Seeds of Divine Ability

Although Shen Yuan already possessed two seeds of divine ability—Pot Heaven and Swordsmanship—no one in the entire cultivation world would ever think they had too many seeds of divine ability.

What seeds of divine ability represented was far more than merely a host of profound divine arts.

From lowest to highest, divine abilities could be divided into four tiers: Transcendent, Mysterious, Earthly Fiend, and Heavenly Gang. Seeds of divine ability at each tier possessed all manner of different wondrous uses.

Beyond the abilities of the divine arts themselves, different seeds of divine ability had miraculous effects in assisting cultivation and practicing spells. Even the lowest-tier Transcendent divine abilities were no exception.

Several days ago, while Shen Yuan was cultivating the Qi Refinement Method, the Pot-Heaven Divine Ability seed had awakened and devoured a vast amount of spiritual energy.

During this process, the Pot-Heaven Divine Ability seed had not absorbed all the spiritual energy. Instead, it had fed the most refined portion back to Shen Yuan, allowing his cultivation to advance considerably overnight. This was the Pot-Heaven Divine Ability seed's effect in assisting cultivation.

The Swordsmanship divine ability seed Shen Yuan had obtained two days ago, meanwhile, remained within his spirit platform. The seed could help Shen Yuan continuously strengthen his divine sense, even allowing his Primordial Spirit to be born ahead of time and reach the realm of Primordial Spirit leaving the body.

The effects these two seeds of divine ability had on cultivation and strengthening divine sense alone were enough to drive all cultivators mad, let alone the great path to immortality represented by Earthly Fiend divine abilities.

Therefore, so long as there was an opportunity, Shen Yuan would certainly spare no effort to complete hidden achievements.

But before that, the greatest problem was still how to discover hidden achievements.

Just as the system's name implied, before Shen Yuan completed a hidden achievement, the system would not tell him whether he had come into contact with one. He had to judge that for himself.

However, from his previous two experiences, Shen Yuan had discovered something the hidden achievements had in common: they were all connected to the era of ten thousand years ago, and were events capable of causing an enormous sensation in that age.

Shen Yuan had not experienced the golden age of the cultivation world, but it was foreseeable that the changing of the Falling Cloud Sect Master and the replacement of the Candle Dragon Sword Master would both have created an immense impact in that era.

By that reasoning, the other hidden achievements would surely involve similar events.

Of course, after ten thousand years of erosion, it was almost impossible to find cultivators who had survived from that era. Even items that had endured were exceedingly rare.

Shen Yuan could not possibly explore and sift through the information left behind from ten thousand years ago by himself. He had to borrow the power of the secular world.

And the Fu family before him was the best tool Shen Yuan could find at present.

The Fu family possessed countless businesses, with influence spread across several prefectures. If the Fu family issued orders to conduct the most preliminary screening, they could eliminate a great deal of false information for Shen Yuan from the very beginning.

Moreover, the Fu family's status allowed them access to far more information than ordinary people, and information of greater value.

Thus, from every perspective, the Fu family was the best choice for cooperation.

Upon hearing this, Fu Hua, who was driving, instinctively trembled in both hands and struggled to suppress the change in his expression.

If any other member of the Fu family had heard Shen Yuan's request, they might have harbored some doubts, but they would not have thought too much of it.

But Fu Hua had long concluded that Shen Yuan was not from this era. When Shen Yuan mentioned information from ten thousand years ago, it practically confirmed Fu Hua's conjecture from the side.

"Mr. Shen came from the era ten thousand years ago?"

His heart pounded violently. Fu Hua tried hard to steady his breathing. Rather than immediately agreeing, he analyzed the matter with a grave attitude.

"Ten thousand years of history is simply too long. And now that the spiritual energy tide has returned, signs of chaos have already begun to emerge everywhere.

"Even if we search across the entire country, it will be difficult to find much information."

"You only need to search according to the requirements.

"As for whether the information is real or false, or whether it holds value, you need not concern yourselves with it."

Shen Yuan's gaze swept over the scenery rushing past beyond the window, his tone remaining calm.

Shen Yuan's assurance made Fu Hua sigh in relief, and he quickly agreed. "Yes!"

"Besides seeking information from ten thousand years ago, the Fu family must also keep watch on developments everywhere and gather all sorts of spiritual materials.

"Whether they are fragments of magical treasures and artifacts, or spiritual materials born from the spiritual energy tide, collect them as best you can."

At this, a troubled expression immediately appeared on Fu Hua's face.

Ever since the Great Xia court had gradually lifted restrictions on information concerning cultivators, all the dignitaries and wealthy magnates across Great Xia had been doing their utmost to seek out the various spiritual materials born after the spiritual energy tide.

They all believed that in the coming era of cultivation, spiritual materials would be the truly valuable core resource. Whoever controlled vast quantities of spiritual materials would gain a voice in the cultivation market.

The money they held now was nothing more than stacks of worthless paper.

Although anyone with clear eyes could see that such claims were too extreme—no matter how society changed, there would still be countless ordinary people, and even low-tier cultivators could not live without food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.

Currency might depreciate, but it would not become utterly worthless.

Yet under the fanning of interested parties, the craze for speculating in spiritual materials had swept across Great Xia and even the entire world. Everyone was waving banknotes as they rushed into this brand-new blue-ocean market.

At an auction in Magic Capital, Great Xia, last night, a piece of spiritual wood capable only of purifying the air had been sold for the astronomical price of three hundred million Xia currency.

Even an air purifier costing only a few dozen could purify the air, yet its status as a spiritual material had caused its value to soar by more than a millionfold.

This had already surpassed a simple market of supply and demand. It more closely resembled a financial market, where wealthy merchants and powerful dignitaries waving banknotes were all playing a game of pass the parcel.

Once it was revealed that certain spiritual materials could be cultivated in large quantities, no one knew how many people this massive bubble would kill when it burst.

Influenced by Old Master Fu, Fu Hua instinctively resisted entering the so-called spiritual materials market.

What was more, even if he diverted all of the Fu family's funds, they would not be able to buy more than a few spiritual materials. This made Fu Hua even more wary.

"Mr. Shen, the prices of spiritual materials are far too high right now. Powerful figures and wealthy magnates are pouring their fortunes into them, creating enormous premiums.

"If we rashly enter the market to purchase them, I fear we will lose everything!"

Sensing Fu Hua's difficulty, Shen Yuan's expression remained unchanged.

"I have already said that this is a transaction between me and your Fu family. You only need to collect them.

"I do not require particularly precious spiritual materials. Even scraps from spiritual wood or spiritual ore will do. And whatever the price I offer, you will not lose out."

Shen Yuan spoke casually, yet his words carried a confidence that disregarded all things.

Fu Hua's mouth went dry. He had adopted this attitude only to take the initiative in showing goodwill toward Shen Yuan; from the start, he had never considered seeking compensation.

Just as he was about to refuse, Shen Yuan's next words made him abandon all such thoughts.

"A storage artifact."

.