In the Primordial World, Innate Spiritual Treasures were neither especially plentiful nor especially rare.
Some Innate Spiritual Treasures were born of heaven and earth, nurtured by the Heavenly Dao. Others had evolved from fragments of Chaos Spirit Treasures.
The Taiji Diagram, Pangu Banner, and Chaos Bell, for instance, had all come from the shattered Heaven-Opening Axe.
Every Innate Spiritual Treasure had an extraordinary origin.
Such treasures possessed powers from the moment they came into being, so countless cultivators sought them out. And because Corpse Severing required an Innate Spiritual Treasure, their value climbed even higher.
That made them incredibly precious. For an ordinary person, obtaining even one was a tremendous stroke of fortune.
Yet whoever obtained an Innate Spiritual Treasure did the same thing first: erase its Artifact Spirit.
An Artifact Spirit was the treasure's Sentience. With Sentience, an Innate Spiritual Treasure had a chance of achieving Transformation. Difficult as that was, treasures that had transformed did exist.
And once an Innate Spiritual Treasure transformed, its aptitude was certain to be exceptional.
Every Innate Spiritual Treasure hoped to transform someday, however slim the chance. But once it was discovered and refined, that chance vanished.
That set the Artifact Spirit and the person refining it against each other.
The Artifact Spirit did not want to be refined and saw that person as an enemy. The cultivator valued the treasure and wanted its help in battle, but how could they feel at ease with an enemy living inside it?
They were enemies, plain and simple. The cultivator had to erase the Artifact Spirit to use the treasure without fear. The Artifact Spirit had to resist if it wanted to transform.
As a result, every cultivator in the Primordial World knew what to do upon obtaining a Spirit Treasure: check for an Artifact