knew my talent would work!
Looking at the cave entrance that had appeared out of thin air, Lu Yang first reflexively scanned it with the [Immortal Nexus Survival Guide]. Only after confirming there were no traps did he smile slightly.
"This formation shouldn't affect the inside of the mountain, right?"
It took Perfected Lord Tai Hao a long while to recover her wits. She shook her head and said, "How could it affect it? The mountains in the Four Great Ghost Domains are supposed to be indestructible..."
However, despite saying this, staring at the pitch-black cave entrance right in front of her, the facts spoke for themselves. Perfected Lord Tai Hao couldn't even finish her sentence. She could only chalk it up to this being an absurdly massive coincidence. It even made her suspect that this was bait—a deliberate trap set by that damn traitor.
Otherwise, how was this even possible?
With this thought, Perfected Lord Tai Hao seriously looked at Patriarch Nether Whisper, whom she had previously completely ignored due to his weak aura. Then, she froze.
What met her eyes was a sky-blotting Light of Wisdom.
Holy shit!
In an instant, tears faintly welled up in Perfected lord Tai Hao's eyes. This was a natural physical reaction to her mind being impacted by such intense Light of Wisdom.
Simultaneously, it wiped away all her doubts.
After all, with such a powerful Light of Wisdom, accomplishing the impossible was perfectly normal. Rumor had it that Lord Sisui back in the day was even more exaggerated than this.
So this wasn't strange at all.
Thinking of this, her demeanor became even more respectful. She simply felt that the Lu Yang before her was unfathomably deep. It wasn't until he walked into the cave entrance that she quickly hurried to follow behind him.
Inside the cave, it was quiet and profoundly deep.
The entrance behind them closed back up, and endless darkness descended. They couldn't see their own fingers stretched out in front of them, and even their divine sense felt like clay oxen entering the sea—swallowed up and unable to extend.
It wasn't until Lu Yang circulated his spiritual power that the [Overturned Lamp Flame], empowered by his Great Perfected Lord stature, lit up the darkness. The rolling firelight spread out in all directions like surging waves, bringing clarity back to the cave's interior. Wherever the light passed, the hidden secrets of all things were revealed.
"...Interesting."
Lu Yang raised an eyebrow. The [Overturned Lamp Flame] possessed the wonder of revealing secrets. Combined with his stature, it was very difficult for this pitch-black mountain to hide anything from him under the candlelight.
He saw something familiar.
"It's the Dark Void."
After double-checking, Lu Yang finally reached a conclusion. "I'm not mistaken. It's the scent of the Dark Void, only it's been washed down until it's extremely faint."
Meanwhile, Patriarch Nether Whisper was also observing the surrounding rock walls. At the same time, the Righteous Dao Banner billowed, and even Perfected lord Vanquishing-Demon, who previously said he was going to re-cultivate, stepped out with a curious look in his eyes. Patriarch Nether Whisper waved at him and smiled, "Fellow Daoist, come take a look at this too."
"Oh?"
Perfected lord Vanquishing-Demon paused upon hearing this, then walked over to Patriarch Nether Whisper. As if sensing something, a look of shock suddenly flashed in his eyes.
"This is..."
At that moment, Patriarch Nether Whisper chuckled. "You've noticed it too, Fellow Daoist. This isn't actually mountain rock; it should be the condensation of some sort of mighty power!"
"Indeed."
Perfected lord Vanquishing-Demon nodded, frowning deeply. "Spiritual power... the water of the [Sea of Bitterness]... No, it's even higher than that. Is this condensed from the Dark Void?"
The Dark Void could actually condense into physical matter?
The Light Sea—the inside was the Light Sea, and the outside was the Dark Void. The so-called Dark Void, in broad terms, was widely recognized as a boundless, super-massive labyrinth.
Vast, chaotic, and indefinable.
Even a Dao Lord could get lost in the Dark Void, which showed just how terrifying it was. Yet now, this discovery in Mount Beifeng completely overturned that assumption.
"The fact that it can condense into matter—and such an obvious rock-like object at that—proves that the Dark Void is absolutely not some empty, indefinable, and indescribable void. On the contrary, it has its own set of rules, they just can't be understood right now. And having rules means it possesses a complete concept."
Simply put:
"The Dark Void outside the Light Sea is actually a Concept! Fundamentally, it's no different from a Dao Fruit Concept, a Great Dao Concept, or the Concepts of all things in heaven and earth!"
