If outsiders learned that Ouyang could upgrade magical treasures with his bare hands, the other eight sacred lands would probably join forces to attack the Azure Cloud Sect just to abduct him and slice him up for research.
Ouyang also knew that he had only been able to raise this Magic Treasure to the level of a Spirit Treasure because Dongxu Zi had already reforged the paper crane. The materials he had used were surely excellent.
All Ouyang had done was draw out the materials' potential without limit, catalyzing the birth of sentience in this Magic Treasure.
It wasn't as though he could turn any scrap of paper handed to him into a Spirit Treasure.
If that were really possible, he would have long since become the richest man in the entire Cultivation World!
But even just drawing out a Spirit Treasure's materials' potential and catalyzing sentience would leave people awestruck if word of such a method got out!
Magic Artifacts, Magic Treasures, Spirit Treasures, Dao Artifacts, Dao Treasures.
These five ranks were fixed from the moment a Magic Treasure was created.
Forging any Magic Treasure required all kinds of precious heavenly materials and earthly treasures. That requirement alone stumped more than eighty percent of cultivators.
Such materials could only be encountered by chance, not sought at will. Even if someone happened to obtain one, it might not be what the Spirit Treasure they wanted to make required.
On top of that, they needed a smith with extensive knowledge of formations and forging techniques.
Not the slightest mistake could occur during the forging of a Magic Treasure. Otherwise, not only would the treasure fail to take shape, but the precious materials gathered with such difficulty would also be destroyed in an instant.
Once the treasure had been shaped, formations still had to be inscribed on the Magic Treasure.
Only then might they produce a treasure at the Magic Artifact rank.
Even a Magic Treasure at the Magic Artifact rank was already this troublesome to make. One could only imagine how much rarer Magic Treasures and Spirit Treasures were.
As for the still higher ranks of Dao Artifacts and Dao Treasures, materials were no longer the issue.
Only when a sentient Spirit Treasure could independently grasp Dao resonance would it have any chance of advancing into a Magic Artifact!
But that process could take a thousand years, or even ten thousand!
Thus, Spirit Treasures were already the highest rank of Magic Treasure that ordinary cultivators, and even sect cultivators, could ever see.
An ordinary cultivator might spend their entire life acquiring just one Magic Treasure.
It was easy to imagine how precious Spirit Treasures were!
Even in the Azure Cloud Sect, one of the Nine Great Sacred Lands, some attendant elders still lacked a suitable Spirit Treasure!
Raising a Magic Treasure to the level of a Spirit Treasure—such a heaven-defying feat was utterly unheard of in this world!
Hu Tutu gazed happily at the paper crane before her. Her very first Magic Treasure was actually a Spirit Treasure!
Hu Tutu stirred the demon essence within her to command the paper crane.
The paper crane, originally smaller than a palm, swelled in the wind, instantly becoming a great creature three meters tall and five meters long.
"Senior Brother, the little paper crane says it can fly us around! Let's hop on and go home!" Hu Tutu said happily to Ouyang as she jumped onto the crane.
"Huh? What about Junior Sister Su Ling'er?" Ouyang exclaimed in surprise, suddenly remembering Su Ling'er, the useful helper he had just finished making use of.
"Never mind Senior Sister Su. She can ride clouds herself. Maybe she's already left!" A little scheme stirred in Hu Tutu's mind, and she hurriedly spoke up.
Hmph! I don't want that big-breasted cow coming home with Senior Brother and me!
Despite Hu Tutu's words, Ouyang still sent Su Ling'er a message.
Su Ling'er replied that the peak master needed her to stay at Azure Cloud Peak, so she couldn't return with Ouyang and the others.
"Senior Brother, Master insists that I stay here to coordinate next month's Sect Grand Competition with the people of Azure Cloud Peak. It's so annoying! I haven't even played the flute for you yet!" Su Ling'er's sweet, innocent voice came through the Communication Stone, making Ouyang's heart flutter.
