Reincarnation Lands, Three Treasures of Taishang

"Reincarnators who have not passed the Trial Mission have no permission to view the mission… The Trial Mission will begin in a two-hour period; at that time, Reincarnators will be transferred to the mission world… Time remaining: one two-hour period." Qian Chen skillfully opened that golden Exchange List. Although he had not yet earned rewards by completing a mission, the only way he could currently learn about the Reincarnation Lands was this Exchange List. The Exchange List had three basic units for redeeming rewards: Kindness Points, Merit, and Moral Points. Three thousand Kindness Points could be exchanged for one Merit, and three thousand Merit for one Moral Point. Judging by that, the Taishang Dao Dust Pearl was indeed worth ten million, making it an extraordinary item on the Reincarnation Lands' Exchange List. Qian Chen casually opened the magic treasure category; the first line read: Great Sun Golden Bell, forged by the Primeval Demon Emperor, an Acquired Spirit Treasure, redemption price: three billion Moral Points. The following lines were equally information-dense: Imperial Authority, the jade seal used by the Sovereign of Great Yang to rule the Divine Court, an Acquired Spirit Treasure, redemption price: 2.5 billion Moral Points. Taishang Yin-Yang Fan — Taishang Mysterious Yin Fan (missing the Taishang Pure Yang Fan), a treasure for transmitting the Dao forged by the Taishang Dao Ancestor, an Acquired Spirit Treasure, redemption price: 2.5 billion Moral Points. World-Annihilating Grand Mill of Turbid and Clear Qi — Great Disc of Earth-Covering Turbid Qi (missing the Great Mill of Clear Qi That Tilts the Heavens), a world-destroying treasure forged by the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor, an Acquired Spirit Treasure, redemption price: 2.5 billion Moral Points. Twelve-Rank Golden Lotus of Merit (missing three ranks), a sect-protecting treasure forged by the Buddha Patriarch, an Innate Spirit Treasure, redemption price: 1.5 billion Moral Points. True Armor of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, a body-protecting treasure forged by the Primeval Thunder God, an Acquired Spirit Treasure, redemption price: 1.5 billion Moral Points… "Taishang Yin-Yang Fan — isn't that one of the Three Treasures of Taishang, the sect-protecting treasure of Tushita Palace? Could it be that Tushita Palace has also fallen into ruin and suffered calamity, just like Louguan Dao?" Qian Chen looked at a line in the Exchange Catalog, somewhat surprised. The Lord of Reincarnation was indeed a formidable figure, able to get his hands on one of the Three Treasures of Taishang, the Taishang Yin-Yang Fan. Even though it was only half, it was no small matter. The Three Treasures of Taishang: the Taishang Eight Trigrams Furnace, the Taishang Yin-Yang Fan, and the Taishang Dao Dust Pearl. They were personal items of the Taishang Dao Ancestor before he attained the Dao, later bestowed upon his disciples, symbolizing the identity of the Taishang Dao Lineage. Those who obtained these three treasures were the three orthodox lineages of Taishang Dao: the Taiqing Sect, Tushita Palace, and Louguan Dao. They were the true objects of the lineage. Even if Louguan Dao had fallen so far that only a single Golden Core Feather Knight remained in this generation, as long as one held the Three Treasures, before any Taishang Dao lineage other than these three sources, one was still a superior sect. The reason Qian Chen did not want to return to Taishang Dao was that if Taishang Dao discovered his identity, who knew how many sects would fight bloodily, and then the victor would joyfully welcome him back to their sect, venerate him as their patriarch, and daily hope for his ascension, so they could openly declare that they inherited the Taishang Dao Lineage represented by the Taishang Dao Dust Pearl and thus become the true transmission of Taishang. This had nothing to do with purity and non-action, nor even with profit, but rather with the location of the lineage… Louguan Dao had fallen so low that not a single Daoist orthodoxy dared covet this treasure — that was the reason. Otherwise, upon ascending to the Upper Realm, the predecessors of Louguan Dao would surely come to watch. By then those Dao Lords would chuckle: "Little junior brother, I hear you messed with our sect-protecting treasure." Wouldn't the newcomer be flabbergasted? Taking half of the Taishang Yin-Yang Fan