Small Mount Buzhou

For a moment.

Tongtian felt a little unconvinced, and a little defiant.

Clang!

With a clear chime, a long sword suddenly sprang from its sheath.

It was a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure.

They had found it together, before he had parted ways with Taiqing and Yuanshi.

It had been transformed from a leaf of the Twenty-Four-Grade Creation Green Lotus.

As the saying went:

The red flower, white root, and green lotus leaf—the Three Purities had originally been one family.

The Green Lotus of Creation, an Innate Supreme Treasure, had split into three when the Three Purities arrived, transforming into three top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.

Among them,

the red flower had become a Flat Crutch, which Taiqing had obtained.

The white root had become a Three Treasures Jade Ruyi, which Yuanshi had obtained.

As for the green lotus leaf,

it had become a Greenping Sword.

The very sword Tongtian now held in his hand.

He brought out the Spirit Treasure.

Tongtian had no other purpose. He simply wanted to prove himself.

Mainly because he couldn't believe it.

He couldn't even break through the rocks at the foot of the mountain.

What if he went farther up?

It was hard to imagine.

If that were really the case,

then this mountain might not be Mount Buzhou, but it certainly resembled it.

Even Kunlun's main peak

might not compare.

But the key problem was that this mountain...

had no name!

Even now, Tongtian still didn't know what the mountain was called.

Or perhaps...

it didn't have a name at all?

Thinking this,

Tongtian took a deep breath. His Dao Body, magic power, and Spirit Treasure all resonated at once.

Then,

in an instant, he struck with his sword.

For this strike,

he infused it with his Heart Spirit.

He wasn't using all his strength, but he was using eight or nine tenths of it.

He wanted nothing more

than to break through the rock at the foot of the mountain, to prove that his cultivation wasn't that poor.

After all,

not even being able to break through an unnamed Immortal Mountain

was far too demoralizing.

Clang!

Tongtian's sword struck the mountain's base. The sound didn't seem to sink into the earth at all; instead, it rang out like a bell!

The sound was crisp.

When he looked again at the spot he had struck, Tongtian was momentarily dazed.

In an instant,

he was stunned, his eyes filled with disbelief.

A strike delivered with eight or nine tenths of his strength had only left a faint white mark on the mountainside?

At that moment,

Tongtian couldn't help but wonder.

Was this really an unnamed Immortal Mountain?

If Mount Buzhou weren't somewhere else, he would've believed this was Mount Buzhou wearing a different "disguise"!

Or perhaps...

"Could this mountain be called... Small Mount Buzhou?"

Tongtian's mind felt hazy.

He was deeply shaken.

It took quite a while for him to come back to himself.

His gaze fell on an utterly ordinary little grass.

He murmured,

"I can't break through the Mountain Body Hall."

"This little grass..."

"Surely I can manage that, right?"

At that moment,

in Tongtian's eyes, the unnamed Immortal Mountain before him

was "Small Mount Buzhou"!

"Was it also directly formed from some part of Father God's Dao Body?"

"Just as Mount Buzhou was transformed from Father God's spine!"

"That must be it!"

Tongtian nodded.

He gradually became more convinced.

Because if that weren't the case, he couldn't imagine why this mountain would be so extraordinary.

With his cultivation at the peak of the Da Luo Golden Immortal realm,

even after using eight or nine tenths of his strength,

he could only...

leave a white mark!

At that moment,

he turned his attention back to the white mark, and his expression grew even more remarkable.

His eyes widened.

He exclaimed,

"What!"

"It recovered?"

"This..."

Seeing this, Tongtian was awash with emotions.

He truly didn't know what to say.

He could only feel even more certain of his guess.

It was Small Mount Buzhou!

"If that's the case, then whether it can't be broken or it recovers completely, both are perfectly normal!"

"My cultivation is decent, but compared to this mountain..."

"It's still nothing!"

Tongtian tried to convince himself.

He also recalled his time on Mount Buzhou.

His experience now was much the same as it had been then.

But because he'd been mentally prepared, knowing that Mount Buzhou bore Pangu's Pressure, he hadn't felt too disheartened.

