The primordial era began with the Upper Cave Man.

Chapter 457 The Xuanhuang Merit Pagoda, Transforming Qi into Spirit

"What? A challenge to a duel?"

Luo Zu looked puzzled when he heard about this novel thing.

The person who came to report was a fellow practitioner who had been cultivating in seclusion in the Kunlun Mountains, and called himself the Spirit Child.

He cultivated for thirty million years and attained the Dao fruit, showing great talent. Daoist Duobao has already recorded his name, waiting only for the Shangqing Sage to emerge from seclusion.

The sage has been in seclusion for over a thousand years, and there is no sign of him emerging.

"It's in a place called Shouyang Mountain, 180,000 light-years away from Kunlun Mountain," the elf replied.

"Shouyang Mountain?" Luo Zu was even more curious, wondering if this was an accident or not.

Those who frequently visit this place should know that Shouyang Mountain is rich in a type of precious metal—brass.

This brass is not the same as other brass; it is a product of the convergence of many great principles. Its texture is round and balanced, making it difficult to mine, refine, and shape, especially difficult to use for crafting artifacts and treasures, let alone for cultivation and practice.

Therefore, this place is not a strategic location, since although brass is a precious metal, it is not an important resource.

However, Shouyang Mountain is no ordinary place. In the future, perhaps the Taiqing Sage who is cultivating in Kunlun Mountain will come here and use Shouyang Mountain as his place of practice.

Now, the one challenging the local witch clan's Heavenly Witch is someone who appears to be a rogue Golden Immortal belonging to a celestial sect to a duel in Shouyang Mountain.

The reason for the challenge was a geological vein in Shouyang Mountain.

Normally, a single ley line wouldn't be anything special; Luo Zu could easily gather one. But if a spiritual treasure was hidden within this ley line, then it was no ordinary matter.

It's common for Golden Immortals to fight tooth and nail for a magical treasure, but when a rogue cultivator gets involved with the Witch Clan, things get complicated.

"Master Taiqing once refined a treasure on Shouyang Mountain. He casually transformed seventy-two of the mountain's veins into seventy-two earth-fiend fire dragons, eventually extracting the brass from the mountain and forging it into an excellent spiritual treasure. I recently heard Junior Brother Xuandu say that the spiritual treasure called the Xuanhuang Merit Pagoda was refined by Master Taiqing again, expending a great deal of effort. Now it is probably comparable to the Heavenly Emperor's Hetu Luoshu." The Crane Boy, who had no interest in cultivation today, was listening to the Elf Child's words and told him a secret.

It doesn't seem to be a secret; perhaps many people in the primordial world know about it.

"The brass from Shouyang Mountain has actually been 90% refined by my master, and only a small amount remains. However, it is enough to make weapons. It's just that this brass is too difficult to refine. Without my master's supernatural abilities, I'm afraid it would be impossible to make it."

Back then, when the Sage Taiqing was refining treasures on Shouyang Mountain, he probably hadn't yet attained the Hunyuan realm, or perhaps he was at the Daluo Wuji realm. So, it would take such a great figure to refine the Shouyang Mountain brass.

No, that's not right. The people who wanted this treasure-refining material couldn't refine it, and the powerful cultivators who didn't care about it were too lazy to collect and refine it. So it remained unused for so many years until the Grand Sage of Taiqing "picked it up".

"The spiritual treasure of Shouyang Mountain's earth veins is probably a remnant of the Taoist magic of my senior uncle Taiqing. It later gained spirituality and absorbed the remaining energy of the seventy-two earthly fire dragons from back then, which is why it transformed into this spiritual treasure," the Crane Boy guessed.

"I wonder where those seventy-two Earthly Fiend Fire Dragons went back then?" asked Yue Chongshan, a fellow cultivator.

"After my master washed away his impurities, he transformed into a supreme yang dragon and was thrown into the Eight Trigrams Furnace. I heard that it is very useful for refining elixirs."

"I wonder if the Sage's Eight Trigrams Furnace is still operational?" Luo Zu interjected.

He was really craving the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir refined by the Sage of Taiqing.

"I don't know. Senior Brother Xuandu has been in seclusion recently, searching for the divine, and hasn't come to chat with us at all," sighed Daoist Duobao.

The Taoist Xuandu has now achieved the perfect state of the Five Qi Convergence and is now seeking the opportunity to transform Qi into Spirit. He is currently in seclusion, deep in thought, and naturally, no one wants to disturb his cultivation.

"I remember that Master Taiqing once held several pill-tasting conferences, inviting many senior masters. I served my teacher at the time and saw some pills. Hehe, Fellow Daoist Luozu, I advise you not to think about them." Crane Boy said.

