Gestating Immortal Land

"I've collected all my kind from the outskirts. The center is dangerous!" He Shou Wu conveyed through its thoughts.

Jiang Zhu took the Medicine King He Shou Wu had just carried back from its roots and went through his harvesting routine. Afterward, his brows knitted tightly.

Although Kunlun held many Treasure Medicines, many belonged to the same varieties.

These Treasure Medicines of the same variety could only be refined once to produce origin blood. Repeated refinement would not increase the progress of his true spirit totem.

Now that he had collected every Treasure Medicine in the outskirts, the eighth leaf of his Nine-Leaf Sword Grass true spirit totem had only just lit up.

Jiang Zhu gazed toward the core of the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains. Ten thousand Dragon Head Peaks continuously breathed in and out the spiritual vitality of heaven and earth. A Medicine King had taken root on every dragon's head, and even the bases of the peaks held many Treasure Medicines.

Although Jiang Zhu knew that many opportunities awaited there, he had never ventured over. The Dragon Head Peaks lay beneath the Great Emperor Killing Formation and the Source Emperor Grand Formation. Even a Quasi-Emperor entering without the Terrain Map would die, let alone a mere Dao Palace Realm cultivator like him.

Moreover, the grand formation of the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains had already given birth to a deity. Without a token, entering was simply impossible.

Still, on second thought, a mere Dao Palace cultivator like him should be fine just skirting the edges without going inside.

As these thoughts turned in his mind, Jiang Zhu decided to do it. If he could master the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass True Spirit Transformation in Kunlun, the Dao Palace Realm would hold no more mysteries for him. With enough resources, the road ahead would be smooth and unobstructed.

Hadn't he chosen a plant for his second True Spirit Transformation precisely for this day?

In the Big Dipper, Treasure Medicines would be even harder to obtain. He might even have to prepare to be hunted down at any moment.

Jiang Zhu told He Shou Wu of his intention to head toward the core of the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains. He Shou Wu's golden roots waved incessantly, clutching Jiang Zhu and refusing to let go.

"A god lives there. I've never been."

He Shou Wu conveyed the information through its thoughts.

Jiang Zhu nodded to show that he understood, but he still intended to go.

Helpless, He Shou Wu followed behind him, tugging at Jiang Zhu constantly with its roots. In the end, it could not win him over and lifted him up before diving into the earth veins.

Before long, they emerged by the Dragon Head Peaks and saw the place nurturing the Immortal Ascension Cauldron. Jiang Zhu circled the area repeatedly, not daring to act rashly, searching for Treasure Medicines only along the outside.

It did not take long for him to be disappointed. Crocodile Ancestor's group had already dug up every Treasure Medicine along the way. There were indeed quite a few Medicine Kings on the Dragon Head Peaks, but like flowers in a mirror and the moon in water, they were visible yet beyond his reach.

Meanwhile, the boundless dragon qi emanating from more than ten thousand gathered dragon veins kept stirring the true dragon source blood within him. He desperately wanted to turn into a true dragon and resonate with it, but he forcibly suppressed that thoroughly suicidal impulse.

In the end, Jiang Zhu gave up completely. Still, since he was already here, he might as well see whether he could entice the White Tiger Divine Medicine. He used the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass Transformation and became a blade of grass. His body was crystalline emerald green, with eight leaves continuously emanating sword intent. The eighth leaf was tender, as though it had only just sprouted.

At the same time, within the Great Emperor Killing Formation, Crocodile Ancestor placed his imprint inside the Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda. He rose and gazed at the path ahead.

This blood-soaked Quasi-Emperor had already gone farther than anyone without a complete Terrain Map. No more corpses could be seen farther along. Over ten thousand Dragon Head Peaks stood side by side around him, encircling a valley. Immortal mist billowed within it, and thousands upon thousands of radiant, auspicious rays shone upon one another, incomparably sacred.

"The hope of becoming an immortal lies in that valley!"

Joy flowed through Crocodile Ancestor's blood-red eyes. Unable to wait any longer, he nevertheless advanced with utmost caution.

The killing intent ahead grew stronger. Countless patterns appeared even in the void as he took a step forward.

