The Pit-Digging Artifact

Su Miao looked at the Profound Origin Water Control Banner in her hand. Its glow had gradually faded, and it had become docile again—though it now seemed to carry a touch of "awe." The little unease in her tiny head was quickly swept away by an even greater curiosity.

Her consciousness wandered through her Sea of Consciousness and was soon completely drawn to another pile of glittering things.

—Those twenty-four round, weighty, beautiful beads that emitted gentle Five-Colored Radiance!

They rested quietly in a corner of the Chaos Bead's space, like a heap of forgotten top-tier jewels.

"Right! There's still you guys!"

Su Miao's eyes lit up, and she instantly tossed the little conflict between the little Banner and the Broken Bead to the back of her mind.

The little Banner could control water for fun, and the Broken Bead could store things.

There were so many of these sparkling beads, and they looked both pretty and sturdy. They had to be fun too!

Maybe... even more fun than the little Banner?

No sooner said than done!

With a thought, a Sea Calming Bead the size of a dragon's eye, wreathed in hazy Five-Colored Radiance, appeared in her fair little palm.

It felt cool in her hand, heavy and substantial.

The Five-Colored Radiance was not dazzling at all. Instead, it was exceptionally gentle, making her little hand seem as though it had been brushed with magnificent rosy clouds.

"Wow, so pretty!"

Su Miao could not help praising it. She gently stroked it with the fingers of her other hand. It was incomparably smooth and carried a strange aura that put one at ease.

"Prettier than every rock I picked up before!"

She turned the bead over in her hands, liking it more the longer she looked.

It was just the right size to hold in one hand—perfectly round, with such a lovely sheen...

An ancient memory from her childhood suddenly awakened!

"Th-this isn't just an oversized, ultra-luxurious, glowing marble?!"

Realization dawned on her, and she nearly jumped up in excitement!

She did not know whether the Primordial World had marbles, but she knew how to play with this thing!

She immediately lowered her head and searched the soft beach. Before long, she scraped out a small patch of relatively level sand.

Then, using her chubby little hand, she pressed hard into the sand to make a small dent, using it as the "target hole."

"Alright! The competition begins!"

She announced it with great solemnity, though her only audience was herself and the Stars filling the sky.

She placed the first Sea Calming Bead a short distance from the little hole.

Then she stretched out her index finger, carefully aimed at the hole, and flicked with force.

—Whoosh!

The Sea Calming Bead turned into a streak of five-colored light and, with incomparable precision...

Smashed directly into the very center of the hole. She had even failed to control her strength, embedding half the bead into the sand and gouging out a small, deep pit.

"Uh..."

Su Miao blinked, ran over, and dug the bead out.

"I used too much force... That doesn't count, that doesn't count. Again!"

The second time, she used less strength and gave it a light flick.

The bead gracefully rolled in a straight line and once again entered the hole with perfect accuracy.

It came to rest at the bottom, its Five-Colored Radiance faintly flickering, as if silently saying:

"Is that all?"

"Wow! You're amazing!"

Su Miao did not feel at all that the bead had looked down on her. Instead, she cheered at the marble's incredible precision.

Her playful spirit roused, and she immediately summoned all twenty-four Sea Calming Beads, arranging them across the beach.

She began playing a marble-version obstacle course by herself.

She set different holes and routes.

Using her chubby little hand, she flicked these top-tier spiritual treasures of the Primordial World across the beach, sending them rolling here and there.

They collided, dropped into holes, and dug out one little sand pit after another. She giggled as she played, having the time of her life.

If any Great Expert of the Primordial World saw this scene, their Dao Heart would likely become unstable, and they would cough up three pints of blood.

What a monstrous waste of heavenly treasure!

These were Sea Calming Beads!

Innate Spiritual Treasures!

And they were actually being used as toys for a child!

Having tired herself out playing marbles, Su Miao sat on the beach and picked up a bead for a closer look.

The bead felt heavy in her hand, and its material was incomparably hard. After all that wild crashing and rolling across the beach just now, not even the faintest scratch marked its surface.

"You're so hard!"

That was her second conclusion.

Hard?

What could hard things do?

Her gaze swept over several Spirit Fruits she had picked up earlier, their shells exceptionally tough—perhaps some kind of body-tempering treasure material—then fell upon her own fair, soft little hands, which definitely could not smash those fruit shells open.

