Each Had Its Use, Each Had Its Strength

Outside the Inner World, the Three Talents Divine Lamps would fall straight from the pedestal of Innate Spiritual Treasures and become Acquired Spiritual Treasures. Their power would also drop sharply.

That was because the Three Talents Divine Lamps were so powerful in the Inner World only because Dao Xuan had given them special privileges and the Heavenly Dao's blessing.

Outside, without the blessing of the Inner World's Heavenly Dao, their power would naturally plummet.

But Dao Xuan had never intended to take the Three Talents Divine Lamps outside. When he made them, he had pushed their powers as far as possible.

Beyond its powers of Reincarnation and Creation, the Dark Profound Soul-Delivering Lamp's core ability was to seize an enemy's soul. It could also repair damage to its wielder's soul and use the essence of other people's souls to cultivate and strengthen it.

Next came the second lamp, a yellow one. It was the Earthly Talent Divine Lamp. Unlike the Primordial World's Eight-Scenery Palace Lamp, Dao Xuan had named it the Kun Origin Thick Earth Lamp.

This lamp's uses were much more focused, chiefly on the earth. It could consolidate the foundations of ley lines, shape mountains and rivers, and hasten the birth of rare treasures and precious spiritual roots.

It could also guide the circulation of spiritual energy through the ley lines, counter the backlash of earth energy and the spatial tremors caused by the opening of heaven and earth, and stabilize the world's territory.

In addition, the lamp could refine away acquired impurities and turn ordinary materials into spiritual-treasure blanks. In that respect, it was a weaker version of the Qiankun Cauldron.

As the Inner World grew more complete and the lamp improved further, it was not impossible that it might one day gain the Qiankun Cauldron's ability to reverse the acquired into the innate and refine Innate Spiritual Treasures.

As the Inner World continued to develop, Dao Xuan had come to identify more and more with his role as its creator.

The first thing a world's creator had to learn was how to give himself an unfair advantage.

And these three divine lamps were Dao Xuan's boldest attempt yet.

If it worked, the Inner World's development would soar to an astonishing pace.

After all, setting everything else aside, if Dao Xuan did not interfere, anyone who obtained even one of the three divine lamps could hammer the Four Divine Beasts into the ground.

All four, mind you, not just one of them. That showed just how outrageous an advantage Dao Xuan had given the lamps.

Of course, the Four Divine Beasts were the only living beings in the Inner World. There was not another soul there.

So Dao Xuan was still the only one who could use the three divine lamps.

That left the final lamp, an azure one: the Heavenly Talent Divine Lamp. To distinguish it from the Primordial World's Glazed Lamp, Dao Xuan had named it the Azure Void Heaven-Opening Lamp.

Its powers were just as extraordinary as those of the first two. For one thing, the Azure Void Heaven-Opening Lamp could illuminate the paths of the Heavenly Dao's laws, allowing its wielder to deduce the principles of opening heaven, space, and the separation of the clear and the turbid. It could pierce all illusions.

It could also hold up the Inner World's sky, establish the divide between clear heaven and turbid earth, and bring forth the stars, clouds, and weather of the four seasons.

Finally, the lamp could burn away sinister forces within the Primordial Spirit and expose invisibility, concealment, and transformation arts. It was especially effective against unorthodox techniques.

The Azure Void Heaven-Opening Lamp, the Kun Origin Thick Earth Lamp, and the Dark Profound Soul-Delivering Lamp were the Inner World's Three Talents Divine Lamps of heaven, earth, and humanity.

Dao Xuan gazed at the three lamps, thoroughly pleased. He looked at them as though they were the most beautiful works of art in the world. Every part of them filled him with pride.

Then Dao Xuan waved his hand, and the three divine lamps flew toward the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane.

Arrayed around the entire Inner World, they formed the configuration of the Three Talents. Each lamp poured forth flame. In an instant, boundless fire swept toward the Chaotic Void beyond the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane.

Dao Xuan had made the Three Talents Divine Lamps to carve open the Chaos and refine the void, driving the Inner World's continued expansion.

Dao Xuan had already used the Four Symbols Laws to awaken the Four Divine Beasts. Yet useful as they were, he had discovered a drawback after relying on them for so long.

Though they had been formed from laws, they were living beings too. As their intelligence grew, they showed more and more traits of living beings.

And as living beings, though they were utterly loyal to Dao Xuan and would carry out any order he gave, after carving open the Chaos for so long, they could hardly avoid feeling tired, lonely, and weary.

Dao Xuan saw all of it, but he did not interfere much.

He knew it was inevitable. One day, the Four Divine Beasts would become living beings in the fullest sense.

Of course, Dao Xuan could have forcibly stopped it. He could have erased their minds or even returned them to the laws of heaven and earth.

But he had long since come to regard them as his children. Naturally, he could not bear to do that.

Besides, their gradual transformation into living beings had benefits of its own, so Dao Xuan let them be.

To replace them in the task of carving open the Chaos, however, Dao Xuan had devised this method.

He had created the Three Divine Lamps.

Living beings might slack off, but spiritual treasures would not!

Rumble!

The three divine lamps spewed flame without pause, breaking open the Chaos, separating the clear from the turbid, refining Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, and expanding the Inner World.

The Four Divine Beasts saw it too, and each of them froze in surprise.

Panic seized them all.

Had these three lamps been created to steal their credit?

"Roar!"

The Azure Dragon, which was forever coiled around the World Tree, drawing in Innate Jia Wood Essence, was the first to come to its senses. With a roar, it hurried to the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane and joined the work of the Creation of Heaven and Earth.

The Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise soon came to their senses as well. They could not afford to lose their secure positions!

Now was the time to prove their worth to Father God, the creator.

Dao Xuan could not help smiling at the way the Four Divine Beasts vied to show what they could do. He did not stop them.

Useful as the Three Divine Lamps were, they had drawbacks of their own.

They were inanimate objects, after all, and could not match the Four Divine Beasts' flexibility. The lamps could carve out new territory and keep pushing the Inner World outward.

But unlike the Four Divine Beasts, they could not further reshape the territory they opened.

That was one reason Dao Xuan had kept the Four Divine Beasts.

In short, spiritual treasures had their strengths, and divine beasts had their uses. The two complemented each other.

Watching the three divine lamps and Four Divine Beasts "work hard," Dao Xuan was pleased indeed.

The Inner World was developing faster than before. At this rate, he feared it would not be long before he advanced another step as a Primordial Origin Golden Immortal.

After watching a while longer, Dao Xuan finally left the Inner World.