Like a thief with a guilty conscience, he stowed away the three treasures.
Li Qingming hurriedly led the group of Ancestor Witches back to the Ancestral Witch Hall. The commotion he had just caused was too great, and he feared it had already drawn the attention of those with ulterior motives. Ancestral Witch Hall was protected by the Pangu Legacy Great Formation, which would cause even a Saint to shed a layer of skin if they entered.
Upon returning to the Ancestral Witch Hall, Li Qingming dispatched the Ancestor Witches to continue practicing their martial techniques. He himself plunged into a side hall, pulled out the Qiankun Map, the Qiankun Ruler, and the Qiankun Tripod, and began to study them.
At this moment, he was continuously taking out various items from the Qiankun Tripod. Oozing with the smell of earth, a chunk of soil sparkling with yellow luster, heavy as a thousand jin, was the Nine Heavens Breath Soil; a dark black gourd vine full of verdant leaves; a single black gourd seed...
Li Qingming fiddled with the items in front of him, extending his Primordial Spirit into the Qiankun Tripod.
The Qiankun Tripod embodies the essence of Qiankun; Qian is heaven, Kun is earth. The tripod encapsulates all things, representing space.
This was a strange space, with its heavens square and its earth round. In the eastern space, everything was lush and verdant, standing tall and green; in the northern space, the vast ocean sprawled with few fish or shrimp; in the western space, snow and ice filled the skies, bone-chillingly cold; in the southern space, red as fire, with magma spewing forth...
What a peculiar place! This space is divided so orderly, each of the four directions is intact yet closely connected–mysterious and strange indeed!" Li Qingming's brows furrowed tighter and tighter on the outside of the tripod! He glanced at the Qiankun Ruler and Qiankun Map beside him by chance, and a spark of inspiration struck him, causing him to throw both items into the Qiankun Tripod.
A bizarre phenomenon occurred. As soon as the two treasures flew into the tripod, they both circled the space for a round, then stopped in the center, trembling constantly.
"Whoosh"
Two dots of purple light spilled out from the two treasures. The surrounding space, which twinkled with flowing lights, also began to emit starlight bit by bit, gradually gathering together and forming a single point of purple light through a process of evolution. The three light points suddenly converged, creating a purple qi that emitted a profound and mysterious Dao rhyme.
The purple qi floated out from the space within the tripod and shot towards Li Qingming's Dantian like lightning, merging with the purple bamboo sprout. Immediately afterwards, the world seemed to spin, and a vast flow of information entered Li Qingming's mind:
It's said that after Pangu created heaven and earth and evolved the world, the Primordial Heavenly Dao began to form slowly. Fifty strands of Hongmeng Purple Qi were about to form Heavenly Dao. Alas, under the Great Dao, all beings have a glimmer of life, and one escaped.
Forty-nine strands of Hongmeng Purple Qi could not control and aid in the accelerated evolution of Primordial due to being incomplete. Therefore, to better control Primordial, the Heavenly Dao began to repair itself.
The Innate Spiritual Treasures left over from Pangu's creation of heaven could all be elevated to the realm of treasures. The Heavenly Dao instinctively seized these treasures, returning to the original, merging into itself. That's why there are so few Supreme Treasures in Primordial.
Furthermore, the one strand of Hongmeng Purple Qi that escaped was divided by the Great Dao into three, and placed within three Qiankun Treasures. When the three meet, and two treasures are completely refined, the three can disperse and restore the true form of Hongmeng Purple Qi.
Additionally, this strand of Hongmeng Purple Qi contained one critically important piece of information: the ranks of heaven and earth!
Beneath the Heavenly Dao, the hierarchy is numbered:
Supreme Rank: Nine Heavenly Dao Saint Venerable Positions, Five Directions Divine Beasts.
High-level Venerable Position: Six Emperors, Three Saint Emperors, Ten Heavenly Stems, Twelve Earthly Branches.
Middle-level Venerable: Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Star Monarchs, Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Heavenly Gods, Ten Halls Yama.
Low-level Venerable: The array of Judges in Earthly Palace, various Local Deities, Mountain Gods.
Time passed unknown to him, and Li Qingming opened his eyes, his face alight with joy. He muttered to himself, "Now that the escaped one is in my hands, can I too become a Saint! Plus these numerous heavenly and earthly ranks, what an endless treasure trove!" Li Qingming's expression at this moment was truly colorful.
Outside the Ancestral Witch Hall, on the open ground.
"Big brother, it's been over five hundred years now. When do you think Brother Li will exit his seclusion?" Qiang Liang, with electric snakes dangling from his ears, practiced Wing Chun as he asked Di Jiang beside him.
Di Jiang rolled his eyes helplessly and said, "How would I know! As a cultivator, Brother Li has always been oblivious to the passage of time when in seclusion. Let's just wait; we have all the time in the world. What's the rush?"
"Heh heh! Big brother, do you think Brother Li can still beat us after he comes out of seclusion?" Shebi Corpse asked with a mischievous smile, rubbing his bald head.
Rushou rubbed his palms and chuckled, "Haha, impossible! Over these past few hundred years, we men have been toughening our bodies and practicing our moves daily, and have long reached the Peak of Great Witch. How could we possibly not beat Brother Li now!"
"I think that's unlikely for you!" Zhu Jiuyin suddenly interrupted.
"What? How could you know that without having fought? You must've sneaked a peek in the long river of time!" Rushou was displeased. Geez, for a mighty Ancestor Witch, he seemed to have become a peeping tom.
"Come on! You're the peeping tom! Pfft, just look at the doorway for yourself!" Zhu Jiuyin pointed angrily towards the door of the Ancestral Witch Hall.
After pondering for a month, Li Qingming emerged from the Ancestral Witch Hall with a spring in his step. He curiously looked at Rushou and Zhu Jiuyin, his face full of wonder.
"Hey! Brother Li, let's have another spar!" Rushou approached with excitement on his face, his expression rather vulgar.
"Sure! Let's have a spar! It's been over a hundred years since I've stretched my limbs, just what I need to loosen up!" Li Qingming's face was sunny and bright.
Half an hour later, at the Ancestral Witch Hall!
A group of people sat down cross-legged, and Li Qingming began to speak, "This retreat has been very fruitful. Now I will tell you all something. But remember, what leaves my mouth should enter your ears only! Do not divulge it to anyone else!"