Blessed Land

In the Primordial Wilderness, time passed without measure, and another Huiyuan Era slipped away in silence.

Ever since Qing Huan had left Falling Phoenix Slope, everything he had seen along the way had been a scene of utter devastation.

The various races fought and attacked one another without restraint, all for that elusive Thread of Life in their pursuit of the Great Dao.

They even turned on their own kin for Innate Spiritual Treasures and Innate Spiritual Roots. Worse still, some sought to prove the Dao through slaughter, turning the once-peaceful Primordial Earth into a realm of bloodshed and carnage.

As Qing Huan looked upon the countless faces and forms of the Primordial Wilderness's living beings, ripples stirred in his heart. He gradually understood why the Heavenly Dao would one day settle accounts with beings burdened by karmic sin.

These beings only knew how to take. They wantonly created endless slaughter between heaven and earth, yet had never contributed the slightest thing to this world. It was only natural for the Heavenly Dao to reckon with such conduct.

Still, as the saying went, in pursuit of that Thread of Life to change one's fate, one might hear the Dao in the morning and die content that evening.

There was no right or wrong in pursuing the Great Dao... but one had to bear the corresponding Karma.

Though heaven and earth in the Primordial Wilderness were vast and boundless, containing countless races beyond imagination—

The number of Innate Spiritual Treasures and Innate Spiritual Roots was exceedingly limited. How could they possibly satisfy the division among countless trillions of living beings?

Not to mention the terrifying amounts of Innate Spiritual Qi absorbed by those Innate Spiritual Treasures and Innate Spiritual Roots.

Simply speaking of the Innate Spiritual Treasures themselves, each contained a small world, or even a great world.

And that Innate Spiritual Qi, at its root, was all drawn from the origin of the Primordial Wilderness.

One had to know that the Primordial Wilderness was boundless enough to contain countless trillions of top-tier planes like great worlds.

In Qing Huan's eyes, those who wished to prove the Dao through the small worlds contained within spiritual treasures had clearly drunk too much bad wine.

Thinking of how Randeng had tried to fuse twenty-four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls with the Universe Ruler in an attempt to prove the Dao and become a Sage, Qing Huan could not help but laugh.

Leaving aside the fact that those twenty-four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls contained only twenty-four worlds, so what if they contained 2.4 billion great worlds?

In the end, they still remained within the scope of the Primordial Wilderness.

Trying to use the laws of a world within a spiritual treasure to prove the Dao of the Primordial Wilderness—was that not simply wishful thinking?

Spiritual treasures were born from the Primordial Wilderness itself. How could they possibly transcend the Dao of the Primordial Wilderness?

Who knew which "genius" had given Randeng such an idea? In any case, Randeng had ultimately failed to become a Sage. That was an indisputable fact.

If that method had worked, there would never have been a Primordial World.

The three thousand Chaos Demon Gods each possessed spiritual treasures containing a chaos of their own. If that were enough to open heaven and prove the Dao, why would Pangu ever have gotten the chance?

Hahaha...

The more Qing Huan thought about it, the funnier it became. It was like someone on Blue Star holding a ten-centimeter toy house and claiming people could live inside it.

Qing Huan had not laughed so heartily in a long time. His stomach nearly hurt from laughing, and tears almost spilled from his eyes.

"Cough, cough..."

After laughing for a while, Qing Huan gradually calmed down.

At that moment, even the air around him seemed to fall silent. Only a gentle breeze brushed past, carrying a trace of tranquility.

In that brief moment of peace, a faint pull suddenly flashed through Qing Huan's mind. It was the unique aura of an Innate Spiritual Root.

Though the aura had appeared for only an instant, Qing Huan caught it sharply and immediately sped toward the direction from which it beckoned.

Before long, a mountain range soaring into the clouds came into view.

Its peaks rose and fell like a sleeping azure dragon sprawled across the earth. The mountains were majestic and imposing, piercing straight into the ninth heaven.

At the summit, purple clouds and auspicious mists danced like graceful immortals. Spiritual Qi surged and churned like raging tides, letting out wave after wave of pleasant roars.

"Hehe, as expected of a Blessed Land capable of nurturing an Innate Spiritual Root.

