Chapter 839: Chapter 563: The Treasure of a World
Heavenly Immortal Dew, this kind of treasure of rare level, has already developed rudimentary spirituality, so it appears like a living creature.
In reality, it has no life, but it is adept at earth escape; in his haste, Lu Chenzhou actually failed to capture it.
"You think I’ll let you get away?"
Two streaks of light chased each other underground.
Before long, the silhouette of a little figure appeared ahead.
He swept his big hand through the void.
The little figure was shackled to the ground by spiritual power.
It struggled incessantly.
Surges of abundant primordial qi threatened to erupt.
Even average Heavenly Kings might fail to subdue it.
Lu Chenzhou used his telekinesis to extinguish this strand of spirituality.
A date-pit-sized, rhomboid crystal solidified.
Lu Chenzhou sniffed it, immediately feeling refreshed in spirit, his qi-blood faintly surging, even his mind elevated.
"A fine treasure. Too bad only primordial mines at the dawn of time can breed it, and at most a single drop is born from an entire vein."
Lu Chenzhou stored it in a bottle.
When his true self arrives, he’ll use the Lighting Order to upload the Heavenly Immortal Dew into the Candle Dragon Source Space. Bai Feng of Mystic Sky Realm can then, using Seventh Realm permissions, download it into her own Lighting Order space.
After that, Lu Chenzhou returned to the vein, delving deeper until he reached a spring.
The spring’s opening was about a foot wide. The water flow was not large, but Lu Chenzhou’s eyes widened as he tasted a drop.
"Earth Immortal Dew! Hit the jackpot—this whole spring is pure Earth Immortal Dew, still continuously springing forth. This mine’s scale surpasses even that of Yuan Mountain Cave Heaven."
Lu Chenzhou took out bottles and jars, filling up twenty-four with Earth Immortal Dew. Each bottle was worth a hundred thousand mid-grade primordial stones; even a single drop was a treasure dreamt of by masters.
Earth Immortal Dew was considered a hard currency. For Sea Realm cultivators, it is a spiritual elixir, able to save lives. For Heavenly Realm experts, the medicinal effect is weaker, but the benefit-cost ratio remains superb.
After all, Heavenly Immortal Dew is too rare. Other rare treasures capable of healing wounds and instantly restoring strength are equally precious and are always kept as trump cards.
With the spring now emptied, it would take a long era to accumulate this much Earth Immortal Dew again. But as long as the high-grade primordial mine remains intact, it’s renewable, benefitting future generations. In the old days, qi refiner clans often built their families around ore veins.
After confirming no other treasures remained, Lu Chenzhou recorded the high-grade ore vein’s coordinates, then left as a streak of rainbow light.
...
A month later.
He arrived at a mountain valley, searching for something.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
Within a fissure of the cliff wall, a fossil of some nameless ancient being was wedged. Around it, sparse clusters of nine-leaf grass radiating starlight grew.
Faintly, there appeared a celestial phenomenon of endless stars.
"No wonder ancient cultivators called the Nine Apertures Exquisite Grass the ’Nine Heavens Star Grass.’ This time I really struck it rich."
Lu Chenzhou carefully harvested the Linglong Grass and placed them in prepared jade boxes—sixteen plants in total, with another seven still lacking a full set of nine leaves, apparently still maturing.
"I’ll keep half for myself—to prepare for Master Ji and my future descendants. The rest I’ll sell to the council: this could bring forth a few more Heavenly Kings, and I can always come back for the rest."
"But what kind of creature was this fossil? Could the birth of the Nine Apertures Exquisite Grass be related to this thing? If we can find a way to artificially cultivate it, with enough Nine Apertures Exquisite Grass, the opening acupoint bottleneck would be solved... The achievements of Martial Artist civilization would vastly surpass qi refiners—with Heavenly Realm experts as common as clouds."
Lu Chenzhou broke off a piece of the fossil and put it away.
Then he vanished into the valley.
For the next few months, he wandered through the wilds of the Kun Gu Realm, slaying demons and exorcising fiends. Under the guidance of Kun Gu’s Will, he found many heavenly materials and earth treasures, earning a fortune.
Just heavenly treasures alone numbered over a dozen.
