Whoa...!
With a thud, Chen Mu fell from the sky to the ground, landing on his back.
This teleportation was even more bumpy than going to the True Body Grotto-Heaven. Even with Chen Mu's willpower, it took him quite a while to recover.
"It's hot, so hot!"
After regaining consciousness, Chen Mu looked around and found himself in a fiery world filled with lava.
"Welcome to Yang Soul Grotto-Heaven. Here you can only use the power of your Divine Soul, or you will be punished."
This grotto-heaven contains the Great Dao of the Yang Soul. Your task is to use the power of your Divine Soul to create a safe area here with a radius of more than ten miles.
All newcomers entering this cave will receive a three-day protection period, during which you can collect materials to prepare for building a safe zone.
Three days later, if you still don't have the ability to protect yourself, you will be killed by the scorching sun here. Please take care of yourself.
The moment the Thought of understanding this grotto-heaven flashed through Chen Mu's mind, a pleasant notification sound rang in his ears, truly profound and mysterious.
"Only a three-day protection period? That won't do. I must reunite with my stand as soon as possible."
He didn't feel too much pressure about completing the trial, after all, his use of his Divine Soul had already reached the level of a god.
However, it's hard to say about one's own substitute. The substitute only has one-tenth of one's own Divine Soul, and once the protection period is over, it's uncertain whether it can protect one's own safety.
He dared not linger and immediately began running towards the location of the substitute puppet.
"I am currently in Divine Soul form; I have no idea where my physical body has gone."
As he ran, he checked his own condition and found that this place was indeed the same as the True Body Grotto-Heaven. The Cave Heaven tested which ability you could only use, and external objects such as storage rings and divine artifacts could not be used here.
Fortunately, he had been in the Dharma Network Realm for several years, Divine Soul, nourished by Dharma Power, was extremely solid and could be considered a real physical object. Even if the protection period was over, he should be able to last for ten days to half a month.
The Divine Soul refers to the power formed by the concentration of a person's mind and will; this is a power that only the living can possess and elevate.
When a person dies, their Divine Soul becomes like a tree without roots, gradually weakening until it disappears completely.
Besides the Divine Soul, the human soul can also generate other powers, such as the Yin Soul and the Battle Soul.
The spirits that appear in the Netherworld are a type of Yin Soul, and the path to advancement for Yin Soul is completely opposite to that of Divine Soul.
The Divine Soul is formed from the void and eventually becomes the Yang God, which illuminates all things. The Yin Soul, on the other hand, erodes all things and sends them through the cycle of reincarnation. Its ultimate goal is to return all things to their Yin God.
Furthermore, Divine Soul use yang-attribute Spiritual Power as their primary energy source, while Yin Soul use Yin-Attribute Spiritual Power as their primary energy source. Spiritual Power is crucial to both of them, serving as an important foundation for influencing the real world.
Other powerful forces, such as Vengeful Soul and Battle Soul, are also extremely rare and will not be discussed further here.
"That's... top-grade Crimson Flame Ore?"
Wow, even though the environment here is harsh, there are still plenty of good stuff!
During his journey, Chen Mu discovered many precious spiritual materials. If these things were to appear in the outside world, even Sage would likely engage in fierce battles over them.
Spiritual materials are essential for building a safe zone, so Chen Mu naturally wouldn't let them go to waste, and he collected them as he walked.
"Roar...!"
While collecting a top-grade fire crystal, he encountered a giant fire worm, and only then did he realize that there were living beings in this world, just far fewer than in the True Body Grotto-Heaven.
In order to reunite with his substitute as soon as possible, he did not entangle with the fire worms and gave up the top-grade fire crystal.
After five days, Chen Mu finally found the location of the substitute puppet.
The substitute puppet wasn't stupid; it knew its original body would come looking for it, so upon entering the Yang Soul Grotto-Heaven, it immediately began gathering materials to build a safe zone.
During the three-day protection period, he created a safe zone with a radius of about five zhang (approximately 10 meters). When the main body found him, he was almost unharmed.
"Excellent! Just as I expected! Haha..."
After losing the three-day protection period, Chen Mu's physical body was scorched by the high temperature here for two days and two nights. Even though his Divine Soul was strong enough, he still suffered a lot of pain.
After entering the safe area, he rested for a while and then began to process the spiritual materials he had collected, preparing for the next step of searching for Elder Ming.
"Even if there are plenty of spiritual materials here, it will still take a lot of time to build a safe zone with a radius of ten kilometers. No wonder Master hasn't passed the trial yet."
After experiencing the environment firsthand, Chen Mu felt much more relaxed.
Although the trials of the Yang Soul Grotto-Heaven are not easy, they are not as dangerous as those of the True Body Grotto-Heaven. With Elder Ming's Divine Soul realm, he should be fine.
"Although this cave is hot, it also indicates that there is abundant energy here."
With energy and materials, as long as energy is used in a reasonable way, it can be revitalized and a safe area can be built.
In Chen Mu's understanding, the environment of Yang Soul Grotto-Heaven was like a planet when it was first born, with lava flowing on the ground, rare natural substances everywhere, and powerful single-celled organisms.
In such an environment, given millions of years of evolution, it could very well become a civilized world.
But Chen Mu now wants to help this place complete its natural evolution ahead of schedule, creating a vibrant area that is not affected by the high temperatures.
How did he manage to do that?
With the help of formations, runes, and even alchemy skills!
So what does that have to do with the Divine Soul? Why is a high enough level of Divine Soul cultivation necessary to construct powerful formations and runes?
Because the Divine Soul is a person's mind and consciousness, and it is the commander of knowledge, only a strong spirit can unleash the power of this profound and mysterious knowledge.
"Haha, these spiritual materials actually contain Innate Runes!"
During the process of processing the materials, Chen Mu unexpectedly discovered that some of the materials contained naturally formed rune patterns, which greatly surprised him.
The so-called Innate Runes refer to runes that appeared naturally with the birth of the universe; they are a carrier of the Great Dao that existed even earlier than the Ancient Runes.
The Ancient Runes Chen Mu usually recognizes actually refer to runes that were already popular among cultivators in ancient times.
The rune system of that time was very different from that of today. It was basically universal across different planes, which is why modern cultivators gave it a different name to make it easier to distinguish.