Subduing the Spirit Treasures

At her words, the tears in Yaochi's eyes grew heavier. She stepped forward and tightly embraced Haotian.

Haotian's body immediately stiffened.

But after all, the two of them were currently in the bodies of boys. Even such intimate contact did not feel in any way strange.

Thus, after a moment, he raised a hand as well and gently stroked Yaochi's back, saying softly, "All right, don't cry."

The two embraced for a long while.

Only after Yaochi's emotions had gradually settled did she feel embarrassed, her cheeks flushing red, and gently pull free.

Seeing her like this, Haotian took the initiative to change the subject. "The day Esteemed Master begins his lecture is drawing near. Your elder brother still needs to focus on digesting the gains from this trial."

"Younger Sister may first study the inheritance Jade Slip. If there is anything you do not understand, come ask me at any time."

Hearing this, the embarrassment on Yaochi's face faded somewhat.

She solemnly accepted the Jade Slip, nodded in agreement, then turned and left.

Upon reaching the door, she could not help looking back toward Haotian's Quiet Room. A rosy flush rose on her face once more.

Only after a long while... did Yaochi return to her own Quiet Room with light, cheerful steps.

Though she had been born long ago, she had ultimately never entered the mortal world. Her temperament remained that of an innocent child; even with a lifespan of a hundred thousand years, her natural innocence had not changed.

Inside the Quiet Room, seeing that Yaochi had finally left, Haotian gathered his thoughts and cast aside all distractions.

With a thought, four spirit treasures appeared one after another.

The Supreme Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure Treasure Dropping Gold Coin, the High-Grade Innate Spirit Treasure Pure Glazed Bottle, and the two Mid-grade Innate Spirit Treasures Ten Thousand Crows Pot and Three Talents Jade Cups.

Haotian focused and examined them carefully.

The Treasure Dropping Gold Coin had already undergone preliminary refinement.

The other three treasures, meanwhile, were suppressed by the Dharma power Hongjun had left behind.

After some consideration, he decided to refine the Ten Thousand Crows Pot first.

The reason was simple. Among the three spirit treasures yet to be refined, this one was of the lowest grade, and it was a single item—the easiest place to begin.

The Pure Glazed Bottle was a High-Grade Innate Spirit Treasure, so refining it would naturally require more time.

As for the Three Talents Jade Cups, though they too were Mid-grade Innate Spirit Treasures, the nine cups formed a set and contained an innate formation. They required him to refine all nine at once with his mind divided nine ways, making them no less difficult than the Pure Glazed Bottle.

Haotian sat cross-legged, his five centers facing heaven. With a beckoning gesture, the Ten Thousand Crows Pot floated before him.

"Disperse." He stared at the treasure pot and pointed with two fingers.

The Saint's Dharma power coiling around the pot vanished at his command.

This did not mean that, with his mere Golden Immortal Early-stage cultivation, he could disperse the Dharma power left behind by a Saint.

He could do so only because this Dharma power had been left by Hongjun to help him suppress the spirit treasures.

Once it sensed his intent, the Dharma power dispersed of its own accord.

As the seal was lifted, the Ten Thousand Crows Pot immediately bared its vicious might!

Unlike when he had previously subdued the Treasure Dropping Gold Coin, the Ten Thousand Crows Pot was not only a genuine weapon of slaughter, but had long since fully awakened.

Sensing Haotian's intention to subdue it, it immediately displayed its might.

As the pot trembled, several thousand Fire Crows surged forth from its mouth.

Every one of them was formed from pure Samadhi True Fire, beating its wings and crying out.

The scorching heat threw the Dao laws within the Quiet Room into disorder. All ten thousand arts retreated, and the Dao of Fire alone reigned supreme!

Well prepared, Haotian drifted backward as the Imperial Great Dao thundered into motion.

The might of commanding all Daos spread forth, forcibly suppressing the violent Dao of Fire.

Feeling the roaring flames, Haotian sighed inwardly. "As expected of a treasure capable of burning West Qi City. It is this formidable even without anyone wielding it."

With that thought, he drew his right hand through the air, borrowing the authority of the water-element laws between heaven and earth and turning them into towering waves that swept forth.

Water and fire collided. Steam billowed, and the Ten Thousand Crows Pot's momentum faltered.

But Samadhi True Fire was, after all, no ordinary flame.

In his Previous Life's Journey to the West, a brick stained with Samadhi True Fire fell from Grand Supreme Elder Lord's furnace and formed a volcano in the earthly realm that was nearly impossible to extinguish.

