Others Came for Treasures, but I Had My Eye on the Mountain Holding Them

Deep within Treasure-Dividing Cliff, as more and more Innate Spirit Treasures were taken away by the immortals of Violet Cloud Palace, the mountain body that had originally been concealed beneath countless rays of treasure light gradually emerged. The previously faint and elusive aura of Chaos also became increasingly distinct.

Luxuan stood before a pitch-black boulder, extending his divine sense inch by inch into the mountain. Before long, he confirmed that his earlier judgment had been correct. This Treasure-Dividing Cliff was indeed far more than an ordinary mountain rock.

The entire cliff contained almost no conventional earth or stone structure. Instead, it consisted of layer upon layer of overlapping independent spaces. In some places, two points might be less than a foot apart, yet crossing between them with divine sense could span tens of thousands of miles.

The reason so many Innate Spirit Treasures could be stored within the cliff at once, with even their auras rarely interfering with one another, was not because Hongjun had placed a restriction around each treasure. Rather, the entire Treasure-Dividing Cliff was naturally like a massive world embryo containing countless storage spaces.

"No wonder it could hold so many Innate Spirit Treasures."

A hint of interest gradually appeared in Luxuan's eyes.

Ordinary storage artifacts merely opened up a single space. Once items were placed inside, they were essentially still crammed into the same area. Treasure-Dividing Cliff, however, was different. It was more like embedding a large number of spaces of varying sizes into one whole.

Every space could exist independently.

Yet they all relied upon the same stone cliff.

To Luxuan, who was currently cultivating Penglai toward becoming a true world, this structure was even more valuable than an ordinary Supreme-grade Innate Spirit Treasure.

Zhao Gongming soon noticed some of its secrets as well. After all, he now chiefly cultivated the Twenty-Four Heavens and was extremely sensitive to the relationship between space and worlds.

"Master."

"The internal structure of this Treasure-Dividing Cliff seems somewhat similar to my Twenty-Four Heavens."

Luxuan nodded.

"Similar, but different."

"Your Twenty-Four Heavens are twenty-four independent worlds, existing side by side and each carried by a Sea-Calming Divine Pearl. Treasure-Dividing Cliff, meanwhile, has countless spaces all attached to the same main body. There are no true heavens and earth within it, only regions forcibly divided apart."

Zhao Gongming fell thoughtful.

"If the two methods could be combined, wouldn't it be possible to open countless miniature grotto-heavens within a single world?"

"Precisely."

At last, a smile appeared on Luxuan's face.

That was exactly what he had just thought of.

If Penglai truly became a great world in the future, it could not possibly cram all its spirit roots, immortal abodes, and cultivation secret realms into the same stretch of heaven and earth. At that time, it could open countless grotto-heaven spaces attached to the main world, according to different Great Daos and different purposes.

For example, Valley of Years.

For example, Sword Valley.

For example, Three Lights Divine Water Lake.

At present, these places were still merely different regions within Penglai. But in the future, each could become an independent secret realm. They would neither occupy the main world's ordinary territory nor fail to use different laws to create the most suitable environments for cultivation.

It was like a house that had originally possessed only one floor.

Luxuan had suddenly discovered.

That he could also fit basements, storage rooms, independent courtyards, and more inside it. As long as his Space Great Dao was strong enough, he could theoretically stuff in as many as he wished.

Land utilization had instantly upgraded from the Great Wilderness version to the Spatial Folding version.

Bixiao clearly was not thinking as deeply as Zhao Gongming. The young girl circled Treasure-Dividing Cliff a few times before suddenly raising an extremely practical question.

"Master."

"This mountain is so good. Should we move it back to Penglai?"

Yunxiao: "..."

Qiongxiao: "..."

Zhao Gongming: "..."

As expected of someone who had personally participated in emptying out the Celestial Court.

Upon seeing something good, her first thought had proficiently upgraded from "What is this?" to "Can we move it?"

Luxuan actually gave Treasure-Dividing Cliff a serious look.

After a moment.

He shook his head.

"Can't move it."

Bixiao was somewhat disappointed.

"Too heavy?"

"No."

Luxuan glanced toward Violet Cloud Palace.

"It belongs to someone else."

Bixiao came to a realization.

That reason was indeed more convincing than it being too heavy.

Although her master was usually quite skilled at moving things, there was generally a prerequisite: the other party had first provoked Penglai, or the item had originally been an ownerless opportunity.

Treasure-Dividing Cliff clearly belonged to Hongjun.

The Dao Ancestor had not offended them.

