Primer on Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands

Liu Yuanchen returned to his bedroom, refined the Wind-Thunder Staff and Yellow Jade Token, then began reading the two beast-hide books.

The two books were respectively titled Origins of the Earth Immortal Path and Primer on Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands.

The contents recorded in Origins of the Earth Immortal Path were similar to what Zhao Hong had explained before, only more detailed. They also covered some basic information about the Origin Spirit Realm and the history of the Human Race.

According to the book, the core of the Origin Spirit Realm was the Origin Spirit Continent, surrounded by vast seas dotted with countless islands.

The Origin Spirit Continent was divided into the eastern, western, southern, northern, and central domains. The Human Race's territory was basically concentrated in the Central Domain, while the other four domains belonged to the Demon Race.

The Red Wasteland lay at the border between the Central Domain and the Eastern Region.

The western end of the Red Wasteland bordered the Human Race's heartland, while its eastern end connected to the Demon Race's territory in the Eastern Region.

When the Human Race was first born, they had no cultivation path and could not directly refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

At that time, the divine beast clans among the Demon Race were the absolute rulers of the Origin Spirit Continent.

Later, by imitating certain low-level demon clans, the Human Race learned rudimentary cultivation methods.

And the first demon clan the Human Race imitated was the Azure Ape Tribe.

Countless sages continuously studied the Demon Race's cultivation methods and improved them according to the Human Race's traits, eventually creating a cultivation path belonging to humanity—the Physical Body Path.

The various inheritances of the Physical Body Path were gathered together in the Myriad Beasts Scripture.

The most basic cultivation technique in the Myriad Beasts Scripture was the Azure Ape Forest-Piercing Technique he had cultivated before.

With their own cultivation path, the Human Race rapidly expanded and became the strongest race on the Origin Spirit Continent.

However, the Physical Body Path also had a serious flaw. In the early stages of cultivation, it relied entirely on consuming spiritual materials.

Even after cultivating Origin Astral Force and being able to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth through Astral Force, cultivators still mainly relied on consuming spiritual materials to increase their cultivation.

Moreover, the Human Race reproduced at the most terrifying rate among the powerful races, and everyone possessed limitless potential. More and more cultivators emerged.

Yet spiritual materials took a long time to grow.

With too many Human Race cultivators and a severe shortage of spiritual materials, the Physical Body Path faced a grave inheritance crisis.

At first, Human Race experts of the Physical Body Path constantly attacked the Demon Race and seized resources, nearly occupying the entire Origin Spirit Continent.

But resources were always limited. As the number of cultivators continued to swell and the flaws of the Physical Body Path remained unresolved, resources would never be enough.

At this time, Human Race sages also began exploring new paths of cultivation.

Some of them discovered the existence of Immortal Seeds while exploring these new paths.

Using Immortal Seeds, they could directly absorb and refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, greatly reducing their need for spiritual materials. Thus, they pioneered the Qi Refinement Path.

However, Qi Refinement Path cultivators cultivated magical power, the physical body, and the soul alike, so their need for spiritual materials was still considerable.

Although the Physical Body Path lacked successors due to the shortage of spiritual materials, it still had many high-level cultivators.

The newly born Qi Refinement Path lacked the strength to compete with the Physical Body Path for resources and could only struggle to survive.

Some Qi Refinement Path cultivators abandoned physical-body cultivation and focused solely on the soul, consuming very few resources.

After a series of further developments, this eventually became the Divine Path.

To solve the shortage of spiritual materials, Physical Body Path cultivators also took the initiative to change, incorporating part of the Qi Refinement Path's inheritance.

But humans who possessed Immortal Seeds were exceedingly rare.

Moreover, whether one had an Immortal Seed was determined at birth. The vast majority of people could not walk the Qi Refinement Path.

Therefore, some Physical Body Path cultivators used magical artifacts in place of Immortal Seeds.

