Wang Hao inverted the storage ring, letting a waterfall of ancient legacy crash onto the cavern floor. He and Ji Xiaotang knelt amidst the pile, sifting through the debris of a fallen era.

Beyond the cultivation manuals, the Pill Cauldron Sect’s alchemy archives brought Wang Hao the most joy. The inheritance extended all the way to the third tier, containing over a dozen lost recipes for high-grade pills.

As he compared the ancient formulas with modern knowledge, he noticed subtle differences. Some recipes swapped one or two spiritual herbs; others were radically different. It was a fascinating map of botanical history, showing how later alchemists had been forced to innovate as certain species went extinct.

Wang Hao’s fingers itched. Seeing so many lost formulas and annotated insights, he wanted nothing more than to pull out his furnace and verify them immediately.

He forced himself to quell the urge. There were other treasures to assess.

True Monarch Scorching Sun hadn’t lied; few artifacts remained. The sect’s defenders had likely died fighting the beast tide with their weapons in hand, and the fleeing disciples had taken what they could carry. What remained were the personal treasures of the Monarch himself.

There were no Fourth-Tier Spiritual Treasures. Such items were exceedingly rare in the South Sea, hoarded only by the apex sects. It was no surprise the fallen sect lacked one.

However, four Third-Tier Magic Treasures lay before them.

The first was the Silver-Grey Sword, a High-Grade Magic Treasure. The description noted it was forged with a massive quantity of mithril, giving the blade a shimmering, liquid appearance. It was a weapon of devastation, capable of splitting mountains and shattering stones with a single flicker of light.

The second was the Heaven Encompassing Bracelet, a Mid-Grade treasure of bronze-yellow metal. It was a suppression artifact. Once activated, it projected a “Heaven Encompassing Soul-Locking Grand Formation,” capable of trapping living beings within a hundred-mile radius.

The third was the Thunder Origin Robe. Cyan-purple and crackling with latent energy, this Mid-Grade treasure formed a lightning barrier around the wearer, offering both offense and defense.

The final item was a fiery-red furnace: the Sky Reaching Furnace. A Third-Tier High-Grade artifact, it served as both a supreme vessel for alchemy and a crushing blunt-force weapon.

Wang Hao set his sights on the Silver-Grey Sword and the Heaven Encompassing Bracelet. He had already acquired a Magic Treasure furnace in the Earth Fire Chamber. Though inferior to the Sky Reaching Furnace, it was sufficient for his current needs.

Next came the raw materials.

The most precious find was a lump of Sun Flame Gold, a Fourth-Tier material formed only after tens of thousands of years of scorching by True Sun Fire. It was a rarity that had all but vanished from the cultivation world.

There was also Purple Cloud Crystal, a Third-Tier High-Grade byproduct of spirit stone mines, worth hundreds of times more than the stones themselves. Piles of Mystic Earth Stone and Dark Water Stone rounded out the mineral collection.

Near the spiritual vein, a grove of Void Spirit Bamboo grew. According to the Monarch, these stalks had matured for nearly ten thousand years, reaching the quality of Fourth-Tier materials.

Then, there were the herbs.

Wang Hao found a Spirit-Nourishing Fruit, an item he desperately needed for his mental cultivation. Next to it lay a Mystic Wonder Fruit, a treasure capable of purifying a spirit beast’s bloodline and boosting its evolution odds. Legend held that the beast tide had originally attacked the sect specifically to claim the tree that bore this fruit.

Preserved by the dense spiritual energy of the vein, other thousand-year herbs—Red Lotus Grass, Soul-Falling Flowers, Condensing Yin Grass—remained fresh and potent. Unlike ancient herbs found in the wild that crumbled to dust, these retained their full medicinal fragrance.

Finally, they examined the jade slips.

The haul included three techniques capable of reaching the late Golden Core stage, along with a library of Foundation Establishment manuals and guides on the Hundred Arts of Cultivation. With these resources, rebuilding the Pill Cauldron Sect was no longer a pipe dream; it was a logistical inevitability.

One sword technique caught Wang Hao’s eye: the Flowing Cloud Sword Art.

