"As for why this Life-Bound Feather was hidden deep inside a Chaos Stone, I can think of two possibilities.
"One is that its owner deliberately hid it inside the Chaos Stone for some special reason. After all, Chaos Stones naturally block all detection through secret arts and divine sense. Unless the stone is opened, no one can find what is inside.
"There have been quite a few cases of high-level cultivators deliberately hiding treasures inside Chaos Stones.
"The other is that the feather's owner has already perished, but the feather developed a trace of sentience. Thus, the spiritual object concealed its own brilliance and burrowed into the Chaos Stone of its own accord," the white-haired elder concluded.
"A spiritual object concealing its own brilliance! Could this be a Spirit Treasure that has developed independent sentience?" Yan Lingxiang's expression changed dramatically at those words.
"A Spirit Treasure? That is hardly possible.
"By sentience, I merely mean that this Life-Bound Feather originally came from a demonic bird's own plumage. After being carefully nurtured, it might have developed the tiniest trace of awareness. Even without anyone controlling it, it would instinctively evade danger and hide itself. That is still a far cry from giving birth to an artifact spirit.
"If it truly were a Spirit Treasure that had developed independent sentience and formed an artifact spirit, it would already be able to control itself, roam heaven and earth, and even unleash most of its power independently. It could practically be regarded as an incarnation of its owner. Why would it obediently hide in a Chaos Stone, remaining utterly unmoved while we cut the stone open?" the white-haired elder explained, shaking his head.
"So that's how it is." Only then did Yan Lingxiang understand.
"But I heard that only Third-Tier Magical Artifacts can be