Chapter 4157

In Phoenix City, Phoenix Garden, Nangong Yuwei was seated in a cyan stone pavilion. In her hand, she held a transmission mirror flickering with white light, on the surface of which a pot-bellied, golden-robed elder was visible.

"Ancestor Yuwei," the golden-robed elder said, "members of the Chahar tribe discovered a Primordial Spirit Treasure in Immortal Fall Valley. An informant planted by Barghu learned of this and dispatched people to Immortal Fall Valley. Strangely, neither side admitted to obtaining the Primordial Spirit Treasure, each believing the other had it. They fought fiercely, and several Grand Unity Golden Immortals perished."

Nangong Yunhua, a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, was a spy planted by the Nangong Immortal Clan among the Chaos Beasts. He had defected to the Chaos Beasts and become a Pseudo-Immortal. Of course, the Chaos Beasts were unaware of his true identity, believing him to be a rogue cultivator. When he joined the Chaos Beasts, he was only at the Golden Immortal stage. He accumulated significant merits working for them, earning cultivation resources that allowed him to advance to the Grand Unity Golden Immortal stage.

Chaos Beasts are unique beings incapable of using immortal artifacts. Establishing spies among them was difficult for intelligence transmission, but Pseudo-Immortals presented no such issue. It was not easy to plant immortals among the Pseudo-Immortals. To evade the Chaos Beasts' detection, the Nangong Immortal Clan obtained a high-grade immortal artifact called the Heaven-Shrouding Pearl from Immortal Fall Valley in the Ancient Battlefield. This treasure, infused with a Primordial Spirit Treasure, had sustained some damage. Nangong Yunhua refined it into his body, where it merged with his eyes, making it nearly impossible to detect any anomaly, even with peak-grade immortal artifacts.

The Heaven-Shrouding Pearl was highly effective against detection artifacts like the Immortal Scrying Mirror. This allowed him to bypass the Chaos Beasts' scrutiny, successfully infiltrate the Pseudo-Immortal ranks, gather intelligence for the Nangong Immortal Clan, and even refine elixirs for the Chaos Beasts, which were used to cultivate their Immortal-Armored Army and True Spirit Legion to fight against immortals.

"A Primordial Spirit Treasure! No wonder the Chahar tribe halted their war." Nangong Yuwei suddenly understood. Chaos Beasts do not know how to refine artifacts, though Pseudo-Immortals do. However, since Chaos Beasts cannot use immortal artifacts, they would naturally not be so benevolent as to give Primordial Spirit Treasures to immortals; instead, they would offer them to the Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda.

The Chaos Beasts possess the Dao artifact, the Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda. Strictly speaking, the Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda instructs the Chaos Beasts to capture immortals to aid its own cultivation. The Dao artifacts, the Primordial List, the Word Hall, and the Qiankun Pagoda, are archenemies of the Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda. Apart from the Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda, Chaos Beasts possess no other Dao artifacts, whereas immortals possess more than just three.

Dao artifacts are categorized as innate or acquired. The Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda, Primordial List, Word Hall, and Qiankun Pagoda are all innate Dao artifacts. Immortals can forge Dao artifacts, which is one of their advantages, though crafting acquired Dao artifacts is exceedingly difficult, usually involving the cultivation of Dao artifact embryos. For the Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda, Primordial Spirit Treasures are highly beneficial, and they are also items fiercely contested by Chaos Beast tribes. Tribes that acquire and offer a Primordial Spirit Treasure to the Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda can receive additional evolution quotas, which is an irresistible temptation for any Chaos Beast tribe.

"Indeed," Nangong Yunhua replied, "they were busy fighting over the Primordial Spirit Treasure, but it's unclear who ultimately acquired it."

Nangong Yuwei furrowed her brows. "Do you mean someone managed to snatch the Primordial Spirit Treasure ahead of them?"

"Yes," Nangong Yunhua said, his expression turning to admiration towards the end of his sentence, "it's unknown whether it was another Chaos Beast tribe or an immortal. To dare snatch something from the very jaws of a Chaos Beast requires considerable courage."

"You don't need to concern yourself with this matter," Nangong Yuwei said. "It's merely a Primordial Spirit Treasure, not a peak-grade immortal artifact infused with one."

