And that wasn’t all.
With the cave-heaven and paradise combined, the growth rate of Ye Qingxuan’s spiritual roots increased substantially. Relying solely on the paradise before, he estimated it would take a thousand years to condense a second spiritual root element. Now, with the dual assistance of the cave-heaven and paradise, he would only need three hundred years.
Not only would his cultivation speed far exceed anyone’s imagination, but his talent improvement rate would also accelerate more and more rapidly.
Beyond this, the cave-heaven had another function: it could condense world-gates.
With a light summoning motion from Ye Qingxuan, an illusory portal appeared in his palm—this was the world-gate condensed by the cave-heaven. Placing this world-gate in the outside world, as long as one was within the bounds of the Earth Mystic Realm, they could enter the Qingxuan Cave-Heaven at any time through it. A first-order cave-heaven could condense one world-gate. Each subsequent rank advancement would allow the condensation of an additional gate.
Looking at the world-gate in his hand, a thoughtful gleam appeared in Ye Qingxuan’s eyes. “Perhaps in the future, I could use these world-gates to establish a trade platform spanning all domains of the Earth Mystic Realm.”
Each domain of the Earth Mystic Realm possessed its own unique heavenly and earthly treasures. If he could successfully establish trade channels across the domains, it could bring him enormous profits. This would significantly accelerate the progress of nurturing his cave-heaven paradise.
However, a trade platform was a serious matter. Without sufficient power to suppress all opposition, it would only invite immense risk. It needed careful, long-term planning.
Once the cave-heaven and paradise had completely formed and begun their mutual exchange, Ye Qingxuan started practicing a secret technique from the Earth Immortal’s legacy. This technique fostered a sense of ‘Heaven and Earth communion’ with the cave-heaven paradise, allowing him to perceive its operation and comprehend his own cultivation technique.
Possessing an immortal soul granted Ye Qingxuan heaven-defying comprehension. In just three days, he grasped the rough framework of his own personal cultivation technique. He only needed to gradually refine and perfect it as the cave-heaven paradise grew. As for the technique’s name, Ye Qingxuan didn’t overthink it—he simply called it the Earth Immortal Method.
The Earth Immortal Method he comprehended, besides absorbing spiritual energy to enhance cultivation, primarily focused on cultivating the hidden microcosm within the human body. It subtly guided the body’s microcosm to evolve and perfect itself according to the operational principles of the cave-heaven paradise, accumulating potential for breaking through to higher realms in the future.
After switching to the self-comprehended Earth Immortal Method, perhaps because it was a more perfect fit, Ye Qingxuan found his cultivation speed had increased by thirty percent! Furthermore, the condensation speed of his second spiritual root element accelerated noticeably, reduced from the estimated three hundred years to just two hundred.
After switching techniques, Ye Qingxuan didn’t end his seclusion. Instead, he began cultivating the Earth Immortal Body.
Using the power of the cave-heaven paradise, Ye Qingxuan relocated himself to the point where their origin essences converged. He began tempering his physical body with the energy generated during their confluence. He simultaneously operated both his newly comprehended Earth Immortal Method and the secret art for cultivating the Earth Immortal Body, absorbing the unique origin essence produced by the merging of the cave-heaven and paradise origins to continuously strengthen his flesh.
“Hiss!”
The moment he came into contact with this power, Ye Qingxuan grimaced in excruciating pain. Forcing himself to endure the agony, he operated the Earth Immortal Body cultivation secret art at full capacity!
This power continuously disassembled his body, breaking down its molecular structure before the Earth Immortal Body secret art began reassembling it. From the outside, Ye Qingxuan looked like a human-shaped mosaic. This pain was thousands of times more intense than being sliced by a thousand blades! If not for years of cultivation strengthening his nerves and the immortal soul suppressing everything, Ye Qingxuan would never have been able to endure it.
Even so, he could only barely prevent himself from screaming his lungs out, having no capacity left to control the contorted expression on his face.
