Sun-Chasing Boots, Sun-Shooting Bow

Inside Pangu Hall, Innate Dao Patterns flowed across the floor, but they could not suppress the bloodstink filling the air:

Kuafu knelt on one knee, leaning on his Peach Wood Staff. The wound in his chest, caused by the shockwaves of the Chaos Bell, still seeped vital blood. Da Yi leaned against the Five Elements Pagoda, his broken arm bone leaving his arm propped at an angle against the ground. His Dao Injury kept tearing at his foundation, making his brow furrow slightly.

Just then, Xuanyuan slowly stepped forward. As his sleeve swept lightly through the air, Chaos Residual Qi and Pangu's Residual Might gathered around him. The Chaos Pearl trembled gently within his nascent soul, and a projection of a Chaos World unfolded inside the hall.

Within the hazy chaos, the Chaos Pearl stood as the beginning of One Origin. The Great Dao of Yin Yang bore the aspects of the Two Principles, while the Three Treasures Jade Ruyi stabilized Heaven, Earth, and Man. Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind slowly evolved, and Five Elements Essence Qi filled the air... Great Dao Runes of every kind glimmered like stars,

elevating and completing one another. An otherworldly aura of the Great Dao instantly suppressed the restless Dao Injury.

"Creation is the source of vitality. Creation Green Lotus, reveal your vitality!"

Xuanyuan lightly tapped a finger. A speck of emerald light glowed at his fingertip: the essence of the Creation Green Lotus seed.

The moment the light left his body, it transformed into a vast expanse of green mist. Within it, the phantom image of a Twelve-Petaled Creation Green Lotus slowly blossomed. The purest vitality flowed between its layered petals, sprinkling down like spring rain and precisely enveloping Kuafu and Da Yi.

"Hum."

Seeing this, Gou Mang immediately stepped forward and drew upon the bloodline of his Wood Law.

Vines coiled around him in phantom form, merging with the vitality revealed by the Creation Green Lotus. They became bands of emerald light that tightly bound the lotus phantom's vitality around the two men, preventing their Source Power from leaking away.

"Come."

Xuanyuan raised a hand and beckoned. The Innate Longevity Peach Tree and other Innate Spiritual Roots swayed, sending fruit flying toward him. Each was instantly refined into a source of vitality and infused into the two top Great Witches.

In just three hundred years, thanks to Xuanyuan's methods, Kuafu and Da Yi, who had been gravely wounded and on the brink of death, had recovered to full strength.

Zhurong and the other Ancestral Witches had kept busy, too. Though they had to cultivate in seclusion inside Pangu Hall and could not go hunt down Di Jun and Tai Yi, they could still craft some treasures.

As the Fire Ancestral Witch, Zhurong possessed a bloodline of the Fire Law. In theory, if he reached great mastery, he would command all the fires of the Primordial World, including True Sun Fire, Samadhi True Fire, Six Ding Divine Fire, Southern Bright Leaving Fire, Ziwei Heavenly Fire, Red Lotus Karma Fire, and Nine Heavens Profound Fire.

Though he had yet to reach great mastery, he was already formidable.

With Zhurong leading and the other Ancestral Witches assisting, they refined a section of the Fusang Tree branch into a Bow Embryo. They also incorporated Golden Crow feathers and various Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, along with Divine Iron Immortal Gold, to forge a pair of boots.

In addition, the Metal Ancestral Witch Rushou and the Ice Ancestral Witch Xuan Ming each used their own blood to temper Innate Geng Metal and Mysterious Ice Cold Iron, forging Innate Geng Metal Arrows that could pierce through anything and Mysterious Ice Cold Iron Arrows that could freeze all things.

"These boots shall be called the Sun-Chasing Boots!"

"This bow shall be called the Sun-Shooting Bow!"

Kuafu and Da Yi spoke at the same time. Naming these treasures also strengthened their resolve. They would treat the humiliating rout they had suffered this time as a spur to learn from their shame and grow stronger!

"Sun-Chasing Boots, Sun-Shooting Bow..." Xuanyuan's gaze flickered.

In the original tale, Kuafu wore the Sun-Chasing Boots when the Ten Suns blazed in the sky, using them alongside his extraordinary movement technique to chase the sun. The Sun-Shooting Bow was also known as the Sun-Shooting Divine Bow. Though the Qiankun Bow and Zhentian Arrows had fallen into his hands, the cause and effect of Da Yi shooting down the suns had likely remained unchanged.

"The Sun-Chasing Boots are a High-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure. Unfortunately, this Sun-Shooting Bow is still missing a bowstring. Otherwise, given the nature of the Fusang Tree branch, it would qualify as a High-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure."

Zhurong put away the various flames and spoke with some regret.

The Sun-Chasing Boots had been made by combining Golden Crow feathers with various materials through acquired refinement, so they were an Acquired Treasure. The Sun-Shooting Bow, meanwhile, had been shaped by treating a branch of the Fusang Tree without altering its original Innate Treasure Restrictions, so it was an Innate Treasure.

