Chapter Eleven: This Treasure is Fated to be Mine

  The next day, the three of them continued on their journey as if nothing had happened. Nuwa and Fuxi were both resolute individuals, although they had heard about the Pre-Heavenly Treasure and had a slight loss of composure, they quickly recovered. Zhuang Xiong's beating last night was mainly due to his mouth, but it also couldn't be ruled out that he was venting his accumulated anger, in short, one Pre-Heavenly Treasure wasn't enough to make the two of them hold grudges. As for Zhuang Xiong? This guy woke up from a nap and had already forgotten about it.

  The Three Clans War had just ended six thousand years ago, and for the Honghuang who calculated time with will, it was only a snap of the fingers. Although the earth was already full of life and peace, the three people did not encounter any great gods or immortals. Perhaps the great gods were still observing from afar, or perhaps they had not yet awakened from their closed cultivation that began during the Three Clans War. Thus, the only ones discussing the Tao were still just the three of them.

  This time on the road, Zhuang Xiong, who was originally the most leisurely, became the busiest one. Along the way, he either discussed Tao with Nüwa and Fuxi or busied himself with experiencing the great Tao in the Zhì Bǎo, but most of his time was spent searching for spiritual roots and rare fruits, as well as materials for magical treasures. During rest periods, he would sneak away to secretly tinker with something. On this journey, it was truly a case of "the sky is three feet high", that impoverished appearance made Nüwa and Fuxi look at him with strange eyes, but Zhuang Xiong seemed completely unaware, still frantically searching for materials, then sneaking away during rest periods to secretly tinker. Even when faced with Fuxi's provocations, he didn't respond, leaving Fuxi without someone to tease, and feeling somewhat depressed.

  All the way, Zhuang Xiong had obtained a Benming Lingbao and gained enlightenment on the Tao. This also accelerated the improvement of the three people's cultivation. Perhaps it was because they were in high spirits after encountering good fortune that they actually found quite a few good things. Of course, they weren't very useful, just some spiritual roots, strange fruits, and some miscellaneous magical artifacts. Although they were innate spiritual treasures, most of them were low-grade, with the contained Tao being fragmented and incomplete. It was already good if they had any reference value, so except for a few small trinkets that Zhuang Xiong gave to Nüwa as decorations, all the others were taken by him to be disassembled into materials.

  Actually, the only things that can be used are Nüwa's medium-grade spiritual whip, a medium-grade bracelet, and a high-grade spiritual pearl, as well as Nezha's Chaos-Heavenly Banner from later generations. Zhuang Xiong seriously suspects that the high-grade spiritual pearl is actually Nezha's Pearl, and the bracelet is actually Nezha's Primordial Ring. However, every time he asks Nüwa if the spiritual pearl has any spiritual intelligence or if the bracelet is called the Primordial Ring, she just smiles without saying a word. Zhuang Xiong thinks that even if the spiritual pearl is indeed Nezha's Pearl and the bracelet is indeed the Primordial Ring, it doesn't seem to have much to do with him anyway. So he lets it go.

  Fuxi obtained a piece of unknown-grade turtle shell, a medium-grade Eight Trigrams Daoist robe, and a medium-grade Eight Trigrams sword. It can be seen that he has become obsessed with the Eight Trigrams. Fuxi obtained spiritual treasures, wore the Daoist robe, and held the precious sword to show off to Zhuang Xiong. Zhuang Xiong was disdainful and casually took out his own top-grade pre-heavenly spiritual treasure, the Primordial Sword. As a result, Fuxi's eyes turned red with excitement, and he rushed up to engage in a fierce battle with Zhuang Xiong. In the end, Fuxi lost both the comparison of treasures and the martial arts competition, and he ran away dejectedly to the corner to study the Eight Trigrams divination.

  Zhuang Xiong didn't leave any magic treasures behind, and most of the magic treasures that had passed through his hands were dismantled into materials. On the other hand, many spiritual roots and strange fruits were left behind, all of which were transplanted into the Qiankun fan. At this time, the spiritual roots in the vast wilderness were mostly innate spiritual roots. Zhuang Xiong's harvest was not small, with the Starlight Fruit Tree and the Five-needle Pine being the most notable, only slightly inferior to the top ten innate spiritual roots. Of course, Zhuang Xiong had no idea how to grade the spiritual roots, and he categorized them based on whether they were edible or tasted good. The flavor of the Starlight Fruit and the Five-needle Pine clearly pleased him. Unfortunately, Zhuang Xiong was not destined to encounter any of the top ten innate spiritual roots, and he didn't find a single one.

