A hazy mist shrouded the mountain cave, where a stone pillar several yards tall stood upright.
Buzz. Accompanied by a faint tremor, a spirit stirred to life within the jade encased in the smooth stone pillar, and a consciousness quietly awakened.
"Hmm? Where am I? Why is it so dark?" Shi Mo, newly conscious, saw nothing but darkness before him. It was as if he had gone blind.
But then his invisible senses extended, and Shi Mo felt as though he could see a piece of crystal-clear jade.
The stalactite-like jade was connected to a much larger mass of jade below, from which three veins branched out and stretched away.
Shi Mo's consciousness clearly sensed streams of rich, gentle energy surging up from the jade veins below like spring water. It made him feel as though he were soaking in a hot spring, utterly comfortable.
"What happened? Wasn't I dead?" Shi Mo wondered in confusion.
Then the stone pillar trembled once more, and a wave of intangible information flooded into Shi Mo's consciousness.
"A stone pillar formed from the spiritual bone of a Chaos God-Demon who perished... I've transmigrated to the Primordial World, and inherited the legacy of a Chaos God-Demon?"
Realizing what had happened, Shi Mo couldn't help feeling conflicted.
Being reborn in this way after death was certainly cause for joy, but Shi Mo would never see his family and friends again. As he grieved their loss, the thought that this was the Primordial World filled him with anticipation and curiosity about the future, along with a measure of unease.
"In the Primordial World, powerful beings are everywhere, and cultivators are as common as dogs. I wonder what era it is now. I'm still just a stone. Who knows when I'll be able to take human form," Shi Mo thought.
"Fortunately, my true form was created from the spiritual bone of a Chaos God-Demon. My origins are extraordinary, and I've inherited that Chaos God-Demon's legacy, so my starting point isn't bad."
"Right now, the most urgent thing is to take human form as soon as possible." Shi Mo didn't want his consciousness trapped in a stone forever.
As for a cultivation method, this stone pillar had not only been formed from the spiritual bone of a Chaos God-Demon, but also contained that Chaos God-Demon's cultivation method and insights into the Great Dao.
"This cultivation method doesn't seem very complicated. I just absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, temper my body with the power of the earth's veins, and refine my soul."
After pondering the Chaos God-Demon's cultivation method, Shi Mo felt reassured. He had feared that it might be so complex and profound that he wouldn't understand it.
"As expected of a Chaos God-Demon's cultivation method. This technique seems to temper the body as well." Thinking this, Shi Mo immediately focused and tried to cultivate.
As Shi Mo circulated the cultivation method, the jade veins connected to his jade body inside the stone pillar began absorbing the rich, pure spiritual energy of the earth's veins at a dramatically increased speed, like pipes drawing in water.
As the spiritual energy of the earth's veins surged through them, mysterious vein-like patterns gradually appeared within the jade encased in the stone pillar.
"These are... Chaos Divine Patterns?" A sudden flash of insight immediately told Shi Mo what the patterns were.
Chaos Divine Patterns were the outward manifestation of the mysteries of the Great Dao's laws, and the foundation from which the various talismans and written characters of the later Primordial World would evolve.
As the Chaos Divine Patterns appeared, the spiritual energy of the earth's veins seemed to boil. Passing through the web-like patterns, it grew purer and even somewhat violent.
The violent spiritual energy tempered the jade, making it increasingly clear and lustrous. Then the energy that seeped out caused the stone layer surrounding the jade to shimmer faintly with flowing light.
As Shi Mo's jade body was continuously tempered, his soul and consciousness also grew more concentrated and powerful.
Time flew by during cultivation, and it was difficult to tell the years apart.
Immersed in cultivation, Shi Mo had no idea how long he had been at it when suddenly the darkness before him brightened. A pair of gleaming eyes had appeared on the stone pillar.
"I finally cultivated the eye orifices. I'm not stumbling around in the dark anymore." The ability to see filled Shi Mo with delight and excitement.
At the same time, Shi Mo could finally see the inside of the cave. Through the hazy mist, he could make out a few beautiful jade ores embedded in the walls of the spacious cavern.
In a corner of the cave lay a pool shrouded in icy mist. A crystal-clear Ice Lotus grew within it, its flower still closed as it shimmered with an uncanny light amid the cold fog.
Shi Mo also noticed a dark red spiritual pearl floating above the stone pillar.
The dark red pearl radiated a rich, mysterious aura, causing the surrounding space to ripple and warp faintly. The hazy, mist-like energy could not get anywhere near it.
"What a powerful, mysterious aura. Could this spiritual pearl be an Innate Spiritual Treasure? And that Ice Lotus growing in the cold pool—could it be an innate spiritual root? Even if it isn't, it must be a rare and precious innate spiritual plant treasure."
Shi Mo gazed intently at the dark red spiritual pearl and the Ice Lotus.
The dark red spiritual pearl treasure was practically Shi Mo's bonded treasure.
And this cave was where Shi Mo had been born; it was his territory. Naturally, all the spiritual materials and treasures nurtured here belonged to him.
At the thought, excitement welled up in Shi Mo. Two beams of light burst from his eyes as his invisible soul power followed his gaze to the dark red pearl.
Buzz. The dark red pearl hummed and trembled. Shi Mo's soul power met little resistance as it entered the pearl, and a wave of mysterious energy and information flooded into his consciousness.
"A top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Wind-Fixing Pearl? Isn't this the treasure of True Person Du'e of West Kunlun? Could this be the Eight Treasures Cloud Light Cave on Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain? After my true form, this stone pillar, takes human form, will I become True Person Du'e?" Shi Mo was both delighted and surprised.
Although Investiture of the Gods had mentioned that True Person Du'e of West Kunlun possessed the Wind-Fixing Pearl as the treasure protecting his cave, and that it could prevent the use of any Five-Element Daoist arts or flying techniques across a vast area, Shi Mo had never imagined it was a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure.
One had to know that, apart from the handful of Innate Treasures in the Primordial World, top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures were already the highest-tier treasures. They were just as rare.
Among the most famous were the Innate Five-Element Banners, the Twelfth-Rank Lotus Throne, the Three Books of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, the Landscape and Society Map, the River Diagram and Luo Writing, the Golden Bushel of Primordial Unity, and the Sea-Calming Divine Pearls. Every one of them possessed mighty power and wondrous abilities.
The most famous beings with top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures as their bonded treasures were Di Jun, Ancestor Minghe, and Zhen Yuanzi.
Those who possessed top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures were all renowned figures in the Primordial World. Among them were more than a few Quasi-Sage powers and even Saints.
"With origins like mine and a bonded treasure like the Wind-Fixing Pearl, even if I can't obtain Primordial Purple Qi and become a Saint, becoming a Quasi-Sage should be no problem, right?" Shi Mo was filled with anticipation.
"Quasi-Sage powers are revered as patriarchs and Dao Ancestors, whether in the Eastern Daoist Sect or the Western Buddhist Sect."
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