Got it!

She picked up a Sea Calming Bead and gave one of the hard Spirit Fruits a light tap.

—Crack!

With a soft sound, the hard shell that had left her at a loss split open on impact.

It revealed fragrant, Spiritual Qi-rich flesh within, while the bead itself remained utterly unscathed.

"Wow! This is so useful!"

Overjoyed, Su Miao immediately named this bead her divine nut-cracking tool.

Then she remembered how she had wanted to plant something before, only to be troubled by the lack of tools for digging holes.

Digging with little branches was too slow, while clawing at the ground with her hands was both dirty and tiring...

Her gaze once more turned to the Sea Calming Bead that had just earned merit by smashing open a fruit.

It was so hard and so heavy—how about using it to dig holes?

She found a patch of relatively loose soil, gripped the bead, and pressed it forcefully into the ground.

It took almost no effort at all.

Like a red-hot iron rod plunging into snow, the bead sank easily into the earth.

It left behind a small round hole with smooth edges and perfectly even depth!

"Oh my goodness! You're practically a divine hole-digging tool!"

Su Miao was stunned. Looking at the bead in her hand, stained with a little dirt yet still gleaming with flowing radiance, she could not bear to put it down.

She immediately embarked upon her grand and vigorous "hole-digging enterprise."

The twenty-four beads took turns going into battle, and before long, within the planting area she had chosen, they had neatly dug two rows of perfect little holes, equal in depth and evenly spaced, with astonishing efficiency!

During this process, sometimes because of a fluctuation in her thoughts, or because the beads' auras drew one another, a Sea Calming Bead would unconsciously leak a trace of the terrifying aura contained within it—heavy and boundless, like the power of the Four Seas.

The surrounding air seemed to freeze in an instant, space itself faintly twisted, and fine cracks even spread across the ground as it sank inward around the bead!

But Su Miao could not sense pressure of that level at all.

She only felt that the bead in her hand had suddenly become a little "heavier," that the air around her had become a little "stickier," and that digging holes had grown easier, nothing more.

"Hm? What's wrong? Are you tired? Or are you angry?"

Sometimes, when she sensed something strange about a bead, she would stop.

Then, with her chubby little hands smeared with dirt, she would pat it and softly coax it as though soothing a child.

"Be good, be good. We'll be done soon. Once we finish digging this hole, you can rest."

Strangely enough, after being patted and coaxed like that, the vast aura leaking from the bead really would slowly withdraw, becoming "utterly ordinary" once more.

Only the Five-Colored Radiance would flicker twice, as though expressing a speechless emotion.

And all of this was watched by the seemingly dormant Chaos Bead within her Sea of Consciousness.

Whenever a Sea Calming Bead's aura stirred even slightly, the fine cracks on the Chaos Bead's surface would flash imperceptibly, and a thread of even more obscure yet supreme Chaos Dao Resonance would diffuse outward.

Like gentle shackles, it instantly pressed the Sea Calming Beads' power—enough to overturn the Four Seas—firmly back into the depths of the beads.

It ensured that, in their little master's hands, they would forever be nothing more than docile marbles and handy hole-digging tools.

Sea Calming Beads: "*@#￥%%#&..."

Prehistoric World profanity, censored.

With such divine tools to aid her, Su Miao's Agriculture base soon began to take shape.

Looking at the orderly rows of little pits before her, an immense sense of accomplishment and... an even grander sense of planning blazed fiercely within her heart!

Just having pits wasn't enough!

There had to be seeds, there had to be sprouts!

There were so many strange flowers and exotic grasses on Mount Fangzhang, and many of them bore fruit. Could the seeds inside those fruits be planted?

Could a branch be taken from that shrub with the huge Red Flower and planted beside it?

That little tree bearing Dragon Blood Flame Heart Fruit looked so lonely. Should she move it somewhere else, or... break off a branch and see whether it could take root from a cutting?

One thought after another sprang up like bamboo shoots after the rain.

Her farming soul was utterly ignited at that moment, her eyes shining with an unprecedented light brimming with curiosity and drive!

The tools were ready-made: the Sea Calming Bead Brand Excavator!

The water source was ready-made: the Profound Origin Water Control Banner Brand Smart Sprinkler!

And there was land in abundance!

If she didn't plant now, then when would she?

On this Immortal Island, she was going to carve out her very first Experimental Field!