The venerated forefather was efficient this time. In less than half a month, he delivered to Jiang Chen the ten percent of spirit stones. “I swallowed all of my pride this time and begged for the spirit stones everywhere, Jiang Chen. I hope you won’t dismiss it as too little.”

Jiang Chen smiled. “Thank you for your efforts, Forefather.”

“Well, you’re our most valued genius, and it’s very likely that you’ll become the new leader of the sacred land. We must show you the level of respect you deserve! Oh, as for the ingredients for refining pills, we’ve collected most of them. They’ll be delivered to you in a few days.”

Although the forefather had been manipulative, he had truly gone to some efforts for Jiang Chen. The young man could feel the sincerity shining through.

I suppose at the end of the day, it makes sense from the Eternal Sacred Land’s perspective that they’re reluctant to give away too much for the human domain.

Jiang Chen received the pill ingredients a few days later.

He went into closed door cultivation and refined them into the Crowning Empyrean and Taiyi Skymender Pills. He knew how rare the ingredients were, so he was particularly careful during this process.

The sacred land had been more generous in this regard, giving him ingredients for free so that he could exchange the pills for spirit stones.

Of course, Jiang Chen knew the sacred land had something to gain as well. If he sold the pills for spirit stones, he’d naturally befriend many people and leave them with a good impression for the sacred land.

They might even end up asking favors from the sacred land. Then when it came to rallying behind candidates for alliance head, they would be more inclined to pick the Eternal Sacred Land.

Jiang Chen didn’t want to waste too much time dwelling on politics. The pills would earn him the spirit stones he needed. That was what mattered to him.

There was quite a lot of ingredients. It took him close to a month to refine them all into pills. He thus had a considerable number of Taiyi Skymender Pills and Crowning Empyrean Pills in his possession, which left him in high spirits.

Both Long Xiaoxuan and the Astral White Tiger were given a Crowning Empyrean Pill. The tiger was especially excited. It’d heard about how effective the pill was in boosting cultivation.

“Haha, I’ll use it once I reach sixth level empyrean in order to ascend to seventh.” The tiger’s intelligence had continued to develop, which allowed it to make better decisions.

Long Xiaoxuan had gotten a pill before. He played with the one Jiang Chen gave him now and put it in his inventory.

As for the Vermilion Bird, the Crowning Empyrean Pill was of no use to it. Glumly, it asked, “Young master Chen, it would be an amazing achievement if you could refine a pill to help divine cultivators advance a level. Is there such a pill in the world?”

“There is!” admitted Jiang Chen.

The Vermilion Bird’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“However, I don’t know how to refine it, and it’s impossible to collect the ingredients needed. There’s no chance anyone would be able to refine it on Divine Abyss Continent.” Jiang Chen shook his head. It was a task too difficult even for him.

Even in the heavenly planes, there might be at most one or two pill dao masters who could refine the pills.

“There is a pill like that?” The bird’s voice was tinted with complicated emotions. “You’re so knowledgeable, young master. I wonder whose memory you’ve inherited.”

They all knew that Jiang Chen was a god incarnate, but given his wealth of knowledge and experience, he couldn’t have been a regular god. He might not even have been a god on this plane.

Jiang Chen smiled and changed the subject instead of giving an answer. “If the opportunity presents itself, I’ll refine a pill like that for each of you.”

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

“Wonderful!” The Vermilion Bird was ecstatic.

On the contrary, Long Xiaoxuan and the white tiger didn’t react that strongly. They were at empyrean realm still and didn’t have a deep understanding about the divine realm. Thus, they weren’t as eager as the bird was.

Jiang Chen nodded. “I hope that day will come.”

An idea struck him suddenly. He asked, “As descendents of the divine beasts, have you heard of the black tortoise bloodline?”

“The black tortoise bloodline? Of course. It’s one of the four divine beasts.” The Vermilion Bird nodded. “In the ancient times, there were rumors about a black tortoise.”

“Truly?” Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up.

“I’ve heard of one. However, none of the four divine beasts ran into each other in the ancient times. Moreover...” With some embarrassment, the bird continued, “Usually when we meet, it means war. We tend to fight to our deaths.”

“True.” Long Xiaoxuan tilted his head and threw the white tiger a glance.

The tiger huffed. “Brother Long, don’t bully me because I’m young. I’ll fight you once I grow up. We astral white tigers are known for our fighting ability in the heavenly planes!”

“Hmph, I’ll wait for you to grow up! I hope you won’t run to young master Chen crying like a baby.”

Dragons and tigers were natural rivals. Although Long Xiaoxuan and the white tiger had become brothers, it was inevitable for them to get into fights now and then.

Jiang Chen chuckled. “You’ve gone off topic again. I asked about the black tortoise for a reason.”

The three divine beasts paused. “What is it?”

“It’s a secret from the ancient times. It’s said that once the four divine beasts come together, one would be able to enact the heavenly law, refine the five elements, and eventually create a heavenly plane.”

“Oh? That’s unbelievable!”

“Yes! All heavenly planes are refined from items that embody fate. Thus, every world needs such an item, which always dates back to the genesis of all, and can only be stumbled upon rather than sought out.”

The three spirits blinked at Jiang Chen, impressed despite their lack of understanding. They couldn’t grasp his words fully. However, mentions of heavenly planes, items that embodied fate, and the genesis of all sounded very impressive.

The Vermilion Bird sucked in a breath. “Do you mean that we’ll be able to refine a heavenly plane after gathering all four divine beasts?”

“It’s possible, but it requires a secret method.” Jiang Chen sighed. “Very few know about it.”

“Do you know how to do it, young master?” asked the bird curiously.

There was no need for Jiang Chen to hide anything from his three divine beast friends. “I remember reading about the method in my past life, but I haven’t tried it myself. I don’t know if it’ll work.”

It had been difficult enough to gather all four divine beasts in his past life. They were considered the top most nobles even in a heavenly plane. Not even the Celestial Emperor would approach them without good reason.

Moreover, Jiang Chen hadn’t been able to use the method in his past life. He hadn’t been able to cultivate martial dao, without which he couldn’t enact the heavenly law and refine a heavenly plane. All he knew was the theory. It was a castle in the air that he’d built only in his head!