held by Tushita Palace — even if Tushita Palace had the best temper, they would fight to the death. Adding the Buddhist sect-protecting treasure: the Nine-Rank Golden Lotus representing the Pure Land Sect lineage, missing three ranks. As for the Demon Ancestor's side, Qian Chen wasn't very clear, but since it was passed down by the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor, it was surely the lifeline of the Nine Nether Sect. The Primeval Demon Emperor was the leader of the Demon Clan, the Primeval Thunder God was a senior minister of the Divine Court, and then there was the Imperial Authority of Sovereign of Great Yang, one of the nine Heavenly Emperors past and present. The fact that the Reincarnation Lands had not been destroyed showed that the power behind it must be staggeringly great. Otherwise, the Buddhist, Daoist, Divine, Demon, and Demon-Clan families would long ago have joined forces to storm the Reincarnation Lands and snatch away all these treasures of transmission… At least as far as Qian Chen knew, Taishang Dao would not mind a few Dao Lords from the lower world; the Pure Land Sect would be only too happy to bring a few of their own Bodhisattvas; the Demon Lord of the Nine Nether Sect would absolutely be rubbing his hands together, eager to try. The several Primeval Great Gods of the Divine Path would also be tempted, and the several Divine Sovereigns of the Nine Heavens, into which the Celestial Realm was divided, would not mind sending people to seize the Imperial Authority to prove they were the orthodox Heavenly Court and unify the Celestial Realm. Among the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds, setting aside the Divine Province where Qian Chen was located, the other various realms could only be called Myriad Worlds. Only the Celestial Realm where the Primeval Heavenly Court was located, the Three Heavens later opened up by the three Daoist patriarchs, the Two Western Heavens where the two Buddhist saints were located, and the sacred grounds opened up by other sect-master-level figures could be called Celestial Realms. Only these worlds were the Myriad Heavens! Qian Chen silently clicked his tongue and gave a thumbs-up in his heart to the Lord of Reincarnation — a ruthless figure. But he was also extremely annoyed and stomped his foot, saying: "Lord of Reincarnation, why is it that, both being among the Three Treasures of Taishang, the Yin-Yang Fan, even with only half, is worth 2.5 billion Moral Points, while my Dao Dust Pearl, which is complete, is only offered 30 million? Do you look down on my Dao Dust Pearl?" "The redemption price — discounted by ten or eleven…" The resounding voice replied: "The Taishang Dao Dust Pearl is an Innate Spirit Treasure. It has no capacity for attack, no marvel for body protection, cannot protect a sect, and cannot destroy the world. It is a treasure for comprehending the Dao, symbolizing the Taishang Dao Lineage. However, its usefulness to users outside the Taishang Dao Lineage is limited, and its marvel for comprehending the Dao does not seem particularly outstanding. Therefore, although the Myriad Heavens rate its status highly, its wondrous use is weak." "Just like the Imperial Authority, it is a symbolic treasure." "However, the lineage of the Sovereign of Great Yang has no successor, while the lineage of Taishang Dao has long been settled." "That is to say, for powerful figures this thing is a chicken rib — not only is it of no use when obtained, but it will definitely be regarded as a mortal enemy by the several Dao Lords of Louguan Dao, and Venerable Lord Wen Shi might even take action." Qian Chen sighed: "Apart from me, there are few who can openly and properly possess this pearl." Qian Chen no longer examined these unattainable spirit treasures in detail, but gave them a quick glance. Sure enough, behind them were spirit treasures such as the Taiqing Innate One-Qi Divine Talisman, the Blood Sea Karma-Fire Red Lotus, the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Body of the Esoteric Sect, and the Northern Dipper Crown of Blessings, Calamity-Warding, and Heaven-Pacifying — spirit treasures of complex origins and tremendous fame. One had to know that for Qian Chen to remember them, these spirit treasures must have been renowned since primeval times and frequently mentioned by Louguan Dao disciples. There were also a class of spirit treasures very familiar to Qian Chen, such as the Sea-Calming Divine Pearl, the Golden