Chapter 574: Talking with the Spirit Monkey, Zhenhai Pearl

The Sacred Armor's main function centered on its evasion effects, making it virtually limitless. If its spirit recognized the wearer, there would be no place in the entire Ice Hell Realm that could trap them.

Among its other effects, "Lightning Transformation" serves to evade tribulations.

It can withstand heavenly tribulation lightning.

The "Domain" effect is similar to the spiritual energy control of a Nascent Soul Domain, but its range is much larger than what he could personally control, and it's far more domineering and irresistible.

The "Immunity" effect allows it to absorb Five Element attack spells. Apart from physical and soul-based attacks, all Five Element attacks below the Dao Integration stage can be rendered ineffective.

This is because the Sacred Armor contains five miniature Five Element realms.

Each realm has a diameter of approximately one hundred kilometers and contains extremely pure Five Element essence, which is the source of the armor's immunity.

"What a treasure,"

Wang Yu's eyes sparkled. After the Water Ghoul, formed from the Crown Prince's corpse, was completely absorbed, he immediately opened the coffin and retrieved the treasure.

Compared to its obscure appearance when observed with divine sense,

when observed with the naked eye, the Five Elements Heaven-Fleeing Sacred Armor was entirely purple-gold, appearing incredibly noble. Its chest was inlaid with five-colored gems, within which the five miniature Five Element realms were hidden.

Primordial Cloud Seals, imbued with mysterious and exotic power, were evenly distributed across the Sacred Armor in a systematic pattern. With his current cultivation, he couldn't discern their intricacies.

Yet, he couldn't suppress his fondness for it.

Using his divine sense to grasp the Sacred Armor, Wang Yu was about to store it in his Sea Heart Ring, but he found that spatial rings couldn't contain it. After a moment of confusion, he understood why.

Just as the Sea Heart Ring couldn't store other spatial rings,

the fundamental characteristic of storage spaces is that they cannot overlap. Otherwise, continuous nesting would lead to an infinitely large storage space.

However, legend has it that above spatial rings, there exists a type of "World Ring" with immensely vast internal space, capable of storing living beings and even spiritual energy.

Wang Yu couldn't take the Sacred Armor, not only because of the storage ring's limitations, but also because the artifact spirit was interfering!

It had been dormant for many years and was suddenly disturbed.

This caused the artifact spirit to "wake up" a bit slowly. It only leisurely awakened after Wang Yu had touched its entire body. Suddenly, a burst of five-colored light erupted in the dim tomb chamber.

Amidst the misty spiritual energy, a small monkey wearing a crooked long gown and a Pure Yang headscarf suddenly materialized. Its slightly dazed eyes instantly cleared upon seeing Wang Yu.

"Halt!"

"Who are you? How dare you touch the Sacred Armor! Do you not know that its master is Fei Kongzi, a Dao Integration Grandmaster of the Void Law Lineage?!"

Hearing this, Wang Yu felt helpless.

He was pondering how to persuade this artifact spirit to serve him, knowing that without its support, his current strength might not even be enough to activate the Sacred Armor.

With a glint in his eye, he smiled slyly.

"Little monkey, think carefully. Did your master... perish in battle and disperse his spirit?"

A flicker of confusion appeared in the monkey's eyes.

Like a capybara dazed from sleep, its memories were pulled back to a very distant past: the demon's escape, and the slaughter of nearly half of the Immortal Dynasty's Nascent Soul cultivators by the ancient demon.

He followed his master, Fei Kongzi, to the lower realm to suppress the demon.

First, they dealt with the derelict Immortal Dynasty, then used a secret method to control several peak Nascent Soul native cultivators to ensure punishments were carried out. After that, he ventured alone to search for the demon's traces.

They won several battles, but found it difficult to completely destroy the ancient demon's essence. Originally intending to seal the demon again, they were instead schemed against by the Immortal Dynasty natives.

They accidentally drained a dragon vein that had gained sentience and intelligence, resulting in the Heavenly Dao cutting short their lifespan, and they died with regret.

He, too, had half of his essence severed by the Grand Dao Guillotine formed by the Heavenly Dao. Only then did he lose his tall and mighty divine monkey form and become this small monkey.

This slumber lasted for hundreds of thousands of years.

Even by the timescale of a seventh-tier artifact spirit, it was a considerably long period.

Seeing the artifact spirit lost in memories, Wang Yu didn't interrupt.

Once the spirit recovered, if it wished to speak, Wang Yu would eventually learn the secrets of that time. This Dao Integration Grandmaster, Fei Kongzi, should be the first Grandmaster buried in the Ice Hell Realm.

The so-called "True Immortal Descending to the World" in ancient history, he was one of the culprits behind the fall of the Immortal Dynasty!

The few words about the Void Law Lineage reminded him of the Prison King's spiritual officer's spatial abilities. A thought immediately popped into his mind: could this be someone from the same lineage?

After a long while,

the monkey artifact spirit finally awoke from its memories, letting out an involuntary sigh. Then, it glared at Wang Yu with a hint of annoyance, saying,

"It's all because of you natives' schemes! Otherwise, how could my master have fallen in this prison?"

