The Road to Becoming a True Great Power Was Still Long

At the peak of Spirit Platform Mountain, beneath the Flame Mulberry Tree.

Zhu Yin watched her leave, but a crystalline innate jade pearl appeared in his palm... This was the Golden Witch Tribe's brewing insights Yan Zi had given him before departing.

Whether he could use these insights to brew Great Principle spirit wine unique to Spirit Platform Mountain depended on his own abilities.

He also understood that Roushou, the Ancestor Witch, had handed over these precious insights not merely as a gesture of goodwill, but to win over Mount Sumeru.

Mount Sumeru now had two Quasi-Sage experts and the hope of producing Sages in the future. Whether now or later, it was the greatest force in the Western Lands.

Though the Witch Clan's Ancestor Witches had fierce temperaments, they were not fools and knew how to assess the situation.

If two Sages truly emerged in the Western Lands in the future, the Witch Clan would not be left isolated. This favor would be a life-saving talisman.

Should the Golden Witch Tribe encounter calamity in the future and some Witches flee to the Western Lands, Zhu Yin would have to step in and shelter them. Such was karma.

However, Zhu Yin did not refuse this deal, because these insights were far too important to both him and Spirit Platform Mountain.

It meant that Spirit Platform Mountain had a chance to brew higher-grade spirit wine, gain greater opportunities, and take part in more resource exchanges.

Rare items such as high-grade innate spirit fruits and high-grade spirit treasures were exceedingly scarce in the Western Lands.

Since there was an opportunity to obtain them without fighting, how could he possibly let it slip away?

After weighing the matter, he decisively made the choice most beneficial to himself.

As for whether he would help the Golden Witch Tribe in the future, that was a matter for the future.

After the Witch-Monster War, when heaven and earth changed, he would naturally have the chance to lend a hand.

Besides, Roushou, the Ancestor Witch, had gifted him these insights because he ultimately wanted Zhu Yin to brew Great Principle spirit wine and strengthen the Witch Clan.

From this perspective, this "karma" was not particularly heavy, so Zhu Yin naturally did not take it too seriously.

Not long afterward.

A new batch of innate spirit fruits ripened in the Spirit Medicine Garden.

After Zhu Yin brewed some new law spirit wine, he began closed-door cultivation.

He did not immediately study the brewing insights, because in the Primordial World, the Great Dao was the foundation, while all else was merely subsidiary.

Compared with brewing wine, he had more important matters to attend to.

Seated in the cultivation chamber of his bamboo tower, he waved his hand and summoned six mid-grade innate spirit treasures.

Two of them were the Pure-Cleansing Bell and the Vitality Cauldron, which he had possessed long ago. The remaining four were two bells, one cauldron, and one zither.

The spirit treasure called the Cosmic Extremity Bell was obtained after he suppressed Mo Luo. It could control the laws of time and reverse the flow of time.

The other three had been bestowed by the Heavenly Dao and Dao Ancestor Hongjun.

At first, he had found it strange. Why had they not granted him higher-grade spirit treasures, but instead three mid-grade ones?

Could the Dao Ancestor really be so stingy?

Yet as he gradually refined the three treasures, realization suddenly dawned on him... Their attributes were exceptionally compatible!

One of the bells was called the Grand Cosmos Bell, an exceedingly rare spatial spirit treasure capable of suppressing heaven and earth and opening up the void.

The Cosmic Extremity Bell represented time, while the Grand Cosmos Bell represented space. Not only did the two not conflict, they drew each other in.

They even possessed Yin and Yang traits respectively. Inner and outer complemented one another; if they could merge, they might advance into a higher-level "space-time spirit treasure."

During this process, the mysteries of the Space-Time Great Dao would also evolve.

Zhu Yin could use this opportunity to comprehend these laws, thereby raising his Great Dao cultivation and further solidifying his own "Dao of Freedom."

Zhu Yin had acquired two treasures: one called the Vitality Qi Cauldron, the other the Vitality Cauldron. They looked similar, but each possessed its own characteristics:

The Vitality Qi Cauldron focused more on vigor;

The Vitality Cauldron leaned toward life.

One moved, one remained still; they perfectly complemented each other. If he could merge them, they would become a higher-grade innate spirit treasure, their power greatly increasing, while also helping Zhu Yin better understand the Vitality Great Dao.