The rest, third-grade treasures, numbered in the thousands.
Though the Kun Gu Realm had been pillaged by the demon race, it remained high-class, with profound reserves. With fortune on his side, Lu Chenzhou found treasures smoothly and easily.
In rough tally—not counting the ore veins and Heavenly Immortal Dew—the total value of the treasures was a million mid-grade primordial stones.
That’s worth several rare-level treasures.
In the end, only one place remained unexplored.
That was the so-called Extraterrestrial Cultivator’s Ruins.
Lu Chenzhou estimated that some Eighth Realm expert had fallen here, or perhaps left behind a legacy.
...
Nameless Rift Valley.
About a thousand miles long, a hundred deep, as if rent open by a supreme swordsman with terrifying sword qi—ploughed forcibly into existence.
The valley walls were sheer, cut as if by knife and axe.
Just as Lu Chenzhou was about to step in and explore, beneath the sky’s dome, two powerful auras tore through the air.
A burly, golden-haired man, and a skeletal blood-haired man in red robes with a single horn, approached side by side.
Lu Chenzhou’s Fifth Layer Hidden Essence Technique allowed him to restrain his aura, like a dead tree hidden in the void.
"Devouring Country Demon Venerable and Blood Flood Dragon Demon Venerate."
Lu Chenzhou dared not act rashly; after all, this was just a spiritual embodiment—many physical methods were unusable. His strongest move was the Great Wilderness Prison Demon Hand.
Both were genuine Demon Venerable-level: especially Blood Flood Dragon, at the Middle Stage of Seventh Realm—even by himself, Chenzhou was no match.
"Did they discover the ancient cultivator’s cave, too?"
Lu Chenzhou pondered silently.
On the other side—
"Blood Flood Dragon, is there really an ancient cultivator’s cave here?"
"It should be here."
"I don’t see anything special."
"An Eighth Realm expert’s methods are beyond us. According to my investigation, several thousand years ago, at the extreme west of the Kun Gu Realm, a bizarre earthquake shook the whole realm. Then this great rift appeared. Look at these marks—doesn’t it seem like a sword dao expert left them?"
"It does, indeed."
"Let’s begin. Hopefully, there’s some of that Tiger Clan Essence Blood in this ancient cave—let’s get this done."
Blood Flood Dragon muttered.
Now that the Demon Race of the Three Thousand Worlds was frantically searching for the ancient cultivator’s cave, those among the middle and upper ranks suffered the most.
If they fail, grandmother will have their heads!
Suddenly, Blood Flood Dragon scanned the surroundings.
"Who’s there?" He waved, his figure spinning—twenty-four blood-colored dragons, each a thousand zhang long, erupted forth, churning a boundless sea of blood to fill a thousand mile radius.
The sky tore open, the earth riddled with fissures.
Except for some unfortunate demon race caught up in the chaos, nothing else was found.
Blood Flood Dragon frowned slightly.
Devouring Country Demon Venerable looked around warily.
"What’s wrong?"
"Just feel like someone’s watching us."
"You worry too much. We’ve already taken Kun Gu Realm. Who would dare show up here courting death?"
"Don’t forget—my useless son, along with several Demon Emperors, have all vanished mysteriously. I used grandmother’s treasure and the Retrospective Technique to investigate, caught a hazy glimpse of a white-robed swordsman—he slaughtered them."
"Could he also be seeking the ancient cultivator’s cave?"
"Don’t know. Let’s hurry up."
Their figures disappeared into the rift.
...
Outside the Void.
The instant Blood Flood Dragon’s perception swept over him, Lu Chenzhou shattered the void without hesitation, fleeing Kun Gu Realm in an instant.
Lu Chenzhou’s eyes were grave: "This Blood Flood Dragon Demon Venerate’s perception really is sharp—stronger than I imagined. An Eight-Pattern Demon Race at Middle Stage, its might surpasses Gu Yue Demon Venerable by many times. Even ten Blood Hidden Building Masters wouldn’t be its match."
Luckily, Da Xia is protected by the Great Curtain rules; Seventh Realm cannot invade. At most, only some Early Stage Seventh Realm Demon Venerables can manifest here. Otherwise, if several like Blood Flood Dragon came, the Wanbang Council would be in real trouble."
