Wuyi Mountain, Treasure-Seizing Coin

"Another drop of Origin Essence had been completed."

Lu Chen poured the newly refined Origin Essence into his mouth and refined it in an instant. His comprehension of the Devouring Law within his Primordial Spirit deepened by another measure.

"The reserves accumulated over these years have been exhausted. It is time to go out and search again."

Lu Chen absorbed all the new insights in his mind, then let out a faint sigh. He transformed into a streak of inky immortal light and flew from his cave abode.

"Where should my first stop be... Wuyi Mountain, perhaps. The tea there is good. Suddenly, I feel like drinking tea."

Lu Chen flew toward Wuyi Mountain.

Over the years, he had traveled across the great and small mountains and rivers of the Primordial World, and had long committed every immortal mountain to memory.

Wuyi Mountain stretched on in rolling ridges, its highest peak meeting the sea of clouds.

The entire mountain was lush and verdant, exuding a faint fragrance of tea leaves.

A streak of dim light flew into Wuyi Mountain.

"I could not drink this Big Red Robe in my previous life. In this life, I ought to savor it properly."

Lu Chen stood before a tea tree, set out a small table and tea set, then sat cross-legged beneath the tree. He casually plucked a few tea leaves and simmered them over a gentle flame.

He had fashioned all these things as little trinkets whenever he had nothing better to do.

Before long, a wisp of delicate fragrance drifted from the teapot, its aroma spreading in all directions.

"If there were no Investiture Catastrophe, how wonderful would that be? At a time like this, I could bring the Big Red Robe tea tree to Wuzhuang Temple, sit with Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun, eat Ginseng Fruit, taste Big Red Robe, and laugh as we spoke of the shifting winds and clouds of the world."

After taking two small cups, Lu Chen set down his teacup and murmured.

"With an innate grand formation concealing it, is it still not time for it to be born?"

"But since it has already taken shape, let it emerge ahead of time."

He rose to his feet and took a single step. Space trembled, sending ripples rolling outward.

Now that Lu Chen was a Primordial Golden Immortal, although he had not comprehended the Law of Space, he could still use simple displacement techniques through sheer great mana.

Lu Chen arrived at an utterly empty patch of ground. After sensing it carefully, he struck out with his palm.

Crack!

A crisp shattering sound rang between heaven and earth. The next moment—

A broken grand formation appeared. Once it had completely shattered, a valley abruptly emerged from the empty clearing.

Lu Chen walked inside. In the valley was a round copper coin with a square hole, small wings growing from either side.

It seemed startled by Lu Chen, or perhaps Lu Chen was not its destined master. Flapping its small wings, it tried to fly out of the valley.

Lu Chen looked at the Treasure-Seizing Coin trying to escape. He stretched out his hand and directly seized it firmly with his great mana. Looking at the Treasure-Seizing Coin in his hand, Lu Chen murmured.

"Originally, I intended to keep you as a trump card. But since you want to run away, there is no need for you to exist."

The Treasure-Seizing Coin trembled slightly, as though it were shaking with fear.

After idly playing with it for a moment, Lu Chen summoned the Heaven-Devouring Treasure Vase and directly stuffed the Treasure-Seizing Coin inside.

Though the Treasure-Seizing Coin possessed immensely powerful functions and the might to knock down magical treasures, it was merely a top-grade innate spiritual treasure. The Heaven-Devouring Treasure Vase, meanwhile, was a Primordial Supreme Treasure, with Lu Chen assisting from the side.

The Treasure-Seizing Coin had no power to resist and was suppressed by the Heaven-Devouring Treasure Vase.

Although the Treasure-Seizing Coin was a top-grade innate spiritual treasure, rare in the Primordial World, Lu Chen did not find it a pity to send it into the Heaven-Devouring Treasure Vase. His Heaven-Devouring Treasure Vase could likewise forcibly draw in and suppress any magical treasure of a lower grade.

There was not much difference between that and the Treasure-Seizing Coin's function. After all, there were only a few Primordial Supreme Treasures in the Primordial World, and they were all held separately by the Sages.

Trying to seize treasures from Sages was impossible with the Treasure-Seizing Coin alone.

