Three Spiritual Treasures

After taking control of the Fire Cloud Grotto-Heaven, Red Cloud became aware of every blessed place of creation nurtured within it.

What Red Cloud had not expected was that three places within the Fire Cloud Grotto-Heaven actually possessed innate spiritual opportunities, situated at the Heaven, Earth, and Human positions of the Three Talents.

Borrowing the authority of the Fire Cloud Cave's master, Red Cloud willed it and arrived at the Human Talent position of the Fire Cloud Cave.

The Human Talent position of the Fire Cloud Cave was a spiritual stream.

Red Cloud beckoned toward the spiritual stream, and a streak of light flew out, hovering before him.

It was a white jade-bottle-shaped spiritual treasure, its body radiating a dazzling, sacred white glow.

Red Cloud plucked the spiritual treasure down and discovered some spiritual liquid within the jade bottle, giving off waves of delicate fragrance.

"What spiritual treasure is this?!"

Finding it wondrous, Red Cloud sat cross-legged and began refining the spiritual treasure. A thread of true fire fell upon the bottle.

Refined by the true fire, the jade bottle spun without pause as Red Cloud's Primordial Spirit gradually imprinted itself upon it.

A thousand years passed like this. Red Cloud opened his eyes, having initially refined the spiritual treasure.

"A Lesser-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Jade Dew Bottle!"

The Jade Dew Bottle possessed twelve Innate Restrictions, making it a top-tier treasure among Lesser-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.

Innate Restrictions: Lesser-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures (1–12 restrictions), Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures (13–24 restrictions), Superior-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures (25–36 restrictions).

Supreme-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures (37–48 restrictions), Innate Supreme Treasures (49 restrictions).

The Great Dao was fifty, while Heaven derived forty-nine. Within the Primordial World, forty-nine Innate Restrictions were the limit.

The Jade Dew Bottle contained the Water Law and Life Law. It was an auxiliary spiritual treasure that condensed one drop of Jade Dew every hundred years. This Jade Dew possessed miraculous healing effects.

Though Jade Dew could not compare to the wonders of Three Lights Divine Water, its effects were still extraordinary. Used on mortals, a single drop could revive the dead and regrow flesh upon white bones.

Used on immortals, so long as there was enough Jade Dew, even a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal could undergo nirvana and be reborn.

"Haha, what a fine treasure!"

Red Cloud was overjoyed. The Jade Dew accumulated within the Jade Dew Bottle was enough to restore a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal.

Having obtained the Jade Dew Bottle, Red Cloud willed it and left the Human Talent position of the Fire Cloud Cave. When he appeared again, he had arrived at its Earth Talent position.

The Earth Talent position of the Fire Cloud Cave was a volcano.

Within the volcano, Red Cloud found a Lesser-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure called the Firecloud Banner.

The Firecloud Banner also possessed twelve Innate Restrictions and contained the Fire Law, allowing it to control all fires under heaven.

Red Cloud drew the Firecloud Banner into his body and branded it with his Primordial Spirit before heading to the Heaven Talent position of the Fire Cloud Cave.

The Heaven Talent position of the Fire Cloud Cave was a stretch of rain clouds.

At the center of the rain clouds stood an immortal island, and upon that island lay a crystalline green lake.

The lake was formed from liquefied spiritual energy. Red Cloud sensed a dense vitality of wood within it.

Within the lake of spiritual liquid, Red Cloud found a Lesser-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure called the Yi-Wood Pot.

The Yi-Wood Pot also possessed twelve Innate Restrictions and contained the Wood Law. Its function was to transform ordinary spiritual water into Yi-Wood Divine Water, accelerating the growth of spiritual roots.

"Even the Fire Cloud Cave has nurtured three Lesser-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures. I wonder what sort of creations the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, Thirty-Six Lesser Grotto-Heavens, and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands possess?"

Red Cloud could not help but sigh inwardly.

Innate Spiritual Treasures in the Primordial World were finite in number and extremely difficult to increase. Ordinary people would be fortunate to obtain even one.

Under the Heavenly Dao, there were nine ordained Innate Supreme Treasures, three times nine—twenty-seven—Supreme-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures, and five times nine—forty-five—Superior-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.

There were also seven times nine—sixty-three—Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures, and nine times nine—eighty-one—Lesser-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.

To break this fixed number, there was only one spiritual treasure: the Heaven-Earth Cauldron among the Innate Supreme Treasures.

The Heaven-Earth Cauldron had transformed from the lotus pod of the Primordial Green Lotus. It could refine the grade of spiritual treasures and transform acquired treasures into innate ones, and it could also serve as a supreme defensive treasure.

Yet the Heaven-Earth Cauldron could not casually refine Innate Spiritual Treasures. It required the refiner's merit and fortune, and the treasures it refined were not included in the ordained numbers.

