Nine-Dragon Treasure Staff, Candle Dragon's Strike

Roar!

A desolate dragon's roar rang through Lingxiao Palace, causing the Dao rhythms of sun and moon within the hall to ripple faintly.

The treasure staff was taken from its brocade case and lengthened with the wind to over ten feet, hanging steadily in midair.

The staff was ancient and weighty, entirely a profound black hue of Chaos, as though it had absorbed the gloom of the primordial deep sea. Dragon patterns that seemed neither metal nor jade flowed naturally across it, every line containing the dragon script Dao rhythm of the Dragon Clan's inheritance. A faint primordial dragon's might radiated outward, freezing even the air in the hall for several moments;

At its head were carvings of nine primordial True Dragons coiling around one another. Each dragon assumed a different posture: some threw back their heads in long roars, swallowing clouds and spitting mist; others lay dormant, suppressing the abyss, immovable as mountains. Their scales and claws were sharply defined, vivid enough to seem ready to burst from the staff the next instant;

The staff itself was engraved with the courses of the Four Seas' waterways. When held in hand, the faint sounds of dragons roaring over the vast sea and surging tides would linger by one's ears, carrying an innate, supreme majesty.

"This is... a Supreme-Grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure?" Xihe swept it with her divine sense and clearly sensed the forty-eight Acquired Treasure Restrictions coiled within its body. A trace of surprise appeared on her cool, jade-like face.

In the Primordial World, the grade of a treasure was determined chiefly by the number of restrictions it possessed, and its power was largely tied to this as well:

One to twelve restrictions made it a Low-Grade Spiritual Treasure,

Thirteen to twenty-four made it a Mid-Grade Spiritual Treasure,

Twenty-five to thirty-six made it an Upper-Grade Spiritual Treasure,

Thirty-seven to forty-eight made it a Supreme-Grade Spiritual Treasure,

Anything beyond that entered the ranks of Supreme Treasures.

Most believed that Innate Spiritual Treasures were absolutely stronger than acquired ones, but that was not entirely true—the weight carried by the number of Treasure Restrictions far surpassed the difference in the type of restrictions.

A Supreme-Grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure like this one, possessing forty-eight complete Treasure Restrictions, was not merely no weaker in actual power than an ordinary Upper-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure; in certain aspects, it was even superior.

"This is the Nine-Dragon Treasure Staff, one of the Dragon Clan's foundations. Yet in accepting it this time, I have instead incurred a debt of goodwill to Fellow Daoist Candle Dragon." Lingxiao held the treasure staff, his expression somewhat wistful.

"Eh? Husband, is this treasure really that special?" Changxi widened her almond-shaped eyes, her little face full of confusion. "It is only a Supreme-Grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure. Why would it make you feel that you owe such goodwill?"

Xihe nodded faintly as well, her eyes filled with puzzlement.

When the two sisters had taken form, each had been accompanied by a Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure. Even an Upper-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure such as the Twelve Moon Pearls had been something Xihe could give away without a moment's hesitation.

What was more, Lingxiao, the sole Golden Crow born from the Sun Star, possessed not only the set of Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasures, the River Map and Luo Script, but also the Innate Supreme Treasure, the Chaos Bell.

To starry-sky sovereigns like them, blessed with such profound fortune, a Supreme-Grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure was not worthless, but it was far from precious.

"This treasure is indeed extraordinary. It was personally forged by Ancestral Dragon." Lingxiao nodded slightly, his fingertips brushing over the nine-dragon relief at the staff's head as he slowly recounted its origins:

It turned out that after the Nine Dragon Sons were born, but before the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity fully erupted, Ancestral Dragon foresaw the imminent war among the three clans. To stabilize the Dragon Clan's fortune and protect his nine descendants, he joined Candle Dragon, Azure Dragon, and seven other Dragon Clan ancestors. The nine mighty beings worked together to refine this treasure.

Using Chaos Meteoric Iron as the staff's foundation, they fused in a segment of the Chaos Demon Dragon's finger bone, Four Seas Primordial Dragon Crystal, and a drop of each of the nine ancestors' vital blood essence. Gathering the dragon qi of the Four Seas, they spent one hundred and eight Yuanhuis forging it together.

When it was first completed, the treasure bore eighty-one True Dragon carvings and forty-nine Acquired Treasure Restrictions. It was a genuine Acquired Supreme Treasure.

Later, Ancestral Dragon divided it into nine. Though its grade fell, each staff still held forty-eight Treasure Restrictions and nine dragon-pattern carvings. He bestowed them upon the Nine Dragon Sons for protection, and thus they came to be known as the Nine-Dragon Treasure Staff.

"The greatest value of this treasure does not lie in slaughter or battle." Lingxiao's tone turned grave. "Within every Nine-Dragon Treasure Staff is sealed one attack from a Dragon Clan ancestor, along with the combined power of eight Dragon Clan Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals."

"Though it is not a full-force strike at their peak, it has genuinely reached the level of a Primordial Golden Immortal. More importantly, it is not a one-use treasure. After it is used, it can replenish its power on its own after eighty-one Yuanhuis of absorbing the dragon qi of the Four Seas."

"If the materials required to forge it had not been too rare, and if nine Dragon Clan ancestors had not needed to expend their vital blood essence to create it, then had the Dragon Clan been able to forge several more of these staffs back then, the outcome of the great war among the Dragon-Han Three Clans might have been completely rewritten."

