Innate Spiritual Treasures were all conceived at the beginning of heaven and earth, formed from the remnants of chaos fused with the laws of heaven and earth.
They were entirely nurtured by heaven and earth, and the Innate Divine Seals within them were naturally formed.
Even Low-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures were flawless as a whole, without the slightest imperfection.
But the Earth Spirit Pearl was different. Cihang had always felt that the restrictions within the pearl were incomplete.
This was not because it was part of a set of spiritual treasures, but because the Earth Spirit Pearl itself was flawed.
Yet no matter how Cihang examined it, the feedback from the Earth Spirit Pearl was that it was supposed to be this way.
Even the spiritual treasure's primordial consciousness of creation was incomplete.
As though it were concealing something.
This Earth Spirit Pearl was definitely more than a mere mid-grade spiritual treasure. It contained an unknown secret.
After making this discovery, Cihang became even less eager to leave seclusion. Instead, he continuously refined the pearl that had already fully acknowledged him as its master.
Secrets often meant great opportunities, though they could also mean danger.
But the Earth Spirit Pearl had already acknowledged him as its master, so he could not allow an uncertain danger to remain at his side.
Now that he had discovered something, whether it was good or bad, he had to uncover the truth.
As Cihang continued refining it, an immense force of resistance suddenly emerged from the spiritual treasure's core.
"Sure enough, there is a secret! A fully refined spiritual treasure should not possess such consciousness!"
Cihang became increasingly certain of his guess. Within the restrictions at the core of this spiritual treasure lay an extremely powerful seal.
This restriction was extraordinarily powerful and could not be refined by magic power alone.
With a thought, the Creation Cauldron rose into the air and poured forth endless Creation Holy Fire.
Under Cihang's control, the Creation Holy Fire burned directly toward the seal.
At the same time, Cihang did not dare lower his guard. He drew upon the power of his grotto-heaven.
While strengthening the concealment around the grotto-heaven, he secretly gathered strength against the unknown danger beyond the seal.
The stronger the seal, the more extraordinary the thing hidden behind it had to be.
Until he knew whether it was an opportunity or a danger, he could not relax in the slightest.
The seal's strength also exceeded Cihang's expectations.
Even beneath the Creation Holy Fire, it only trembled faintly before quickly returning to normal.
Seeing this, Cihang silently hardened his resolve and poured his magic power into the Creation Cauldron without reserve.
As the holy fire burned the restriction, the Creation Cauldron itself came crashing down.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Under the Creation Cauldron's full-force assault, bursts of thunderous roars erupted from the Earth Spirit Pearl.
Sensing danger, the restrictions within the pearl awakened on their own and, in the next instant, were about to attack the Creation Cauldron.
"Freeze!"
Seeing this, Cihang hurriedly immobilized the Innate Divine Seals and forcibly controlled the pearl's restrictions to strike the core seal together.
Such a forceful assault rapidly depleted Cihang's magic power.
To break the seal, Cihang continuously used Three Lights Divine Water to restore his magic power.
Even so, it took a hundred years to completely undo the seal.
"Boom!"
The moment the seal shattered, it unleashed an enormous spiritual energy storm that directly blasted Cihang's divine sense and the Creation Cauldron out of the pearl.
After retrieving the Creation Cauldron, Cihang discovered that the Earth Spirit Pearl had become brighter than before.
Yet when facing the Earth Spirit Pearl, he also felt a trace of unfamiliarity.
This was not the state of a spiritual treasure that had completely acknowledged its master.
With his doubts mounting, Cihang once again sent out a strand of divine sense and entered the Earth Spirit Pearl.
The storm within the pearl had already subsided and did not continue attacking Cihang, but the pearl had now undergone a drastic transformation.
The original twenty-four Innate Divine Seals had now evolved into thirty-six.
The origin essence within the pearl had also increased by nearly a hundredfold.
"No wonder it feels unfamiliar. The Earth Spirit Pearl is not a mid-grade spiritual treasure at all, but a high-grade spiritual treasure with thirty-six restrictions!
