Chapter 2: Treasures

This age was the age of gods and demons. True gods and demons were born from heaven and earth, emerging as innate beings. Ji Ning, at the age of eleven, had water and fire descend from the heavens, nurturing his divine demon body, making him equivalent to an ordinary newly born god or demon. Now he was sixteen... If one considered Ji Ning a god or demon, he was indeed only five years old.

"Only by reaching the Zifu stage within ten years can you prove your potential," said the yellow bear, gazing at the towering bronze gate with a complex look. "Only then can you enter the Divine Abilities Hall... Inside the Divine Abilities Hall, there are trials left by the master. If you pass them, you can obtain a powerful divine ability technique left by the master."

"Remember, you only have one chance to enter the Divine Abilities Hall," the yellow bear said, looking at Ji Ning. "So the stronger you are, the better your chances. It's best to enter the Divine Abilities Hall at the age of ten. If you fail, you won't get the divine ability. After all, it's a trial, and there is some danger. Carelessness could cost you your life."

Ji Ning asked curiously, "What divine ability is left in the Divine Abilities Hall?"

The yellow bear glanced at Ji Ning and said indifferently, "You'll know when you pass the trial. If you don't pass? You're not qualified to know."

"Come, let's look at the next sub-hall." The yellow bear continued forward.

Ji Ning looked at the palm print on the bronze gate that exuded boundless pressure.

Divine Abilities Hall?

He hadn't even reached the Zifu level in his divine demon body refinement. Thinking too much was useless.

...

In this ancient corridor, the yellow bear led the way, the black ox followed beside him, and Ji Ning walked at the rear.

"This sub-hall," the yellow bear said, looking at another closed, towering bronze gate. Carved on the bronze gate were an axe and a spear, exuding a fierce killing aura. Even a faint bloody red light shimmered on the surface of the bronze gate, making Ji Ning's heart tremble.

"It's called the War God Hall," the yellow bear said. "It's the most dangerous place in the entire water mansion, but also a place full of opportunities."

Most dangerous? Full of opportunities?

Ji Ning was curious.

"Let's continue to the next one." The yellow bear didn't waste words and walked straight ahead.

...

In the distance, the sound of flowing water could be faintly heard. Ji Ning looked curiously at the wooden door ahead, which was already open. Through the open door, he could vaguely see flowing water, rocks, and a solitary thatched hut.

"This is the Star Hall," the yellow bear said, standing at the hall's entrance, looking into the boundless space inside. "Everything in the Star Hall was arranged by the master himself. Living in the Star Hall, one can even comprehend the mysteries of the Dao."

The black ox beside him said excitedly, "Ji Ning, the reason Immortal Juhua could live for millions of years was because of this Star Hall. The Star Hall is filled with the mysteries of the Dao, and even contains complete 'Daos'... It was because of the Star Hall that Juhua's realm was so high, allowing him to withstand calamities time and again and live for millions of years."

"Complete Daos?" Ji Ning was a bit puzzled.

"I've told you everything," the yellow bear said, looking at Ji Ning. "The places you can enter now are the main hall, this corridor, and the four sub-halls. Don't try to go elsewhere; you won't be able to enter anyway. Take care of yourself. I hope you live to become a Yuan Shen Daoist."

Whoosh.

The yellow bear directly dissipated into specks of light and vanished into nothingness.

Only then did Ji Ning breathe a sigh of relief. He always felt great pressure facing the yellow bear, as if facing some ancient, powerful god or demon.

"That's how the spirit of the grotto is," the black ox said with a smile. "Not just to you, even to Immortal Juhua, the spirit of the grotto paid little attention. It's very proud. Actually, after spending endless years here, I think it's normal for the spirit to be proud. After all, even Immortal Juhua never truly controlled this water mansion back then."

Ji Ning nodded thoughtfully.

Then he quickly asked, "Senior, what should I do about the four sub-halls now? Please advise me."

"First, go to the Treasure Hall," the black ox said. "Follow me; I'm very familiar with it."

"Alright." Ji Ning felt that the black ox was much easier to talk to than the grotto spirit, the yellow bear.

...

Treasure Hall.

As Ji Ning and the black ox stepped inside together, they felt as if they had entered another world. In the air above, various treasures floated. The fluctuations emitted by some powerful magic treasures made Ji Ning's heart tremble. Even a slight fluctuation could probably crush him to dust. Their power was far beyond his imagination.

"Treasures!" the black ox sighed, his eyes shining. "All treasures! Even Immortal Juhua drooled over these treasures back then, but there was no way to get them. If he could take them freely, he would probably have passed the tribulation and become a Celestial Immortal long ago."

Ji Ning's heart stirred as well.

Look at that blood-colored war spear above. It seemed very plain, but just floating there, it caused the surrounding void to shatter faintly, then recover. Shatter, recover, shatter... it continued endlessly.

"These were all left by the first master," the black ox said quickly. "They are for successive masters to inherit. He also wanted to cultivate later masters. So to obtain these treasures, you must follow his rules. Otherwise, even if someone like Immortal Juhua died from the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations, he couldn't take a single treasure."

Ji Ning asked curiously, "What rules? How can I get these treasures?"

"Go look over there." The black ox pointed with his head. Ji Ning followed his gaze and saw a wall covered with dense small characters, all in divine demon script.

Ji Ning quickly walked over and read through them in one breath.

"So that's it." Ji Ning frowned.

The treasures in the Treasure Hall... it was entirely possible to obtain them.

There were two methods.

