Chapter 1724
Cave Dwelling
After a period of rest and recuperation, Li Zhirui fully recovered.
He had originally planned to go to the prehistoric world for training and to learn about its specific situation, but he encountered Yunxiao breaking through to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, so he stayed on Biyou Island for a while longer.
Now, considering that Yunxiao is preparing to preach soon, his plan to go to the prehistoric land for training has to be postponed again.
Because it was uncertain when Yunxiao would preach, Li Zhirui did not go into seclusion to cultivate. Besides, he had only recently finished his seclusion, and continuing to cultivate now would not bring much improvement.
After some thought, he decided to take good care of and develop Pure Lotus Valley.
To be honest, he has lived here for quite some time, but apart from setting up a grand formation and assigning a name, he has done nothing else.
Now that we have some free time, let's take a good look at the construction.
The first thing Li Zhirui did was to transform all the wildly growing spiritual herbs in the valley into vital essences, which he kept for later use. He also cleaned up the lake.
Some valuable spiritual creatures grew there, so he collected them and planned to plant them back in the ground after tidying them up.
"what?"
He hadn't thoroughly investigated the lake beforehand; he'd only glanced at it briefly and, finding no living creatures, hadn't paid it any attention.
But now, he suddenly discovered a huge, greenish-brown spirit turtle deep at the bottom of the lake, and judging from its aura, it was only at the Celestial Realm.
No wonder we haven't seen it for so many years; it must be afraid of being captured by Li Zhirui.
"You old turtle, you're quite lucky."
He laughed and cursed, then casually grabbed it.
"Please spare my life, senior! Please spare my life, senior..."
The old tortoise never expected to be discovered. It was moving so fast that it had no chance to struggle. But as soon as it saw Li Zhirui, it kowtowed and begged for mercy.
"Don't worry, there are very few beings who cultivate the purification laws. It's rare to meet a fellow practitioner like you. I won't harm you."
It was because he discovered that this old tortoise was also practicing the purification law that he changed his mind about throwing it out of Pure Lotus Valley.
"From now on, you will stay by my side and be my servant." Li Zhirui did not ask the old tortoise for its opinion, but he figured that if it was smart, it wouldn't refuse.
"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"
The old tortoise, who was originally fearful and uneasy, was overjoyed to hear that not only would he not suffer, but he would also be accepted as a Taoist disciple. He repeatedly kowtowed to express his gratitude.
Having lived on Biyou Island for so many years, how could it not know that this is the location of the sacred lineage?
Only the disciples of a sage are qualified to establish a cave dwelling here!
Moreover, its master is a Golden Immortal. Putting everything else aside, at least it won't have to hide anymore, afraid of being captured by a passing saint's disciple and made into food.
Then the old tortoise transformed into the appearance of a child, which could be considered as fitting the identity of a Daoist boy.
"Do you have a name?"
"I hope you will bestow a name upon me, sir." The old tortoise was very tactful.
"I'll call you Jingyuan then."
Li Zhirui then said, "Let's just watch from the sidelines."
Although I could order this young Taoist to do things, given his limited cultivation and the need for me to explain, it would be better to do it myself.
Li Zhirui made hand seals, gathering a large amount of spiritual energy to form a large plow, which leveled the land in the valley in no time.
Then, according to the plan, various different spiritual seeds were planted.
You should know that over the years, he has accumulated a large number of spiritual seeds from various worlds. Some of them may have the same medicinal properties or even better spiritual items in the prehistoric world, but there are also some that do not exist in the prehistoric world!
In that lake, he scattered a large amount of purifying lotus seeds.
Since it's called Pure Lotus Valley, how could it not have purified white lotuses?
Afterwards, Li Zhirui flew to the sky above the island in the middle of the lake, protected the purifying spiritual root, and then dug a lake about two or three miles in size next to it, took some lake water from the large lake, and filled it.
He took out the few Golden Immortal-grade purification lotus seeds he had, a total of nine, and planted them.
They used the extra soil from digging the small lake to create a small island in the middle of the lake, which was not large, only about ten zhang square.
After that, this small island in the middle of the lake became the place where Li Zhirui refined elixirs.
