Devouring and Purification

Bai Jing put away the Creation Jade Disc Fragment. With that, he had finished exploring all of Yingzhou Island. He sat down cross-legged where he was and took stock of his gains.

Bai Jing had broken through a total of seventeen innate restrictions on Yingzhou Island. Sixteen of them contained spirit roots, so he had obtained sixteen innate spirit roots in all: three high-grade innate spirit roots, five mid-grade innate spirit roots, and eight low-grade innate spirit roots.

Worth mentioning were two exceptionally special spirit roots among those Bai Jing had collected. One was the high-grade innate spirit root Enlightenment Tea Tree, whose leaves could help one quickly enter a state of enlightenment.

The other was the low-grade innate spirit root Millet—millet from his previous life. The millet seeds borne by this spirit root could be planted to grow acquired spirit-root-grade millet. When Bai Jing broke through the innate restriction protecting it, the restriction had been filled with acquired spirit-root-grade millet.

Then there were 155 top-grade acquired spirit roots. Bai Jing had not even spared a glance for anything below top-grade acquired spirit roots, because there was simply too much of it.

The various spiritual herbs were even more countless. Any herb Bai Jing bothered to collect was at least a hundred thousand years old. He could not even be bothered to bend down for those under a hundred thousand years.

There were also all kinds of rare materials, including some spiritual materials tainted with chaos qi. Such materials were rare artifact-refining materials even in the Primordial World. In particular, the spiritual materials tainted with chaos qi would tempt even Hunyuan Golden Immortals and quasi-sages once the Primordial World's path of artifact refinement rose to prominence.

Unfortunately, he had not found the Five-Needle Pine, one of the legendary Ten Innate Spirit Roots.

The Five-Needle Pine had never appeared in the Primordial World. The Primordial World novels Bai Jing had read in his previous life claimed that it was very likely located on the Three Immortal Islands.

There was no Five-Needle Pine on Yingzhou Island, where the white lotus had been. Penglai Island had emerged into the world later on, which meant there was no Five-Needle Pine there either. Otherwise, the great powers of the Primordial World would have discovered it long ago.

That left only one explanation: the Five-Needle Pine was most likely growing on Fangzhang Island.

Bai Jing could not leave Yingzhou Island at all right now. Without the cultivation of a Da Luo Golden Immortal, it was difficult even to approach the innate restrictions surrounding Yingzhou Island, much less get out.

Even if Bai Jing could leave Yingzhou Island, he would not dare go to Fangzhang Island. Fangzhang Island had once been Yangmei's cultivation ground. Who knew whether he had left behind any contingencies?

That said, Bai Jing felt that he needed to raise his cultivation as quickly as possible.

The reason was simple. The first lecture at Zixiao Palace was probably about to end. After one yuanhui, the second lecture would begin. Not long after the second lecture ended, Penglai Immortal Island would emerge into the world.

Yingzhou Island alone had so many treasures. Bai Jing certainly did not want to miss Penglai Immortal Island's emergence, and he likewise did not want to miss Zixiao Palace's lectures.

Nothing else mattered as much as not missing Treasure-Splitting Cliff at the third lecture.

Taking all that into account, what Bai Jing could do now was cultivate to the Da Luo Golden Immortal realm as quickly as possible. Yet even with Yingzhou Island's resources, if he cultivated step by step, he might not break through to Da Luo Golden Immortal even in one yuanhui.

There was also the matter of when he had taken form. Bai Jing's intuition had told him that his origin was incomplete. He could not immediately fuse with that thread of Chaos Green Lotus origin; he had to repair his own origin first, then use that thread of Chaos Green Lotus origin to complete a transformation of his own origin. Only then might he have a chance to attain the Great Dao.

Therefore, repairing his origin had to take priority over breaking through to Da Luo Golden Immortal.

Bai Jing had previously guessed that his incomplete origin was most likely because the World-Purifying White Lotus seed had not matured before the creation of heaven and earth. In other words, the World-Purifying White Lotus that was his true body should have transformed into a twenty-fourth-rank lotus like the Creation Green Lotus for its origin to be complete.

Then, with the thread of origin left to him by the Chaos Green Lotus, he could transform himself into a chaos spiritual plant. At that point, he might have a chance to break through to Hunyuan Da Luo Golden Immortal.

