When Dao Xuan saw the Witch Clan Leader's eyes glowing blood-red, baleful energy surging around him almost tangibly, and his massive axe dragging across the ground and carving deep trenches as he charged over like a mad demon, his heart clenched!
The other Witch Clan member wielding a stone hammer also roared repeatedly, his eyes filled with nothing but bone-deep killing intent!
Two violent Late True Immortal auras locked onto Dao Xuan, pressing down on him like two towering mountains!
"You little thief! You killed my brother! Even if you flee to heaven or earth, this ancestor will slaughter your soul and grind your bones to dust!"
The Witch Clan Leader's roar shook the entire valley, sending leaves fluttering down from the trees!
Dao Xuan's scalp instantly went numb, and a chill shot from his spine straight to the top of his head!
A frenzied Late True Immortal Witch Clan member, with a Mid True Immortal helper—fighting them head-on meant certain death!
"Run!"
That was the only thought left in Dao Xuan's mind, incomparably clear!
Without the slightest hesitation, not even sparing a thought for the strand of Golden Flood Dragon Origin Essence Blood being consumed, he pushed the Heavenly Water Evasion Art to its utmost limit!
Buzz!
The pale golden escape light around him erupted with a blinding radiance, and his speed soared in an instant!
Like a golden bolt of lightning tearing through the sky, he no longer fled along the mountainside. Instead, he charged desperately toward the deepest part of the valley, where the baleful energy was thickest and the terrain looked most like a dead end!
Whoosh!
The pale golden escape light moved so quickly that it nearly left an afterimage!
"Where do you think you're going?!"
The Witch Clan Leader flew into a rage and strode forward. Every step covered dozens of zhang, while the ground beneath his feet burst apart like a swamp!
The stone-hammer-wielding Witch Clan member followed close behind. Though slightly slower, he clung tightly to the pursuit!
One chased while the other fled, and in the blink of an eye, they had plunged deep into the valley!
Dao Xuan drove his escape speed to the limit, the howling wind beside his ears sounding like ghosts wailing and wolves howling!
He did not dare look back. His divine sense remained fixed on the complicated terrain ahead as he rapidly weaved and changed direction between jagged boulders and towering ancient trees, hoping to shake off his pursuers with the environment.
However, the Witch Clan's physical bodies were incomparably powerful, and their endurance was even more terrifying!
The Witch Clan Leader was like a tireless war machine, his speed not slowing in the slightest!
The furious roars and heavy footsteps behind him beat like drums of doom, drawing ever closer!
"You little thief! Die!"
A thunderous roar exploded behind him!
Dao Xuan felt an incomparably fierce gale strike from behind, carrying violent power that seemed capable of tearing apart everything!
It was a blood-colored axe force the Witch Clan Leader had slashed through the air!
Though it was not as powerful as his previous full-force strike, it was still enough to split mountains and shatter stone!
There was no avoiding it!
A fierce light flashed in Dao Xuan's eyes. He suddenly spun around, and the Mysterious Gold Law-Breaking Halberd blazed with golden light. Its twenty-seven Innate Restrictions circulated madly as he gathered all his mana and slashed viciously at the weaker point along the side of the blood-colored axe force!
Riiip!
Law-breaking power erupted, slicing open a huge gap in the blood-colored axe force and diverting most of its violent strength!
Boom!
The remaining axe force still slammed heavily into the protective golden light Dao Xuan had hastily formed!
Pfft!
Dao Xuan felt as though he had been struck by a massive hammer. His protective golden light flickered violently before instantly dimming!
A violent surge of blood and qi penetrated his body, churning his organs. Sweetness flooded his throat, and a thread of golden-red blood spilled from the corner of his mouth!
His aura immediately weakened somewhat!
Hmph!
Dao Xuan grunted. Borrowing the force of the impact, his escape light instead became three parts faster as he shot toward a dead corner ahead, tangled with vines and bordered by a steep stone wall!
"Haha! You're injured! Let's see how much farther you can run!"
