Matters at Undying Mountain Settled (A three-thousand-word chapter to make up for the noon update. Thank you all for your support!)

Immortal energy drifted through Undying Mountain, wreathed in swirling immortal mist.

The black mountains stood solemn and majestic, their imposing forms exuding an ancient yet undying Dao resonance.

On a cliff, the branches and leaves of the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree danced in the wind, shedding endless Dao resonance. It soothed the heart and spirit, filling even one's Dao body with a sense of ease, as though one might sprout wings and ascend the very next moment.

Beneath the Enlightenment Tree, He Mu sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. Immortal energy surged around him, his Dao resonance utterly natural. He resembled an innate divine being who had stepped out of the age when heaven and earth first opened-lofty, ancient, and supremely exalted.

Within thirty feet of him, ten thousand rays of rosy light and a thousand streams of auspicious radiance transformed into countless figures of ancient ancestors, who praised and worshipped him. Buddhist chants and Dao hymns seemed to mingle among them, making He Mu appear ever more lofty and sacred, solemn and unfathomable.

The next moment, He Mu's aura began to transform. His lofty, heavenly bearing gradually faded, and as a pure, tranquil Dao intent rose, his entire being became natural and effortless.

As He Mu changed, the Enlightenment Tea Tree behind him began to sway as well. Its branches and leaves rustled, releasing a serene fragrance that seemed to come from far away. It faintly harmonized with his aura, adding a touch of detachment from the mortal world.

Spiritual currents surged once more, and He Mu's aura changed again. He linked himself to the power of Undying Mountain's earth veins, and in an instant, a towering, majestic presence erupted from him.

He Mu was clearly still seated beneath the Enlightenment Tea Tree, yet his figure seemed to grow abruptly, reaching through heaven and earth and cutting across past and present. He resembled a primordial demonic mountain spanning endless ages of space and time, profound and boundless, indistinguishable from the Undying Mountain range before him.

Though He Mu's presence was deep and still, it seemed poised to crush the ages and suppress all things. Terrifying Dao intent gathered and circulated around him, while the divine power within his body became supremely mighty and adamant. It seemed that a single strand could collapse an entire great world and bring forth a new universe.

After nine such cycles, He Mu's aura finally began to stabilize. Everything returned to calm, and Undying Mountain regained its silence, unchanged for ten thousand years.

He Mu opened his eyes, divine radiance nearly spilling from them. The Enlightenment Tea Tree had proved even more effective than he had expected, and his gains this time had exceeded even his estimates.

In just a few short days, he had almost fully digested what he had gained from discussing the Dao with Heaven Venerable Daode. The insights accumulated over thousands of years of studying the Dao of faith had been completely transformed into nourishment for his cultivation. Dimly, he had even glimpsed the path toward transforming himself and beginning a second life through his own Dao Fruit alone!

Such gains would have been immensely precious to any Dao achiever, and they filled He Mu with joy.

Ever since attaining the Dao, He Mu had sought an opportunity to become a Heavenly Emperor and advance onto the Red Dust Immortal Path. Now that he had finally found a clue, how could he not be beside himself with delight?

He Mu turned to look at the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree before him. Its spiritual vitality had diminished slightly, and the Dao radiance flowing over its trunk had dimmed a little. Presumably, his earlier enlightenment beneath it had consumed too much of its Dao resonance.

Fortunately, a single session of enlightenment had not harmed the Enlightenment Tea Tree's foundations. Thus, the old tree merely seemed somewhat listless; nothing else was amiss.

Looking at the old tree before him, He Mu knew that it had only just awakened its intelligence and could be considered to have thoughts of its own. But that intelligence was still rudimentary and needed to develop further, so the tree could not yet speak as it would in later ages.

Seeing the old tree's listlessness, He Mu felt a trace of guilt toward a plant for the first time.

He watered its roots with divine liquid from his own Life Spring, then looked at the old tree and spoke gently.

"I owe this enlightenment to you. Very well, I'll find a spiritual spring to water you with later. May your intelligence mature soon. Perhaps you, too, will have a fortunate opportunity someday."

At He Mu's words, joy welled up in the old tree's still-fledgling intelligence. Its crown bobbed toward him, as though bowing in thanks. In an instant, Undying Mountain seemed filled with the vitality of ten thousand trees returning to spring.

The sight amused He Mu greatly. He burst into laughter, then smiled at the old tree again.

"All right, all right. I won't forget you. You'll have your share of benefits, so rest easy!"

With his enlightenment complete, He Mu intended to leave Undying Mountain for a time. He still had some unfinished matters to attend to, after which he would return and seek to live a second life.

Before leaving, however, he needed to make arrangements for Undying Mountain, his new cultivation sanctuary, to guard against the unexpected.

With a single step, He Mu arrived at the other end of Undying Mountain, where an enormous cave came into view.

An ancient, timeworn aura permeated the cave. On closer inspection, gleaming green light flickered within, hazy and dreamlike, as though a murmuring stream flowed through the void. It was extraordinarily wondrous.

He Mu needed no closer look to recognize it. This was an extreme Dao immortal material said to be nearly impossible to find anywhere in the world, one of the nine great immortal golds, a supreme treasure reportedly formed from the tears of a True Immortal-immortal tear green gold!

Immortal tear green gold was a supreme immortal material said to be the exclusive province of Ancient Great Emperors. The Western Emperor Pagoda, renowned in later ages, had been forged from this material by the Queen Mother of the West during the Desolate Ancient Era.

