Before Long, Spirit Platform Mountain Would Become a True Upper-Grade Grotto-heaven Blessed Land

"Congratulations on your return, Master!"

The boy attendants beamed with delight, while the White Tiger acted especially coquettish, rubbing frantically against Zhu Yin.

Zhu Yin stroked the White Tiger's head and was pleased to find that its cultivation had reached the early Mysterious Immortal stage. Its body had grown much sturdier as well.

He looked over the cultivation of the two boy attendants and nodded approvingly. "True Immortal perfection. Your foundations are steady. Well done."

The boy attendants were overjoyed.

Ever since taking charge of the Merit Pavilion, they had not dared slack off. Besides handling their duties diligently, they persisted in bitter cultivation, afraid of holding everyone back.

Zhu Yin stroked Jin Tu's chin again. Hearing the great cat purr comfortably, he felt a wave of satisfaction as well.

Afterward, he gave the three of them a few small gifts for cultivation, dismissed them, and headed alone toward the Spirit Medicine Garden.

"Greetings, Master!"

The Spirit Bee queen was also jubilant upon seeing him return.

Zhu Yin smiled and nodded, placing great hopes on her and the swarm. After giving a few instructions, he returned to his bamboo lodge.

Inside the bamboo lodge, Zhu Yin was taking stock of the gains from his journey to the Western Sea.

This trip had taken him a full two thousand years. Though arduous, the harvest had been immense... He had collected hundreds of thousands of immortal, demon, and witch corpses alone. There were not many Heavenly Immortal and Golden Immortal corpses, only a few thousand; the most numerous were True Immortals and Mysterious Immortals, along with more than a hundred Primordial Unity Golden Immortal corpses.

Most of these corpses no longer possessed Primordial Spirits, so there was no karmic retribution involved. A small portion still had their Primordial Spirits, and Zhu Yin had conveniently converted them while traveling, storing them away for the time being rather than letting them fall into the Blood Sea. Once the Six Paths of Reincarnation was established in the future, he would arrange for them to reincarnate and settle their karmic debts.

Besides the corpses, he had brought back a vast amount of Heaven and Earth Treasures, both acquired and innate; there were materials for refining artifacts and herbs for concocting pills... It had taken him a full two thousand years to collect and sort through all these things.

Compared to the entire Demon Race, his harvest did not even amount to a fraction of a fraction. Yet he had only made one trip through the Western Sea. Across the entire Western Lands, he was already an extremely wealthy man. Added to the million treasures he had previously obtained from Ancestor Xuanxin's turtle shell, his gains could truly be called abundant.

Zhu Yin was not greedy. He was already deeply satisfied with what he had gained. With peace in his heart came natural purity.

Next, he summoned the Vitality Treasure Vase and poured Three Lights Divine Water into the divine bird egg. As the vitality within the egg gradually thickened, Zhu Yin revealed a satisfied smile.

Ancestor Xuanxin had considered Three Lights Divine Water exceedingly precious, but it was no issue for Zhu Yin. His Vitality Treasure Vase produced one drop of divine water every ten thousand years, and after accumulating it for so many years, he naturally did not lack it.

With a gentle sweep of his sleeve, he sent the divine bird egg to the summit of Spirit Platform Mountain to receive the Sun Star's radiance, then continued sorting through his other gains.

This time, he had also brought back two Innate Low-Grade Spiritual Treasures from the Immortal Court Estate's treasure vault: the Dreamcloud Pearl and the Mountain-Driving Whip. Both possessed considerable power.

The Dreamcloud Pearl could help him comprehend methods of cultivation within dreams, while the Mountain-Driving Whip could assist him in organizing the qi of the earth veins and reshaping the layout of mountains and rivers.

In addition, he had obtained two precious Innate Spiritual Roots:

One was the Life-and-Death Fruit Tree. It flowered and bore fruit once every six thousand years; not only could it prolong one's life, it could also help one comprehend the Dao of life and death.

The other was the Fire Date Spirit Tree. It flowered and bore fruit once every three thousand years, containing powerful fire essence that was immensely beneficial for nourishing the divine soul.

Some of these spiritual roots had been found by him in Grotto-heaven Blessed Lands, while others had taken Ancestor Xuanxin thousands of years of hard work to obtain.

There were also some innate divine metals and Acquired Spiritual Roots, all of which he arranged by category: materials were carefully stored away, while spiritual roots were planted as soon as possible.

Within Spirit Platform Mountain, Zhu Yin personally set to work. Wielding the Merit Spirit Hoe and Mystic Light Heavenly Plow, he scattered vitality spirit water and expanded the Spirit Medicine Garden several times over.

He personally loosened the soil and applied fertilizer, enjoying himself immensely.