Seeing Dao Xuan cough blood, the Witch Clan Leader's ferocious grin widened as he accelerated again!
The stone-hammer-wielding Witch Clan member also caught up, cutting off Dao Xuan's possible routes of retreat!
Ahead stood a weathered stone wall hundreds of zhang high, covered in thick moss and withered vine, seemingly indestructible!
Steep cliffs stood on both sides, while the pursuers had reached his rear!
A dead end!
A trace of madness flashed through Dao Xuan's eyes!
Rather than be caught and hacked into pieces, he might as well gamble on that sliver of survival hidden within fate!
Not only did he not slow down, he burned his remaining mana along with the vitality contained in that mouthful of reversed blood!
"Open!"
Dao Xuan roared inwardly, his escape light transforming into a resolute golden rainbow as he slammed headlong into the seemingly unbreakable weathered stone wall!
The expected shattering of his body never came!
Just as Dao Xuan was about to collide with the stone wall, a sudden change occurred!
The surface of the weathered wall rippled with gentle, profound Spatial Ripples, like an ancient pool disturbed by a tossed stone!
A gentle yet irresistible suction force descended!
Dao Xuan's figure passed through an invisible curtain of water and instantly vanished into the stone wall without a trace!
Rumble! Rumble!
The Witch Clan Leader's thunderous axe strike and the heavy blow from the stone-hammer-wielding Witch Clan member landed against the stone wall almost simultaneously!
Sparks flew everywhere, and shattered stones scattered in all directions!
Yet the stone wall merely trembled violently, leaving behind two deep dents. Then an immense and irresistible rebounding force surged forth!
"Argh!"
"Pfft!"
The Witch Clan Leader nearly lost his massive axe, his tiger's mouth splitting as his blood and qi churned wildly! The stone-hammer-wielding Witch Clan member was blasted backward, spewing blood as his stone hammer flew from his grasp!
"What the hell is that?!"
The Witch Clan Leader steadied himself, his huge bell-like eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the stone wall, which had returned to normal—hard and cold. The fury on his face instantly turned into shock and disbelief!
He stepped forward, stretched out his fan-sized hand, and slapped, shoved, and even gathered his blood and qi to smash at it!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The stone wall did not budge in the slightest. Not even a few more stone chips fell from it!
Where was there any trace of an entrance?
"Where is he?! Where is that damned little thief?!"
The Witch Clan Leader resembled a crazed tiger as he roared and pounded madly at the stone wall. His voice echoed endlessly through the valley, filled with resentment and savagery.
The other Witch Clan member also struggled to his feet. Looking at the bizarre stone wall, his eyes were full of fear.
The two bombarded the stone wall for half a day, using every method at their disposal, yet they could not shake it in the slightest or find any entrance.
"Big Brother... this stone wall... it's too strange!"
The stone-hammer-wielding Witch Clan member panted heavily, uncertainty filling his eyes.
The Witch Clan Leader gasped for breath, his blood-red eyes fixed on the stone wall. At last, he let out a roar brimming with endless hatred:
"Guard it! Guard this place for me! I refuse to believe that little thief can hide forever! He has to come out eventually! The day he emerges will be the day he is torn to pieces!"
Thus, the two enraged Witch Clan members stood outside the bizarre stone wall like two fierce guardian gods, beginning their long vigil.
Dao Xuan only felt the world spinning around him, as though he had been swept into a bizarre, twisting, ever-changing tunnel of time and space. A gentle yet vast spatial power enveloped him, leaving him powerless to resist.
He did not know how much time passed—perhaps an instant, perhaps an eternity.
The dizziness and sensation of weightlessness suddenly vanished.
His feet once more touched solid, warm earth.
Dao Xuan abruptly opened his eyes. Suppressing his churning blood and the dull pain in his organs, he cautiously surveyed his surroundings. Mana silently gathered within him, while he gripped the Mysterious Gold Law-Breaking Halberd tightly in his hand.
