Luohou looked at the Dragon Pearl in his hand, a look of joy crossing his features. This was no ordinary dragon pearl; it belonged to the Crystalline Dragon, a rare beast of Honghuang, and there was only one such pearl in the entire Honghuang.
Furthermore, upon seeing this dragon pearl, Luohou had a sudden realization—a matter of great importance to him. This dragon pearl was the core component required for forging the Four Swords of Immortal-Slaying; without it, forging the swords would be impossible.
This was why Luohou had demanded Aozheng's dragon pearl. After all, for a member of the Dragon Clan to lose their dragon pearl was like a cultivator losing their foundation, leaving them with little hope of major achievement in this lifetime.
With this dragon pearl, Luohou only needed to find a few more artifact-forging treasures and cultivate to the Peak Daluo Golden Immortal realm before he could begin forging the Four Swords of Immortal-Slaying.
Even then, Luohou would only forge the embryos of the Four Swords of Immortal-Slaying, and then place them within Mount Sumeru to be nurtured by heaven and earth, treating them as an alternative kind of supreme treasure nurtured by the universe itself.
After all, it was impossible to forge a supreme treasure with the might of the Four Swords of Immortal-Slaying through human effort alone—a weapon unbreakable by anyone below four saints. How could mere cultivators complete such a supreme treasure on their own? They had to rely on heaven and earth.
"Aozheng, do you regret this?" Luohou asked calmly, looking at Aozheng. After all, without his dragon pearl, future cultivation would become a problem.
Aozheng straightened his expression and replied respectfully, "This humble dragon's life was saved by Master. Even if Master were to demand this humble dragon's life, I would not hesitate in the slightest, let alone a mere dragon pearl."
Luohou nodded. This Aozheng was quite clever. Yet, as the mount of him, Luohou, how could he possess merely the cultivation of a Golden Immortal? Even if Aozheng felt nothing of it, Luohou would find it a loss of face.
In the future, he would inevitably find an exceptional dragon pearl for Aozheng, and he already had a target in mind. However, this was not the time to say too much; he was not the type to make empty promises before taking action.
Luohou pointed in the direction of Mount Buzhou, and Aozheng instantly understood his intent. He immediately transformed into a giant dragon, a hundred-zhang-long Crystalline Dragon appearing before them, its entire body crystalline and translucent, radiating dazzling light—quite a flamboyant sight.
"Let's go!" Luohou seated himself atop the dragon's back.
With a dragon's roar, Aozheng soared into the clouds, cruising through the sky toward Mount Buzhou.
Although Aozheng could not fly as fast as Luohou, Luohou was not in any particular rush to reach Mount Buzhou anyway. If he were, what need would he have for a mount? Flying by himself would be much faster.
Along the way, Luohou kept his eyes closed to deduce offensive techniques. He knew full well that a great war awaited him in the future, particularly his destined clash of fate with Dao Ancestor Hongjun. This was a matter concerning his very survival, and Luohou could not afford to take it lightly.
Even if he could not stop Hongjun from attaining sagehood, Luohou had to preserve his own life; without his life, everything else would be in vain.
Aozheng's speed was relatively slow, and this flight lasted ten thousand years. Along the way, Luohou did not slay any ferocious beasts, but he instructed Aozheng to kill as many as possible—though, of course, within his capabilities.
Aozheng was only a Golden Immortal. While his cultivation was not low in the current Honghuang, there were quite a few existences stronger than him, and the ferocious beast clan boasted many such beings.
Suddenly, Aozheng stopped, gazing at a divine mountain not far away that stood roughly ten thousand zhang tall, upon the peak of which a cluster of golden light was flashing.
"This is..."
Aozheng seemed to realize what the golden light was and hurriedly transmitted his voice to Luohou: "Master, it seems there is a spirit treasure manifesting ahead."
