Going Out, Climbing Mount Buzhou

There were only a few potentially feasible ways to gain merit and providence, and all of them were clumsy methods:

First, after the Dragon-Han Calamity, fewer than one in ten thousand living beings remained in the Primordial World, and inheritances had been lost. If one preached the Dao to all beings of the Primordial World and hastened its prosperity, one would certainly gain merit and providence.

But he was neither a Hunyuan Golden Immortal nor a Hunyuan Daluo, so the range of his teachings was limited. The number and cultivation of those who could hear his teachings were also limited, and thus the merit and providence he could gain were naturally limited as well.

Second, the great war among the three races during the Dragon-Han Calamity had affected the entire Primordial World. Some places had been tainted by resentment and baleful aura, becoming lands of death; some mountains, rivers, and earth veins had shattered, causing the Dao rhythms and spiritual vitality of entire regions to leak away... If they could be restored and governed, merit would surely be gained.

But likewise, his cultivation was limited, so the speed at which he could cleanse them was limited, and the merit and providence he could gain would naturally be limited as well.

Third, most of the earth veins of the Western Continent had been destroyed by Rahu. Demonic and baleful aura might still linger there. On the Northern Continent, due to the ravages of the Ferocious Beasts during the Calamity of Ferocious Beasts, most of the Dao rhythms and spiritual vitality contained within its earth veins had been devoured, while what remained had been polluted. After the Ferocious Beast Dynasty was exterminated, the baleful aura from the countless ferocious beast corpses further polluted the north.

If either of those two places could be restored and governed, it would probably allow any living being to ascend to the heavens in a single step, attaining sainthood through merit.

Yet even after attaining sainthood, restoring and governing those two places would not be easy.

With his cultivation, the pace of restoration would be limited, and so the merit and providence he could gain would naturally be limited as well.

But no matter how limited it was, Yuan Yan intended to give it a try, especially the Western Continent.

In the original trajectory of fate, the reason Jieyin and Zhunti had been able to attain sainthood was because they possessed the providence of the west and bore the heavenly mandate to revive it.

Although he had taken form and been born on Mount Buzhou, Yuan Yan felt that the Primordial World was one whole. There was no reason he could not be a being of the west, nor any reason he could not strive for the revival of the west.

If he was striving for the west's revival and regarded himself as a being of the west, was it too much to take a Saint's position?

Although they had decided to travel abroad, Yuan Yan and the other three did not set out immediately. Instead, they first devoted themselves to refining the innate spirit treasures in their hands, deepening their control over them.

Apart from the Nine Heavens Breath Soil, which Yuan Yan had already refined, the seven innate gourds had all been nurtured by their true body, the Primordial Gourd Vine. Their connection with them was far too close, so refining the innate divine restrictions within the gourds was naturally effortless.

In less than one kalpa, all four had refined and mastered the innate gourds in their hands to the utmost limit their current realms of cultivation allowed.

After making some arrangements at their place of birth and carrying away most of the valuable items, Yuan Yan and the other three finally left.

The moment they stepped beyond the area covered by the innate formation, the four of them felt a familiar, heavy pressure from Pangu, along with the terrifying Dao rhythm of the Great Dao of Strength.

If outsiders came here, even Da Luo Golden Immortals would likely be greatly affected, losing more than half their combat strength.

But because they were innate sacred beings born on Mount Buzhou, Pangu's pressure brushed over them like a gentle breeze and had no effect.

Of course, if they wished to experience the majesty of Pangu's pressure, they could do so by actively drawing it forth and resisting it with their own Dao.

Yuan Yan and the other three exchanged glances, each understanding the others' intentions. They all manifested their own Dao, actively drawing Pangu's pressure to resist it. At the same time, they comprehended the Dao rhythm of the Great Dao of Strength, using it to evolve and perfect their own Great Dao.

The four then parted ways, climbing Mount Buzhou from four different directions in an attempt to reach its summit.

Naturally, they did not forget to spread out their divine senses and seek out opportunities and fortunes.

Because Mount Buzhou was suffused with an incomparably dense pressure from Pangu, ordinary flowers, grass, trees, birds, beasts, insects, and fish could not survive there. The mountain appeared exceptionally barren.

Yet it was precisely because of this that anything capable of surviving on Mount Buzhou was extraordinary.

Mount Buzhou truly deserved its title as the foremost divine mountain of the Primordial World, transformed from Pangu's spine. It held countless heavenly treasures, opportunities, and fortunes.

As Yuan Yan climbed, he obtained an unknown number of heavenly treasures.

Most of these heavenly treasures had been born from the resonance of laws and even Great Daos. They contained, to varying degrees, traces of laws and even Great Daos. In terms of grade, they were all at least at the Mystic Immortal level.

Although, apart from a very few, these heavenly treasures were useless to him.

Still, thinking of the environment of the Primordial World in later generations, Yuan Yan upheld the principle of not wasting anything and collected every heavenly treasure he encountered.

Of course, Yuan Yan did not strip everything bare. Whenever something could leave behind roots, he left them behind. He did not act like certain transmigrators in Primordial World novels, who not only took everything but scraped the ground clean as well.

That was simply making a joke of one's own Dao path. Taking some spirit herbs and spirit roots was one thing, but scraping the ground clean and destroying the Dao rhythms and spiritual vitality of an entire region would bring endless karma and karmic sin upon oneself, hindering cultivation and cutting off one's Dao path.

However, to Yuan Yan's disappointment, after climbing Mount Buzhou for tens of thousands of years, whether due to insufficient providence or some other reason,

he had not encountered a single innate formation, and naturally had gained no innate spirit treasures or innate spirit roots.

Heaven did not betray those who worked hard!

After tens of thousands of years of climbing, he finally gained something!

Ten thousand years later, Yuan Yan stopped before a massive boulder that appeared utterly ordinary. He flicked his finger, sending a streak of light into the empty air before him.

"Buzz!"

In an instant, ripples spread through the void, and an innate formation manifested, blocking the streak of light Yuan Yan had casually fired.

"It really is an innate formation!"

A trace of delight flashed through Yuan Yan's eyes when he saw it.

The existence of an innate formation was often accompanied by an innate spirit treasure or an innate spirit root.

Of course, it was also possible for an innate sacred being to be within! But he should not be that unlucky!

The innate formation before him was of no low grade, so the treasure within was surely extraordinary.

Yuan Yan carefully examined the innate formation for a while before preparing to break it.

There were no more than two methods of breaking formations in the Primordial World. The first was to break it by force, using overwhelming strength to forcibly shatter the formation and take the treasure serving as its formation eye.

Though this method was simple and brutal, it could very easily damage the treasure within the formation eye.

Moreover, innate formations were generally formed in reliance on heaven and earth. Breaking one by force would inevitably damage heaven and earth to some extent, bringing karma and karmic sin upon oneself. Though it would not be much, it was best avoided whenever possible.

Thus, unless absolutely necessary, living beings of the Primordial World generally did not use this method.

The second was to comprehend the formation, analyze its operating principles, and break the formation by using a point to shatter the whole.

Although this method took longer, comprehending and analyzing a formation's operating principles could deepen one's understanding of laws and Great Daos. Most beings of the Primordial World used this method.

Yuan Yan tossed out the Myriad Dao Primordial Gourd and casually evolved a simplified version of the Primordial Yin-Yang Great Evolution Formation, preventing unexpected disturbances or ambushes while he was fully focused on comprehending the formation.

Then he sat down cross-legged, extended his divine sense, touched the innate formation, and began comprehending the formation before him.