The Pure-Cleansing Zither, meanwhile, was a treasure that could calm the mind and resist external evils, while also disrupting an enemy's consciousness. Though it was an offensive spirit treasure, like the Pure-Cleansing Bell, it contained the power of the Pure Dao. The difference was:

The zither specialized in attack;

The bell specialized in defense.

If he fused the zither and bell, Zhu Yin would not only gain a high-grade spirit treasure that combined attack and defense, but also deepen his understanding of the Pure Dao and perfect his path of cultivation.

Inside the quiet chamber, spirit treasure light flickered.

Zhu Yin first attempted to fuse the Pure-Cleansing Bell and the Pure-Cleansing Zither. The two treasures had originally shared the same source, making their fusion relatively easy.

As he circulated his mana, the two treasures slowly approached each other, producing harmonious sounds. For a time, the entire room seemed shrouded in profound music. Within those notes, all manner of Great Dao laws surfaced, interweaving and colliding as they evolved into even more profound truths of purity.

At the same time, the Supreme Bodhi Seed above his head cast down radiance of wisdom. Zhu Yin focused completely and swiftly entered a state of enlightenment, like a boat sailing across a vast ocean.

Time quietly passed, while the Primordial World continued to evolve without end.

A thousand years later, Zhu Yin awoke from the quiet chamber with a satisfied smile on his face.

The successfully fused spirit treasure still took the form of a bell, a shape he had deliberately preserved. He had long grown accustomed to this form guarding his Primordial Spirit.

When its chime rang out, it could shake souls and ward off evil forces from within and without, displaying extraordinary power. Combined with the Western Lands' inherited Primordial Spirit secret arts, he was confident that even against soul-cursing divine abilities like the Nail-Head Seven Arrows Book, he could contend with them.

That was not his only cultivation gain.

Observing the fusion process of the spirit treasures consumed a tremendous amount of mental energy. Though exhausting, it had been worthwhile.

He took a substantial step forward on the Pure Dao and advanced further on the Dao of Freedom as well.

After sleeping for a hundred years, Zhu Yin awoke once more, fully refreshed.

He then began fusing the Vitality Qi Cauldron and the Vitality Cauldron. The two great cauldrons attracted each other, their phantom forms slowly overlapping into substance. Throughout the process, vast quantities of vitality laws surged forth, as though all things between heaven and earth were being recreated within the cauldrons.

Once again, he immersed himself in a state of enlightenment, free of distracting thoughts and wholly focused.

Another thousand years passed before he awoke again.

The fusion had succeeded!

The new spirit treasure was called the Myriad Things Cauldron. It was carved with scenes of every kind of living creature, from mountains, rivers, and vast lands to birds and beasts, containing everything imaginable. It represented all vitality beneath heaven and earth.

Not only could it assist in pill refinement and artifact forging, it also possessed both offensive and defensive capabilities. Its wonders were boundless.

This time, his understanding of the Vitality Great Dao deepened another step, and the Dao of Freedom progressed alongside it.

With the progress from the previous two occasions added in, Zhu Yin finally shattered his bottleneck and smoothly advanced to Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal Perfection.

This meant his cultivation had reached its peak. So long as he continued accumulating strength, he could take another step forward.

He put away the Myriad Things Cauldron, sat cross-legged, and continued his closed-door cultivation. Entering a state of pure emptiness and clarity, he slept for another hundred years.

Once a hundred years had passed, Zhu Yin awoke again.

He stretched and moved his body.

Though he had already reached Great Principle Perfection, he was not satisfied with this and continued cultivating.

Because he knew that the road between himself and a true great power was still long.

If he wanted to catch up to those veteran experts and even challenge the Quasi-Sage realm, he had to lay an even firmer foundation.

Thus, he continued sitting upon the Enlightenment Meditation Cushion and began fusing the remaining two bell-shaped spirit treasures.

The bells rang, and the laws of time and space intertwined and collided within the quiet chamber, evolving all kinds of miraculous scenes:

Time stopped, and flying insects froze in midair;

Time flowed backward, and waterfalls surged upward in reverse;

Time accelerated, and vegetation passed through all four seasons in an instant;

Space split apart, and the world divided into two;

Space leaped, and birds traveled a thousand miles in an instant;

Space exiled living beings into the void, where boundless solitude awaited...

Zhu Yin's cultivation continued, and his Great Dao was steadily unfolding, step by step.