And when Red Boy wielded this Supernatural Power, even the Four Seas' Dragon Kings acting together could not put it out. In the end, they could only invite Guanyin Bodhisattva's Three Lights Divine Water.

At this moment, Haotian naturally could not obtain the Three Lights Divine Water. Thus, while the water-element laws he had borrowed could suppress it somewhat, they could not eradicate it at the root.

"Truly troublesome—but that is good as well."

"The more troublesome you are, the greater the aid you will provide me once I subdue you."

Haotian's gaze sharpened. He activated the Great Dao once more, borrowing strength from heaven and earth.

But this time, what he intended to borrow was the authority over every fire-element law within the Quiet Room!

No matter how formidable the Samadhi True Fire was, the source of fire stored within the Ten Thousand Crows Pot was ultimately limited.

As long as it could not draw fire-element replenishment from heaven and earth, given enough time, the fire source within it would inevitably be exhausted.

Haotian's reasoning was indeed correct. As he seized all authority over the fire attribute within the heaven and earth of the Quiet Room, the flames of the Ten Thousand Crows Pot steadily waned.

The Fire Crow phantoms flickered in and out, while the trembling of the pot's body grew ever weaker.

In the blink of an eye, several hundred years passed.

The fire source within the Ten Thousand Crows Pot was finally depleted.

The Ten Thousand Crows Pot could generate Samadhi True Fire on its own, but that required an immense amount of time.

Now that it was locked in a Dao Battle with Haotian, it had remained in a state of constant expenditure, with no chance to recover at all.

Moreover, Haotian had seized the authority of the fire attribute from heaven and earth, preventing it from recovering through the fire Dao laws of heaven and earth.

On top of that, Haotian continuously used the water-attribute laws of heaven and earth to suppress and wear it down.

Under layer upon layer of resistance, the Ten Thousand Crows Pot finally could no longer struggle.

Seeing this, Haotian quietly let out a breath of relief.

This several-hundred-year Dao Battle had truly drained him considerably.

Once the Ten Thousand Crows Pot stopped resisting, he immediately circulated the Great Dao, sending his Imperial Dao aura into the pot and beginning to imprint it with his Primordial Spirit.

This process lasted nearly a thousand years... before the Ten Thousand Crows Pot was initially refined.

After finishing his cultivation, Haotian pinched his fingers to calculate. More than five thousand years remained before the Purple Firmament Palace began its lectures.

"Neither the Pure Glazed Bottle nor the Three Talents Jade Cups will be easy to subdue... With the time remaining, I fear I can only refine one of them."

Haotian's gaze swept over the Pure Glazed Bottle and the Three Talents Jade Cups before finally settling upon the nine jade cups.

There were two reasons for choosing This Treasure.

First, the Three Talents Jade Cups were of a lower grade than the Pure Glazed Bottle and were relatively easier to refine.

Second, Haotian had already decided to reenter the Primordial Wilderness after Hongjun finished expounding the Dao, so he had greater need of a treasure for slaughter and self-defense.

Yet the Pure Glazed Bottle leaned more toward support.

The Three Talents Jade Cups, meanwhile, formed their own array, combining offense and defense as one—perfectly suited to his present needs.

With his mind made up, Haotian repeated the same method, dispelling the Saint's seal upon the Three Talents Jade Cups.

The nine jade cups burst with brilliant radiance, instantly arranging themselves into an array according to the positions of Heaven, Earth, and Man, surrounding Haotian at its center!

The white cup occupied the Heaven Position, drawing in the Pure Qi of the Nine Heavens.

The black cup held the Earth Position, gathering the essence of the rich earth.

The golden cup took the Human Position, commanding the pivot of yin and yang.

"The Three Talents Array... Let me test its depth." As before, Haotian still used no spirit treasure, relying solely on his own Great Dao to contend against it.

There were three reasons for doing so.

First, to truly experience the array's power.

Second, to temper himself.

Third, Innate Spirit Treasures all possessed spirituality. If he could subdue one bare-handed and earn its recognition, he could speed up the refinement process.

Rumble!

The white cup in the Heaven Position struck first, summoning divine lightning from the Nine Heavens to crash down!

Haotian remained calm and unhurried. His Imperial Dao aura flowed as he directly stripped the authority of the lightning Dao from the array.

Having lost the source of its laws, the lightning filling the sky immediately scattered into nothingness.

Unlike the Ten Thousand Crows Pot, the Three Talents Jade Cups drew most of their power from the array's temporary invocation of the laws of heaven and earth, rather than storing divine might within the treasure itself in advance.