Chapter 1013: Perennial, Dao Pioneer, True Saint (2)

From what True Saint Taiyuan said, if a first-step Eternal returned to the river of space and time, slaying them wouldn't be too difficult. Why was it considered a legendary feat?

"First-step Eternals aren't considered truly Eternal. They're basically called Perennials," True Saint Taiyuan said softly. "The one slain by the Heavenly Imperator back then was a Dao Pioneer who had taken the second step on the path of eternity."

"Second step?" Wu Yuan listened with bated breath.

"Dao Pioneers have unique Daos that are indestructible through samsara. Only then can they be called truly Eternal," said True Saint Taiyuan. "Even if they return to the river, their power remains formidable, nearly comparable to fifth-stage Overlords. In the cosmic sea, Dao Pioneers can easily suppress fifth-stage Overlord powerhouses.

“Once one pioneers their own Dao, they aren't far from Sainthood. Those who establish Saintdoms are all Saints among the Eternals," True Saint Taiyuan said calmly. "They are given the title of True Saints."

Wu Yuan listened quietly.

He felt as though True Saint Taiyuan had just opened the doors of a vast and boundless world to him.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

First-step Perennial, second-step Dao Pioneer, third-step True Saint... Those standing at the pinnacle of the cosmic sea were likely the Dao Masters and leaders of the Eldritch Court and Immortal Court. Wu Yuan quietly speculated.

"When your power grows and you step into the cosmic sea, you'll naturally come to understand all this," True Saint Taiyuan looked down at Wu Yuan. "Ming Jian, bring out the various treasures you've obtained."

"Yes." Wu Yuan nodded.

With a wave of his hand, he swiftly brought out the spoils from this battle: over a thousand assorted pieces of high-grade and top-grade Dao Instruments, along with a vast number of low-grade and mid-grade Dao Instruments.

However, the truly valuable items were the nearly five hundred complete and uniform sets of Dao Instrument armor – the battle armor of the five late-stage Sovereign legions. Each one was a top-grade Dao Instrument, and most importantly, they were all from the same source, making them immeasurably precious.

"Put away that rubbish," True Saint Taiyuan glanced at the low-grade and mid-grade Dao Instruments.

Wu Yuan smiled awkwardly and quickly stowed away these artifacts.

"What do you want to exchange them for?" True Saint Taiyuan asked.

"A Xiantian artifact similar to the Origin Realm Pearl," Wu Yuan replied.

Though his true self had the Origin Realm Pearl, his mana body did not. Without the Samsara Sword's Dao resonance and a Xiantian artifact, the mana body's power was relatively weak.

"Not enough!" True Saint Taiyuan said flatly.

"Not enough?" Wu Yuan's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "True Saint, you should take a good look. There are nearly a thousand top-grade Dao Instruments alone, and so many more..."

"Ming Jian, I certainly won't deceive you," True Saint Taiyuan smiled. "Indeed, this junk of yours could be exchanged for three Xiantian artifacts, but those would all be the most common low-grade Xiantian artifacts.

“The Origin Realm Pearl, however, is an artifact forged by the Origin Saint. Though also a low-grade Xiantian artifact, it's considered the pinnacle among them. Many Perennial Eternals don't even possess such a treasure. It alone is worth four or five ordinary low-grade Xiantian artifacts. That's why I say it's not enough," True Saint Taiyuan explained.

Wu Yuan's eyes lit up.

A pinnacle low-grade Xiantian artifact? Was the Origin Realm Pearl truly so precious?

But thinking carefully, it made sense. The power of the Origin Realm Pearl was indeed incredibly formidable, far more terrifying than many Xiantian artifacts Wu Yuan had read about from intelligence reports.

"Then please help me exchange these for some suitable treasures, True Saint," Wu Yuan said.

His perspective was limited; it would be far better to let the True Saint offer suggestions than to blindly speculate himself.

