Yi Tianxing had never provided war soldiers to the major human factions for free—this was something all powers understood very well. The law of equivalent exchange: what you gain, you must pay for.
Even many non-human factions had approached him before, hoping to obtain converted war soldiers of their own kind for deployment on the battlefield. As long as the soldiers were handed over to them, they were willing to pay steep prices.
But Yi Tianxing had never easily agreed.
After all, those who are not of our race must harbor different hearts. Even though the war against the Eternal Night World was brutal, once it ended, the various races would eventually turn against each other—for survival, for dominance. A clash was inevitable.
Of course, if he truly chose to supply war soldiers to others, they would certainly be those who had been completely converted. The practical impact would be minimal.But an overly casual agreement could trigger unwanted scrutiny, so such moves needed to be taken slowly, with patience and planning.
"I understand the rules clearly,"Arthur spoke firmly."Exchanging for war soldiers—I don't intend to let you take a loss, Emperor Yi.While the Arthurian Kingdom may not match the foundation of the Great Yi Dynasty, we have accumulated some rare treasures over time.And among them… I have an item that I believe you will find very interesting."
His tone carried a note of confidence.
"Oh? Do tell."Yi Tianxing's curiosity was piqued.
"Back when your Life Treasure fell into my hands, what I passed to you was only the tower base. But in truth, there was a companion artifact that came with it.Unfortunately, I never understood what it truly was. I've kept it all this time, unable to refine it, unable to use it.I suspect, however, that it is intimately connected to your Life Treasure."
Arthur's tone grew serious.
"There was a companion artifact?"
Even Yi Tianxing's expression shifted slightly—this truly shocked him.
After all, his greatest trump card was his Life Treasure—the Heavenly Emperor Tower of Primal Chaos (Hongmeng Tian Di Ta). It was the very foundation upon which he had crushed countless enemies. To strengthen it, he had thrown in countless resources—if not for the support of the Dream Butterfly World, he'd have been penniless by now.
Yes, it was a bottomless pit…But it was also unbelievably powerful.
Had it not been for this treasure, he could never have reached his current heights.
So despite Arthur's earlier scheme to cheat him, Yi Tianxing didn't harbor real resentment. It had ultimately been his own decision, and a true man takes responsibility for his choices.
Still, the possibility of a companion artifact connected to the tower? That was shocking.
If it truly was compatible, it could enhance the tower's power dramatically. With a proper upgrade, the benefits could be beyond imagination.
"Here it is."
Arthur didn't hesitate. He took out a small box.
Since the decision was made, there was no need to delay. After all, this artifact was useless in his hands. If it could be exchanged for powerful war soldiers, that would be a win-win.
"What is this?"Yi Tianxing asked, eyes locked on the box.
"No idea," Arthur said bitterly."To me, it's just a rock. Not an artifact, not a treasure. No spiritual energy, no use.I can't even activate it. Just a dull gray stone. But it came with the tower base, so… I always suspected it had some importance."
Crack!
The box opened.
Inside, as expected—was a gray stone.
It looked utterly mundane. No glow, no aura. If not for Arthur's explanation, anyone would've ignored it without a second glance.
Yi Tianxing immediately began probing it with his senses.
His first assessment was that this stone had no spiritual fluctuation, no treasure essence, no life—like a fossil, lifeless and dead.
But just as the stone entered his field of perception—
The Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower inside him suddenly began to tremble violently!
As if... it had recognized family.
A fierce, irresistible urge to merge surged from within the tower—a primordial instinct.
"It's… heavy."
Yi Tianxing lifted the stone.Only then did he realize its true weight—it was terrifyingly dense. Worse, his true essence and mana couldn't even enter it.
It really did resemble a decayed fossil—seemingly worthless.
"Xiao Mi," he called."Scan it. I want to know where this thing came from."
He gave up probing it himself and handed it to his Wordless Heavenly Book for a proper scan.
"Chaos Primal Stone," Xiao Mi quickly reported."Born from primal chaos energy.This stone has chaotic properties—bury it into an exhausted ore vein and it will regenerate the ore.Can be used to forge innate spiritual treasures.It strengthens world barriers and enhances world origins."
"But this one is not ordinary.It's a mutated primal stone, formed before the heavens opened. It can even regenerate, as long as it's not completely consumed.It can establish a spiritual link to the Outer Chaos Realm, draw chaotic power from it, and boost your world indefinitely."
Yi Tianxing's heart raced.
This wasn't just a treasure—it was an evolutionary catalyst.
If he had obtained this Chaos Primal Stone back then, the bottomless hunger of the Hongmeng Tower could've been halved instantly. That black hole in his resources could've been greatly reduced.
The tower had a built-in chaos gateway, which appeared whenever he fused heavenly treasures—its foundation had always touched chaos, but only briefly.
With the Chaos Stone fully integrated, the tower could permanently link to the chaos realm.
No longer just a tunnel—it could become a bridge.
He recalled how painful it was to evolve the tower from a Medium World into a Great Thousand World… the resources needed were astronomical.
But now, he realized—this Chaos Primal Stone was the missing key.
And just then, the tower itself transmitted a message directly into Yi Tianxing's mind.
It confirmed his suspicions—the Chaos Stone was a companion artifact, meant to be fused into the tower base.
Its purpose was never to build the tower body, but to grant the base a permanent link to chaos, allowing slow and steady absorption of chaotic energy to nurture the tower's internal world.
Of course, the speed had to be controlled. Chaos was the mother of all things—too much at once would corrupt the internal space and cause collapse.
But as the tower's world grew, its intake capacity would grow accordingly.
"So that's how it is…"
Yi Tianxing's eyes gleamed.
If he fully merged this Chaos Stone into the tower base, he would perfect its foundation and unlock a stable source of chaos energy.
That, in turn, would allow him to feed the internal chaos orb at the top of the tower, which contained a miniature chaos world. With that, he could cycle the energy inward and outward, refining and upgrading his internal world layer by layer.
"With this… the Grand Dao is no longer just a dream."
His heartbeat accelerated rapidly.
Still, he revealed none of this on the surface.
Calmly, he set the stone back down, as if he had learned nothing new from it.
"Though I can't identify its origin," he said coolly,"I can confirm that this stone did come with the original tower base.And I agree—it may indeed hold some value.The question is… how many war soldiers do you want for it?"
Arthur's eyes gleamed.
"As long as you recognize its worth, that's enough.What price… would you offer?"
Yi Tianxing paused, then said flatly:
"This stone—I'll trade it for two million war soldiers.What say you?"