"Unfortunately, I used up my own blessed land refining the Innate Supreme Treasure, the Seven Symbols Treasure Umbrella. Otherwise, it would not have been inferior to this place."

Qing Huan muttered to himself.

With that, Qing Huan summoned the spiritual treasure, the Xuanhuang Seal.

At that moment, the Xuanhuang Seal in his hand was only palm-sized. Yet the instant he threw it out, it rapidly expanded, becoming as massive as a towering mountain as it smashed toward one of the peaks with overwhelming force.

Just as the Xuanhuang Seal was about to reach the mountain peak—

Bang!

It was suddenly blocked by a brilliant barrier of light.

"Hehe, just as I thought. It seems my senses were correct. This is an Innate Grand Formation."

Seeing this, Qing Huan had no intention of forcibly destroying the formation. With a thought, he recalled the Xuanhuang Seal.

Qing Huan's figure flashed, and he arrived outside the Innate Grand Formation.

He knew that this place most likely nurtured a High-grade Innate Spiritual Root. Once its aura leaked out, great powers from every direction would surely receive heavenly guidance and come rushing over.

"Forget it. I'll refine it slowly myself!"

However, at that very moment, a certain living being was suddenly overcome by unease, as though his Luck were quietly draining away. He felt as if he had lost some immensely important heavenly treasure.

That feeling only grew stronger, leaving him unable to sit still.

"No, I have to go out and search!"

With those words, he transformed into a streak of light and swiftly flew out of his Cave Mansion, beginning his search throughout the Primordial Wilderness.

Crack...

A crisp sound rang out as Qing Huan successfully refined and gained control over one of the Innate Grand Formation's restrictions.

Qing Huan followed the opening and transformed into a streak of light, entering the formation.

Above him, an inverted Innate spiritual vein hung down like a golden waterfall, radiating brilliant light.

At the very center of the formation, a colossal tree rose from the ground, its trunk tearing through layers of spiritual mist as it shot into the clouds.

Its ten-thousand-zhang trunk gleamed with flowing gold, displaying its extraordinary nature.

At the top of its crown, two Dao Fruits hung in the center of a thunderstorm vortex like twin yin-yang stars suspended in the sky, radiating mysterious and powerful auras.

The fruit on the left resembled a frozen azure storm. Beneath its skin, the origin of Gale Wind surged and flowed like a rushing river.

The currents erupting from the cracks on its surface sounded like countless Kunpeng screeching in unison. Wherever they passed, space was carved into fishbone-shaped vacuum ravines like fragile paper.

The fruit on the right had a purplish-black shell covered in scale-like lightning patterns. Within every pattern leaped the essence of heavenly thunder, while lightning gathered upon its skin into miniature black holes that shattered the yellow leaves falling within a radius of ten thousand li with every breath.

Hiss...

At that moment, even Qing Huan could not help but be moved. Looking closely, this should be one of the Ten Great Spiritual Roots—the Immortal Apricot.

"Hahaha, my years of searching were not in vain after all."

Qing Huan was overjoyed and extremely satisfied with this Blessed Land.

After all, this was Zhongnan Mountain Jade Pillar Cave, the Dao Field where a trace of Hong Yun's True Spirit had reincarnated as Yun Zhongzi after his death.

Though this Cave Mansion was not as famous as those of Guangchengzi, Taiyi True Person, and the others, the so-called fame of the Twelve Golden Immortals was merely false prosperity.

Their Cave Mansions could not grow one of the Ten Great Spiritual Roots.

And Yun Zhongzi was the True Immortal of Fortune and Virtue, one who did not enter the calamity during Investiture of the Gods. How could his Luck compare to that of those twelve?

Moreover, Innate Spiritual Qi still remained in the present Primordial Wilderness, so the Immortal Apricot's fruits were not limited to bearing only once.

The Immortal Apricot bloomed once every thirty thousand years, bore fruit after another thirty thousand years, and ripened after yet another thirty thousand years.

As for why the Immortal Apricot could only bear fruit once and then cease growing in later times, it was all because the Witch-Demon War had shattered heaven and earth.

As the Innate Spiritual Qi gradually dissipated with the end of the Witch-Demon Calamity, the Primordial Wilderness afterward became filled only with postnatal Spiritual Qi. In such an environment, it would have been strange if the Immortal Apricot could still bear fruit.