Chapter 38

Though it was merely an ordinary Houtian Spiritual Treasure, the painting might conceal some hidden mystery. Seeing Jieyin nod slightly, he solemnly accepted it.

To be honest, Changxi gently stroked her teacup. "I came this time to seek Enlightenment Tea Leaves. I heard that the spiritual root is now in your possession, so I shamelessly ask for some."

Her gaze shifted slightly. "Would you be willing to part with some, little friend? Name your price."

Lu Tian immediately offered a hundred tea leaves. "Senior gave me a treasure first. Please accept this as a return gift."

Yet Changxi did not take them. Instead, she suddenly rose and bowed. "I will soon have the joy of childbirth. These tea leaves... are for the child in my womb." She looked toward the Two Sages of the West. "I hope the two Sages will grant my request."

Childbirth?!

Lu Tian's heart shook violently.

The ones about to be born had to be those ten Golden Crows!

Thinking of the tragedy from later legends—the Ten Suns Across the Sky and Da Yi Shoots the Suns—and then glancing at the kind-faced Jieyin and Zhunti beside him, his grip on the teacup tightened involuntarily.

In the eyes of Eastern living beings, they were utterly shameless people who brazenly plundered Eastern resources to fill the Western deficit.

The decisive battle between the Witch Clan and Demon Race was about to reach its conclusion.

Lu Tian understood inwardly.

Seeing Changxi state her position so clearly, he took out another one hundred and twenty-six neatly arranged tea leaves and gave them to her.

"Senior, this is all the stock I have."

Such an exact number made it inconvenient for Changxi to ask for more.

After putting away the tea leaves, Changxi said forthrightly, "I'll accept them. If you have any requests, feel free to make them."

"When you have the time, come visit the Demon Race. I'll have someone show you the sights of the Demon Realm."

Her eyes glimmered with a hint of teasing. "I hear you still have no Dao companion, Fellow Daoist. Our Demon Race has many outstanding female cultivators. You might as well get acquainted with some."

She was clearly trying to recruit him.

Other than Lu Tian, no one knew the final outcome of the conflict between the Witch Clan and Demon Race.

If they could draw him into the Demon Race camp and use the opportunity to connect with the Western Teachings, the Demon Race's chances of victory would surely increase greatly!

Lu Tian smiled warmly. "I would be disrespectful to refuse such generous hospitality, Senior."

"I currently have no urgent need for anything, but I have long heard that the Demon Race Treasury possesses the richest collection in the primordial world. If I could take a look, it would truly be a blessing."

Several gazes shot toward him at once.

Jieyin, Zhunti, Changxi, and Xihe all stared at Lu Tian.

What a kid...

He really had the bearing I had back then!

Setting his sights on the Demon Race Treasury—he truly was worthy of being one of us!

Jieyin and Zhunti nearly burst out laughing.

Changxi was stunned for a moment before coughing lightly. "Granted. When the time comes, I'll send someone to take you there."

Lu Tian smiled and bowed.

The value of Enlightenment Tea Leaves was impossible to measure. It all depended on how he maneuvered them.

These things...

They naturally were not enough to trade for a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, but if he encountered a suitable treasure, it might not be impossible.

Since he was here, how could he leave empty-handed?

If necessary, he could simply add more bargaining chips.

The chance to enter the Demon Race Treasury was the true priority!

After chatting for a while,

Changxi and Xihe drifted away gracefully.

"My disciple performed wonderfully this time!"

"You truly have your master's flair from back then!"

Jieyin and Zhunti praised him in succession.

After venting the knot in his heart, Lu Tian truly had grown considerably.

Watching the two women's retreating figures, Lu Tian's gaze narrowed slightly.

He was naturally not a lecherous man...

He was merely reviewing everything that had just happened.

Though Enlightenment Tea Leaves were precious, they were not essential to the Demon Race, much less worth asking for twice in succession.

There had to be some hidden intention behind it.

When Changxi first gave Lu Tian a magic treasure, although its grade was ordinary, it was a special treasure whose true value was difficult to assess. Her purpose had been to take the initiative in establishing a connection with Lu Tian and plant Karma between them.

Lu Tian immediately returned a hundred Enlightenment Tea Leaves, intending to repay the favor of the gifted treasure and sever this Karma. If he had deliberately inflated the value of the return gift, the Karma between them would only have become more entangled.

Realizing that Lu Tian did not wish to become too deeply involved with the Demon Race, Changxi used the soon-to-be-born Imperial Son as an excuse to test him again. Lu Tian's request to visit the Demon Race Treasury was not only to seek rare treasures worth forming ties over, but also to keep the initiative firmly in his own hands.

