How Far One Can Travel on the Path of Cultivation Depends on One's Foundations, Fortune, Resources, Comprehension, Perseverance, and Dao Heart

That day, Zhu Yin had just repaired the seventh earth vein when a sudden impulse stirred in his heart. He immediately rode the clouds and mist, flying toward the source of that sensation.

Several days later, he landed atop an utterly unremarkable little mountain.

The mountain's spiritual energy was thin, a common occurrence in the Western Lands, and there was nothing unusual about it at all. But Zhu Yin was already a Late Golden Immortal, so he naturally would not readily believe his senses had erred.

He released his Primordial Spirit and searched back and forth for several months before finally discovering some clues.

He realized that he might have fallen into some hidden illusion realm.

He first took out the Ninth-Grade White Lotus, but it showed no reaction. Then he manifested the Immortal Dao Auspicious Cloud and released an emerald-green spirit bamboo.

Sure enough!

The instant the spirit bamboo appeared, the sudden impulse in his heart grew stronger. He could even vaguely sense some sort of ripple coming from the void.

Without hesitation, Zhu Yin summoned the phantom of Mount Sumeru and pressed it down toward the source of the ripple.

With a thunderous boom, the illusion realm shattered, and the original mountain collapsed outright.

The surrounding scenery changed drastically. He found himself within a towering, majestic mountain range, though most of it had crumbled away, and Sha Qi filled every corner.

Standing upon the Ninth-Grade White Lotus, with Purifying Immortal Light protecting his body, he purified the Sha Qi as he flew onward, eventually arriving before an Innate Grand Formation.

Zhu Yin did not enter at once. Instead, he sat cross-legged for several hundred years, continuing to cleanse the Sha Qi while studying the formation's structure.

Only after he had thoroughly grasped the formation's purpose did he cautiously step through its formation eye and enter.

Fortunately, this formation only possessed concealment, spirit-gathering, and illusion functions. It had no offensive power, or he would not have dared barge in so rashly.

After passing through the formation, a dense tide of spiritual energy and boundless vitality rushed toward him, making his entire body feel incomparably refreshed.

Looking up, he saw that the place was not large. There was only an Innate Spirit Lake and a spirit bamboo radiating orange-yellow light, yet its spiritual energy was no less abundant than that of a Grotto-heaven Blessed Land.

He flew before the spirit bamboo and understood that this was the source that had drawn him here. He then tried branding it with his Primordial Spirit, receiving a fragment of information.

"Heavenly Dao is unpredictable; fortune and calamity are impossible to foresee. Senior, may you rest in peace on your journey."

Zhu Yin bowed to the spirit bamboo, his expression complicated.

It turned out that this spirit bamboo was the legendary Top-grade Innate Spiritual Root... Bitter Bamboo.

It had developed spiritual intelligence in the previous era, but during the Three Clans War and the Dao-Demon War, the spiritual mountain it depended on had been destroyed. Its spiritual essence had leaked away severely, and Bitter Bamboo's spiritual consciousness had also suffered grave damage.

To survive, Bitter Bamboo had set up an illusion realm to conceal itself and used a grand formation to protect itself. Unfortunately, its spiritual essence grew ever scarcer. In the end, it could not endure the long passage of time. Its spiritual consciousness completely dissipated, and even the spiritual root's body was corroded.

Though it was still a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Root, it was far inferior to what it had once been. It could no longer gather spiritual energy and suppress fortune as it had before.

The reason Zhu Yin had been drawn here was also because the earth vein he had repaired happened to be nearby. Bitter Bamboo had sensed the aura of its own kind, and its remaining thought had guided him here.

When Zhu Yin branded the spirit bamboo with his Primordial Spirit, that final trace of obsession finally dispersed as well.

By the spirit lake, Zhu Yin remained silent for a long time, his heart filled with a tumult of emotions.

He understood Bitter Bamboo's unwillingness.

Innate spiritual roots were already rare. For one to develop intelligence and reach the Transformation Stage was harder than ascending to the heavens, especially for a top-grade spiritual root like this. Each one could be called a miracle of heaven and earth.

Unfortunately, Bitter Bamboo had been born at the wrong time. It had originally cultivated to Primordial Unity Golden Immortal Perfection and needed only one final step to transform, yet because it was close to the battlefield, its spiritual essence had been cut off. Jealous of it, the Heavenly Dao had ultimately left it with its soul scattered and spirit dispersed.

Looking at Bitter Bamboo, Zhu Yin had already made his decision.

However, he did not act immediately.

