Among the three Sages of the Taiqing, the Grand Dao Patriarch specialized in refining spiritual medicines, the Heavenly Venerable of Yuxing was renowned for forging magical treasures, and only Master Tongtian stood out across the world for his mastery of formation diagrams.
Tongtian began his teachings with basic formations, gradually progressing into the Ten Extremities Formation and the Nine-Bends Yellow River Formation famed in the ancient legends of the conferring of gods, and finally introduced ultimate-level formation diagrams such as the Evil-Wiping Formation and the Myriad Gods Grand Formation.
Although the Primordial world contained countless types of formations, those of the highest tier fell into only four major categories. The first was Tongtian's innate Sorcerer God Formation—by deploying the Twelve Ancestral Sorcerers, it could summon back the phantom of Pangu, a feat that only beings of an equivalent level could hope to match.
The Zhou Tian Star Dou Formation was a vital defensive array for the Demon Race, operated by three hundred and fifty-four Daluo Golden Immortals from the Demon Race, with the Chaos Clock serving as its core. This formation could harness the power of the heavenly stars, and its potency was on par with the Heavenly Gods Grand Formation.
The Myriad Immortal Formation originally belonged to the Eastern Prince; operated in tandem by ten thousand Daluo Golden Immortals, it could rival Sage-level opponents. Following the destruction of the Demon Race's Eastern Florescent Palace and the subsequent death of the Eastern Prince, this powerful diagram of the Myriad Immortal Formation fell into the hands of Master Tongtian as spoils of war.
As for renown among the four Hunyuan-level formations, the Immeasurable Sword stood alone. If deployed by a Sage, it was said that four Sages had to join forces to even have a chance of breaking it. Originally controlled by Luohu, after Hongjun defeated Luohu, the four swords of the formation along with their corresponding diagrams fell into Hongjun's hands, and were passed on to Master Tongtian when Hongjun divided resources within the Purple Palace.
Three full hundred years passed.
Master Tongtian concluded his third round of sermonizing and made the announcement.
"The third sermon has successfully concluded. When I listened to the principles of creation at the Purple Palace of the primordial chaos, I acquired many rare treasures. I have always kept them treasured by my side, but leaving them with me is merely letting them sit idle, so today I have decided to bestow them upon you."
The Patriarch's words stirred deep emotions within many hearts.
For in the torrent of cultivation, who would not hope to master one or two powerful divine artifacts?
Yet Xiantian divine artifacts were scarce and hard to find.
Even among acquired divine artifacts, many lacked the ability to forge them.
Zhang Tianchen held a certain expectation in his heart at that moment, yet he also soberly recognized how fierce the competition would be; even if he were fortunate enough to acquire a treasure, it might not be the divine artifact he desired.
"Duobao, you are the chief disciple. I now bestow upon you this Xiantian-grade Golden Haze Crown."
With that, Master Tongtian waved his sleeve, and a brilliantly glowing golden crown drifted slowly toward Duobao.
"Thank you, Master."
Senior Brother Duobao extended both hands to receive the Golden Haze Crown and bowed deeply to Tongtian. As a senior disciple who had already received various magical treasures, Tongtian's bestowal this time was little more than a ceremonial gesture.
"Jinling, I grant to you this Xiantian-grade Dragon-Tiger Jade Ruyi and the Four-Image Pagoda to serve as protective magical treasures."
Similarly, with a wave of his hand, the jade ruyi and the pagoda drifted gently toward Our Lady of Jinling.
"Thank you for your boundless grace, Master."
The Holy Mother excitedly accepted the bestowed divine artifacts. The Dragon-Tiger Ruyi and the Four-Image Pagoda were immensely precious to her, far surpassing those previously given to the senior brothers.
"Wudang..." "Guiling..." "Wuyun..." "Golden Hoop..." "......"
Next, he took out various other magical tools to distribute among his other direct disciples, such as the inner disciples Wudang and Guiling, as well as Wuyun Xian and others.
Among the disciples, there was a clear hierarchy.
