Chapter 216: Treasures Hidden Within the

"Empty again! I shouldn't have held out hope for these World Remains~"

A courtyard, where flowers and trees intertwined, lush and verdant.

A clear stream wound through the garden. Precious jade-like stones lay in the waves, with shallow ripples spreading and a faint, frosty glow.

Fang Longye sat upright on a square stone, his expression vexed, as he crushed an opened "seashell" in his hand, turning it into specks of spiritual light.

They scattered into the water.

This drew the fish in the stream to compete in leaping from the water; with a flick of their tails, they stirred up a scene of beauty.

Ripples spread out in all directions, fading from dense to faint, until finally, they vanished into the ethereal.

After sending off the Giant Spirit God, Fang Longye had returned to his previous resting place.

He began to check and sort through his harvest from the sea-gathering.

Yet, aside from those miscellaneous items, the numerous World Remains had taught him a lesson.

They really were like blind boxes; the contents inside were completely random.

It relied purely on one's luck.

As for using his primordial spirit to investigate? Sorry~ these were World Remains, and their shells were entirely composed of unknown substances formed after a world's destruction.

Not to mention that his primordial spirit couldn't probe them, even Fang Longye's "Gaze Through Walls" divine ability was completely ineffective on them.

Of course, this was also due to his insufficient cultivation realm and limited mastery of the divine ability.

But at the very least, few below the Great Luo realm could see through them. How else could it be a business? It was precisely because there was room for gambling inside.

"Indeed~ as the old saying goes, if you don't listen to the elders, you'll suffer right before your eyes."

Fang Longye rubbed his temples, calmed his somewhat heated emotions, and mocked himself.

In fact, from the very beginning, Yang Chan had offered him advice.

She suggested that besides keeping the miscellaneous items, he should sell the collected World Remains directly.

The Rakshasa Sea Market had shops that specifically purchased these World Remains.

He should never gamble on what good things might be hidden inside.

Because the probability was too low! It wasn't that Fang Longye didn't understand this.

It was just like gambling on stones in his past life; some people wouldn't cut the stones themselves to see if there were treasures inside, but would instead sell the raw stones directly to those who wanted to gamble.

The same logic applied to blind boxes; those who opened them could never win against those who sold them.

After all, the house always wins!

But looking at the pillar of destiny soaring straight into the sky above his head, he still chose to believe in himself.

As for the result! It was easy to imagine~

Destiny is not omnipotent; it cannot create something from nothing.

The probability of treasures appearing within World Remains was too small. Even with abundant destiny, it couldn't make him conjure treasures out of thin air.

Moreover, another plan of his had also fallen through.

Fang Longye flipped his palm, took out a seashell-like object, and cupped it in his hand.

Gazing at these World Remains suffused with a dim, heavy glow, he sighed: "Who could have thought that these World Remains, which sound so high-end, would have absolutely no utility value?"

He had originally thought that even if there were no treasures within these World Remains, they could be used as resources to strengthen the Grotto-Heaven within his body.

With their internally vast and immeasurable space, wouldn't his internal Grotto-Heaven gain some benefits from devouring them? As it turned out, his calculations were wrong.

There was no spiritual energy at all, only full of destructive Aura.

The vast space could not be utilized at all.

Not wanting to give up, he even tried to see if he could refine these World Remains into one-time-use lethal weapons.

As it turned out, he had no clue how to do that either.

Because these destructive Auras were completely inert and could not be triggered at all.

"Eh? I forgot~"

He had forgotten that through his Golden Finger, the Equivalent Balance, he could at least filter out the World Remains that had value.

Fang Longye slapped his forehead and hurriedly began to filter them.

……

Before long, a look of satisfaction appeared in Fang Longye's eyes.

Out of the thousand-plus World Remains he had, three could be exchanged via the Equivalent Balance for heavenly treasures comparable in value to the Fusang Glazed Fruit.

This showed the value of the treasures inside.

There were also over a hundred that, while only exchangeable for heavenly treasures he didn't need, proved that there were indeed things inside them.

The rest were all only exchangeable for more World Remains.

If World Remains could only be exchanged for World Remains, didn't that just mean they were empty inside?

"The probability of opening something is less than one in ten. And that's still the result of my destiny influencing it; otherwise, it would likely be even more dismal."

Fang Longye thought to himself.

He reached out to gather those 'empty blind boxes,' intending to sell them later. Then, it was time for the delightful box-opening segment!

