Cavern Heaven Planet, Return to the Mountain

"Primary Cavern Heaven!"

Li Yang felt the shelter space he had personally built, which had now evolved into a Cavern Heaven.

As for the term "primary," that was a standard Li Yang had set himself. In truth, the current Great Desolation World had no clear or definitive classification for Cavern Heavens.

But Li Yang was different. Two months of enlightenment had allowed him to tentatively establish a framework for Cavern Heavens, dividing them into three grades: primary, intermediate, and advanced.

These so-called three grades did not refer to the spiritual energy within the Cavern Heaven, nor to any spiritual treasures or roots suppressing it, but rather to its ability to exist in the void and withstand spatial storms of varying intensities.

Essentially, Li Yang wanted to turn it into a Noah's Ark—when danger arose, he would flee the main Great Desolation World, relying on the Cavern Heaven to travel deep into the void and wander through the three thousand great worlds.

But now, Li Yang gazed at the Circulating Star Dou and fell into deep thought. He had an even crazier idea.

"What if I forge it into a true world, one that can exist within Chaos?"

The Circulating Star Dou absorbed Chaos Qi that had been weakened countless times over. If it could resist and absorb the violent Chaos Qi of true Chaos, then he would truly have a safe shelter.

With that thought, Li Yang tucked this crazy idea away in his mind, then looked at the earth within the Cavern Heaven, another better method surfacing in his thoughts.

He glanced at the Entry Panel. His age was already nineteen, which he set aside, but his rest time had already passed a full fifty-five days.

"Five and a half days should be enough for me to adjust the Shelter Cavern Heaven."

With a flicker of thought, the rest time reset to zero. Countless insights regarding Cavern Heavens and the Star Dou Great Array emerged, frantically filling in the framework based on Li Yang's vision.

Five and a half days passed in an instant. Li Yang slowly opened his eyes.

He had already deduced a brand-new method for constructing a Cavern Heaven.

Then, Li Yang floated in the void, forming hand seals one after another, and the Shelter Cavern Heaven began to change accordingly.

The void expanded, and each star in the Circulating Star Dou gradually drifted farther apart.

Gradually, the space had expanded tens of thousands of times, and the Circulating Star Dou completely filled the void, forming a massive sphere.

This ensured that every side of the Cavern Heaven could withstand the erosion of the void.

The earth, meanwhile, floated in the void before collapsing inward, condensing into a planet no more than seven hundred kilometers in diameter. The Top-grade Magic Treasure Alchemy Furnace transformed into the planet's core, linking with the Star Dou Great Array.

Looking at the Cavern Heaven now, the outermost layer was the Cavern Heaven barrier, followed inward by the Circulating Star Dou, and then the core planet.

The violent void force outside, mixed with Chaos Qi, passed through the Cavern Heaven barrier and was converted by the Circulating Star Dou into spiritual energy and Turbid Qi.

Part of the spiritual energy and Turbid Qi was stored within the stars, transforming into star power to enhance their own quality;

the remaining spiritual energy scattered down toward the core planet, while the Turbid Qi was transmitted through channels built by the array into the furnace, where it was refined and fully integrated into the core planet, increasing its mass and volume and evolving various ordinary mineral veins.

At the true core of the Cavern Heaven, a little bit of Cavern Heaven origin accumulated, preparing for the next upgrade of the Cavern Heaven.

Outside the planet, floating in the void, Li Yang reached out and drew in various ore materials. Without even using the furnace, he ignited fire from nothing. Star power descended, refining countless materials, which then automatically assembled into countless 'Golden Pill' Avatars.

These then merged into the Star Dou Great Array, using void force, Chaos Qi, spiritual energy, and Turbid Qi for refinement, improving their quality.

"It really wasn't a waste turning the entire Shelter Cavern Heaven into an Alchemy Furnace. Not only can it refine autonomously, but even the lowest-grade mortal materials can produce Spirit Transmutation-level Avatars.

At the current rate, after nurturing for five years, they can advance to Void Refining; after another ten years, to Return to Dao; and after a hundred years, to Origin Immortal.

That means I don't have to do anything, and in a hundred years, I'll have a massive batch of Origin Immortal Avatars."

