Primordial Era: Starting with the repair of Penglai Immortal Island

Finally, on this day...

Huanglong, who was sitting in meditation, trembled slightly, and his aura was suddenly released. A comfortable feeling, like being freed from shackles, spread out like a volcanic eruption!

Three flowers swayed atop his head, and a vast Daoist aura manifested across the river of time and space.

The last bit of saintly power left by the Three Pure Ones within his body was finally completely refined and absorbed by him in a silent shattering, transforming into his own power!

With all troubles gone, the path to enlightenment becomes smoother!

Huanglong felt an unprecedented sense of ease and comfort, making him feel better than ever before.

Huanglong stood up, feeling refreshed and clear-headed. His magical power flowed smoothly with every movement.

His cultivation level, as if by a natural progression, had already reached the peak of the early stage of the Great Luo Golden Immortal!

There's only a tiny opportunity left to break through to the mid-stage of the Great Luo realm, to pierce that thin layer of paper.

"Finally... back to normal!"

Huang Long touched his smooth forehead, moved his body to move around and felt no more discomfort, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.

His tens of thousands of years of life as a "dwelling dragon" have finally not been in vain.

In high spirits, Huanglong finally left the Five Elements Courtyard where he had been in seclusion.

Emerging from the confinement, Huang Long felt a long-lost sense of freedom and ease within his body, and was in a very good mood.

He strolled towards the core area of ​​the temple, to the ancient Chinese toon tree, whose innate spiritual root had begun to recover after many years.

While we're at it, let's see how that half-damaged spiritual root is recovering!

However, before he even got close, he sensed a familiar, quiet, and odorless scent.

Bypassing the gnarled tree roots, one could see a lotus pond several meters in size. Xuan Du was bending over to observe the scene in the pond, while his head steward, Zi Ling, was leaning over and asking questions about the cultivation of spiritual roots.

The pool is not ordinary water, but a spiritual pool that gathers innate spiritual energy.

At the bottom of the pool, a dense, golden light of merit flowed slowly as if it were alive, nourishing a unique spiritual plant.

That was the golden lotus seed of merit that Xuandu had obtained from Shiji tens of thousands of years ago and then gifted to him!

Before going into seclusion, Huanglong knew that cultivating this thing was not easy, requiring not only a huge amount of merit, but also a long period of time.

Moreover, to prevent those two in the West from cultivating high-quality Golden Lotus of Merit ahead of time...!

He decisively poured half of his accumulated merits into this lotus seed, and also used a batch of precious Three Lights Divine Water to nourish its vitality and origin, promoting its growth and sprouting.

Now, tens of thousands of years later, during Huanglong's period of seclusion, this merit lotus has not stopped growing.

Moreover, under the influence of the ancient Chinese toon tree's time-honored aura, its growth time is more than a hundred times longer.

Under Zi Ling's meticulous care and nourished by the abundant innate spiritual energy of the cave, it was no longer the tiny lotus seed it once was.

In the pond, several round, jade-like lotus leaves with gold trim floated on the surface, their veins shimmering with golden light, exuding a peaceful and pure aura.

Beneath the clear pool water, through the glimmer of golden light, a small and plump golden bud can be seen quietly taking shape, continuously absorbing the pool water formed by a massive amount of innate spiritual energy, gathering the innate Daoist essence gathered from the entire Five Elements Grotto Heaven, and waiting for the day it will bloom.

"The source is abundant, and the vitality is vibrant. Senior Brother Huanglong, this Golden Lotus of Merit is complete."

Xuandu noticed Huanglong's arrival, straightened up, and looked excited. "At this rate, if it can continue to be nourished with merit and the Three Lights Divine Water, it will eventually become a sixth-grade merit lotus."

Huang Long stepped forward, greeted Xuan Du, and said with a smile, "It's all thanks to Junior Brother's help back then, and Zi Ling's protection over the past tens of thousands of years." Huang Long also praised Zi Ling, who was eagerly waiting.

Upon receiving Huang Long's praise, Zi Ling beamed with joy and walked with an air of confidence.

His gaze swept over the flower buds hidden underwater, and he felt very gratified.

If this lotus can grow, it will not only be a powerful protective spiritual treasure, but also suppress one's own and even the fortune of the temple, making it of extraordinary significance.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Huanglong's divine sense habitually swept across the entire Kunlun Mountain, but he was slightly taken aback.

He was unable to clearly sense the three familiar auras of sages in Taiqing Palace, Yuqing Palace, and Shangqing Palace as he usually did!

"Junior Brother Xuandu," Huanglong looked at Xuandu with a puzzled expression, "I just came out of seclusion, why couldn't I sense the auras of my eldest master, teacher, and uncle? Could it be that the three masters are also in seclusion?"

Upon hearing this, Xuan Du shook his head slightly, a look of bewilderment on his face, and explained, "Senior brother has been in seclusion for many years and may not know this. Not long after the last Four Teachings Dao Discussion Competition, our teacher and two senior uncles sent us a message saying that they had to go out on business and leave Kunlun for a while."

"The specifics of the matter and the destination were not stated. We were only told to calm our minds and cultivate ourselves, and not to cause any trouble."

"Now, the three division commanders are no longer in the Kunlun Mountains."

"I see."

Huang Long suddenly realized, but a doubt arose in his heart.

It is an extremely rare occurrence for the three sages to leave Kunlun at the same time.

In the primordial world, three Heavenly Saints are needed to act together...!

Huanglong raised his head and looked into the endless chaos!

The two sat down on a stone bench under the big Chinese toon tree, and Zi Ling obediently served them spiritual tea.

The conversation naturally turned to the situation of the disciples of the Chan and Jie sects on Kunlun Mountain in recent years.

Even Xuan Du, who usually had a calm and composed expression, couldn't help but show a worried look on his face when this was mentioned.

"Senior Brother Huanglong, you haven't even emerged from seclusion yet...!"

Xuan Du paused slightly, as if he had thought of something, sighed, and continued:

"The conflict between the disciples of the Chan Sect and the Jie Sect is now escalating to the point where they are almost irreconcilable."

Through Xuandu's detailed description, Huanglong learned that during the tens of thousands of years he had been in seclusion eliminating his own abnormalities, drastic changes had occurred within Kunlun Mountain.

In particular, the extremely egregious "theft of medicine" incident pushed the long-standing feud between the two religions to its peak.

The root cause lies in the seemingly inexhaustible cultivation resources, which are actually subject to increasingly fierce competition.

The Kunlun Mountains are rich in spiritual energy, nurturing countless rare and precious herbs and medicinal plants.

In addition to their own seclusion to absorb innate spiritual energy for cultivation, the disciples also relied on the countless spiritual herbs nurtured in the Kunlun Mountains for their rapid cultivation.

But when a "shortcut" that allows one to skip decades or even centuries of arduous cultivation by consuming spiritual medicine is presented before them, how many disciples can remain true to their original aspirations and endure the loneliness?

This is especially true for disciples whose cultivation progress is slow or even stagnant, and who have not made any progress for thousands or tens of thousands of years.

Looking at his fellow disciples, who were making rapid progress and breaking through one realm after another, he saw them constantly making breakthroughs.

Those whose minds are not firm, how can they possibly calm down and meditate to attain enlightenment?

Naturally, their attention turned to...!