The sharing ended, and Lord Wanshouyuan opened his eyes with a gratified smile.
The glow surrounding Zhenyuanzi's main body slowly settled as well. Yet his immense aura, that of a newly ascended Da Luo with an incomparably deep foundation, filled all of Wuzhuang Temple like an awakening primordial sacred mountain, making even Hong Yun's heart tremble.
Hong Yun carefully sensed the pressure emanating from Zhenyuanzi. It was no weaker than Lord Wanshouyuan's, and the nature of his earth origin made it feel even weightier and more profound. He was both astonished and delighted.
He offered heartfelt praise. "Congratulations, fellow Daoist, on your great advancement, on piercing the veil of delusion and attaining the Da Luo Dao fruit! What a joyous achievement!"
Qingfeng Mingyue hurriedly bowed again, voices trembling with excitement. "Congratulations, Master—your main body has attained the Dao of Da Luo!"
Lord Wanshouyuan smiled, but his expression immediately turned utterly solemn.
His gaze swept over Hong Yun and the two Dao attendants as he said gravely, "The greatest gain this time was not the breakthrough in cultivation."
He extended his hand. Azure light flashed in his palm, and the azure jade bottle refined from the most essential branches of the Ginseng Fruit Tree appeared.
The jade bottle looked plain and ancient. Yet the moment it appeared, it naturally exuded a trace of supreme aura that made even a Xiantian God-Demon like Hong Yun feel his true spirit tremble, stirring an irresistible urge to prostrate himself in worship.
Ancient, boundless, supremely noble—as though he stood before the very origin of heaven and earth!
Even the glow surrounding Zhenyuanzi's main body, whose aura had yet to stabilize after his breakthrough to Da Luo, began fluctuating violently again, conveying irrepressible longing and excitement.
"This is...?"
Hong Yun's brows knitted tightly, his expression intensely grave as he stared at the jade bottle. Its aura resonated powerfully with certain imprints buried deep within his inherited memories—the oldest, vaguest, and most exalted of them all.
He searched desperately through those fragments of memory from his origin. Suddenly, his body jolted, and dazzling divine light blazed in his eyes in disbelief. His voice turned dry and hoarse with overwhelming shock and reverence:
"This... this aura... ancient, supreme, containing unsurpassed creation... could it be... the supreme sacred treasure of legend, formed from the essence of Father God's spine and containing the earliest origin power from the opening of heaven and earth—Pangu Jade Marrow?!"
Lord Wanshouyuan was not surprised that Hong Yun recognized it. All Xiantian God-Demons possessed inherited memories, though their depth and detail varied. With an exceedingly solemn expression, he nodded in confirmation. "You have a discerning eye, fellow Daoist! It is indeed Pangu Jade Marrow."
With the answer confirmed, Hong Yun drew a sharp breath. The shock lingered on his face, giving way to an almost devout awe.
He had attained the Dao as the first red cloud between heaven and earth. His innate foundation and fortune already ranked among the finest and deepest in the Primordial Wilderness.
Yet Pangu Jade Marrow—a treasure found only in the oldest legends, a supreme miracle of the Primordial Wilderness that could drive every Xiantian God-Demon mad—had actually appeared and fallen into his friend's hands. The impact surpassed everything he had ever witnessed combined.
He looked at Lord Wanshouyuan, then at Zhenyuanzi's main body, his eyes filled with profound awe and heartfelt congratulations too deep for words. Such an opportunity truly defied heaven.
"This treasure is best suited to my main body. It is the key to establishing an unsurpassed Dao foundation."
Lord Wanshouyuan said no more. He turned his gaze toward Zhenyuanzi's main body, and as their gazes met, all the information passed between them.
The profound yellow glow fluctuated violently, conveying boundless anticipation and resolve. The earth veins throughout Longevity Mountain hummed along with it, as though welcoming a sacred transformation.
Solemn-faced, Lord Wanshouyuan carefully aimed the bottle's mouth toward Zhenyuanzi's main body and slowly removed the stopper sealed with essence of Yi wood.
At once, an indescribably vast, ancient, supremely noble aura, seemingly containing every mystery of the first opening of heaven and earth, erupted outward like a primordial beast awakening after an eternity of slumber!
The innate spiritual qi throughout Wuzhuang Temple instantly boiled and surged out of control!
He carefully tilted the bottle, letting the three drops of azure jade marrow within—heavy as primordial sacred mountains, glittering with endless starlight of Dao resonance, their interiors seemingly filled with shifting scenes of chaos being opened—
Pour slowly, without losing a single drop, into the very core of Zhenyuanzi's main body—that mass of essence of innate earthen energy!
"Hummm—!"
The instant the jade marrow touched the essence of earthen energy, it did not simply merge and absorb. Instead, a violent reaction erupted, as though heaven and earth were being opened anew!
Dazzling azure divine light containing infinite vitality erupted alongside the boundlessly weighty profound yellow divine light that bore all things, each illuminating the other.
They collided violently, then blended perfectly, bathing all of Wuzhuang Temple and even the entire main peak of Longevity Mountain in brilliant light, as bright as day!
Zhenyuanzi's main body released an unprecedentedly fierce humming and trembling.
As though unable to withstand the impact of that boundless, supremely refined origin power all at once, the surface of his glow rippled like towering waves. The light flickered uncertainly, even showing faint signs of breaking apart!
"Earth veins, heed my command! Mountains, lend your protection! Raise the formation!" Lord Wanshouyuan had prepared for this. His low shout, infused with great Luo magical power, rang across Longevity Mountain as his hands rapidly formed countless profound seals.
