"Blood and qi condensed into liquid… this should be called a Martial Grandmaster."
Kong muttered softly, turning his gaze toward a stone pillar not far away.
His eyes narrowed, and his figure vanished like a phantom.
In an instant, he appeared before that pillar, thick enough for three men to encircle.
He lashed out with a whip kick.
A thunderous boom echoed through the vast hall.
The massive stone pillar was sent flying, crashing deep into the ground some distance away.
"No strength techniques used, just pure physical power… yet enough to easily suppress an ordinary top-tier Primordial Spirit cultivator."
"Ferocious beasts truly are favored by heaven. If I were to take their monster cores, I'd be even stronger."
Kong's eyes burned with fervor, his fighting spirit surging.
And this was only at the Foundation Establishment peak.
If it were a beast at the Refining Essence into Qi peak, or even a Spirit Transformation beast…
If he were to take their blood essence…
Perhaps he couldn't yet fight Heaven's Will itself, but against its enforcers? He could absolutely take a shot at them.
The upper limit of Savage Beast Martial Path seemed to go beyond Terrestrial Immortal.
"Forget it. It still can't compare with the Immortal Path. Cultivation must remain the focus. Still, this ferocious beast martial body is a true power in its own right."
From his storage, Kong retrieved a fresh set of clothes and changed. The raw burst of strength from his earlier movement had shredded his old robes into strips, leaving only his chiseled muscles exposed.
Kong gave a wry smile.
"Good thing no one saw that. But still…"
"Savage Beast Martial Path rely entirely on the body. Normal clothes can't withstand combat. What then? Every Abyssal warrior will be bursting out of their clothes mid-battle? How disgraceful."
"I'll have to press them to forge new armor from beast hide soon."
Kong returned to the throne and closed his eyes.
Two drops of blood essence weren't his limit. Even the entire blood essence of a Foundation Establishment Peak beast wasn't enough.
He needed more.
Most importantly…
Now, he could forgo absorbing the Abyss and earth veins, and instead draw directly upon the pure spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
The process was slow, but at least he had begun to truly absorb spiritual qi.
So long as he could continue strengthening this way, Kong was satisfied.
"I wonder how Lumine is faring on Mount Shu… when will she be able to come out again?"
After a long silence, Kong sighed and shut his eyes.
He didn't know when he would be able to reach Lumine again. Until then, he could only continue to research martial techniques on his own.
During his travels across the star seas, he had seen no shortage of powerful martial arts.
Though most were based on special energy systems.
For example—
He had once heard of a world called Shenzhou, where a guardian of the realm wielded the Taixu Sword Qi, unrivaled beneath heaven.
Perhaps there were insights he could borrow from that.
News of Mount Shu's Immortal cultivation, of the grand ceremony of its founding, spread like wildfire across all of Teyvat.
More and more people knew of it, yet the disciples of Mount Shu remained unaffected in their tranquil lives.
Cultivators were always detached from worldly concerns.
And besides…
They were far too busy searching for cultivation methods to care about outside matters.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yan was making his way through the sect's treasury.
Though it was called a "treasury," in truth it was a vast world of treasures.
Creatures flying in the skies, running across the earth, swimming through rivers—none of them were beasts, but magical artifacts.
This miniature world glimmered with boundless treasure-light.
Jiang Yan stood upon a flying sword, darting quickly through the space.
At first, he had intended to catalog the artifacts, to at least get a general sense of their number.
But now…
He had given up.
Even top-grade spiritual tools existed here in numbers beyond counting.
This foundation was terrifyingly deep.
If he weren't already at a level where mere spiritual tools felt cumbersome—where at minimum he required true treasures—he might have been sorely tempted.
Still, if reforged, many of these spiritual tools could well ascend to treasure-grade.
With his discerning eye, he could see many were full of potential.
Suddenly, Jiang Yan froze.
"Reforge them?"
He seemed to have caught onto a blind spot.
"Now that I wield the Samadhi True Fire, peerless under heaven… while I can't use it wantonly, I can still call upon flames carrying its shadow."
"For mere spiritual tools, that flame is more than enough."
"Add in the two great spiritual ore veins within Mount Shu… materials won't be an issue either."
The more he spoke, the more feasible it seemed. He immediately began selecting spiritual tools.
As Sect Master, he naturally had the authority to command all of these.
If he wished, he could even emulate that anime he'd once seen, where Gilgamesh hurled treasures en masse from his "Gate of Babylon."
But such tasteless antics were beneath the dignity of Mount Shu's Sect Master.
Besides—what enemy could withstand even a single slap from him, a Refining Spirit into Void peak cultivator?
Would he really need artifacts?
Still, for ventures into the Xuanyin Minor World or the Demon-Sealing Tower, he would need to be well-armed.
After some thought, Jiang Yan reviewed his own arsenal.
It was embarrassing, really.
Klee had nearly thirty artifacts covering her inside and out.
Qiqi had more than ten.
And he himself? Other than the Primordial Jade Cutter gifted by Zhongli, he only had the Pureworld Glazed Bottle.
Though the bottle was a top-tier treasure, it was not something he could casually bring out.
