Chapter 678: Three Treasures, The Fourth Register

Wind God City has no city walls.

One could leave the city along any of its main thoroughfares; Li Yuan strolled slowly down the street, and whenever he passed a shop whose interior was sealed off from the outside by formation wards, he would step inside to take a look.

Though Wind God City was not one of the five great cities of Tian Shi Yuan, it was still counted among the Xiancheng, and within its shops large and small, one could find no lack of exceedingly rare spiritual materials and spirit treasures.

In the shops of great powers like the Grand Void branch pavilion, there were even divine treasures serving as the establishment's prized stock — though not top-grade, they were worth a fortune.

Dao soldiers, dharma treasures, spirit pills, flying ships, divine patterns, exotic beasts, spirit puppets, Gong Fa manuals…

On his way out of the city, Li Yuan browsed through quite a few shops; though he bought hardly anything, he felt his horizons had broadened considerably.

"The Wind God Clan — a great clan of Tian Shi Yuan, and also a great clan passed down from the Origin Divine Dynasty. Their patriarch achieved the Dao a single Epoch ago, and seems to be of the same generation as the Venom Dragon God…"

Li Yuan also split off a portion of his attention to the Common Lore Orb, occasionally searching through the Grand Void Myriad Images for a thing or two; by the time he left the city, he already had a fair understanding of this Xiancheng.

Wind God City, viewed from high above the vault of heaven, looked like a colossal set of concentric circles — circles within circles, circles containing yet more circles — and beyond the Xiancheng, numerous other cities stood in attendance.

"Little Mother Dragon's knowledge is still a bit shallow, but some of her perceptions are correct."

Li Yuan looked up.

Tian Shi Yuan was a continent that gathered the radiance of Qun Xing; even in broad daylight one could see starlight falling through the sea of clouds, as well as cultivators traveling along that starlight between Tian Shi Yuan and the many stars.

Li Yuan switched his command, relying on the augmentation of the Five Senses Set.

Faintly, faintly, one could see that within the starlight originating from Qun Xing and spreading across the heavens, there lay stern and solemn divine prohibitions.

Those beams of starlight were simultaneously the light of the stars, the 'Star Tracks' linking Tian Shi Yuan with the various star domains, and a colossal divine array stretching in all directions and enveloping Tian Shi Yuan.

"The Balance of Heaven?"

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly.

Tian Shi Yuan might not have only three Dao treasures, but the ones most renowned across all realms were undoubtedly the Grand Void Divine Mirror, the Balance of Heaven, and the Qun Xing Banner.

Among them, the Grand Void Divine Mirror needs no explanation — it is the main body of the Grand Void Illusory Realm, famous throughout all realms; the Balance of Heaven, on the other hand, possesses the ability to measure heaven and earth, to traverse without limit.

It was precisely because of the existence of this Balance of Heaven that Tian Shi Yuan earned the name 'Celestial Market'; though domain gates were fine, they were ultimately too expensive, unable to be made available to every cultivator.

And the Qun Xing Banner possessed the ability to draw in the stars; once it was set up above Tian Shi Yuan, the various ownerless stars within the starry sea of the cosmos would slowly be drawn toward it.

Ultimately merging into Tian Shi Yuan.

At the end of the Origin Epoch, Tian Shi Yuan ranked last among the San Yuan Fa Jie domains — a frontier land of the Origin, scarcely one or two Epochs old — yet now it had already faintly surpassed the Purple Tenuity Enclosure.

All because of the Divine Wind Marquis, and these three great Dao treasures.

"Dao treasures."

Li Yuan murmured the words to himself a couple of times, and could not help but steal a glance at the God Burial Coffin within his Soldier-Commanding Space; this bronze ancient coffin was not only a Dao treasure, but faintly already bore the aura of a top-grade Dao treasure.

Yet he had held it for many years and still could not use it…

【Command Requirements: Chaotic Sacred Body, Origin Divine Fetus, Saint Extreme Dharma Aspect】

"These command requirements…"

Li Yuan took only a single glance and already felt speechless.

Back then he had already felt these three conditions were outrageously exaggerated; looking again now, he found them all the more terrifying.

"The Chaotic Sacred Body is probably a type of Innate Dao Body, and that Origin Divine Fetus is likely the Innate Dao Body within the Origin Divine Race, and as for that Saint Extreme Dharma Aspect…"

In recent years Li Yuan had read a great many books, among them some concerning the 'Dharma Aspect'.