Yet the sight before him left him instantly stunned, and his tightly wound mind relaxed of its own accord.
Before him lay:
Verdant mountains layered like painted screens, clear waters murmuring like zithers.
Jade flowers and precious herbs spread like brocade, auspicious mists and clouds curled around forest pavilions.
Spirit birds sang sweetly upon the branches, immortal deer drank cool water beside the stream.
Spiritual qi gathered into milky mist, while natural Dao charm cleansed the mortal heart.
This place covered only several hundred li, yet it formed a small world of its own!
The sky was clear as though freshly washed. There was neither sun nor moon, yet gentle clear light poured down from above.
Distant green mountains stood like dark jade, while nearby streams babbled softly, their waters so clear that spirit fish could be seen swishing their tails.
Strange flowers and exotic herbs covered the ground, releasing a refreshing fragrance. Spirit birds and immortal deer wandered leisurely about, creating a scene of peace, tranquility, and natural Dao charm.
Most astonishing of all, the spiritual qi here was so dense that it had nearly condensed into tangible milky-white mist. With a single breath, Dao Xuan felt refreshed in body and spirit, and even the dull pain in his organs eased somewhat.
Dao Xuan's gaze was instantly drawn to the center of this small world!
There was a crystal-clear spirit pool there, above which rose the densest milky-white spirit mist.
And beside the spirit pool grew an ancient tree over a zhang tall!
This tree was:
Its twisting branches coiled like dragons, its mottled bark concealing profound patterns.
Every leaf was green as jade, its veins flowing with radiant Dao light.
It resembled manifested Innate Dao Patterns, its faint fragrance reaching deep into the Divine Soul!
Without flowers or fruit, it was naturally spiritual and beautiful, its innate Dao charm surpassing all others!
Merely standing beneath the tree and smelling the faint, refreshing fragrance released by its leaves, Dao Xuan felt his spiritual platform become clear and empty. Some previously obscure and difficult points in his cultivation faintly began to make sense!
Even the circulation of the Heavenly Star Evolution Technique within his body accelerated somewhat!
"This... this is..."
Dao Xuan's heart pounded wildly as a name famed throughout the Great Desolation World of later ages leaped into his mind!
"A High-Grade Innate Spiritual Root—the Enlightenment Tea Tree?!"
Wild joy instantly flooded Dao Xuan like a tidal wave!
The danger of being pursued and the frustration of his injuries all vanished at this moment!
"Misfortune may be a blessing in disguise! The ancients truly did not deceive me! This haul... I hit the jackpot! I hit the jackpot!"
Dao Xuan could not help cheering softly, so excited that he nearly began dancing with joy.
He forcibly suppressed the urge to rush over and pluck the leaves at once, cautiously sweeping his divine sense across the entire small world.
The place was peaceful and quiet. Aside from spirit beasts and immortal birds that had yet to develop intelligence, there were no other powerful creatures, nor were there any traces of formations or restrictions.
"Safe!"
Dao Xuan's heart finally settled.
He immediately walked to the Enlightenment Tea Tree, found a bluestone where the spiritual qi was densest, and sat down cross-legged.
He circulated his cultivation method, guiding the incomparably pure spiritual qi here to heal the injuries caused by the shock to his organs.
The spiritual qi here was pure and gentle, while the Dao charm emitted by the Enlightenment Tea Tree nourished him as well. In just over a month, Dao Xuan's internal injuries had fully healed, and he had returned to his peak condition.
Now that his injuries had healed, Dao Xuan's thoughts became active as he looked at the supreme spiritual root before him.
"How can such immortal tea be guzzled like ordinary drink? It must be brewed with elegant utensils, lest its natural Dao charm be wasted!"
As a transmigrator, that bit of "ritual" buried deep in Dao Xuan's bones emerged.
His divine sense swept through the space within the Chaos Bead.
Over the years of traveling through the Great Desolation World, he had collected quite a few heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
He soon found what he needed:
A piece of white jade, smooth and warm as fat, containing spiritual qi, along with several pieces of blazing, pure Earth Core Fire Crystal.
