Chapter 158: Devouring the Heaven-Guiding Pagoda

After acquiring that exquisite pagoda, Yi Tian immediately departed from the place. Through several detours, he finally returned to the City of Town-Dragon.

It was right there in the City of Town-Dragon that he learned the news about the emergence of the ancient spatial magic treasure, the Heaven-Square Pagoda.

This revelation gave Yi Tian a tremendous shock.

Could the small pagoda currently in his possession be the legendary ancient spatial magic treasure?

The possibility was extremely high.

Realizing this, Yi Tian became even more cautious.

He was terrified that the existence of the small pagoda in his hands might leak out and draw countless supreme experts and mighty overlords, against whom he possessed not the slightest scrap of strength to resist.

In particular, quite a few Heaven-tier overlords had arrived in the City of Town-Dragon over this period. Oozing boundless momentum, they frequently breached the forbidden zones of the ancient battlefield to conduct searches, practically staking everything on the endeavor.

No one had been present when Yi Tian obtained the Heaven-Square Pagoda; he had merely noticed someone approaching the vicinity just as he was leaving in a hurry, so presumably no one knew of his existence.

Nevertheless, as a precaution, Yi Tian hastily left the City of Town-Dragon the very next day.

Half a month later, Yi Tian returned to Lanhua Mountain, the current ancestral land where the Yi tribe resided.

Yi Tian's return brought immense joy to the entire tribe.

Yi Feng, Yi Kuang, and Yi Hong of the Samsara Battle Team were equally thrilled by it.

During these days, they could be considered thoroughly bored.

Consequently, they had periodically ventured out with the tribe's hunting parties over this period, bagging one intermediate ferocious beast after another and reaping a massive increase in harvest.

Yi Shan and Yi Li were even more fanatical, heading out every few days to undergo practical training in the surrounding areas.

On occasion, when they discovered stubborn ferocious beasts or rare medicinal herbs and spiritual fruits, the members of the Samsara Battle Team would join forces to act together. Their yields were substantial, and their combat prowess continuously rose.

Midway up a cliff on Lanhua Mountain protruded a flat stone terrace. Ancient pine trees grew along its edge, and mists drifted through the air. With abundant primordial Qi, it was an exceptional place for cultivation.

A series of caves had been excavated into this flat stone terrace.

This spot had been unintentionally discovered by Yi Feng of the Samsara Battle Team and developed into a cultivation ground, where other members of the Samsara Battle Team would occasionally go into seclusion to practice.

At the same time, it had also become a frequent gathering place for the members of the Samsara Battle Team.

Shortly after returning to the ancestral land of Lanhua Mountain and reuniting with his family, Yi Tian gathered with the other members of the Samsara Battle Team at this very location, where he proceeded to examine their cultivation progress.

Ultimately, the strength of the five members of the Samsara Battle Team left Yi Tian immensely satisfied.

"These are Earth-Fire Beads. Take turns using them, and strive to break through to the second layer of the Vajra Indestructible Profound Skill within a month."

Yi Tian instructed Yi Feng, Yi Shan, and the others.

Ever since Yi Tian passed down the Vajra Indestructible Profound Skill, all five members of the Samsara Battle Team had already cultivated it to a profound realm within the first layer. After all, they had all previously refined Blood Bodhi fruits, making their physical bodies exceptionally powerful and allowing them to break through to the first layer with great ease.

Yet, attempting to break through to the second layer proved vastly more difficult.

When Yi Feng and the others laid eyes on the Earth-Fire Bead in Yi Tian's hand, their breathing involuntarily caught. The faint ethereal radiance and overwhelming pressure emitted by the Earth-Fire Bead filled them with a sense of awe.

The members of the Samsara Battle Team never expected Yi Tian to return from this outing with such a colossal harvest.

The Earth-Fire Bead before them was clearly an immensely powerful treasure, and its aura alone was enough to quicken one's heartbeat.

"I'll go first!"

Without any false modesty, Yi Feng claimed the Earth-Fire Bead.

At this, Yi Kuang felt somewhat displeased, though he found it difficult to voice any objections; nevertheless, he secured the second position in line.

Yi Shan, Yi Li, and Yi Hong did not dispute the order of usage, knowing well that their turn would come sooner or later, and seeing no reason to be hasty.

While the members of the Samsara Battle Team took turns using the Earth-Fire Bead in their quest to break through to the second layer of the Vajra Indestructible Profound Skill in the shortest possible time, Yi Tian devoted himself to studying the small pagoda he had acquired—the one with the highest likelihood of being the Heaven-Square Pagoda.

However, despite studying it continuously for several days, Yi Tian gained nothing.

He attempted to channel his true essence to refine the Heaven-Square Pagoda, treating it just like a low-grade magic treasure. Yet, after being refined by his true essence, it vanished like a clay ox entering the sea, leaving not a single trace behind.

What Yi Tian did not know was that the higher the grade of a magic treasure, the harder it was to refine.