Luohou was not in a deep state of meditation. Hearing Aozheng's words, he quickly opened his eyes and saw the flashing golden light atop the ten-thousand-zhang divine mountain in the distance.
He released his divine sense, which instantly swept across a radius of ten thousand miles like a rolling tide. Upon investigation, sure enough, it was indeed a supreme treasure coming into the world.
Luohou promptly told Aozheng to fly toward the divine mountain. He had traveled alone for such a long time without encountering a single spirit treasure, yet not long after taking in Aozheng, he had run into one being born.
This made Luohou immensely pleased, though Aozheng had no idea that Luohou had already recorded a major contribution for him in his heart.
They were merely a hundred miles from the divine mountain, a distance that Aozheng covered in an instant. Arriving at the mountain, Luohou felt a profound and mysterious energy pervading the area.
Stepping down from Aozheng's back, Aozheng transformed back into human form and followed behind Luohou, gazing with undisguised joy at the place where the golden light flashed above. Naturally, he was exceedingly happy that his master had obtained a spirit treasure.
"To think there is a natural grand array guarding it! Aozheng, you have truly rendered a great service to this poor Daoist." Luohou laughed aloud. What did a natural grand array guarding the treasure signify? It meant that the spirit treasure about to be born was at least of the Top-Grade Xiantian Spirit Treasure rank.
One must know that the current Luohou was quite poor, possessing only two treasures to his name. One was the World-Destruction Millstone; although it was an Xiantian Supreme Treasure, it was still undergoing nourishment and could not be easily unleashed.
The other was the Twelfth-Grade World-Destruction Black Lotus. This indeed was a Top-Grade Xiantian Spirit Treasure, but it specialized in defense and lacked offensive capabilities.
As the Ancestor of Magic, it was hardly fitting for him to lack an offensive supreme treasure. Yet, lacking sufficient opportunity, he had wandered the Honghuang for a long time without ever encountering a spirit treasure coming into existence.
Therefore, upon encountering the birth of a spirit treasure—and one of at least Top-Grade Xiantian Spirit Treasure quality—Luohou was naturally overjoyed.
"Aozheng, this is a congenital array. Comprehend the mysteries of this array well; it will benefit you in the future," Luohou said calmly, before crossing his legs to meditate and comprehend the formation.
Aozheng did not dare to slack off. Since Luohou had said as much, it was clearly no ordinary array. Cultivating right now was useless to him anyway, given that he lacked a dragon clan; thus, seeking a breakthrough in array formations was undoubtedly a fine choice.
Luohou's divine sense permeated the entire divine mountain, extending as deeply into the formation as he could in order to comprehend the profound mysteries of this congenital grand array.
Moreover, if he were to forcibly break through without comprehending the array, it might affect the birth of the Xiantian Spirit Treasure. If the spirit treasure were damaged in the process, the losses would outweigh the gains, which was not something Luohou wished to see.
A hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years...
Luohou sat there for thirty thousand years. In this dawn of the creation of heaven and earth, time was the most worthless thing of all.
Suddenly, Luohou opened his eyes. A flash of golden light shot forth, and joy welled up in his heart.
"To think it is the Heavenly Rakshasa Array! With such a malevolent array guarding it, it seems this Xiantian Spirit Treasure will hardly be an orthodox righteous item," Luohou muttered to himself. He had fully comprehended the congenital array.
The Heavenly Rakshasa Array was naturally formed, capable of both defense and offense. Once comprehended and deployed by a cultivator, anyone entering the array below the Daluo Golden Immortal realm would have their vital blood drained directly and be reduced to a mummified corpse. If a Taiyi Golden Immortal commanded the array, it could even hold off a Daluo Golden Immortal. Truly, it was a top-tier congenital grand array.
Luohou stood up, saw that Aozheng was still meditating nearby, smiled faintly, and walked toward the place where the golden light flickered. Arriving before it and beholding the phantom of the spirit treasure, Luohou was instantly ecstatic.
"To think it is this item!"