"Primary Cavern Heaven!"
Li Yang sensed that the sanctuary space he had built with his own hands had now evolved into a Cavern Heaven.
As for it being called primary, that was a standard Li Yang had set himself. In truth, the Great Desolation World had no clear, well-defined classification for Cavern Heavens.
Li Yang was different. Two months of comprehending the Dao had allowed him to establish a tentative framework for Cavern Heavens, dividing them into primary, intermediate, and advanced levels.
These three levels had nothing to do with the spiritual energy within a Cavern Heaven, nor with whether it possessed a Spiritual Treasure or spiritual root to anchor it. Instead, they measured whether it could exist in the void and how powerful a spatial storm it could withstand.
At its core, Li Yang wanted to turn it into a Noah's Ark. When danger came, it could leave the main world of the Great Desolation, flee through the void, and travel among the Three Thousand Great Worlds.
But now, as Li Yang looked at the Circulating Star Dou, he fell into deep thought. He had an even more outrageous idea.
"What if I turned it into a true world—a world that could exist within Chaos?"
The Circulating Star Dou absorbed Chaos Qi that had already been weakened countless times. If it could resist and absorb the violent Chaos Qi in true Chaos, then he would really have a safe haven.
With that thought, Li Yang committed this outrageous idea to memory. Then he looked at the land within the Cavern Heaven, and a better solution came to mind.
He glanced at the Entry Panel. His age was already nineteen, but that could wait. What mattered was that his rest period had lasted a full fifty-five days.
"Five and a half days should be enough to adjust the sanctuary Cavern Heaven."
With a shift of thought, his rest period reset to zero. Countless insights about Cavern Heavens and the Star Dou Great Array surfaced, and, guided by Li Yang's vision, rapidly filled in the framework.
Five and a half days passed in an instant. Li Yang slowly opened his eyes.
He had devised an entirely new method for constructing Cavern Heavens.
Then Li Yang floated in the void and formed one hand seal after another. The sanctuary Cavern Heaven changed along with them.
The void expanded, and each star in the Circulating Star Dou drifted farther away.
Gradually, the space expanded tens of thousands of times, while the Circulating Star Dou completely filled the void, forming a vast sphere.
This ensured that every side of the Cavern Heaven could withstand the void's erosion.
The land, meanwhile, floated in the void before beginning to collapse inward. It became a planet with a diameter of only seven hundred kilometers. The Top-grade Magic Treasure, the Alchemy Furnace, became the planet's core and linked up with the Star Dou Great Array.
Looking at the Cavern Heaven now, he saw the Grotto-Heaven Barrier on the outside, followed inward by the Circulating Star Dou and the Core Planet.
The violent power of the void outside, mixed with Chaos Qi, passed through the Grotto-Heaven Barrier and was transformed by the Circulating Star Dou into spiritual energy and Turbid Qi.
Some of the spiritual energy and Turbid Qi was stored within the stars, becoming Star Power and improving their quality.
The remaining spiritual energy fell upon the Core Planet, while the Turbid Qi passed through channels formed by the array and into the furnace. After being refined, it was fully absorbed by the Core Planet, increasing its mass and size and forming various common mineral deposits.
At the true heart of the Cavern Heaven, the Grotto-Heaven Origin slowly accumulated, preparing for the Cavern Heaven's next advancement.
Outside the planet, Li Yang reached out from the void and drew in various ores and materials. Without a furnace, flames sprang into being in midair. Star Power descended, refining the countless materials, which then assembled themselves into one "Golden Pill" Avatar after another.
They then merged into the Star Dou Great Array, where the power of the void, Chaos Qi, spiritual energy, and Turbid Qi tempered them and improved their quality.
"It was certainly worth turning the entire sanctuary Cavern Heaven into an Alchemy Furnace. Not only can it refine pills on its own, but even the lowest-grade mortal materials can produce Avatars at the first level of the Spirit Transmutation Stage.
"At this rate, five years of nurturing will advance them to the Void Refinement stage. Another ten years will take them to Return to Dao, and after a hundred years, they'll reach Origin Immortal.