After all, this was not his territory. To be cautious, he first put Bitter Bamboo away, then collected the spirit lake and its spring source as well. He spent a full thousand years repairing the earth veins in this region, repaying the karmic debt.

At last, he transformed into a streak of escaping light and began his journey home, returning to Mount Sumeru.

Mount Sumeru.

Zhu Yin had been gone for over seven thousand years. Now that he had returned and set foot through the mountain gate once more, a familiar sense of peace rose within him.

This immortal mountain, and the people upon it, had become the attachments he truly held close to his heart.

He summoned the Golden-Clothed Boy and the White-Clothed Boy and carefully inquired about everything that had happened during this period. He learned that his master, Zhunti, had emerged from seclusion three thousand years ago. Not long afterward, Zhunti had left the mountain to travel through the Eastern Lands.

As for his martial uncle Jieyin, he had also awakened once three thousand years ago. After Zhunti departed, he had resumed his secluded cultivation.

One had left the mountain and still had not returned, while the other had yet to emerge from seclusion.

Though these two elders had both transformed from top-grade spiritual roots, their personalities were as different as heaven and earth. One spent all year behind closed doors cultivating bitterly, even attaining the Dao through enlightenment in dreams; the other could never stay still, always preferring to travel everywhere and forge good karmic ties.

One moved while the other remained still, yet they complemented each other perfectly. Together, they upheld Mount Sumeru's lineage and supported the entire Western Lands.

Zhu Yin understood that both elders had been silently devoting themselves to the future of the Western Lands.

One used the power of dreams to connect the earth veins, while the other drew opportunities from across the Primordial Wilderness into the Western Lands, nurturing the spiritual essence of heaven and earth.

This was both immense perseverance and immense merit.

Afterward, Zhu Yin made a round through the mountain, then busied himself in the spirit fields for quite some time... pouring in vitality, watering them with spirit spring water, loosening the spirit soil, and scattering spirit fertilizer. Only after finishing all this did he return to Immaculate Hall and begin secluded cultivation.

Seven thousand years traveling through the Western Lands, six thousand years repairing earth veins.

Zhu Yin's understanding of the Dao of Vitality had grown ever deeper. Now was the best time to integrate those insights into himself, build up his foundation, and charge toward the next realm.

Auspicious clouds swirled behind him. The emerald-green phantom of the Heaven-Piercing Bamboo continuously evolved profound principles, while the phantom of Mount Sumeru grew ever more solid. The wisdom light radiating from the Supreme Bodhi Seed sent his comprehension soaring.

Zhu Yin immersed himself wholly in the Great Dao. His aura became ethereal and pure, his expression serene, and his entire body brimmed with vitality.

Only one day passed in the mountain, while a thousand years went by outside.

A thousand years later, within Immaculate Hall.

Zhu Yin slowly opened his eyes. Endless vitality and Purity Divine Light flowed within them, and he seemed reborn, his bearing approaching flawless perfection.

At last, he had cultivated to Golden Immortal Perfection.

After stabilizing his cultivation, he did not hasten to emerge from seclusion. Instead, he turned his hand over and took out Bitter Bamboo.

In the legends of his previous life, Martial Uncle Jieyin had refined this Bitter Bamboo into the Six-Purities Bamboo rather than using it to suppress Mount Sumeru's fortune. Besides the Western Lands' own scarcity of resources, there was likely another reason... Bitter Bamboo itself had already been severely damaged.

Even a Sage could not restore this spiritual root, so naturally, neither could he.

Zhu Yin knew his own limits well. Thus, he no longer stubbornly sought to restore it. Instead, he decided to take another path... absorb Bitter Bamboo's origin power to strengthen his own foundation.

How far one could travel on the path of cultivation depended greatly on one's foundations, fortune, resources, comprehension, perseverance, and Dao heart.

His current foundation was fairly good in the Western Lands, but across the entire Primordial Wilderness, it could only barely be considered average. If he could absorb Bitter Bamboo's origin and raise his foundation to a higher level, not only would his aptitude, fortune, and reserves increase greatly, but his future potential would become entirely different as well.

With his original foundation, at most he could barely touch upon the Grand Unity Realm, and even then, he would need to plan and scheme with the utmost care. But if his foundation improved, he would only need to cultivate in peace to have hope of attaining the Great Principle Realm, or even stepping into Quasi-Sage.

Zhu Yin could distinguish the importance of spiritual treasures from that of his own cultivation.

Besides, he had no intention of draining Bitter Bamboo's origin dry.