It Is Easier to Lose Out When You Rush into a Deal; It Is Safer to Let the Other Side Speak First

On Worry-Free Peak, within Chaoling Palace.

After respectfully bowing, Hundred Herbs Fairy said,

"If you wish to find an innate spirit butterfly or an innate earthworm, I did hear Azurewood Ancestor mention some clues."

"Apparently, a group of spirit butterflies called the Hundred Illusion Butterflies lived near the Southern Sea. They were naturally powerful. At birth, they were already Heavenly Immortals, and as soon as they emerged from their cocoons, they reached the Mysterious Immortal realm. These spirit butterflies possessed great strength and deep bloodlines, making them the finest of all spirit butterfly clans."

"Not only could they change their appearances in countless ways, but they could also freely enlarge or shrink their bodies and control raging winds. More unusually, they enjoyed living alongside mysterious creatures such as Mirage Dragons. They appeared and vanished unpredictably, making them extremely difficult to find. Azurewood Ancestor once spent over ten thousand years searching for them, yet found nothing in the end."

"As for innate earthworms..."

Hundred Herbs Fairy considered it for a moment before continuing,

"Azurewood Ancestor once had a very close friend, the mountain god of Que Mountain. He had originally been a Middle-Grade Innate Spiritual Root known as Zhu Yu Grass, and he had been renowned in the previous era. He and Azurewood Ancestor had each guarded one side—one protecting the eastern continent, the other the western seas—together safeguarding the Wood-and-Grass Clan."

"Ancestor Zhu Yu's mount had been an innate earthworm with the cultivation of a Taiyi Golden Immortal. It had once followed him across the lands in all directions, enjoying boundless prestige."

"Unfortunately, there was always someone stronger. Ancestor Zhu Yu later provoked a powerful existence and was struck back into his original form in a single move. He was then refined into a pill and completely perished."

"After that, Azurewood Ancestor did not smile for a full thousand years. Ancestor Zhu Yu's Dao Field, Que Mountain, also vanished into the void and could never be found again. That earthworm disappeared along with it."

"If you truly wish to search for it, you could try your luck in the Western Sea. Perhaps you might find Que Mountain and inherit the opportunities Ancestor Zhu Yu left behind."

"Daoist Hundred Flowers did not know these things because she joined later. I joined tens of thousands of years before her and was personally enlightened by Azurewood Ancestor, so naturally I know some ancient secrets."

Zhu Yin nodded slightly, indicating that he understood.

He offered Hundred Herbs Fairy a few words of encouragement. Afterward, he spent a hundred years on Worry-Free Peak expounding the Dao to the two Golden Immortals. Only after taking a sip of flower nectar did he leave.

Spirit Platform Mountain was lush and vibrant, overflowing with life.

Zhu Yin was in no hurry to set out for either the Southern Sea or the Western Sea.

For one thing, neither the Hundred Illusion Butterflies nor Que Mountain would be easy to find. Locating them would require a great deal of time. He had only recently returned from the Heavenly Court and wanted some peace and quiet for a while rather than immediately beginning another journey.

For another, the outside world was currently in turmoil. Though the Witch Clan and Demon Clan did not dare wage war due to the Dao Ancestor's authority, their open and covert struggles never ceased, dragging many races and living beings into the conflict. He had no desire to become entangled in such grievances by accident and invite trouble. It would not be too late to venture out after he reached the Late Great Principle stage.

For the time being, he would not be overly fixated on spirit butterflies or earthworms. Encountering them would be fortunate; failing to encounter them did not matter.

He continued cultivating in the mountains, living a disciplined and fulfilling life: tasting tea and comprehending the Dao, repairing the earth veins, refining pills and setting formations, planting flowers and herbs, tempering his body, teaching the Dao and passing down methods, refining artifacts and drawing talismans...

At times, he would climb the mountains to admire the moon or wander about at leisure. As he watched the plants grow, the living beings cultivate, and the seasons change across the million-mile expanse surrounding Spirit Platform Mountain, his understanding of the Dao of Great Freedom slowly deepened with the passing years.

In the blink of an eye, another three thousand years passed.

Over those three thousand years, many good things happened on Spirit Platform Mountain:

The two boy attendants, Wuxin and Wuqing, finally cultivated to the Mysterious Immortal Late Stage. They had gained enlightenment while listening to Zhu Yin's teachings and had also drunk quite a bit of spirit wine, so their breakthroughs came naturally.

The Jiaochong queen bee also successfully reached Mysterious Immortal Perfection. Her aptitude had always surpassed that of the boy attendants, and she had spent years gathering all kinds of spirit flowers and spirit fruits, especially flowers from innate fruit trees. With Zhu Yin's guidance, she had achieved her current accomplishments.

