Xu Ziqing had already found his own Dao: the Dao of the Cycle of Life and Death. All plants naturally passed through cycles of life and death, with vitality generally stronger than deathly energy.
He could obtain deathly qi through Senior Brother’s killing intent during dual cultivation, or from Rongjin’s fierce, violent nature and countless acts of devouring. Although that qi was still insufficient, he could plan to gather more. Meanwhile, though he had fewer yang-wood plants than yin-wood ones, some secondary trees within him could balance his wood qi. None of those things was his present bottleneck.
Xu Ziqing was gentle, but he had traveled beside Yun Lie for years, watching his senior brother accumulate tremendous strength and achieve great things. Xu Ziqing was a man with aspirations of his own, and now they were Dao companions. Even if only to avoid causing Yun Lie to lose face, he must plan carefully.
Of particular importance was his Purple Palace inner world.
Yun Lie had formed an embryonic inner world while still at Golden Core. Xu Ziqing’s Dao differed and he could not imitate that accomplishment directly, but the Sumeru Mustard Seed he had obtained could bridge the gap.
Fusing it with himself before Nascent Soul could allow the seed’s power to open an embryonic inner world. Then, while forming his Nascent Soul, the Heavenly Dao’s laws would help it mature and merge with the seed, saving hundreds of years of arduous cultivation. Just as Yun Lie had absorbed Sword Dao Fruits and countless sword intents, Xu Ziqing could unite the seed’s world laws with his own Dao and move his myriad plants inside to create a world.
How could Xu Ziqing possibly miss such an opportunity?
Ever since obtaining the seed, he had nurtured it in the vital blood of an acupoint near his heart, taking far greater care with it than with any other seed.
Over many years, constant stimulation by Yi-Wood essence had finally restored some vitality to the Sumeru Mustard Seed.
But it was not truly restored.
An ordinary cultivator might be helpless at this stage. However, the legendary Great Art of Myriad Woods Heart-Planting had extraordinary capabilities.
It could not only grow true plants, unlike the approximations formed by ordinary wood-attribute cultivators, but also, at a certain stage, allow its practitioner to hear the voices of myriad plants. This was more than absorbing stray thoughts; it meant understanding what those plants needed.
Thus, although the seed’s consciousness was weak, after years of Xu Ziqing’s care it could finally convey a thought.
For the Sumeru Mustard Seed to recover completely, it needed to be watered with True-One Divine Water.
True-One Divine Water was an ancient name. In the present age, it was known as Five Elements Divine Water.
Xu Ziqing naturally did not possess any of this divine water, so the seed could not fully recover.
That was his bottleneck.
As he considered this, Yun Lie opened his eyes from the couch opposite him, and the black-gold gleam in them slowly receded.
“What difficulty have you encountered?” he asked.
“I was just about to discuss it with Senior Brother,” Xu Ziqing replied.
He explained the bottleneck and raised his questions, seeking his senior brother’s guidance.
Yun Lie considered them, clarified several points, and then said, “We can search the Hall of Ten Thousand Treasures.”
Xu Ziqing’s eyes brightened. “Of course. I nearly forgot.”
The Hall of Ten Thousand Treasures was where Zhoutian Immortal Sect disciples exchanged resource plaques for heavenly materials and earthly treasures. They could also trade resources and spirit stones for desired goods, as they might in shops or auction houses outside the sect. Only disciples of the sect could enter.
The Qianyuan Great World was vast and resource-rich, and the Zhoutian Immortal Sect was renowned. Naturally its Hall of Ten Thousand Treasures contained goods of incredible variety.
Perhaps they would find the necessary water there. Even if they could not obtain all five varieties, finding two or three would save a great deal of effort.
Once they agreed, the two set out for the Hall of Ten Thousand Treasures together.
After traveling by escaping light for about half a shichen, they came upon a deep valley densely filled with buildings, resembling an immense city.
Several enormous halls occupied the center, while innumerable streets, shops, markets, and stalls spread around them.
Beast companions traveled back and forth in countless numbers, some flying, some burrowing, and others running like the wind. Finely dressed cultivators rode on their backs, their bodies gleaming with spiritual light and laden with magical treasures. Others flew on swords or streaks of escaping light, descending outside the valley and entering the city.
The bustle rivaled the prosperity of the mortal world.
Yet this prosperity carried an otherworldly quality, distinctly unlike mundane life.
Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie flew swiftly to one of the great halls and descended together, still holding hands.
The hall rose to an immeasurable height and occupied an immense area. It was truly a colossal structure.
Two young attendants guarded the door. They looked perfectly ordinary, but anyone examining them with spiritual sense would likely be shocked.
Xu Ziqing had already studied the Wuling lineage’s jade slips, including a map of the Zhoutian Immortal Sect that marked and described places commonly visited by cultivators.
