Chapter 746: Recognition

This is a coronet whose entire body is purple-gold.

Its main body spans over ten thousand zhang in diameter, is about a hundred zhang thick, and its whole body shines with gorgeous starlight; wave after wave of starlight surges continuously from within the coronet, vast and mighty, faintly emitting a low, heavenly sound like the sun and moon moving along their celestial tracks.

At the center of the coronet, an extremely fine thread of divine light spouts forth.

The fine divine light continues unceasingly, piercing through the void and shooting toward an unknown distance.

This extremely fine thread of divine light gives the feeling that it connects the whole of heaven and earth, and also seems to be the main axis around which heaven and earth turn. Though the divine light is fine, upon close inspection one finds that it seems to encompass all mysteries of heaven and earth, storing all tangible and intangible, describable and indescribable beings within heaven and earth.

Yet, such a gorgeous, awe-inspiring, miraculous, supremely powerful ultimate treasure is covered all over with countless cracks, and moreover bears hundreds of extremely vicious scars, deeply embedded in a chaotic mess.

Wu Tie noticed several fist prints, several knife marks, several sword marks, and traces of other weapons such as spears, heavy axes, and heavy hammers—everything one could expect.

This is a precious treasure that has endured countless bloody battles, barely surviving in terrifying, destructive combat.

He hovers here silently, except for that central thread of divine light flickering unsteadily, eternally unmoving, like an ancient magic dragon that has suffered grave wounds and is now crawling in its lair to rest and recuperate.

"What is its name?" Wu Tie asked softly and cautiously, turning to Gan Xiao.

"The Primordial Coronet." Gan Xiao, also somewhat dazed, gazed at this incredible divine artifact and said softly: "It can congeal time, making time completely solidify. I don't know if it has any other miraculous uses, but in the few invasions by evil gods in the history of Chiyang Shen Shan, its demonstrated effect has been to solidify time."

"Apart from the one who drives it, all things are frozen in time. Those evil gods can only be slaughtered at will."

Gan Xiao said softly: "With it suppressing Chiyang Shen Shan, my Chiyang Shen Shan can stand firm in the Wujin Manghuang and roam freely in one region. Compared to it, the few treasures I possess are still far inferior."

"Primordial Coronet. A fine name." Wu Tie blinked, reached out his hand, and gently stroked the Primordial Coronet.

"Are there any incantations or mantras to drive it?" Wu Tie suddenly stopped his hand, turned his head, and glanced at Gan Xiao.

Gan Xiao stared, then lightly shook his head: "It is the guardian treasure of Chiyang Shen Shan... but to be frank, unless evil gods invade, it basically pays no attention to anyone. Rather than saying... we are merely taking shelter under its wings."

Wu Tie nodded in realization: "Rather than saying it's your guardian treasure, perhaps it's just staying here to heal its wounds, and when in a good mood, it lends you a hand? Is that what you mean? So, without any incantations or mantras, whether it activates depends entirely on its own will."

Wu Tie bluntly said: "You have, in fact, never become its master!"

Gan Xiao gave a dry laugh, blinking his eyes frantically.

"Then let me try." Wu Tie gazed at this treasure, its body riddled with cracks and its surface covered with countless gruesome wounds, and said softly: "I think you should know I've come... let me introduce myself—I am Wu Tie."

"Wu, is the Wu of the Wu tribe."

"The one who stands shoulder to shoulder, upright between heaven and earth, whose spinal bones can be shattered but will never bend."

"I don't know how much you know about outside affairs."

"I am striving, for my people and for those groups I pity, to seek a fairer, safer living environment. I am striving, wanting to let my people and those pitiful groups live under sunshine and rain, able to bask in the light of sun, moon, and stars."

"I am doing my utmost to ensure those little children can eat their fill and stay warm."

"I am doing my utmost to strive so that no one will ever again become a sacrificial offering."

"I am doing my utmost to undertake many things I believe I should do and must do."

"But my power is limited; I, my people, my elders—our power is limited. After all, we are merely mortals; through cultivation we have gained some power, yet we are not truly omnipotent gods."

"So, I want to borrow your power."

"I don't know your origin, I don't know your past, I don't know what you have experienced, I don't know your current state. Moreover, I don't know how much power you still retain, or what you are thinking now."