This small lake is the spiritual water he needs when refining pills. Although the spiritual water is currently quite ordinary, it will gradually be transformed into purified spiritual water as the Golden Immortal-level Purifying White Lotus grows. In addition, there is a Purifying Spiritual Root next to it.
It is important to know that purifying spiritual water has certain benefits for refining pills, such as improving the quality of the pills.
Immediately afterwards, he set about building a cave dwelling on the open space of the island in the middle of the lake. Because Li Zhirui did not have high requirements for his residence, it was completed in less than half an hour.
The vacant lot was now occupied by a simple and grand three-courtyard building that resembled a Taoist temple. The main hall at the front was used to receive guests, the middle section was used for daily living and cultivation, and the last section was a quiet room for seclusion.
It wasn't fancy or extravagant, but he was still very satisfied. He just needed a place to shelter him from the wind and rain, a place where he could cultivate in peace. Nothing else mattered.
After resolving all these issues, Li Zhirui clapped his hands, gathering a large amount of spiritual energy, which, combined with the life essence he had previously collected, transformed into a gentle drizzle that sprinkled across the valley.
Before long, tiny green shoots emerged from the ground, showing signs of vitality.
"Your main task from now on is to nurture these spiritual creatures well. Of course, it won't all be entrusted to you alone," Li Zhirui instructed Jingyuan.
Such a large medicinal garden, containing many rare and precious spiritual plants, is not something Jingyuan can manage alone.
Therefore, Li Zhirui plans to release all the demon spirits in his personal space.
Of course, before that, he would erase all their memories of the personal space to prevent any possibility of leaking information.
Such a thing might have harmed the other party's soul for him, who had not yet broken through to the Golden Immortal realm, but now, there was no such concern at all.
"Yes, sir."
Without much thought, Jingyuan Tongzi obediently responded.
After entering the cave, Li Zhirui vanished into the space, summoning all the demon spirits together. He said, "Do you want to leave this space? From now on, you will all live and cultivate in that other world."
"My lord, is the outside world nice?" a certain demon spirit asked in a low voice.
"Good! It could even be said to be the best world in the world. Of course, it is also very dangerous, but the place you are in is very safe. Unless there is a great calamity or the world is about to be destroyed, it will not affect you."
He didn't hide anything and roughly talked about the advantages and disadvantages of the prehistoric world.
The choice is up to them.
And their choice was not unexpected; they all chose to go to the prehistoric world! Li Zhirui understood this perfectly. No matter how good or large the space was, it was still just a space, and they had been there for who knows how many years; they were already tired of it.
They didn't have the chance before, but now that they have the chance to leave, why would they be willing to give it up?
However, while we understand, we still need to take the necessary precautions!
Therefore, Li Zhirui erased their memories of space one by one. In this way, even if someone searches their souls in the future, they will not find any relevant clues. At most, they will only notice that their memories are somewhat abnormal.
Looking at the dozens of demon spirits that had fallen into a deep sleep, he simply waved his hand and sent them away.
Perhaps because of Biyou Island, they were not rejected or suppressed by the Primordial Heavenly Dao, and were no different from the creatures of this world.
Once they woke up, Li Zhirui had them work with Jingyuan to take care of all the spirits in the valley.
As for the spiritual creatures in his personal space? He simply let go and allowed them to grow freely. Anyway, the space was large enough, and he only needed to clean them up every now and then.
In the time that follows, he plans to study some Golden Immortal-level pill formulas and try to refine them himself. If he can succeed on the first try, that would be even better.
Although the Shangqing Dao is proficient in formations and swordsmanship, and also has considerable skill in weapon crafting and talisman making, its only weakness is alchemy, it is still a lineage of sages, and its Golden Immortal-level pill formulas are quite abundant.
Anyway, it can meet his needs.
……
Time flies, and several years have passed. Yunxiao has not only consolidated his own realm, but has even become completely familiar with the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm.
She did not delay, but immediately announced that she would hold a sermon ceremony nine days later.
Many disciples had been waiting for this day for a long time, and now that the result was finally in, they were quite excited.
"finally!"
Even Li Zhirui was waiting for this day.
Nine days passed in the blink of an eye. On the morning of the day Yunxiao preached, disciples arrived at the square outside the Wendao Hall to wait.