"I'll use white jade to make a pot and cups, and Earth Core Fire Crystal as the source of the furnace flame!" Dao Xuan immediately got to work.
He opened his mouth and spat out a wisp of natal true fire, Geng Metal True Fire transformed from the Golden Flood Dragon Origin Essence Blood. Its sharpness contained a trace of water-element gentleness.
The true fire wrapped around the white jade and Earth Core Fire Crystal. Dao Xuan formed hand seals, circulated his mana, and began refining them according to the design in his mind.
Shaping, carving, inscribing a simple spirit-gathering formation, drawing upon the essence of earth fire to temper them... Dao Xuan focused completely, immersing his mind in the task.
Forty-nine days passed in the blink of an eye.
A complete tea set finally took shape!
A jade teapot, its body round and full, its spout curving slightly like a crane's neck, and its handle flowing naturally. Dao Xuan used his finger as a blade to carve a few cloud and water patterns upon it, giving it an ancient and elegant air.
Four jade cups, small and exquisite, thin as cicada wings. Their walls bore equally simple Dao patterns, complementing the jade teapot perfectly.
Though they possessed no earth-shattering power, they contained a restrained spiritual glow and felt smooth and pleasing to the touch.
Dao Xuan looked at the tea set he had refined with his own hands in satisfaction and was about to take some Enlightenment Tea Leaves to test their effects.
Then a sudden change occurred!
From Nine Heavens Above, a strand of incomparably condensed Mysterious Yellow Qi descended without warning!
Its aura was supremely righteous, vast, impartial, and sacred, carrying incomparable power of creation!
The Mysterious Yellow Qi fell like a waterfall, accurately pouring into the freshly completed white jade tea set before Dao Xuan!
Buzz!
The jade pot and cups instantly burst forth with dazzling Mysterious Yellow treasure light!
The simple cloud and water patterns on their surfaces seemed to come alive, flowing with profound Dao charm! An indescribably heavy, sacred, and pure aura radiated from the tea set!
"Holy shit?! Mysterious... Mysterious Yellow Merit?!" Dao Xuan stared dumbfounded, his jaw nearly hitting the ground!
He had refined this tea set purely to make brewing tea more convenient and to indulge in a sense of "ritual." He had not considered anything else at all!
Who could have imagined that the first tea set in the Great Desolation World specially made for tea tasting would trigger a response from heaven and earth, causing Mysterious Yellow Merit to descend?!
"What is this supposed to be? The Great Desolation version of a 'lifestyle invention award'? Or certification as 'intangible cultural heritage'?"
Dao Xuan mocked inwardly, but the wild joy on his face could not be concealed!
A postnatal merit treasure!
Although the tea set itself was made from ordinary materials and possessed virtually no offensive or defensive power, with the merit of being the first of its kind since Heaven and Earth Creation supporting it, its essence had become completely different!
Using it to brew tea not only perfectly unleashed the Dao Rhyme of the Enlightenment Tea, but also infused the tea with a trace of pure, ethereal merit qi, nourishing the primordial spirit, dispelling inner demons, and offering limitless wondrous uses!
"An unexpected delight! A tremendous unexpected delight!"
Dao Xuan caressed the jade teapot, warm and smooth yet carrying a hint of profound, earthy weight, unable to put it down.
He did not delay any longer. With great care, he plucked three Enlightenment Tea Leaves—this tea ripened only once every ten thousand years, producing merely thirty-six leaves each time. It was extraordinarily precious.
He filled the jade teapot with water from the spiritual pool. With a slight stir of thought, he activated the power of the Earth Core Fire Crystal at the pot's base, and the spiritual water inside soon came to a boil.
Dao Xuan dropped the three Enlightenment Tea Leaves into the pot.
In an instant, an indescribable fragrance spread through the air!
The scent was not overpowering, yet it pierced straight into the Divine Soul!