These words piqued the curiosity of everyone else.

"Fellow Daoist, please tell me." Luo Zu's eyes lit up, and he pressed on with questions.

"My master refined a batch of Purple Qi Comes from the East Pill for the first time, and invited Zhenyuan Daxian, Hongyun Laozu, Fuxi Dashen, Suishan Laoren, Nuwa Niangniang, and several other great gods who were unable to come for various reasons. I remember that after all the great gods took this Purple Qi Comes from the East Pill, they all fell ill and lost 30,000 years of cultivation." The Crane Boy said quietly.

Everyone was shocked. "Good heavens, this isn't a pill-tasting competition, it's a poison-testing competition!"

No sooner had the Crane Boy finished speaking than a voice suddenly came from afar: "Senior Brother, don't speak ill of Master."

All the scattered cultivators looked over and saw a strange sight: purple aura coming from the east. A deity descended from a peak of Kunlun Mountain. His appearance was human-like, but his body was a thousand feet tall, with two legs and nine arms. His whole body was gilded and emitted a faint light. He was truly like a deity who had walked out from ancient times.

There's no need for the scattered cultivators to make wild guesses; he is none other than the Xuandu Daoist who has just emerged from seclusion.

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Xuandu, on transforming Qi into Spirit!" the scattered cultivators immediately congratulated.

In fact, "God" does not necessarily resemble a true deity; it can simply be another self born from the convergence of the five elements.

This "self" is still Him, but it can also be considered an independent individual spirit, used to bear new fruits of the Tao.

Furthermore, wills are interconnected, and memories and wisdom are also interconnected. The new "god" is actually still a whole with the original, even more closely related than those who are divided into separate bodies or thoughts.

Moreover, it originates from its own Dao, so the connections within it are so close that it is no exaggeration to call it a whole.

This action is also for the third step of becoming a Golden Immortal—to prove the Dao through "divine" means.

A new Dao Fruit is forged from an independent yet not independent "God," transforming into the Great Dao.

Xuandu Daoist sent his "god" at this moment, intending to show off his skills, but he was more concerned about the Crane Boy's "defamation" of his master and hurriedly came to stop him.

The Crane Boy naturally realized that he had misspoke, after all, he knew that his master was "petty", and that his words on Kunlun Mountain had probably been remembered by the old man.

Gaiming might be met with hostility.

I'm terrified of being caught and forced to "taste the elixir." Even those great gods lose 30,000 years of cultivation after consuming it, like Him...

The crane boy shuddered at the thought.

He was truly afraid that the Supreme Saint would use him to test the elixir, so he dared not speak again and simply shut his mouth.

After Xuandu Daoist took his seat, he did not scold the Crane Boy. Instead, he said, "Although Master occasionally makes mistakes in alchemy, he has greatly improved now. Eight or nine out of ten pills from a batch are now wasted."

The gazes of the other cultivators immediately turned strange.

"Well, but that doesn't matter. Those who achieve the elixir will surely have extraordinary effects, which can help them increase their cultivation and even reach the Great Luo realm in one step," Xuandu Daoist said leisurely.

After these words were spoken, everyone's eyes turned red. Such a fine pill, a path to the Great Luo realm, was something everyone coveted.

The elf then stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Fellow Daoist Xuandu, I wonder if the elixir of the Supreme Saint... is successful?"

Xuan Du seemed to choke for a moment, stammering, "Uh, no."

If such a precious elixir were truly refined, there probably wouldn't be many that would succeed, since the number of Golden Immortals is limited, and the number of Great Luo Immortals is even more so.

Since it was all just a rumor, no one bothered to dwell on it anymore. Although everyone knew that the Sage was very capable, it was too astonishing and unbelievable to say that a Great Luo could be created by the Sage's methods.

This trivial chat ended with a few lighthearted remarks, as everyone knew it was best not to discuss it further, lest they offend the sage.

Therefore, the topic returned to what we had discussed earlier.

"Do you want to go and watch this battle?" the elf asked.

Luo Zu immediately shook his head: "I won't go."

Xuan Du Daoist was used to a quiet life with his master and was unwilling to go, but the Crane Boy was happy to go and watch the battle.

Some of the others refused, while others were interested and just wanted to join in the fun.

In the end, six rogue Golden Immortal cultivators wanted to go and see, while the remaining twenty-five, along with Ancestor Luo, all declined.

Moreover, Luo Zu sensed a different atmosphere from this gathering of people discussing metaphysics and Taoism.

A storm is brewing; calamity is imminent.

(End of this chapter)