Consequently, he gave the attendants no undue attention and committed no discourtesy.
Xu Ziqing was handsome and gentle, with smiling eyes. Yun Lie, by contrast, remained cold and stern.
Both were extraordinary men, but the other visitors were gifted cultivators too, so they did not draw much notice.
The attendants glanced at their disciple tokens and silently let them enter.
Those tokens marked them as disciples of the Zhoutian Immortal Sect. All disciples had to wear them throughout the sect or they would find it difficult to go anywhere.
The great hall’s interior seemed limitless. Spatial techniques had expanded it so much that its far end could not be seen.
Many cultivators walked about beneath innumerable floating spheres of light.
Xu Ziqing did not look at those spheres. Instead, he approached a young cultivator wearing an apricot-yellow ritual robe.
The youth’s solemn demeanor and clothing made his identity plain.
He was a steward of the Hall of Ten Thousand Treasures.
As Xu Ziqing approached, the steward’s body flickered and an identical figure stepped out of it.
Before Xu Ziqing could recover from his surprise, another identical person emerged and walked toward a cultivator entering elsewhere in the hall.
The unusual sight astonished him.
If he was not mistaken, this was a technique that used divided divine consciousness to create simulacra. Each duplicate contained a strand of the original’s will; conversing with one was like conversing with the steward himself, and its interactions would return to the original body.
But only a cultivator at Soul Transformation or above could wield such a technique so casually.
Without dwelling on it, Xu Ziqing smiled at the approaching youth and addressed him respectfully as “Senior.”
The steward nodded. “Tell me what you two need.”
His gentle demeanor reassured Xu Ziqing. “My cultivation requires Five Elements Divine Water. Might the hall have any, and how would I exchange for it?”
A streak of yellow flashed across the steward’s eyes. “There are three thousand six hundred varieties of Five Elements Divine Water. Can you be more specific?”
Xu Ziqing was taken aback. He had not imagined there were so many varieties. He had used the general term to simplify things, only to make them more difficult.
He immediately clarified, “I don’t mean ordinary Five Elements Divine Water. In ancient times, it was called True-One Divine Water.”
The steward nodded. “What may be called True-One Divine Water consists of five divine waters corresponding to the five elements, either all of extreme-yang polarity or all of extreme-yin polarity. There are eighteen extreme-yin varieties and six extreme-yang varieties. Look at these.” He swept his palm across the air.
A jade tablet appeared before Xu Ziqing, its surface covered in small characters and images.
There were indeed many extreme-yin and extreme-yang waters, but neither set included all five elements.
Among the extreme-yang waters, metal and fire were missing. Among the extreme-yin waters, wood and water were missing.
Both groups lacked two elements. There was no easier option.
Xu Ziqing studied the tablet and passed it to Yun Lie, inviting his senior brother to examine it too.
Yun Lie swept his gaze across it and nodded faintly in understanding.
Seeing them finish, the steward asked, “Well?”
Xu Ziqing considered it and smiled. “Neither set is complete. That’s troublesome.”
The steward said, “Since the divine waters here are incomplete, you can try your luck at the Hall of Ten Thousand Merits.”
Xu Ziqing had the same idea. He thanked the steward for his advice, took Yun Lie’s hand, and departed.
As the name suggested, the Hall of Ten Thousand Merits was where the Zhoutian Immortal Sect issued missions.
When a treasure or resource could not be found in the Hall of Ten Thousand Treasures, disciples could visit this hall to look for information about it.
Besides sect missions, the hall also held reports concerning many rare materials and treasures, gathered for the convenience of disciples. Most seekers could find some response here.
Since Xu Ziqing could not obtain all the divine waters from the treasury, he needed to search for information about their locations. Whether the clues concerned extreme-yang or extreme-yin water, he would have to find the missing types first, then redeem the other three waters from the treasury.
When he entered, he found the Hall of Ten Thousand Merits almost identical to the Hall of Ten Thousand Treasures, inside and out.
The chief difference was that the floating balls of light were replaced by countless jade talismans.
Each emitted a faint glow like a magical treasure, though the information concealed within was its true value.
The information Xu Ziqing needed was among them.
Again a steward’s simulacrum in a ritual robe approached. Hearing what Xu Ziqing sought, he waved a sleeve and sent a mass of jade talismans forward, perhaps thousands or tens of thousands.
“All of these concern the water attribute. Search through them yourselves.”
Xu Ziqing smiled bitterly to himself but thanked the steward first.
Yun Lie stood beside him and said directly, “I’ll search with you.”
Warmth stirred in Xu Ziqing’s heart, dispersing his frustration. He smiled. “Thank you, Senior Brother.”
Both released their spiritual senses and searched through the multitude of jade talismans one by one.
Only after two or three shichen did they narrow their search to five talismans.
Those talismans all contained information about divine waters.