In the old days Little Mother Dragon had said that upon the great completion of the Divine Palace, the Spirit Aspect became the Dharma Aspect — that was half right, half wrong; the great completion of the Divine Palace was only the foundation for condensing the Dharma Aspect; one had to refine the Dharma Rings, and only then would the Spirit Aspect become the Dharma Aspect.

Dharma Aspects had five grades: Mortal, Spirit, Heaven, God, and Saint.

To condense a Dharma Aspect of the Saint Extreme grade, one would surely have to refine the Nine-Scene Jin Dan and the Nine-Aspect Dharma Rings — something exceedingly rare even within Mount Mount Dongxuan.

As far as he knew, among the current generation of inner disciples, the only one to have refined a Dharma Aspect of the Saint grade was Yu Yu Wangxian alone.

Outside Wind God City, there were many cities; Li Yuan picked out two and wandered through them, and only when the sky began to darken did he look back at Wind God City:

"I've been wandering about this long and no one's following me — looks like the merchants of Wind God City are all quite well-behaved."

Whether in regret or disappointment, Li Yuan did not linger; his figure flashed once and vanished into the night. A thirteenth-grade Dun Tian Zhou, even without magic power to drive it, could shift ten thousand li in a single move.

As was his custom, Li Yuan sought out a hidden cave, sealed the entrance, activated Qing Di Yan, and only after detecting nothing amiss did he set up an altar in the darkness and take out the requisite divine beast blood.

"For the third Bestowal of the Register I used top-grade spirit beast blood; in terms of grade, it barely counts as first-grade. By rights, second-grade Five-Sacrifice flesh should suffice for the fourth Bestowal of the Register, shouldn't it?"

Li Yuan lightly patted his dharma robe to dust off the grime, deliberated for a moment, and still took out the second-grade Five-Sacrifice flesh and blood, intending to try the second grade first.

It wasn't that he was stingy — it was that if he used third-grade this time, the Old Ancestor would get into the habit, and next time he jumped another grade, wouldn't he have to use fifth-grade Five-Sacrifice flesh and blood?

"Hoo!"

Li Yuan stilled his spirit and calmed his breath, arranging the altar required for the ritual in proper order.

Compared to the crude setup at the very beginning, the altar and spirit incense he now used were without exception the finest of their kind.

He deliberated once more, felt there was no difference either way, and only then sprinkled the gathered second-grade Five-Sacrifice blood according to the ritual's directional positions.

"Wooo~"

In the darkness, the blood of the five spirit beasts shone with intermingling light; not only was there no smell of blood, there was even a faint fragrance.

The blood-qi steamed upward, and faintly the shadows of the spirit beasts from their lifetimes seemed to manifest, letting out low roars within the darkness.

"Old Ancestor's blessing!"

Letting out a long breath, suppressing the agitation in his heart, Li Yuan paced out the four directions, reciting the prayer both in heart and aloud.

At last, a long bow:

"Disciple Li Yuan bows, beseeching the heavens to bestow the Register!"

Boom!

Li Yuan felt an invisible surge of energy rise abruptly; in the darkness divine light blazed forth, and the shadows of the five spirit beasts shot skyward.

"Oh no…"

Seeing this, Li Yuan's heart gave a jolt; sure enough, after the five beast-shadows galloped for a few instants, they had already dissipated into the void.

"He won't even accept second-grade now — the Old Ancestor has actually started getting picky about his food…"

Seeing this, Li Yuan sighed inwardly, but he didn't waste any time.

First he tidied up the ground, making sure not a trace of blood qi remained, then took out the five jars of third-realm spirit beast flesh and blood he had bought.

"Third realm should work, right?"

Li Yuan's heart suddenly grew a little uneasy, afraid the patriarch still wouldn't accept it, but he quickly gathered his thoughts, let out a long breath of stale air, and performed the ritual once more.

"Disciple Li Yuan, prays to the heavens for the bestowal of the register!"

Li Yuan bowed deeply.

Whoo—

The cave was deathly silent; you could hear a pin drop.

Seeing this, Li Yuan's heart eased instead. Based on the experience of the previous three times, this one should have worked.

Boom!

