Spiritual Treasures and Spiritual Roots

"Little one."

"I once traveled the primordial world with Jade Pure One of the Kunlun Three Pure Ones, and forged a karmic bond with him!"

Azure Dragon Patriarch's voice broke the silence in the great hall, carrying a trace of reminiscence.

The Kunlun Three Pure Ones!

Jade Pure Yuanshi!

Yellow Dragon's heart jolted. What that name signified in the primordial world was still unknown to others, but he could not have known it more clearly!

It represented Pangu's orthodox lineage—the future saint of the Heavenly Dao!

An indescribable premonition seemed like a giant hand clutching his beating heart, making it pound even more violently.

Azure Dragon's next words confirmed Yellow Dragon's guess.

"Once Jade Pure Yuanshi attains the Dao and becomes a saint, should he open his gates wide to accept disciples—"

Azure Dragon paused slightly before continuing, "Then I shall send you to Kunlun. With that karmic bond, and with you now free of even a trace of karmic sin, with merit protecting you, I believe you may enter Jade Pure's sect."

Buzz—

Yellow Dragon's mind was like a tranquil lake struck by a massive boulder, instantly setting off monstrous waves!

Become a disciple beneath Jade Pure Yuanshi Tianzun?

Azure Dragon's words were like a bolt of lightning, cleaving through the fog in Yellow Dragon's heart!

"As expected!"

"So that's it! That's it!"

No wonder!

No wonder that lofty Jade Pure Yuanshi Tianzun, who valued one's roots and origins above all else and regarded "those of scale and armor" as outsiders, had made an exception to accept a dragon as his personal disciple!

It was plainly a contradiction, and Yellow Dragon had never understood the reason before.

Now, everything was clear!

So this was where the root of it all lay.

While Yellow Dragon was still reeling in shock, a pearl abruptly floated before him.

A warm, lustrous black-and-yellow radiance flowed across the pearl's surface. It should have been an object of heaviness and auspicious serenity.

Yet across the surface of this beautiful thing ran jet-black patterns, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws.

They exuded a heart-palpitating aura of deathly stillness, as though it stood on the brink of shattering.

"This innate spiritual treasure is bestowed upon Yellow Dragon." A familiar voice softly sounded by Azure Dragon's ear.

Azure Dragon slightly nodded toward the East Sea's sea eye.

"This innate spiritual treasure was personally bestowed by Ancestor Dragon. It is your reward."

"An... innate... spiritual treasure!"

"Ancestor Dragon..."

"Personally bestowed..."

Every single word was enough to leave Yellow Dragon utterly stunned, yet now they had been combined together!

Yellow Dragon, who had not yet recovered from the shock of becoming a saint's disciple, was stunned once more.

This time, however, Yellow Dragon did not stand there blankly. Even amid his shock, he did not forget to give thanks!

He hurriedly bowed toward the direction Azure Dragon was facing.

Azure Dragon withdrew his gaze and returned it to the spiritual treasure covered in those "special patterns."

His gaze became distant and profound, as though it had pierced through endless ages, as he introduced it to Yellow Dragon.

"This pearl was obtained during the Calamity of Ferocious Beasts, when we exterminated that beast king whose savage might towered to the heavens—Chaos."

"Ferocious beasts are born to nourish themselves by devouring all living things. Even innate spiritual treasures are food in their mouths."

He paused, a nearly imperceptible gravity entering his voice. "These black patterns on the treasure's surface are the Chaos ferocious beast's power of origin. At every moment, they erode this spiritual treasure's innate indestructible spiritual radiance...!"

Azure Dragon's tone slowed, carrying a hint of regret. "Within the ferocious beast's belly, over half of the innate restrictions contained within this innate spiritual treasure pearl were worn away. Its grade fell accordingly, and now it retains only the appearance of a lower-grade innate treasure."

"As for what grade it originally was..."

Azure Dragon shook his head. "Whether it was upper-grade or an even higher supreme-grade, there is no way to know."

He looked at Yellow Dragon. "Because the Chaos ferocious beast's origin clings to this pearl, it is difficult to remove. It passed through several owners, yet none could make it recognize them as master. In the end, it could only remain in Ancestor Dragon's possession."

"You possess merit, and you also have the Pure World White Lotus, which can cleanse the ferocious beast's contamination within it. Given time, it may yet be restored to its original state."

Yellow Dragon's heart burned with excitement. Just as he was about to speak his thanks, Azure Dragon had already extended his palm again.

That hand covered in azure dragon scales casually reached into the seemingly empty void beside him. Its five fingers spread slightly, as though precisely grasping something amid chaos. A moment later, his arm sank slightly before he pulled outward.