"Within the universe, you can be called an Overlord of Spacetime with the Origin Realm Pearl. Not many enemies could kill you," True Saint Taiyuan smiled.

"However, when you venture into the cosmic sea, the Origin Realm Pearl alone won't be enough. You'll still need an escape artifact. I'll exchange your artifacts for a Spacetime-type Xiantian artifact," True Saint Taiyuan waved his hand.

Whoosh~

As a hazy light flashed, a long shuttle that looked like a toy at first glance appeared in True Saint Taiyuan's palm. The shuttle was nearly transparent, with starlight twinkling faintly within. An eternal Dao resonance emanated from the shuttle.

"Catch," True Saint Taiyuan said, tossing the shuttle over.

A shuttle? No, it seems to be a battleship.

Wu Yuan's eyes lit up as he reached out to catch it.

The moment he touched it, he felt an overwhelming, vast aura envelop him. A flood of information crashed into his soul.

Boom!

Inside the palm-sized shuttle was actually a vast and boundless world, probably a million light-years across, home to countless living beings. This Xiantian artifact appeared to contain a complete essence.

The "Xiantian" in Xiantian artifact implied eternity, representing immunity to the erosion of time.

If this were back when Wu Yuan had just become a Sovereign, his qi refiner self might have taken a very long time to decipher this Xiantian artifact. Now? In just a moment, the aura of this shuttle-shaped Spacetime Xiantian artifact was completely contained.

Realm-Splitting Shuttle?

Wu Yuan murmured.

The artifact was called the Realm Shuttle, and it had two primary functions. First, it could launch powerful piercing attacks, much like a flying sword. Second, it served as a vessel for escape: one could enter its interior, activate its Dao patterns, and flee at a speed surpassing that of an average Overlord of Spacetime.

"The Realm-Splitting Shuttle is a rather precious Xiantian artifact," True Saint Taiyuan said calmly. "I'll give you a good deal on it."

Whoosh~

True Saint Taiyuan swept his hand, and most of the treasures Wu Yuan had brought out disappeared.

"So expensive?" Wu Yuan stared in disbelief.

"Think it's too costly? You don't have to trade for it if you don’t want to," True Saint Taiyuan's face bore an ambiguous smile.

"I'll trade! I'll trade," Wu Yuan quickly said.

Having deciphered the Realm-Splitting Shuttle to some extent, he naturally knew how precious this artifact was, and that it was exactly what he needed. When it came to treasures, quality mattered more than quantity; a few powerful artifacts were enough.

"What's left isn't enough to trade for a Xiantian artifact. What else do you want?" True Saint Taiyuan asked casually.

"Then I’ll trade for a set of top-grade Dao Instrument flying swords from the same source," Wu Yuan said after some thought.

This was for his mana body.

In the divine court headquarters' treasure vault, there were many high-grade Dao Instrument sword arrays from the same source, but not many were at the top-grade Dao Instrument level.

Soon, True Saint Taiyuan brought out a set of artifacts consisting of thirty-six top-grade Dao Instrument flying swords.

The Constellation Swords, a set of thirty-six swords from the same source, forged from the essences of thirty-six massive celestial bodies in outer space of the universe. They are Spacetime-type flying swords.

Wu Yuan deciphered these top-grade Dao Instrument flying swords one by one.

Their full power is almost equivalent to a Xiantian artifact flying sword.

Many Overlords used artifacts of this caliber. It was enough to greatly enhance the strength of his mana body. At least, they were much stronger than the other artifacts Wu Yuan's mana body had employed in the past.

With that, most of Wu Yuan's remaining bargaining chips were swept away by True Saint Taiyuan. Very little was left.

"True Saint, for what's left," Wu Yuan quickly said, "I'd like to trade for some Spacetime-type high-grade Dao Instrument flying swords."

The Constellation Swords, though also Space-type Dao Instrument flying swords, were too powerful. Wu Yuan was reluctant to feed them to the Samsara Sword.

