Preparations

In the Undying Mountain, beneath the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree.

He Mu sat upright beneath the Enlightenment Tree, Dao rhythms flowing around him amid waves of immortal music, a wondrous sight.

Eight hundred years had passed since his battles against the Forbidden Zones and his display of overwhelming might at Flying Immortal.

Throughout those eight hundred years, the universe had remained stable, and all races had enjoyed peace.

For the first three hundred years, He Mu had patrolled the heavens, residing in the Wuliang Dao on Ziwei, ruling over all races and deterring the Forbidden Zones.

For the following five hundred years, He Mu had returned to the chaos, remaining seated within the Undying Mountain as he studied the Feathered Green Gold and White Tiger Immortal Medicine he had demanded from the Forbidden Zones.

He hoped that studying these two divine treasures would inspire him and deepen the foundation of the Dao Fruit he had accumulated in this life.

After all, the embryonic form of the Great Dao by which he would live out a Second Lifetime and even set foot on the Immortal Road had already emerged. Unless necessary, he did not wish to use an Immortal Medicine too early, preferring to keep it as a fallback against unforeseen dangers.

With this in mind, He Mu intended to spend some more time strengthening his foundation before formally beginning his transformation, ensuring that nothing could go wrong.

Of the two divine treasures obtained from the Forbidden Zones, He Mu first chose the Feathered Green Gold as his initial subject of study.

Feathered Green Gold was said to contain the supreme mysteries of shedding one's mortal form and ascending to immortality.

In later ages, the Demon Emperor Ruler, the Feathered Immortal Emperor Weapon, and the Light Clan's God-Refining Pot were all forged from this immortal material.

Moreover, the Feathered Great Emperor of Desolate Antiquity had even taken this Immortal Gold's name as his imperial title, showing just how extraordinary its mysteries were.

During his first hundred years in the Undying Mountain, He Mu had continually explored the mysteries of this Immortal Gold and reaped considerable rewards.

The greatest of these was his understanding of the mysteries of feathered ascension.

In He Mu's view, the mysteries of this feathered Immortal Gold lay in a highly unusual power that resembled Dao dissolution without quite being the same.

Once activated, this Immortal Gold would produce a unique Dao power poised between the tangible and the intangible. It was difficult to guard against and closely resembled the power of the Primordial Spirit, allowing it to easily wound a person's Divine Soul or even cause them to dissolve into the Dao.

Likewise, when applied constructively, these mysteries of feathered ascension greatly benefited the cultivation of the Immortal Platform and Primordial Spirit. If refined into a bonded Dao Artifact and kept constantly at one's side, it could not only advance one's Primordial Spirit cultivation but also aid in comprehending the Dao.

If the mysteries of Feathered Green Gold were developed to their utmost, this Dao intent could even connect with heaven and earth through a power bordering on Dao dissolution, borrowing their strength for one's own use.

At that point, the wielder could use it defensively to strengthen themselves or offensively to annihilate an enemy's Primordial Spirit and burn their Immortal Platform, ultimately dissolving them completely into the Dao of heaven and earth. It was domineering in the extreme.

And this property was exceptionally compatible with He Mu.

In He Mu’s eyes, this power resembling Dao dissolution meshed perfectly with his Wuliang Tribulation Light.

If he could fully integrate the two, he might develop a Feathered Tribulation Light, using its mysteries of feathered ascension to slay all enemies within the void and shatter all arts.

If this tribulation light truly reached perfection, He Mu could use it to extinguish the spiritual radiance of all things, transforming it into Nirvana Immortal Light that brought an end to everything.

In fact, even now, this divine ability was a genuinely lethal killing move against the Forbidden Zone Supremes.

One could say that, quite unexpectedly, He Mu had gained another devastating weapon against them through the Immortal Gold obtained from their Forbidden Zones.

Yet compared with the Immortal Gold's mysteries of feathered ascension, He Mu was even more interested in the White Tiger Immortal Medicine the Forbidden Zones had handed over.