Scissors of the Flood Dragon, the Golden Flask of Primal Unity, Shennong's Cauldron, the Fan of Five Fires and Seven Birds, the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Cover, the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword, the Jade Vase of Pure Willow, the Kongtong Seal, and so on. Many had even become a form of magic treasure, causing Qian Chen's eyelids to keep twitching. Scanning their origins, sure enough, most were forged by Daoist orthodoxy. There were a few highly suspicious spirit treasures, such as Frostmourn, the Axe of Leviathan, Agni and Rudra, and the Blade of Chaos, which even made Qian Chen suspect they were early works of the Taishang Dao Ancestor — why was Qian Chen able to recognize them? Because the text on the Exchange Catalog read: Frostmourn, Leviathan… The style was completely different. These were all treasures that could be picked up as bargains… Even for those names close to this world's style, familiar to Qian Chen, such as the Taiqing Formless Sword and the Purple Ying Sword, even if not forged by Taishang himself, they absolutely shared the same lineage of form. That is to say, their restrictions were extremely complete, and the Daoist methods used in their ritual refinement belonged to the highest class. Not to mention unique spirit treasures like the Golden Flask of Primal Unity and the Sea-Calming Divine Pearl. The problem was that the Lord of Reincarnation knew the value of goods, and these spirit treasures all had prices matching their status. He absolutely could not afford these first-rate spirit treasures. He could only look in the magical implements category to see if there were corresponding forms — unperfected ritual-refined magical implements. Qian Chen first recorded the appearances and features of these spirit treasures, then planned to search specifically when he reached the magical implements entries. Otherwise, given the sheer number of magical implements in the Reincarnation Lands, every name under the sun had been taken, and searching by name was simply unreliable. Qian Chen also saw legacy spirit treasures of other Daoist lineages, such as the Shaoqing Sword and the Apricot-Yellow Banner of Jade Emptiness. Now, if anyone were to move against the Reincarnation Lands, the Dao Lords of the Primordial Beginning and Numinous Treasure traditions would also be drawn in. After the spirit treasure entries, Qian Chen swept through them; nine times out of ten they were things he had never heard of. By the point where the required Moral Points had fallen to one hundred thousand, there were no more spirit treasures familiar to Qian Chen. Yet no matter how good the spirit treasures were, Qian Chen could not afford them — even tail-end, low-grade Innate Spirit Treasures like Ten-Thousand-Year Dragon-Subduing Wood and the Mirage Dragon Pearl were beyond his means. A spirit treasure was a magic treasure that possessed its own spirit sense. When a magic treasure's ritual refinement reached completion of restrictions, it often spontaneously generated spirit sense and possessed complete spirituality. An Acquired Spirit Treasure was a magic treasure that had been ritually refined to possess complete spirituality; an Innate Spirit Treasure was a magic treasure whose spirituality formed naturally. Innate Spirit Treasures were mostly living beings, or were conceived by living beings. Among them, there was no distinction of high or low status between Innate and Acquired Spirit Treasures, and their power depended on the specific circumstances. Many powerful figures who obtained Innate Spirit Treasures would also ritually refine them into Acquired Spirit Treasures. Only beings like the Buddha Patriarch and the Taishang Dao Ancestor, who were completely unconcerned with the power of magic treasures, would allow Innate Spirit Treasures to retain their original self's spirit sense. For example, the Twelve-Rank Golden Lotus was just a lotus flower; since the Buddha Patriarch never killed living beings, he naturally would not refine it specially. As for the Taishang Dao Dust Pearl, it was formed when Taishang severed his own spirituality, and had not been ritually refined. This was the necessary path for magic treasures. Many primeval great powers did not like their weapons to spontaneously generate spirit sense. Although spirit-endowed treasures were easier to use, these primeval great powers had a tough style; they liked holding hard, solid weapons in hand — hard, strong, ready