But now,

he'd taken quite a blow.

It took him a while to gradually recover.

Then,

he grew even more expectant.

Tongtian glanced at the Greenping Sword, growing ever more eager for the opportunity here.

After all, he had found the Greenping Sword on Mount Buzhou.

More precisely,

the Three Purities had found it together.

And that was why the opportunity had been divided into three.

But things were different now.

Taiqing and Yuanshi had parted ways with him and gone to Heaven Beyond Heaven.

In other words,

if there was an opportunity here, Tongtian would get it all to himself!

"Wonderful!"

"We found a lotus comparable to an Innate Supreme Treasure on Mount Buzhou. This place is Small Mount Buzhou, inferior to Mount Buzhou, but surely it should still have..."

"A treasure no worse than the Greenping Sword, right?"

Thinking this,

Tongtian smiled.

No longer disheartened, he looked around.

He wanted to see if there were any mysteries or gains to be found.

Before long,

his eyes lit up.

He spotted a spirit herb.

He murmured,

as if trying to bolster his confidence.

"I can't break through the Mountain Body, but this little grass..."

"Surely I can manage that, right?"

At that moment,

from Tongtian's perspective, this little grass

was indeed a spirit herb.

But in the present-day Primordial Wilderness, growing on "Small Mount Buzhou," it really wasn't anything worth mentioning.

It wasn't tall.

It didn't look very spiritual, either.

It had one minor peculiarity, at least.

It was green.

A lush, verdant green, as if bursting with vitality.

With the Primordial Wilderness's current concentration of spiritual energy, what Spirit Root wouldn't be full of life?

Except in the Western Region!

In short,

to Tongtian, the spirit herb was utterly ordinary.

Though Small Mount Buzhou's pressure

kept him from sensing it clearly,

Tongtian had already made his judgment.

"Hmm..."

"An average Innate Spirit Root at best!"

"No more than that!"

Of course,

this was only his preliminary judgment.

He'd have to pull it up to know its true grade.

But he didn't think he was wrong.

Holding to that thought, Tongtian stirred his primordial spirit.

His magic power flowed.

He intended to use it to pull up the little grass.

But in the next instant,

A strange change occurred!

Tongtian was astonished to discover that the restraining force he had evolved with his magical power had actually been broken through in an instant!

Hmm?

What was going on?

Tongtian could not help but freeze.

He focused his gaze again.

Only then did he realize that he might have misjudged it.

"This spirit herb's stem is straight as a sword, and its leaves are sharp as blades. Perhaps it contains more laws than I estimated?"

"Incredible!"

"Then it must be a Superior Grade Innate Spirit Root!"

It had to be said.

The differences between Innate Spirit Roots of different grades were even greater than those between Innate Spiritual Treasures.

As for Innate Spiritual Treasures,

at least between Superior Grade and Supreme Grade, the gap was not that huge.

Spirit Roots, however, were different.

A Supreme Grade Spirit Root was an entire level stronger than a Superior Grade Spirit Root.

The same applied to the difference between a Superior Grade Spirit Root and a Medium Grade Spirit Root.

The Primordial Wilderness was indeed abundant with spiritual energy now.

But there still were not many Superior Grade Innate Spirit Roots.

Even Tongtian

had not encountered many.

Of course,

he had collected every one he encountered.

Now...

this one naturally would be no exception.

"Since it is a Superior Grade Innate Spirit Root, and it also possesses such sharp Sword Intent..."

"Then it has some compatibility with the Dao I cultivate!"

"If I can collect it and comprehend it, or even refine it..."

"It should bring me a great opportunity!"

"Hahahaha!"

Tongtian could not help laughing loudly.

Through the magical power that had been broken through, the fluctuations transmitted back allowed Tongtian to clearly sense that this spirit herb contained Sword Intent.

It most likely contained a large amount of Sword Dao Laws.

Such a spirit herb—

no matter how it was used, even if one merely meditated beside it, it would be immensely beneficial to comprehending the Sword Dao Laws!

For a moment,

joy filled Tongtian's heart.