But how could he repair his origin? By fusing with things that shared his roots and origin? Or by relying on heaven-and-earth spirit roots?

At that thought, Bai Jing decided to return to the Three Lights Pool that had nurtured him for a look. There were still two Nine-Rank White Lotuses there. They shared his roots and origin, so perhaps absorbing their origins could replenish his own.

Back at the pool, Bai Jing picked up the white lotus whose consciousness had been erased and began refining its origin. It took a hundred years before the Nine-Rank White Lotus turned into a milky-white sphere that looked rather like a pill.

Bai Jing swallowed the pill. A moment later, he felt his origin increase by a trace—roughly one-thousandth.

Bai Jing's mouth twitched. For a moment, he did not know what to say. He had spent a hundred years for such a tiny increase in origin. This clearly would not do. Not only was the refining efficiency low, but the effect was poor as well.

Looks like I'll have to find another way, Bai Jing thought, then began searching through his inherited memories.

As he searched, Bai Jing suddenly thought of the Creation Jade Disc Fragment. He remembered that the Creation Jade Disc Fragment contained the Dao of Devouring, while his true body was the World-Purifying White Lotus, which possessed the ability to purify all things.

If he could combine the two, use the Dao of Devouring to devour all kinds of spiritual treasures and spiritual materials, then use his ability to purify all things during the process to cleanse the impurities in those treasures and materials that were harmful to himself, could he rapidly repair his origin and strengthen himself?

At that thought, Bai Jing's eyes lit up. He took out the Creation Jade Disc Fragment and began studying it.

To master the Dao of Devouring, he first needed to comprehend the Law of Devouring, and comprehending laws was something only Da Luo Golden Immortals could begin to do.

Bai Jing naturally could not comprehend the Law of Devouring right now. Although he could not comprehend it, with the help of the Creation Jade Disc Fragment, Bai Jing spent ten thousand years comprehending a cultivation art centered on devouring. He named it the Spirit Devouring Art.

Then Bai Jing began his experiment. There were only two Nine-Rank White Lotuses, so he did not use one as his first test. Instead, he first plucked a sixth-rank white lotus and stuffed it directly into his mouth.

The instant the white lotus entered his mouth, Bai Jing circulated the cultivation art, and his innate purification ability activated as well.

In just one day, Bai Jing had digested and absorbed the sixth-rank white lotus. His origin increased by one-thousandth, about the same as the Nine-Rank White Lotus he had just refined.

This method was clearly feasible!

After that, Bai Jing became immersed in eating, eating, and more eating. As he ate, he determined which spirit roots and spiritual herbs in his possession could repair his origin, while also improving the Spirit Devouring Art.

Another thirty thousand years passed just like that, and Bai Jing's Spirit Devouring Art finally reached great accomplishment.

The current Spirit Devouring Art could be called capable of devouring anything. Whether spirit roots, spiritual herbs, or even hard spiritual materials, it could devour them directly, purify their impurities, and then have the body absorb them.

Worth mentioning was that devouring spirit roots and spiritual herbs increased his mana, while devouring various spiritual materials increased his physical strength.

After these thirty thousand years of experimentation, Bai Jing's physical strength had also reached the peak of Taiyi Golden Immortal, equal to his primordial spirit cultivation. His origin had been repaired by nearly one percent as well.

After thinking it over, Bai Jing felt that repairing his origin without things that shared his roots and origin was too slow. It would be better to first try increasing his physical strength until it reached the Da Luo level. After leaving Yingzhou Island, he could find other treasures that shared his roots and origin to repair it.

Thus, over the next several tens of thousands of years, Bai Jing shifted his main target for devouring to all kinds of ores.

A little over eighty thousand years passed. Of the ores Bai Jing had collected on Yingzhou Island, aside from those tainted with chaos qi, he devoured more than half.

In the end, quantitative change brought qualitative change. Bai Jing's physical strength finally reached the Da Luo level. In other words, he could now approach Yingzhou Island's innate restrictions.

In this book's time system, one yuan was divided into twelve hui, with each hui lasting 10,800 years. One yuanhui was 129,600 years, and 50,000 yuanhui made one Hunyuan Calamity. One calamity = 50,000 yuanhui × 129,600 years = 6.48 billion years.