The first was to raise the level of divine demon body refinement.

Reaching the Zifu level in divine demon body refinement allowed one to choose a 'Human-ranked magic treasure' or an equivalent item from the Treasure Hall.

Reaching the Wanxiang level allowed one to choose an 'Earth-ranked magic treasure' or a strange object.

Reaching the Yuan Shen level allowed one to choose a 'Heaven-ranked magic treasure' or a strange object.

Reaching the Return to Void level allowed one to choose an 'Immortal-ranked magic treasure'...

Successfully crossing the tribulation and becoming a Heavenly Immortal! Then one could choose a 'Pure Yang magic treasure' or a strange object.

"Magic treasures are divided into five ranks," Ji Ning murmured. "Only at Zifu can one activate a Human-ranked treasure, only at Wanxiang can one activate an Earth-ranked treasure, only at Yuan Shen can one activate a Heaven-ranked treasure... and above that are Immortal-ranked and Pure Yang."

Ji Ning had never heard of these before; he only knew about graded magic treasures.

"Magic treasures are mainly divided into five ranks," the black ox said beside him. "And Human-ranked treasures are further divided into top-grade, high-grade, medium-grade, and low-grade. The Zifu cultivators in places like Yanshan use Human-ranked treasures, but most are only low-grade or medium-grade Human-ranked. If you can choose freely in the Treasure Hall, you'll naturally pick the best."

Ji Ning listened carefully; he didn't know any of this.

"The later the stage, the harder it is to get magic treasures," the black ox said. "Return to Void Earth Immortals can activate Immortal-ranked treasures, but these Immortal-ranked treasures are already considered immortal treasures. How many Return to Void Earth Immortals can obtain such treasures? Very few. Those Earth Immortals and Sanxians generally use Heaven-ranked treasures."

"Back then, Immortal Juhua's divine demon body refinement was stuck at the Yuan Shen level, unable to break through to Return to Void. Breaking through in qi cultivation to Return to Void was useless," the black ox shook his head. "So he never got an Immortal-ranked treasure."

"Ah." Ji Ning was startled.

Right.

Raising one's realm could grant treasures, but that was for divine demon body refinement. As for qi cultivation? No matter how high one cultivated, one couldn't get a treasure grant. This showed that the first master hoped later masters would place more importance on divine demon body refinement.

"Later, Immortal Juhua failed his tribulation and became a Sanxian. Over time, his strength grew. Then he passed the seventh level of the War God Hall and was granted an Immortal-ranked treasure," the black ox said. "Later, Immortal Juhua gathered a large amount of materials, including defeating a thousand immortals and obtaining hundreds of flying swords from them in exchange for materials... and finally forged me."

Ji Ning asked curiously, "Senior, what rank are you?"

"Naturally, I am an Immortal-ranked magic treasure," the black ox said proudly. "We Immortal-ranked treasures have transcended the three ranks of Heaven, Earth, and Human, and thus can develop intelligence. It was by relying on me that Juhua created his fearsome reputation."

"Your divine demon body refinement is only at the innate being level now. To get a magic treasure, you must challenge the War God Hall," the black ox said.

Ji Ning nodded.

There were two ways to obtain treasures from the Treasure Hall: the first was to raise the level of divine demon body refinement; the second was to challenge the War God Hall, which had ten levels.

Passing the first or second level of the War God Hall allowed one to choose a Human-ranked magic treasure or an equivalent strange object.

Passing the third or fourth level allowed one to choose an Earth-ranked magic treasure...

Passing the fifth or sixth level allowed one to choose a Heaven-ranked magic treasure...

Passing the seventh or eighth level allowed one to choose an Immortal-ranked magic treasure...

Passing the ninth or tenth level allowed one to choose a Pure Yang magic treasure...

Each successive master of the water mansion had two chances to challenge the War God Hall at each divine demon body refinement stage. For example, Ji Ning was now at the innate being stage, so he had two chances to challenge the War God Hall. When his divine demon body refinement reached Zifu, he would have two more chances.

Innate being, Zifu, Wanxiang, Yuan Shen, Return to Void.

Before becoming a Celestial Immortal, there were only ten chances in total! Each chance was extremely precious.

"Challenging the War God Hall is too difficult," the black ox shook his head and sighed. "But this is the second way to get treasures from the Treasure Hall. Even if it's hard, you have to try."

"It is hard," Ji Ning nodded. Even Immortal Juhua only passed the seventh level after becoming a Sanxian and enduring many years.

The black ox beside him said, "I saw you practicing swordsmanship on the island in Yishe Lake. Not to discourage you, but with your current strength, your chance of passing the first level is less than ten percent."

"Less than ten percent?" Ji Ning couldn't believe it.

The War God Hall had ten levels; the first two only allowed one to choose a Human-ranked treasure. He had been practicing swordsmanship on Mingxin Island, all within the detection range of this water mansion. The black ox knew his strength well, yet said his chance of passing even the first level was less than ten percent.

"Treasure Hall, Divine Abilities Hall, War God Hall, Star Hall," the black ox said. "You can't get any treasure from the Treasure Hall now, and you can't enter the Divine Abilities Hall. You can only go to the other two sub-halls."

"War God Hall... you might try your luck. If you succeed, you can choose a magic treasure. It will definitely be much better than your current low-grade or medium-grade Human-ranked treasures. But if you lose, you waste one chance to challenge the War God Hall."

"The Star Hall contains complete Daos; it's a good place to comprehend the Dao."

"Which one will you go to?" The black ox looked at Ji Ning.