The magnetic golden mountain was a treasury in the same way. Jiang Chen had received more than its fair share of benefits even when compared to the Bewitching Lotus of Ice and Fire. The mountain’s magnetic storms, defensive prowess, and the Lord of the Golden Seal’s offensive strength were all matched by his own increase in cultivation.

As for the mint ginseng creature, it was close in function with the Bewitching Lotus of Ice and Fire, albeit simpler in its vectors of attack. It could only entangle and unleash toxic smoke; rather excessive given his ownership of the Lotus. Therefore, Jiang Chen gave the mint ginseng as a present to his sister.

Xu Qingxuan was delighted with the ginseng. Because she was a holy maiden of the Moon God Sect, she had a few treasures on hand fitting with her position. However, she’d never held a treasure like the spirit creature before.

The eight statues Jiang Chen had taken from the Prince of Shangping back in the desolate wildlands remained mostly a mystery. Currently, he was using them to aid his Eight Trigram Boulder Formation as a defensive tool. It was surely a waste of their abilities.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t make use of their deeper potential. His senses told him that the statues were imbued with a powerful will within. Something like that wasn’t common to just any eight statues. This had surprised him when he’d first found out. He thought them appropriate as his next major goal of investigation.

The Earth Bodhisattva Orb was the crowning treasure of a prominent formation sect in ancient times. This title alone made its strength evident. The Earth Bodhisattva Sect had the claim to fame of being number one amongst all formation sects, and the Orb was a big component of its power. 

The ancient era of gods and demons was completely incomparable to today’s Divine Abyss Continent. Back then, empyrean experts were more common than today’s great emperors. Considering its environment, the number one sect couldn’t possibly be anything less than extraordinary. Neither could its crowning treasure, the Earth Bodhisattva Orb!

Similar to the statues, Jiang Chen hadn’t made very good use of the Orb’s potential yet. Though he’d forced the remarkable item to acknowledge his ownershipit by imprinting it with blood, he had only superficial access to its spectrum of power.

If he could make total use of the Orb’s abilities, no one on Divine Abyss would be able to challenge him. Even if all the boundary steles were shattered, he was confident enough to stand alone against a horde of alien races. Myriad Abyss Island would be a cinch too, naturally. Alas, doing so would take much more than the short time he had available.

“All five of these elemental treasures I have now are inherited from the ancients. For metal, I have the magnetic golden mountain. For wood, I have the Wood Spirit Spring. For water and fire, the Bewitching Lotus of Ice and Fire. For earth, the Earth Bodhisattva Orb. Who under the heavens is more fortunate than me?”

The first step to cultivating the Bodhisattva Orb was using it to create earth pulses. Jiang Chen had personal experience with the potency of these pulses. He hadn’t the misfortune of being struck at its peak. In its strongest form, a cultivator that was caught up would be smashed to a pulp.

Because he was in the initial stages of cultivating the Orb, Jiang Chen wasn’t going to reach that kind of power overnight. Once he managed to create an earth pulse however, he could use it to surprise his opponents in battle. The panic of the opponent being trapped by a pulse-generated vortex would increase the effectiveness of the sneak attack.

The earth pulse was quite similar to great emperor domains. Domains were generated by the cultivation of the experts themselves, while the pulse was created by the Orb’s magnetic field-distorting power. The ensuing waves affected cultivators in a meaningful way, hence the offensive portion of the ability.

Jiang Chen anticipated that a combination of the Orb and a formation that could make use of it would be an unbreakable mix of offense and defense. Being able to pull out something like that would be a great boon to his fighting ability.

Currently, his cultivation was sufficient to fight against most emperor realm experts – even the ones at peak ninth level. 

In other words, he was unafraid of his emperor realm peers. Additionally, he could maneuver around all but the most elite of the great emperors. Jiang Chen had been able to fight Emperor Shura to a standstill when he’d been still initial emperor realm. This showed the extent of his combat power.

But it’d costed him resources to do so, like charges of his Imperial Advent Defense and Onslaught Talisman. He was a considerable threat only through his incredible equipment and methods.

To his chagrin, he hadn’t received the Earth Bodhisattva Sect’s associated formations along with their treasure. Otherwise, it would’ve been a most effective composition. It would have been equivalent to him receiving the essence of sect’s heritage. He would be unafraid of even the strongest great emperors in the world then.