Innate Treasures were generally stronger than Acquired Treasures, though this was not an absolute rule. What truly determined a treasure's strength was, more often than not, the number of its restrictions.

The Sun-Chasing Boots and Sun-Shooting Bow, forged together by the Ancestral Witches, were treasures of the same grade.

"Missing a bowstring? Hahaha, what's so difficult about that? Fellow Daoists, take a look."

Just then, Candle Dragon was the first to awaken. His aura had grown stronger, clearly having gained a great deal.

As he spoke, Candle Dragon opened his massive mouth. A gleaming blue streak of light flew from his throat and hovered before them all:

It was a tendon that shimmered with waterlight from end to end, roughly ten million zhang long. Fine Water Pattern Runes coiled across its surface, and the Dao Charm of the Water Law flowed visibly through the hazy water vapor. Even the surrounding Earthly Fiend Tainted Qi had turned gentle and docile.

"This is the tendon of the Water Kirin King I slew years ago. It should make a suitable bowstring for this Sun-Shooting Bow," Candle Dragon said with a smile.

During the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity Era, the Kirin Race had stood alongside the Dragon Race as a hegemon, and had been the foremost of the Primordial World's walking beasts.

The Water Kirin King had been one of the Kirin Race's mightiest members, second only to Beginning Qilin and the Five Virtues Kirin. He had been the leader of the Water Kirin branch, and his cultivation had reached the early stage of the Primordial Golden Immortal realm.

"Water and Fire Fusion, Yin Yang Mutual Aid—there couldn't be a better fit." Xuanyuan smiled and nodded at Da Yi.

"Whoosh!"

Da Yi used the power of his will to refine the Bow Embryo, infusing it with his magic power. The Bow Embryo immediately expanded in the wind.

"Go."

Candle Dragon breathed out a Dragon Breath. The Water Kirin King's tendon was refined and shrank accordingly, then wrapped around both ends of the Bow Embryo. Zhurong and Gonggong then tempered it together, perfectly fusing the bowstring with the bow.

After a thousand years, a High-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure was complete!

"Boom!"

Just then, Zhu Jiuyin, who had been in seclusion for a long time, also awoke. He looked up at the dome of Pangu Hall and let out a low Dao Sound, its voice wrapped in the Dao Charm of time, as though it could pierce through the ages:

"After a thousand years of comprehending the Dao, time itself has become my blade. I'm only one step away from grasping the Primordial!"

Indeed, after resonating and harmonizing with Candle Dragon's Time Law, learning from its strengths, and absorbing its insights, Zhu Jiuyin had advanced another half-step from his previous level of Grand Unity Golden Immortal Perfection.

The mysteries of their different Time Laws had fused together. With only a little more time to consolidate his gains, he had the potential to cross the Threshold of Primordial Golden Immortal.

Zhu Jiuyin's awakening made it a double celebration. After the powerful cultivators had each enjoyed Great Star Fruit and Enlightenment Tea Leaves, they simply began discussing the Dao.

Xuanyuan, Tongtian, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, and Candle Dragon sat together to discuss the Dao. Kuafu and Da Yi, whose foundations were somewhat shallower, listened in while refining their spiritual treasures.

For a time, various Dao Charms filled Pangu Hall, stirring the many Innate Spiritual Roots until their branches swayed.

With the help of these Spiritual Roots and their fruits, Shebishi and several other Ancestral Witches whose cultivation had still been lacking also reached Grand Unity Golden Immortal Perfection.

One day, as the Dao discussion in Pangu Hall reached its height, Xuanyuan suddenly froze. His aura turned chaotic, then instantly returned to unity.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and Chaos Light Patterns flashed between his brows. In the next instant, his body expanded, transforming into an Ancestral Shaman True Form standing one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred zhang tall!

His immense body seemed forged from Divine Iron Immortal Gold. The bloodline of his Space Law surged across his skin like golden rivers, while countless profound Great Dao Patterns spilled from his pores. They intertwined with the Earthly Fiend Tainted Qi and faintly resonated with the Time Laws surrounding Zhu Jiuyin and Candle Dragon, as though they were about to merge into one.

"Ah!" Candle Dragon, already at the Primordial Golden Immortal realm, was the first to notice the anomaly. His gaze fixed on the fluctuations of the laws around Xuanyuan. "Time and space are showing signs of merging! Daoist Xuanyuan is about to enter the Primordial Golden Immortal realm!"

Before his words had faded, the gray Chaos Pearl stirred gently in the depths of Xuanyuan's Xuanyuan's Nascent Soul. Then the Chaos Law Prototype spilled out from around him, manifesting a projection of a Chaos World inside the hall.

Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind churned beneath his feet as the Earthly Fiend Tainted Qi rolled;

Innate Dao Patterns flowed like a river of stars across the sky, tightly enveloping Xuanyuan's Ancestral Shaman True Form!