After his battle with Kong Xuan, Jiang Yun left the Southern Volcanoes with Black Tortoise and returned to Mount Sumeru.
This journey had yielded quite a lot. First and foremost, his most important objective—the Innate Spiritual Treasure, Fire Spirit Pearl—had easily fallen into his hands, and he had even received a seed of Southern Bright Departing Fire as a bonus.
Of these two items, the Fire Spirit Pearl could help him replenish the final bit of fire-aligned qi in his chest. Once that was done, his cultivation in the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm would soon reach perfection. Afterward, he could refine the seed of Southern Bright Departing Fire and use the unique properties of its flames to temper his primordial spirit, magical power, and physical body. After consolidating his cultivation for a while, he should then be able to attempt breaking through to the Great Luo Realm.
Second, his battle with Kong Xuan had exposed a massive flaw in the cultivation technique he had deduced—the Star Body Refinement Method itself. The returning star power would surge back into his acupoints, causing his Dharma Form to collapse.
At the final moment of the previous battle, he had circulated the Star Formation with all his strength, provoking a trace of resonance from the Primordial Stars and borrowing projections of the stars. Among them, the Four Symbols Formation formed from the Twenty-Eight Mansions had transformed the star power into the power of the Four Symbols and unleashed a devastating attack. Unfortunately, the world constructed by Kong Xuan's Five-Colored Divine Light had also been extraordinary. When the two forces collided, the world collapsed and exploded, causing all the star power to surge backward into the acupoints throughout his body. The flow of star power was obstructed, and the formation collapsed.
This was the first time his Star Dharma Form had been broken since he began using it. It seemed that the Star Body Refinement Method, which currently had only two layers, could no longer keep up with his progress. He urgently needed to innovate and improve it.
This time, Jiang Yun had returned to Mount Sumeru to ask his teacher, Daoist Jieyin, for advice on breaking through the barrier to the Great Luo Realm. At the same time, although he had heard of the "Taiyi Dao Fruit" that Kong Xuan had mentioned during their previous clash, his lower cultivation realm meant that he could only view it through a haze, always separated by a veil. He also needed to seek proper guidance on it.
Moreover, after reaching Grand Unity Perfection, he planned to seclude himself on Mount Sumeru for a period before attempting to break through to the Great Luo Realm. In the Western Earthly Realm, what place could be safer than Mount Sumeru? Here, he could break through without worry, with two teachers and Black Tortoise protecting him.
Mount Sumeru had countless peaks, both large and small. The main peak was where the Grand Hall, the Dao Field of Jieyin and Zhunti, was located. The mountains surrounding the main peak were scattered in an orderly fashion. Some had already been occupied by disciples of the sect, while others remained ownerless.
One beautiful and majestic peak near the main peak had numerous pavilions and towers standing on its flat summit. Many sect disciples moved about there. It was precisely where the Lecture Hall and Aid Hall were located—Lingjue Peak.
After returning to the mountain, Jiang Yun first went to Lingjue Peak. He planned to visit several of his junior brothers and see how they had been running the Lecture Hall and Aid Hall.
Since he had handed these two matters over to Medicine Buddha and Maitreya, he had barely concerned himself with them. Later, he had followed his teachers to attend the Fruit Tasting Dao Discussion and travel through the southern part of the Primordial World. In the blink of an eye, several years had passed. He truly was a hands-off manager.
In the vermilion pavilion hall atop Lingjue Peak, Jiang Yun was drinking tea with Medicine Buddha, Maitreya, and several of his fellow personal disciples. These tea leaves had come from the Congenital Tea Tree he had planted in the early days at his Dao Field on Spirit Bamboo Mountain. He had gathered some and kept them on him the few times he had returned.
The tea's enlightenment effect was no longer of much use to him, but to these junior brothers, whose cultivation was still not particularly high, it was extraordinarily precious.
During this visit to Lingjue Peak, Jiang Yun saw that, with the help of the Lecture Hall and Aid Hall, all his junior brothers helped and cared for one another and stood united. He was very pleased, so he took out some tea leaves and gave them to Medicine Buddha and Maitreya, who then distributed them among the junior brothers in charge of management.
While chatting with his junior brothers, Medicine Buddha told him about some of the things that had happened during the years he had spent traveling outside.
After the Fruit Tasting Dao Discussion at Wuzhuang Temple, Jieyin and Zhunti returned to the mountain, while Jiang Yun went to the Southern Volcanoes. During that period, the two groups of people from the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace and Southern Sea Dragon Palace who had come to seek instruction also arrived at Mount Sumeru one after another.
Jiang Yun, who was responsible for external affairs, was not at the mountain gate, so Medicine Buddha received them in his place. They chose a date, and the four Dragon Palace disciples held their initiation ceremony and were formally accepted into the sect as Registered Disciples. Thus, the Eastern Sea and Southern Sea Dragon Palaces could be considered to have established ties with Mount Sumeru.
Of the two Dragon Palaces that had come this time, the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace lived up to its reputation as the foremost of the Four Seas Dragon Palace. Its wealth far surpassed that of the other three Dragon Palaces. Its initiation gift had even included a low-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Demon Subduing Pestle, which greatly pleased Zhunti and Jieyin and brought the two sides considerably closer.
Jiang Yun reckoned that, after this, his two teachers had probably gained a very deep understanding of the Dragon Palace's wealth. He had no idea what might happen later.
Next, there was news regarding the matter they had previously discussed with the Western Sea and Northern Sea Dragon Palaces: jointly constructing Spirit Land Nodes in the western and northern directions. After receiving the construction plan jointly discussed and drafted by Jieyin, Zhunti, and Jiang Yun, the Western Sea Dragon Palace and Northern Sea Dragon Palace readily expressed their support.
Both Dragon Palaces assigned capable personnel to come to Mount Sumeru and discuss some of the specific measures. They would provide ample manpower and material support, while the Western Teachings would provide guidance on constructing various formations. As for building the offices and arranging personnel, Jiang Yun would draw some people from Pengxuan Grotto-Heaven to provide assistance and training. The two sides would work together to complete these two projects.
Several junior brothers also asked about what he had seen while traveling through the Southern Volcanoes. Jiang Yun described in detail all the sights he had encountered along the way, placing particular emphasis on his great battle with Kong Xuan. This gave his junior brothers some understanding of the Phoenix Clan, while also making them remember Kong Xuan—the Son of the Phoenix who had fought their Senior Brother to a draw.
Among everything Jiang Yun had described, there was one other thing that greatly interested his junior brothers: the Star Dharma Form of the Star Body Refinement Method.
That formidable battle power and powerful defense had undoubtedly left the group burning with excitement. They could not help asking about some of its key points. Seeing how interested they were in the Dharma Form, Jiang Yun simply passed the two layers of the cultivation method he had deduced to his three personal junior brothers, while instructing them not to pass it on to anyone else in private.
Jiang Yun explained the secrets of cultivating the technique to the three of them. Then he remembered that cultivating the Star Body Refinement Method required star power to temper the body, so he took the three junior brothers to the main peak's hall and told Jieyin and Zhunti about it. He hoped to make some modifications to Mount Sumeru's protective formation so that it could draw in star power for his junior brothers to cultivate.
After hearing this, Jieyin and Zhunti became interested in Jiang Yun's method of body refinement. They examined the cultivation technique Jiang Yun had provided, finding its underlying concept quite novel. After all, no one before had ever thought of using acupoints to form a formation. It had given them some excellent ideas for cultivation.
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