At mastery, this art allowed “one sword to transform into ten thousand,” creating an inescapable net of steel. Conversely, it could execute “ten thousand swords converging into one,” focusing dispersed power into a single, world-breaking strike.

Another standout was the Golden Eye Pupil Technique. It promised the ability to see through illusions and break formations with a glance. However, it required a bath of spiritual liquid brewed from the inner core of a Third-Tier Golden Eye Beast—a hunt Wang Hao would have to postpone until he formed his Golden Core.

Satisfied, the pair moved to the spiritual vein to inspect the Spirit Water Pool.

It was time to divide the spoils. They copied the manuals, ensuring both had full access to the knowledge.

Wang Hao was indifferent toward the herbs. With his farm, a single seed was as good as a harvest. He signaled for Ji Xiaotang to choose first.

Mistaking his pragmatism for romantic sacrifice, Ji Xiaotang looked at him with deep affection. She voluntarily ceded the Silver-Grey Sword and the Heaven Encompassing Bracelet to him.

She selected the Thunder Origin Robe and the Sky Reaching Furnace for herself. For materials, she took the Void Spirit Bamboo and Purple Cloud Crystal, leaving the rest to Wang Hao.

They divided the Spirit Water equally. The pool held over two thousand jin of liquid. Since a single alchemy session required only a few drops, Wang Hao’s share of one thousand jin was effectively infinite. Once diluted for lower-tier pills, he had enough supply for a hundred thousand batches.

With the loot sorted, they turned their attention to the Flowing Yin Formation.

True Monarch Scorching Sun had left a single Flowing Yin Stone, sufficient to power the array for ten days. Inside the formation, that time would stretch into ten years.

It was enough. Ten years to heal, cultivate, and consolidate their gains in the heart of a Fourth-Tier vein. Though the vein was slowly degrading without maintenance, the ambient energy was still thick enough to make cultivation several times more efficient than the outside world.

Wang Hao set up the perimeter. He left Xiaobai, Xiaoyue, and the Phantom Moon Butterfly to guard the entrance, then carried the broken body of Yaya into the formation with Ji Xiaotang.

Yaya had been crushed while saving him. Her breathing was shallow, her life force flickering like a candle in the wind.

Wang Hao made a decision. He pulled out the Mystic Wonder Fruit.

Logically, this Third-Tier treasure should go to the Phantom Moon Butterfly, whose potential was highest. But Wang Hao wasn’t a machine.

“It’s just a fruit,” he muttered to himself. “Give me a few decades, and the farm will grow a dozen more.”

Inside the time-dilation array, Wang Hao held the shimmering, fist-sized fruit. Though its efficacy had dropped to twenty percent over the millennia, it was still a potent medicine.

He looked at Yaya. Her limbs were shattered, her fur matted with dried blood. His heart ached.

He stroked her head gently. Yaya cracked her eyes open, a faint light of recognition appearing when she saw him.

“Yaya,” he whispered, bringing the fruit to her lips. “Eat this. You need to get better.”

He smiled softly. “The road ahead is long; we still have to accompany each other in the future.”

A powerful will to survive flared in Yaya’s golden eyes. She opened her mouth weakly.

Wang Hao placed the fruit on her tongue. Seeing she lacked the strength to swallow, he used his True Essence to guide the medicine down her throat and into her stomach.

The fruit dissolved instantly. A gentle, restorative light enveloped Yaya’s body, knitting bone and flesh.

The healing process would be slow, but she was safe. Wang Hao placed her on a soft mat and turned to his own cultivation.

He and Ji Xiaotang sat at opposite ends of the chamber to avoid interfering with each other’s energy intake.

Wang Hao crossed his legs and began to circulate the True Scripture of Red Lotus and Phantom Wood. Red and green motes of light coalesced from the air, spiraling into his body.

He spent the first two years inside the array simply healing. He refined medicinal pills, repairing his damaged meridians and regrowing torn muscle fibers until his body was pristine once more.

Only then did he produce the Jasper Moon Fruit.

He swallowed the treasure. A brilliant light erupted from his pores, making his body shine like a peerless jewel. He closed his eyes, entering a deep trance to refine the surge of power.