Chapter 278: Cultivating in Seclusion for Years, Intending to Head to Huaijing

Time passed quickly, and seven or eight years had passed in the present world before one knew it.

Shuimu Yifu.

Before the door of a quiet room, Shentuo had long been unable to restrain his nature; he revealed his turtle body, shrank to the size of about an acre, and fell into a deep sleep.

His snoring was like thunder, one wave rising after another.

However, he still remembered his task, lying prone before the door of the quiet room, pressed tightly against the entrance.

His mountain-like turtle body blocked the entrance completely.

Yet, if anyone were to take a look inside this quiet room, they would find it empty.

Only the Night-Shining Pearl on the dome shone with a halo, illuminating the surroundings clearly. Even the curling sandalwood smoke in the incense burner had burned out—this was because Fang Longye had not been immersed in Dao-comprehension for the entire seven or eight years. In fact, after about a year or so of comprehension, he had awakened.

After all, it was not some sudden enlightenment, just a momentary realization, so it could naturally be stopped at any time.

And the reason he stopped was that there simply wasn't enough time.

Therefore, in order to have more time for cultivation, he immediately opened up a Grotto-Heaven with a time flow rate of one thousand to one.

He resided within it, cultivating diligently without pause.

On this day, ripples appeared in the quiet room, as if a breeze were blowing across a clear lake, causing waves to stir.

A figure emerged from the void and appeared in the quiet room; it was Fang Longye himself.

Just as he stood steady.

Catching sight of Shentuo's appearance outside the door, Fang Longye's mouth twitched, and he muttered in his heart: "And he calls himself a mountain-guarding divine beast! I'm afraid if someone attacked, he'd still be snoring away—utterly useless!"

With a flick of his finger, a force capable of piercing a Small World shot out instantly.

It struck the turtle head that was only half-exposed from Shentuo's shell.

This force, capable of piercing a Small World, struck his turtle head, but only produced sparks without causing the slightest injury.

Only a sound like a great bell tolling echoed all around.

"Who?!"

"Who exactly is it?!"

"With me, Shentuo, here, don't even think about taking half a step into Master's place of seclusion!"

This force was, after all, at the Golden Immortal level; although it could not cause any damage to Shentuo, it startled him from his deep sleep.

He shook his body, transforming into a tall and sturdy man, holding a heavy hammer, his eyes glowing as he searched for the hidden enemy.

It looked quite convincing.

"Hmph!" A cold snort entered Shentuo's True Spirit directly from the 'Seven Stars Covering Moon Ring', shaking him with terror.

"You lazy wretch! If I truly relied on you for protection, I'm afraid I'd be dead and my soul extinguished before you even knew it!"

"Guard the door properly and don't be lazy again! If there is a next time, I will certainly not be lenient!"

Shentuo gave a sheepish smile and said, "It won't happen again! Master, rest assured, there will absolutely not be a next time!"

Having said this, he hurriedly raised the heavy hammer in his hand and stood upright at the door, not daring to be the least bit slack.

Inside the quiet room.

After sending the voice transmission, Fang Longye withdrew his gaze and stopped paying attention to Shentuo's actions.

He turned his head to look at the Mysterious Spirit Escaping Armor in his hand, reminiscing about his cultivation over these years, and could not help but sigh: "It truly is a great treasure for Dao-comprehension!"

Over these years, his gains had been truly significant.

Not to mention anything else, just speaking of his progress in cultivation.

Up to now, he had already imprinted thirty percent of his mark into the Dao Source Sea.

It could be called remarkable progress.

And half of this was due to this Merit Spiritual Treasure.

Thinking of this, Fang Longye could not help but stroke this treasure and look it over.

"I can only say that the Eight Trigrams diagram derived by the Holy Emperor Fuxi is indeed extraordinary, enough to exhaust the ultimate principles of the world."

The Merit Spiritual Treasure in his hand was dark cyan throughout; although it had the appearance of a turtle shell, it did not have the texture of an ordinary turtle shell.

Instead, it carried a heavy, metallic quality, as if it were cast from refined gold tempered a hundred times.

Even though he only held it in his hand without activating it in the slightest, it caused the surrounding space to distort and the light to become hazy.

Complex Dao Patterns were densely and deeply imprinted upon it, profound and incomparable. Furthermore, the eight trigram symbols of Qian, Kun, Xun, Dui, Gen, Zhen, Li, and Kan constantly shifted, forming sets of mysterious patterns.

Even though he had long since completely refined this Supreme Merit Spiritual Treasure and had been using it for Dao-comprehension and cultivation all these years.

At this moment, staring at these imprinted symbols for a long time, he still felt waves of dizziness, as if he were about to be lost within them.

This was the Dao of the Eight Trigrams.

Using the simplest method, it depicted the essence of the entire universe; every symbol was the most fundamental principle in the world.

A single Eight Trigrams diagram explained the root of the universe and the eternal truth.

Everything, the finality of everything, and all the mysteries were contained within this Eight Trigrams diagram!

"Perhaps, this is not the Dao of the Human Race's Holy Emperor Fuxi? But rather the Dao cultivated by his true self, that Xihuang who transcended the Honghuang?"