As time passed, Ye Qingxuan became numb to the pain, instinctively operating the Earth Immortal Body secret art and his Earth Immortal Method. Since this wasn’t origin essence actively fed back during a rank advancement—which required refinement by his spiritual roots to convert into cultivation—the constant operation of the Earth Immortal Method offered very limited improvement to his cultivation base.
However, his physique underwent continuous transformation! Under the operation of the Earth Immortal Body secret art, vast amounts of energy from the fused cave-heaven paradise origins were drawn into the infinitesimal spaces deep within his flesh. There, they became nourishment for his body’s evolution, constantly absorbed by his internal microcosm and cells.
One month later, Ye Qingxuan’s body was completely restructured. The first-order Earth Immortal Body was successfully condensed.
The cross-legged Ye Qingxuan slowly opened his eyes, within which the fleeting imagery of swirling starry rivers could be seen! Standing up, his form became more perfectly proportioned, adding an ethereal grace to his already handsome appearance.
Cultivators aged slowly naturally, and after Foundation Building, they could essentially maintain their youthful appearance. Over time, a cultivator’s mindset, tempered by years, could sometimes influence their outer appearance. But a cultivator’s looks were merely external; if they wished, they could return to their peak state and appearance at any time. So after Ye Qingxuan broke through to Foundation Building, he could maintain his current appearance.
Taking a step, Ye Qingxuan returned to the Qingxuan Cave-Heaven and began sensing the characteristics of his first-order Earth Immortal Body.
After a moment, he smiled slightly, pleased. “A simplified version of ‘Impervious to All Arts’?”
Perhaps due to the fusion of the Qingxuan Cave-Heaven and the Eternal Turtle, the first-order Earth Immortal Body Ye Qingxuan cultivated not only possessed astonishing physical strength—capable of unleashing power equivalent to peak Qi Refining—but also shared the Eternal Turtle’s characteristic of being impervious to all arts. However, at first-order, the Earth Immortal Body could only completely immune him to all spell attacks at the Qi Refining realm and weaken spell attack power from the Foundation Building realm by half.
While not a huge boost to Ye Qingxuan, now at the early Purple Mansion stage, this still indirectly increased his foundation, accumulating potential for future breakthroughs to higher realms. Moreover, this was only the first-order Earth Immortal Body. Once the cave-heaven paradise’s rank increased later, allowing the Earth Immortal Body to continue evolving, it would eventually unleash astonishing effects.
Therefore, whether improving cultivation or cultivating the Earth Immortal Body, both were closely tied to the development of the cave-heaven paradise. Ye Qingxuan’s primary focus for future development would be on elevating and developing his cave-heaven paradise.
Having made this decision and charting his future path, Ye Qingxuan used the power of the cave-heaven paradise to plant most of the previously collected spirit plant seeds and seedlings in both the Qingxuan Cave-Heaven and Paradise.
This included the Spirit-Gathering Grass, Purifying Spirit Tree, and Earth Spirit Flower he had collected earlier. These three spirit plants were special; if cultivated with sufficient time and energy, they could be nurtured all the way to the tenth order. A spirit plant’s rank was somewhat related to its age, but not fundamentally. What truly determined its rank was the origin energy contained within it.
Now, with the assistance of the Qingxuan Cave-Heaven, the spirit plants in the Qingxuan Paradise could smoothly grow to the third order. He no longer needed to cautiously limit their rank like other paradise cultivators.
Finally, Ye Qingxuan cast the Spring Breeze and Transforming Rain technique on all the spirit plants, ensuring the newly planted varieties could take root and survive.
After absorbing all the gains from establishing the cave-heaven paradise, Ye Qingxuan stretched and said, “That orb truly hasn’t disappointed me!”
He had always held high expectations for the orb that traveled with him through his transmigration. Unexpectedly, the surprises it brought still exceeded his anticipations. The combination of his life-bound avatar, the Eternal Turtle, with the Earth Immortal legacy was enough to make him soar. With the assistance of the cave-heaven paradise, the path to the Great Dao truly lay open before him.