The White Tiger, Jin Tu, also grew into adulthood and smoothly broke through to become a Golden Immortal. The white-gold tiger markings across his body were dazzling, and his aura was astonishing. As the child of a Great Principle Golden Immortal, he had been born with an exceptionally pure bloodline. Combined with his long-term diet of spirit fruits, spirit wine, and immortal pills, along with the many opportunities he received in the Heavenly Court, he became a Golden Immortal in just one hundred thousand years.

Meanwhile, dozens of new spiritual roots had been cultivated within Spirit Platform Mountain.

Six of them were Middle-to-Low-Grade Acquired Spiritual Roots cultivated from innate fruit pits collected during the Heavenly Wedding; the others had been planted from the pits of Life-and-Death Fruits and Fire Jujubes.

Fire Jujubes in particular were especially easy to cultivate and had low environmental requirements. Zhu Yin had long mastered the planting method, and there were now over a hundred acquired Fire Jujube trees on Spirit Platform Mountain.

Beyond that, he had also successfully grown an Astral Fruit Tree of Low-Grade Innate quality and a Flame Mulberry Tree of Middle-Grade Innate quality.

This Flame Mulberry Tree had been grown from a supreme-grade seed borne by the Fusang Divine Tree. Zhu Yin had spent sixty-six drops of Three Lights Divine Water on it, but fortunately, it had not been wasted.

However, to grow an Upper-grade Innate Spiritual Root from a fruit pit, one would need to be a Quasi-Sage-level expert skilled in the Dao of creation, life, or wood. One would also need supreme-grade spirit water and spirit soil, as well as a supreme-grade Grotto-heaven Blessed Land in which to cultivate it. Only then would it be possible.

This Flame Mulberry Tree was still merely a sapling. Zhu Yin planted it at the summit of Spirit Platform Mountain, beside the egg of the Jade Chicken Divine Bird. While absorbing the essence of sunlight each day, it could also nourish that divine egg. Tree and bird made fitting companions.

Over the past tens of thousands of years, he had also made breakthroughs in artifact refinement and could now reliably refine High-Grade Acquired Spiritual Treasures. His pill refinement had improved by leaps and bounds as well. He could steadily refine Golden Immortal-level pills, and even had a fifty percent success rate when refining Taiyi Pills.

His attainments in formations were somewhat weaker, but he could still set up powerful grand formations. Although he remained far behind the Ten Heavenly Lords of the Interception Sect or the Three Cloud Ladies, his mindset was steady, and he was willing to polish his skills slowly. In any case, time was one thing he did not lack.

In addition, he had successfully brewed spirit wine beneficial to Taiyi Golden Immortals, adding another precious resource to Spirit Platform Mountain.

One day, while harvesting mature Enlightenment Tea in the Spirit Medicine Garden, his movements suddenly paused. His gaze pierced through the void and turned toward the edge of the Dao Domain...

A complicated expression appeared on his face, containing curiosity as well as a trace of delight.

Zhu Yin's expression was complicated because the visitors this time were anything but ordinary...

The Dragon Queen of the Western Sea and the eldest prince, Ao Shun, had actually come in person!

Although they had never interacted before, Zhu Yin could see through their true circumstances at a glance with his Great Principle Golden Immortal cultivation.

The Ice Dragon had already reached Primordial Unity Golden Immortal Perfection, while the Wind Dragon had reached the peak of the Late Taiyi Stage and was not far from perfection.

As everyone knew, after the ancient Three Clans War, the Dragon Clan had incurred too much karmic sin and secluded themselves within the Dragon Abyss. Even the old dragons who had once hoped to attain the Great Principle had been forced to abandon their breakthroughs. On the surface, only eight Primordial Unity Golden Immortal Perfection experts remained to guard the Four Seas—the four Dragon Kings and their Dragon Queens.

The Eastern Sea Dragon King was of wood, and his Dragon Queen was of water; the Southern Sea Dragon King was of fire, and his Dragon Queen was of wind; the Western Sea Dragon King was of wind, and his Dragon Queen was of ice; the Northern Sea Dragon King was of ice, and his Dragon Queen was of fire. Their attributes complemented one another perfectly.

Through his ability to communicate with the Heavenly Dao, Zhu Yin performed a slight deduction and guessed their identities.

What concerned him more, however, was why the Western Sea Dragon Clan had come to Spirit Platform Mountain.

He was actually somewhat expectant. The Dragon Clan controlled the Four Seas and possessed immense wealth in resources. If he could learn anything from them regarding Que Mountain or the Hundred Illusion Butterflies of the Southern Sea, that would be excellent.

Still, one could not be too eager when discussing cooperation. He had to first determine their intentions. After all, rushing into a deal made it easy to lose out; it was safer to let the other side speak first.

Since even the Dragon Queen had appeared personally, he judged that they must be seeking something. There was no need to hurry. Calmly, he continued picking tea and waited for them to come to him.

Yet to his surprise, the Dragon Clan did not immediately seek him out. Instead, they quietly entered the Hundred Treasures Hall and ascended to the sixth floor.