When he entered the treasury to choose, he could select valuable items or ordinary objects. Whether this Karma continued would then depend entirely on his own decision. Such an adaptable response made Changxi, Xihe, and even his two masters view him in a new light.

In the primordial world, relying only on the courage of a warrior to dominate all directions was far from enough. Beyond absolute strength, one also needed strategy and maneuvering. One careless step, and one could fall into another's scheme!

The games between primordial mighty figures... truly were exhausting. Lu Tian sighed inwardly. This world valued karmic entanglements above all else. Even a peak existence as powerful as Hongyun had fallen due to karmic backlash. Had he not glimpsed a trace of the law of Karma when he advanced to the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm, he would likely have fallen into their trap this time.

He had repeatedly declined because he truly did not wish to become entangled with the Demon Race. Not only because the Demon Race was destined to perish in the Witch-Demon War, but also because the Witch Clan contained someone he truly wished to befriend—Houtu.

This future Empress Pingxin would transform into the Six Paths of Reincarnation and become an Earthly Sage. Her status and accomplishments would be unmatched by anyone in either the Witch Clan or Demon Race. If he could draw her into the Western Teachings camp, it would be an immense aid to the West. If the Path of Reincarnation could manifest in the West...

The thought flashed through Lu Tian's mind and vanished. If he spoke of it now, people would surely regard him as a madman. Those brutish Witch Clan men could actually evolve reincarnation? Absurd! Yet Lu Tian knew this would certainly come to pass. Since he possessed foreknowledge, he could naturally make preparations early.

At the peak of Kunlun, All Sages arrived as scheduled and gathered at Dao De Tianzun's Eight Sceneries Palace, wreathed in rosy cloud glow.

Jieyin and Zhunti arrived upon clouds with Lu Tian and the other members of the Western Teachings. Lotus platforms filled the hall like scattered stars. Lu Tian sat cross-legged at the last seats with his senior brothers, still as a green pine. This discussion of the Dao was a mysterious clash between the foremost mighty figures of the primordial world. With cultivation as shallow as his, he could only restrain his aura, focus his mind, and listen carefully to Every Word a Heavenly Sound.

Outside the palace, golden lotuses broke through the soil and immortal cranes carried rosy clouds in their beaks. The Kunlun Mountain Range was dyed in auspicious mist. Within the hall, Dao Charm surged; at times, a galaxy hung upside down, and at times, Chaos First Opened. Lu Tian sat with his eyes closed when a faint glow suddenly rose from his body. Though it was less than a ten-thousandth of the phenomena displayed by the Sages, among his peers it shone alone like a firefly.

Under Tongtian's seat, Duobao and Zhao Gongming suddenly opened their eyes. Seeing that the Western Teachings disciple had already begun Roaming the Great Void, they were secretly shocked. The Sages' discussion of the Dao was as obscure as the Heavenly Script—how had this youth entered meditation in an instant? While they were still dazed, their master's soft rebuke sounded beside their ears. "If the Dao heart is like water, why chase after the waves?" Ashamed, the two hurriedly focused their minds.

The Dao sounds in the hall grew ever more intense, while the glow between Lu Tian's brows flowed as though he heard nothing.

Yet the two equally gifted geniuses could not calm their minds to comprehend the Dao today.

The Three Maidens of Sanxiao had already immersed themselves in enlightenment, while they spent a long time before gaining even a slight insight.

In circumstances similar to theirs was Taiyi Zhenren under Yuanshi Tianzun.

His mind was unsettled, and his gaze kept drifting toward Lu Tian as waves of bitterness welled up within him.

Ever since his defeat at Lu Tian's hands, he had cultivated day and night. He had even asked Yuanshi to reverse time, frantically tempering himself through accelerated years.

All so that he could defeat Lu Tian openly and honorably at the Mystic Gate Grand Ceremony!

But now, he had lost even the courage to make a move. After witnessing Lu Tian defeat Zhao Gongming and Daoist Duobao in succession, he had completely lost the courage to challenge him.

Taiyi Zhenren sighed to himself.

As an orthodox disciple of the Mystic Gate, he knew Lu Tian had become his inner demon.

Meanwhile, Lu Tian, the focus of everyone's attention, was currently frowning tightly as he strove to comprehend the profound Dao Charm of the mighty figures.

The supreme principles explained by these exalted beings were far too profound. He could only grasp scattered fragments, yet he had already benefited immensely.

The laws of the five elements, the path of space-time... the many laws he had originally mastered revealed entirely new meanings under the guidance of the mighty figures.

As his insights continued to deepen, his understanding of the laws far surpassed his current realm. This accumulation finally triggered a qualitative transformation.

A thousand years... five thousand years... eight thousand years...

Time flew by, and the discussion of the Dao gradually reached its finest point.

