After Zhao Gongming broke through to the Daluo Golden Immortal realm, he spent another several hundred years in seclusion consolidating his cultivation.
By the time he emerged, his once slightly unrestrained Great Luo aura had settled completely. Even his slightest movements carried a hint of the weight of Mountains and Rivers.
Luxuan glanced at him.
He was quite satisfied.
At least Zhao Gongming was not the sort of novice who wanted to carve "Daluo Golden Immortal" across his forehead the moment he broke through.
"Come with me."
Zhao Gongming had barely emerged from seclusion when Luxuan led him toward Treasure Cliff.
Along the way, Zhao Gongming had a fair idea of what was coming.
When his three younger sisters had become disciples,
each had received a Supreme-grade Innate Spirit Treasure.
Though he was only a nominal disciple, surely his master would give him some sort of welcome gift?
Of course,
Zhao Gongming did not dare expect too much.
A High-grade Innate Spirit Treasure would already be wonderful.
Supreme-grade?
That kind of treatment was clearly reserved for direct disciples like his three younger sisters.
He had better be realistic.
Yet when they reached Treasure Cliff,
Luxuan did not even stop at its outer reaches.
He led Zhao Gongming all the way into its deepest part.
For some reason, Zhao Gongming's heart began to beat faster.
Why was each treasure's glow more outrageous than the last?
Luxuan finally stopped before a round altar.
There was nothing special about the altar itself.
What caught Zhao Gongming's eye were the blue pearls floating above it.
There were twenty-four in all.
Each was only the size of a fist.
Their surfaces looked smooth and lustrous as water.
But when Zhao Gongming reached toward them with his Divine Sense, twenty-four boundless seas seemed to appear before his eyes in an instant.
The seas and skies stretched vast.
Worlds rose and sank.
Hidden within them was a force of suppression of almost unimaginable weight.
Most importantly,
the World Great Dao that had only recently taken shape within Zhao Gongming resonated with the pearls the moment he saw them.
Hum!
All twenty-four pearls lit up at once.
Streams of azure divine light enveloped Zhao Gongming.
He froze on the spot.
"Master."
"These are..."
"Sea-Calming Divine Pearls,"
Luxuan answered.
"Twenty-four of them."
"Together, they form a set of Supreme-grade Innate Spirit Treasures."
Zhao Gongming fell silent.
On the way here, he had been reassuring himself.
High-grade would be wonderful.
Supreme-grade was for direct disciples.
Apparently,
he had underestimated just how extravagantly his master gave away treasures.
"This treasure is exceptionally well suited to the World Great Dao you've just formed."
Luxuan beckoned with one hand.
The Twenty-Four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls instantly began circling Zhao Gongming.
"Each pearl contains an independent space, as well as the power to calm seas and suppress all things."
"It would be a waste to use them merely to smash people."
"Try infusing them with your own World Dao."
Zhao Gongming's gaze sharpened.
He had been troubled by the fact that his World Great Dao existed only as an insight within his Primordial Spirit. He lacked a medium that could truly bear it and allow it to evolve.
The Twenty-Four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls seemed almost tailor-made for him.
Space.
Suppression.
The beginnings of worlds.
All three were a perfect fit.
"Master."
Zhao Gongming still could not help asking,
"This set of spirit treasures is too precious. I'm only a nominal disciple..."
Luxuan waved a hand, cutting him off.
"A nominal disciple is still a disciple."
"Besides, treasures left on Treasure Cliff do nothing but gather dust."
The corner of Zhao Gongming's mouth twitched.
Supreme-grade Innate Spirit Treasures.
Gathering dust.
Only his master could say such a thing.
But then he thought of how his three younger sisters had spent years cultivating with Three Lights Divine Water, with Innate Spiritual Veins allotted to each of them.
Zhao Gongming discovered that his ability to accept such things had grown considerably.
At least he did not question his entire existence on the spot this time.
"Thank you for bestowing this treasure upon me, Master!"
Zhao Gongming solemnly accepted the Twenty-Four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls.
The instant the spirit treasures touched his hands,
a mysterious connection formed of its own accord.
Twenty-four illusory seas unfolded within his Primordial Spirit at once.
Zhao Gongming did not rush to leave.
Instead, he sat cross-legged before the altar and began refining them.
Luxuan did not disturb him.
Several decades later,
Zhao Gongming refined the core restriction of the first Sea-Calming Divine Pearl.
Boom!
His World Great Dao, previously little more than a hazy outline, suddenly came into sharper focus.
