Hongjun Attains the Dao! Purple Cloud Palace
Watching Hongjun leave, his face wreathed in smiles and his steps eager, Ao Changsheng suddenly wondered if he had been a little petty in his asking price.
Impossible!
Ao Changsheng looked at the Innate Supreme Treasure, the Qiankun Cauldron, in his left hand, then at the Innate Spirit Root, the Yellow Center Plum, in his right.
There were also more than a dozen Innate Spirit Treasures and Innate Spirit Roots floating beside him, all of them at least high-grade.
If any great expert in the Primordial World saw this pile of treasures, they would surely go mad.
But whenever Ao Changsheng thought of how Hongjun had not even tried to bargain, he could not shake the feeling that he might... still have gotten too little.
The Innate Spirit Treasures he had obtained from Hongjun were easy enough to deal with. Although Ao Changsheng's current Golden Immortal cultivation was not enough to refine them,
he had put them all away deep within his cultivation grounds.
As for the Innate Spirit Roots, Ao Changsheng spent some time transplanting them to the various islands within his cultivation grounds.
Fortunately, his cultivation grounds had an endless supply of Innate Spiritual Qi provided by the system.
Otherwise, with only a few medium-sized Spirit Veins across his cultivation grounds, vast as they were, let alone seven or eight Innate Spirit Roots, he could not have kept even one alive.
Only after planting the last and most precious Innate Spirit Root, the Yellow Center Plum, on the island where he cultivated in seclusion did Ao Changsheng withdraw his avatar.
Feeling his cultivation speed increase by three parts out of nowhere, Ao Changsheng opened his eyes slightly and looked at the Innate Spirit Root, the Yellow Center Plum, beside him.
It truly lives up to its name. With such a wondrous effect, Hongjun was actually willing to trade it away, Ao Changsheng marveled inwardly.
The Primordial World had countless Spirit Roots, but very few bore the name of Innate Spirit Root, and ten among them were the most precious of all.
The Chaos Green Lotus, Innate Gourd Vine, Laurel Tree, Fusang Tree, Immortal Apricot, Ginseng Fruit Tree, Bodhi Tree, Bitter Bamboo, Flat Peach Fruit Tree, and this Yellow Center Plum were known as the ten great Innate Spirit Roots of the Primordial World.
The Yellow Center Plum flowered once every ten thousand years, bore fruit once every ten thousand years, and ripened once every ten thousand years. It produced only nine fruits in thirty thousand years. Its flowers resembled lotus blossoms, and its fruits looked like pearl-shaped stamens.
Both its flowers and fruits bore the two characters "Yellow Center."
Rumor had it that a whiff of its flowers would add ten thousand years to one's cultivation, while eating a single fruit would make one a Daluo Golden Immortal on the spot.
Of course, its actual effects were not so exaggerated.
Cultivating while breathing in the fragrance of the Yellow Center Plum's flowers cleared the mind and calmed the spirit, kept external demons at bay, and improved the efficiency of absorbing Innate Spiritual Qi by a few parts.
As for its fruit, there really were fruits that could make one a Daluo Golden Immortal upon eating one, but...
According to Hongjun, that kind of fruit appeared only once per major calamity.
In the Primordial World, one major calamity lasted fifty thousand yuanhui, and one yuanhui lasted 129,600 years. In other words, the Yellow Center Plum bore that kind of fruit only once every 6.48 billion years.
But even the Yellow Center Plum's ordinary fruit, which appeared once every thirty thousand years, was worth a million years of cultivation for a Daluo Golden Immortal.
The only thing that displeased Ao Changsheng was that the fruit of the Innate Spirit Root, the Yellow Center Plum, was too high-grade; only a Daluo Golden Immortal could refine and digest it.
At his current Golden Immortal cultivation, he could not partake of it at all.
There was also the Innate Supreme Treasure, the Qiankun Cauldron, and the many Innate Spirit Treasures. They were not treasures awarded by the system, so with Ao Changsheng's current cultivation, fully refining them was simply impossible.
Cultivation.
Cultivation in seclusion.
Ao Changsheng's enthusiasm for cultivation was now almost as great as when he had just transmigrated and encountered cultivation for the first time.
Time flew like an arrow, and the sun and moon sped past like shuttles.
In the blink of an eye, a million years had passed since the Dragon Han First Calamity.
During this peaceful period, the Primordial World had regained a measure of vitality, and countless living beings began to spread across it.
The many innate great divinities who had shut themselves away during the great war between the dragon, phoenix, and qilin races now began to venture out and travel the Primordial World.
For a time, the Primordial World even showed some signs of its former prosperity.
On this day, a gentle breeze blew beneath a clear sky, and the vast heavens were a brilliant blue.
Suddenly, an immense, majestic presence rose from Mount Kunlun and spread throughout the Primordial World at an inconceivable speed.
Immediately afterward, a stream of purple qi hundreds of thousands of zhang long swept across the sky from the east, spreading throughout the Primordial World as waves of immortal music rang out across the heavens.
