Cowardly Immortal Vine seemed to understand only vaguely. It lowered a few leaves, then completely drew in all its aura and melded with the entire mountain. Not the slightest trace of a Spiritual Root could be seen.
After lecturing Cowardly Immortal Vine, Lu Changsheng turned to look at the Red Sun Fruit Tree in the spirit field.
Over these eight thousand years, the Red Sun Fruit Tree had grown increasingly extraordinary. A few mysterious yellow markings had even begun to appear faintly on its trunk.
"You too. Don't grow so conspicuously."
Lu Changsheng walked over and, without the slightest hesitation, pinched off a few leaves that seemed to contain too much spiritual energy.
"It's fine if the fruit takes longer to ripen. The most important thing is not to leak even a trace of an Innate Spiritual Root's aura. Otherwise, if those red-eyed Primordial Land Fierce Beasts come sniffing around, this poor Daoist won't be able to protect you."
The Red Sun Fruit Tree's branches shook wildly from the pinching, but cowed by Lu Changsheng's tyranny, it could only meekly rein in its radiance and become an unremarkable low-grade fruit tree once more.
After he had put everything in the cave abode back in order and ensured not a trace of aura could escape,
Lu Changsheng finally let out a long breath and returned to the White Jade Cloud Bed.
"The situation outside has gone completely to ruin, but the Heavenly Dao keeps turning. The calamity will pass one day."
He sat cross-legged, resting his hands naturally on his knees.
"The Mysterious Yellow Shield has fused with my primordial spirit. Next, I'll nurture the treasure while striving for the Mystic Immortal Dao."
"As for the Dragon-Han First Tribulation... let those Innate Divine Beings fight and scramble over it."
Lu Changsheng slowly closed his eyes, his mind sinking completely into the Great Void.
"This poor Daoist will sit here on the Nameless Low Mountain and watch the clouds gather and disperse."
"Once you're all dead, I'll come out and gather your corpses."
As the last candle in the cave abode went out, the Nameless Low Mountain sank once more into deathly silence.
Beyond the thick Three Thousand Layer Array,
the sky over the Primordial Land had already been dyed red by endless baleful aura and blood.
The earth-shaking war between the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans had finally reached its bloodiest end.
Boundless karmic retribution took the form of visible black lightning, raging wildly across the horizon.
Heaven and earth seemed to groan in agony beneath this Tribulation of Measure.
No calendar marked the years in the mountains; winter passed, and no one knew the season.
Ever since the day Lu Changsheng sealed the stone door and resolved to enter closed-door cultivation, the Nameless Low Mountain had fallen into a long, silent stretch of time.
Inside the cave abode, the luminous pearl set into the ceiling gave off a soft, steady glow.
In the spirit field, the Red Sun Fruit Tree's leaves had fallen and grown back countless times.
Cowardly Immortal Vine, sternly scolded by Lu Changsheng, had also obediently concealed all its spiritual light. Like a dead branch, it clung fast to the cave's rocky wall, showing no sign of life.
It kept its probing tendrils carefully within a hundred-mile radius outside the mountain gate, never daring to cross the line again.
One thousand years.
Three thousand years.
Ten thousand years.
A full thirty thousand years flowed by like sand between the fingers, passing soundlessly inside the Three Thousand Layer Mysterious Yellow Pure Yang Array, cut off from the world.
Over these thirty thousand years, aside from occasionally rising to tend the spirit field and eat a few mutated Red Sun Fruits tinged with the aura of merit,
Lu Changsheng spent nearly all his time seated cross-legged on the White Jade Cloud Bed, like a golden stone statue that had endured since time immemorial.
He was refining.
Not the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but the ancient treasure hovering before his chest, bit by bit, using his primordial spirit, imbued with the source of Great Dao Merit, to polish and fuse with it completely: the Innate Merit Mysterious Yellow Shield.
Innate Spirit Treasures were governed by fate, and the innate restrictions they contained were exceedingly intricate.
Even if an ordinary True Immortal were lucky enough to obtain one, they might spend a hundred thousand years without fully refining it to their will.
But Lu Changsheng was different.
He had forcibly repaired this Mysterious Yellow Shield with Great Dao Merit. The two had long since formed a strange bond, as if linked by blood.
"Phew..."
On this day, Lu Changsheng, who had sat in meditation for thirty thousand years, finally let out a long, slow breath of foul air.
The breath turned into a visible gray stream in midair. Before it could fall, the dense Earth Vein spiritual energy in the cave abode assimilated and dispersed it.
Lu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes. The weakness that had once followed his forced extraction of his source was gone from his golden gaze, replaced by a depthless reserve and solidity.
"Thirty thousand years of hard work, and I've finally refined all twelve innate restrictions completely to my will."
A satisfied smile tugged at his lips. He raised his right hand and beckoned lightly.
The ancient, weighty Mysterious Yellow Shield immediately became a streak of light and obediently landed in his palm.
It offered no resistance and let not a trace of spiritual power escape, as though the shield were simply an extension of his own body.
At the merest stir of thought, the Mysterious Yellow Shield could become a flawless curtain of mysterious yellow light, perfectly protecting him and even concealing his karma and aura.
What was more, their long companionship and the fusion of their primordial spirits over these thirty thousand years had allowed Lu Changsheng's once-diminished cultivation
to be thoroughly consolidated by the nourishing return of its profound Dao resonance. His foundation at the mid-stage of the True Immortal realm was now secure, and he had even stepped halfway across the threshold of the late stage.
"With this treasure in hand, together with the Three Thousand Layer Array, my Nameless Low Mountain will be the safest haven in the entire Primordial Land."
Lu Changsheng stretched the muscles that had stiffened over tens of thousands of years. A series of muffled, thunderous cracks rang through his body.
He stepped down from the Cloud Bed and walked over to the control station.
A thread of magical power flowed around his fingertip as he gently tapped the White Jade Array Eye.
"Hum—"
The Water Mirror Technique slowly unfolded.
Through the array, Lu Changsheng saw the scene within a hundred miles outside.
The same desolate ruins stretched beneath a sky of oppressive gray.
The Tribulation Sha Qi filling the air had not diminished at all over the past thirty thousand years. Instead, it had grown several times denser.
Even the howling winds that blew without cease seemed to carry the desperate, shrill cries of countless beings in their final moments.
"Looks like the Tribulation of Measure outside hasn't calmed down. If anything, it's only grown worse."
Looking at the heart-stopping scene in the water mirror, Lu Changsheng felt not the slightest worry. Instead, he was deeply relieved.
He patted Cowardly Immortal Vine, hanging from the rocky wall, and said earnestly,
"See? That's the Primordial Land."
"We've spent thirty thousand peaceful years in this cave abode, improving our cultivation and bringing our treasure to completion."
"Now look at those fools outside, fighting to the death over the world's fortune. By now, they probably can't even find a warm pile of ashes."
"Keeping your head down is the true way."
Cowardly Immortal Vine's leaves trembled twice, as if echoing its master's wise decision.
Lu Changsheng nodded in satisfaction, then turned to fetch some immortal stones from the storeroom and reinforce the outer array with another layer of protection.
But at the very instant he turned around,
disaster suddenly struck.
There had been no warning, nor any sign of a powerful being unleashing a divine ability.
Even Cowardly Immortal Vine, usually so keenly attuned to danger, gave no warning at all.
"BOOM!!!"
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