But who sealed the Earth Spirit Pearl's origin essence?
If the Earth Spirit Pearl is like this, could the other five Spirit Pearls be the same?"
As he pondered, Cihang's gaze was drawn once more to a ball of light at the center of the restrictions.
"A spiritual treasure space? Or a blessed grotto-heaven!"
Without further hesitation, Cihang shifted his thoughts and appeared within a space spanning a million li.
The entire space was filled with dense Innate Earth Spiritual Qi. Even the sun had been transformed from earth spiritual origin essence.
At the center of the land stood an enormous pine tree, continuously breathing in and out Innate Spiritual Qi.
"A grotto-heaven? A high-grade Innate Spiritual Root?"
Though it was only a million li in size, this was indeed a grotto-heaven, and it even possessed a high-grade Innate Spiritual Root.
"How could this be?"
The doubts in Cihang's heart grew ever deeper. No matter how he looked at it, the Earth Spirit Pearl did not seem ownerless.
Furthermore, though this grotto-heaven was small, living beings existed within it.
"Celestial god, it's a celestial god!"
"A celestial god has truly descended!"
"We have not been abandoned! A celestial god has descended!"
"We pay respects to the celestial god!"
Just as Cihang was about to examine these living beings, a crowd had already knelt beneath the enormous spiritual root.
Humans—yes, humans!
They were not demonkind or exotic beasts that had transformed into human form. They were humans born with Innate Dao Bodies.
But how was that possible? Wasn't the human race created when Nuwa attained sainthood?
Humans already existed in the primordial world so early?
Then why had they been trapped within this spiritual treasure?
And celestial gods? What an ancient form of address.
Only before the immortal path rose to prominence were cultivators called celestial gods.
These humans were even more ancient than he had imagined.
Though Cihang's expression did not change, towering waves had already risen in his heart.
Everything he had always believed had been overturned.
"Rise. Who is the clan chief? Step forward and answer me."
Cihang descended beside the altar beneath the spiritual root and waved his hand, helping the kneeling crowd to their feet.
If he wanted to uncover the secrets here, he would have to begin with these humans.
"This junior is the chief of the Earth Spirit Tribe. May I ask what orders the celestial god has?"
A white-haired elder stepped forward and kowtowed respectfully.
"The Earth Spirit Tribe? Rise. Tell me, how did you come to be here, and how long have you lived here?"
Cihang discovered that the Innate Qi within these humans was abundant, yet none of them possessed any cultivation.
"Reporting to the celestial god, my Earth Spirit Tribe has lived in the Earth Spirit Realm for generations. Huang Yan does not know exactly when we first appeared here.
"But it is said that a calamity befell the main world. To protect my Earth Spirit Tribe, the celestial god sent us into the Earth Spirit Realm.
"He also said that when a celestial god descended again, it would be the time for us to return to the main world."
Huang Yan, the chief of the Earth Spirit Tribe, cautiously and respectfully answered Cihang's questions.
"A celestial god? Which celestial god was it? And what else? What exactly happened in the main world?"
Cihang frowned slightly. The joy in Huang Yan's words was of no use to him.
The only thing he could determine was that the Earth Spirit Pearl had likely been born during the Primordial Beginning era.
But events from that era were secrets even within the primordial world, as if a veil of mist prevented cultivators from investigating them.
"Too much time has passed. Huang Yan does not know anything else!"
Seeing Cihang frown, Huang Yan and the rest of the tribe became extremely uneasy.
"Then does your tribe possess any inherited objects? Preferably something passed down since the first generation."
Cihang did not make things difficult for them and instead asked about inherited relics.
"If we speak of the oldest inherited objects, they are this ancient tree and the altar!"
Huang Yan pointed at the spiritual root and altar ahead.
"In that case, I will enter seclusion here for a time. Do not approach this place!"
Seeing that he could learn nothing more, Cihang directly had Huang Yan lead the tribe away.
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