Chapter 362: Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead, Qingqiu Heavenly Fox Mirror

Cangmang Mountain, currently experiencing a light drizzle.

It patters down, as if the sheng and xiao flutes were playing a melody.

Looking around at the frost-patterned courtyard steps, the railings overlooking the pond, the unfurled lotus leaves, the speckled stone colors, and the several koi carp emerging from the water, it is like an exquisite scroll painting.

Sparse raindrops fall onto the lotus leaves; after accumulating for a long time, they swirl three times on the leaves before reluctantly leaving the edges and falling down.

Unexpectedly, they do not fall into the dark green water of the pond, but land precisely on a koi carp that has poked its head out to catch its breath.

Plop! This bright golden koi carp is startled and hurriedly swims back toward the bottom of the pond.

As its tail fin flicks, it spreads ripples in circles, heading in all directions, adding a touch of liveliness to the originally quiet and secluded scene—"Whew—after a round of Dual Cultivation with three beautiful maidens, I have saved myself tens of millions of years of bitter toil. No wonder even the orthodox sects of the Profound Gate do not shy away from the path of Dual Cultivation."

Fang Longye sits in the pavilion, watching the sunset reflect in the rain, the lotus leaves shedding pearls, and the koi carp disturbing the water. He lets out a sigh, feeling a sense of relaxation after long-endured exhaustion—at this moment, more than three months have passed since the bridal chamber night of his wedding.

He engaged in successive battles with the three beautiful maidens, and finally, by relying on his own racial characteristics and his proficiency in this path, he managed to defeat the three beautiful maidens one by one.

Logically speaking,

with his cultivation as a Taiyi True Immortal and the formidable true body of an Innate Divine Dragon, he should not have been so strained dealing with three "new recruits" who had just lost their maidenhood.

Yet, these three beautiful maidens were not ordinary existences; each one appeared quiet and delicate, but in reality, they were all like tigers and wolves.

At first, perhaps because they were tasting this path for the first time, Yang Chan and the others were not yet accustomed to it, but once they gained experience, they became truly more infatuated than the last—each one pulling him to engage in battle by turns.

It just so happened that the three of them were either human-god hybrids who practiced both Dharma and physical cultivation, or Asura women known for their formidable nature, and even Long Xuan possessed the body of an Yinglong.

In terms of constitution, each was more formidable than the last—it was only him; if this were anyone else, after more than three months, they would likely have been reduced to soft bones and limp tendons long ago—even so, he experienced the feeling of being squeezed until not a drop remained.

Was it much? It was not much at all!

Especially Yang Chan, who relied on her profound cultivation and the secret techniques of the Nuwa Palace; she was not as easy to deal with as her appearance suggested.

I do not know how that Liu Yanchang in the other space-time managed to unite with her, the Third Holy Mother, and even conceive offspring.

Do not misunderstand, it is truly not that this Fang looks down on Liu Yanchang, but if he were truly a mortal, he would likely have lost his life from a single squeeze—"Hmm, regardless, this round of Dual Cultivation was worth it"—though even now, when Fang Longye thinks of it, his kidneys still seem to ache faintly.

One Taiyi Golden Immortal and two Taiyi Loose Immortals, their first Dual Cultivation, all belonging to one person; the fortune it could bring could certainly be considered a rebirth—at this moment, he

is not far from being a Taiyi Golden Immortal.

Of course, he received such benefits, and the three brides naturally gained no small amount of benefits as well, otherwise why would they have pulled him to engage in battle by turns without stopping? It can be seen that this method of Dual Cultivation can be considered a path to the Great Dao, but there is one point: regardless of whether it is the man or the woman, one must exercise restraint in this!

……

"It is not just the cultivation, but also—"

Fang Longye raises his head and looks at the auspicious clouds atop his crown, where wisps of Purple-Green Qi are pouring down, continuous and endless.

This is the feedback obtained after "uniting as one" with the three beautiful maidens and merging their Heavenly Luck—even now, it has not been fully digested.

A person's source of Heavenly Luck is diverse.

It depends on inner fortune, on fame and vessels, on the mansion and territory, on connections, on status, on the favor of Heavenly Luck, and so on and so forth.

Only when all are added together is it complete.