Lu Chenzhou thought also of Red Lotus Demon Venerable.
"Red Lotus may be Early Stage Seventh Realm, but as a Nine-Pattern Demon Race, his strength rivals Blood Flood Dragon or even exceeds it."
"Before I break into Seven, if he struck, Da Xia’s current four Seventh Realm experts would stand no chance. Unless we can lure Red Lotus into a formation and slay him there."
"Array formations are the way of overcoming the strong with the weak. Da Xia has a set of Eight Trigrams Profound Heaven Demon Suppression Arrays—once nine Seventh Realm mid-late stage elders, together with several Eighth Rank Spiritual Weapons, employed the formation and almost destroyed Black Mountain Demon Saint."
"Even though the Eternal Immortal had to intervene in the end to wipe out the Demon Saint completely, Red Lotus’s talent is formidable—but his Realm is still too low, his own power far less than the Demon Saint’s."
A plan gradually took shape.
Lu Chenzhou returned to the Kun Gu Realm.
"Let those two demons scout the way first."
...
Several days later.
Xia Realm.
Outside Beidi City.
White Cloud Mountain Daoist Temple.
Dark clouds circled in the sky above.
Lu Chenzhou, Yellow River Old Ghost, Li Xiuying, and the Alcohol King’s embodiment sat cross-legged around, all faces grave.
The old ghost stroked his beard and said, "The tribulation of Inner Heaven and Earth draws the tribulation of Outer Heaven and Earth—Chairman’s tribulation is at its climax. Now is the most dangerous moment—not only must he withstand Heaven and Earth’s calamities, but beware of people lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike."
Li Xiuying said, "A tribulation of Outer Heaven and Earth creates such a disturbance, it’s impossible to hide from our enemies. Back when I underwent it, the Blood Hidden Building Master ambushed me—fortunately, the Northern Guardian King and Emperor Hanu anticipated it and blocked the disaster."
Emperor Hanu said:
"Haha, helping each other—when I crossed my tribulation, Fellow Daoist Ye protected me. Now the world is at peace, our human clan is strong—those few probably don’t dare show their faces."
The Alcohol King turned to Lu Chenzhou.
"Lu, do tell us in advance when you’re due for tribulation. With us five to protect you, you’ll be safe."
Lu Chenzhou nodded his thanks.
Human civilization has survived because we support each other.
Rumble—!
Heaven and earth power converged into endless seas of fire, iron trees and sword mountains, icy hells, meteor showers—like world’s end.
The old ghost started in mild astonishment.
"Ice, fire, meteors, sword mountains... Four kinds of tribulation—the Northern Guardian King has it rough. I only faced two back then: fire and ice."
"Me too, just two,"
The Alcohol King envied a little.
To a degree, the harder the tribulation, the more complex and powerful your path—greater potential for the future. With only two tribulations, most hit their ceiling at Seventh Realm.
"I had three."
Li Xiuying looked slightly proud.
Three kinds guarantees nothing, but with luck, one might touch Late Stage of Seventh Realm or even Peak before death.
But of course, these are typical cases.
Some have truly heaven-defying fortune—maybe plain at Seventh Realm, yet later soar and leap straight into the Eighth.
Treasures, opportunities, enlightenment...
Too many uncontrollable factors.
Lu Chenzhou thought to himself: "The Northern Guardian King’s potential outstrips most at Seventh Realm, no weaker than an Eight-Pattern Demon Race. He is after all the Eternal Immortal’s prized disciple—it’s not for nothing."
Though more tribulations are better, the usual Seventh Realm with four types would die if unprepared. But the Northern Guardian King’s foundation runs too deep.
He even nurtured two Divine Power Seeds. Four tribulations—hard as they are—were ultimately overcome without danger.
Zheng—!
A blinding blade light slashed from the White Cloud Temple, stretching for three hundred miles like a galaxy, splitting light and darkness, yin and yang.
Above the Nine Heavens,
The Northern Guardian King approached, blade in hand.
"Thank you all for protecting me."
Lu Chenzhou and the others offered congratulations in unison.
"Congratulations, Chairman, on breaking through to Seventh Realm!"