Mid-stage Da Luo, Huangzhong Plum

In the Primordial World, time was not recorded; the long, flowing years passed in the blink of an eye.

Tianlu crouched quietly at the edge of the array, day after day, year after year, ceaselessly devouring the runes of the Xiantian Array.

As more and more Xiantian runes were swallowed into his belly, Tianlu was astonished to discover that once they entered his internal space, they were immediately crushed by the Law of Devouring and converted into the purest mana to nourish himself.

His cultivation, which had only just stabilized at the early stage of the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm, actually began to show signs of loosening.

Tianlu paused, a flash of realization crossing his large eyes.

So, this is the nature of the Law of Devouring?

Devour all things, transform them for one's own use.

This was the true essence of the Great Dao of Devouring.

It was not merely about consuming tangible objects, but also about devouring intangible laws and intangible Daos, converting every ounce of power in heaven and earth into fuel for his own growth.

After this realization, a surge of wild joy welled up in Tianlu's heart.

He had an extremely strong premonition that if he completely devoured this Xiantian Array, there was a high probability he could break through his bottleneck in one fell swoop and step into the mid-stage of the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm.

Thinking of this, Tianlu put even more effort into his work.

He seemed to have transformed into an insatiable Taotie, his wide-open maw erupting with an even more terrifying suction force.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!"

Dense clusters of Xiantian runes, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, transformed into thousands of brilliant streams of light, pouring endlessly into the mouth of Tianlu the Pixiu.

The light curtain of the array became riddled with holes at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Meanwhile, in the shadows.

The Primordial Yin Qi, which had yet to take form, had already arrived at the scene.

She hid within the folds of the void, watching helplessly as Tianlu swallowed, bit by bit, the Xiantian Array that protected her innate opportunity.

Watching the array she considered her private property being ruined in such a way, the consciousness of the Primordial Yin Qi was filled with fury.

"This damnable Pixiu! How dare he destroy this Palace's array! I will fight you to the death!"

She gathered her innate, frigid source energy several times, intending to rush out of the void and strike to interrupt Tianlu's devouring.

But for some reason, whenever the thought of attacking Tianlu arose, a violent tremor would ripple through the depths of her Primordial Spirit from the unknown.

An invisible force was frantically warning her.

If she dared to strike at this Pixiu, terrifying misfortune would surely descend upon her.

This was the passive divine ability of Tianlu as a favorite of the Great Dao.

Any creature that harbored malice toward Tianlu would suffer from cultivation deviation, unstable luck, or even punishment from the Great Dao itself.

Although the Primordial Yin Qi had not yet taken form, as the first wisp of Primordial Yin Qi, her spiritual perception was incredibly sharp.

This caused her to hesitate, unable to bring herself to actually attack.

"What should I do? I cannot fight him, so am I just to watch him snatch away my opportunity?"

The Primordial Yin Qi circled anxiously in the void.

Amidst endless conflict and contemplation, the passage of time seemed to become agonizingly long.

This Primordial Yin Qi was still in the gestation stage, and her mental strength was not yet powerful.

Prolonged emotional distress left her feeling deeply exhausted.

After a long while, she actually felt drowsy, and her consciousness began to blur.

In the end, the Primordial Yin Qi could no longer hold on; she fell into a deep slumber, resting quietly within the void.

Just as she fell asleep, the situation in the outside world underwent a heaven-shaking change.

"Boom!"

With the final, thick Xiantian rune sucked into Tianlu's mouth, the Xiantian Great Array, which had stood in the Kunlun Sacred Realm for countless epochs, finally let out a groan of exhaustion and collapsed completely.

At the moment the array shattered, a heaven-shaking aura erupted from within Tianlu's body.

He had refined and absorbed the entire essence of the Xiantian Array, and the vast source of mana surged within him like a raging sea.

The Three Flowers above his head manifested automatically; the twelve-petaled Heaven Flower, Earth Flower, and Human Flower shone brilliantly, radiating the aura of a perfect and flawless Great Dao.

"Break!"

Tianlu gave a low shout in his heart.

In an instant, the shackles within him were shattered with a roar, and the powerful pressure of the mid-stage Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm swept outward like a storm, completely dispersing the surrounding immortal mist.

Feeling his strength surge, Tianlu felt a surge of joy, and a satisfied, remarkably human-like smile appeared on his face.

He then retracted the pressure of the mid-stage Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal and turned to look at the blessed land that had lost the protection of the Xiantian Array, walking toward its depths with impatience.

The moment he stepped into this realm, an incredibly dense Xiantian spiritual energy rushed toward him, transforming into wisps of spiritual liquid drifting through the air.

This place was filled with wonders; the faint sound of Great Dao chants echoed in the void, Golden Lotus from the Earth bloomed, and flowers fell from the sky.

Even more astonishingly, clusters of heavy Mysterious Yellow Clear Qi floated in mid-air. These wisps of Mysterious Yellow Clear Qi were supreme objects of creation left over from the beginning of the world, each one as heavy as a thousand jun and containing an unimaginable source of power from heaven and earth.

Tianlu's round, rolling eyes gleamed with a sharp light, his gaze piercing through layers of Mysterious Yellow Clear Qi to stare fixedly at the center of the blessed land.

There, in the place where the spiritual energy converged most densely, a towering ancient tree stood in silence.

The trunk of this tree was gnarled like a Dragon, its entire body displaying a primitive and profound chaotic hue.

Its canopy blotted out the sky, and amidst the lush branches and leaves, mysterious Xiantian Dao patterns flowed.

Most peculiar of all were its flowers and fruits.

Each flower blooming on the tree presented a triple phantom image; the flowers bloomed with three shadows, possessing an extraordinary mystery.

As for the fruits it bore, they manifested nine shadows, as if containing the endless transformations of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams.

Whether on the crystal-clear petals or the plump, rounded fruits, two ancient Xiantian Dao characters were naturally inscribed—Huangzhong.

Tianlu counted carefully; hanging from the branches were exactly nine fruits, emitting an alluring, fragrant scent.

"Gulp..."

A clear sound of swallowing echoed through the quiet blessed land.

Tianlu could not help but drool, a strand of crystalline saliva even hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"Huangzhong Plum! It's actually the Huangzhong Plum!"

One had to know, this was one of the ten famous Xiantian Spiritual Roots in the Primordial World.

Legend had it that this tree blossomed once every Yuanhui, bore fruit once every Yuanhui, and ripened once every Yuanhui, requiring a long span of three Yuanhui just to produce these mere nine fruits.

If a mortal were to eat a single fruit, they could instantly attain the status of a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, saving themselves billions of years of arduous cultivation.

Even for those great beings who had already stepped into the realm of the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, the vast origin and power of creation contained within the Huangzhong Plum were not insignificant; it could greatly nourish the Primordial Spirit and enhance magic power.

Faced with such a shocking opportunity, Tianlu was not about to be polite.

His nature of coveting wealth and devouring treasures was exposed in an instant, and he immediately leaped forward, arriving beneath the Huangzhong Plum tree.

He then scrambled up the branches, opened his maw wide, and without caring to savor the taste, began swallowing the fruits one after another into his belly.

Once the fruits entered his internal space, they immediately transformed into a surging, sea-like power of Xiantian origin.

Tianlu's internal space possessed the heaven-defying ability to reverse the acquired back into the innate, and at this moment, it was frantically refining the power of the Huangzhong Plum to nourish his own being.