"Buzz—"

Space gave a low hum, like cloth being torn apart. An extraordinary plant, together with a large mass of yellow Breathing Soil wrapped around its roots and radiating dense earth-element spiritual energy, was forcibly "dragged" out of some pocket of space by the Azure Dragon Patriarch.

Without even looking, the Azure Dragon Patriarch casually tossed the soil-covered plant at Yellow Dragon's feet.

The plant landed, its branches and leaves swaying gently as it gave off an indescribably tranquil aura, as though it could soothe the restlessness in one's heart.

"Since Ancestor Dragon has bestowed an innate spirit treasure upon you."

The Azure Dragon Patriarch's voice was calm and unruffled, as if he were discussing something utterly trivial. "I shall give you a spiritual root as well. It is a branch of an innate spiritual root, the Enlightenment Tea Tree, which I happened to acquire. I spent no small amount of effort nurturing it until it survived, producing a postnatal spiritual root."

He glanced at the tea tree on the ground, which radiated an aura that drew one toward enlightenment, and a rare trace of heartache entered his tone.

"Luckily, I had an itch in my hands back then and spent some effort making a few more. Otherwise, I truly wouldn't have been willing to give one to you, brat. Though it is a postnatal spiritual root, before you attain Da Luo, it will still be no small aid to you."

"A few?"

Yellow Dragon's eyes went wide. Was the Patriarch really this lavish?

A branch of an innate spiritual root!

And he could successfully cultivate several of them? This was practically the work of seizing the creations of Heaven and Earth!

He instinctively looked toward the Azure Dragon Patriarch, his eyes brimming with the reverence one reserved for the obscenely wealthy.

As expected of the Eastern divine beast said to command the flow of life throughout Heaven and Earth. Such methods of cultivating spiritual roots were simply outrageously impressive.

"This disciple... this disciple thanks the Patriarch for his generous favor...!"

"Enough!"

The Azure Dragon Patriarch abruptly waved a hand, directly cutting off Yellow Dragon's tearful words of gratitude. His tone suddenly turned urgent, carrying an urgency that allowed no argument.

"Stop with that useless nonsense! Quickly gather your things! You can no longer remain in the Ancestral Court—or even in the East Sea!"

Before his words had faded, Yellow Dragon had no time to react before he was tossed into a spatial rift.

"Patriarch!"

At the very instant before the rift sealed shut, the Azure Dragon Patriarch's deep, slightly hurried voice forcibly pierced through the chaotic spatial turbulence and clearly reached Yellow Dragon's ears.

"Your Sweet Dew Technique is crude beyond compare right now. At most, it can barely make this Enlightenment Tea Tree grow a few leaves each year!"

"If you want spirit tea to drink whenever you please, to cleanse your soul, then cultivate that half-baked Sweet Dew Technique into a true divine ability! Otherwise, you can only chew tea dregs!"

Rumble—!!!

At the edge of the East Sea, beyond a golden beach and at the border of a dense forest.

The tranquil sky abruptly split open with a twisted fissure, without any warning.

The next instant, a figure shot out of the rift like a cannonball and smashed viciously into the earth!

A terrifying crater hundreds of zhang wide and dozens of zhang deep was left behind. At the center of its bottom, a human-shaped figure was deeply embedded in the mud and sand, utterly bedraggled.

"Karmic burden entwining my body... merit being worn away..." Yellow Dragon muttered softly as he instinctively examined himself inwardly. The warm, bright pale-golden light of merit that had originally enveloped his Primordial Spirit had indeed dimmed somewhat.

This was the monstrous karmic burden carried by the Dragon Clan! Merely returning to the Dragon Clan Ancestral Court for a moment had already begun to erode his merit.

Several days later, halfway up a mountain range by the sea.

Yellow Dragon simply carved out a temporary cave dwelling. Its four walls were rough, and only the ground had been roughly leveled.

He sat down cross-legged and took out several pieces of spirit jade. In moments, he refined them into a teapot, several teacups, and a tea tray.

He plucked a mature tea leaf from the Enlightenment Tea Tree and placed it in the teapot, then boiled a kettle of spring water fetched from the mountains.

When he poured the boiling spring water into the teapot, the clear water instantly transformed into a gentle, lustrous jade green. Strands of pale-green spiritual energy visible to the naked eye rose from the leaf, swirling in mist at the mouth of the pot and gathering into a small cloud of spiritual mist whose patterns of the Dao constantly shifted before it gradually dissolved back into the tea.

As the Enlightenment Tea was poured into the teacups, an aura of serenity, clarity, and transparency spread out, instantly filling the entire crude cave dwelling.

Yellow Dragon raised a teacup and drained it in one gulp.

Boom!

The warm tea flowed down his throat. There was no violent surge of energy, yet an incomparably crisp force, as though it could wash away the deepest dust within his Primordial Spirit, flooded every inch of his body!