After various developments, the magical artifacts used to replace Immortal Seeds became today's Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands.

Later, the Origin Spirit Realm suffered an invasion by Extraterritorial Lifeforms. Most Physical Body Path experts perished, and the Physical Body Path gradually declined.

With no experts to guard them, the Demon Race made a comeback, placing the Human Race in danger of extinction.

Only when the Qi Refinement Path and Divine Path rose to prominence was the situation stabilized.

Although the Qi Refinement Path and Divine Path had also originated from the Physical Body Path, they no longer focused primarily on the body.

Those cultivators who insisted on making the physical body their foundation underwent countless improvements and eventually evolved into the present Earth Immortal Path.

After learning the history of the Earth Immortal Path's development, the doubts in Liu Yuanchen's heart vanished.

There had been some legends concerning Earth Immortals in the myths of his previous life.

Among the legendary five immortals of heaven, earth, man, gods, and ghosts, Earth Immortals cultivated methods rather than the Dao. They could not ascend in feathered form and instead remained in the mortal world.

They traveled through famous mountains and great rivers, opening immortal grotto-abodes.

Whether they were mortals who had succeeded in cultivation, animals that had cultivated into demons, or plants, trees, metals, and stones that had gained sentience, as long as they followed the righteous path, they could be considered Earth Immortals.

Among them, Earth Immortals with proper inheritances opened immortal grotto-abodes known as Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands.

These Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands were both the Earth Immortals' cultivation grounds and the foundation of their attainment of the Dao.

Since he had obtained Ginseng Fruit, it seemed that the myths and legends of his previous life were not merely legends. The Primordial World truly existed.

He had originally thought that the Origin Spirit Realm's Earth Immortal Path was the same as the Earth Immortals of the Primordial World.

Judging from the records in the book, however, the two differed greatly and were not the same thing.

Liu Yuanchen then read True Explanation of the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land.

From its title alone, he knew it was not merely basic knowledge and likely contained some cultivation methods.

After skimming through it once, Liu Yuanchen's face lit up with delight.

The first half of the beast-hide book introduced the characteristics of Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands, as well as the relationship between Earth Immortal Path cultivators and Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands.

Because the Origin Spirit Realm's Earth Immortal Path had evolved from the Physical Body Path, Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands were extremely closely connected to the physical body.

After opening a Spirit Realm, Earth Immortal Path cultivators could, as long as they remained nearby, use secret arts to draw the Spirit Realm's power into their bodies and enhance their combat strength.

The stronger the physical body, the more power from the Spirit Realm they could draw upon.

Near a Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, Earth Immortal Path cultivators were far stronger than Qi Refinement Path cultivators of the same realm.

Even without deliberately drawing upon it, the Spirit Realm would release power on its own and continuously nourish its master in return.

The fact that he could continuously obtain magical power from the Spirit Realm was precisely this sort of situation.

From the book's records, the Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands of the Origin Spirit Realm were highly similar to the Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands mentioned in Grand Immortal Zhenyuan's lectures.

Although the Earth Immortal cultivation systems of the two worlds differed greatly, and their purposes in opening Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands were also different, they had developed remarkably similar Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands.

He did not know whether it was a coincidence or whether the Origin Spirit Realm and the Primordial World shared some connection in their inheritances.

The latter half of True Explanation of the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land contained secret arts for opening and improving Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands.

The secret art his master had previously mentioned, which used the fusion method to elevate a Spirit Realm into a Blessed Land, was also recorded in the book.

This fusion method required spiritual materials to suppress a chosen Spirit Nexus, and those spiritual materials had to be greatly connected to the spiritual materials used to open the Blessed Land.

Then one would perform the secret art, using the connection between the two spiritual materials to guide the Spirit Realm's expansion.

Liu Yuanchen had originally believed that since the spiritual material suppressing the Spirit Realm was the Ginseng Fruit Tree, the material suppressing the Spirit Nexus also needed to be a Ginseng Fruit Tree.