Fang Longye's eyes were deep, filled with contemplation.

He could not be blamed for thinking so.

At first, when he had just finished refining this Merit Spiritual Treasure, he had felt nothing.

It was not until he used the Mysterious Spirit Escaping Armor for Dao-comprehension that he suddenly realized that the various principles interwoven within this spiritual treasure were actually deeper and more profound than the laws and principles within the Zhanxian Gourd.

This was absurd!

A Merit Spiritual Treasure created post-heaven, with only forty-two Merit Divine Prohibitions, yet the Dao essence hidden within was deeper than an Innate Spiritual Treasure with forty-five Innate Divine Prohibitions? Did he really think the chasm between innate and post-heaven was so easy to cross?

It was one thing for their power to be comparable; it was fine. Post-heaven things were not necessarily inferior to innate ones, especially when it was a Merit Spiritual Treasure.

The Dao essence hidden within is actually stronger than that of an Innate Spiritual Treasure. This is inconceivable—if you were to say this spiritual treasure came directly from the hands of Xihuang or Fuxi of the Human Race, that would be understandable.

The key is that the Mysterious Spirit Escape Armor, this Merit Spiritual Treasure, was merely formed by being imbued with some of the merit from Fuxi deriving the Eight Trigrams. At most, it was nourished by a portion of the Eight Trigrams principles, plus the imprint of the Luo Shu.

What about the Zhanxian Gourd? Not to mention that it is inherently a top-tier Innate Spiritual Treasure. Most crucially, after the ten Golden Crows perished, it was refined by Donghuang Taiyi and Di Jun together.

Don't look at it as having only forty-five Innate Divine Prohibitions; according to Lu Ya, if it were to reveal its full edge, it would be enough to contend with those top-grade spiritual treasures.

With such good fortune, the Mysterious Spirit Hidden Armor is actually able to have a deeper Dao essence than the Immortal-Slaying Gourd.

That can only mean that this Eight Trigrams Dao is truly beyond all others, and is extraordinary.

The Mysterious Spirit Hidden Armor only needed to be imbued with a fraction to have such immense good fortune.

Shaking his head, Fang Longye muttered to himself: "Regardless of how it actually is. In any case, such a treasure now belongs to Fang!"

This is a great joy~

As long as he concentrates on comprehending the Dao essence within the Mysterious Spirit Hidden Armor and uses it to deduce the Great Dao, he wouldn't even need Mysterious Yellow Merit to ascend to the Taiyi Realm in a short time.

"About a hundred years~" Fang Longye calculated to himself; with the benefit of time acceleration, he could achieve Taiyi in about a hundred years! If he were to encounter any other opportunities or good fortune, this time could be further shortened.

In fact, the Dao essence within the Mysterious Spirit Hidden Armor alone, if fully comprehended and verified against his own Great Dao, would be enough to elevate him to a Taiyi Golden Immortal.

It is just that the Dao essence is too profound.

Even though he has completely refined this Merit Spiritual Treasure and can see everything inside, he still doesn't quite understand it.

He can only comprehend the surface. After sighing with emotion, Fang Longye put away the Mysterious Spirit Hidden Armor and actually entered his own Inner World with his true body.

This is something he had always wanted to do before, but could not.

The reason the Inner World is called an Inner World is that it is a place of mystery opened up within one's true body.

Although this place of mystery seems to be within the true body, yet also seems to lie outside the void—neither real nor illusory, neither existent nor non-existent—it is peerlessly profound.

Once one's cultivation realm reaches a certain level, one can indeed enter one's own Inner World directly with their true body.

However, it is very clear that Fang Longye, merely a Golden Immortal, has not reached such a cultivation realm.

And for him, a mere Golden Immortal, to break the norm and enter his Inner World with his true body, he naturally relies on his comprehension of the 'Mysterious Spirit Hidden Armor' Dao essence.

However~

It is not the Eight Trigrams Dao, but the 'Luo Shu' imprint left upon it.

Just like the "He" character in 'He Tu' does not refer to the Yellow River, but to the Star River. 'Luo Shu' also does not refer to the book of the Luo River, but is a treasure of the vein diagram, explaining the veins of change in the space of heaven and earth.

Therefore, having been able to comprehend the 'Luo Shu' imprint, his attainments in the Dao of Space have grown significantly.

Only then was he able to break the norm and step into his own Inner World with his true body while at the Golden Immortal realm.

Fang Longye's true body escaped into his Inner World, standing in the deepest part of that mysterious world, immediately causing the entire world to be filled with joy.

The Creator has arrived; for this heaven and earth, it is naturally a vast grace~ Without needing to spread his primordial spirit to feel it, this Small World spontaneously projected the state of everything in this heaven and earth into his heart.

"Compared to before, the changes are much greater!"

Fang Longye thought to himself.

He saw that the current Inner World was already as large as more than half of Beiju Luzhou.

Of course, seventy percent was an expansive ocean, and thirty percent was a vast continent. This is basically the same ratio as before, or even slightly reduced.

Very normal~ Although Fang Longye had previously cast various heavenly materials and earthly treasures into the hands of that avatar, there was no lack of treasures belonging to the Dao of Earth among them.