First were the hundred-plus World Remains containing ordinary heavenly treasures.

For a time, the sight was dazzling and filled with precious light, which allowed Fang Longye to experience the joy of opening blind boxes with a cheat.

Then, it was the main event! Fang Longye looked at the three World Remains worth a Fusang Glazed Fruit and reached out to pick one up.

"Snap—"

He crushed it in one go.

The first thing to pour out was a strange, inexplicable breath.

It was formless and chaotic, silent and desolate. It was extremely faint, yet continuous and unending.

It is difficult to describe with language, yet it truly exists.

Following closely behind were wisps of purple-green precious light, surging up toward the dome, then drooping downward, swirling and intertwining to condense into the image of a bronze treasure vase.

The vase was covered in intricate patterns, spreading from the body to the mouth; they were fine, ancient, and simple, with strange, intertwined motifs—appearing like birds yet not birds, like dragons yet not dragons—extraordinarily mysterious.

"Could it be another Inheritance Mark?"

Fang Longye recalled the initial purple-green precious light, then sensed that the vase before him was merely an illusion and not a physical object, so he could not help but think to himself.

He reached out and took the bronze treasure vase, and immediately, information fell into his heart.

His expression became clear; he had thought wrong.

This bronze treasure vase was not some Inheritance Mark, but rather a product of the precious light that remained and condensed after many Dharma Treasures were destroyed in the World Remains.

As for its function! Fang Longye shook the vase body; the precious light accumulated inside swayed like water droplets, colliding and emitting sounds, with a mysterious Aura circulating.

"This can truly be called providing charcoal in snowy weather!"

Fang Longye sighed with emotion, then with a movement of his mind, he summoned his personal weapon, the Panlong Spear, into the air.

Afterward, he aimed the mouth of the bronze treasure vase at the Panlong Spear.

Ding-dong—

As the vase tilted, misty precious light poured out from the mouth inch by inch, like smoke and water.

It accumulated more and more, until finally, it was like a ladle of clear spring water, continuously pouring onto the Panlong Spear.

"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle—"

As the precious light poured over it, the Panlong Spear seemed like parched Earth Deity, encountering sweet rain, emitting a thirsty, sucking sound.

Once the continuous precious light was swallowed by the Panlong Spear, it immediately transformed into a power beyond imagination, wandering throughout the entire Panlong Spear.

From top to bottom, from outside to inside, the spear shaft, spear blade, spear tip, tassel cord, and so on—nothing was missed.

One after another, they emitted clear, ringing sounds.

Gradually, mysterious curves emerged in clusters, crisscrossing and rotating in a full cycle, magnificent and majestic.

They formed one Post-Heaven Divine Prohibition after another; the speed and ease of this were immeasurable and beyond imagination.

During this process, Fang Longye's mind was immersed, and his entire essence, energy, and spirit intertwined within, accompanying the precious light. Every time a new Divine Prohibition was generated, it was immediately and completely refined.

His level of control over the Panlong Spear rose step by step.

……

As the essence of the Panlong Spear improved and its Spirit Treasure grade gradually climbed, the patterns on the bronze treasure vase gradually dimmed.

In the end, the originally substantial-looking bronze treasure vase was no longer as it was before, becoming nothing but a phantom.

Ding-dong—

As the last trace of thin precious light was swallowed by the Panlong Spear, the bronze treasure vase completely disappeared.

Before Fang Longye, there remained only one brand-new divine weapon—the Panlong Spear.

Boom—

In the void, a thunderbolt struck down with a roar; the lightning appeared purple-green, with arcs of light above and below, outlining each other as they fell.

The Panlong Spear let out a proud dragon roar and rose directly to meet the thunder, swimming happily amidst the lightning, accepting the tempering of the heavenly thunder.

A moment later, the chilling murderous intent vanished as soon as it appeared, and the thunder dissipated immediately. The entire void was clear as jade.

For a time, heavenly flowers fell, Golden Lotus surged from the ground, and there were ten thousand rays of rosy clouds and a thousand streaks of auspicious color.

In the void, five-colored smoke misted.

The Panlong Spear sat majestically within, natural and at ease. Surrounded by intertwining dragons and tigers, it emitted a vast, profound sound, billowing in all directions, with the Aura solidifying and forming a realm, vast and mighty.

"What a good treasure! What good fortune!"

