One month later.
Yu Xian reunited with everyone once more.
They all sat aboard a massive wooden boat, chatting as they examined some of the treasures they had obtained.
Little Nora conjured up a huge pile of food. Munching on a large chicken drumstick, she curiously eyed a piece of black rock in Yu Xian's hand.
"Yaoyao, can you tell what this is?" Yu Xian asked Zhang Buyao, holding up the black rock as she studied a comb.
Zhang Buyao was the most knowledgeable among them, so everyone had been asking her for appraisals.
Zhang Buyao glanced at the black rock in Yu Xian's hand, and her expression instantly shifted. Scooting backward, she said, "Yu Xian, that thing in your hand is Xiaodi Dog feces. While it might indeed be a treasure to certain canines... how could you not tell?"
"..."
The moment Yu Xian heard that, he threw the black rock away.
He hastily used psychokinesis to draw up seawater and wash his hands, grumbling as he washed, "Sun Emperor Feng Laixian was way too indiscriminate, treating even feces as a treasure."
"Sister Yaoyao, I've only ever heard of the Xiaotian Dog. What kind of divine beast is the Xiaodi Dog? Diting?" Little Nora asked.
Nora had been curious about Little Nora's question as well, but when she heard the name "Diting," she couldn't help bursting into laughter.
Equating Diting to a Xiaodi Dog.
If Diting could hear Little Nora's words and knew she had categorized it as part of the canine race, it would probably be enraged enough to bleed from all seven orifices.
"Actually, I'm not too sure what the relationship is between the Xiaodi Dog and the Xiaotian Dog either. In any case, there's a Xiaodi Dog at my house. It's even a friend of my dad's, and I've always called it Uncle Dog," Zhang Buyao replied.
Yu Xian surmised, "All things under heaven possess both yin and yang. Since there's a Xiaotian Dog, having a Xiaodi Dog isn't surprising. How could we ever know every single race across the myriad heavens and worlds?"
"True. It might be a race from some inverted world," Niman said with a smile.
A so-called inverted world was essentially a type of parallel world, except that everything within it was reversed. For example, if someone was male in the primary world, they would be female in the inverted world; if someone was a good person in the primary world, they would be a villain in the inverted world.
Of course, across the myriad heavens and worlds, most people fell somewhere in the middle—neither wholly good nor wholly evil.
Yu Xian produced a music box and asked Zhang Buyao, "Yaoyao, then what do you think this music box does?"
Clearly, not everything in Sun Emperor Feng Laixian's storage ring was a treasure. If it even held Xiaodi Dog feces, there were bound to be plenty more useless items that he needed to filter out and discard.
There were still vast amounts of treasures beneath the sea, and he didn't want useless junk taking up space—even though the Everlasting Silence Prison Tower was immense and had more than enough room.
"That's the God Is Singing Music Box. If you wind up the key in the back, you can summon a divine orchestra to play accompaniment for the user," Zhang Buyao explained after a glance.
Yu Xian felt it was useless and was just about to toss it aside when Little Nora spoke up: "That looks like fun! Big Brother, give it to me! I want to play with it!"
"All right, here you go." Yu Xian handed the music box to Little Nora.
Little Nora immediately wound the key. Right behind her, a colossal orchestra of exactly one hundred performers manifested. Every single one of them wore a mask, and each emanated an immensely terrifying aura.
Holding their respective musical instruments, they began to play. Soothing music instantly flowed around everyone like running water, and materialized musical staves even drifted in currents around the boat.
"It sounds so nice," Little Huangquan said in a soft voice, watching the orchestra.
Yu Xian had to admit he had misjudged it. This music box wasn't a useless prop at all; on the contrary, it was extraordinarily useful.
He closed his eyes and listened to the music, gently tapping his knee to the rhythm. His mind and soul felt incomparably relaxed, as though all his stress were draining away.
Everyone quietly enjoyed the music. Little Nora, who had summoned the orchestra in the first place, simply went back to eating—food clearly held far greater appeal for her than music.
"A single Mighty One possessed so many treasures. The myriad heavens and worlds... truly are boundless and vast," Yu Xian murmured in admiration, his eyes still closed.
With Sun Emperor Feng Laixian possessing so many fine things, other Mighty Ones couldn't be too destitute either. It was hard to imagine just how enormous the worlds had to be for them to scavenge on such a scale.
"It's completely normal for Uncle Feng to have so many treasures," Zhang Buyao whispered. "In the past, a Transcender held an extraordinarily famous tournament. Although it's become a legend now, Uncle Feng was supposedly the Ten-Thousand-Victories King. He definitely won a staggering amount of prizes."
Yu Xian retorted, "Even if he was the Ten-Thousand-Victories King, that's only ten thousand prizes. Even if each victory awarded ten treasures, that would only be a hundred thousand. Even at a hundred treasures each, that's only a million.
"Do you think the items we've collected don't even add up to a million? A single island holds far more than that."
"Huh, that's true," Zhang Buyao realized.
Niman ventured a guess: "What if he possessed a treasure capable of crafting or duplicating other treasures?"
"You mean... something like Xiao Sensen?" Nora caught on and asked.
Niman nodded. "Probably something like that, though it's likely an inanimate object rather than a living being."
"If such a treasure really exists, that's definitely Uncle Feng's ultimate treasure! I've decided... I'm going to find Uncle Feng's ultimate treasure!" Zhang Buyao sprang to her feet, brimming with excitement.
Niman hurriedly called after her, "Wait! That's just a guess—it might not even be true."
"I have an ability called 'You Guess, I Guess, Did You Guess Right?'. The instant someone makes a guess, I know whether it's correct. So... bye-bye!" Zhang Buyao explained with a grin, and the next moment, she transformed into a streak of light and zipped away.
Yu Xian caught on and exclaimed in excitement, "Which means such a treasure really does exist! Let's hurry and search for it!"
"Contact me through the contract if anything comes up." Niman nodded and departed the next instant, riding atop a flying mushroom.
Nora exchanged a glance with Yu Xian, then summoned a pair of metallic wings from within her body and flew off in another direction. Zhang Buyao had helped her figure out their properties and functions, and this was her first time using them since refining them.
"Big Brother, I'm going to look for it too," Little Nora said, getting to her feet.
Yu Xian looked toward Shui Yuetian.
Shui Yuetian shook her head and said, "I won't be going."
For one, her strength was insufficient. For another, her storage rings were already packed with treasures—more than enough to arm the entire Sea Clan to the teeth once she returned. She was content.
Yu Xian and the others had saved her life this time. To have survived at all filled her with immense gratitude; how could she compete with them over such a precious treasure?
She was not that kind of person.
Yu Xian then looked at Little Huangquan, who indicated that she would stay behind to keep Shui Yuetian company.
"All right then. You two rest here. I'm off."
Yu Xian didn't recall the Wooden Treasure Boat. Flashing a smile, he soared into the sky and dived headfirst into the sea.
If a treasure capable of creating treasures truly existed, he felt it was far more likely to be beneath this sea rather than on it.
Chapter 354