Houtian Merit Supreme Treasure, Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler

"Each of us received one-tenth of the Heaven-Opening Merit at birth, yet Third Brother and Fourth Brother had to share a single tenth between them. Though all are Great Golden Immortals, there are still differences."

"This is no great matter. Let each go into secluded cultivation."

With those words, Laozi had already flown off to one side, setting out to establish his own Dao field.

Holding the Merit Supreme Treasure in hand, he could naturally sense the amount of Heaven-Opening Merit within each of the four brothers' bodies at the moment of their transformation.

"Half a tenth of Merit? So that's how it is."

"Third Brother, Fourth Brother, remember Eldest Brother's instructions: go into seclusion properly and don't wander about."

Hearing this, Yuanshi didn't even bother to look directly at his two younger brothers. He tossed out a single sentence, then mounted his clouds and departed, seemingly in a hurry to establish his Jade Pure Dao field.

"Fourth Brother, how can our two elder brothers act like this... This, ah!" Tongtian's face alternated between green and red, seething with indignation.

Though they were the Four Pure Ones, a single family, the disparity in their foundations—forged by innate Merit—had already erected a lamentably thick barrier between them.

"It's fine, Third Brother. Let us also go into seclusion to stabilize our Great Luo realm."

Xuanyuan shook his head, suppressing the ruler deep within his Primordial Spirit that wanted to fly out.

"It would be good. Fourth Brother, let's build our Dao fields together. As an elder brother, I ought to look after my younger brother. If you were far away, I wouldn't rest easy."

"This Kunlun Mountain is divided into East and West Kunlun, and there are other Great Divine Powers here as well."

Tongtian, watching the two distant figures recede, finally pulled Xuanyuan along, insisting they build their Dao fields right next to each other.

"That would be good." Xuanyuan smiled and saw no reason to refuse.

Did one-tenth of Merit truly hold more promise than half a tenth?

Not necessarily!

Xuanyuan's Dao field was named Xuan Qing Palace, nestled right next to Tongtian's Upper Pure Palace.

As for why it was called Xuan Qing Palace...

Truth be told, he just couldn't be bothered to think of a name. If he really wanted to, he could have called it Chaos Palace or Measure Heaven Palace.

"Laozi has his Companion Treasures. Yuanshi and Tongtian have none. None of them would ever guess that another Houtian Merit Supreme Treasure was born alongside me."

Xuanyuan's thought stirred slightly, and within his Primordial Spirit, Treasure Light burst forth. A ruler, its entire body radiating purple light and Primordial Qi, appeared in his hand.

The ruler was neither long nor short, exactly one chi in length, carrying the aura of the Great Dao. Its body was carved with endless runes—sun, moon, mountains, rivers—and between cycles of birth and destruction, two innate divine characters were inscribed: "Measure Heaven."

This object was none other than another Houtian Merit Supreme Treasure, the counterpart to the defensively unmatched Heaven and Earth Mysterious Yellow Exquisite Pagoda—supreme in offense and conquest.

The Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler!

Forged from one-tenth of Heaven-Opening Merit fused with Primordial Qi, it could rival Innate Supreme Treasures like the God-Slaying Spear and the Pangu Banner in killing power.

Beyond that, it bore effects such as killing without incurring karmic retribution and spatial teleportation!

"I was born with half a tenth of Heaven-Opening Merit, plus the one-tenth from this Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler. Even if I fall slightly short of Laozi, I'm still far beyond what that wretch Yuanshi can match."

"Compared to the Chaos Pearl, refining the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler is actually a bit easier."

Recalling Yuanshi's contemptuous attitude not long ago, Xuanyuan shook his head with a wry smile, then decided to refine both treasures.

The Chaos Pearl was a Chaos Supreme Treasure. Even a Heavenly Dao Saint could not fully refine all fifty layers of its Chaos restrictions.

The Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler was an Acquired Supreme Treasure, with a lower Refinement Difficulty, but it still required a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal of the Origin or a Heavenly Dao Saint to fully refine.

Treasures Within the Primordial World were divided into three types: Chaos, Innate, and Acquired. The difference lay solely in their conditions of formation.

Chaos treasures were born in Chaos;

Innate treasures were born before the formation of Heaven and Earth, or began gestating before that time;

Acquired treasures were conceived or artificially refined only after Heaven and Earth were opened.

Generally speaking, Chaos surpassed Innate, and Innate surpassed Acquired—but this was not absolute.

Take the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler and the Heaven and Earth Mysterious Yellow Exquisite Pagoda: these two Acquired Supreme Treasures were in no way inferior to Innate Supreme Treasures.

The Heaven-Overturning Seal, refined from half of Buzhou Mountain, was likewise no less than an Innate Supreme Treasure.

