecting grand formation, it was more than sufficient as temporary cultivation grounds.
Only after arranging the great formation did Cihang enter the bamboo house.
However, he did not consume the spiritual fruit Qingniao had given him. Instead, he took out the Glazed Pure Vase.
Compared to an Innate Spiritual Fruit, he possessed an even better sacred medicine for healing: the Three Lights Divine Water within the Glazed Pure Vase.
The Three Lights Divine Water was formed from three types of divine water: sunlight, moonlight, and starlight.
These three divine waters were each highly poisonous on their own, targeting a cultivator's physical body, primordial spirit, and true spirit respectively.
Yet when the three divine waters combined, they became a supreme healing treasure containing Creation and Vitality.
The conditions required to form Three Lights Divine Water were extremely harsh, making it exceptionally scarce and precious throughout the prehistoric world.
In terms of rarity alone, the Three Lights Divine Water was no less valuable than an ordinary spiritual treasure.
The Glazed Pure Vase contained a trace of the laws of Creation and Vitality, allowing it to produce a drop of Three Lights Divine Water every ten thousand years.
Unfortunately, the Glazed Pure Vase had only taken shape a little over a hundred thousand years ago, so it contained merely a dozen or so drops of Three Lights Divine Water.
Cihang had always treasured it greatly. Though he possessed the divine water, he had never used it.
It was precisely because he had the Glazed Pure Vase and Three Lights Divine Water that Cihang had dared to refuse Yuanshi.
Yuanshi might have become angered by his refusal, but even if he truly acted, he would not take Cihang's life.
The facts proved that his prediction had been correct. Although Yuanshi had attacked, he had still spared Cihang's life.
Though Yuanshi had struck heavily, Tongtian's intervention had prevented any damage to Cihang's foundation.
Still, even with Three Lights Divine Water, he needed a safe and stable environment to fully recover.
Now that he was finally settled, Cihang hesitated no longer and immediately swallowed the Three Lights Divine Water.
The moment the Three Lights Divine Water entered his body, it transformed into a dense surge of Creation and Vitality, beginning to restore Cihang's body, which was covered in countless cracks.
Under the effects of the Three Lights Divine Water, Cihang's injuries rapidly healed.
Injuries that would originally have taken a hundred years to recover from were completely healed in only one year under the effects of the Three Lights Divine Water.
Cihang's injuries had healed, yet the power of the Three Lights Divine Water had not been exhausted.
As though it sensed Cihang's recovery, the Three Lights Divine Water suddenly divided into three streams of light and began strengthening his physical body, primordial spirit, and true spirit separately.
As mentioned before, the Three Lights Divine Water had once been highly poisonous divine water. Sunlight Divine Water dissolved bones and devoured flesh, Moonlight Divine Water corroded primordial spirits and souls, while Starlight Divine Water consumed true spirits.
Now that they had fused into Three Lights Divine Water, they instead began enhancing and tempering his physical body, true spirit, and primordial spirit.
Empowered by the Three Lights Divine Water, Cihang's aura rapidly rose as well.
He had originally only been at the peak of the mid Mysterious Immortal realm, yet this single drop of Three Lights Divine Water directly pushed him into the late Mysterious Immortal realm. Even after breaking through, his aura continued to rise slowly.
His invisible aura gradually formed into an illusory white lotus, enveloping Cihang's entire body within it.
At the same time, a refreshing lotus fragrance spread out, only to be fully contained within the bamboo grove by the great formation.
Cihang had now completely immersed himself in a state of innate gestation, while the white lotus continuously repaired and perfected his foundation.
That white lotus was none other than Cihang's true body.
Innate aptitude was incomparably important for a cultivator. Though it could not determine everything, it completely separated the cultivation speed of such beings from that of ordinary creatures.
For example, a top-tier Innate God-Demon faced no bottlenecks before reaching the Quasi-Sage realm. Even without cultivation, he could naturally break through as time accumulated.
Every breakthrough for ordinary cultivators required them to overcome countless dangers and obstacles. Even more cultivators found themselves unable to advance, trapped at their bottlenecks for their entire lives.
Aptitude was divided into acquired creatures, innate creatures, Innate Deities, and Innate God-Demons.
Though Cihang was not an Innate God-Demon, he possessed the aptitude of a High-grade Innate Deity.
When Pangu opened the heavens, the three Chaos Spiritual Treasures suffered calamity in succession. After shattering, they gave rise to countless Innate Spiritual Treasures throughout the prehistoric world.
After the Pangu Axe shattered, it transformed into three Primordial Supreme Treasures: the Taiji Diagram, the Pangu Banner, and the Chaos Bell.
The whereabouts of the Chaos Bead's origin were unknown, while most of its fragments evolved into various bead-shaped spiritual treasures.
The Chaos Green Lotus evolved into the four great lotus platforms, the Five Directions Heaven and Earth Flags, and other Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.
Among them, the Twelve-grade World-Purifying White Lotus suffered calamity and shattered upon the opening of the heavens, leaving only three great lotus platforms to be passed down in the prehistoric world.
Cihang's true body was a being born from a fragment of the Twelve-grade World-Purifying White Lotus.
Although he could not compare to the complete World-Purifying White Lotus, he had inherited part of its origin and legacy.
If he had the opportunity to gather the World-Purifying White Lotus's origin in the future, he would likewise have a chance to improve his aptitude and join the ranks of Innate God-Demons.
It was also for this reason that he had been born with a High-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure like the Glazed Pure Vase.
Time passed swiftly, and another hundred years went by in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, the white lotus within the bamboo house slowly dispersed, transforming into pure primordial energy that merged into Cihang's body. Looking again at his cultivation, he had already reached the Mysterious Immortal Peak.
"My injuries have recovered, and my cultivation has broken through to the Mysterious Immortal Peak. I truly underestimated the power of the Three Lights Divine Water!"
Opening his eyes, Cihang revealed a delighted expression.
It was his first time refining Three Lights Divine Water, and its effects had exceeded Cihang's expectations.
"My first time refining Three Lights Divine Water? No, that's not right. There's something wrong with my memories."
Cihang's expression suddenly changed drastically as he realized he had overlooked something important.
Before you continue