But in essence, even added together, they could not compare to that bowl of Nether Dust Divine Water refined from five types of Innate True Water.

Although he did not have much after decomposing this Nether Dust Divine Water, with only a few dozen drops of each type of Innate True Water, and he even held back half of the Three Lights Divine Water.

But who let them be Innate in essence! They cannot compare to Fuli Divine Soil in quality, but in quantity, they are more than enough.

Plus, the beginning of this Inner World was evolved from the Canghai Map.

With all these combined, it is naturally dominated by water!

However, the biggest change is not in size.

Fang Longye could not help but cast his gaze toward the central area of this Inner World.

He saw that the Xun Wood, which served as the pillar supporting the sky, had already melted all those Spiritual Root fragments into itself, becoming unimaginably massive.

And at the top of its canopy that towered into the clouds, and at the bottom of its roots that reached deep into the earth, a small space had been born in each.

They are connected to and resonate with this heaven and earth of the Inner World.

One is like a beautiful scene of the Heavenly Palace, clear and tranquil; the other is like the Youming Underworld, filled with gloomy Yin energy.

"Heavenly Realm? Youming?"

Although Fang Longye was questioning, he was certain.

A smile even appeared on his face.

That's right, these two small spaces are equivalent to the Heavenly Realm and Youming of the Honghuang Great World.

Although they are still very weak now, merely a prototype, with the growth of the entire Inner World, one day they will become the true Heavenly Realm and Youming of this heaven and earth.

Fang Longye closed his eyes and felt it.

After this prototype of the Heavenly Realm was born, the effect of promoting the Dao of Heaven was not yet very obvious. But after the prototype of Youming was born, the effect of promoting the Dao of Earth was quite obvious.

Heaven is transformed by Yang-clear Qi, and Earth is transformed by Yin-turbid Qi. However, the earth needs more Turbid Qi; if the Yin energy is too heavy, it actually has the possibility of turning into Underworld soil.

And now, the Yin energy in the earth has all surged into the small space representing the prototype of Youming, making the earth become more solid and profound, taking on a bit of the appearance of the Mother of Earth.

This is undoubtedly of great benefit to the entire Inner World.

"And the World Membrane~"

Fang Longye looked at the World Membrane at the outermost periphery of the Inner World.

That broken array diagram, although not yet completely digested by the Inner World.

After all, its essence is ultimately the Heavenly Membrane of a Great Thousand World, which is not so easy to refine.

But under the flow of time, it has also digested quite a bit, causing the World Membrane to gain great growth.

The laws and principles of the entire Inner World were interwoven, grand and majestic, brilliant and vast.

It was heavy and profound, indestructible.

It was more than a thousand times thicker than before, no longer belonging to the level of a Small World.

Moreover, perhaps because the true intent of the Nine-Bend Yellow River Array had also been smelted into it, the entire World Membrane unexpectedly presented a winding, multi-layered folded structure.

This made the effect of protecting the world even more significant.

Withdrawing his gaze, Fang Longye stretched his body, feeling the thriving and upward-surging aura of the entire Inner World.

He chuckled happily: "In the future, if I want to accelerate time for closed-door cultivation, I can come directly to this Inner World!"

The Grotto-Heaven he had opened up himself could only accelerate time by a thousand times, far inferior to the time flow rate he could adjust by relying on the Inner World.

Hmm, when he previously said that under time acceleration, he could achieve Taiyi in about a hundred years, he was using the time flow rate of the Small World as the standard of measurement.

If it were a time flow rate of one thousand to one, converted to the present world, it would likely take more than a thousand years.

Do not think that the time he spends is long.

In reality, this speed of progress is already not slow within Honghuang.

Those cultivators who have wasted ten or even dozens of Yuanhui at the perfection of the Golden Immortal realm are not without such means of time acceleration.

And the result? They still wasted so much time in the present world.

Never mind those cultivators; even the likes of Yang Jian, Nezha, and others, who can be called monstrous geniuses.

It appears they only spent a few years jumping from Golden Immortal to Taiyi.

But that is the time displayed in the present world.

Behind the scenes, the time they spent was not necessarily much less.

Fang Longye had even heard Yang Chan say that her second brother, Yang Jian, was taken by his master, Yuding Zhenren, immediately after he became an apprentice, crossing through time to cultivate during the era of the Heavenly Sovereign.

Such opportunities and good fortune are far stronger than him accelerating time or anything of the sort.

After all, even a Daluo cannot do as Yuding Zhenren does, traversing time with such ease and freedom.

Especially when bringing someone back to the past.

When all is said and done, if one truly wants to speed up cultivation, one must rely on opportunity and good fortune—relying on bitter cultivation, one wouldn't even be able to catch a hot meal.

Why did he not continue his secluded cultivation but instead come out of seclusion? It was because the time he had agreed upon with the Macaque King to meet Wuzhiqi at Huaijing was approaching.

Facing such an opportunity, it naturally could not be missed.

Who knows, after a trip to Huaijing, the time he needs to achieve Taiyi might be shortened even further! (End of chapter)