Volume 1, Chapter 37: The Taiyi Dynasty’s Ancestral Treasure, the Primal Divine Spring!
Void Realm, City of Prodigies.
When the delegation from the Taiyi Dynasty, having exhausted their utmost efforts and countless precious divine materials, finally transported a spring—exuding a dense purple mist and seemingly containing the vitality of an entire universe—from their ancestral lands across the void to the square in the City of Prodigies, everyone was stunned by the sheer magnitude of the gesture.
"Heavens! That is the Taiyi Dynasty’s ancestral treasure, the Source Divine Spring!"
"Am I seeing this correctly? That is the legendary supreme artifact capable of bringing the dead back to life and regrowing flesh on bones; a mere sip could turn a mortal into an immortal instantly! They actually moved the entire spring?"
"There’s more! Look over there, those crates of tea leaves—each one pulses with the rhythm of the Dao. That is... Enlightenment Immortal Tea! It is said that brewing it allows one to instantly enter a state of epiphany, achieving harmony between heaven and humanity!"
Countless cultivators stared with wide, unblinking eyes, mouths watering. Any one of these items would be enough to trigger a bloodbath across the myriad realms. Yet now, they were being presented respectfully as mere "gifts" before Uncle Fu and his two companions.
The Old Ancestor of Taiyi stepped forward, wiping sweat from his brow, and smiled ingratiatingly. "Senior, please accept this small token of our sincerity. I hope these trivialities might catch the eye of the Forefather."
Uncle Fu glanced at the radiant spring and the mountains of immortal tea, his expression indifferent. To him, these things were... passable. They were far inferior to the water and food his young master consumed daily. However, it was the thought that counted, and the young master had instructed him not to return empty-handed.
He nodded, signifying acceptance. Without using any storage artifacts, he simply flicked his sleeve toward the massive spring and the crates of tea.
*Hum.*
The space did not ripple in the slightest, yet the mountain-sized spring and all the tea crates vanished into thin air, as if they had never existed. This display of mastery over the laws of space left the Taiyi Old Ancestor and the surrounding experts trembling with terror.
"Senior, may we... may we know your honorable name, so that we may pay our respects in the future?" the Taiyi Old Ancestor asked, gathering his courage.
Uncle Fu looked at him and said coolly, "The Gu family, Uncle Fu."
With that, he ignored the crowd, led Ye Qingxian and Ji Ruxue back to the unremarkable dry well, stepped into it, and vanished without a trace.
Only the Taiyi Old Ancestor and the gathered prodigies remained, repeating the words to themselves.
"The Gu family... Uncle Fu..."
"The Tianyuan Realm, the Gu family..."
From this day forward, that name was destined to echo throughout the myriad realms, becoming a taboo that no one would dare provoke.
...
With a flash of light, the three of them returned to the old well in the Gu family’s small courtyard.
Almost simultaneously, the Source Divine Spring and the Enlightenment Immortal Tea he had collected appeared in the open space of the courtyard.
The dense, concentrated essence of life and the aura of the Great Dao instantly filled the entire yard. A few ordinary-looking blades of grass in the corner, struck by this aura, grew leaves shimmering with starlight at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Uncle Fu was about to store these "modest gifts" when he saw Gu Changsheng walking out of the house, yawning.
"You’re finally back. What about dinner?" Gu Changsheng asked, his eyes still heavy with sleep.
"Young Master, are you hungry? I shall prepare it immediately," Uncle Fu bowed hastily.
Gu Changsheng’s gaze was drawn to the spring, which was still bubbling with purple water. "Hm? When did a hot spring appear in the yard? It looks quite nice." He walked over, reached out, and scooped up a handful of the spring water.
The water was warm and smooth, carrying a strange, delicate fragrance that invigorated his spirit.
"This water is not bad," Gu Changsheng remarked.
Uncle Fu stood by, his heart in his throat, terrified that the young master might find the water too common and destroy it in annoyance. He was just about to explain the origin of the "hot spring" when he saw Gu Changsheng carry the water to a half-dead willow tree nearby.
This willow tree was a branch Gu Changsheng had casually stuck into the ground when he first arrived. Because he was too lazy to water it, it had always looked half-withered.
"You look like you're dying of thirst. Have some."
As Gu Changsheng spoke, he poured the handful of "Source Divine Spring"—enough to drive an Immortal King to madness—onto the roots of the willow.
*Splash.*
The water seeped into the soil.
The next moment, a miraculous change occurred!
The half-dead willow tree seemed to be injected with the power of creation. Its withered bark instantly turned jade-green, and its shriveled branches grew wildly, sprouting billions of willow whips shimmering with chaotic light. Each branch looked like a law of the Great Dao, and as they swayed gently, the rise and fall of three thousand worlds seemed to evolve within them.
A vast, ancient, and supreme aura of life surged from the willow tree, piercing the clouds and stirring the winds of the nine heavens and ten earths.
"Young Master... you..." Uncle Fu watched, dumbstruck, trembling with excitement.
*Enlightenment!*
This was a manifestation of the Forefather’s supreme authority: turning stones into gold, enlightening all things! The young master wasn't just watering a tree; he was creating! He was evolving the Great Dao of Life! He found this tree too mundane, so he personally bestowed upon it a new life, lifting it to the heavens and transforming it into the legendary "World Tree"!
Ye Qingxian and Ji Ruxue were even more mesmerized. They could feel that with the transformation of the willow, the laws of the entire Gu courtyard had become more stable and unfathomable. Standing under the tree and breathing the life-filled air, they felt their own cultivation growing rapidly.
However, the culprit behind it all, Gu Changsheng, was completely oblivious.
He just looked at the willow tree and scratched his head. "Strange, is this water that potent? It grew so lush all of a sudden. It’ll be nice for shade in the summer."
As he spoke, he noticed the mountain of Enlightenment Immortal Tea nearby.
"This tea smells pretty good, too." He walked over, grabbed a handful, stuffed it into a large tea jar, and brewed a massive vat of strong tea using the Source Divine Spring water.
*Gulp, gulp.*
He blew on it and began to drink deeply from the jar.
"Mmm, refreshing!"
Uncle Fu stood to the side, at a loss for how to react.
Brewing Enlightenment Immortal Tea with the Source Divine Spring... drinking it from a giant jar... and gulping it down like common water...
Squandering heaven’s gifts? No, that term was far too inadequate.
This was "returning to simplicity"! The Forefather was using the simplest, most direct method to show them that no matter how precious these items appeared to the outside world, their essence was merely "water" and "tea." The Great Dao is simple—there is nothing beyond this!
Uncle Fu achieved enlightenment once again.
...
Meanwhile, in a higher realm countless billions of light-years away from the Tianyuan Realm, a young man named Lin Feng sat cross-legged in a cave dwelling.
Before him floated a blue light screen visible only to him.
[Ding! Detected violent spacetime fluctuations. Coordinates: Unknown.]
[Ding! Detected ultra-spec energy reaction. Level: Unparseable!]
[Ding! Detected high-concentration Great Dao particles leaking. World-line deviation: +10,086%!]
[Warning! Warning! Discovered an anomaly suspected to be the "Final Boss of the Plot" or a "World-Origin Bug"! Host, please evacuate immediately! Do not investigate!]
A series of system prompts jolted Lin Feng from his cultivation.
He was a transmigrator who, relying on the "Super Treasure Hunting System," had thrived in this world, encountering countless opportunities and believing himself to be the chosen one.