Rumor held that this divine metal had formed after being touched by immortal tears, making its acquisition an ill omen. Anyone who possessed it was destined for a life of sorrow. Even the Western Empress of the later Desolate Ancient Era, a supreme sovereign of her generation, had been unable to escape this "curse." That alone hinted at the mystery and strangeness of this immortal material.

Though the curse of immortal tears was largely fanciful talk without foundation, the power and value of this immortal material were undeniable. Even Extreme Dao Supremes greatly coveted such a divine treasure.

And the immortal tear green gold before him was no mere speck or fragment-there was an entire immortal gold mine's worth. More astonishing still, life was faintly taking shape within the mine.

He Mu knew that a Saint Spirit was gestating inside it. In the original story, he had emerged in perfect completion several million years later, becoming an Immortal Metal Saint Spirit Heavenly Emperor. He had even fought Ye Fan after the latter became a Heavenly Emperor. His potential was immense.

Having already made his plans, He Mu did not disturb the Saint Spirit's gestation within the mine. He simply rose into the air. The next moment, his extreme Dao might erupted without restraint, and divine Dao power poured forth, transforming into boundless immortal light that enveloped every corner of Undying Mountain.

Immortal light spread and runes danced, weaving into array patterns that shrouded all of Undying Mountain. He Mu intended to lay an extreme Dao array over the mountain, thoroughly transforming this primordial divine land into his own cultivation sanctuary.

Having deciphered the Lingbao Array Patterns, discussed the Dao with Heaven Venerable Daode, and witnessed the North Sea Seal, He Mu possessed considerable understanding of arrays. As his divine sense stirred, divine patterns swiftly linked with Undying Mountain's earth veins, as though born there naturally. With his Heaven Venerable divine power as a bridge and the mountain's peaks as array nodes, they formed sites of peerless slaughter.

As He Mu's divine power shifted, the great dragon veins within the mountain rumbled into motion. The black mountains emitted a hazy dark radiance, as though all of Undying Mountain had awakened. Finally, amid rolling thunder, a flawless Heaven Venerable Grand Array took complete shape, enveloping the entire mountain.

The Heaven Venerable Grand Array used Undying Mountain's dragon veins as its foundation and the Immeasurable Heaven Venerable's boundless Dao intent and Battle Saint Method as its source. Anchored by the mountains themselves, it formed a seamless whole, as though naturally born, and exuded an incomparably terrifying aura.

Its might left no room for doubt. Even a Quasi-Ninth-Stage Dao Achiever who tried to force his way inside would likely perish, his Dao extinguished. Even self-severed Supremes from the Forbidden Zone would have to pay a considerable price to break through it.

With the array finally complete, He Mu lingered no longer. He concealed the heavenly secrets of this place with his boundless Dao arts, allowed the chaos energy to gather once more, then stepped out toward the world beyond the chaos.

The Ziwei Star Domain, southern Divine Continent, the Wuliang Dao.

Though the Immeasurable Heaven Venerable had not been seen for thousands of years, the Heavenly Heart Imprint hanging high in the nine heavens and the increasingly heavy suppression of the Great Dao throughout the universe both showed that he was still in his prime, at the most powerful stage of his life.

In recent years, the Wuliang Dao's prestige throughout the universe had only grown. It ruled the heavens, revered by all races, and none dared disobey.

Under the Wuliang Dao's governance, despite the ever-increasing suppression of the myriad Daos, the number of powerful cultivators in the sea of stars had not diminished over the years, but had instead increased. The entire universe grew ever more prosperous, as though a golden age had arrived.

For years, the disciples of the Wuliang Dao had upheld the Heaven Venerable's decree, maintaining a presence in the major star domains. They manifested from time to time to relieve suffering and save those in distress, benefiting all living beings and sowing countless seeds of goodness through virtuous deeds. Thus, the Wuliang Dao became ever more revered, and "Immeasurable Heaven Venerable" had even become a name that all beings invoked often.

Wuliang Shrines stood throughout the starry domains, becoming ever more undying and sacred amid the mortal world. Across the sea of stars, all races worshipped the Immeasurable Heaven Venerable. Endless red dust thought power transformed into surging power of faith and gathered at the shrines, then converged upon Ziwei from shrines throughout the stars, flowing into the Heaven Venerable's divine weapon enshrined in the Wuliang Dao-the Wuliang Dao Wheel.

Over the years, baptized by boundless faith, the Wuliang Dao Wheel had become increasingly extraordinary, far more wondrous than when He Mu had first attained the Dao. It faintly emitted immortal light, and as it turned, heavenly sounds of the Great Dao rang out without cease. It seemed on the verge of transforming into an immortal artifact, inspiring ever greater awe.

For the disciples of the Wuliang Dao, today was a quiet, ordinary day, with nothing special about it. As it had for thousands of years, the Wuliang Divine Land remained tranquil and transcendent, looking down upon the changes of the heavens.

Suddenly, a vast golden avenue extended from beyond the domain, guarded by the Four Symbols and Four Spirits and radiating peerless divine might. Ignoring the extreme Dao array that shrouded the entire divine land, it descended directly into the Heavenly Palace in the Wuliang Dao's central divine land.

Immediately, bells rang throughout the Wuliang Dao and immortal light bloomed. A piece of news swiftly spread from this place, racing across the entire universe at the greatest possible speed and instantly shaking the whole starry sky.

The Immeasurable Heaven Venerable, who had not set foot in the mortal world for thousands of years, had returned!

Today's update was a little late because of an exam. My apologies, everyone! This update is a long chapter of over three thousand words, as a small token of apology!

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