"Artifact spirit, you are mistaken," Wang Yu countered. "If he hadn't been so greedy, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant, how could he have been successfully schemed against by mere 'ants' much weaker than him?"

Earth veins, spiritual veins, Four Symbols spiritual veins, dragon veins, and others—

all are foundational elements nurtured by the world.

Earth veins are fundamental to the existence of the land, making soil fertile, plants luxuriant, land stable, and nurturing life.

Spiritual veins, on the other hand, are the source of spiritual energy. Their importance to the existence of the cultivation world is self-evident.

The so-called Four Symbols refer to Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind spiritual veins—an internal term among Feng Shui masters. The cultivation world generally recognizes the Five Elements theory, and these are equally crucial.

As for the importance of dragon veins, it surpasses all the veins listed before; they are an extremely crucial type of spiritual vein, almost determining the world's upper limit.

All of the above are favored by the Heavenly Dao.

Moving them is not an issue, as they remain within the world. However, if you completely destroy them, you will be punished by the Heavenly Dao, severely diminishing your fortune.

In this regard, the Yellow Springs Dao is a typical example.

Their entire sect disappeared into the Yellow Springs River; what good outcome could there be in such a desolate, gloomy place? What they destroyed was merely the least "important" type of spiritual vein.

Strictly speaking,

spiritual veins destroyed by the Spirit Refining Array actually have a chance to regenerate; they were merely drained, not completely ruined.

After tens of thousands of years, that desolate area would still give birth to new spiritual veins.

The reason Fei Kongzi suffered divine retribution was because the vein he destroyed had already given birth to a spirit. Such beings naturally grasp the Great Dao principles and are favored by Heaven and Earth.

They are somewhat akin to innate divinities, extremely extraordinary.

Their birth probability is extremely small; one could travel through thousands of worlds and still find it difficult to discover a special world capable of nurturing such sacred life. The Ice Hell Realm is special enough.

Otherwise, how could it imprison the ancient demon's physical body?

More importantly, ancient records state that besides Fei Kongzi, another Dao Integration Grandmaster who died from Heavenly Dao backlash was the one responsible for sealing the ancient Blood Demon.

This grandmaster even drained an entire fire vein.

He completely incinerated the Sea of Blood, and only then was the ancient demon captured. There was also an incident of the ancient demon breaking its seal between these two events, but ancient texts recording it are few, and the details are largely unclear.

The first and third events had a time span of approximately eighty thousand years. While this seems incredibly long from a human perspective, it is merely an instant in the timescale of heaven, earth, and the cosmos.

Yet, two innate divinities were consecutively nurtured.

This point is extremely bizarre.

While sorting through the information he had previously learned and continuously deducing, Wang Yu reconstructed the reasons for Fei Kongzi's misfortune, half-listening and half-guessing from the artifact spirit's words.

The monkey artifact spirit angrily retorted,

"What do you know!" it snapped. "Innate divinities are mostly born in top-tier realms like the True Spirit Realm, which can accommodate Immortals. Who could have known the Ice Hell Realm would be so treacherous?"

Wang Yu, however, shook his head.

"As is well known," Wang Yu said, "the Ice Hell Realm is bound by immortal rules, and its maximum capacity is merely the Nascent Soul stage. Let me ask you, what reaction do other worlds have when a being exceeding their limit forcibly descends?"

The artifact spirit paused, then murmured,

"They will be repelled... If they don't retreat in time, they will be targeted by the Heavenly Dao, unless they have a method to deceive the heavens."

"What about the realm reached by the ancient demon's physical body?"

"So that's it... So that's it..."

The ancient demon was reputed to be the top-tier existence below the Immortal Realm. The fact that the Ice Hell Realm could accommodate such a being's physical body proved that its essence was only slightly inferior to the True Spirit Realm.

And consecutively nurturing innate divinities further proved its unique origin.

No wonder this realm is so exceptional, with true spirits and ferocious beasts emerging endlessly, and even True Spirits like Vermilion Birds and Qilins existing in ancient times.

Lian Tian, Wang Yu, and others were also anomalies.

Setting aside their cunning schemes, just their talent and comprehension were on an entirely different level from the natives of other worlds. Beings nurtured by a grand realm are naturally more powerful in essence than those from smaller realms.

Fei Kongzi's misfortune was partly due to bad luck,

and partly due to carelessness and underestimating the Ice Hell Realm. His case could be called an accident, but the reasons behind the third "Immortal Descent" incident are less clear.

Perhaps in the future, there will be an opportunity to uncover those secrets.

After helping the artifact spirit resolve its inner turmoil and its resentment towards the Ice Hell natives, Wang Yu struck while the iron was hot, saying,

"If you remain immersed in the past, I'm afraid you'll never recover to your peak. Why not follow me? I will certainly do my best to help you recover, and you… just need to assist me at critical moments. How about it?"

"With just you..."

"Take another look, then?"

With that, Wang Yu unleashed his aura without restraint, especially the vibrant life force that allowed the artifact spirit to roughly gauge his age.

The monkey was indeed surprised, saying,

"This feeling... are you only around four hundred years old? So young, even more outstanding than the most talented genius of the Void Law Lineage."