Fang Longye could not help but laugh out loud, reaching out to summon the Panlong Spear into his hand, spinning it into a spear flower, stroking it in his hand, overjoyed.

A bottle of magnificent precious light had miraculously caused the Panlong Spear to spontaneously generate over a dozen Post-Heaven Divine Prohibitions, raising its Spirit Treasure grade to the level of a Superior Spiritual Treasure in one fell swoop.

It was truly magnificent fortune, difficult to fathom.

If not for the fact that the precious light was exhausted and there was no follow-up power, it was not impossible that the Panlong Spear could have been raised to the level of a Supreme Spiritual Treasure.

However, for Fang Longye, he was already satisfied.

With the improvement of the Panlong Spear as a Spirit Treasure, Fang Longye finally would not have to worry about the backlash and being forced to put away this top-tier divine weapon after using it for only a few moments.

With thirty-six Post-Heaven Divine Prohibitions as a foundation, although he had not yet fully mastered the power of this divine weapon, as long as he did not fully activate it,

and only maintained power comparable to a Superior Spiritual Treasure, he would not have to worry about having to change weapons after only a few rounds of fighting, as he did before.

After a joyful moment of stroking it, Fang Longye calmed his mind and put away the Panlong Spear.

He raised his eyes to look at the remaining two "seashells" transformed from the World Remains.

"I hope the next ones can still give me a surprise."

He immediately crushed the second World Remains.

"Eh? Is this an exotic treasure?"

Mysterious ripples spread out all around, blooming with large and small blue flowers, slanting and stretching, flying and gathering inside and out.

Then, wisps of precious Aura fell; suddenly swaying, it looked like a pine canopy hanging upside down, with green vines entwined, surrounded by sparse, rain-colored mist, hazy and cloud-like, as if draped in a layer of light gauze.

Fang Longye did not wait for the phenomenon to subside; he directly reached out to push aside the misty precious Aura to see its true appearance.

It was a wooden zither; one could not tell exactly what kind of spiritual wood it was. The strings moved automatically, emitting beautiful music, narrating the Dao of music.

"What a fine zither! This is not just the music of zithers and lutes; it is clearly borrowing the Post-Heaven Dao of zithers and lutes to evolve the Pre-Heaven Great Dao of Heaven and Earth."

Seeing this exotic treasure zither, Fang Longye could not help but praise it.

The round face symbolizes the sky, and the square bottom symbolizes the earth. It is three feet and six inches long, symbolizing the three hundred and sixty days of the full cycle. It is six inches wide, symbolizing the six directions. It has thirteen studs to correspond to the musical pitches. It is wide in the front and narrow in the back, symbolizing the high and the low...

"It is a pity that although this zither is good, it does not suit me." Fang Longye placed the ancient zither in front of him, sighing as he made a gesture of playing the zither.

It was not that he did not understand music. In fact, after being influenced by enjoyment for so many years, he could at least pretend to be refined and play a few tunes.

The key is that this precious zither has strict usage requirements; it must be someone who has truly immersed their heart in the Dao of the zither to be able to activate it.

And Fang Longye is far from meeting this standard.

"Hmm~ I'll keep it for now; using it as a gift for a beauty in the future will definitely win a lady's favor."

"At the very least, I could train a zither attendant to play music specifically when I make an entrance; just thinking about it feels cool, it would definitely be full of style~"

As for exchanging it through my Golden Finger, I'll see when the time comes! No rush~ He isn't lacking one or two treasures like this, nor is he facing any predicament, so he isn't like before, wanting to trade and exchange every treasure he got to maximize his gains.

After putting the precious zither away, Fang Longye reached out toward the "seashell" transformed from the final World Remains.

"Snap—"

He crushed it in one go~ A streak of crystal-clear starlight slowly rose, continuously ascending.

At first, it was only a little, appearing somewhat thin.

After a moment, it shone brilliantly, the light dazzling.

In the end, it was as if a galaxy were rolling backward.

Silvery and bright, it cast countless star wheels of all sizes in the void.

Surrounded by golden light, encircled by auspicious energy.

Grand and majestic, bright and upright.

It illuminated the garden where Fang Longye was, making it look like a star palace in the heavens.

All around were star signs, star wheels, star halos, star language, starlight, star radiance, star hexagrams, and so on, in a thousand postures and various forms.

At a glance, it was colorful and gorgeous, but in reality, it contained a cold and icy chill.