Generally, an immortal artifact infused with a Primordial Spirit Treasure can be called a Dao artifact embryo, which is a broad term. The grade of the resulting Dao artifact embryo varies depending on the artifact refiner's skill. Even if both are infused with a Primordial Spirit Treasure, a peak-grade immortal artifact and a low-grade immortal artifact will have vastly different powers and values. A low-grade immortal artifact infused with a Primordial Spirit Treasure will be much more powerful than an ordinary low-grade one, but its further advancement would only lead to a mid-grade immortal artifact. In contrast, a peak-grade immortal artifact infused with a Primordial Spirit Treasure would become a true Dao artifact upon further advancement. This is the significant difference. Some artifact refiners with lower skill levels might infuse a Primordial Spirit Treasure along with other materials, resulting in an immortal artifact of a lower grade. The Gourd of Ages is an example of this.

"Yes, Ancestor Yuwei," Nangong Yunhua agreed. Then, recalling something, he added, "By the way, the Chaos Beasts are searching for an innate Dao artifact."

"What? Searching for an innate Dao artifact?" Nangong Yuwei exclaimed. The demon race's ability to dominate myriad races and become one of the foremost powers among immortals, besides the number of Dao Ancestors they possess, is largely due to their ownership of an innate Dao artifact, the Sky Dragon Blade.

"The Chaos Beasts issued the order long ago, but I only recently learned of it," Nangong Yunhua explained. "However, they aren't explicitly looking for an innate Dao artifact; they are searching for a Dao artifact embryo. But the description of this embryo closely resembles an innate Dao artifact. I also found out that this innate Dao artifact participated in that battle and severely wounded one of the Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda's sub-pagodas, which is no small feat."

"How did you acquire such confidential information? You didn't target a high-level Chaos Beast, did you?" Nangong Yuwei said, frowning.

"When it concerns a Dao artifact, I had no choice but to take the risk," Nangong Yunhua explained. "However, I did it cleanly. I followed an informed eight-colored Chaos Beast into an ancient battlefield and eliminated it. The Chaos Beast tribe will, at most, assume it died in the ancient battlefield."

"Do such things less often; your safety is paramount," Nangong Yuwei said. "I understand. The information you've disclosed is very important. An innate Dao artifact capable of wounding a sub-pagoda of the Ten Directions Mother-Child Pagoda is extraordinary. I will have people keep an eye out for it. That will be all. Be extra careful." After saying this, Nangong Yuwei ended the communication.

"Could this innate Dao artifact be the one that Dao Ancestor Kunlun is searching for? If our Nangong Immortal Clan finds it, the Chahar tribe will be nothing." Nangong Yuwei's eyes burned with fervor as she murmured to herself.

She took out a golden disc flickering with light, cast a spell formula into it, and made a series of gestures.

In a vast, endless emerald mountain range, there was a hidden underground cave. Celestial Venerable Xuanling sat cross-legged on the ground, his face pale and his aura weak.

He had accidentally acquired a treasure map and entered Immortal Fall Valley in the Ancient Battlefield to search for treasure. There, he unexpectedly discovered a Primordial Spirit Treasure, guarded not only by powerful restrictions but also by a seven-colored Chaos Beast at the Grand Unity Golden Immortal stage. He had great difficulty slaying the seven-colored Chaos Beast, breaking through the restrictions, and taking the Primordial Spirit Treasure, suffering injuries himself in the process. As he was returning along his original path, he encountered two factions of Chaos Beasts fighting fiercely, seemingly over the very same Primordial Spirit Treasure. Celestial Venerable Xuanling had no choice but to take a detour, which triggered a restriction, leaving him severely wounded.

"I need to find a trustworthy artifact refiner to help me infuse this Primordial Spirit Treasure into my personal immortal artifact. This would significantly enhance my strength," Celestial Venerable Xuanling murmured to himself, his eyes burning with desire as he held a light golden jade stone. He was at the early Grand Unity Golden Immortal stage, and his personal immortal artifact was still a mid-grade one, which was common for most Grand Unity Golden Immortals. Elevating a personal immortal artifact to a high-grade one was not easy; it required both a highly skilled artifact refiner and rare materials.