An ordinary-grade low-grade magic treasure was relatively easy for a human-tier powerhouse to master. However, once it reached the transcendent-grade low-grade level, mastery became significantly more difficult, while the refinement of a top-tier low-grade magic treasure required an immense investment of effort and time. One had to gradually attune oneself to the magic treasure using vast amounts of true essence until complete refinement was finally achieved, allowing it to be wielded as an extension of one's own arm.

As for mid-grade magic treasures, their refinement was even more arduous.

Even supreme giants would have to pay a heavy price to fully refine them, and they needed to imprint their soul marks deep within the core before they could smoothly manipulate and unleash such a magic treasure—something entirely beyond the capabilities of human-tier powerhouses to refine.

Top-tier treasures like upper-grade magic treasures could not even be truly and thoroughly refined by supreme giants; they could only manage to refine a tiny fraction.

Yi Tian understood very little of these matters.

He tried numerous times, but whether through true essence refinement or blood sacrifice, it produced not the slightest effect.

This small pagoda was like an unopenable treasury.

Consequently, the fact that this potential legendary ancient spatial magic treasure might remain unusable to him for a long period in the future was truly a form of torture.

In the days that followed, Yi Tian could not put the small pagoda out of his mind, constantly plagued by an urge to carve it open.

This pagoda was likely the legendary ancient spatial magic treasure, and carrying it on his person at all times felt like carrying a massive vault. It left him perpetually restless, unable to find peace even during cultivation, plagued by all sorts of chaotic distractions.

This caused Yi Tian considerable distress.

"My mental fortitude is still lacking!" .

After being tormented by the small pagoda for over ten days, Yi Tian could not help but sigh.

After all, the impact this ancient spatial magic treasure had on him was simply too immense; given his current realm, remaining entirely unruffled was an impossible feat.

Unlike the Earth-Fire Bead, this small pagoda was not a naturally nurtured energy treasure. The Earth-Fire Bead allowed one to absorb its inherent energy even without refinement, though the amount of energy mobilized each time was limited.

However, Yi Tian and his companions were unable to refine the Earth-Fire Bead to unleash its true might.

The Heaven-Square Pagoda hung over Yi Tian's mind like a curse.

At every waking moment, he wanted to refine this Heaven-Square Pagoda, to the point where it had almost become a persistent obsession in his heart.

"This cannot go on!"

Yi Tian recognized the danger posed by this obsession.

He had to sever this obsession; otherwise, it would easily hinder his cultivation, and a careless slip could trigger a riot of true essence and throw him into a deviation, ultimately leading to demonic possession.

To the current Yi Tian, a supreme treasure like the Heaven-Square Pagoda felt more like a calamity.

Hesitating for a moment, Yi Tian hardened his heart and dispatched his Star Mud avatar. Resembling a lump of black starlight mud, it swiftly wrapped itself around the small pagoda.

The Star Mud then proceeded to devour the Heaven-Square Pagoda.

Indeed, in a moment of utter madness, Yi Tian had chosen to feed this Heaven-Square Pagoda to the Star Mud.

If news of such a prodigal action by Yi Tian were to spread, it would undoubtedly draw condemnation from countless cultivators.

Yet, Yi Tian had deliberated on this and was not acting purely on a whim.

He could not refine the Heaven-Square Pagoda in the short term, and it would only obstruct his cultivation; it had to be resolved.

Discarding it was out of the question, as that would only intensify his obsession.

Secondly, he wished to use this top-tier treasure, the Heaven-Square Pagoda, to nourish the Star Mud, hoping that the Star Mud would undergo a metamorphosis and evolution as a result.

Yi Tian had discovered that his Star Mud avatar, which had evolved all the way through white, crimson, and black colors, required massive amounts of energy. Yet, after turning black, even devouring vast oceans of energy within the Ten Thousand Volcanoes had failed to show the slightest sign of further evolution—a piece of bad news for Yi Tian.

He knew that everything he currently possessed was thanks to his accidentally acquired Star Mud avatar.

To Yi Tian's slight surprise, the Star Mud took three full days and nights to completely devour the Heaven-Square Pagoda.

To his disappointment, the Star Mud remained pitch black, showing no signs of evolution whatsoever.

However, when Yi Tian directed his consciousness into the Star Mud avatar, he unexpectedly discovered a towering pagoda ten thousand feet tall, enfolded by a massive star, situated at the very center of the boundless void. It sat adjacent to the star where the nearby three-headed demonic hound resided, casting a mutual radiance upon one another.

Yet, compared to the sky-devouring three-headed demonic hound, that ten-thousand-foot-tall pagoda appeared rather diminutive.

Even so, the brilliance emitted by the ten-thousand-foot-tall pagoda was incomparably dazzling and substantial, as if a genuine pagoda had been encased within.

As for that boundless, gigantic three-headed demonic hound, despite its limitless pressure, it still carried a somewhat illusory quality.