Though his cultivation was already extraordinarily high, he had never forgotten that he was originally a stalk of Lingzhu, a spiritual plant nurtured by heaven and earth. Planting spirit herbs and tending spiritual roots were matters of duty.

This process was not merely farming; it was also comprehending the Dao and cultivating his heart.

As time passed, endless pure light naturally arose within him, while boundless radiance of freedom shimmered behind his head. This was one method of spiritual-root cultivation.

This was his Great Freedom... his mind and spirit became one, and all vexations vanished.

When he finished, he stood amid the Spirit Medicine Garden. Hundred Flowers bloomed in profusion, spirit herbs flourished, bees busied themselves gathering nectar, and Spirit Platform Mountain brimmed with spiritual qi as the forests trembled joyfully.

This vibrant, thriving aura infected everyone around him.

The two boy attendants, Wuxin and Wuqing, smiled happily. The White Tiger stole wine while wildly throwing punches, and every boy attendant tending the mountain's affairs was beaming with delight.

The Merit Spirit Hoe and Mystic Light Heavenly Plow were casually set aside. Clad in green, Zhu Yin stood in the garden with a smile on his face.

At this moment, his heart was incomparably tranquil. He feared nothing and worried over nothing, his whole being limpid and clear.

The Supreme Bodhi Seed above his head emerged on its own, casting down the radiance of wisdom. The Pure-Cleansing Bell within his Primordial Spirit gently chimed, and the Enlightenment Tea Tree beside him swayed softly.

Everything he had seen and heard, thought and felt over these years surged forth like a tide:

Three thousand years of secluded cultivation and Dao comprehension, three thousand years of listening to teachings and seeking the Dharma, one thousand years refining artifacts, two thousand years wandering the world, along with the hundreds of years spent rushing back and forth in toil, teaching disciples, and growing flowers and grasses...

Everything accumulated over a full ten thousand years transformed into the Great Dao in a single instant.

All things in the Primordial Wilderness were Dao; the myriad forms of mountains and forests were all freedom.

Zhu Yin attained enlightenment on the spot.

Within the Spirit Medicine Garden, that Heaven-Piercing Jade Bamboo suddenly grew incomparably tall, as though it would pierce straight into the vault of heaven. It radiated dense life force, protecting all of Spirit Platform Mountain, the hundreds of thousands of miles around it, and even the entire Western Lands.

The Dao of Great Freedom manifested. The mountain's grasses and trees grew wildly in response, and the entire world became crystal clear within his heart.

The jade bamboo swayed joyfully, as though it wished to merge into all heaven and earth.

"Where the heart finds peace, there is home." He achieved complete realization within his heart.

Within that jade bamboo, a radiant Buddha Heart condensed, illuminating the entire world. A fist-sized Sarira also formed, tranquil and pure.

His cultivation surged accordingly, carrying him in one stroke into the Peak Early Great Principle stage.

"Unfortunately, the time has not yet come." The jade bamboo gave a faint sigh.

At this time, the Two Saints had yet to attain the Dao, the conflict between witches and demons had not ended, the Profound Sect had not yet risen, and the Buddhist Sect had not reached the time of its true emergence.

With a thought, he let the Buddha Heart fall dormant, sealed the Sarira, left the Bodhi rootless and the lotus throne without buds. Only purity and freedom remained.

He was willing to guard this stretch of heaven and earth and protect Spirit Platform Mountain well.

Within the Spirit Medicine Garden, the jade bamboo's shadow quietly faded, and Zhu Yin returned to human form.

Feeling the rise in his cultivation, he also revealed a delighted expression. He had not expected this bout of enlightenment to reach such a level.

He looked at the spiritual roots filling the garden, and a sense of accomplishment rose within his heart.

Besides himself, an Upper-Grade Innate Spiritual Root, there were also two newly added Innate Spiritual Roots, three Innate Low-Grade Spiritual Roots, and more than a dozen Post-Heaven High-Grade Spiritual Roots.

Those three Innate Low-Grade Spiritual Roots were the Geng Metal Fruit Tree, Water Essence Fruit Tree, and Astral Fruit Tree.

After eating their spirit fruits, he had nurtured the seeds within the Vitality Treasure Vase, added drops of Three Lights Divine Water, then planted them in soil improved with merit spiritual treasures and Innate Spiritual Treasures.

They had now broken through the soil and grown into small saplings. Though they also bore fruit only once every three thousand years and looked little different from Acquired Spiritual Roots, they contained innate qi and the power of the Great Dao. Their value could not be mentioned in the same breath.

As for the dozen or so Acquired Spiritual Roots, some had been brought back from the Western Sea, while others had been cultivated from Geng Metal Fruit seeds.

Zhu Yin looked upon it all, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

He knew that before long, Spirit Platform Mountain would surely become a true Upper-Grade Grotto-heaven Blessed Land.