Chapter 77: Treasure of Ancient China (1/2)

Chapter 77: Treasure of Ancient China

Supervisor Liu and his cronies had been beaten breathless and laid like dead dogs along the street. They had been too obnoxious and gained the ire of all the towns folk. If it were not for some earnest elders who aided them, they would have been beaten to death. Finally, the group were dragged like dead dogs and thrown before their respective houses, this event was actually to the satisfaction of everyone.

In the afternoon, the sounds of laughter could be heard within the small store as a broad grin could be seen on Ting Ting’s face, no longer worried or afraid. Old uncle Jiang’s suppressed emotions had been relieved and the wrinkles on his face seemed to have lightened considerably. To celebrate, he cooked several good dishes of roast rabbit meat, rabbit meatballs in broth, sweet and sour rabbit ribs, leaf wrapped fragrant chicken, chilli diced chicken meat and a vegetable dish comprising of green vegetables and wild fruits.

This meal lasted for a long time and laughter could be heard from time to time, this harmonious atmosphere gave Ye Fan the impression that he had returned home.

After lunch, Ye Fan proceeded deep into the mountains. He began to experiment controlling the ‘divine symbols’ as this would play an important part in the later stages of cultivating.

Each ‘divine symbol’ was like a divine iron chain as it swirled above the golden sea of bitterness, this was its original form that was formed from the qi essence of life.

Cultivators could make the ‘divine symbols’ transform into various shapes and sizes, like flying knives, daggers and etc. It could be released from the body and made to kill enemies, this was much more effective than the original form of the divine symbol. There were several people who spent a lot of their time and effort to shape their divine symbols into flying swords, small shields, divine halberds and etc. This made it easier to control and when facing an enemy, it’s power would be much stronger.

Then there were some who were unafraid of complicatedness or profundity, repeatedly molding their divine symbol and forming it into cauldrons,bells or even pagodas, displaying various mysterious capabilities.

In legend, extremely concise cultivators could mold their divine symbols into ‘artifacts’. If they reached the later stages of cultivation without any mishaps, the ‘artifacts’ within them would form ‘markings of Dao’ that would contain unfathomable strength.

Needless to say, the chance of this happening was extremely low and only those with exceptional talent and strength would be able to encounter such serendipitous events.

From previous experiences, the more complicated and profound the ‘artifacts’ that were formed from the divine symbols, the greater the strength. For example, forms of cauldrons, bells and pagodas would have a greater chance of interweaving ‘traces of Dao’ within them.

The more complicated the ‘artifact’, the harder it was to form and spending endless amounts of time one might not even be able to form the silhouette of the ‘artifact’, wasting precious time.

Also, even if one were to be lucky and be successful, once they cultivated to the later stages they may not even be rewarded for their efforts. After all, the chance of the ‘Pathways of Dao’ appearing was low and to most cultivators it could only be considered a myth, suitable for only those exceptional and superb talents.

Molding a divine symbol into an ‘artifact’ was extremely important to a cultivator and each person had to earnestly pursue it because this would be the foundation for their ‘Defensive Artifact ’.

Like Han Fei Yu who controlled a azure wooden artifact, Elder Han who controlled twelve green wooden swords or the unscrupulous cultivator who had so many different spiritual weapons, the prerequisite for this was having formed their divine symbols into ‘artifacts’ and using the ‘artifacts’ to control and use these weapons.

After molding their divine symbols into ‘artifacts’, a large majority of people would select a spiritual treasure of a similar form and only when the two were identical could the most power be utilised.

This did not mean that they would be unable to use the weapon if the form was different however there would be some reduction in the power.

Then there were a portion of cultivators who repeatedly molded their divine symbols, continually molding their ‘artifacts’ and did not require to use other weapons but rather used the ‘artifact’ they had molded as their spiritual weapon.

Based on the ‘Wheel and Sea Volume’ within the Dao Scripture, the ‘Sea of Bitterness’, ‘Spring of Life’, ‘Spiritual Bridge’ and ‘Other Shore’ were four great stages and at each stage one could mold an ‘artifact’.

Ye Fan was already a cultivator at the ‘Sea of Bitterness’ level and could mold his first ‘artifact’. He earnestly contemplated on how to go about doing so, as this matter was of great importance and once the ‘artifact’ was completed it would be difficult to change it.

Also, the first ‘artifact’ would be the foundation for everything in the future and would certainly be much more important than the ‘artifacts’ that were molded at the later stages of cultivation.

Since he had chosen the path of cultivation, everything would have to be done with the distant future in consideration. Ye Fan removed the ideas of the flying sword, shield, spear and other ordinary weapons.

Although he knew that the chances were slim, he still hoped that his ‘artifact’ could form the ‘Pathways of Dao’, because of this, he decided to choose a more complicated and profound ‘artifact’.

“What should I choose……” Ye Fan contemplated seriously and carefully for a long time before a light seemed to shine from his eyes.

Finally, he had a clear decision and he decided to mold his divine symbol into a cauldron.

This was not a moment of recklessness but a decision that Ye Fan came to after much thought and consideration. Not only was he subjectively fond of the cauldron, more importantly was that the cauldron was the most mysterious artifact of ancient China.

The cauldron’s history was weaved into the entirety of ancient China’s history, rupturing the whole country as dynasties change. The monarchs combined and become Ancient China after being unified and all these events had ties with the cauldron. This was the mysterious artifact of ancient China, a nation’s sacred object.

Planning to seize the power of an entire country, the prime of one’s life……* An endless number of idioms were related to the cauldron and each was imposing and boundless, the cauldron had a long history within ancient China and was the most mysterious ‘national artifact’, it could even be said that the cauldron could represent ancient China.