  On this day, the three of them encountered another formation. Zhuang Xiong's eyebrows slightly furrowed as he felt his life-bound treasure subtly tremble. He said, "My life-bound treasure has a reaction to this object; it must have a connection with me."

  Fuxi observed for a while, then said: "This is a pre-heavenly spiritual treasure, and its grade is probably not low. Let me break the formation to take a look, and see what kind of treasure can enter the eyes of Dumb Bear."

  Zhuang Xiong couldn't help but roll his eyes and said, "I told you not to mock me, okay? Later on, didn't I leave behind a treasure that wasn't divided up?"

  Fuxi snorted, saying: "You're leaving one thing behind, every time I think of you, my chest feels suffocated." It turned out that all the magical artifacts that Zhuang Xiong had handled on his way were dismantled into materials. Fuxi ridiculed him for having a narrow vision, looking down on these mediocre magical artifacts. In fact, Zhuang Xiong wanted to tell him, "Brother has the Qiankun Ding, and indeed looks down on these magical artifacts." The reason he dismantled them into materials was to refine a better one. However, he also knew that Fuxi was just showing off his eloquence. So later on, he left behind a hammer-shaped magical artifact, added countless materials, and used the Qiankun Ding to re-refine it, turning it into a top-grade magical artifact called the Zhen Shan Hammer. From then on, every time Fuxi brought up this topic, Zhuang Xiong would strike him with the hammer, and the world became much quieter.

  Fuxi was indeed a little afraid of Zhuang Xiong's unpredictable and powerful moves, so he didn't say much more, turned around in circles with his formation technique, and started to work on it. After a short while, he said: "Alright, breaking the formation is too troublesome and unnecessary. Now just follow my footsteps and rhythm, and we can go in and get the treasure." Zhuang Xiong knew that Fuxi was an expert in this aspect, so he quickly focused on Fuxi's footsteps and stepped into the formation one step at a time.

  After walking for more than two hours, he finally stepped into the array and saw a green light flying around and constantly colliding with the large array. The four magical artifacts in Zhuang Xiong's body shook at the same time, and the green light instantly drew an arc and flew towards Zhuang Xiong. Zhuang Xiong hurriedly used his left hand to sweep forward, and when he took it back, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

  Fuxi took a look at Zhuang Xiong and couldn't help but laugh, saying: "What's wrong? Aren't you satisfied? Didn't you say that this thing has fate with you?"

  Zhuang Xiong helplessly curled his lips and said, "It's not that I'm not satisfied, the top-grade Pre-Heaven Spirit Treasure, the Heaven and Earth Ruler. Well, it really did form a set for me."

  Fuxi didn't dare to laugh secretly, nor did he dare to provoke Zhuang Xiong randomly in the formation. So he comforted him by saying: "Alright, after all, it's a top-grade pre-heavenly spiritual treasure. The universe is just the universe, and the suit isn't bad either. It even sounds smooth when you say it out loud. Let's go out and reunite with our sister first."

  Zhuang Xiong nodded, just about to leave the formation, when he saw the formation suddenly change, and a Taoist emerged from it. The man had a coffin-like face, withered and yellow, his dry and shriveled body looked like that of a dead person. The three men looked at each other in surprise.

  That person's eyes quickly swept over the Kunlun ruler in Zhuang Xiong's hand, and he couldn't help but reveal a hint of greed. He then looked at the two men again, and saw that Fu Xi had an upright air about him, a true gentleman with a humble demeanor. On the other hand, Zhuang Xiong had a foolish look on his face, with a silly expression, and his feet were awkwardly positioned according to the formation's layout. The person thought to himself: "So they're just two fledglings, I was startled for nothing." Then, with a serious expression, he said: "Please, you two young friends, I am Yuan Jue, the lamp-lighting Daoist of Lingjiu Mountain's Yuandong Cave. May I ask how you two are called?"

  Fu Xi didn't think much of it, as there were many strange people in this vast and desolate land. He hurriedly bowed his head and said: "Greetings, Daozhang. I am Fuxi from Mount Zhou, and this is my close friend, Cang Xiong Daoren."

  Zhuang Xiong's originally furrowed brow relaxed, and he couldn't help but reveal a smile that was full of meaning. He had been on guard against the greedy gaze just now, but when he heard that the Taoist was called Rán Dēng, he felt at ease. Although Rán Dēng was also a guest in the Purple Mist Palace, he belonged to the kind who were not very well-known. In the vast wilderness of ancient times, when great gods roamed everywhere, except for his cunning, nothing else was worthy of fear. It wasn't until after the gods had retreated that Rán Dēng managed to make a big name for himself among the younger generation. Forget it, let's just see what tricks he has up his sleeve.

