Chapter 367. Pillars of Strength, the Nine Luminaries and the Twelve Zodiac Signs
After the Liangzhou Cauldron was fully refined, the Providence contained within it not only merged entirely into the Celestial Emperor's Edict, but more importantly, a certain aura from it began to stir and intertwine with the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token.
Truth be told, every time one of the Nine Cauldrons was refined, an immense amount of Providence would be added to the Celestial Emperor's Edict. Whoever's true name was inscribed upon it would receive enormous benefits.
But Lu Yuan discovered that once the fifth of the Nine Cauldrons had been fully refined and the Providence on the edict reached a certain level, the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token began to change. Strands of purple aura fused with his Innate Spirit.
During that process, he seemed to gain an entirely new sensation. In particular, his perception of the surroundings grew even keener than before, and even his control over the Celestial Emperor's Edict became smoother and more instinctive.
Of course, the most important point was that Lu Yuan discovered that on the Celestial Emperor's Edict itself, the two words "Emperor Yuan" had also become wreathed in strands of purple aura.
Those two words seemed to become even more extraordinary, standing above all living beings.
This feeling...
Lu Yuan carefully examined the changes brought about by the transformation of the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token.
However, it still seemed much the same as before. He still could not detect anything concrete or special but he had undeniably sensed those changes.
As for what exactly they were, or what use they served, he still had no idea.
No matter what, this is definitely not a simple change. Lu Yuan pondered, convinced that under the blessing of Providence, the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token was beginning to reveal its unique nature.
As for why he still could not wield it, his guess was that he had not yet gathered enough of the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Tokens.
At that thought, he could only feel more helpless, and had no words to say.
The situation was just as he had expected before.
If it was the Nine Cauldrons, he still had a way to track them down. After all, the nine cauldrons formed a whole. As long as he had one of them, using special methods would make the search for the others much easier.
But the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token was different. Though it also seemed to be part of a whole, the difficulty of finding the remaining pieces was vastly greater.
Also, he knew so little about the tokens to begin with; that only made matters even more troublesome.
Did he really have no choice but to proceed slowly?
But... Did he still have that much time?
Lu Yuan knew clearly that his enemies had already arrived outside the Milky Way Starfield.
Who knew how much longer the power of the Separation of Heaven and Earth could stay?
Even though he had absolute confidence in his own strength, the problem was that things would not be so simple if he had to face the Ji Clan's Holy Son, someone who had long since stepped into the Immortal Realm.
The gap between them was simply too great. Even if he exhausted every last trump card he had, defeating the other party would still be impossible.
Worse still, he might even be slain.
On the path of evolution, a single step made for an enormous gap.
The fact that Lu Yuan could already fight across realms after reaching the Sage Realm was terrifying enough.
Honestly, if it were an ordinary Immortal, he would not fear much. But the problem was that the Ji Clan's Holy Son was also one of the most exceptional prodigies in the entire universe.
Surpassing him in a short period of time was utterly impossible, unless he utilized some special method.
And Lu Yuan was certain that the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token possessed such a function, but he could not activate it.
It was like having a peerless weapon in his hand, a divine sword that simply refused to leave its sheath.
Of course, in his heart, he did not fear the Ji Clan's Holy Son all that much.
He still had many trump cards in his sleeve. If it really came down to a battle to the death, then even if he died, he would make sure that the other side would pay a grievous price.
Lu Yuan did not continue thinking about it any further. Instead, he left the room.
Now that he had refined another cauldron, the added blessing of Providence meant he could inscribe more names on the edict.
Of course, this time, he could not act as he had before and simply pursue numbers. In his view, the number of the Celestial Court's members had already reached a sufficient level. What mattered next was nurturing true pillars of strength.
There were still too few among the younger generation like Zhu Qingyu and Ice Fairy. He needed more of them. Only then would they be able to face the great enemies to come.
Previously, the Thirty-Six Celestial Generals had already been conferred. So now, Lu Yuan's plan was to follow the ordering of the Daoism's Celestial Court and begin cultivating another elite group.
For example, the Nine Luminaries, the Twelve Zodiac Signs, and the Twenty-Eight Mansions. In Lu Yuan's plans, all of these would be future Celestial General-level figures.
If the Milky Way Starfield, or even Earth itself, faced danger in the future, they would lead the Celestial Soldiers under them into battle.
As for Zhu Qingyu, Ice Fairy, and the others who had joined the Celestial Court early and had now already stepped into the Sage Realm, Lu Yuan had even greater uses for them.
He understood clearly that he could not remain in the Celestial Court forever. Sooner or later, he would have to leave.
When that day came, there had to be several people capable of holding things together, the true upper-echelon figures. Zhu Qingyu and the others were very well suited for that role.
Thus, following his own plan, Lu Yuan conferred another batch of people, assigning more Providence to them and hoping they could grow strong within a short period of time.
Right now, there were still too few Sages on Earth.
Of course, he had not forgotten the beast kings' search for the Nine Cauldrons. They had been continuing it all this time. Beast kings like the Peacock King, whose speed was especially great, had directly left the Huaxia region.
Although the chances of finding the Nine Cauldrons outside Huaxia were somewhat small, that did not mean the chance was zero. So it had brought several beast kings along and gone searching there.
Just as Lu Yuan had expected, while Earth did not contain all nine cauldrons, it certainly held more than half of them.
The Nine-tailed Fox King and the others had discovered yet another Nine Tripod Cauldron and immediately informed Lu Yuan.
This one was the sixth. If he could obtain it, then that would mean only three remained.
However, when Lu Yuan asked where it had appeared, he was somewhat surprised.
Because the sixth Nine Tripod Cauldron had appeared in Shennongjia. He had gone there once before, yet had not discovered it. Yet after some thought, that made sense.
Back then, when Lu Yuan explored Shennongjia, he had not even covered a tenth of it. He had only gone to Shennong's Altar. Moreover, he had not known where the Nine Cauldrons might be hidden, so failing to find it was only to be expected.
Just as he was preparing to depart, Jiang Ningxian and Jiang Haokong came looking for him.
Shennong was the ancestor of the Jiang Clan. They had always wanted to go Shennongjia and see the place for themselves but they had never found the time.
Jiang Ningxian had gone there once before, but now that her clansmen were about to descend, she wanted to go again.
As for Jiang Haokong, he had thought about it for a long time and wanted to pay his respects as well.
Lu Yuan naturally had no objections.
Before long, the three of them set out together. On the way there, Lu Yuan tried once more to contact the Nine-tailed Fox King to confirm the exact location of the cauldron but there was no response.
More importantly, when Lu Yuan arrived at Shennongjia again, he sensed that the entire place was now covered by a special kind of power.
Even with his current strength, he could not pierce it or investigate it clearly. In particular, the instant he stepped into the bounds of Shennongjia, the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token within his mind gave a faint tremble.
Everything seemed to foreshadow that this journey would be anything but ordinary.