"That means I can do nothing at all and still have a whole batch of Origin Immortal Avatars in a hundred years."
Li Yang smiled, thoroughly satisfied.
Now, the Cavern Heaven could refine over a hundred million Spirit Transmutation Stage "Golden Pills" at once. If he took charge, he could finish them in a single day. If he left the Cavern Heaven to do it by itself, it would take only forty-nine days.
But this terrifying refining speed had created a problem: he didn't have enough materials.
"Now that I've become an immortal, wantonly mining the mineral veins of the Great Desolation would only entangle me in more Karma. From now on, let the Cavern Heaven produce the materials it needs on its own!
"Still, I can't let that interfere with the Cavern Heaven's growth. I'll have to find the right balance.
"As for the materials in short supply, I can temporarily mine them outside."
The material Li Yang needed most right now was Star Stone. The Cavern Heaven's starry sky couldn't produce it yet, so he could only mine it in the Northern Juru Continent.
Looking at the planet, which covered millions of square kilometers, he also set up arrays within it and opened areas for growing medicinal herbs.
Though he mainly used minerals to refine pills, he had studied refining pills with plants and herbs as well. Otherwise, how would he have learned to make poisons and Poison Pills?
In the future, his Cavern Heaven would need other plants and animals, too.
A sanctuary needed more than just defenses. It also needed a self-sustaining cycle.
After finishing his work, Li Yang left the Cavern Heaven and looked toward the Immortal Crossing Sect in the Eastern Divine Continent.
"It's only half a month until the date I agreed on with Senior Brother. I should return to the sect. But my Avatar needs to leave seclusion first and keep Senior Brother calm, so he doesn't get anxious."
With that thought, Li Yang vanished.
At the same time, in Li Changshou's thatched cottage on Lesser Qiong Peak, Lan Ling'e looked mysterious.
"Senior Disciple Brother, tell me in secret: is the person in Second Senior Brother's thatched cottage in seclusion actually Second Senior Brother?"
Li Changshou glanced at Lan Ling'e. "What, do you think that isn't your Second Senior Brother?"
Lan Ling'e nodded. "Of course! That definitely isn't my Second Senior Brother."
Li Changshou was quite surprised. Even he couldn't tell whether his junior brother's Avatar was real or fake. How had this Junior Sister figured it out?
"Why are you so sure?"
Lan Ling'e answered as if it were obvious, "I guessed!"
"Y-you guessed?"
Li Changshou, who was meditating, nearly lost control of his breathing. "You think a guess counts?"
"Of course! Senior Brother, I'm a genius. You're the one who said how powerful a woman's sixth sense is. Can't I be a little impressive?"
"Sure, sure, absolutely." Li Changshou raised his hands in surrender. The three of them were on the same page about this, anyway. It wouldn't hurt if Lan Ling'e knew; it was more likely to cause trouble if she didn't.
Seeing this, Lan Ling'e said seriously, "Then tell me, Senior Disciple Brother. Is Second Senior Brother away because of Master? Or is this Old Sixth about to become an immortal?
"After all, you've been using Second Senior Brother's seclusion to persuade Master not to enter seclusion yet. It must have something to do with Master and Second Senior Brother becoming immortals."
Li Changshou stood up, touched Lan Ling'e's forehead, then turned her face this way and that to look at her from every angle. He even tugged at her mouth.
"Smack!"
Lan Ling'e angrily kicked Li Changshou. "Senior Brother, what are you doing?"
Li Changshou replied with the look of someone examining a rare animal. "Junior Sister, when did you get so clever?"
"..."
Lan Ling'e froze. So, in her Senior Disciple Brother's eyes, she was an idiot?
What about Second Senior Brother, then?
At the thought, Lan Ling'e puffed out her cheeks in anger. Tears as big as beans welled in her eyes, making Li Changshou panic. Master hadn't entered seclusion yet.
If Master found out he'd bullied his junior sister until she cried, he'd have Li Changshou's hide loosened with a Dust Whisk.
Just as he was at a loss for what to do, Li Yang's voice rang out beside them.
"Senior Brother, Junior Sister, I'm back."
Before you continue