It was Mount Shu's greatest heritage item.
Besides, its primary function wasn't attack.
The Pureworld Glazed Bottle contained divine water that could heal even the gravest wounds—meant for salvation, not battle.
In terms of sheer attack, it wasn't stronger than some upper-grade treasures.
And more importantly—
One doesn't lead with a trump card.
He needed other treasures to present as his face and authority.
"Top-grade spiritual tool: the Tricolored Linglong Pagoda."
"Top-grade spiritual tools: Dutian Seal, Twenty-Four Zingzhe Diagrams, Nine Heavens Sword Box, Divine Wind Pearl…"
"Hm? What's this…"
"Xuanhuang Lock-Heart Armor? Could give this to Klee… no, she already has too many armors. Leave it for now."
Treasures abounded without end. If it wasn't top-grade, Jiang Yan didn't spare a glance.
Even so, he was dazzled by the choices.
In the past, he hadn't cared much for artifacts, believing his own strength enough. After all, he was at the Refining Spirit into Void peak, soon to break into the Refining Void into Dao.
At that realm, only true treasures or immortal artifacts were of use.
But now…
He might not need them, but he could not go without them.
It was a matter of face!
As he indulged in this "shopping spree," his brows suddenly furrowed.
"What's this? Even demonic and ghost artifacts are here?"
"Terror-Soul Pearl, Ten-Thousand Ghost Banner, Yinluo Whip…"
He fell silent, then shook his head helplessly.
"It seems Mount Shu truly annihilated quite a few demonic cultivators back in the day."
"These artifacts have their uses, but if mishandled, they'd easily backfire. Best seal them away."
He formed hand seals, inscribing restrictive runes upon the artifacts.
Only after carefully sealing them did Jiang Yan move on, satisfied, to search further.
Upon reaching a towering mountain, his eyes widened slightly.
"The Mountain-Turning Seal?"
The mountain itself was in fact a top-grade spiritual tool.
With a single strike, it could topple heaven and earth, casting down a divine peak.
Refined further, it could easily become a heritage-level treasure.
Even as it was, this Mountain-Turning Seal already approached that level.
One of the finest in the entire treasury.
Jiang Yan gladly collected it. With a rumble, the mountain shrank into a small seal that fell into his hand.
The instant he grasped it, his palm sank under its weight.
Even diminished, it still weighed as much as a boundless mountain.
Such a weapon was not for ordinary men to wield.
As he marveled at it, Jiang Yan noticed something glittering beneath where the mountain had stood.
A golden scroll.
A sudden tremor stirred in his heart. With a frown, he reached out, and the scroll floated gently into his hand.
When the information of the treasure surfaced in his mind, even his composure was shaken.
His shock showed clearly upon his face.
For the scroll's name was—
"The Investiture of the Gods?!"
Jiang Yan clutched the scroll tightly, examining it again and again, until he spotted a single character in the corner: "Replica."
He exhaled in relief.
The true Investiture of the Gods had once enshrined the deities of Heaven itself, binding their true souls.
The genuine article should still rest in the hand of the Jade Emperor, supreme avatar of the Great Heaven.
If Mount Shu had truly seized it, then even without the Jade Emperor lifting a finger, the whole Celestial Court would have descended to obliterate them.
A replica, though—now that was believable.
Inspecting its information again, Jiang Yan came to an understanding.
The name was grand, but in truth it was a masterwork of an elder who had reached the Refining Void into Dao peak.
And that elder had made many such scrolls.
For a simple reason.
The cultivation world was vast and treacherous. Mortals lived at the whim of fate.
Mount Shu, as the mightiest sect of the realm, felt some duty to protect them.
For though cultivators claimed detachment from the mundane, Mount Shu's disciples were inextricably bound to the mortal world.
Mortal kingdoms that relied on Mount Shu needed ways to defend themselves. Princes and royals from those lands needed ways to safeguard their realms.
Yet disciples could not always abandon cultivation to play guardians.
And in the cultivation world, forget demons—even a single ferocious beast could annihilate a nation.
To ensure stability, that elder forged these replicas of the God-Sealing List.
By channeling the power of rivers, mountains, and national destiny, they could "confer divinity" upon chosen champions—mortals unable to cultivate, yet upon investiture, capable of rivaling weaker cultivators within their own nation.
Enough to ward off minor threats.
But to create beings equal to those above Spirit Transformation? Impossible.
If such calamities struck a kingdom, nothing could save it.
At best, Mount Shu could avenge them after the fact.
In the cultivation world, mortal lives were always fragile. The law of the strong had never changed.
Jiang Yan sighed, but thought no more of it.
Where there was an Investiture, there was also the God-Beating Whip.
The two were a pair.
Spreading his divine sense, Jiang Yan soon discovered the golden whip not far away.
It too had been crafted by that elder.
For Jiang Yan himself, these items were of little use.
But for the Seven Nations of Teyvat, they held profound meaning.
He carefully stored them away, deciding to make them available in the next Hall of Merit exchange.
No doubt Ningguang and the others would be beside themselves with excitement when they saw them.
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