"I only hope that if you can protect Chiyang Shen Shan and protect these peoples of the Wujin Manghuang, then please lend me your power so that I may protect even more people."

"I dare not hope to ask you to acknowledge me as your master."

"I only wish that you could lend me your power."

Wu Tie chattered on, expressing the thoughts he had kept in his heart for a long time, saying everything that had been bottled up.

He had never said these words even to Pei Feng.

In front of their own women, many men, in fact many times, feel ashamed to show their weakness.

He had never said these words even to Lao Tie.

Lao Tie this guy, being a lump of metal by origin, can discuss fighting, drinking, metal formulas, alloy properties, etc., with him. But discussing these delicate mental activities with him... well, Lao Tie is ultimately just a coarse fellow.

Wu Tie has never spoken these words to anyone.

Especially now, at his current status, where a word or deed affects the life and death honor of millions, Wu Tie sometimes can only keep a straight face, only put on a cold-as-ice demeanor.

Even if he feels powerless inside, even if his heart is in turmoil, he cannot show it.

But facing this enormous Primordial Coronet, Wu Tie suddenly felt an urge to confide, and so he spoke the words from his heart.

"I don't know, can you still fight?"

"Do you still have the passion for battle, and... the strength for battle?"

Wu Tie's hand finally came to rest upon the Primordial Coronet.

The Primordial Coronet's whole-body rolling torrent of starlight suddenly solidified for a moment, then Wu Tie's body shuddered and he was directly sucked into the Primordial Coronet.

The Five Elements Daoist and the Vast Sea Daoist furrowed their brows, then let out a heavy sigh.

Gan Xiao, meanwhile, stared wide-eyed in disbelief and shouted hoarsely: "How could this be? The Primordial Coronet has suppressed Chiyang Shen Shan for countless years, never before showing such a phenomenon."

The Vast Sea Daoist coldly chuckled: "Perhaps it's that you people of Chiyang Shen Shan have never known what the Primordial Coronet is thinking. It has never truly regarded you."

Gan Xiao remained silent, his face rather strange.

Wu Tie only felt his body lighten, and then he arrived in a magnificent void where starlight sparkled.

In all directions, boundless and endless, countless stars of various sizes twinkled; threads of mysterious starlight shuttled through the void, each thread containing an ineffable rhyme of the Great Dao.

Wu Tie hovered silently here, utterly still.

He sensed that a great and terrifying existence was gazing upon him.

Under that being's gaze, his body and his soul were nearly transparent, as if no secret could be hidden from its scrutiny.

"This is... the Primordial Scripture... that lot of meddlers, did they actually concoct this thing?" A wavering voice echoed directly in Wu Tie's mind: "But I still retain my opinion; this thing has little practical significance in wartime—what we need are quick cultivation methods, even if we walk the demonic or heretical path, the quicker the better."

"Little fellow, how many years have you cultivated to reach this Half-step True Person Realm?"

"Half-step True Person Realm?" Wu Tie exclaimed in surprise: "This realm, we nowadays call it the Divine Manifestation Realm..."

"Ah, dog-fart... Half-step True Person Realm, that is indeed your current state, the term we recognize." The voice said calmly: "When your spirit and flesh unite and a thread of innate spiritual light bursts forth, that is when you become a True Person."

Wu Tie nodded slowly.

According to that voice, the True Person Realm is that great realm above the Divine Realm.

The voice continued to mutter to itself: "True person, true person… In the primordial ancient times, when a human infant is born, that is a true person. Although their strength is weak, they truly possess the physique of a true person. Their flesh is flawless and immaculate, their whole body pure and natural, forming heaven and earth, communicating with the universe; that is the Dao body, possessing infinite potential—this is what a true person is."

He let out a sigh, then the voice asked Wu Tie: "You, how many years have you cultivated?"

Wu Tie said in a deep voice: "This youngster this year has not yet reached the age of not being perplexed."

The starlight all over the sky trembled, and that voice remained silent for a long time. After a very long while, he finally murmured: "Under forty? No way… You're cultivating the Primordial Scripture, right? How could this slow, painstaking practice possibly allow such rapid progress?"

Wu Tie spread his hands, indicating he also didn't know why.

Countless strands of starlight gathered from all directions, each strand lightly penetrating Wu Tie's body.

