Yuan Yi’s Long Wait and Lost Treasure
Yuan Yi had been waiting here like a hunter by a tree—or more accurately, guarding the mountain in the hope of treasure—for over a hundred years.
He had seen the light of spiritual treasures streak across the sky, fleeing into the distance. He had seen mighty beings tear through the void in pursuit of those treasures, passing just outside of Kunlun.
But not once had he seen anything actually fall into Kunlun.
Yuan Yi had no idea how much of Hongjun’s collection remained after he had bestowed gifts and let the innate divine beings divide them among themselves—how much was left unclaimed and had fallen into the great primordial land.
He only knew one thing: if he couldn’t pick something up this time, he’d have to wait until the elders overloaded themselves and exploded with treasures and spiritual roots—otherwise, there wouldn’t be another chance.
Innate treasures had their destined numbers. They were not easy to come by. In fact, even some innate divine beings were paupers with empty sleeves, without a single fitting treasure to their name.
Perhaps in the future, when his master Tongtian formally established his sect, he might gift his disciples a few spiritual treasures. But who would ever complain about having too many?
Besides, it was said that the Dao Ancestor’s method of severing the three corpses to attain sainthood required innate spiritual treasures.
Yuan Yi didn’t know whether that method was a trap, but better to be prepared. One more treasure meant one more path.
He wasn’t favored like Tongzi, who could just casually draw upon Pangu’s bloodline. Where his path would ultimately lead was still unclear.
If, one day, he hit a dead end, then severing the three corpses might be his only option.
Yuan Yi had no confidence that he would definitely become a saint or ascend to the Hunyuan realm.
He raised his hand and yawned, his golden eyes gazing up into the sky, slightly unfocused.
In the next instant, light flashed in those golden eyes. A look of delight spread across his face as he leapt to his feet and stepped into the air.
“Just like they say—fortune favors the prepared! Heaven never lets down those who toil. Isn’t this it?!”
His gaze locked onto the distance as a beam of spiritual light tore through the void and suddenly appeared, flying straight toward Kunlun.
Yuan Yi focused his vision and saw within the divine radiance a ruler-shaped object, its aura extraordinary.
What kind of spiritual treasure is that? Yuan Yi transformed into a streak of rainbow light, rushing out to meet it.
But just as he charged forward, he froze mid-air.
From the void behind the treasure, a hand suddenly reached out and seized it in one swift motion.
The treasure struggled and vibrated, but it was instantly suppressed and calmed down—never reaching Kunlun.
A Daoist figure appeared, holding a glowing spiritual lantern. He examined the treasure he had caught, a smile on his face.
After storing the ruler-shaped treasure into his sleeve, the Daoist finally turned his gaze toward Yuan Yi in the distance within Kunlun. After giving him a brief glance, he turned and left.
Watching this opportunity slip right past him, Yuan Yi couldn’t help but feel disheartened—but what use was frustration?
A ruler… and a spiritual lantern… Who was that Daoist?
Yuan Yi shook his head and stopped thinking about it. The more he dwelled on it, the more depressed he became.
This place was cursed—he decided to find a new spot instead.
Not long after, Yuan Yi finally saw a second flash of spiritual light tear through the void and fall into Kunlun.
He immediately rushed over and discovered it was a crown made of white jade, radiating the aura of the Five Elements. Though its presence wasn’t as powerful as the ruler he had seen earlier, it was undoubtedly a genuine innate spiritual treasure.
Yuan Yi wasn’t the only one who noticed it—other spirits and creatures within Kunlun had also caught on to the treasure descending from the heavens.
However, innate spiritual treasures weren’t so easy to claim. Those other beings simply couldn’t keep up, nor could they block its path.
Yuan Yi, with his cultivation at the late stage of the Golden Immortal realm, didn’t bother being polite. The treasure was unclaimed—there was no reason not to compete for it.
Considering the others were all native spirits of Mount Kunlun, Yuan Yi didn’t attack them outright. He simply focused on going straight for the treasure.
Those bold enough to strike at him were swatted away with a casual palm strike—though he didn’t go for the kill.
Behind him, the manifestation of his golden flood dragon form appeared, stretching across a thousand miles—majestic and fierce. Entwined with yin and yang energies, a natural aura of slaughter radiated from him, unleashing a terrifying pressure that suppressed many of the competitors.
Yuan Yi summoned the yin and yang energies and tried to subdue the streak of spiritual light, hoping to catch it.
But the treasure was incredibly fast, and even after several attempts, he failed to grasp it. His divine sense couldn’t lock onto its aura.