At the very top were, of course, the personal disciples such as Daoist Duobao, Our Lady of Jinling, Saintess Wudang, and Our Lady of Guiling.
Closely following them were the seven attendants who stayed constantly by his side—Wuyun Xian, the Golden Hoop Immortal, Pilu, Qiu, the Envoy of Light, Lingya, and the Envoy of Dingguang. Although these disciples had not received official recognition, being able to stay by his side to comprehend the Dao together was already a supreme honor.
As for the third tier, they were the outer disciples: this included Zhao Gongming, Lü Yue, Luo Xuan, the Three Xia Immortals, and numerous ordinary disciples like Zhang Tianchen.
"Zhao Gongming, among the outer disciples, your cultivation is second to none. From today onward, you shall be the chief disciple of the outer sect. I grant you the Dragon-Binding Rope and twenty-four Sea-Calming Pearls. I hope you will diligently pursue your cultivation in the future and uphold the reputation of our Jiejiao."
Tongtian gently flicked his sleeve, and twenty-four pearls alongside a rope flew before Zhao Gongming.
"Thank you, Teacher."
With a surging heart, Zhao Gongming accepted these magical treasures. As an initiated disciple, he could only address Tongtian as "Teacher" rather than "Master."
"Yunxiao, Bixiao, Qiongxiao, I give you the Hunyuan Golden Dou and the Golden Dragon Scissors."
With another gentle wave of his sleeve, a golden magical dou and a pair of scissors descended slowly before Yunxiao, Bixiao, and Qiongxiao.
The three of them received the items and bowed respectfully in unison to Master Tongtian.
"Lü Yue..."
"Luo Xuan..."
"......"
Master Tongtian bestowed the outer sect magical treasures one by one, every mention of a name filling everyone with eager anticipation.
"Zhang Tianchen."
Zhang Tianchen had not expected to be so fortunate. The moment he heard his name, a wave of excitement surged through his heart, and he stepped forward to reply, "Present!"
"This is one of the thirty-six peach fruits borne by the Xiantian Water Flat Peach Tree at the dawn of heaven and earth. I give it to you now, in the hope that you will devote yourself wholeheartedly to your cultivation in the future."
With a wave of Tongtian's hand, a celestial peach hovered between his palms before transforming into a streak of lightning that flashed toward Zhang Tianchen's position.
"Thank you, Teacher."
Filled with irrepressible excitement, Zhang Tianchen accepted the celestial peach and bowed deeply to Tongtian once more.
This primordial fruit was imbued with the vital Dao essence of the universe's nascent formation, standing completely beyond the level of ordinary peaches that ripened later. As for this Xiantian Ren-water flat peach, its efficacy was practically equivalent to a mid-grade Xiantian divine artifact. He had never imagined that such a precious treasure would be bestowed upon him by Tongtian. He guessed that certain performances of his—perhaps during his breakthrough of the triple heavenly tribulations or while practicing secret techniques—might have earned Tongtian's approval.
Once the distribution of treasures concluded:
"I have discussed and decided with my two brothers that in twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty years, we shall conduct an evaluation of all disciples under our sect to see how your cultivation has progressed. I hope each of you will strive hard and not bring disgrace upon our Jiejiao."
With these words spoken, Tongtian's figure vanished from the void.
Returning to his personal dwelling, Zhang Tianchen consumed the spiritual peach gifted by Tongtian and immediately began to assimilate its effects.
One hundred years later.
He completely refined the essential energy within the peach, significantly elevating his cultivation to the Mid-Stage Mythical Immortal realm, advancing a full cycle of years in a single bound.
"Law, companions, location, and wealth—without any of these four essentials, nothing can be accomplished."
He sighed with emotion over this achievement. A single spiritual peach had allowed his cultivation to leap across an entire evolutionary epoch; it saved him at least tens of years of arduous cultivation. This fully demonstrated the importance of "material wealth and resource support" for a practitioner.
As for the aspect of law, he was already well-provisioned.