Directly carrying off someone else's mountain too would be somewhat dangerously close to going from a power-fantasy protagonist to a bandit chief.

As they spoke, an aged and tranquil voice happened to drift over from Violet Cloud Palace.

"This cliff is a World Adamant Stone that I obtained from Chaos in my early years, used to carry many spirit treasures. If Fellow Daoist is interested in the spatial principles within, you may study them as you please."

The voice belonged to Hongjun.

Bixiao's expression instantly froze.

The Dao Ancestor had not heard her say, "Should we move it back?" just now, had he?

With a Sage's divine abilities.

He had most likely heard it.

The young girl silently shifted half a step behind Yunxiao.

For the first time, she felt that perhaps she still needed to work on thickening her skin.

Luxuan, however, was not embarrassed in the slightest. He merely gave a slight nod toward Violet Cloud Palace.

"Many thanks, Dao Ancestor."

Since Hongjun had said he could study it, Luxuan naturally would not stand on ceremony.

He sat down cross-legged beside the stone cliff, releasing the more complete Space Great Dao, Array Dao, and World Great Dao he had attained after stepping into the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm. Inch by inch, he sensed exactly how the internal spaces of Treasure-Dividing Cliff overlapped.

The first layer.

The second layer.

The tenth layer.

The hundredth layer.

The deeper he went, the more Luxuan discovered that this so-called World Adamant Stone was even more profound than he had imagined.

Many spaces within it had no fixed up, down, left, or right.

The exit of one space might even connect simultaneously to three entirely different regions, depending solely on how the entrant triggered the spatial nodes within.

This structure was truly far too similar to an array.

Yunxiao also quickly became immersed in it.

Her Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation was already best at trapping enemies by constantly shifting spatial orientations. This natural multilayered spatial structure of Treasure-Dividing Cliff was practically a direct display of a higher-level spatial array template for her.

Bixiao put away her playful mood.

The Space-Locking Ring appeared at her side on its own.

She walked the path of spatial severing, so she was equally fascinated by these layered spaces.

As for Qiongxiao.

The direction of her research was clearly both normal and not normal.

Everyone else was studying how to open spaces.

She was studying how to sever the connections between spaces with a single sword strike.

When Luxuan sensed his three disciples successively entering enlightenment, his mood immediately improved even further.

He would gain enlightenment once.

His disciples would gain enlightenment once.

Then his disciples' insights would return to him a hundredfold.

A single Treasure-Dividing Cliff.

Had forcibly given their master-disciple lineage repeat-use value.

If the other great powers of the Great Wilderness learned of this, they would surely have to say that when it came to fleecing benefits, Penglai truly knew how to do it.

Who knew how much time passed.

A great number of entirely new spatial patterns suddenly emerged within Luxuan's Primordial Spirit.

Penglai had originally possessed only one unified space, but in his deductions, independent regions that could be attached beyond the main world gradually began to appear.

Enlightenment Cliff.

Sword Valley.

Valley of Years.

Spirit Root Garden.

Each could be separated independently without truly detaching from Penglai Origin.

Luxuan opened his eyes.

The true harvest of this journey to Treasure-Dividing Cliff had long since gone far beyond each of his disciples obtaining a spirit treasure.

As for how the Penglai world should proceed next.

His understanding had become much clearer.

"That should be enough."

Luxuan rose to his feet.

More than half the spirit treasures on Treasure-Dividing Cliff had already been taken away by the immortals of Violet Cloud Palace.

Those remaining opportunities clearly had no fate with them.

There was no need to linger any longer.

Bixiao also awoke from enlightenment and gave the entire black stone cliff one final reluctant glance over her shoulder.

"Master."

"Can't we really move it?"

Luxuan looked at her.

"If you truly like it that much."

"Find one yourself later."

Bixiao nodded seriously.

"Alright."

Zhao Gongming could not help but laugh.

A World Adamant Stone from Chaos.

Why did the master and disciple make it sound like they would go pick up a pebble in the Eastern Sea another day?

The group once again headed into the Chaos beyond Violet Cloud Palace.

Yet when Luxuan truly left the range of Treasure-Dividing Cliff, Penglai Immortal Island, far beyond endless time and space, suddenly trembled faintly.

Of the two same-origin auras that had only just become vaguely perceptible before.

One of them.

Became several times clearer than before.

Luxuan's footsteps halted.

His gaze instantly turned toward the Eastern Sea of the Great Wilderness.

Fangzhang Immortal Island.

This time.

It seemed they truly could find it.