Innate Spiritual Treasures within the ordained numbers could connect with their corresponding laws between heaven and earth. Cultivators could use them for comprehension, gaining twice the result with half the effort in their understanding of laws.

Innate Spiritual Treasures refined by the Heaven-Earth Cauldron, however, could not connect with corresponding laws between heaven and earth and could not assist cultivation, though their other functions were no different.

Thus, Red Cloud finding three Innate Spiritual Treasures within the Fire Cloud Cave absolutely counted as fortune of great depth.

Beyond these three Innate Spiritual Treasures, the Fire Cloud Cave also contained abundant materials for pill refinement and artifact forging, acquired spiritual fungi and herbs, as well as no shortage of rare birds and exotic beasts.

After all, these were the resources of an entire Dimensional World.

Afterward, Red Cloud began searching throughout the Fire Cloud Cave for materials, preparing to construct a cluster of palaces and set down a grand mountain-guarding formation, forging the place into walls of bronze and ramparts of iron.

Red Cloud began with the smaller details, gathering Jade Purple Gold, Immortal Gold True Iron, Firecloud Copper Mother, strange crystals, and exotic stones to refine into palace-shaped formation foundations.

Because the materials were not of particularly high grade, the palaces Red Cloud initially refined were likewise not high-grade. Most were Superior-grade Dharma Artifacts, with only a few Supreme-grade Dharma Artifacts.

Magical treasures in the Primordial World were divided into spiritual treasures and dharma artifacts. Beneath dharma artifacts were ordinary weapons that did not enter the ranks.

Dharma artifacts and weapons were both refined after the world's creation.

Spiritual treasures included Innate Spiritual Treasures and Acquired Spiritual Treasures, as well as a category called Merit Spiritual Treasures. Merit Spiritual Treasures were generally Acquired Spiritual Treasures as well. The most famous Merit Spiritual Treasures were likely the Heaven-Measuring Ruler of Primordial Chaos and the Heaven-Earth Profound Yellow Exquisite Pagoda.

Every Merit Spiritual Treasure bore a share of fortune. The Heaven-Measuring Ruler of Primordial Chaos and the Heaven-Earth Profound Yellow Exquisite Pagoda bore the fortune of the world's opening, while the Illustrated Record of Literary Fortune bore the fortune of the Literary Dao.

Only after bearing a certain kind of fortune could an Acquired Spiritual Treasure possibly contain merit and become a Merit Spiritual Treasure. That was why Merit Spiritual Treasures were so rare.

If it bore no particular fortune, a spiritual treasure would only absorb merit to strengthen itself, advancing from a lesser-grade spiritual treasure to a mid-grade one, then from mid-grade to superior-grade.

In such a case, the merit was consumed. Without merit remaining, how could it be called a Merit Spiritual Treasure?

Every Merit Spiritual Treasure was something one could encounter but never seek, and Merit Spiritual Treasures could also absorb merit to advance in grade. In theory, all could advance into Merit Supreme Treasures.

The Primordial World did not count years, and in the blink of an eye, seas had turned to mulberry fields.

Red Cloud refined magical treasures in the Fire Cloud Cave for a hundred thousand years, and his artifact-forging skill continuously improved.

From Superior-grade Dharma Artifacts at the beginning, to Supreme-grade Dharma Artifacts later, and then to Lesser-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasures.

Had this incarnation's cultivation not been too low, Red Cloud might have been able to refine Mid-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasures.

When this round of artifact forging ended, palaces of all shapes and styles lay scattered around Red Cloud.

Those palaces were no larger than stools, yet every one shimmered with flowing light, overflowed with treasure radiance, and brimmed with spiritual energy.

Red Cloud counted carefully. There were more than three thousand Superior-grade Dharma Artifacts, three hundred and sixty-five Supreme-grade Dharma Artifacts, and seven times seven—forty-nine—Lesser-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasures.

Looking at these palace-shaped spiritual treasures and dharma artifacts, Red Cloud swept out his hand, sending streak after streak of light toward every corner of the Fire Cloud Cave.

Palaces descended into the sky, onto the earth, upon rivers, across oceans, and over islands...

Each time a palace descended, a pillar of light reaching the heavens rose up and directly merged into the entire Fire Cloud Cave.

"Four Symbols Formation, rise!"

Once every palace had fallen into place, Red Cloud formed hand seals and shouted sharply. All the palaces trembled in unison.

The next instant, manifestations of earth, water, wind, and fire rose in the four directions of the Fire Cloud Cave. A Qilin emerged from the earth manifestation, a Divine Dragon soared from the water manifestation, a White Tiger leaped from the wind manifestation, and a Vermilion Bird flew from the fire manifestation.