Patriarch Nether Whisper reached his conclusion.
Beside him, Perfected lord Vanquishing-Demon also grew excited. "In other words, if one could master the proportional mixture of the Dark Void's Concept, they could replicate it!"
Replicating the Dark Void!
Outside the Light Sea, this was a mighty power capable of drowning even Dao Lords. If one could reproduce it using the Dao Fruit Weaving Method, just how terrifying of an ability would that be?
"No, that's not right."
Suddenly, Patriarch Nether Whisper pointed his finger. He immediately drew out a wisp of profound qi from the mountain rock. As it danced continuously at his fingertip, the Patriarch watched it and shook his head. "It's downgraded. It's not the purest Dark Void; its essence seems to have dropped a level."
Before his voice faded, he suddenly released his finger.
In an instant, the profound qi coiling around his fingertip explosively disintegrated. Like a blooming firework, it abruptly burst into countless interwoven illusionary colors.
A dazzling display of concepts.
Watching this scene, Patriarch Nether Whisper remained silent for a long time before he let out a sigh. "I understand now. So that's how it is. This is the hidden secret of the Grotto-Heaven Method.."
Rumble!
At this moment, Patriarch Nether Whisper's sudden enlightenment seemed to have touched upon some unseen taboo, causing his voice to abruptly become ethereal and illusory within this space.
"First came the Dark Void, boundless and limitless."
"Then came the Void, stabilizing the Myriad Phenomena within the Dark Void. Thus, all things in heaven and earth gained a foundation of existence. Until the Void collapsed, and thus the planes were born."
Patriarch Nether Whisper sighed in awe, "If the Dark Void is viewed as the entity with the highest stature, then when its stature drops a level, it is transformed into the Void. That is this Mount Beifeng right in front of us. It goes from being originally indescribable and indefinable, to becoming a concept that can be condensed."
"And when the Void falls further, it evolves into planes."
Patriarch Nether Whisper's voice reverberated like thunder:
"The resulting manifestation is the Light Sea. The mortal world within the Light Sea, the Foundation Establishment Realm, and even the Netherworld—these can all be seen as secondary products of the Void."
"And when a plane drops further down, it becomes a Grotto-Heaven."
"Or rather, a Perfected lord."
At this point, the Light of Wisdom in Patriarch Nether Whisper's eyes seemed to be stimulated. It grew so intense it almost ignited, making his thoughts clearer than ever—
"This is the underlying logic of the world!"
"A staircase of stature, a long stairway to divinity."
"From the highest Dark Void, down to the secondary Void, and then down to the Light Sea plane... originally, it should have ended there. However, the Primordial Saint modified this underlying logic."
"He added another step at the very bottom of this long stairway. Below the Light Sea plane, He added a [Grotto-Heaven], making it the foundation of a Perfected lord."
"Why is the Grotto-Heaven Method so powerful? It's because it stepped onto this long stairway to divinity. Even if it sits at the very bottom, it's enough to stand above heaven and earth!"
"In comparison, the Ancient Method relies on existing Great Daos, merely picking up scraps left by others. The Unorthodox Dao doesn't even have a Grotto-Heaven; their control over Dao Fruits is nothing but a castle in the air. Only Grotto-Heaven Method Perfected lords, relying on their Grotto-Heavens, have stepped onto the long stairway to godhood. This is why Grotto-Heaven Method Perfected lords stand head and shoulders above all other paths."
"Infinite resurrections? Five Elements Dao Fruits?"
"These are merely the superficial manifestations of the Grotto-Heaven Method's strength, not its root. If anyone thinks the Grotto-Heaven Method only has those two advantages, they are gravely mistaken!"
A very simple example.
It was also a problem that many cultivators hadn't noticed: many Dao Fruits outside the Immortal Nexus didn't actually require a Grotto-Heaven to attain.
But what about inside the Immortal Nexus?
To this day, not a single cultivator had ever managed to attain a Dao Fruit of the Immortal Nexus without a Grotto-Heaven. The Grotto-Heaven Method was the only option!
"In short, the Grotto-Heaven Method isn't powerful because it monopolized the Five Elements Dao Fruits of the Immortal Nexus and borrowed the mighty power of the Ancestral Dragon. In fact, it's the exact opposite! It's because only a Grotto-Heaven that has stepped onto the long stairway to divinity is qualified to command the excessively powerful Dao Fruits of the Ancestral Dragon, which fused with the Heavenly Destiny Concept!"