But seeing his total Heavenly Luck gathered together at this moment, it is like smoke yet not smoke, like clouds yet not clouds, dense and abundant, high as a Purple-Green pillar of heaven, hanging down like a carriage canopy.

The accumulated fortune has patterns, and the radiance is ten thousand zhang.

"Not bad, not bad!"

Fang Longye nods with satisfaction, stretches, stands up, and looks around at the water.

All around are lotus flowers, leaf by leaf standing tall, just as the rain has cleared; the green color soaks into the water, and raindrops cling to the leaves, appearing as if they might fall yet not falling, swaying and lovely.

A piece of glazed jade color reflects his expression, full of smiles, with an indescribable joy—"Strike while the iron is hot—"

It is time to be like Yang Chan and the others and enter a period of seclusion to properly digest all the treasures and fortune obtained from this wedding.

Whether it is the generous gifts from elders, the congratulatory gifts from guests, or the betrothal and dowry gifts from both sides, there are many good things.

The Innate Spiritual Treasures alone number several, not to mention other treasures that are of great benefit to his cultivation, which are too numerous to count.

I must organize them well—thinking this, he claps his hands, chuckles a few times, and turns to return to Longying Cave.

……

In a magnificent treasure hall of Wanling Palace, thirty-six copper pillars stand as tall as mountains, intertwined with dragon patterns, supporting a dome like a starry sky above, and resting on green jade bricks that reflect light like a mirror below.

Circles upon circles of halos expand and contract, silent and soundless, with only various forms of seal script appearing, resembling the shapes of divine dragons and the traces of the sun and moon.

Clear Qi drifts, ancient and solemn, presenting the longitude and latitude of time and space, flowing with light and color, making one forget the mundane upon seeing it.

Wisps of Purple-Green Qi hang down, intertwining left and right, condensing into a beast-faced treasure lamp; the lamp flame is a single bright point, containing boundless light.

It illuminates the surroundings into a bright expanse.

Being in the great hall, there is refinement within the ruggedness, and crisp sounds within the silence, possessing a unique style.

Fang Longye sits upright on a Cloud Couch, spreads his hand, and a multi-faceted, irregular crystal-like bead suddenly appears in his palm.

It is crystal clear, surrounded by five-colored light, like clouds and mist, changing unpredictably.

This multi-faceted, irregular bead, like a crystal diamond, is none other than an Innate Spiritual Treasure brought as a dowry by Long Xuan.

"Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead"—"Duo!"

Looking at the Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead before him,

Fang Longye exhales a breath like thunder on a dry land, and his primordial spirit Dharma power merges into it, beginning the refinement of this Innate Spiritual Treasure.

I do not know how much time has passed; Fang Longye plays with the multi-faceted, irregular bead, its spiritual light restrained, possessing an unpredictable quality, having already completely refined this Innate Spiritual Treasure.

"Go!"

Seeing his thought move, he tosses the bead away, and instantly, a misty starlight fills his vision.

Countless stars float, appearing close at hand but actually vast and immeasurable; star rivers flow, starlight is brilliant, as if trapped in the universe.

Up, down, left, and right, no path out is visible.

"Change!"

The scene before his eyes changes in response—

What was just a chaotic starry sky now instantly transforms into a landscape of strange mountains and dangerous peaks, with flowers, plants, trees, birds, beasts, fish, and insects running about within.

Thereafter, following the movement of his thoughts, the space before him shifted once more.

The originally calm mountain forest instantly transformed into scorched earth of lava, and endless fire-scaled giant beasts rushed out from within the lava, roaring incessantly...

A short while later,

Fang Longye withdrew this precious bead, holding it in his hand to fondle and rub, his brows slightly furrowed~

"A chicken rib!"

This Innate Spiritual Treasure, called the 'Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead', was not of a high grade, possessing only twenty-three Innate Divine Prohibitions, barely ranking among the middle grade~

If it were for others, this Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead, although its offensive and defensive capabilities were nearly non-existent, possessed a unique profoundness of its own, sufficient for great use.

Firstly, refining this treasure could obscure Heavenly Secrets, preventing one from being calculated by others. This effect remained useful even when facing a Great Luo~

Secondly, and this was the core ability of the Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead, it was its outstanding illusion-casting capability.