He bent down.

He prepared to pull up the spirit herb himself

rather than simply using magical power.

Magical power was intangible.

Furthermore, he had underestimated this spirit herb just now, which was why it had been so easily broken through.

This time,

that clearly would not happen.

"Not bad!"

"I just arrived here,"

"and I have already obtained an opportunity!"

"Further up..."

"There must definitely be more!"

At this moment,

Tongtian still had the energy to think about other things.

He had not even considered the possibility of failure.

What a joke.

He was a peak Da Luo Golden Immortal cultivator,

one of the Three Purities,

and Pangu's Orthodox Lineage!

If he could not even pull up a Spirit Root, would that not be ridiculous?

But the next moment,

a scene he had never expected appeared.

More precisely,

a sharp pain surged from his palm!

When he focused his gaze again,

he saw a shocking wound on his palm!

Blood was even seeping from it!

At this moment,

Tongtian was utterly dumbfounded.

For a while, he could not even come to his senses.

Clearly,

he had not expected the scene before him.

It was one thing for his magical power to be broken through.

But this was his Dao Body!

"I was actually injured by a Spirit Root?"

Tongtian's gaze shifted between the wound and the Spirit Root.

Only after quite some time did he recover.

Although he had far too many questions,

the most urgent matter was clearly to stop the bleeding.

However, when he tried to put that thought into action,

he encountered another problem.

At most, Tongtian could use his magical power to seal the wound, preventing any more blood from flowing out.

But the wound itself could not heal!

Because around the wound,

there were many sharp strands of Sword Intent constantly preventing it from recovering.

More importantly,

this Sword Intent seemed incapable of diminishing.

No matter how many times it obstructed the healing,

it did not change.

It was as though it were eternal!

"So this is..."

"Eternal Sword Intent?"

"This is no longer merely a law. It is a Dao!"

"The Sword Dao!"

Tongtian drew a deep breath, temporarily even forgetting about his wound.

Or rather,

compared to this spirit herb, a wound was something that could be ignored.

Only now

did Tongtian realize

that every judgment he had made from the beginning until now had been wrong.

For a moment,

Tongtian could not help mocking himself.

He mocked his own ignorance.

He had actually used his shallow knowledge to speculate about such an incredibly profound Immortal Mountain.

"How could this be a Superior Grade Innate Spirit Root?"

"What it contains is not some Sword Dao Law, but the purest Sword Dao!"

"So!"

"This is clearly..."

"A Supreme Grade Innate Spirit Root!"

Although there was only one word of difference between a Supreme Grade Spirit Root and a Superior Grade Spirit Root,

in reality,

the difference between the two

could be said to be an insurmountable chasm!

One contained laws.

The other contained the Dao.

What astonished Tongtian even more was that the Spirit Root before him seemed unremarkable, yet the true meaning of the Sword Dao contained within it exceeded all imagination.

Not to mention touching it—

he had merely approached it, yet its sharp Sword Intent had already cut him!

What if he truly touched it?

Tongtian looked at his own palm.

He could not help smiling bitterly.

"Wouldn't it be cut down in an instant?"

The same applied to the other parts of his body.

The same was true of divine abilities and spells.

It was not an exaggeration in the slightest.

In other words,

he, Tongtian, might...

not be able to defeat a blade of grass?

That was simply absurd.

If someone had told Tongtian before that he might not even be able to defeat a blade of grass,

he would definitely have drawn the Greenping Sword

and slain that person.

Was this not utter nonsense?

Unable to defeat a blade of grass?

Could it be that grass had grown inside their head?

But now,

Tongtian could not refuse to accept it even if he wanted to.

He had to admit it.

Against this spirit herb, he truly might not be its opponent!

Tongtian drew a deep breath.

This time, he was not discouraged.

Instead, fighting spirit ignited in his eyes.

That was because this was different from the mountain itself. The mountain's indestructible nature had left him with no way to begin, and he had not known how to improve.

This Spirit Root was different.

It contained Sword Intent.

It could serve as proof of the path ahead!

He could even use it to comprehend the Dao

and enter...

the next realm!