Chapter 15: The Battle for the Treasure

Seizing opportunities is all about being one step ahead, and then every step thereafter.

When the Three Pure Ones and the other powerful beings broke through the great formation and rushed first onto the Penglai Immortal Island, it was tantamount to gaining the upper hand.

“This island truly is extraordinary!” Tongtian couldn’t help but exclaim as he entered Penglai Immortal Island.

Laozi and Yuanshi Tianzun nodded in agreement. A swift scan of their divine perception revealed that the island was guarded by thirty-six innate prohibitive formations.

Within these formations were either innate spiritual treasures or innate spiritual roots. Since their incarnations, the three brothers possessed only a few innate spiritual treasures, and innate spiritual roots were even rarer.

In terms of rarity, innate spiritual roots surpassed even innate spiritual treasures.

“Elder brother, I observe that the innate formation to the southeast is the strongest on the entire immortal island. Shall we begin by breaking that one?” Yuanshi Tianzun suggested.

After some calculation, Laozi said, “Very well!”

Thus, the Three Pure Ones headed toward the innate formation in the southeast.

Meanwhile, to the northwest, opposite to the Three Pure Ones, Jieyin and Zhunti had also seized a powerful innate great formation.

When Zhunti first set foot on Penglai Immortal Island, his eyes glowed green. The West had always been barren; since their birth, they had never seen such a precious land.

Just a glance upon arrival revealed several supreme postnatal spiritual roots, and countless spiritual medicines aged over a hundred thousand years.

Jieyin was equally excited, but he didn’t let these distractions cloud his judgment. Compared to postnatal spiritual roots and medicines, the innate spiritual artifacts protected by the innate prohibitive formations were far more important.

After discussion, Jieyin and Zhunti occupied the innate formation to the northwest.

Other powerful beings who arrived first also chose relatively strong innate formations on the island to begin unlocking.

Those who came later could only set their sights on the remaining formations left behind by these great figures.

Soon, all over thirty innate prohibitive formations on the island were occupied, with half of them embroiled in fierce battles.

The Da Luo Golden Immortals who had arrived were fighting desperately for control over these prohibitive formations.

Only Bai Jing seemed oblivious to these formations, dedicating himself wholly to collecting various rare immortal materials and spirit ores.

Penglai Immortal Island was the largest of the Three Immortal Islands, and Bai Jing reveled in gathering precious materials and ores.

Unknowingly, ten years had passed. The Three Pure Ones, acting together, broke through that particular formation in merely ten years.

The moment the formation opened, a radiant treasure light erupted.

Everyone on the island involuntarily turned to look toward the Three Pure Ones.

But in the next instant, a treasure pagoda materialized out of thin air, suffused with mysterious black and yellow energies, completely blocking others’ attempts to peer inside.

“Is this the postnatal merit treasure, the Mysterious Black and Yellow Exquisite Pagoda? Truly marvelous!” Bai Jing murmured upon seeing the pagoda for the first time.

With this pagoda present, none on the island could discern what treasure the Three Pure Ones had gained after breaking the formation.

Bai Jing paid it no mind. As the owner of the entire Yingzhou Immortal Island, no matter how powerful the spiritual treasures on Penglai Immortal Island were, they could not compare to the Primordial Chaos Heavenly Measuring Ruler on Yingzhou Island.

Besides, even if the Three Pure Ones had acquired some extraordinary treasure, he couldn’t snatch it away anyway! Rather than concern himself with them, it was better to continue gathering his own immortal materials and ores.

After the Three Pure Ones, the next to break through a great formation were Emperor Jun and Taiyi, who acquired a superior innate spiritual treasure.

The western duo, Zhenyuanzi and Hongyun, along with Minghe and Kunpeng, gained either superior innate spiritual treasures or superior innate spiritual roots upon breaking their formations.

Upon learning of their gains, Bai Jing thought: “The treasure light near the Three Pure Ones must have been an exquisite innate spiritual artifact.

Among the other five larger innate prohibitive formations, the treasures obtained were all superior innate spiritual artifacts.

The remaining thirty smaller and medium-sized formations likely contain mid- to low-grade innate spiritual artifacts.

By this calculation, Penglai Immortal Island should have one exquisite innate spiritual artifact, five superior innate spiritual artifacts, and thirty mid- or low-grade innate spiritual artifacts.

Meanwhile, my Yingzhou Immortal Island has only eighteen innate prohibitive formations, sixteen of which guard spiritual roots—a total of sixteen trees, three of which are superior grade.

There is only one prohibitive formation for a spiritual treasure, at the site of my true form’s twelfth-grade Pure World White Lotus. Upon my incarnation, the innate prohibitive formation dissipated by itself.

The last prohibitive formation is where the fragment of the Fate Jade Disc is located.

In terms of quantity, there is a difference, but in value, I alone, plus the Fate Jade Disc fragment, roughly equal all the spiritual treasures on Penglai Immortal Island combined.”

At this thought, Bai Jing grew increasingly curious about the last of the Three Immortal Islands, Fangzhang Island.

Setting aside other matters, the mysterious Primordial Water-Control Flag, never before seen in the Great Desolation, and one of the Ten Innate Spiritual Roots, the Five-Needle Pine, were most likely found on Fangzhang Island.

Whether the Five-Needle Pine existed or not was less important, but the Primordial Water-Control Flag could be used to repair Bai Jing’s origin.

Suddenly, a thunderous roar interrupted Bai Jing’s thoughts.

He turned toward the source of the noise and saw Tongtian clashing with Minghe.

“Friend Minghe, do you recognize my Supreme Clarity Thunder Technique?” Tongtian’s voice had barely fallen when a divine thunderbolt descended from the heavens.

Minghe stood atop a twelfth-grade karmic fire red lotus, lightly tapped the twin swords on his back, and immediately a staggering sword light sliced forth, directly meeting Tongtian’s Supreme Clarity Divine Thunder.

After another tremendous explosion, the thunderbolt and sword light collided, dispersing into countless golden sparks before vanishing.

Among all the great beings present, few dared to challenge the Three Pure Ones; Minghe was certainly one of them.

To put it plainly, before the Three Pure Ones achieved sainthood, the Minghe Patriarch was not afraid of them.

Minghe Patriarch was a being born from the endless sea of blood spawned from Pangu’s tainted blood, possessing a great divine skill that allowed him to cultivate 480 million Blood Divine Sons fused into the blood sea.

Thanks to this divine skill, the blood sea never dried up, and Minghe was immortal. The blood sea was the resting place of souls after death, filled with endless resentful spirits and karmic force.

Whether or not he had the ability to drain it dry, even if such a divine skill existed, how much karmic backlash would one have to endure?

Even sages must carefully consider such immense karmic forces.

Hence, Minghe Patriarch could survive countless cataclysms in the Great Desolation until the very end.

Regardless of whether his cultivation and power matched the Three Pure Ones, Minghe Patriarch was undoubtedly brave enough to confront them head-on.

Of course, under normal circumstances, even Minghe Patriarch would avoid offending the Three Pure Ones, for they held thirty percent of the merit of creation—offending them would be perilous.

But now, Minghe was confronting the Three Pure Ones. Could there be other treasures worth fighting over on Penglai Immortal Island?

Clearly, Bai Jing was not alone in this thought. Others shared the same suspicion, and great beings on the island began converging toward the two sides.

Bai Jing glanced at the collection of immortal materials and ores he had gathered and felt it was still insufficient.

After some hesitation, he chose not to join the fray.