441: Chapter 441 Ancient Cave Treasures: The White Lotus Appears in the World

As soon as his front foot left the ground, his back foot had already stepped tens of thousands of miles away. To think it possessed such power upon its first trial! Jiang Chen's heart warmed with excitement: with diligent tempering, there would come a day when he could truly tear through time and traverse hundreds of millions of miles in an instant!

Galloping along the way, he finally caught sight of a towering mountain. At this moment, a single step he took spanned two hundred thousand miles—slightly superior to the later Kunpeng's wing-spread of one hundred and eighty thousand miles. However, he was also aware that the gap would only widen in the future. Thinking of this, the corners of his mouth curled up as he secretly rejoiced: he really hadn't chosen the wrong path.

Stepping into the mountains, he took a brief look around and withdrew his divine sense. Within a hundred-mile radius, there wasn't a single trace of a living aura. Could it be that no living creatures had been born here yet? His eyebrows shot up: An unclaimed land, exactly what I wanted! This long journey hasn't been in vain after all.

Walking slowly along the mountainside, he was considering finding a deep cave to use as his cultivation site when the chaos bead deep within his sea of consciousness suddenly vibrated gently, as if its soul had been hooked by something. His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately understood: There's a treasure!

Anything that could make the chaos bead take the initiative to respond was definitely no ordinary item. His spirits lifted, and following that subtle pull, he went straight to the entrance of a cave halfway up the mountain.

Looking up, the cave entrance was dark and deep, as if it swallowed all light, its bottom nowhere to be seen. With his newly acquired Profound God power, his courage was high, and unable to suppress his curiosity, he simply held his head high and walked inside calmly. Darkness? It could no longer trap him. His eyes were like torches, seeing everything clearly; why fear a mere deep abyss?

He soon reached his destination. The cave suddenly opened up, and a clear, cold fragrance quietly drifted into his nose, refreshing his mind and lifting his spirits—what kind of wondrous object could emit such a pure aura that reached straight to the spiritual terrace?

Stepping into the cave, his vision suddenly brightened. Before him spread a sheet of plain white, clear as if formed from fresh snow, with holy light flowing silently as if pouring out from the very source of heaven and earth. His mind couldn't help but tremble; even the most secret greed and obsession at the bottom of his heart had nowhere to hide under this light, weighing heavily on his heart and even giving rise to a few hints of regret and remorse.

Jiang Chen's pupils constricted as he instantly became alert—he had already entered the Profound God Realm, and his mind was as firm as a rock. Logically, it should be extremely difficult for him to be disturbed by external appearances; yet at this moment, that cleansing power seemed to knock directly on his soul, forcing self-reflection, which was terrifying. Truly miraculous!

The pool water was only about a foot square, yet it supported a transcendent spiritual lotus: its petals were in twelve layers, pure white and flawless, and as the halo flowed, it seemed as if the ancient pure qi was breathing. His heart shook—the pure world white lotus! In the records of later generations, only the Twelve-Grade Golden Lotus, karmic fire red lotus, Black Lotus, and Green Lotus were documented; this lotus had long since vanished into the long river of the Primordial World, never appearing before the world.

To think he would actually see it here! Wild joy surged like a tide, only to be suddenly suppressed—how difficult it was to get close! If the chaos bead hadn't been guarding his sea of consciousness, he feared that before he could even get within three steps, he would have been dissipated by the backlash of his own desires. It truly lived up to being an innate supreme treasure; just gazing at it made one's soul waver.

He walked slowly to the edge of the pool, his eyes burning as they locked onto that holy lotus. He couldn't delay any longer! Any hesitation might lead to it being snatched by others, which would be a monumental regret. Forcibly suppressing the churning restlessness in his chest, he reached out and grabbed; the White Lotus rose in response. He immediately sat cross-legged and began refining it on the spot, without wasting a single second.

His nascent soul instantly sank into the heart of the lotus, and a sudden warmth enveloped him, like returning to a mother's womb. All anxiety, longing, and stray thoughts were completely stilled; the lake of his mind became as clear as a mirror, without a single ripple, truly reflecting his original self.

It was evident that the power of this lotus did not harm people in physical form, but rather reflected one's true heart—before any evil could approach, inner demons would already be swarming, the seven emotions would shatter, and one would bring about their own destruction. This invisible majesty was awe-inspiring. Ordinary beings, let alone picking it, would likely have their sanity collapse if they even approached within a hundred feet. Only Quasi-Saint level experts, or those possessing supreme treasures like the chaos bead, would have a slim chance. Jiang Chen's timely encounter was truly a gift from heaven.

During the refining process, he unexpectedly discovered that the 'Hunyuan Spacetime Scripture' was operating more and more smoothly. Desires receded like a tide, his thoughts became as clear as an ice mirror, and his reason became transparent to the point of near-cold silence. Though he felt surprised, he did not hesitate—such a fortuitous opportunity was once in a thousand years.