Sure enough, the familiar thunderous roar arrived on cue, like ten thousand claps of thunder detonating simultaneously in the depths of his soul.

Even though he was prepared, Li Yuan still couldn't help but black out for a moment, but that was all. With the Ni Wan Shen Jing as a buffer, he would no longer be half-killed by that thunderous roar like before.

But within the Ni Wan Shen Jing, waves surged sky-high, thunder rolled endlessly, the Xuanteng Isle was nearly swallowed by the waves, and the Jin Chi roc transformed into a giant kun, straining to calm the Ni Wan Shen Jing.

"Roar!"

"Moo!"

The next instant, five-colored radiance flared within the cave.

The five sacrificial beasts' blood scattered on the ground burned and boiled, transforming into five substantial spirit beasts that growled and cried out as they shot skyward, vanishing into the dark mountain body.

"It worked!"

Li Yuan let out a long breath, raised his hand to gather the altar and all the miscellaneous items, his figure spun, and he vanished into the void.

After teleporting several times in succession and confirming no one had noticed, Li Yuan found another cave, sat in quiet meditation within, and entered the Soldier-Forging Space.

The expansion of the gray stone platform had already subsided, with only faint lingering tremors.

Li Yuan lifted his eyes and swept his gaze, which fell upon the edge of the plaza-like stone platform. There, a long, pale-purple wooden platform had appeared. "Looks like a bed…"

Li Yuan's thoughts turned, and he focused his perception.

【Fourth Register Bestowal: Dream-Sovereign Register】

【Li Yuan: Tenth-Rank Soldier Sovereign, Eighth-Rank Sound Sovereign, Seventh-Rank Calamity Sovereign, Dream Sovereign】

【Dream-Sovereign Register】

【Unlocked: Spirit-Nurturing Bed】

"……"

It really is a bed!

"Soldier-Forging Platform, Human-Calamity Platform, Sound-Listening Wooden Register, Spirit-Nurturing Bed…"

Li Yuan subconsciously swept his gaze over the various strange objects on the stone platform and couldn't help inwardly grumbling—could this stone platform originally have been some blacksmith's hermitage?

"Body-Nurturing Bed…"

Grumbling inwardly, Li Yuan still held quite a bit of anticipation for his fourth register, and clearly, this fourth register was different from the first three.

It didn't even have ranks!

Li Yuan walked up to that purple wooden bed, and with a thought, he had already sensed the fragmented information from the Dream-Sovereign Register.

"One pillow of yellow millet enters mustard dust… spirit roams the great thousand… fleeting life reversed… star heaven proves the true Dao…"

The information was sparse and broken; even with the boost of the Five Senses Set, Li Yuan only caught these scattered phrases, but the Dream-Sovereign Register itself was crystal clear:

【Dream-Sovereign Register】

【Heavenly Dream: 0】

【Unlocked: Spirit-Nurturing Bed】

"Entering dreams…"

Feeling the information from the Dream-Sovereign Register, Li Yuan grew increasingly convinced that this fourth register was special.

But for the moment he simply couldn't think of what use entering dreams could have. Focusing his perception once more, he vaguely heard another phrase:

"Heaven too has dreams; entering dreams one may observe heaven… entering dreams requires a medium… nurture the spirit as a bed, yellow millet as a pillow…"

"Can't you just be more straightforward…"

Li Yuan sighed inwardly, but he had already roughly grasped the function of this fourth register.

"Still, this dream-entering seems even more useless than the Human-Calamity Platform… and what's this Heavenly Dream? Needs a medium, to enter heaven's dream?"

Li Yuan frowned; this fourth register left him somewhat disappointed. Not only did it seem of little use, but it also required a medium to activate.

Moreover, he felt a vague sense of familiarity…

"Entering dreams—doesn't that Nightmare Nine-Headed Serpent have the ability to enter people's nightmares?"

Li Yuan's heart jolted, and he instinctively sensed the Ni Wan Shen Jing.

After a brief tremor, the Ni Wan Shen Jing had returned to calm, though the Xuanteng Isle was dotted with puddles everywhere, and the Xuanteng trees gently shook the water droplets from their branches and leaves.

Beneath the great tree, the once-vast shed skin of the Nightmare Nine-Headed Serpent had shrunk by more than half.

"Would this thing count as a medium?"

