Chapter 547: Alternate Universes
The Nine Dragon G.o.d Fire Shroud was an innate soul treasure!
Jiang He mused to himself for seconds before saying, “To tell the truth, Brother Tai Yi… I have not planted—I mean, crafted innate soul treasures thus far, and I’m not that confident in upgrading your Nine Dragon G.o.d Fire Shroud.”
“No matter. You may take it for a spin!”
The True Habitant of Tai Yi simply threw the Nine Dragon G.o.d Fire Shroud.
With that, all the other Demi-Saints who were aware that Jiang He had the ability to strengthen mystic treasures quickly took out their innate soul treasures or acquired soul treasures, and pushed them all to Jiang He.
“Brothers…”
Jiang He could not decide if he should laugh or cry and said, “You know that I had started cultivating for a relatively shorter period, and even item crafting was something I studied on my own. Honestly, I’m not that confident since I did not have the time to experiment if I’m able to strengthen your innate soul treasures or acquired soul treasures.”
“Don’t worry, Brother Jiang He. It’s just a few mystic treasures—it doesn’t matter if they break,” said a Jie Sect elite, stepping forward.
He was around 1.7 meters tall and on the pudgy side, though there was nothing else noteworthy about his appearance. Indeed, he would hardly be able to find himself lovers even back on Earth.
And yet, his aura was terrifying, and he was just short of being an equal of the Grand Mage of Xuandu, even if he was not exactly that formidable for now.
Most importantly, he was shining with the myriad dazzles of gems.
Moreover, his clothes were acquired soul treasures… in fact, everything from his straw slippers, thumb ring, earrings, and various little trinkets he was wearing were all soul treasures.
Jiang He certainly needed no introduction to know that the man was the senior disciple of the Jie Sect: the Daoist of Many Treasures.
Whipping out over a dozen soul treasures, the Daoist of Many Treasures pushed them all to Jiang He with a smile. “Brother Jiang He, my master has just sent word to invite you as a guest to our Biyou Palace. Incidentally, we had wanted to see for ourselves your skill at refining items… shall we go right now?”
Jiang He nodded. Then, he casually made up an excuse, saying that his item refinement abilities were special and did not want anyone looking at him while he worked.
After all, this was different from pellet refinement, something that he could actually do himself.
As for these soul treasures, he would have to carry them all to his farm to plant. If anyone looked there, wouldn’t the ‘Grandmaster of Item Refinement’ part of his character be ruined?
Meanwhile, the Demi-Saints who were unacquainted with Jiang He all conversed with each other in hushed whispers, unsure as to what was happening.
The Grand Mage of Xuandu was subtly communicating with the Immortal Hermit of the South Pole as well, and only then learned of Jiang He’s ability to upgrade mystic items.
He was certainly astounded that he had strengthened every mystic treasure and immortal item of the Celestial Court!
Hence…
Quietly bringing out the Eight Trigrams Canvas, the Golden PaG.o.da, and the Five-Elements Flags, he was about to push them all to Jiang He, but Jiang He jumped in surprise and quickly said, “I can’t, Brother… my abilities are limited, and I definitely can’t upgrade premium-grade innate soul treasures like these!”
Whoa!
Those three items were all innate soul treasures belonging to Taishang Laojun himself, and the three most powerful treasure across worlds.
The Eight Trigrams canvas especially was one of the set of items that created the skies.
Strengthen, my foot!
That thing reached the upper ceiling for every mystic treasure across worlds!
While Jiang He was not that confident about innate soul treasures of other grades, he was still brave enough to try. Hence, putting every mystic treasure and Demi-Saint corpse into his Void storage, he counted carefully and saw that there were eighteen innate soul treasures and almost forty acquired soul treasures… and among those, the Daoist of Many Treasures provided two innate soul treasures and fourteen acquired soul treasures.
As for Demi-Saint corpses, Jiang He had received a total of forty-eight, including the Demi-Saint G.o.d he had killed and the seven foreign Demi-Saints killed in battle today.
***
Soon, Jiang He arrived at Biyou Palace, escorted by the Daoist of Many Treasures, Zhao Gongming, and the other Jie Sect disciples.
Once inside, Jiang He immediately sensed the difference between the Jie Sect and the Chan Sect.
The Chan Sect saw a stricter observance of rules and the atmosphere in their sect was more solemn. On the other hand, the Jie Sect appeared much livelier.
Their disciples include all races: human, daemons, and even spirits.
The Jie Sect thought highly of Jiang He as well, having prepared a welcoming banquet for him on that very day, with over eight hundred of their disciples attending… As over six hundred of them toasted Jiang He, Jiang He almost threw up.
The welcoming banquet lasted for three days and nights.
When the banquet was over, the Daoist of Many Treasures sought out Jiang He and said, “Brother Jiang He, my master is asking for you.”
Oh?
Jiang He’s gaze changed.
The Grandmaster of Heaven was asking for him?
The man usually wouldn’t be at Biyou Palace since he had another Bodhimanda at the Golden Turtle Island. It was said to be an alternate dimension like Taishang Laojun’s farm and the one at the Primeval Lord of Heaven’s residence, both of which were moved from the chaotic depths of the celestial battlefield.
Jiang He found the Grandmaster of Heaven fishing at Golden Turtle Island.
He handed his catch to the Daoist of Many Treasures to cook, while he made small talk with Jiang He…
It was small talk in the most genuine sense of the term.
He asked about the current situation of Earth and some details about martial arts cultivation, as well as going on to brag about his heroic feats over the last few years and the alternate dimension deep within the celestial battlefield.
Jiang He was very interested the alternate dimensions, and so asked a few more questions than he needed to.
The Grandmaster of Heaven hence answered, “Borderless chaos lie within the depths of the celestial battlefield, each of which are different cl.u.s.ters of alternate dimensions. Smaller ones like this Golden Turtle Island of mine are merely a unique chaotic dimension… in contrast, the midsized, large sized or even super-large alternate dimensions have gone through molding and remolding over endless ages, and those are now genuine universes of their own.”
Jiang He’s eyes lit up at that. “Would there be living beings or elites in those alternate universes?”
“There certainly are living beings, be it humans, spirits, daemons, or some other foreign lifeforms… the presence of elites, on the other hand, depends,” said the Grandmaster of Heaven as he introduced the alternate universes to Jiang He.
Some had no cultivation history, and most of their beings would take the route of technological development.
There were also those with a history cultivation, but in general the upper limits of those alternate universes were quite low, and becoming immortal was the ultimate goal for countless cultivators there.
Naturally, there were some powerful alternate universes as well, and the elites born there could even become equals of the Saints.
Jiang He became very interested, but he also know about his priorities… Lord Swelling Sky of the G.o.ds was now targeting him, and he would definitely be chasing Jiang He down if he recklessly went to the chaotic reaches deep in the celestial battlefield!
“Therefore, what I have to do now is improve myself as soon as I can, kill Swelling Sky… or at least strengthen myself enough so that I can protect myself from him!”
After leaving the Grandmaster of Heaven’s Bodhimanda, Jiang He found a secret room in Biyou Palace and started to ‘cultivate in seclusion.’