Fortunately, this garden had its own Restriction, isolating the inside from the outside, which prevented such a strange phenomenon from spilling out and attracting external attention.

"It's actually a branch of an Innate Spiritual Root?"

"How is that possible?"

Looking at the golden vine in the center of the galaxy, which was dotted with starlight, Fang Longye couldn't help but exclaim.

One must know that the items within World Remains basically all originate from the predecessor of that world.

What kind of world could possibly have an Innate Spiritual Root?

"No~ An Innate Spiritual Root wouldn't be ravaged like this just because a mere world was destroyed. Even the destruction of a Great Thousand World cannot threaten the survival of an Innate Spiritual Root."

"That's it!"

"On the periphery of the Three Realms, there are quite a few worlds that were not formed naturally, nor were they opened up by human hands, but were derived from the fragments that shattered during the various great wars before the Honghuang."

"I suppose this piece of Innate Spiritual Root was also left behind in the predecessor of this World Remains along with the Honghuang fragments."

Fang Longye realized this, gathered the vine in his hand, and under the divine ability of Insight into the Hidden, he quickly understood the information about this vine.

Heavenly Star Vine, an Innate Spiritual Root of the star path.

Of course, it cannot compare to the legendary top-tier Innate Spiritual Root, the 'Heavenly Cycle Star Fruit Tree', but regardless, it is still an Innate Spiritual Root.

However, what is in his hand is only a branch of this Innate Spiritual Root; the main body was likely destroyed long ago in the several great wars that have occurred in the Honghuang from ancient times to the present.

Fang Longye flipped his palm to put the Heavenly Star Vine away, stood up, and stretched.

I won't rush to digest these gains; first, I'll find Yang Chan and ask where the shops that purchase these World Remains are located.

Since I have a Golden Finger that can probe values and cheat, I must find a way to make a profit.

……

Vermilion pavilions and towers, jade trees and precious branches.

Under an ancient tree, the branches and leaves were like a canopy; a small pond was chiseled out, half-square and half-curved, and the lush, dark green was cast into the waves, creating a cold and secluded scene.

Fang Longye lay half-reclined on a Vine Chair, toying with a wine cup in his hand.

The wine cup had a high stem and a wide mouth, standing gracefully; within the pale white, one could see deep green colors, with white and green hues blending, containing inner precious light, swaying and shimmering.

Even without wine inside, just looking at the empty cup was enough to make one feel tipsy.

"Brother Fang, how is it?"

"Can it be considered a treasure?"

Yang Chan, not far away, asked, her tone filled with pride.

"Naturally, it counts~ For someone who loves wine, it can be called a supreme treasure."

Fang Longye nodded.

It was just that after he came to find Yang Chan, she insisted on dragging him along to accompany her in drinking and appraising treasures.

In reality, she just wanted to show off her harvest from this sea-gathering trip to someone. He just happened to run into it~

And the wine cup in his hand had no effect whatsoever regarding cultivation.

Its only effect was that it could absorb the spiritual rhyme of the void to generate Immortal Brew with a hundred changing flavors.

Environment, time, heat,... and so on; if any one of the many factors changed, the flavor of the Immortal Brew would change accordingly.

Precisely because of this, Fang Longye said that for someone who loves wine, it could be called a supreme treasure.

However, he was not a man greedy for drink. Naturally, he felt nothing for this cup.

"Fairy—"

Fang Longye was about to speak when he suddenly felt a warning in his heart, and his whole body felt icy cold.

A vision of the future appeared before his eyes.

It was a sudden flash of intuition, foreseeing the impending fortune or calamity.

"Damn it! So this is her territory?"

"That's right! Iron Fan Princess is known as the Rakshasa Woman and is also of the Asura clan."

Fang Longye's thoughts turned extremely fast, and he immediately gave Yang Chan an apologetic smile.

"Fairy, I have an urgent matter to attend to and must take my leave first. As for the batch of World Remains I obtained, I will have to trouble you to help me sell them."

"Until we meet again, when we shall drink and talk to our hearts' content~"

As soon as the voice faded, the figure had already vanished.

Only the faint scent of wine remained~ "No, if you're going to leave, then leave! Why did you have to swipe my wine cup too! That was something I intended to give to Second Brother!"

Yang Chan gazed at the spot in front of the Vine Chair where Fang Longye had sat, where a scattering of "seashells" lay, but there was no sign of the wine cup, and she was immediately struck by a fit of anger.

(End of this chapter)