Great Power Supreme Treasure

"Ah! I said, if only you had a deity, then I could go out and have some fun too."

Yan Kuan's palm traced over the Trigram Treasure Box. As his energy flowed through his hand, the Bagua Diagram on the box wove profound light patterns, as if it were a vessel of Dao and Principle.

The golden light the Trigram Treasure Box had emitted earlier allowed him to understand much about the cultivation system of this world, and also clarified the origins of this object.

This Trigram Treasure Box was the inherited supreme treasure of a cultivation sect called the Trigram Esoteric Sect. However, as the End of Dharma descended and cultivators grew increasingly scarce, it eventually became unopenable and its divine nature concealed itself, only reawakening when discovered by Yan Kuan.

This artifact was a Great Power Supreme Treasure imbued with sentience. As the name implies, it was the lifebound spiritual treasure of a Great Power at the Second Heaven of Immortal Platform, interwoven with 'Dao' and 'Principle.' It was only one step away from a King's Divine Weapon, yet the difference between those two steps was as vast as heaven and earth.

The mortal cultivation path of the Shrouding the Heavens universe was divided into Five Great Secret Realms: Wheel Sea, Dao Palace, Four Extremes, Transforming Dragon, and Immortal Platform. After opening the first realm, the Wheel Sea, Dao patterns would interweave within the Sea of Bitterness. Cultivators could use this as a foundation, combining it with precious materials to refine and nurture their cultivation artifacts.

Artifacts in the cultivation world also had a hierarchy of grades, most named after the realm of the cultivator who wielded them. Once one reached the Immortal Platform, these artifacts underwent a significant transformation, especially at the Third Heaven of Immortal Platform, which was a dramatic upheaval.

The Third Heaven of Immortal Platform was also known as the King realm. To sever the Dao and be crowned a king was a feat only possible for heavenly prodigies. Throughout cultivation history, many geniuses had been stuck at this level, unable to advance, and even some young emperors had wasted years at this bottleneck.

Severing the Dao and being crowned a king inevitably brought down Heavenly Tribulation. As the cultivator underwent transformation through the tribulation, their lifebound spiritual treasure would also be baptized and transformed, its sentience coalescing into a deity, becoming a King's Divine Weapon.

A King's Divine Weapon at its peak was like a Dao-Slaying King personally striking. Once its sentience evolved into a deity, the weapon was almost equivalent to a true living being with consciousness, possessing boundless power even without its master's control.

All artifacts below the King's Divine Weapon, while some were formidable, were generally far inferior to a treasure with a deity. After all, the former was equivalent to a personal guardian, which was crucial for a young prodigy.

"Don't worry! Now that you're with me, I'll make sure you get promoted one day and gain your own conscious deity."

Yan Kuan quickly composed himself. He drew the Trigram Treasure Box into his embrace to nurture and communicate with it. Although a Great Power Supreme Treasure was inferior to a King's Divine Weapon, it was an extremely rare treasure on Blue Star in this End of Dharma era, and could be considered his strongest trump card for now.

A Great Power Supreme Treasure was interwoven with 'Dao' and 'Principle,' nearly a vessel of 'Dao.' It could not only aid cultivation but also protect its owner. Even on the Big Dipper Ancient Star, only Divine Sons of holy lands had such trump cards to guard their path.

Yan Kuan was currently nothing but a weakling who had just opened his Sea of Bitterness. To have such a treasure in his possession was enough to make him laugh in his dreams. How could he dare to ask for more?

"Speaking of which, my dantian seems a bit abnormal. According to the Golden Book Jade Scroll, I should be a special physique, right?"

Yan Kuan's mind sank into his dantian's energy sea. Suddenly, his body blazed with intense light, and the dantian erupted with sounds like crashing waves. From his Sea of Bitterness surged endless divine flames, and a vision of a Sea of Fire rose into the sky. If not for the Trigram Treasure Box sealing this space, the commotion would have already alerted the fire department.

"Damn, what kind of physique is this? Could it be some kind of King Body? Flame King Body?"

Yan Kuan quickly withdrew his mind to stabilize his Sea of Bitterness. In that fleeting glance, he saw the anomaly in his dantian: a fiery red mass churning like burning flames, with scorching divine power flowing through his body, making him feel incredibly exhilarated.

According to his knowledge of the Shrouding the Heavens universe, the Wheel Sea of an ordinary mortal should be black or green, very tiny when first opened. A situation like his could only be a special physique.

"This actually makes sense. I was born with the Empyrean Flame Seed. The Empyrean Flame transformed my body, giving me extraordinary innate talent. Perhaps it resonated with some physique in this world and triggered a transformation, which gave me my 'Fiery Golden Eyes.'"

As Yan Kuan pondered, divine power autonomously flowed into his eyes. His originally pitch-black pupils instantly blazed with bright golden-red flame light, just like the Fiery Golden Eyes from Journey to the West.

Yan Kuan had long noticed this peculiar phenomenon in himself. To keep his parents from worrying, he had always hidden it. Based on years of use, it seemed to be a special Innate Pupil Art. For now, he could use it to distinguish truth from falsehood.

The Yan family's rapid rise in recent years was not only due to his guidance in connecting Hong Kong with the mainland's channels but also greatly aided by these divine eyes.

"My innate talent shouldn't be bad. In this End of Dharma era, I managed to open my Sea of Bitterness through my own cultivation. That means I have a considerable advantage in cultivating the Shrouding the Heavens method. But the Flame Mantra is also quite good."

Yan Kuan fell into deep thought. Through his probing, he could basically confirm that he possessed some special physique. Such physiques had a huge advantage in early cultivation and a high ceiling, generally allowing one to reach the Immortal Platform. On the Big Dipper Ancient Star, he would be a seedling that all holy lands would fight over.

What Yan Kuan was pondering now was naturally not about joining some faction, but about which direction to take on his subsequent cultivation path.

He had initially cultivated the "Flame Mantra: Foundation Forging Chapter," specifically deduced by the Flame Emperor. In short, it was the prerequisite technique for the "Flame Mantra."

The "Flame Mantra" was a uniquely top-tier technique in the Great Thousand World. The Flame Emperor, Xiao Yan, relied on it to cheat his way to becoming the Grand Overlord of the Great Thousand World. Half of his success could be attributed to this technique.

According to the inheritance Yan Kuan received, the Flame Emperor speculated that the "Flame Mantra" should be one of the Ten Primeval Dharma Bodies born in response to calamity in the Great Thousand World. However, during the ancient calamity of the evil god's invasion, its foundation was destroyed, degenerating into the "Flame Mantra." Yet its Dao characteristics remained unchanged.

The "Flame Mantra" could be said to be the pinnacle of the flame path in the Great Thousand World. It could evolve infinitely by devouring strange fires, that is, special spiritual flames of heaven and earth. Even after the Flame Emperor became the Grand Overlord, he hadn't managed to elevate it to the point where it could no longer advance. Its potential was limitless.

However, this technique carried obvious characteristics of the Great Thousand World. Yan Kuan wasn't sure if it could be cultivated in the Shrouding the Heavens universe. Moreover, the cultivation path of this technique seemed different from the Shrouding the Heavens method. If he actually succeeded in cultivating it, he wondered if it would count as opening a new path.

Opening a new path in the Shrouding the Heavens universe was no joke. For a powerful cultivator, it was an excellent thing, but for a weakling like him at the start of his cultivation journey, it would be a great disaster. Even severing the Dao required enduring tribulation. Opening a new path would definitely trigger heavenly phenomena. Could his small arms and legs withstand that?