The White Tiger Immortal Medicine would appear in the Kunlun Immortal Pool in later ages. Across the ages, it had belonged to numerous ancient emperors and Great Emperors, making it one of the earliest to appear and most active of the many Immortal Medicines in the Shrouding the Heavens era.

Initially, He Mu had wanted to compare it with the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree to learn more about the path of longevity embodied by Immortal Medicines, hoping that insight into one might illuminate the other.

Moreover, in his previous life, many had speculated that the Enlightenment Tea Tree was a true innate spiritual root, while the White Tiger Immortal Medicine was more likely a transformation of the White Tiger Immortal King from the Chaotic Ancient Era.

He Mu also wanted to see whether these two Immortal Medicines, with their different origins, possessed any more concrete distinctions.

But over the course of his research, He Mu's focus gradually strayed, shifting toward the intrinsic Dao nature of the White Tiger Divine Medicine itself.

Unlike the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree, which coexisted with the myriad Daos, the White Tiger Immortal Medicine possessed a more pronounced and pure Dao nature despite also being an Immortal Divine Medicine: an exceptionally aggressive Dao of geng-metal slaughter.

The white tiger was one of the Four Spirits of heaven and earth, dwelling in the west and presiding over slaughter.

Unlike the balanced, peaceful Enlightenment Tea Tree, which lacked distinctive traits, the White Tiger Divine Medicine carried an innate aggressiveness despite being a medicine. The might of the white tiger among the Four Spirits found abundant expression within it.

As the creator of Nine Secrets: Dou, He Mu had likewise studied the Dao of offense in depth, making the White Tiger Immortal Medicine an extraordinarily good match for him.

He Mu spent nearly four hundred years comprehending the White Tiger Divine Medicine.

Throughout those four hundred years, He Mu frequently observed the White Tiger Divine Medicine’s form and repeatedly connected with the elusive Dao rhythms of geng-metal slaughter within it.

It truly deserved its reputation as an Immortal Medicine said to have been transformed from an Immortal King of the previous era. During the Mythological Era, the White Tiger Divine Medicine's Dao rhythms and spiritual potency flourished to an extraordinary degree, making it almost equivalent to a genuine white tiger immortal beast. Over those four hundred years, it revealed the full mysteries of its race to He Mu.

In the process, He Mu gained many new insights into the Dao of battle.

Ultimately, he created an offensive divine ability named the "White Tiger World-Destroying Art," using it to express the true essence of the white tiger race's slaughter.

Although this divine ability lacked variation, it was all the purer in its offensive power.

In the hands of He Mu, its creator, this art could almost rival his supreme forbidden divine ability, Nine Secrets: Dou, which would rank among the Nine Secrets in later ages.

Afterward, He Mu used this divine ability as a foundation and developed it into a cultivation method called the "White Tiger Dao-Evolving Scripture."

Through constant refinement, picking out even the smallest flaws, this cultivation method eventually reached a level approaching Dao attainment. Paired with its divine ability, it could contend with the scriptures of Heavenly Venerables.

Perhaps, many years later, as future generations developed it further, this cultivation method might become a true supreme immortal scripture, adding another paramount legacy for posterity.

With this thought in mind, He Mu refined a Quasi-Venerable-grade Soul-Cutting Blade from great Luo silver essence to carry the divine ability and cultivation method, then cast it into the universe to await someone destined to receive it in a later age.

Although his research had ultimately strayed somewhat from its original focus, these five hundred years of studying the White Tiger Divine Medicine had still taught He Mu much more about the longevity methods of Immortal Medicines, further increasing his confidence in living a Second Lifetime.

For the next thousand years, He Mu paid no attention to anything else, focusing entirely on absorbing heaven and earth origin qi, accumulating immortal longevity essence within his body, and once more examining his own Dao path in preparation for his impending transformation.

As time flowed on, He Mu's preparations grew ever more complete.

The day when he would transform himself and live out a Second Lifetime gradually drew near.

Sorry, today's update really was a little late. Something came up that I had to handle, so I could only post the update now.

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