The tea in the pot took on the warm, lustrous color of green jade, while the radiance of Daoist rhyme flowed endlessly through it, and faint echoes of the Great Dao resounded!
Dao Xuan held his breath and poured himself a full cup with the merit jade cup.
The jade-like tea rippled within the dark yellow jade cup. Rosy Dao Rhyme light and the pure radiance of merit reflected one another, creating a sight of breathtaking beauty.
He raised the jade cup and took a light sip.
Boom!
An indescribably cool current instantly swept through his limbs and bones, charging directly into his Sea of Consciousness!
His spiritual platform became incomparably clear and lucid in an instant!
The countless difficult questions and bottlenecks he had encountered in cultivation all became clear at this moment, as though clouds had parted to reveal the sun!
The Great Dao Laws between heaven and earth seemed never to have been so clear, so close at hand!
"Wonderful! Wonder beyond words!"
Dao Xuan could not help but praise it, his entire being immersed in this unparalleled state of enlightenment.
From then on, Dao Xuan settled down within this Enlightenment Secret Realm.
His daily routine was as follows:
At dawn, he breathed in and exhaled the spiritual qi of heaven and earth beside the Enlightenment Tea Tree, tempering his magic power;
During the day, he brewed Enlightenment Tea with the merit jade teapot, savoring it carefully as he comprehended the mysteries of the Great Dao;
At night, he sorted through his gains from the day and practiced his Daoist arts and divine abilities.
Tea fragrance curled through the air, while Dao Rhyme filled the surroundings.
After drinking this immortal tea, Dao Xuan's spiritual platform became empty and clear, and his thoughts grew a hundred times sharper.
The once obscure mysteries of the Heavenly Star Evolution Technique now became twice as easy to comprehend.
He also gained a deeper understanding and integration of the law-breaking Dao of the Mysterious Gold Law-Breaking Halberd, the chaotic Dao Rhyme of the Chaos Bead Fragment, and the powers of water essence and geng metal within his own golden flood dragon origin.
He often fell into states of sudden enlightenment.
Sometimes, he would study the veins and patterns of the Enlightenment Tea Leaves, sitting for months at a time as Dao Rhyme circulated around him and his aura grew ethereal.
Sometimes, while practicing the Law-Breaking Halberd, inspiration would strike. Every movement returned to simplicity, with the intent of destruction and sharpness restrained to the utmost extreme.
Sometimes, he merely sat quietly and drank tea, his mind wandering through the vast emptiness. His primordial spirit seemed to merge with this little world as he comprehended the obscure Law Fragments of space.
Deep in the mountains, one lost track of days; when the cold had passed, one knew not the year.
Dao Xuan forgot the strife of the outside world, forgot his journey to Kunlun, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to this rare period of peaceful cultivation and enlightenment.
The long years passed like a white colt flashing through a crack.
Five hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Dao Xuan sat quietly beside the Enlightenment Tea Tree as usual.
The fragrance of Enlightenment Tea drifted from the merit jade teapot, gathering and circling above his head.
His aura was perfectly harmonious. Above his head, three golden-jade lotus phantoms, condensed almost into substance, slowly revolved. Upon their petals, three types of Dao Rhyme—the sharpness of geng metal, the gentleness of water essence, and the profundity of chaos—flowed without cease, cycling endlessly and giving rise to one another!
Five streams of innate qi rose from his chest—red, yellow, white, black, and green—corresponding respectively to the heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and liver. They converged above his head, nourished the Three Flowers, then sank back into his five organs, forming a perfect great cycle!
Five Qi Facing the Origin, Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown—he had advanced another step!
Magic power surged through Dao Xuan's body like the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, vast and turbulent. Compared to five hundred years ago, it was more than ten times stronger!
The stability of his foundation and the depth of his cultivation had already reached the pinnacle of the True Immortal realm!
He suddenly opened his eyes!
A flash of golden light passed through his gaze, like lightning tearing through chaos!
Before you continue