Regarding the location of his cave dwelling—although the Kunlun Mountains were an exceptional spiritual land, they could not bear the destiny forces of three mighty beings. Coupled with the fact that the Heavenly Venerable Taiyi's teachings differed from Tongtian's, it was only a matter of time before the Three Pure Ones established their own sects separately. Therefore, Kunlun could only serve as a temporary refuge, and sooner or later he would need to relocate elsewhere.
As for companions, the members of Jiejiao all regarded Zhang Tianchen as a fellow Daoist.
In terms of wealth, however, Zhang Tianchen was completely empty-handed, which was precisely the issue he needed to resolve most urgently.
"Once my cultivation improves a bit further and my safety is better assured, I must venture deep into the Primordial world for a proper journey to seek out some rare natural treasures."
Having absorbed the power of the flat peach, Zhang Tianchen glanced at the flat peach pit he had casually planted, which had now grown into a flat peach tree more than a dozen meters tall. However, this second-generation flat peach tree was still in its sapling stage, and it would be a long time yet before it could blossom and bear fruit.
Withdrawing his gaze, Zhang Tianchen began to study the Dao of formations expounded by Master Tongtian. In the Primordial world, if one wished to fight opponents above their own realm, there were two primary methods: magical treasures and formations. Yet magical treasures were exceptionally rare and often difficult to lay eyes upon.
Formations possessed immense power, but their flaws were equally obvious:
First, they could not be moved at will. If the enemy was not inside the formation, the formation was completely useless.
Second, deploying a formation required preparation time, leaving very little opportunity to do so in actual combat.
Third, the majority of formations required the joint effort of multiple people to complete.
Yet there were also powerful formations capable of overcoming all the aforementioned shortcomings, such as the Immeasurable Sword. One person alone could deploy this formation; as long as one possessed the four swords of the formation and its diagram, it could be set up anytime and anywhere, taking very little time. However, the Immeasurable Sword relied on the power of formidable treasures, requiring specific implements, and could not be easily replicated.
Zhang Tianchen hoped to invent a new type of formation that could completely overcome the aforementioned shortcomings.
......
In the Primordial world, there was no clear concept of time, and unconsciously, a millennium passed.
Integrating his own insights into swordsmanship, Zhang Tianchen self-created a formation, naming it the Immeasurable Sword Formation. "Immeasurable" signified a boundless, infinite, and uncountable quantity. In the rules of the Primordial chaos, each kalpa constituted fifty thousand epochs, roughly equivalent to six hundred and forty-eight million years. And an "immeasurable" kalpa represented a full four hundred and eighty million kalpas.
The Immeasurable Sword Formation implied that the formation's power was inexhaustible and its potential was limitless.
Although it was claimed to be infinitely powerful, its actual performance was ultimately dictated by the deployer's own capabilities.
For Zhang Tianchen as he was now, utilizing this formation would allow him to defeat, at most, ordinary Golden Immortals.
The most urgent task at present was still to elevate his own level of cultivation.
Whether it was spells or the art of formation deployment, they were merely techniques along the path of cultivation; only a profound foundation of cultivation could allow one to wield them to their full potential.
He glanced once more at the nascent flat peach tree outside his door. The assistance of rare and exotic fruits would undoubtedly accelerate his cultivation progress.
Yet the peach tree had not yet borne fruit, and its ripening was still a distant prospect.
Thus, Zhang Tianchen continued his cultivation while patiently waiting for the fruit to gradually mature.
A thousand years later, flower buds appeared.
Two thousand years passed, and the blossoms swelled with anticipation.
Three thousand years later, the tree was laden with profuse blooms.
By the fourth thousand years, the petals drifted down, fresh shoots emerged, and the peaches began to grow.
Through the span of five thousand years, the peaches grew plump day by day.
Until the sixth thousand year, they finally reached their peak.
Seven thousand years later, the peaches began to transition from green to red.
Eight thousand years later, the peaches displayed a hue of green mixed with red.
Nine thousand years later, the peaches were fully ripe.