Li Yang smiled, thoroughly satisfied.

Now, within the Cavern Heaven, alchemy could refine up to a hundred million Spirit Transmutation-stage 'Golden Pills' in a single batch. If he actively participated, he could finish in one day; letting the Cavern Heaven refine autonomously took only forty-nine days.

But such terrifying alchemy speed led to one problem: he didn't have enough collected materials.

"Now that I've become an immortal, recklessly digging up Great Desolation mineral veins would only incur more Karma. From now on, the materials I need should be evolved autonomously within the Cavern Heaven!

But this can't hinder the Cavern Heaven's growth—I need to find the right balance.

As for scarce materials, I can temporarily mine them from the outside world."

For now, what Li Yang needed most was Star Stone. These things couldn't yet be evolved by the Cavern Heaven's starry sky, so he could only mine them on the Northern Juru Continent.

Looking at the planet spanning millions of square kilometers, he also set up arrays within it and opened up some areas for planting medicinal herbs.

Although his main focus was metal-and-stone alchemy, he had also done considerable research on herbal alchemy—otherwise, how would he have developed his poison and toxic pill techniques?

In the future, this Cavern Heaven of his would need other flora and fauna.

A shelter needed not just defense, but also a self-sustaining cycle.

After finishing his work, Li Yang exited the Cavern Heaven and looked toward the Immortal Crossing Sect on the Eastern Divine Continent.

"There's still half a month until the agreed date with Senior Disciple Brother. Time to return to the sect, but my Avatar needs to come out of seclusion first to reassure him and keep him from worrying."

With that thought, Li Yang vanished.

Meanwhile, on Lesser Qiong Peak, inside Li Changshou's thatched hut, Lan Ling'e looked mysterious.

"Senior Disciple Brother, tell me in secret—is the one in seclusion in Second Senior Disciple Brother's hut really him?"

Li Changshou glanced at Lan Ling'e. "What, you don't think that's your Second Senior Disciple Brother?"

Lan Ling'e nodded. "Of course! That definitely isn't my Second Senior Disciple Brother."

Li Changshou was quite surprised. He couldn't even tell whether his Junior Brother's Avatar was real or fake—how did this Junior Sister see through it?

"Why are you so sure?"

Lan Ling'e said matter-of-factly, "I guessed!"

"Guessed... guessed?"

Li Changshou, who was meditating, nearly had his qi deviate. "Can guesses count?"

"Of course they can, Senior Disciple Brother. I'm a genius. You said yourself how amazing my woman's intuition is. Can't I be a little amazing?"

"Fine, fine, fine. This is just too amazing." Li Changshou raised his hands in surrender. Anyway, all three of them were on the same page about this. It wouldn't hurt for Lan Ling'e to know; on the contrary, not knowing could cause problems.

Seeing this, Lan Ling'e said seriously, "Then, Senior Disciple Brother, tell me—is Second Senior Disciple Brother's absence related to Master? Or is Second Senior Disciple Brother, that Old Sixth, about to become an immortal? After all, you've been using Second Senior Disciple Brother's seclusion and telling Master not to rush into seclusion to persuade him. It must have something to do with Master and Second Senior Disciple Brother becoming immortals."

Li Changshou stood up, felt Lan Ling'e's forehead, then cupped her face and looked left, right, up, down, and even tugged at her mouth.

"Smack!"

Lan Ling'e angrily kicked Li Changshou. "Senior Disciple Brother, what are you doing?"

Li Changshou replied with a look like he was observing a rare animal. "Junior Sister, when did you get so smart?"

"..."

Lan Ling'e was stunned. So in her Senior Disciple Brother's eyes, she was an idiot?

And what about Second Senior Disciple Brother?

Thinking this, Lan Ling'e's face puffed up in anger, and big teardrops swirled in her eyes. This scared Li Changshou—Master hadn't gone into seclusion yet.

If Master found out he'd bullied Little Junior Sister into crying, his skin would be loosened by Master's whisk.

Just as he didn't know what to do, Li Yang's voice sounded beside them.

"Senior Disciple Brother, Junior Sister, I'm back."