This is also a place where disciples of the Shangqing Dao preach, discuss, and exchange ideas.
After Yunxiao finished his sermon, Guiling suddenly spoke up, saying, "Since neither the teacher nor the senior brother is at the mountain gate, it should be my responsibility to teach you. However, I have been preoccupied with many trivial matters and have not been able to find the time."
"Since most of my fellow disciples are here today, I will also give a sermon to answer your questions!"
The disciples looked at each other, and the atmosphere instantly became somewhat awkward.
Logically speaking, today should be Yunxiao's day, since this is her sermon ceremony. But Guiling suddenly stood up and said he also wanted to preach. This is really strange!
Moreover, the teacher and the senior brother have been away from Biyou Island for many years. Why didn't they mention it before?
'Could it be that these two senior sisters have a conflict?' Li Zhirui was also somewhat surprised and couldn't help but wonder.
If the other disciples knew what he was thinking, they would definitely tell him clearly that it was impossible!
It's not that the disciples of Shangqingdao are united and friendly, and that there are no contradictions and conflicts among them, because that unity and friendship is a whole.
However, there are indeed no conflicts between the four direct disciples and outstanding inner disciples such as Yunxiao and Zhao Gongming, and their relationship is quite close.
They were also unclear about the current situation.
Gui Ling and Yun Xiao remained completely unfazed by the many curious and strange gazes they were being given.
Gui Ling then began to expound on the Shangqing Dao Jing.
Upon hearing this, everyone disregarded the strange atmosphere and began to concentrate on listening attentively to the sermon.
After an unknown amount of time, Gui Ling finished his sermon, and everyone instantly snapped out of their reverie. They simply nodded to Yun Xiao, then left without a word, with Wu Dang and Jin Ling following closely behind.
Yunxiao had disappeared without anyone knowing when, so everyone had no choice but to disperse.
……
Meanwhile, outside Yunxia's cave stood Guiling, Wudang, and Jinling.
"Please come in, senior sisters."
Yunxiao returned to the cave a little later than them.
Clearly, she understood what Gui Ling meant, which is why she rushed over, causing the sermon to end abruptly.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to disrupt my junior sister's sermon." Without any pretense, Gui Ling expressed his apology very directly.
“Junior sister, you have been in seclusion for some time now, so you may not know the dangers that the Primordial World is currently facing…”
At this point, her expression instantly became extremely serious, even somewhat solemn, fearful, and worried.
Then Guiling told Yunxiao in detail about how a powerful extraterrestrial demon was trying to invade the entire universe from the edge of the cosmos.
In fact, they had only inquired about and confirmed the information in the last few days, so they were inevitably a little too anxious, thinking about further improving the strength of a large number of disciples.
"Although it doesn't seem to involve us at the moment, let alone those junior brothers and sisters who are weaker, no one knows if one day we will be sent to fight, or even if we will continue to be recruited from below."
In fact, this trend is already emerging. Initially, only those at the Dao Fruit level (Great Luo) could go, but now even those at the Great Luo Perfection level can go.
Therefore, Gui Ling wanted to further enhance the strength of his fellow disciples so that they could deal with the situation more easily and calmly, reducing casualties.
She spoke at that moment because she was somewhat stressed. The previous calamity had caused the Shangqing Sect to suffer tremendous losses, and she was worried that if something similar happened again, the Shangqing Sect would be no different from being wiped out.
Not only her, but even Wudang and Jinling were worried.
"I see."
Yunxiao smiled and nodded, saying, "I know that you are thinking of Shangqing Dao and the inheritance of the Dao lineage, even without this incident, I can understand."
In fact, she herself did not care about the fact that Gui Ling preached right after her.
Because she knew there must be a reason for this.
Moreover, if it were her, she would inevitably feel somewhat panicked upon hearing this news.
Yunxiao became even more concerned and attentive to the matter of the extraterrestrial demons that Guiling had mentioned, and wanted to learn more about the situation. She even had the idea of going to the edge of the universe right now to join the great battle.
However, considering that he had just broken through to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm and his strength was not particularly great, he ultimately abandoned the idea. (End of Chapter)