At this point, Lingxiao's gratitude toward Candle Dragon deepened even further.

He had always treated others kindly and had never formed grudges with any Great Supernatural Being. Yet the Primordial World was dangerous and the human heart unfathomable; one could sit quietly at home, only for disaster to fall from the heavens.

With Lingxiao's current Late-Stage Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal Realm cultivation, along with the foundation of his innate origin and treasures, he had no rival among Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals across the Primordial World. But should he encounter those reclusive old monsters in the Primordial Golden Immortal Realm, he would be in danger.

Now that he had this Nine-Dragon Treasure Staff, it was equivalent to gaining another trump card for preserving his life.

Even if he encountered a true Primordial Golden Immortal, he could catch them off guard, make them suffer a crushing loss, and buy himself a chance to escape.

There were differences even among Primordial Golden Immortals.

What was sealed within this staff was precisely a strike from the Dragon Clan's second strongest expert, Ancestor Candle Dragon, second only to Ancestral Dragon!

—With any other treasure, Lingxiao might have declined once or twice. But when it concerned a trump card tied to his very life, he did not stand on ceremony with Candle Dragon. He merely etched this weighty favor silently into his heart.

It could be said that, to the current Lingxiao, he would never agree to exchange this Nine-Dragon Treasure Staff even for a Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure.

—A Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure might be powerful, but the gap in cultivation was there for all to see. It could not provide a tangible advantage in preserving his life. Only this Nine-Dragon Treasure Staff, capable of unleashing an attack at the Primordial Golden Immortal level, was the true foundation upon which he could stand and survive at this stage.

"Hiss! It actually has such heaven-defying effects!"

"So that is how it is. Then we truly must properly thank Fellow Daoist Candle Dragon this time."

After hearing this, Xihe and Changxi both sucked in a breath of cold air and could not help crying out sweetly.

After the Dragon-Han Calamity, the Dragon Clan had declined. Even with an ancient mighty being such as Candle Dragon supporting them, Karmic Power had caused each generation to be weaker than the last. Not only was Ancestral Dragon suppressing the East Sea Eye, but the Nine Dragon Sons and the other surviving ancestors were no better off and could not act lightly.

Under such circumstances, the importance of the Nine-Dragon Treasure Staff to the Dragon Clan was plain to see.

There had only ever been nine staffs in the entire clan. After passing through the Dragon-Han Tribulation, no one could say how many remained.

For Candle Dragon to privately gift such a heavy treasure to Lingxiao, the depth of this friendship could not be overstated.

Adding flowers to brocade was easy; sending charcoal amid snow was hard.

"Indeed." Lingxiao agreed deeply. In his mind, the reminder that Ancestor Candle Dragon had secretly transmitted to him from a corner on the day of his grand wedding surfaced once more.

That ancient mighty being, who had experienced the Dragon-Han Calamity and witnessed Devil Ancestor Rahu's schemes, had earnestly warned him, "Fellow Daoist Lingxiao, after the Dragon-Han Tribulation, the Primordial World appears peaceful, but undercurrents are surging beneath the surface. Some Great Supernatural Beings wish to befriend you, but there are naturally also those dark-hearted people who covet the origin of your Sun Star sovereign. They wish to control you, even extract your soul and refine your spirit, crack your bones and suck your marrow, devouring you clean."

"Those mighty beings of unorthodox paths specialize in harming others for their own gain. One must never be without vigilance."

It was precisely because he had personally witnessed the tragic sight of the three clans being schemed against by Rahu until they nearly perished that Candle Dragon was unwilling to see Lingxiao, who was friendly with him and pure of temperament, suffer such a calamity as well.

Tap.

After his reflections, Lingxiao forced out a drop of vital blood essence from his fingertip and let it fall upon the treasure staff.

Buzz.

The blood essence instantly sank into the staff. All forty-eight Acquired Treasure Restrictions lit up with golden radiance at once, forming a wondrous connection with Lingxiao's Primordial Spirit.

—This treasure did not require the Treasure Restrictions to be refined one by one. So long as one received Candle Dragon's recognition and acknowledged it as master with a drop of blood, one could activate that Primordial Golden Immortal strike at any time.

Lingxiao stored it deep within the Consciousness Sea of his Niwan Palace, nourishing it with his divine sense for any unforeseen need.

"There are still more than a hundred thousand years until the Dao Ancestor's second sermon, so there is no need to rush there." After putting away the treasure staff, Lingxiao smiled at the two women. "The first time we went to Violet Firmament Palace, we had to slowly seek the guidance of heavenly secrets. Now, I have already memorized Violet Firmament Palace's spatial coordinates. When the time comes, we can head straight there without delay."

With that, he took a cup of Dongting Biluochun and slowly drank it, immediately feeling his spiritual platform become several degrees clearer.

He then took out the Starry Sky Gourd. Within it, a miniature Cosmic Starry Sky had long since been opened. The one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred Stellar Fruit had transformed into twinkling stars, their star power circulating without end.

Whoosh!

A flash of inspiration struck Lingxiao. With a thought, a brilliant golden rainbow flew from the Consciousness Sea between his brows—it was the Sun God Sword. It immediately turned into a streak of light and entered the gourd, its hilt transforming into the gourd's stopper, fitting it with flawless precision.