This treasure seemed to have a natural ability to conceal itself, blending into the Five Elements and making it difficult to sense—he could only rely on his eyes to pursue it.
Yuan Yi chased the light throughout the vast expanse of Mount Kunlun, even fully manifesting his golden flood dragon form to push his speed to the limit, barely managing to stay on its trail.
After great effort, he finally managed to catch up to the elusive light and used his yin and yang energies to forcefully suppress it. It took all his strength and effort, but he eventually managed to make it settle down.
“Aren’t treasures supposed to fly into your hands on their own?” Yuan Yi sighed. “Why did I have to use brute force?”
Thankfully, it worked.
Apparently, his aura of slaughter wasn’t exactly to the liking of innate spiritual treasures—it seemed they found him distasteful.
In his hand, strands of law flowed, the innate yin and yang energies circulating. As the light receded, the small white jade crown was revealed. It was a mid-grade innate spiritual treasure—named “Crown of Dust” (同尘冠).
It was a spiritual treasure Yuan Yi had never heard of before—leaning more toward a defensive, auxiliary type.
It possessed the ability to conceal its aura, making it difficult for others to lock onto it with divine sense, effectively obscuring perception.
At the same time, once activated, it could serve a defensive function by drawing upon the power of the Five Elements to shield its user, merging into the void and borrowing strength from heaven and earth.
As Yuan Yi toyed with the Crown of Dust in his hand, he couldn’t say whether he was fully satisfied—but it was a gain, nonetheless.
To be fair, he did lack defensive magic treasures. Although his robe, formed from his golden scales, had some defensive capabilities, it still couldn’t compare to a true defensive spiritual treasure—especially since his own cultivation was still lacking.
What pleased him most, however, was its ability to mask one’s aura. Perhaps it could help hide his increasingly darkening purple energy, sparing him from those who judged based on appearances and mistook him for a villain.
As for offensive methods—he didn’t lack any. His innate Yin-Yang energies were already his best weapons, not inferior to any innate spiritual treasure.
Once his cultivation grew and those powers evolved into his innate divine abilities, their offensive strength would be formidable.
After putting away the Crown of Dust, Yuan Yi lingered in Kunlun for several hundred more years, yet found nothing further.
Even after he had partially refined the Crown and masked his aura of slaughter, no spiritual treasure or root—whether possessing discernment or not—showed any interest in him.
It was around this time that his teacher, Tongtian, along with his martial uncles, finally returned. So Yuan Yi also made his way back to the Dao grounds.
However, Tongtian didn’t summon them right away. Instead, the first to visit was the trio of Sanxiao sisters, bringing some news.
It turned out that once the falling treasures were discovered, others—just like him—had gone out in search of opportunity. And some had actually succeeded.
The Daoist Duobao, thanks to his innate talent, had found not one but two innate spiritual treasures: one was a fairly ordinary low-grade item, while the other was a top-grade treasure—one of the Five Element Origin Spirit Pearls, the Gold Spirit Pearl, which stirred some envy in Yuan Yi.
That said, others hadn’t been as fortunate. Compared to them, Yuan Yi’s own luck didn’t seem too bad.
“So, what did you all get?”
Yuan Yi’s gaze shifted to the Sanxiao sisters. Judging by the expressions of Qiongxiao and Bixiao, the three of them had likely gained something as well.
Especially Bixiao—it was written all over her face.
From the look of things, their harvest didn’t seem ordinary. Yuan Yi even suspected that it might rival, if not surpass, Duobao’s Gold Spirit Pearl.
p.s. (Author’s Notes)
According to the setting, innate beings aren’t born all-knowing—they’re simply pure in essence, which brings them closer to the Dao. As such, they don’t possess much divinity in the conventional sense. Many innate beings are capable of forming clans and reproducing. This means the protagonist isn’t inherently “divine” or purely refined—he’s born of yin and yang, part flood dragon, with a dragon’s nature and… well, other traits. He just doesn’t want to admit it, and blames everything on his aura of slaughter.
As for female leads, yes, there will be several, and no, I don’t plan on splitting the Sanxiao sisters apart—so for readers who dislike that sort of thing, I understand it may not be your taste.
Also, this isn’t a conspiracy-heavy story. I’m not good at writing elaborate schemes. While saints may not be saints in the moral sense, they aren’t all petty and scheming either.
Lastly, yeah… slow burn again. The protagonist won’t be getting involved in too many big events early on. A lot of the supposed “scheming” is just him overthinking things.
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