The Samsara Sword only consumed the Dao essence of flying swords, without requiring the swords themselves to be of sophisticated craftsmanship. And in terms of Dao essence, the difference between top-grade and high-grade Dao Instruments was not significant. The bigger distinction lay in the Dao patterns engraved within the Dao essence core. Therefore, high-grade Dao Instruments were sufficient.

"Alright," True Saint Taiyuan first waved his hand to collect the few remaining artifacts from Wu Yuan.

Then, with a second wave, over three hundred high-grade Dao Instrument flying swords appeared in the void. All of them were Spacetime-type.

Whoosh~

In an instant, incredibly dense sword qi surged freely within this small hall.

"This? So many?" Wu Yuan stared in astonishment. Surely the artifacts he had left weren't enough to exchange for so many.

"Haha," True Saint Taiyuan laughed. "I heard from Xin Ya's report that you seem to need this type of treasure badly, so before opening the spacetime passage, I collected some from other factions in the cosmic sea."

Wu Yuan was inwardly startled. Did the True Saint know the secret of the Samsara Sword?

But Wu Yuan quickly realized that True Saint Taiyuan showed no intention of probing into his secrets.

"True Saint, but I can't afford to acquire so many treasures," Wu Yuan said helplessly.

"Years ago, I promised that I would give you another opportunity when you reached late-stage Sovereign strength," True Saint Taiyuan smiled. "I didn't expect your strength to increase to such a level in the blink of an eye. That opportunity wouldn't mean much to you now, so consider these artifacts compensation.

“Take them all," True Saint Taiyuan waved his hand, and the high-grade Dao Instrument flying swords flew towards Wu Yuan.

At this moment, how could Wu Yuan still not understand? What compensation? It was clear that True Saint Taiyuan was using this opportunity to give him some treasures.

"Thank you, True Saint. Ming Jian will never forget your kindness," Wu Yuan said solemnly.

He didn't refuse, as he indeed needed these treasures. Strengthening himself was his most important priority. Most crucially, these treasures were hard to come by.

Even for the Taiyuan Divine Court, a powerful Saintdom, it was no easy task to quickly amass so many high-grade Spacetime Dao Instrument flying swords from its treasure vault. Previously, Overlord Xin Ya had gone to great lengths to reserve a hundred for him.

"Mm, these treasures aren't important to me," True Saint Taiyuan smiled faintly. "Next time, if you want to trade for any treasures, just send a message to me through the Taiyuan Hall in the Taiyuan Voidrealm. I've granted you the necessary permissions. After my true body in the cosmic sea perceives it, I will respond to you."

His willingness to be so attentive was the result of much consideration. The most crucial reason was that he had learned about Wu Yuan's distribution of that ore-rich celestial body. Combined with an analysis of Wu Yuan's past actions, True Saint Taiyuan felt he could understand Wu Yuan's character with greater clarity. If he did Wu Yuan some favors now, it would surely be repaid a thousand or ten thousand fold in the future as long as he had the ability.

"Thank you, True Saint," Wu Yuan was immediately delighted.

Not all of the divine court headquarters' ten Overlords could see the True Saint at any time. As far as Wu Yuan knew, only Overlord Xin Ya and Overlord Jiang Meng had this privilege. Now, he possessed this privilege himself.

"Is there anything else?" True Saint Taiyuan inquired. Though it wasn't his true body that had descended, forcing open a channel across spacetime still placed a considerable burden on him.

"Ah, yes. True Saint, there is one more matter," Wu Yuan said, as if suddenly remembering. Turning over his palm, he continued, "I humbly request the True Saint to examine this."

A delicate seven-story pagoda materialized in Wu Yuan's palm, entirely azure in hue. It was small and exquisite, exuding a remarkable aura.

"An Azure Saint Token?" True Saint Taiyuan's eyes briefly lit up before swiftly returning to their calm state. "A pity. It's merely a sempiternal life token."