In an instant, heaven and earth lost their color, and wind and clouds shifted. Power that could startle immortals intertwined and slashed down at Crocodile Ancestor. The surrounding void froze completely. There was no dodging it; he could only withstand it head-on.

Crocodile Ancestor's expression changed drastically. He unleashed the Heavenly Demon Mystic Art, his dark-gold scales ringing out, and brought forth the Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda to protect himself.

"Heaven rises a foot, the demon rises ten!"

His sky-swallowing demonic qi gathered tightly around him, lending his dark-gold armor an even more extraordinary luster as it rang like metal.

But Crocodile Ancestor's resistance was like a mayfly trying to shake the blue heavens. The Slaughter Formation's power knocked the Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda away as easily as crushing rotten wood. Without being diminished in the slightest, it slashed straight at him.

"I refuse to accept this! I haven't even seen the hope of becoming an immortal! This mortal world is a dream..."

Crocodile Ancestor roared in defiance. Demonic mist shrouded his entire body as he thrust out his enormous dark-gold hand and unleashed his final strike.

All resistance was meaningless before the Emperor Formation. The immortal-startling strike fell, turning the arm that met it first into drifting ash. Then his entire body and primordial spirit were pulverized, dissipating between heaven and earth.

Only then did the Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda fall from midair, striking the ground beyond the safety line. The Great Emperor Killing Formation continuously unleashed power against the purple pagoda with ringing clangs, each strike sending it farther toward the valley.

Just then, a blurred figure formed entirely from gathered essence appeared. The Great Emperor Killing Formation immediately settled, its killing intent dispersing as the sky cleared and the clouds grew tranquil. The Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda dropped where it was.

The figure calmed the agitation of the Great Emperor Killing Formation and was about to dissipate when it suddenly paused and looked outside the formation.

"Oh?"

The voice held a trace of puzzlement, and a trace of curiosity.

Then, with a thought, the deity gathered the essence of heaven and earth into an enormous hand.

Outside the formation,

Jiang Zhu was stretching his body. This place truly deserved to be called the Gestating Immortal Land. The moment he put down roots, he could feel the rich spiritual vitality within the earth veins through them. As his roots continuously drew it in, his entire grassy body felt as though it were soaking in sun source liquid. It was incomparably comfortable.

While he was enjoying his comfortable soak in the hot spring, an enormous hand appeared and scooped him up.

"???!!!" Jiang Zhu was greatly alarmed.

What was going on? How had he suddenly been caught?

Just as he was about to unleash his power in the hope of escaping the enormous hand, he discovered that it contained infinite power, as though heaven and earth themselves had taken form. He had also been sealed in place, unable to move.

Feeling the power of heaven and earth within the enormous hand, at once light and weighty, he immediately understood. The Emperor Formation's deity had caught him. Resistance would be useless, not to mention that he lacked even the ability to resist.

But he hadn't entered the formation or stirred the dragon qi. Why had he suddenly been arrested?

Was even thinking about it forbidden? Were thoughts a crime too?

Heaven and earth spun around him, and the enormous hand brought Jiang Zhu into a valley. More than ten thousand Dragon Head Peaks towered majestically around it. The immortal qi was almost liquefied, cascading into the valley like waterfalls.

Ribbons of immortal qi wreathed the valley, while divine radiance churned, dazzling to behold. At its center lay an Immortal Pool roughly ten feet across, shrouded in hundreds of millions of radiant rays. Billowing immortal mist submerged more than half the valley.

Clouds steamed and rosy light flourished throughout the valley, with Treasure Medicines carpeting the ground. Nowhere could compare to this place; it was simply unimaginable. A distinctive fragrance also wafted toward him, unlike any other, transcending the dust of mortality. It was Immortal Medicine!

At that moment, a blurred figure stood in the center of the valley, looking curiously at Jiang Zhu.

The deity was rather curious. In all the years since gaining consciousness, what had it not seen?

Emperor Zun, who had sought to ascend as an immortal with his entire faith; an immortal phoenix that had fallen from the Immortal Domain; a divine dynasty that had sacrificed people with all manner of physiques to the Immortal Ascension Cauldron; a peerless empress who sought not immortality, but only to wait in this mortal world for your return...

The deity had seen them all! But it truly had never seen anything like the thing before it!