  He glanced at Zhuang's strange smile, feeling a little puzzled in his heart, but he didn't take it seriously. He said solemnly: "Two young friends, I have been traveling around the mountains for many years, and recently my mind has been subtly moving. I feel that there is a spiritual treasure born here, which has a great relationship with me. Unexpectedly, you two young friends got it first. This thing is crucial to my cultivation, I don't know if you can spare it and give it to me. I have been cultivating for tens of thousands of years and have achieved some results. Can we exchange ideas?"

  Fuxi couldn't help but glance at Zhuang Xiong with a hint of surprise, thinking to himself: "Brother Xiong said that the treasure has destiny with him, yet this brother also says it has destiny with him. How can one treasure have destiny with two people? Is it related to this brother's cultivation, or is his affinity with the treasure even greater?" However, since the treasure was in Zhuang Xiong's hands and he was the one who had affinity with it, Fuxi didn't dare make a move and could only stand aside silently.

  Zhuang Xiong sneered inwardly: "Feng Deng's words are indeed good, the treasure has fate, and it's related to cultivation. After cultivating for tens of millions of years, you want to exchange? If you can deceive, then deceive, if you can trade, use some broken things to trade. If not, I'm afraid you'll have to use your tens of millions of years of cultivation to rob me." Zhuang Xiong coldly snorted: "Although I don't know why the treasure has fate with fellow daoists, I also feel that this thing has fate with me, and it's a perfect match with my innate spiritual treasure. Indeed, I cannot bear to part with it, I hope fellow daoist will forgive me." But actually, he wanted to see what other tricks Feng Deng had up his sleeve.

  Ran Deng's expression didn't change, but in his heart he was secretly cursing his bad luck. This was truly a case of the real Li Kui meeting the fake Li Gui. He smiled and said: "Little friend has been deceived, magical artifacts are external objects after all, cultivation is the foundation. The great dao contained within that spiritual artifact has an enormous connection to my own dao. Little friend's current cultivation is still shallow, it would be better for me to keep it safe for now, allowing me to comprehend the great dao within. I can exchange my tens of millions of years' worth of cultivation experience with you, greatly benefiting your cultivation. When little friend's cultivation reaches a certain level, I will return the spiritual artifact to you, not too late."

  This made even Fuxi feel that something was off about Reng Deng's words. Zhuang Xiong, on the other hand, was a bit stunned, with countless reminders popping up in his mind, he had long known what kind of person Reng Deng was and clearly understood the meaning behind his words. However, as an otaku, he was tongue-tied and didn't know how to refute him. Or perhaps it was because he didn't deign to argue with someone like that. Suddenly, Zhuang Xiong became enraged and, without waiting for Reng Deng's reaction, slapped him to the ground with a loud smack. Just as he was about to continue hitting him, Reng Deng flashed with anger and retreated several meters away, shouting: "Fellow Daoist, why did you resort to violence? You should know that I have cultivated for tens of millions of years and am not someone to be trifled with!"

  Fuxi also looked at Zhuang Xiong in surprise, thinking to himself: "This is not the time for joking around." Zhuang Xiong was furious and laughed, saying: "Good you, Fuxi, actually daring to bully me? How dare you ask me why I'm taking action? My set of magical treasures has a connection with you? Do you think my tens of millions of years of cultivation are something to be proud of? Who do you think you are? You've only cultivated for tens of millions of years, do you even know the correct path of cultivation? And yet you dare say that the treasure is related to your enlightenment? I've practiced countless times and still don't know how to achieve enlightenment, what kind of big shot are you?" As he spoke, he didn't care about Fuxi's response, and transformed his Qiankun rod into a thick, two-zhang-long stick. He swung it around and smashed it down. It turned out that this guy had seen Pangu wield the Great Axe, and after getting his own magical treasure, he tried it out and found that swinging it around and smashing things was really satisfying, so he developed a liking for it. This time, he finally had the chance to put it into practice.

  The lamp was busy taking out the Spirit Coffin Lantern, which was also a high-quality pre-heavenly spirit treasure, but it was a spell-type. The Qiankun Stick, on the other hand, was a top-grade pre-heavenly spirit treasure and a combat-type weapon. How could the Spirit Coffin Lantern possibly withstand it? In no time at all, the lamp was beaten until his face was bruised and swollen, his bones broken and his tendons torn. The lamp couldn't help but secretly lament, thinking that the other's cultivation level was too low, that he didn't understand array techniques and was just a novice. Who would have thought that he was actually a deeply cultivated old monster who didn't understand array techniques? How could there be such a freakish cultivator with such deep magical powers yet not understanding array techniques? What to do now?