to hand — without needing the weapon to respond of its own accord, adding another system to manage. Their weapons could also destroy heaven and earth, possessing boundless might, but such weapons could not be called magic treasures; rather, there was another catalog called divine weapons, also known as divine artifacts. The greatest feature of these divine weapons was that someone not strong enough could not bring out a single iota of their power. Therefore, Qian Chen did not even look at the divine weapons category. At minimum, one had to be a Yuanshen Perfected One to wield them. He, a small fry, had no qualifications to look. Innate Spirit Treasures were essentially living beings, so their wondrous uses were naturally not as good as Acquired Spirit Treasures that had been specially ritually refined to serve as tools. Therefore, the main reason Innate Spirit Treasures existed was either that powerful figures did not care at all about power and wondrous use, and out of their original intention were unwilling to erase a living being's original spirit sense; or that the person who obtained them had no ability to ritually refine them and could only rely on the innate spirit treasure's own wondrous uses. The Twelve-Rank Golden Lotus and the Taishang Dao Dust Pearl naturally belonged to the former, while Ten-Thousand-Year Dragon-Subduing Wood and the Mirage Dragon Pearl belonged to the latter. Below spirit treasures came magic treasures. Qian Chen gave them a glance; most were heterodox magic treasures. The magic treasures ritually refined by Daoist orthodoxy, the Buddhist sect, the Demon sect, and even the primeval Witch Cult and the Demon Clan each had their own restriction systems, and seizing them made them difficult to use. Magical implements could be re-forged, but using magic treasures to re-forge them, degrading them to magical implements, would be too wasteful. Therefore, apart from magic treasures of the heterodox paths that mixed Daoist, Buddhist, and demonic methods and had strong adaptability, other magic treasures were choosy about their masters. Some even required specific magical power, or designated a specific bloodline. At the extreme, they were loyal to only one person — these were Natal Magic Treasures, cultivating life together with their master. Almost all flying swords of sword cultivators were Natal Magic Treasures. Therefore, spirit-treasure-level flying swords were common on the list, magical-implement-level flying swords were endless, but magic-treasure-level flying swords in between were very rare. Compared to magical implements, magic treasures were stronger because, once restrictions were complete, they generated a bit of spirit sense. Qian Chen preferred to select a magical implement with complete restrictions that matched his Daoist methods, ritually refine spirit sense into it himself, and promote it to a magic treasure. So he only flipped through briefly, until he reached the magical implements catalog, where he began to look carefully. The Exchange Catalog was like mountains and seas, overwhelming Qian Chen's sight. First using the search method, he selected Daoist methods of the Louguan Dao type. Then, using the several spirit treasure styles he had recorded earlier, he locked onto similar magic treasures. After selecting the overlapping ones, the remainder were magical implements that both suited Qian Chen's Daoist methods and were suspected to be left by Taishang, with greater potential. Qian Chen took a fancy to several items, such as the Yang Soul Sword — one of the Seven Cultivation Swords, forged by Louguan Dao predecessors, with complete restrictions. It had once been a magic treasure, but because no one had ritually refined it for a long time, it had degenerated into a magical implement. Its essence was excellent… unfortunately it required 300 Moral Points, and he absolutely could not afford it. The Six-Yang Divine Fire Mirror, forged from Taiyi True Gold of Dingfang, shaped like a bronze mirror, able to emit Six-Yang True Fire. 100 Moral Points. Taiyi Five-Luo Mist… Qian Chen discovered that magical implements of such excellent essence all had corresponding prices in the Reincarnation Lands. The Lord of Reincarnation's dharma eye was infallible; there would be no misjudgment or chance to pick up bargains. All that Qian Chen had over others was knowing these magical implements' brand value and their good compatibility with Louguan Dao's Daoist methods. (End of Chapter)