When ten thousand years had passed, Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy began gathering around Lu Tian of its own accord, and his aura rose steadily.

This phenomenon made the mighty figures turn their heads in surprise—

This youth was actually about to break through?

It had only been a little over ten thousand years since he entered the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm, hadn't it?

The surrounding powerhouses tacitly yielded their spiritual energy, and all the sacred spiritual charm filling the Eight Sceneries Palace surged toward Lu Tian.

As the final shackle silently shattered, realization shone in Lu Tian's opened eyes.

This breakthrough appeared ordinary, yet its significance was extraordinary—he had not cultivated for ten thousand years, yet enlightenment alone had carried him through naturally!

The current Lu Tian had achieved complete mastery in the laws of the five elements and space-time. His realm was already far beyond what it had once been.

Most crucially, three thousand years ago, he had finally touched the threshold of the laws of creation and destruction, comprehending a trace of their mystery.

The moment this insight emerged, he treasured it dearly, and his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.

These two laws matched his origin, making them twice as effective for him to comprehend with half the effort. In merely three thousand years, his attainments had caught up with his mastery of the five elements and space-time.

The gains from ten thousand years of listening to the Dao surpassed two hundred thousand years of solitary bitter cultivation!

The discussions among the mighty figures did not stop because of his breakthrough.

Their fierce exchanges of Dao laws continued.

Another three thousand years passed before this prolonged discussion of the Dao finally ended.

The mighty figures bade one another farewell and departed with their gains.

Lu Tian had just stepped out of the Eight Sceneries Palace with his two masters when a clear voice sounded from behind him:

"Little friend Lu Tian, would you be willing to accompany my sister and me to the Demon Race Heavenly Court?"

Turning around, he saw Changxi and Xihe, the Empresses of the Demon Race, smiling as they invited him.

A trip to the Heavenly Court?

Lu Tian had no plans for the moment, so he agreed to travel with them. After bidding farewell to Jieyin and Zhunti, he left Kunlun with the two Empresses.

As soon as they left the mountain boundary, a flying boat appeared in Xihe's palm.

With a slight parting of her red lips, the flying boat expanded with the wind into a hundred-zhang Spirit Ship. Several hundred Grand Unity Demon Soldiers stood solemnly along its sides.

"Welcome, Your Majesty the Empress!"

Amid the earth-shaking shout, the members of the Western Teachings were secretly alarmed. This was the Demon Race Foundation that ruled the heavens!

"Please, little friend Lu." Xihe invited him calmly, already long accustomed to such grandeur.

Zhunti lightly patted his disciple's shoulder and sent a strand of spiritual power into him. "Return to the West early."

As Lu Tian boarded the ship, the two Empresses also bowed in farewell to the Sages.

Driven into the sky by the combined power of the demon sages, the flying boat vanished into the void in the blink of an eye, beginning its transit.

Lu Tian was arranged to rest within a guest cabin.

The cabin held another world within it. It was early spring, and flowers bloomed in splendid profusion.

At times, he discussed the Dao and exchanged insights with Changxi and Xihe.

Though it was called an exchange, it was actually the two seniors guiding him through his confusion.

More often, he cultivated and contemplated alone.

The Mystic Gate Grand Gathering was an opportunity one could only hope to encounter. In the end, cultivation still required slow and steady effort.

The insights he had accumulated over the years were enough to digest, and he now needed to turn those gains into actual cultivation.

The flying boat quietly changed course midway to pick up a member of the Demon Race bound for the Heavenly Court.

After traveling through the void for several hundred years, they finally arrived outside the Thirty-Third Heaven.

Upon hearing the news, Lu Tian ended his seclusion and stepped off the flying boat.

Before him stood the magnificent South Heaven Gate, glittering with gold and jade. Its high-hanging plaque was unmistakably a Houtian Spiritual Treasure.

The instant he glanced at the strokes upon the plaque, his Spiritual Sense stung—

It had to have been inscribed personally by a mighty figure of the Demon Race.

[ Ding! Blessed Land Heavenly Court detected. ]

[ Reward: Formless Immeasurable Formation diagram. ]

A Buddhist formation?

Lu Tian's spirits rose. Upon closer inspection, the formation could transform its users into formation spirits. By gathering the power of all involved, it could briefly trap even a Sage!

Though it was slightly inferior to supreme formations such as Zhou Tian Star Dou, it surpassed the Myriad Immortals Great Formation.

Its greatest virtue was that it could serve as a Mountain Protecting Formation, turning scattered grains of sand into a tower and unleashing super tier combat power.

Excellent!

Ever since fighting Zhao Gongming, he had long yearned for the formations of the Jie Sect.

Now, he had finally obtained a precious treasure.