Fortunately, he had made his decision early. Only by refining it now could he trigger the source of the lotus heart, returning to a state of thoughtlessness and purity like the beginning of chaos, immersing his entire mind in the Dao path. The effectiveness was a thousand times greater than in the past. This was the true divine effect of the pure world white lotus—but this opportunity lasted for only this moment.

He grasped it firmly, and his realm climbed steadily as a result: the Profound God Realm quickly stabilized, and then he broke through into the Taiyi God Realm—early stage, middle stage, late stage, with the momentum of a thunderclap, until it reached the peak and slightly slowed down.

Just then, the chaos bead's radiance flourished, finally refining the White Lotus completely. The nascent soul returned to the sea of consciousness carrying the lotus, and the chaos bead quietly landed atop the heart of the lotus; the two reflected and intertwined, faintly resonating. Jiang Chen could not understand the meaning for a moment, only feeling his cultivation skyrocket. His magic power still needed to settle, but the peak of the Taiyi God Realm was already within reach.

Magic power is easy to accumulate, but a realm is hard to seek—this was the iron law of the Primordial World, unchanging since ancient times.

He restrained his joy and looked around the cave; it was quiet and peaceful, perfect for secluded cultivation. He simply decided to stay there. To prevent accidents, he quietly set up the 'Time-Lost Space-Return Array' at the cave entrance.

Once this array was activated, any intruder would fall into a chaotic flow of time and space: directions would be confused, time reversed, space distorted, and they might even be randomly torn apart and thrown into an unknown realm. Life and death would depend entirely on fate.

Do not blame Jiang Chen for his sharp methods. Having seen the true face of the Primordial World, he knew that those who were soft-hearted would eventually be crushed into dust. In this world, only strength provides a foothold; one must have a heart cast in iron, unshaken by external things. Since a grudge had already been formed, all remaining troubles should be cut down—leaving a slim chance of survival for an enemy is actually self-destruction.

With the array completed, he nodded with satisfaction and returned to the cave. With a light wave of his hand, a bluestone platform condensed out of thin air and landed steadily by the pool. Taking a step, he sat cross-legged upon it, palms and feet facing the sky, putting all his effort into tempering his magic power, not allowing even a hint of instability.

The innate spiritual qi inside and outside the cave was like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, all drawn into Jiang Chen's body; meanwhile, the chaos spiritual qi was already as thin as smoke and nearly exhausted—the speed of transformation far exceeded expectations. The chaos source was rapidly exiting the stage, and he happened to catch the last moment to get on board; his luck was simply heaven-defying.

Only in this way could Pangu's essence blood be completely awakened and surge like a tide, helping him advance a thousand miles a day, breaking through realms like tearing silk, reaching an unprecedented peak that later generations would look up to and sigh in admiration.

Even a supreme powerhouse like Hongjun, who was favored by the Heavenly Dao, would find it difficult to cultivate this quickly. Even with the entire creation jade plate in hand, comprehension would still require ten thousand years. Not every Chaos Fiendgod could soar to the sky—otherwise, how could Pangu have been besieged and fallen? How could he, as he did today, have single-handedly slain the demons and swept across the eight directions!

As for those remnants of the Fiendgods who survived as lingering souls and were lucky enough to be reincarnated as innate great gods, their progress was even more difficult: their consciousness had long since dissipated, and even the innate spiritual fetuses they inhabited had to endure long eons before taking shape. Looking across the Primordial World, those who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Hongjun were few and far between.

Of the three thousand Chaos Fiendgods, those who truly survived were likely very few. Even Jiang Chen himself was completely unaware that he had such an origin.

It could be seen how heavy the words 'survived' were; it was not something that could be glossed over by the word 'luck'.

Of course, Jiang Chen was an exception—he was already a perfect Dao Body, and with the chaos bead hiding the secrets of heaven, the Heavenly Dao could not trace his roots. It simply regarded him as the first batch of creatures naturally bred when the Primordial World first opened, treating him as nothing more than a humanoid figure that looked like a Dao Body.

The humanoid form was, in itself, the most compatible vessel for the Great Dao. Pangu's body was the physical manifestation of the laws; all living beings knew this truth, which is why they fought to the death to transform—even if it meant a one-in-ten chance of survival or a hundred tribulations and a thousand hardships, they had to fight for that slim chance to reach the top, just to grasp that supreme power.

Just as Jiang Chen was in secluded cultivation, the chaos spiritual qi completely dissipated, and the Primordial World finally broke free from its ignorance, welcoming an opportunity for vigorous growth. Birds spread their wings, beasts leaped and ran, and scaled creatures broke through the waves, each displaying their divine powers and composing a magnificent ancient prologue. Vitality was vast, and all things were beginning to sprout; the future had quietly unfolded.