At the very least, it had to be a magical artifact refined from something like a branch of the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

After reading True Explanation of the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, he discovered that the requirements were not so high.

As long as the two spiritual materials shared some connection, the secret art could be used.

The deeper the connection between the two spiritual materials, the greater the secret art's effect and the faster the Spirit Realm would fuse with the Spirit Nexus.

If that was the case, then obtaining a spiritual material to suppress the Spirit Nexus would not be difficult.

For example, whenever he used the Enlightenment Secret Art to enlighten spiritual plants, the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling would grow somewhat listless.

Clearly, the special energy needed to enlighten spiritual plants came from the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

In other words, every enlightened spiritual plant contained the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling's energy.

Furthermore, the Ginseng Doll Xiao Yu had once said that the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling could reclaim his sentience.

There was certainly a connection between the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling and the enlightened spiritual plants.

Even if that connection was slight, it provided a foundation for using the secret art.

It did not matter if the Spirit Realm fused with the Spirit Nexus somewhat more slowly. It would still be far faster than letting it grow naturally.

Besides the fusion method, the book also recorded other means of accelerating the growth of a Spirit Nexus.

For instance, one could extract a small Spirit Vein from the outside world and fuse it into one's own Spirit Realm.

Once the fusion succeeded, the Spirit Realm would grow into a Blessed Land in an extremely short time.

However, transplanted Spirit Veins had very low growth limits and would affect the growth of the entire Blessed Land.

Only after it had grown into a Grotto-Heaven and developed its own Spirit Vein and Earth Vein system could it avoid being affected.

In addition, there were quite a few spiritual materials that could accelerate the growth of a Spirit Realm.

For example, certain spatial spiritual materials could be fused into a Spirit Realm to expand the space within it.

After browsing through both books, Liu Yuanchen found it difficult to suppress the excitement in his heart.

With True Explanation of the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, once he left the Azure Elixir Sect, he could gather spiritual materials and prepare to expand the Bluestone Mountain Spirit Realm.

According to the book's introduction and the contents of Grand Immortal Zhenyuan's lectures, he could be certain that as the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land grew, his cultivation speed would become faster as well.

After memorizing the contents of the books, Liu Yuanchen walked out of the bedroom.

Zhao Hong, who was drinking tea, asked, "Do you have any doubts?"

Liu Yuanchen returned the books to Zhao Hong. "This disciple has already found the answers to his doubts in the books.

"This disciple is still far from opening a Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, so I have no new doubts."

Zhao Hong's face was full of delight. "I like disciples like you. You can solve your own problems just by reading books, without making me waste my breath."

Liu Yuanchen cautiously asked, "Master, you previously entrusted Junior Brother Meng to me and said you were going to deal with an old rival. I wonder how it turned out?"

Zhao Hong's face darkened. "That fellow is far too cunning. I made several moves, yet he escaped every time."

Hearing this, Liu Yuanchen felt uneasy. "The matter of you taking me as a disciple will soon spread.

"The fact that I will be going to the Qingshui River region to fight cannot be concealed at all.

"If your old rival comes after me, I'll have no chance of survival."

Zhao Hong waved a hand. "Don't worry. I severely wounded that fellow. Why would he come looking to cause you trouble?

"The Red Wasteland lacks precious spiritual materials. For him to recover from his injuries, he will likely need twenty or thirty years."

"Besides, my conflict with that old rival is merely because we follow different paths and cannot work together.

"With his character, he is not the sort to bully juniors. Once word spreads that I have taken you as a disciple, none of the forces under the Azure Elixir Sect and Iron Cauldron Mountain will dare touch you.

"But the Demoncloud Sect may be another matter. There are major forces outside the Red Wasteland behind the Demoncloud Sect as well, and they are at odds with our Eight Desolations Pavilion.

"Once you reach the Qingshui River region, do not come face-to-face with Sea of Qi Realm cultivators from the Demoncloud Sect."