The origin of the name Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead lay here; benefiting from a portion of the Dharma of Illusion contained within this Innate Spiritual Treasure, a cultivator could use this treasure to conjure all things in heaven and earth, and even an entire world.

Whether it was a strange creature of Honghuang, a Spirit Treasure, or some rare heavenly material, there was no problem.

Moreover, when transforming into a certain object, it was not merely a change in appearance; even the effects and abilities were all identical.

In a certain sense, this was even more powerful than Fetal Transformation or Sun Wukong's Seventy-Two Transformations.

Because even for an Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead could conjure it and even exert the same power. Yet, regrettably, the prerequisite for this illusion-casting ability was that it could not exceed the grade and power limit possessed by the Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead itself.

This made it somewhat of a chicken rib! Firstly,

The Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead's ability to cover the heavens and earth was of no use to Fang Longye.

He did not need it~ Secondly,

For Fang Longye, who possessed a series of transformation supernatural powers such as Fetal Transformation and Thousand Changes,

his expectation for this treasure's illusion-casting ability was merely the item of being able to transform into other Spirit Treasures~

But the key was that the Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead was merely a middle-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure.

Limited by its own grade, no matter how profound its ability to conjure other Spirit Treasures was, it was of no use to him~ "It can only be kept as a reference for the future, to see if I can research and refine a high-grade Post-Heaven Spiritual Treasure with similar abilities~"

Fang Longye rubbed this Innate Spiritual Treasure, could not help but shake his head, and sighed.

As for the Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead itself, it could only be treated as a collection, or wait until there was an opportunity in the future to bestow it upon those around him~ such as Jinghuan, who still specialized in the Dharma of Illusion.

Putting away the Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead, Fang Longye took out another Innate Spiritual Treasure.

He saw that this was a small bronze mirror.

The entire bronze mirror was no more than a foot in diameter, with lotus patterns cast on the edge of the front, blooming in clusters, surrounding the clear and bright mirror surface, capable of reflecting the four directions.

On the back of the bronze mirror were engraved the figures of thousands of foxes, some large and some small, in various postures, each one vivid and lifelike.

Seeming to sense Fang Longye's gaze,

the bronze mirror trembled slightly, the color of the ancient bronze becoming deeper, and an inexplicable murmuring sound emerged, as if celestial sounds were rising, causing one's mind to sway and become intoxicated.

Divine light rose behind Fang Longye, and five-colored brilliance projected out, falling onto the bronze mirror, with power spreading like a spider web, permeating into the bronze mirror.

A moment later, light filled its surface, like moss spots, like ancient brocade, like mushrooms, flushing with verdigris, cold and serene.

Within the bronze mirror, the originally faint murmuring sound became increasingly clear and audible~

One sound after another.

Continuous and unending.

It was like the soft dialect of Wu, and those who heard it felt their bones soften and their spirits dazed, directly causing one to give rise to all sorts of seductive illusions~

Perhaps it was because this Innate Spiritual Treasure was far stronger than the Eight-Sided Exquisite Bead, or perhaps it was for some other reason.

As the refining deepened, this bronze mirror actually showed faint resistance toward Fang Longye.

Not only was the refining speed much slower than estimated, but the bronze mirror even projected a ghostly divine light.

In the end, the reflection of a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox appeared on the mirror surface, its nine tails spreading out like flower petals.

Although it was the image of a fox, it gave one an image of a thousand charms and enchantments, as if it had snatched away all the 'beauty' between heaven and earth.

Immediately following, the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox in the mirror trembled lightly, and its slender eyes slowly opened.

Brilliant as the stars, carrying a heartbreaking charm, the entire time and space seemed to light up in this instant.

Fang Longye's divine sense was within the bronze mirror,

and before his eyes, everything disappeared; he could no longer see the deeper layer of Innate Divine Prohibitions, leaving only the figure of this Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox.

He did not sink his entire mind into it, yet upon seeing this Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox, he still lost his focus for an instant.

It was only because the beauty of this Heavenly Fox had already transcended the scope of charm techniques, and was a beauty pure to the extreme, making one dazzled and mesmerized.