The first pearl transformed into an illusory realm.
Then came the second.
The third.
As he refined more and more of them,
layer upon layer of overlapping, illusory realms gradually appeared behind Zhao Gongming.
Twelve layers.
Eighteen layers.
Finally, twenty-four layers!
The Twenty-Four Heavens!
Though they were still exceedingly crude beginnings, not even true minor worlds, the suppressive force they generated surged with every realm added.
Zhao Gongming opened his eyes.
He thrust his right hand forward.
All Twenty-Four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls shot out together.
Boom!
An immortal mountain ten thousand zhang tall suddenly sank ahead of him.
It had not been driven down by the pearls themselves.
The illusory projections of twenty-four worlds had pinned it down together.
The entire mountain sank thousands of zhang into the earth.
Zhao Gongming looked at what he had done, unable to hide the delight in his eyes.
He finally understood why his master had said it would be a waste to simply smash people with the pearls.
If he fully cultivated all Twenty-Four Heavens,
then with a single strike,
it would be like twenty-four worlds pressing down on his enemy at once.
Who could withstand that?
At almost the same moment,
the hundredfold feedback appeared once more within Luxuan's Primordial Spirit.
The nascent Twenty-Four Heavens Zhao Gongming had just comprehended were magnified and developed at an almost terrifying speed.
One world.
Two worlds.
Twenty-four worlds overlapped, each supporting the others.
The Space Great Dao was no longer merely about changing distances.
It now held the genuine possibility of bearing heaven and earth.
A thought stirred in Luxuan's mind.
He suddenly looked down at Penglai beneath his feet.
He had long wanted Penglai to evolve from an Immortal Island into an independent world.
But no matter how vast an island was,
it remained bound to the Great Wilderness.
What if he could incorporate Zhao Gongming's method of "world-space" into the Penglai Origin?
Let Penglai's inner space expand on its own.
Let the Immortal Island possess more than Mountains and Rivers.
Let it gain a truly independent framework of heaven and earth.
Once the thought appeared,
Luxuan could no longer put it aside.
He even had a faint sense
that he had found Penglai's true path of evolution.
But to elevate a top-tier innate Immortal Island to the level of a world, its current foundations were nowhere near enough.
Resources.
Spiritual veins.
Space Origin.
And perhaps more things that shared Penglai's source.
Two names flashed through Luxuan's mind.
Fangzhang.
Yingzhou.
They were all among the Three Immortal Islands of Overseas.
If all three had been born of the same source after heaven and earth were opened...
While Luxuan pondered this,
on Purple Palace Isle,
a heavy silence hung over the Celestial Court's great hall.
In recent years,
news concerning Penglai had grown more and more frequent.
The Three Cloud Sisters had all broken through to Taiyi.
Zhao Gongming entered Penglai.
Some wandering immortals of the Eastern Sea even began going out of their way to avoid the Celestial Court's forces, seeking opportunities to cultivate on Penglai's outskirts.
Luxuan had not established a faction or taken on disciples.
Yet Penglai's reputation was rising at astonishing speed.
What Dongwang Gong found hardest to accept was this:
People across the Great Wilderness had begun comparing Penglai with the Celestial Court.
"The Celestial Court rules the Eastern Sea?"
"Then does Penglai answer to the Celestial Court?"
That single question
was enough to leave Dongwang Gong's face dark for centuries.
The foremost male immortal had never relied on cultivation alone.
He relied on prestige even more.
If someone in the Eastern Sea could ignore the Celestial Court entirely and even defeat him head-on, the title of foremost male immortal would always have a gap in it wide enough for a joke.
Below the throne in the great hall,
several Great Luo immortals of the Celestial Court remained silent.
They all knew Dongwang Gong had been wavering for years.
Should he strike at Penglai again?
His last defeat had been too crushing.
But if he did nothing,
the Celestial Court's prestige would only sink lower.
After a long while,
Dongwang Gong slowly opened his eyes.
"Pass down my Edict."
Everyone in the hall stiffened.
"Recall every Great Luo of the Celestial Court serving abroad."
"Marshal the million-strong immortal army."
"Open the treasury of Purple Palace Isle."
"This time, the Myriad Immortals Formation must be made complete."
One Great Luo could not help looking up.
"Your Majesty, are you preparing to..."
Purple-gold divine light flickered in Dongwang Gong's eyes.
His voice was cold and utterly flat.
"I gave Luxuan a chance."
"Since Penglai refuses to submit,
this time,
I will wipe it from the Eastern Sea."
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