As for magical treasures in others' hands, he could suppress them all with the Heaven-Devouring Treasure Vase. In his hands, the Treasure-Seizing Coin was little more than chicken ribs—tasteless to eat, yet a pity to discard.

Having found the Treasure-Seizing Coin, Lu Chen casually tucked the Big Red Robe spiritual root into his sleeve and turned to leave Wuyi Mountain.

As for Cao Bao and Xiao Sheng, who were also on Wuyi Mountain, he paid them no heed. They had originally been nothing more than cannon fodder. They had only become famous during the Investiture Catastrophe because they possessed the Treasure-Seizing Coin and used it to knock down Zhao Gongming's Dragon-Binding Rope and twenty-four Sea-Calming Pearls.

Now that he had taken the Treasure-Seizing Coin, Cao Bao and Xiao Sheng were merely two ordinary minor immortals.

After acquiring the Treasure-Seizing Coin, Lu Chen did not hurry onward. Instead, he strolled leisurely through the sea of clouds.

The foreknowledge he possessed was more or less limited to this. As for places such as the Three Immortal Islands, without clear coordinates, he had no idea where they were specifically located.

"Immortal Elder, please wait!"

"Immortal Elder, please wait!"

Hearing the shouts from below, Lu Chen stopped.

He turned around and lowered his head, looking through the sea of clouds at the figure below.

That was not a human, but a monkey born with extraordinary features. It ran out of the forest, shouting as it chased in his direction.

"It is him. What a coincidence."

Lu Chen descended.

"What do you seek from me?"

"I want to follow at Immortal Elder's side. Please teach me immortal arts. I am very strong. So long as Immortal Elder teaches me immortal arts, I will do anything you ask."

The little monkey, with only withered leaves covering his body, immediately knelt upon seeing Lu Chen. He held up immortal peaches in both hands.

His entire figure was steeped in humility.

"His foundation is not poor, yet he is so humble."

Lu Chen looked at the little monkey kneeling before him and sighed faintly.

The little monkey was so humble only because he had six ears.

Only because Dao Ancestor Hongjun had once said, "The Dharma shall not be passed to the Six-Eared!"

That single sentence had caused the Six-Eared Macaque, one of the Four Monkeys of Chaos born from the origin of the Chaos Demon Ape, to waste away for most of his life. By the time of Journey to the West, he only possessed the same cultivation as his younger brother Sun Wukong, who had been born for barely a thousand years.

"Rise."

At those words, the Six-Eared Macaque's body trembled. He placed the immortal peaches on the ground.

He slowly climbed to his feet, said nothing, then turned away. With his head lowered, he walked step by step toward the forest, his figure full of desolation and solitude.

"Do you no longer wish to cultivate immortal arts?"

"Hm?"

The Six-Eared Macaque stiffened. His ears twitched, and he abruptly turned around. Though his divine ability allowed him to hear everything, even enabling him to sit within the forests of the Primordial World and listen to teachings from Zixiao Palace amid Chaos, at this moment he had lost confidence in the ability he relied upon to survive, terrified that he had heard wrongly.

Over the years, Lu Chen was not the first great cultivator he had encountered. Relying on his divine ability, he had taken the initiative to seek instruction from countless great cultivators. At first glance, those great cultivators had all been pleased with his aptitude, but upon seeing his six ears, their expressions changed drastically. They coldly refused him, and some even swept their sleeves and sent him flying...

At last, he had met a great cultivator who had not directly told him to get lost!

Lu Chen stood before the Six-Eared Macaque with his hands clasped behind his back, displaying the proud bearing of an immortal with transcendent grace and Daoist bones.

"I am Lu Chen, disciple of Tongtian and eldest disciple of the Jie Sect."

"Tongtian, the Jie Sect!"

He was not very familiar with Lu Chen, but he was familiar with Tongtian!

The first great cultivator of the Primordial World to prove the Dao through Primordial Unity, the one who had declared that all beings could receive teachings—once the only salvation in his eyes.

He had once tried to enter Tongtian's sect when Tongtian had opened his gates wide to accept disciples, but by the time he arrived, the disciple-acceptance ceremony had already ended.

Who would have thought that the willow would turn green in the dark, and flowers would bloom in the bright? He had actually encountered Tongtian's eldest disciple.

"I intend to accept you as my disciple. What do you say?"