With just a thought, Li Yuan had already moved the Nightmare Nine-Headed Serpent's shed skin before the Spirit-Nurturing Bed. A faint light flickered on the wooden bed, then quickly returned to stillness.

【Remnant shed skin of a Nightmare Beast, insufficient to serve as a medium】

"Nightmare Beast?"

Li Yuan fell into thought, tossed the serpent shed skin back into the Ni Wan Shen Jing, beckoned with a hand, and fetched a Yun Xiang Ding, within which a wisp of purple qi flowed slowly, giving off a rather sinister and eerie feeling.

【Nightmare power may serve as a medium!】

Purple light flickered on the Spirit-Nurturing Bed, and the wisp of nightmare power within the Yun Xiang Ding had already vanished.

【Current Heavenly Dream Count: 1】

"Is the Nightmare's power considered a medium?"

Li Yuan did not rashly try. Instead, he brought out, one by one, the weapons and items he had collected over the years from the Soldier-Divining Stone Platform, laying them before the Spirit-Nurturing Bed.

But this time, the latter did not stir in the slightest, clearly demanding extremely strict requirements of its medium.

"This bed may not only accept the Nightmare's power—it's just that I don't have anything on par with that Nightmare's power…"

Li Yuan's heart grew somewhat solemn.

That wisp of Nightmare's power in him was suspected to come from the legendary Nightmare Hydra Ancestor; its grade was bound to be extremely high!

"Heavenly Dream."

The Spirit-Nurturing Bed's use was very simple—one only needed to lie upon it—but Li Yuan, gazing at that faint, elusive purple, felt a strong sense of dread:

"It couldn't be that I'd enter the dream of that Nightmare Hydra Ancestor, could it?"

The Spirit-Nurturing Bed naturally gave no answer. It only lay quietly at the edge of the stone platform, its faint purple light flickering on and off, exuding an indescribably sinister air.

"What a terrible loss!"

In the mountain cave, Li Yuan could not help but sigh.

This fourth tally was very special, but he truly did not dare to use it. If he really did enter the dream of that Hydra Ancestor, he feared he wouldn't come back alive.

Other possibilities existed as well, but he did not dare gamble.

Yet if he were to pretend this fourth tally didn't exist, he was unwilling to let it go.

"Perhaps once I've cultivated the Ying Mo Shen Gong, I can go try? If the Second Primordial Spirit enters the dream, even if it's dangerous, it shouldn't affect me, right?"

Li Yuan's thoughts wandered, considering all manner of possibilities.

In the end, he felt that this dream-entering must be approached with caution.

Not only must he enter the dream using the Er Yuan Shen Fa, but at that time it would be best for him to stay at Mount Mount Dongxuan. If he could go nap in the Secluded Bamboo Grove, that would be even safer.

"Such harsh conditions and such danger—by all reason, the harvest from a single dream-entering should be enormously great…"

Li Yuan had held his tallies for many years, and he did have some guesses about the Dream-Divining Tally.

"Back to Huishan."

After a long while, Li Yuan suppressed his tangled thoughts, his form spun, and he vanished into the void.

After many years of cultivation, he still regarded the tallies with great importance, but he was no longer that apprentice of the Weapon-Forging Shop who had nothing but the Soldier-Divining Tally.

Being unable to use this fourth tally for the time being did not affect his cultivation of arts, or his breaking through realms and advancing in rank.

……

……

Early the next morning, Li Yuan had already returned to Mount Mount Dongxuan.

After the Yu Xuanji Dao Soldier verified his identity, he returned to his own lesser grotto-heaven with a flat purse. Before leaving, he still couldn't help buying a spiritual treasure he had taken a fancy to before.

【Azure-Gloom Little Thunder Dragon (Eleventh Grade)】

This spiritual treasure's control effect was similar to the Shan Xuan-Gan Qi Gourd, also capable of stacking innate talents—only besides that, this Little Thunder Dragon also had six divine prohibitions, hence its rather steep price.

And after taking these two spiritual treasures, then teleporting back through the domain gate, the bit of Shan Gong Li Yuan had on him was essentially spent.

He simply returned and exchanged it with Senior Brother Wang Wang Jingyi for seventh-grade incense offerings.

"Once I've refined the Qing Di Fa's magic power, I can enter the Combat Hall again."

Putting away the exchanged incense offerings, Li Yuan returned to his own lesser grotto-heaven.

(End of this chapter)