Countless streams of Spiritual Qi condensed into golden flowers that fell from the sky, transforming into immortal cranes and auspicious beasts that flew and ran about, while streams of profound Qi filled heaven and earth.
The many phenomena continued for dozens of breaths. Their grandeur was so immense that even Ao Changsheng, cultivating in seclusion deep beneath the sea, was roused.
"I am Hongjun. Today I have attained the Dao and established Purple Firmament Palace in the Chaos beyond the thirty-third heaven. All who are fated may come and hear the Dao."
Roused from his seclusion, Ao Changsheng understood.
Only Dao Ancestor Hongjun's attainment of the Dao as a Sage could have caused such a grand spectacle and prompted the entire Primordial World to celebrate.
Hongjun had attained the Dao!
That meant the Primordial World's brief age of Quasi-Sages was about to begin, and the first signs of the future age of Sages had appeared!
The curtain would also officially rise on the Witch-Demon Tribulation of this epoch.
A sermon at Purple Firmament Palace...
At the thought of a Sage preaching the Dao, Ao Changsheng genuinely felt an urge to go and listen.
But Ao Changsheng promptly dismissed the thought.
Leaving his Seclusion System aside, even if he could emerge from seclusion, he probably would not go to Purple Firmament Palace to hear the Dao.
As a Taiyi Golden Immortal cultivator, it was not impossible for him to use the supreme-grade Innate Spirit Treasure, the Ancestral Dragon Pearl, to venture into the Chaos and find Purple Firmament Palace to hear the Dao.
But for a Taiyi Golden Immortal like him to wander around with a supreme-grade Innate Spirit Treasure in front of a group of Daluo Golden Immortals-
Was that appropriate?
Did he think he was not dying fast enough?
Ao Changsheng could not bring himself to do such a thing.
Was it not better to stay here obediently, cultivating in seclusion in pursuit of the Dao?
Without the slightest hesitation, once the Sage's overwhelming pressure had passed from the Primordial World, Ao Changsheng continued his seclusion and immersed himself in cultivation.
Beyond the thirty-third heaven, in the boundless Chaos, inside Purple Firmament Palace.
Several thousand great experts had gathered at Purple Cloud Palace, and every one of these experts from the Primordial World was at least a Daluo Golden Immortal.
A scene like this could only be witnessed at a time like Hongjun's sermon.
"Eldest brother, we've been at Purple Firmament Palace for several years. Why hasn't Teacher opened it yet?" Yuanshi could not resist asking Laozi through voice transmission.
Hearing Yuanshi's voice transmission, Laozi almost replied, "I don't know."
Although he was the first of the three brothers to be born, had the highest cultivation and the oldest appearance, and possessed their only treasure, the Heaven and Earth Black and Yellow Exquisite Pagoda,
he was only a Daluo Golden Immortal himself. How could he know what Teacher was thinking? Still, mindful of his dignity as the eldest brother, Laozi gave an answer.
"Be patient. It's only been a few years. Perhaps Teacher is testing our resolve to seek the Dao."
"Yes, eldest brother. I stand corrected!" Yuanshi, who stood beside him, came to his senses.
Indeed, it had only been a few years. What was there to be anxious about?
To hear a Sage preach the Dao, let alone a few years, they could easily afford to wait thousands or tens of thousands of years.
"Eldest brother, second brother, look over there. Two more have arrived. Maybe Teacher was waiting for everyone to get here!" Tongtian suddenly laughed and teasingly sent the two a voice transmission.
Laozi and Yuanshi looked in the direction Tongtian pointed. Sure enough, two figures stepped out of the boundless Chaos.
Judging by their cultivation, both were at Perfection Daluo. Their late arrival was one thing, but surprisingly, the two of them looked thoroughly bedraggled.
This part of the Chaos was not far from the Primordial World. Under its suppressive influence, the nearby region of Chaos should have been quite calm.
At the very least, it should not have left Perfection Daluo cultivators in such a sorry state.
Jieyin and Zhunti were quite frustrated themselves. They had set out for Purple Firmament Palace as soon as Hongjun became a Sage and announced his sermon.
But the moment they entered the Chaos, they were swept up in a chaotic current. Though it did not threaten their lives, they lost their bearings in the Chaos.
Only with great difficulty had they followed their faint connection to the Primordial World back to it and set out for Purple Firmament Palace anew. That was why they were so late.
Still, seeing that the gates of Purple Firmament Palace remained tightly shut, Jieyin and Zhunti both breathed a deep sigh of relief.
The great experts present were somewhat surprised by the two fellow disciples' adventure in the Chaos, but not one of them was curious enough to approach.
Among the Three Purities, Yuanshi even softly chided Tongtian for making up stories about Teacher.
And then...
Then the gates of Purple Firmament Palace opened!
"Eldest brother, second brother, look! The doors are open, they're open!" Tongtian cried excitedly, not even bothering to use voice transmission.
Feeling the strange gazes of the surrounding great experts, Laozi and Yuanshi's faces both darkened.
"Tongtian, shut up!"