A grand divine power vaguely emerged from deep within.
Zhang Jian sensed an immensely grand and lofty aura emanating from it.
It traversed through time and space, ages, distant and solitary, ancient.
"It’s a success!"
Gazing at this scene, Zhang Jian also raised his head at this moment, feeling as if vividly appearing before the past.
He calculated with his fingers and immediately realized that repairing these dozens of nodes took him nearly a thousand years.
This matched exactly with the time he had inferred.
At that moment, Zhang Jian suddenly felt a stir in his heart.
From the heavens above, as the power of countless Great Celestial Red Cloud Technique Bans penetrated and integrated into one, a moment later, a grand divine power flowed from the depths of the sky and instantly transformed into a red light rushing towards Zhang Jian.
The red light split into two in the void.
Zhang Jian had preemptively perceived part of the scene in the depths of his sea of consciousness, his eyes gleaming with a hint of brightness.
It seemed he didn’t gamble wrong this time.
Two items fell from the void, one of which directly fused into the depths of Zhang Jian’s brow; he raised his hand, and from the depths of his palm, a dense rose-red flame emerged.
As if the red evening glow at the edge of the sky.
This is a treasure of heaven and earth, Scattered Soul True Flame!
There was a deep smile in his eyes.
This flame, born at the time of Taichu’s creation, nurtured from a Heaven and Earth Spirit Root, possessed unfathomable power containing multiple layers of Dao Qi mysteries. It is essentially a marvel born from the fusion of various Dao Qi, specifically meant to refine Primordial Spirits and souls, extremely vicious.
It is rumored that even a Daoist Monarch’s Primordial Spirit, if refined by this flame, would be damaged despite its immortal and indestructible nature and hence suffer a severe blow!
With just this one thing, his thousand years were not wasted.
The other item was a Cloud Pattern Jade Token, identical to the three jade tokens he obtained before.
But the number was larger.
"Three thousand years!"
Looking at the jade token in his hand, a smile appeared on Zhang Jian’s lips.
This thousand years were not in vain; he serendipitously earned an additional two thousand years’ stay time. Adding it to the original five thousand four hundred years, his stay in the Fire Cloud Grotto Heaven has been extended to seven thousand four hundred years!
With a thought, Zhang Jian immediately integrated the innate seed of the Scattered Soul True Flame into the Map of Mountains and Rivers.
As the refinement gradually progressed.
Within his Map of Mountains and Rivers, the sea of clouds rolled, blending the myriad manifestations of heaven and earth’s changes, with the reincarnation of Heaven and Earth concealed within.
The grand refining marvelous power of fusing the authority of Heaven and Earth’s Great Dao in the Map of Mountains and Rivers seemed even stronger.
More prominent in its offensive nature.
Deep in the Map of Mountains and Rivers, the Sheji King Tripod, sensing the merging rose-red flames, was secretly astonished.
Even as a Tier Five Immortal Treasure, facing such a terrifying flame, it felt a certain deadly power.
This flame might not affect the material of the Sheji King Tripod itself, but to a Treasure Spirit like it, it was exceptionally deadly!
Yet, the Sheji King Tripod felt a sense of excitement instead.
"Following Zhang the Kid indeed wasn’t wrong, obtaining a Heaven and Earth Treasure Level innate divine fire in such a short time. It surely holds great hope to achieve Daoist Monarch, and by then, I, as his Lifebound Spiritual Treasure, can also pass through the Destruction Tribulation without a hitch, not to mention being able to meet the Emperor again with him..."
The Sheji King Tripod was wholeheartedly dedicated to exerting the King Tripod’s Marvelous Power, helping Zhang Jian fully refine several Heaven and Earth Treasures to thoroughly integrate them into the Map of Mountains and Rivers’ power.
...
Stowing the jade token into his sleeve, Zhang Jian then glanced at the other outer regions.
He sensed that in this vast red cloud, other regions in the outer layer also had broken forbidden techniques, but the numbers were too many and the cross-domain distance was quite far, so Zhang Jian chose not to interfere further.
He knew those might be the testing grounds for future Human Emperors, so there was no need to overstep.
Zhang Jian decided to call it quits, directly passing through the red cloud channel before him and entering the inner layer.
Zhang Jian’s actions did not escape the attention of the red cloud in the shadows.
His gaze fluctuated, a rare emotion surfacing in his eyes, slightly contemplating.
At this moment, in the depths of the void, Zhang Jian traversed a grand passage through time and space.
His figure appeared in a strange space-time.
Surrounding him was no longer the scene of numerous fire clouds.
Although there were still clusters of vivid clouds, they were not as dense, scattered in distribution.