Rumble! The earth vein dragon qi of the entire Longevity Mountain Range was fully stirred into motion, and the Innate Great Earth Formation protecting the dojo was instantly driven to an unprecedented limit!
Nine layers of thick earth barriers surged skyward from the ground, overlapping to form an immense profound yellow chaos dome spanning tens of thousands of miles. Like a gigantic overturned bowl, it enveloped the entire Longevity Mountain Dojo, shielding it completely!
Earth, fire, wind, and water circled the formation's dome while innate Dao patterns flowed across it, its power fully unleashed.
It completely cut off every aura, sight, and sound between the inside and outside—even divination of heavenly secrets! Even a Primordial Chaos Golden Immortal arriving in person could not easily discern the slightest hint of what lay within!
"How could I stand idle at such a momentous occasion? I shall guard the process!"
Seeing this, Hong Yun's expression also became exceedingly grave. Sensing how terrifying and precious the jade marrow's power was, he acted without hesitation.
He manifested his Ten Thousand Mile Red Cloud true body. Though its vast, brilliant crimson radiance could not cover all of Longevity Mountain beneath the great formation, the blazing, auspicious cloud qi still filled the space inside the dome. It blended with the earthen essence qi, further strengthening the protection while warding off evil and calamity.
He focused completely, spreading his divine sense as far as possible and remaining vigilant against any unexpected interference.
Qingfeng Mingyue also knew this concerned their master's very foundation and was of immense importance. They stood tensely nearby, helping stabilize the formation and channel the earth vein spiritual energy.
At the heart of the formation, Zhenyuanzi's main body was undergoing an unprecedented, wrenching transformation that remade him utterly.
The energy produced by the Pangu Jade Marrow was simply too vast. Like countless roaring chaos star rivers, it surged wildly into his innate earthen origin, domineering yet carrying the gentleness of creation.
His main body was torn apart, shattered, and reconstructed again and again by that terrifying power, then reshaped, condensed, and elevated by the infinite vitality and creation strength contained within the jade marrow...
The process was agonizing, like repeatedly enduring the destruction and new birth of heaven and earth being opened. Yet it also brought an extraordinary leap in his life origin and innate potential!
His essence of innate earthen energy had already given him an innate foundation among the finest of innate divine beings.
Now, however, it was rising toward an inconceivable, near-perfect state—a strength and weight approaching the great Dao origin itself.
Its potential and depth were enough to rival the innate foundations of the weaker Chaos Demon Gods born within chaos!
Cultivation knew no passage of time, and the Primordial Wilderness kept no count of years.
No one knew how many primordial cycles had passed within the formation, nor what the outside world had become.
The earthshaking phenomena enveloping Longevity Mountain finally began to subside and draw inward.
The Innate Great Earth Formation continued its tireless work, isolating the interior from the outside. But at its core, the heaven-piercing divine light and violent energy fluctuations gradually settled, becoming harmonious and perfectly integrated.
At last, every ray of light—whether the azure radiance of the jade marrow or the profound yellow brilliance of the earthen essence—retreated into the mass of essence of innate earthen energy, as though returning to its simplest, truest state.
His color had become deeper and more ancient, taking on a chaos-like profound yellow hue.
His size seemed to have shrunk by nearly half, yet he was more solid and weighty.
His entire body emanated an immense Dao resonance, flawless and complete, unified in primordial chaos, and boundlessly profound. As he floated quietly there, the pressure he released had unmistakably reached—
The Peak Great Luo Golden Immortal realm!
Even the elusive, eternally indestructible realm of the Primordial Chaos Great Dao seemed only a single step away!
And the depth of his innate foundation far surpassed that of ordinary Great Luo Golden Immortals, already carrying a trace of the ancient, formidable, and immortal aura of a Chaos Demon God!
Meanwhile, throughout those long years of standing guard, Hong Yun had felt the incomparably pure Pangu's aura and supreme rhythms of the Great Dao emanating from the formation's core day and night.
His own Dao attainment rose with them, bringing immense benefits. At last, he broke through the shackles of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm in one stroke. Three flowers gathered at his crown, the five qi in his chest converged upon their origin, and his immense aura soared skyward, though the formation held it in check.
His Dao fruit was complete—he, too, had unmistakably attained the Da Luo Dao fruit!
His Ten Thousand Mile Red Cloud true body became more condensed and vast, with a thousand streams of auspicious qi and myriad rays of rosy clouds, wondrous beyond measure.
As an incarnation sharing the same origin as his main body, Lord Wanshouyuan likewise benefited greatly from cultivating in such an environment.
His cultivation rose steadily. He fully consolidated his realm, then advanced further into the middle stage of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm. His aura grew ever deeper, as unfathomable as the sea.
Even Qingfeng Mingyue, who had remained nearby all along, diligently helping stabilize the formation and channel the spiritual qi, were nourished day and night by this high-level energy and the rhythms of the Great Dao.
Their cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. Immortal power surged within them, their Dao bodies grew pure, and both reached the peak of the Golden Immortal realm. They needed only a suitable opportunity to attempt the Primordial Unity Dao fruit.
Lord Wanshouyuan and Hong Yun exchanged smiles, each seeing delight, awe, and boundless anticipation for the path ahead in the other's eyes.
Zhenyuanzi's main body stirred faintly, conveying a calm, contented thought brimming with strength.
The absorption was complete, and his foundation was secure—stronger than ever before.
Next came quiet contemplation, consolidation of his realm, and patient waiting for the supreme opportunity to assume physical form when the time naturally ripened. Once he took form and emerged into the world, he would surely shake the heavens and astonish the entire Primordial Wilderness!
Before you continue