Still, he had the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect’s formations. In terms of ingenuity, Ancient Crimson’s formations more than rivaled the Earth Bodhisattva Sect’s. The only reason the latter was number one was because of the Orb. Ancient Crimson had a plethora of treasures, but none was as superb as the Earth Bodhisattva Orb.

Because the Earth Bodhisattva Sect had been built around the Orb, compatibility was best between the sect’s treasure and its corresponding formations. Further refinement and experimentation would be required for it to achieve the same type of harmony with Ancient Crimson’s formations.

Ancient Crimson had a smattering of different formations. Great Dream of Spring and Autumn, Eight Trigram Boulder, Major Artifice, Ancient Slaughter of Seven…

Currently, his strongest formation was the Heavenly Chalice Sword Formation. He had the requisite swords forged for it and was on his way to improving his mastery. Though he had only reached minor achievement with it, its raw offensive force nevertheless surprised him.

Even with the advantage of the palace’s suppressive ability, it was undeniably partially to the formation’s credit that he’d been able to strike down Emperor Heartcloud with a single strike.

It wasn’t at all easy for a second level emperor realm to kill a great emperor head on. His momentary control over Heartcloud hadn’t made it much easier. A stationary high-level expert wasn’t exactly a sitting duck against someone that much lower in cultivation.

It was the same way that a seven- or eight-year-old child might have difficulty killing a hulk of a man. Jiang Chen was a child when compared against Emperor Heartcloud. However, the Heavenly Chalice Formation was a razor-sharp edge in his hands. He’d managed to kill the man during a lapse of concentration thanks to the sharpness of this blade.

Jiang Chen couldn’t imagine how powerful it would become once he reached supremacy with it.

……

Four or five months passed in the blink of an eye.

Despite his time spent in cultivation, Jiang Chen didn't forget completely about the passage of time. He opened his eyes on a day like any other, taking great pleasure in re-examining the fruits of his months-long labor, his heart swelling with confidence.

“My combat strength has at least doubled thanks to this closed door session. It’s time for me to go stretch my legs.” Stretching, he stood up and strode outside.

“Are you done with closed door cultivation, young lord?”

“Congratulations for completing your closed door cultivation!” There was mass enthusiasm across the young lord residence at his emergence.

Nian’er was particularly enthusiastic. She hadn’t cried per se, but she’d asked for her father every night before bed. She was doubtless the happiest to see him once more. In her heart, her father was the strongest and tallest man in the world.

The first thing Jiang Chen did upon emerging was to spend a few days wholly with his daughter.

Nian’er was a discerning girl. She knew her father was a busy man and didn’t want to occupy all of his time.

“Daddy, Nian’er knows you have a lot of things to do… I can’t steal all your time.” The little girl pursed her lips. 

Jiang Chen touched his daughter’s delicate face, his heart filled with compassion. After spending a little bit of family time, he departed once more for distant lands.

This time, he intended to go to Agarwood Valley. He wasn’t going to bring a large retinue with him. Three people were enough: Emperor Peerless and the Jiao brothers.

The Jiao brothers had made Veluriyam Capital their long-term home, so they could come along any time.

Emperor Peerless on the other hand, was currently overseeing Regal Pill Palace’s affairs at Palace Head Dan Chi’s side. Jiang Chen delegated Emperor Vastsea to replace him temporarily for the duration of the trip.

Emperor Vastsea was originally responsible for gathering together Great Scarlet’s factions and managing the region’s geopolitical environment. Now that things had relatively settled down, it was perfectly possible for him to tend to both his old and new responsibilities simultaneously. After all, Great Scarlet and Myriad Domain neighbored each other.

Emperor Peerless returned to Veluriyam Capital as soon as he heard the call. Emperor Wellspring was his first visitor upon hearing the news. The visiting emperor had come due to reports of Emperor Peerless breaking through into the ranks of the top great emperors. He had a fighting itch to scratch and wanted to engage in a friendly bout with his old acquaintance.

Emperor Peerless had a similar sensation. His recent increase in strength was dampened by the lack of a suitable opponent to test it on. He was raring to go as much as Emperor Wellspring.

In order to create a buzz, Jiang Chen arranged for the two friendly great emperors to have a public duel. Veluriyam Capital became alive once more.

The two men were both among the wandering cultivator six titans. Among those six, Emperor Wellspring was originally in the top three and Peerless, bottom three.

There was a minute but true difference in their strengths in the past. However, Emperor Peerless’ incredible breakthrough meant that he was able to stand on even footing with any of the former three positions of the six titans!

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