Fortunately, it was ultimately just the Spirit Treasure's own resistance, equivalent to a tree without roots and water without a source, completely unable to truly stop Fang Longye's refining.

Very quickly,

accompanied by a crisp and resonant tinkling sound, this bronze mirror immediately retracted its divine radiance, leaped into the air, circled around Fang Longye for a while~ and finally, at a beckon of his hand, it obediently landed in his palm, its attitude intimate~

It was that he had already refined this bronze mirror to a great extent; he could not say it was as easy as moving his own arm, but it could be called handy~

That resistance naturally vanished into thin air.

"What a fine 'Heavenly Fox Mirror'!"

"What a fine treasure of the Qingqiu clan!"

Fang Longye rubbed the bronze mirror in his palm, smelling a faint fragrance; the entire bronze mirror, as if washed by water, had a condensed and lingering scent.

This bronze mirror was named 'Heavenly Fox Mirror', an Innate Spiritual Treasure formed at the creation of Honghuang, the treasure of the ancient Demon Race Great Sage, the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox~ Its ability was very unique, or rather, eerie.

As long as one was illuminated by the mirror light, their mind would fall into a state of sinking, and at the same time, a reflection of oneself would remain on the mirror surface.

And as long as the mirror owner took action to wipe away the reflection like dust on a mirror, the existence in reality would also cease to exist along with their reflection~

Of course, eerie is eerie.

If one were to truly discuss power, it is naturally more than a hundred thousand eight thousand li inferior to top-tier Innate Spiritual Treasures with peerless might, such as the Innate Five Elements Flags, Yuantu and Abi, the Red Embroidered Ball, and the Earth Book.

It has a total of only thirty-seven Innate Divine Prohibitions, barely stepping into the ranks of top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.

Of course, it is precisely because of this that this Innate Spiritual Treasure was obtained by the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox.

After all, when it comes down to it, only the strong in this world are qualified to be picky.

Although the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox possessed an innate origin and was a standout among the Great Luo, in the Honghuang of that time, she was merely upper-middle tier.

Being able to obtain a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure was already a stroke of heaven-sent luck for the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox; she was too happy to even think of anything else.

It is precisely because, given her status and position, possessing a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure was truly rare.

As a trump card kept at the bottom of her chest, the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox naturally spent some effort refining it—in fact, originally, this precious mirror did not have the effect of causing one's mind to sink into depravity or making people infatuated and lost.

It only had the ability to capture an image of a person on the mirror's surface and subsequently erase the enemy as if wiping away dust.

But although the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox's strength could not be ranked among her peers, her mind was clever and intelligent.

She knew well that this precious mirror of hers actually had a flaw that was not quite a flaw—

That was that the mirror light had to shine upon the enemy for their reflection to be left on the mirror's surface. Only then could she erase the enemy as if wiping dust from the mirror's surface.

Yet Honghuang had countless capable people, and there was no lack of those who could either predict the ability of her precious mirror in advance or react quickly.

In this way, the effectiveness of this precious mirror against enemies would be greatly discounted—

And in order to make up for this flaw,

To make the opponent unable to react in time as much as possible, or to delay the opponent's reaction time.

She risked the cost of damaging her origin to sever all nine of her fox tails and refine them together with the Innate precious mirror she had obtained—(both her origin and the nine tails could still recover, but it would require time and rare treasures).

It was also because of this that she was able to rank among the Demon Race Great Sage during the ancient years, carve out a resounding reputation, and even establish the Qingqiu clan.

It is a pity that taking a shortcut is, in the end, still a shortcut.

Although this Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox had established no small prestige back then, unrivaled for a time, she ultimately failed to survive the Lich Calamity.

Only her personal Spirit Treasure, the "Heavenly Fox Mirror," remained in the world, becoming the clan-protecting treasure of the Qingqiu lineage.

Unfortunately, times have changed; the Qingqiu lineage she painstakingly established also became worse with each generation, and in the end, it too vanished in the Calamity, scattered by the wind and rain—

The Innate Spiritual Treasure she relied on to become famous back then was also lost to the hands of outsiders, and in the end, it passed through many hands to reach him, Fang Longye—

(End of this chapter)