Chapter 2: The Birth of a Treasure

Qu Yi tried to move the giant snake’s corpse, hoping to coil it up so he could enter the mysterious cave to explore, but he found his strength utterly insufficient—the snake was incredibly heavy.
Since the snake’s body was useless, Qu Yi had to think of another way. He glanced around and was delighted to see the giant eagle’s talons.
“I’ll use these eagle talons to climb up!” Qu Yi announced happily.
The eagle’s talons were extremely sharp; Qu Yi had seen with his own eyes that they could pierce through the snake’s scales. Therefore, using them to dig holes in the cliff would surely be easy, allowing him to climb step by step toward the cave entrance.
Fortunately, when Qu Meng pushed him down, the heavy iron sword he carried also fell, which could now be used to cut off the eagle’s talons.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
After dozens of powerful swings, Qu Yi finally managed to cut off the eagle’s talons.
“Mysterious cave, I’m coming!”
After announcing this joyfully, Qu Yi immediately used the eagle talons to grip the cliff, creating stone holes large enough to hold his feet. He stepped into these holes one by one and climbed upward.
The mysterious cave was over fifty meters high. Soon, Qu Yi climbed up and sat by the cave’s edge, wiping his sweat before carefully peering inside.
The cave was filled with colorful lights, and its walls seemed made of white jade, making the dazzling and changing colors even more striking and mesmerizing. Undoubtedly, there must be a light source inside.
Qu Yi bent down and pressed his ear to the ground, listening carefully to see if there were any monsters inside, so he could decide on a course of action.
“There’s no sound inside. It seems the cave was originally completely sealed. It was only when the weight of the giant snake and eagle broke through the protruding rocks at the entrance that the cave became visible.”
After listening for a while, Qu Yi stood up, deep in thought.
Soon, he grabbed his sword tightly and stepped into the cave to investigate further. Since he hadn’t died after falling from the cliff and had discovered this mysterious cave, it was his chance. How could Qu Yi be timid? He must explore it.
One step, two steps, ten steps, a hundred steps… one li, ten li!
Dreamlike lights kept appearing before his eyes—utterly magnificent!
Qu Yi continued walking deeper into the cave for ten li, almost reaching the center of the Beast Mountain, before reaching the cave’s deepest part, where he witnessed a miraculous scene.

The walls of the cave around were entirely made of bright blue crystals, glowing with blue flames. At the ceiling hung a ten-meter-long, translucent blue-tinged stalactite, from which clear droplets kept falling. Below the stalactite was a pool about a person’s depth and width, in which a vibrant multicolored lotus flower grew lushly.

The multicolored lotus rose about a meter above the water’s surface, with a deep purple stem. At the end of the stem sprouted five lotus leaves, each of a different color—gold, green, blue, red, and yellow. The five leaves surrounded a lush green lotus pod, inside which were evenly distributed five lotus seeds, also in the five colors: gold, green, blue, red, and yellow.

This was the Purple-Stem Multicolored Lotus, long coveted in the realm of cultivation!

Of course, at that moment, Qu Yi had no idea what this lotus meant. He simply stared in amazement at its glowing light, unable to comprehend how such a flower could emit light continuously.

“It’s truly beautiful! A thousand times more beautiful than any delicate flower I’ve seen in the mountains before!”

Exclaiming in wonder, Qu Yi couldn’t help reaching out with his right hand to touch the lotus pod, wanting to feel it.

As his hand approached the Purple-Stem Multicolored Lotus, its glow intensified, instantly filling the entire cave with a brilliant blue light, turning it into a world of crystal-blue radiance. Though greatly surprised, Qu Yi still reached for the pod. His sensitive touch detected a strong aura of spiritual energy within it. The moment his right hand made contact with the pod, something extraordinary happened again.

The five lotus seeds inside suddenly burst forth, transforming into five beams—gold, green, blue, red, and yellow—each of which rushed into Qu Yi’s mouth and immediately entered his body.

“Ah!”

Qu Yi let out a sharp cry of shock. Initially frightened, he soon turned ecstatic—these five seeds were not harmful but instead brought tremendous benefits.

Containing immense life energy, the seeds transformed into five powerful currents as soon as they entered Qu Yi’s body. They surged through his meridians, breaking through the blockages and rapidly connecting them completely. As these currents flowed throughout his body, his skin improved, his muscles strengthened, his blood purified, and his bone marrow refined. Every part of his body was undergoing positive transformation.

Qu Yi felt as if he were in a hot spring, with comfort spreading throughout his body. His consciousness became completely inward-focused, leaving him unaware of anything happening in the outside world.

Time continued to pass slowly!

