The Heaven-Measuring Ruler was a acquired supreme treasure of merit. Although acquired, its might surpassed that of ordinary innate supreme treasures!
Taichu looked at the ruler in his hand, completely unable to put it down!
"Forty-nine restrictions!"
"Well, not bad, not bad! A bit too many, but I might as well start refining it right now!"
"Can you really call a supreme treasure good if it doesn't have many restrictions?"
At this time, no living beings had yet appeared in Honghuang—strictly speaking, no native living beings had been born yet!
When the Great God Pangu split the heavens, a few old monsters had managed to escape here carrying a sliver of residual soul!
Right now, however, all of them were hiding in dark corners to heal their injuries; they wouldn't even think of showing their faces for several *yuanhui*!
With a single sitting, Taichu spent one hundred thousand years!
Goodness me, he never could have imagined that after one hundred thousand years, those final three restrictions wouldn't budge an inch!
By this point, forty-six restrictions of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler had already been refined by Taichu!
"Perhaps my cultivation level is still too low. Once my cultivation increases, I might be able to fully refine it!
Still, it handles smoothly enough for now, with no hindrance at all," Taichu muttered to himself!
He promptly put the ruler away and flew toward the peak of Mount Buzhou!
He flew in one breath up to a point one-third of the distance from the summit!
Feeling the formidable pressure of Mount Buzhou, even Taichu found it impossible to fly any further!
Just as he steadied his mind, he suddenly sensed a fluctuation of spiritual energy!
Looking closely, he saw a Daoist priest attempting to break open an innate array!
"This poor Daoist is Hongjun. I wonder what fellow Daoist's name might be?" Hongjun asked!
Taichu looked Hongjun up and down, faintly sensing the aura of a Chaos Demon God emanating from him!
"My name is Taichu!"
His tone was far from friendly!
Taichu eyed Hongjun critically. Although both were Early-Stage Da Luo Golden Immortals, the aura radiating from Hongjun was clearly much weaker than his own!
It seemed Hongjun also sensed Taichu's unfriendliness!
He continued, "This poor Daoist came to Mount Buzhou to try my luck and see if I could find one or two suitable treasures. If fellow Daoist doesn't mind, why don't we travel together?"
Taichu thought to himself, "This fellow carries the aura of a Chaos Demon God. Since he's keen on traveling together, perhaps I can use this opportunity to sound out his background."
Taichu sneered, "Travel together? Surely Daoist Hongjun wouldn't want to give up these treasures lying right within reach?"
Hongjun smiled awkwardly, "Since ancient times, treasures belong to those fated to receive them. This poor Daoist has spent a long time trying to refine this array without the slightest progress, which shows I have no affinity with it! It would be this old Daoist's good fortune to travel with fellow Daoist."
"What a shameless old fogey! Clearly, he couldn't refine the innate array himself, so he's scheming to send me away and wait until his strength is sufficient to come back and pluck it!" Taichu thought to himself!
If that's how it is, I won't let you profit either!
Hearing Hongjun's words, Taichu didn't stand on ceremony at all: "Since fellow Daoist puts it that way, why don't you let me give it a try? You wouldn't have any objections, would you?"
"Ah, this... No, no, of course I have no objections!"
Hongjun stammered for a long time, and once he finished speaking, he stood there in silence, watching Taichu.
He never dreamed that this Taichu wouldn't play by the rules!
"In that case, let me give it a try!"
With that, Taichu formed hand seals and began refining the array!
A hundred years later, Taichu had completely refined the array!
"Central Apricot-Yellow Banner!"
The two of them spoke at the exact same time!
Taichu raised his hand and summoned a small banner radiating brilliant light into his palm!
Hongjun's face flushed red. Both were Early-Stage Da Luo Golden Immortals, yet the grand array that he had failed to refine after nearly ten thousand years of effort had been refined by Taichu in just a few moments!