What truly determined a treasure's power was the number of restrictions within it.

Low-grade Spiritual Treasure: one to twelve restrictions;

Mid-grade Spiritual Treasure: thirteen to twenty-four restrictions;

High-grade Spiritual Treasure: twenty-five to thirty-six restrictions;

Top-grade Spiritual Treasure: thirty-seven to forty-eight restrictions.

Innate Supreme Treasures and Acquired Supreme Treasures both had forty-nine restrictions.

Fifty Great Daos, Heaven's Evolution is Forty-Nine.

Below Chaos, forty-nine restrictions were already the limit for both Innate and Acquired Supreme Treasures.

In a short time, Xuan Yuan did not expect to completely refine the Chaos Pearl and the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler, but he could still achieve initial refinement.

And so, the Four Pure Ones all went into secluded cultivation on Kunlun Mountain, while Xuan Yuan, after initially refining the Chaos Pearl, took the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler into its inner world, refining its restrictions while comprehending the Great Dao.

The emergence of the Four Pure Ones was merely one corner of this great calamity.

The Sun Star, transformed from Pangu's left eye, was supremely yang and firm. On this day, beneath the Top-grade Innate Spiritual Root Fusang Tree, two Golden Crows took form and emerged, named Di Jun and Tai Yi.

The Moon Star, transformed from Pangu's right eye, was supremely yin and soft. Beneath the Osmanthus Tree, following Wang Shu who had vanished without a trace in the previous Kalpa Tribulation, two Moon Jade Rabbits took form and emerged, named Xi He and Chang Xi.

On Buzhou Mountain, transformed from Pangu's spine, the Qi of Lesser Yang and Lesser Yin gave rise to a pair of siblings named Fuxi and Nuwa.

The Western Land was desolate. The last of its spiritual energy and fortune gave birth to two Great Divine Powers: the Qi of Light transformed into Jie Yin, and the Bodhi Tree, one of the Ten Great Spiritual Roots, transformed into Zhun Ti.

Within the Netherworld Blood Sea, Ming He emerged, cradling Yuan Tu and Abi, seated on the Twelve Petaled Karma Fire Red Lotus, holding the Xuanyuan Water Control Banner in hand...

All sides made their entrance, and a Kalpa Tribulation thus began!

Outside the Primordial World, within the Chaos.

Inside the Purple Firmament Palace, Hongjun sat cross-legged on a lotus platform. Above his head, the Jade Disc of Creation slowly revolved, evolving the mysteries of three thousand laws.

"How strange. Pangu's Heaven-Opening Merit and fortune have changed—suddenly I can no longer calculate them?"

Hongjun counted on his fingers to divine the heavenly secrets, his fingers blurring into afterimages. The more he calculated, the more something felt off.

Four Pure Ones?

Three Pure Ones?

Four Pure Ones?

Why did the number increase and decrease? Neither three nor four?

"Forget it. Under the Heavenly Dao, minor trends can change, but the major course cannot be altered. Once This Poor Daoist finishes his sermon, I will know how many Pure Ones Pangu's Primordial Spirit split into. The Heaven-Opening Merit and fortune are also destined to have an affinity with me."

"I only need to take them all as disciples, forge the karmic bond of master and student, and the fortune and merit will return to their place..."

After calculating for tens of thousands of years without reaching a definite result, Hongjun finally gave up.

It didn't matter.

After the Dao-Demon Conflict, there was nothing left within the Primordial World that could threaten him. Whether Pangu's Primordial Spirit split into three or four Pure Ones, if he forged the karmic bond of master and student with them all, he could naturally transfer the Heaven-Opening fortune.

Time in cultivation flowed like water. In the Primordial World's Beginning, there was no such thing as aging or death—time was the most meaningless thing.

On Kunlun Mountain, inside Xuan Qing Palace.

"Nine Eons of bitter cultivation have stabilized my initial Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal cultivation, and I have also initially refined both treasures."

After nine Eons in secluded cultivation, Xuan Yuan stepped out of the Chaos Pearl's world. The aura of the Great Dao radiated from his body before fully converging.

The Chaos Pearl: nine restrictions refined.

The Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler: eighteen restrictions refined.

That was enough for his use at the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm!

"Oh? Tong Tian is here?"

Casually putting away the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler, Xuan Yuan was about to leave seclusion when he sensed a familiar aura rapidly approaching.

"Fourth Brother, you've finally come out of seclusion! I've come looking for you several times already. Kunlun Mountain is so boring—Eldest Brother and Second Brother are both silent gourds, they won't discuss the Dao with me."

The voice arrived before the person.

The next moment, a black-robed Sect Master Tong Tian, with sword-like brows and starry eyes, strode into Xuan Qing Palace.