While Qu Yi was in the cave, ten thousand kilometers north of the Beast Mountain, in the Flaming Valley, another peculiar scene unfolded. The entire Flaming Valley, as its name suggested, was filled with floating magma and shooting flint, with bursts of fierce flames rising from time to time. The valley, nearly a hundred miles in size, was entirely a world of flames, scorching beyond measure. At that moment, four groups of people were constantly flying back and forth above the Flaming Valley. There were five people dressed in green, wielding wooden swords; all of them were at the Golden Core stage, with their spiritual senses wide open as they scanned for any movements in the valley below. Another group of six people wore purple and gold robes embroidered with red halb-moons; these six also were at the Golden Core stage, riding flying swords as they swiftly surveyed changes in the Flaming Valley. There were two more groups: one consisted of five people in light yellow Taoist robes riding flying swords, all at the Golden Core stage; the other group had five people in elegant white robes, also all at the Golden Core stage, flying swiftly on their flying swords. All four groups were striving to observe any changes in the Flaming Valley, as if some treasure hidden there was about to appear at any moment. Behind each of these four groups, a person at the Nascent Soul stage waited, unwilling to act until the treasure appeared. “Brother Huaijin, has the Immortal Cloud Sect discovered anything?” called out a Golden Core expert in purple and gold robes from the air. Hearing this, Huaijin of the Immortal Cloud Sect stopped immediately, looked at the speaker, and smiled, saying, “It’s Brother Yongchuan. We haven’t detected any abnormalities. Have you people from the Fire Moon Sect found anything unusual?” Yongchuan had a thin face but bright, sharp eyes. He smiled at Huaijin and said, “No. Five days have passed already. We all came here after the celestial glow from a treasure appearing ten days ago, but so far, we haven’t found any signs. It’s truly disheartening.” Huaijin, an middle-aged man with an elegant figure but a somewhat cold and stern appearance, also sighed and said, “Yes. With all the experts from our four sects here, it seems we’ll have worked for nothing.” The two exchanged helpless smiles before flying apart. These four groups represented the four major cultivation sects of the Emerald Wood Planet: the Immortal Cloud Sect, the Fire Moon Sect, the Xuanyang Temple, and the Jade Host Sect. Ten days ago, a spectacular sight appeared in the Flaming Valley—ten thousand streams of celestial light shot straight into the sky, turning the entire world into a sea of red clouds, shocking all living things and arousing widespread concern.

Naturally, the four major cultivation sects understood better than those in the mundane world what the signs of the rosy light in the sky meant—weren’t those signs of a treasure about to appear? In an instant, the Immortal Cloud Sect, Fire Moon Gate, Xuan Yang Temple, and Jade Constellation Sect sent their members to the source of the rosy light and found the Flaming Realm Valley. Each of the four sects was led by a Yuan Ying stage cultivator, along with several Golden Dan stage experts, who continuously scanned the area with their spiritual senses. All agreed that if the treasure hadn’t appeared yet, whoever found it would keep it based on chance; if it had appeared, then the stronger one would possess it. Over twenty Golden Dan stage experts kept flying tirelessly, their spiritual senses scanning every movement in the Flaming Realm Valley. Though the task was tedious, none slacked off, for the sight of the rosy light clearly indicated the treasure’s rarity and power—whichever sect obtained it would undoubtedly strengthen significantly. The four sects had long maintained a balance on Green Wood Planet, with none wanting their own sect to grow stronger while theirs weakened. Another half day passed, and all the Golden Dan stage experts temporarily stopped searching and returned to their Yuan Ying stage leaders to rest and recover. Suddenly, the Flaming Realm Valley erupted violently—flames surged, heat waves burned everything, and magma gushed forth. The valley, covering hundreds of miles, resembled a giant volcanic crater, with countless streams of magma ejected into the air, massive waves of heat, and countless scorching boulders falling from the sky. The four groups from the Immortal Cloud Sect, Fire Moon Gate, Xuan Yang Temple, and Jade Constellation Sect flew high into the clouds to observe the events from afar. Excitement and anticipation filled their expressions. Of course, they all knew the treasure was about to appear. With medicinal pills to replenish their vital energy and magical weapons ready for seizing it, the members of the four sects waited intently. Boom! Boom! Boom! The Flaming Realm Valley continued to erupt violently, as if the entire ground was about to be burned by the heat, with all matter thrown into the air before falling back as spectacular streams of red. After about half an hour, the heart-shattering volcanic eruption gradually subsided, leaving the valley ten miles deeper, a huge red crater filled with terrifying heat. Suddenly, from the bottom of the crater, a beam of red light rose straight into the sky. Blocked by the clouds, it spread across the heavens, once again coloring the world in red. “Attack!” “Attack!” “Attack!” “Attack!” Four voices rang out simultaneously from the four Yuan Ying stage experts.

Huff! Huff! Huff!
The members of the four factions flew straight toward the giant pit.