And it turned out to be a top-grade innate spiritual treasure at that—the Central Apricot-Yellow Banner!
Taichu glanced at Hongjun: "Since Daoist Hongjun said that treasures belong to those fated to have them, I won't stand on ceremony!"
With that, he put the treasure away.
Hongjun's weathered face turned red: "Fellow Daoist is blessed with deep fortune; it is only fitting that you should have it!"
Taichu smiled slightly: "Daoist Hongjun jests. Well then, let's go—time to continue our journey!"
With that, the two of them continued walking toward the summit!
Along the way, they encountered many more spiritual treasures, but every single one of middle-grade innate spiritual treasure quality or higher was claimed by Taichu!
Taichu chatted and laughed with Hongjun all the way, but Hongjun's complexion looked even uglier than if he had swallowed a fly!
Suddenly, enlightenment struck Hongjun!
"Ah, so that's your game, Taichu! You only agreed to travel with me to stop me from acquiring treasures!"
"Daoist Hongjun? Daoist Hongjun, why aren't you saying anything?"
Hongjun's old face flushed red: "Fellow Daoist Taichu, this poor Daoist has had a sudden realization and must return to my Daoist sanctuary. I won't be able to accompany you any further on our travels!"
Without waiting for Taichu to reply, he spun around and bolted toward the foot of Mount Buzhou!
"Daoist Hongjun, don't leave! I still don't know where your Daoist sanctuary is!"
But there was no longer any sign of Hongjun anywhere!
Watching Hongjun leave, Taichu burst into hearty laughter!
"No matter what schemes you have in mind, Hongjun, I won't allow you to play tricks in front of me! On the path of cultivation, whether it's fortune or spiritual treasures, one must fight and contend for them. Did you expect a pie to fall from the sky?"
Seeing that they were now approaching the summit of Mount Buzhou, Taichu quickened his pace!
After all, more than one hundred thousand years had already passed during this climb!
As the pressure grew heavier and heavier, Taichu finally reached the peak of Mount Buzhou!
Standing atop the summit, Taichu looked out over the Honghuang world!
Over these past hundred-plus thousand years, living beings had successively begun to develop sentience, though they had not yet transformed into human form!
Suddenly, a wave of energy rippled outward, and Taichu seemed to sense the aura of Pangu!
"Big Brother!" Taichu called out anxiously!
There was no shadow of Pangu to be found—it was merely an array containing an inheritance!
Taichu reached out to touch it, but there was nothing there at all!
Yet at that very moment, a cultivation technique appeared within Taichu's mind.
"The Nine-Turn Xuanyuan Scripture!" Taichu cried out in astonishment!
Cultivating the "Nine-Turn Xuanyuan Scripture" to the ninth turn would allow one to reach the peak Hunyuan Da Luo Golden Immortal realm!
It was also an exceptional body-tempering technique, as well as the supreme method for proving the Dao through strength!
"It seems this is the inheritance left behind by Big Brother. He must hope I will spread this technique far and wide to benefit Honghuang!"
Without delay, Taichu sat down cross-legged to practice!
Even though no one else could reach the summit at this time, Taichu casually set up a protective array. No matter the circumstances, one should never leave oneself vulnerable to danger!
This time of cultivation lasted another ten thousand years!
By now, Taichu's cultivation had advanced to the Mid-Stage Da Luo Golden Immortal realm, and what pleased him even more was that his physical body had also reached the Early-Stage Da Luo Golden Immortal realm!
"It's time to descend the mountain. This trip to Mount Buzhou has lasted nearly one *yuanhui*. By now, living beings in Honghuang should be transforming into human form one after another," Taichu said!
One *yuanhui* equaled 129,600 years, and Taichu's excursion to Mount Buzhou had taken almost precisely that long!
During this period, numerous living beings in the Honghuang world had already developed sentience, and some had even successively transformed into human form!
At the same time, in Yujing Mountain of the Eastern Continent, Hongjun slowly exhaled a breath of stale air!