Opening the Inner World: Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind

Before opening his Inner World and embarking on the path of World-Proving Dao, Dao Xuan still had one more task to complete: merging the three immortal islands.

The three islands became one.

This was not difficult. After refining Penglai Island's boundary stele, Dao Xuan controlled the other two immortal islands and moved them toward Penglai Island.

The three immortal islands merged into a single island.

Even the three innate formations fused under Dao Xuan's control, becoming a larger innate formation.

The power of this innate formation was not particularly strong; its main advantage was concealing the secrets of Heaven. Therefore, to bolster its power, Dao Xuan made some slight modifications to the formation using his comprehension of the Four Symbols Dao.

After his improvements, the formation retained its ability to conceal the secrets of Heaven, while its defensive, trapping, and offensive capabilities were greatly enhanced.

Dao Xuan also gave the formation a new name: the Four Symbols Heaven-Sealing Formation.

As for the new island formed by merging the three islands, Dao Xuan gave it a new name as well. Taking Chaos as its name, he called it Chaos Island.

He established his formal dojo on the island. One of its main halls was named Chaos Palace, where he cultivated daily.

After merging the three islands and establishing his dojo, Dao Xuan entered seclusion once more.

During this period, his fortuitous encounters had come one after another, and his cultivation had accumulated to a bottleneck. It was time for a minor breakthrough.

Though it was only an advancement in a minor realm, the stronger he was before opening his Inner World, the better.

Thus,

In the blink of an eye, a hundred thousand years passed. One day, a powerful aura erupted from Chaos Palace.

Inside the palace, Dao Xuan slowly opened his eyes, joy filling them.

His cultivation had advanced from the Early Great Principle Golden Immortal realm to the Middle Great Principle Golden Immortal realm.

Though it was only an advancement in a minor realm, with his current Great Principle Golden Immortal cultivation, every step forward was extraordinarily difficult.

It required immense accumulation.

By Dao Xuan's own estimation, even ten of his former selves would likely be no match for him now.

Moreover, as time went on, the difference in strength brought by advancing realms would only grow greater!

Therefore, although they were both Great Principle Golden Immortals, the gap between one Great Principle Golden Immortal and another could be enormous.

For example, a Perfected Great Principle Golden Immortal facing an Early Great Principle Golden Immortal could certainly kill the latter in an instant.

Over these hundred thousand years, aside from his breakthrough in cultivation, Dao Xuan had also refined the many spiritual treasures he had obtained.

Now that his cultivation had broken through, he emerged from seclusion.

The next thing he naturally needed to do was prepare to open his Inner World.

Thus, Dao Xuan first took a walk around Chaos Island, drawing together all the Chaos qi scattered throughout the island.

It formed an enormous mass of Chaos qi.

Dao Xuan looked at the mass of Chaos qi and nodded lightly. This Chaos qi had naturally been prepared for opening his Inner World.

In truth, if the three immortal islands had not been so enormous, then not only could he have merged all three islands, he could have collected any one of them.

Dao Xuan might even have used the three immortal islands to help himself open his Inner World.

After all, the three immortal islands had been formed from fragments of Chaos. If he shattered them, would that not release an immense amount of Chaos qi?

Of course, that might also have left Dao Xuan unable to withstand it, causing his attempt to open his Inner World to fail.

Therefore, settling for the next best option and merely gathering the Chaos qi on the islands might not have been the best choice after all.

With a thought from Dao Xuan, twelve Sea-Calming Divine Pearls immediately appeared. Under his control, they flew above the mass of Chaos qi.

They simultaneously erupted with devouring power, pulling streams of Chaos qi into the Sea-Calming Divine Pearls.

Once the final strand of Chaos qi had been absorbed, the twelve Sea-Calming Divine Pearls flew back.

They hovered around Dao Xuan.

The twelve Sea-Calming Divine Pearls all seemed to have become much heavier, pressing the surrounding void until it faintly warped.

Dao Xuan sat down cross-legged, and his consciousness completely sank into himself.

The bodies of ordinary immortals and gods, their flesh, meridians, dantian, and qi seas, were all extremely fragile. They simply could not withstand the cycle of creation and destruction of a world.

But Dao Xuan was different. He possessed the body of an Innate Banana Tree; his physical body was a Chaos Womb.

With a thought from Dao Xuan, the countless flesh, meridians, and acupoints throughout his body all trembled at once!

"Buzz!"

It seemed like the echo of the Great Dao, yet also like a thunderous roar.

Deep within Dao Xuan's body, the once-stable Dao Sea was suddenly torn apart.

This was not destruction caused by an external force.

Rather, he used his Supreme Great Principle Dao Fruit to open the Chaos within his physical body!

Boundless black nothingness began to emerge from the depths of his body.

This nothingness was born from his flesh, hidden within his Dao body, and disconnected from the outside world. It was a source vacuum belonging entirely to him alone.

At the beginning, it was empty and silent, with neither Heaven nor Earth, neither yin nor yang.

If an ordinary cultivator had opened an inner world in this manner, the violent power would have instantly torn apart his Dao foundation, destroyed his body, and reduced him to ashes.

Yet Dao Xuan forcibly endured it.

The void initially stabilized.

Then, a five-colored light suddenly illuminated the void. One Sea-Calming Divine Pearl flew inside.

As the Sea-Calming Divine Pearl entered, the Chaos qi it had previously absorbed was immediately released into the void.

Not only that, the other eleven Sea-Calming Divine Pearls also flew in one after another.

They likewise released the Chaos qi contained within them.

In an instant, surging Chaos qi filled this void within Dao Xuan's body!

It even continued expanding outward, eroding its surroundings. The pressure on Dao Xuan grew ever greater.

At that moment, an immense divine sense suddenly emerged, permeating this chaotic void. Dao Xuan's voice rang out: "With my body, I open Chaos and establish the Four Symbols. Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, rise!"

Azure, crimson, yellow, and black divine lights appeared, stirring the Chaos!

"Rumble!!"

In an instant, this void descended into turmoil.

Streams of Chaos qi shattered apart, transforming into the four primal forces of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind.

The heavy, condensed Earth Origin was the first to sink. Strands of turbid qi congealed into vast, weighty primordial land. The outlines of countless mountains rose, while earth-vein patterns crisscrossed and took firm root in the lowest layer of the void.

Then the gentle, flowing Water Origin surged forth, transforming into vast Innate Primordial Water. It gathered into rivers, lakes, and seas, nourishing the newborn land and washing away the turbid filth of Chaos.

Next, the blazing Fire Origin rose up. Roaring Innate Li Fire burned away falsehood, refined the remaining turbid qi, and tempered the metals and stones of the earth veins, laying the foundation for the creation of Heaven and Earth.

Finally, the agile and unrestrained Wind Origin swept forth as well. Violent Innate Astral Wind flowed through every direction, stirring clear and turbid qi apart, smoothing the folds of the void, and giving the entire world a ceaseless momentum of life.