Being praised as a genius in recent years wasn't a new experience for him, but he had started with merely a useless spiritual root. His progress to this day was entirely due to his step-by-step efforts.

"How about it?" Wang Yu asked. "Do I have the potential to help you recover?"

"Yes, you do," the spirit replied, "but the environment here makes it difficult to nurture spiritual items helpful for my recovery. Furthermore, even if I agree, you would still struggle to use the Sacred Armor's power."

Wang Yu frowned.

"Why is that?"

The artifact spirit scratched its head, seemingly pondering how to explain it to Wang Yu.

After a long pause, it suddenly asked,

"Do you know what a Dao Integration cultivator is?"

"I do not..."

His understanding of the Void Refinement stage wasn't even particularly comprehensive, let alone the mighty powers of Dao Integration cultivators.

The artifact spirit shook its head and said,

"Dao Integration, as the name implies, requires comprehending one's own Dao to integrate with it. The spatial laws comprehended during the Void Refinement stage are the carrying space for Dao Integration."

"You mean, the Cosmos World?"

"Precisely."

The artifact spirit continued,

"Void Refinement cultivators unite all energies, perfecting their essence, qi, and spirit. The three treasures converge to form the embryonic form of Dao Yuan, and combined with the ability to manipulate the cosmos and control the Five Elements, they can create a small world."

Wang Yu's expression was dazed. Creation... what an illusory term. He hadn't expected Void Refinement cultivators could achieve it.

"This world is the foundation for a cultivator to become an Immortal. To achieve Dao Integration, one must integrate their own Dao into this small world. You haven't even comprehended 'intent' yet, so it's too early to talk about these things.

"In short, to command me,

you must possess Dharma Power infused with Dao principles, which is Dao Yuan. The next best are the embryonic forms of Dao Yuan possessed by Void Refinement cultivators, or energy crystals containing heavenly and earthly rules. All can replenish my consumption."

So that's how it is.

A sudden thought flashed in Wang Yu's mind, and he took out a Water-Fire Origin Crystal. This item was a treasure coveted even by the Prison King's spiritual officer, a level higher than even top-grade spirit stones.

It was one of the hard currencies circulated even in the True Spirit Realm.

"Can this item charge you?"

The artifact spirit's monkey eyes lit up, and it eagerly pounced over.

"Yes, yes!" it exclaimed. "About one hundred thousand pieces would allow me to unleash my full power once."

Wang Yu was speechless.

He calmly sidestepped, saying,

"What if there are only a dozen or so?"

The artifact spirit froze.

It said uncertainly, "Perhaps... maybe... it could unleash about one hundred-thousandth of its power?"

It scratched its head in distress, apparently having never encountered such a problem. Nascent Soul Dharma power was too impure and insufficient in quality for it to exert its full strength.

As things stood,

the artifact spirit had no other choice besides Wang Yu. Therefore, despite some disappointment, it agreed to Wang Yu's proposal and made a pact.

In the future, if any treasures that could help it recover its power were found, they must be given to it first, and in return, the monkey artifact spirit would be at Wang Yu's command.

Since it couldn't be stored in the Sea Heart Ring,

the Five Elements Heaven-Fleeing Sacred Armor shrunk to the size of a fingernail and hung on Wang Yu's hairpin.

"By the way, I haven't asked how to address you."

"Origin Spirit, or you may call me Divine Monkey. Whichever you prefer. I'm going back to sleep."

"Alright."

Finally having dealt with the matter, Wang Yu breathed a sigh of relief. The monkey's intelligence was only equivalent to that of an eleven or twelve-year-old boy.

It was easier to persuade than he had expected, and its affection for its former master, Fei Kongzi, was not as deep as it had appeared.

Overthinking was pointless; achieving the goal was enough.

With this thought in mind, Wang Yu's attention quickly shifted to the other burial goods. After all, it was a Crown Prince's tomb. Besides the extraordinary Sacred Armor,

there were many other treasures precious even to Nascent Soul cultivators. Wang Yu picked up a cerulean blue pearl, and after his divine sense permeated it, he quickly obtained the relevant information.

The Sea Suppressing Pearl, a low-grade fifth-tier spiritual treasure, contained immense seawater. The more Dharma Power injected, the greater its weight, making it highly effective when used to directly smash opponents.

It also had the effect of countering water-attribute spells.

However, its compatibility with him wasn't great, so Wang Yu regarded it as a "dumbbell," which might be useful for body tempering.

Void Gold, a fifth-tier spiritual material, was excellent for crafting swords.

"Hmm... perhaps it could be refined into the Yanluo Emperor Sword."

Myriad Spirits Bloodstone, a fifth-tier spiritual material.

"This treasure might allow the Taihe Blood Cauldron to advance to a fifth-tier spiritual treasure."

The Immortal Flower, a fifth-tier spiritual medicine, could preserve a corpse from decay, but its true effect was to enhance a body cultivator's immortal power, making it a sacred item for body cultivation.

"—What a treasure!"

The more he looked, the wider Wang Yu's smile became.

Such abundant resources were enough for him to undergo another short period of secluded cultivation here.