"Also, the token I gave you is not merely for show. It contains one of my spells.

"If you encounter danger you cannot resolve, inject your Astral Force into it. The spell will activate and keep you safe for a while.

"And once the spell is activated, I will sense it from here and immediately rush over to save you."

Learning that he still had a means of preserving his life, Liu Yuanchen was completely relieved.

Having a powerful master really was wonderful. A casually given item could ensure his safety.

Zhao Hong's announcement that he had accepted Liu Yuanchen as a registered disciple caused a tremendous uproar.

The Azure Elixir Sect's upper ranks knew how terrifying Zhao Hong was and merely sighed at Liu Yuanchen's extraordinary luck.

When Liu Qingyuan heard the news, he was so excited he nearly fainted.

He paced back and forth through his grotto-abode like a man possessed, muttering constantly, "The Liu Family will prosper, the Liu Family will prosper..."

Inside Chen Changshan's grotto-abode on Songyun Peak, Chen Changshan and Chen Zongming wore dark expressions.

Chen Zongming asked, "Third Uncle, what is Zhao Hong's background?

"From what he said, it seems he does not regard the Azure Elixir Sect highly at all."

Chen Changshan shook his head. "Zhao Hong's identity is extremely mysterious. I used the family's connections within the sect to inquire about him many times, yet found nothing.

"Deputy Hall Master Ye once warned me not to provoke Zhao Hong.

"She even said that the sect master and Supreme Elder both held Zhao Hong in considerable respect."

Chen Zongming's expression turned cold. "Then Liu Yuanchen cannot be touched."

Chen Changshan let out a long sigh. "Not only can he not be touched, if he is in danger, we must protect him.

"Everyone knows our Chen Household wants him dead.

"If anything happens to him, with Zhao Hong's unreasonable temperament, no matter who did it, no one from our Chen Household will survive.

"The other Liu Family members can be touched, but Liu Yuanchen and his close relatives absolutely must not be touched."

Chen Zongming nodded. "Rest assured, Third Uncle. I know the stakes.

"However, Deputy Hall Master Zhao only accepted Liu Yuanchen as a registered disciple. He must have taken a liking to Liu Yuanchen's alchemy talent while not thinking much of his cultivation talent.

"In that case, Liu Yuanchen's future achievements will not be very great.

"Moreover, Deputy Hall Master Zhao is an outsider. Now that Liu Yuanchen has become his disciple, the sect's upper ranks will no longer place much importance on Liu Yuanchen.

"In the future, he will at most become an elder with an idle post.

"As long as Liu Yuansi can be dealt with, a mere elder with an idle post will not be enough to suppress me."

Over the next few days, Liu Yuanchen and Meng Tieshan continued cultivating the Azure Ape Forest-Piercing Technique.

Previously, they had been feeling their way through cultivation on their own, so omissions were unavoidable.

With Zhao Hong's guidance, every flaw was remedied, and both of their strengths improved considerably.

Five days later, the third conscription order was issued, and Liu Yuanchen was naturally among those summoned.

On the day of departure, more than five hundred Azure Elixir Sect disciples gathered before the mountain gate.

Since the mission they were undertaking involved little danger, the one leading them was merely Hu Shanren, deputy hall master of the Guard Hall and an early Origin Condensation Realm cultivator.

Several elders holding idle posts accompanied them as well.

Elder Mo, who had always been on good terms with the Liu Family, was also among the group.

After the upper ranks finished their speech, Hu Shanren produced a large flying vessel.

The vessel was more than twenty zhang long and could easily carry several hundred people.

Moreover, rows of enormous ballistae stood along its sides. Clearly, it could participate directly in battle and was not merely a means of transportation.

After Liu Yuanchen and the other disciples boarded the flying vessel, it slowly rose into the air before speeding off toward the southeast.

Liu Yuanchen was most familiar with that direction. It led to Qinghe Town.