Wu Tie let out a muffled grunt, his bones suddenly grew hot, then burst forth with dazzling chaotic spiritual light. For a moment his flesh and organs turned transparent, leaving only a dim skeletal frame hovering in the air, while over ten zhang of chaotic spiritual light, like flames, shot up from his skeleton, higher and higher.

"Ah, chaotic bone." The voice laughed, as if solving a great worry, his tone becoming light and pleased: "Yes… it's the remains of chaos, absorbed by you—no wonder."

Wu Tie quickly recalled that small fragment of remnant bone he had fused in the underground cave back then.

"Do you want to borrow my power?" the voice gently asked Wu Tie: "Then open your memories, let me see what kind of person you really are."

"I will not lend my power to someone… I dislike."

The starlight across the sky swirled, a mighty aura surging from all directions: "Show me your memories, or I will now send you away, after which you must never approach Chiyang Shen Shan even a single step."

"What you just said makes me relatively satisfied."

"But I must clarify whether what you said is truth or lies."

"If it is a lie, I will directly strike you dead."

"Of course, if you are unwilling to show me your memories, then I will send you away… either leave alive, or gain my power, or be killed by me here—what is your choice?"

Wu Tie took a deep breath, then laughed.

"I have nothing I cannot let people see…"

A tremendous roar erupted from within Wu Tie, his forehead's vertical eye opened, seven-colored divine light gushed forth, Wu Tie completely opened his soul, allowing countless strands of starlight to drill into his soul.

From the moment Wu Tie was still in the womb, when a hint of spirituality first arose, scenes flashed by rapidly.

The infant Wu Tie, the child Wu Tie, the adolescent Wu Tie…

From the great upheaval of the Wu family stone fortress, to fleeing into the pond, meeting Old Tie…

"Yes, a subordinate of Yang Jian… that guy Tie Xiu Luo really has good luck… I didn't expect to run into an acquaintance." As the voice flipped through Wu Tie's memories to this point, it softly sighed: "The offspring taught by Tie Xiu Luo… can't be called completely honest, but at least they're not bad people, huh."

Leaving the underground world, blending into the Great Jin Divine Kingdom, thereafter struggling all the way…

All the way to the duel battlefield, Wu Tie earned merit and was ennobled as Martial King, not even a few days of peace passed before the northern snow plains tribe attacked, and Linghu Qingqing actually led her people to flee in panic…

Wu Tie violently killed Gongyang Sanlü, violently seized all authority, replaced it with Wuguo, and swore to fight to the death with the snow plains tribe…

Wu Tie also, with the help of this starlight power, reviewed his short lifetime's experiences.

His heart became much more at ease, much more resolute.

Strands of starlight slowly retreated from Wu Tie's soul; then these strands swirled and entwined before him, eventually forming a vast corona with a diameter of tens of thousands of li, slowly condensing before Wu Tie.

Entirely purple-gold, spewing forth boundless divine light and limitless brilliance, the corona slowly rotated, emitting a tremendous sound like the heavens collapsing.

"I am the Primordial Coronet."

"Wu Tie, I acknowledge your past deeds, I acknowledge your intention to borrow my power to do what you wish."

"So let us become comrades-in-arms."

"The rabble of Chiyang Shen Shan only know how to cling to life, only know how to borrow a bit of my power, hiding in this wilderness to get by."

"They have completely forgotten that the entire Mu Dalu is human territory."

"We must do something. We must do something."

"If you lend me one of the three flower buds born from that lotus seed in your mind as a dwelling, I can use its power together with yours to repair the injury that has not healed at all over these many years."

"Then I can truly acknowledge you as my lord. Are you willing?"

Wu Tie stared in shock at the enormous Primordial Coronet before him: "That lotus root, does it really have such a marvelous use?"

The Primordial Coronet rumbled with laughter: "Yes, indeed it has such a marvelous use… it… possesses the power of creation, truly a wondrous divine object beyond imagination."

After a moment's contemplation, the Primordial Coronet said in a deep voice: "If you can offer the God‑Smiting Whip in your hand for me to decompose and absorb… I will immediately recover a portion of my injuries… believe me, even a little of the strength I regain far exceeds his full power."

Wu Tie fell silent for a while, then slowly nodded.

"Good!"

"To heal your injuries, however much resources you need, just speak up… I will spare no effort to gather them."