Instead, what emerged before him was a grand sea of clouds, standing as if it had been there since the creation of heaven and earth, with grand heavenly light descending from above, immeasurable in vastness and holiness.
The place where the heavenly light shines, in the center of the sea of clouds, lies a massive stone grotto.
This stone grotto possesses a grandeur of Daoist rhythm Zhang Jian has never seen.
Its entirety is shrouded in a supreme and noble purple, containing indescribable profound mysteries of heaven and earth.
Even if Zhang Jian only glanced at it, he felt his Innate Primordial Spirit was lost in that grand Daoist rhythm.
"This is the inner layer!"
Zhang Jian mused inwardly.
His gaze fell upon that stone grotto. With his experience, he couldn’t discern the origins of this Divine Stone, only feeling as if it was harmonized with the Fire Cloud Grotto Heaven, as if it was created by heaven and earth, ancient and eternal.
At this moment, Zhang Jian also stood before the grotto.
In front, there stood another Divine Stele, on which several grand golden Innate Talismans were inscribed.
Several Innate Talismans, seemingly born from heaven and earth.
"At the beginning of the Five Greats, the Fire Cloud Grotto Heaven!"
Zhang Jian’s eyes flashed a trace of admiration.
In addition, beneath the small Divine Stele, he discovered eight more large characters.
"Fortune and Virtue inherently formed, Saintly Virtue with the Way!"
Zhang Jian pondered lightly as he stepped into the sea of clouds, simultaneously noticing the anomaly within this inner layer of void.
At this moment, his vast Innate Primordial Spirit could sense that the surrounding void, even the sky, and the earth were filled with a rich layer of Heaven and Earth Dao Rhythms.
Countless Heaven and Earth Dao Laws were nearly exposed in the grotto.
Though they appeared faintly hidden, they were undoubtedly superior to outside cultivation conditions by countless times.
The time-space ratio was also vastly different.
Zhang Jian noticed that a special time-space ring permeated the inner layer, circle upon circle, effectively obstructing the erosion of external space-time torrent forces.
Time was approximately translated into a ratio of one to three.
A day outside, three days inside.
Thus, the 7,400 years he obtained could allow him to stay here for nearly 20,000 years.
If he could continue completing subsequent delayed tasks, he might further extend his stay!
Zhang Jian’s eyes slightly brightened.
His gaze fell within the Fire Cloud Grotto Heaven before him.
According to the strategy recorded.
Most of the inner layer’s delayed tasks are in this Fire Cloud Grotto Heaven.
Another part is around the surroundings.
Zhang Jian’s gaze moved toward the sea of clouds below, where numerous fire clouds formed islands, closely packed.
On the islands stood many ancient, solemn temples.
"Celestial Emperor Hall, Agricultural Emperor Nong Hall, Human Emperor Hall, Black Emperor Hall, Shaohao Hall, King Yu Hall, Fire Virtue Hall, Wood Virtue Hall..."
Many Human Emperor Sacred Halls stood here, with some familiar to Zhang Jian and some not, like a distance he saw a hall named Blue Sea Saint Emperor, and others like Saint King Zhao’s Hall, Nine Imperial Saint Emperor Hall, Geng Ancestral Hall, etc., obviously born from some Outer World Star River Human Emperor.
Most Saint King Halls were flourishing with incense.
Some Saint King Halls had dim incense, some even extinguished, with tiny flames flickered on the Golden Body like a candle in the wind.
With just a glance, Zhang Jian knew the counterpart might have fallen, or perhaps reincarnated and cultivated anew in some corner.
On a low fire cloud, Zhang Jian saw a Saint King Hall belonging to himself.
"Great Xia Temple!"
Seeing this, Zhang Jian was momentarily speechless; it exuded an unmistakable air of a minor Saint King, like those Wild Chicken Saint Kings deep within the Star River.
The inner incense and destiny were still quite flourishing.
Another stone stele stood around the temple, on which his Great Xia Emperor’s life story was inscribed!
Zhang Jian glanced at it, smiling slightly. His resume appeared respectable.
Among other things, suppressing the Ancient Demon Spring and thwarting the Profound Extreme Demon Monarch’s plot indeed added luster, though there was an element of luck.
But being able to defeat an incarnation of a Daoist Monarch Demon and save all beings was indeed a proud accomplishment to spread.
Uniting the Five Continents’ Human Race seemed less significant in comparison.
Staring at this Holy Temple, he infused a bit of Innate Primordial Spirit into it and gradually understood its purpose!
This Holy Temple stood in the Fire Cloud Grotto Heaven for more than just appearance, granting homage to later generations. It had another purpose.