"It's fine, Junior Sister. You can play for me when you have time. Then you can blow mine!" Ouyang said with a wicked grin.
"You have a flute too, Senior Brother?" Su Ling'er asked in delighted surprise. She hadn't expected him to play an instrument as well. They truly were kindred spirits, ready to keep each other alive with shared drops of moisture!
She imagined becoming his Dao Companion: she would play the flute, and he would pluck the zither. They would be a match made in heaven, their strings sounding in perfect harmony.
"Hehehe!" Su Ling'er grinned lovestruck at the Communication Stone.
A junior brother nearby, who had been entranced by Su Ling'er's beauty, instantly snapped out of it. Looking at her lovestruck expression, he inwardly cried that he had been duped.
Once Hu Tutu learned that Su Ling'er wouldn't be returning to Little Mountain Peak with them, she cheered and urged Ouyang to get onto her paper crane.
Carrying the two of them, the paper crane rose unsteadily into the air, then flew toward Little Mountain Peak.
As they flew, a transparent barrier lit up around the paper crane, shielding them from the rushing wind.
Hu Tutu whooped and shouted atop the Paper Crane like a child with a new toy. But when she turned her delighted face toward Ouyang, she suddenly remembered what Dongxu Zi had told her, and her expression fell again.
Hu Tutu edged closer to Ouyang until she was nestled in his arms, then whispered, "Senior Brother, I don't want you to die!"
"???" Sitting on the paper crane, Ouyang looked utterly bewildered. Had that old bastard Dongxu Zi cursed him to die?
"Don't listen to that old geezer's nonsense! I'm alive and well!" Ouyang said irritably.
Tutu didn't answer. She merely nuzzled against Ouyang like a kitten.
Back in the rear hall, Dongxu Zi had told her a great deal about her eldest senior brother's Everlasting Lamp.
"The size of an everlasting lamp flame represents that person's vitality. We cultivators live long lives, so naturally our lamps burn brightly. But your senior brother's vitality is very weak. Though it is considerably stronger than an ordinary person's, compared with a cultivator's, it is far too weak," Dongxu Zi had said.
Only cultivators could light an Everlasting Lamp, and Ouyang had struggled greatly to light his. That also foretold that he would not advance very far in cultivation.
One could even say that no one had ever seen someone with such poor aptitude still pursue immortality.
Even a cultivator with the poorest aptitude should have no trouble reaching Core Formation.
Once they formed a golden core, they could extend their lifespan by five hundred years.
Ouyang's Everlasting Lamp burned dimly. He would probably never form a golden core in his lifetime!
Hu Tutu refused to believe it. Even facing the Sect Master of the Azure Cloud Sect, she still argued, "But Eldest Senior Brother is really strong!"
Dongxu Zi said meaningfully, "What use is strength? What reaches its zenith must decline. Even if he is powerful for a time, he will vanish within a hundred years. Can that compare to a cultivator who truly enjoys longevity?"
You were strong, very strong, but you could only live a hundred years.
After a hundred years, you would become a handful of yellow earth, and nothing would remain.
Compared with the long lifespan of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, that brilliance was merely a night-blooming flower, stunning for a fleeting instant.
The Cultivation World had never lacked geniuses. When Ouyang saw Dongxu Zi's status panel, he too had exclaimed that this man was a Child of Heaven's Will.
Name: Dongxu Zi Cultivation: Tribulation Transcendence, ninth level Root bone: 10 Charm: 10 Luck: 10 Sword Dao aptitude: 10 Exclusive skill: Immortal Bearing Evaluation: The all-rounder Sect Master of the Azure Cloud Sect
Dongxu Zi, who had become the Sect Master of one of the Nine Great Sacred Lands, had likewise been the most dazzling genius of his era!
Senior Brother, I definitely won't let you die! Hu Tutu silently vowed as she leaned against Ouyang, squinting at the sun.
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