Now, ten thousand years had passed. This imitation Spirit Treasure had served as his lifebound Dharma Treasure all along, constantly nurtured within his body with vital energy. Though its power still could not compare with a true Spirit Treasure, it was already astonishingly formidable.
And that was despite the fact that he had not nurtured it for long enough. If he could keep cultivating it within his body for a full hundred thousand years, it would not be strange for this imitation Spirit Treasure to evolve into a true Spirit Treasure.
Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasures had two origins to begin with. One was to forge them directly from all manner of heaven-defying materials. This kind of Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure was also known as a Xiantian Spirit Treasure.
The other kind was either an imitation of a Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure, or originally merely an ordinary cultivator's lifebound Dharma Treasure, which was later nurtured endlessly within the body, growing stronger bit by bit until it reached the level of a Spirit Treasure. Such an object had another name: Houtian Spirit Treasure.
Though both were Spirit Treasures, the origins of Xiantian Spirit Treasures and Houtian Spirit Treasures were utterly different, and naturally, their power was also worlds apart.
Generally speaking, in theory, a Houtian Spirit Treasure could grow stronger bit by bit through nurturing, but one had to understand that everything had its measure—that is, there was always a limit.
Nurturing could indeed make a Dharma Treasure more powerful, but relatively speaking, it was easier at the beginning. The further one went, the more difficult it became; in other words, its growth slowed. Past a certain point, it could not be said that there was no increase at all, but the slowness of that increase was practically negligible.
Therefore, while Houtian Spirit Treasures could