The Rat Cultivator

Chapter 171: Dharma Treasure Embryo

Connecting the dots, Wu Yuan looked down at the sycophantic serpent. “Snake King, you have resided in Snake Valley your entire life. Have you ever noticed any other anomalies?”

The Fleshy Crest Snake King flinched, waving his tail frantically. “Great King, I beg of you, please do not call me Snake King! I am unworthy of the title! Just call me your humble little snake.”

He lowered his heavy head, his brow furrowing as he dug through his chemically-hazed memory. “If I had to point out something strange… it would be the sheer overpopulation. The valley is crawling with snakes! It’s so densely packed I have no idea how the ecosystem sustains them! Furthermore, the rate at which they Awaken into Demon Beasts is abnormally high, and their bloodlines are terrifyingly violent.”

He shivered, his eyes darting around. “If I wasn’t constantly shipping the strongest mutants directly to you, my throne would have been usurped ages ago! Those upstarts fight like absolute psychopaths. If I didn’t have your glorious backing—and the Cultivation boost you provide—I would have been torn to shreds.”

The Snake King’s assessment was entirely accurate. The Snake Spirit Blood—the refined byproduct of the Spirit Mulberry Tree siphoning serpent vitality—was highly addictive, but it was also an incredibly potent Cultivation resource. The Snake King might be a groveling addict, but his physical power had genuinely skyrocketed.

Wu Yuan shook his head, his tone clinical and commanding. “I already deduced the population anomaly. Think deeper. What else?”

Feeling the immense pressure of the Great King’s gaze, the Snake King practically chewed on his own tail in distress. His eyes spun wildly. Suddenly, a spark of clarity pierced his haze.

“Wait! When I first Awakened as a demon, I heard a voice!” he hissed excitedly. “It commanded me to travel to a specific location! The voice was ancient, majestic, and heavy… like a dragon’s roar!”

“But I was busy consolidating my rule over the swarm. And shortly after, I tasted your supreme, divine Snake Spirit Blood. I became… less inclined to travel. The abyss it wanted me to search is bottomless and freezing cold. I didn’t want to freeze my scales off, so I just put it out of my mind.”

The Snake King patted his bloated belly, which let out a hollow, thumping sound. He stared up at Wu Yuan with wide, jittery, desperate eyes, practically vibrating for his next hit. “And besides, this Snake Spirit Blood isn’t nearly enough to satisfy me anymore!”

Ignoring the addict’s desperate hinting, Wu Yuan’s eyes gleamed with sharp, predatory focus. “Where exactly did this voice command you to go?”

“The deepest, darkest trench in Snake Valley,” the Snake King replied, scratching his head. “It wanted me to dig into the bedrock.”

At that exact moment, a surge of information blossomed before Wu Yuan’s eyes.

[Azure Intelligence: Deep within Snake Valley lies the remains of Daoist Dragon Snake, who Perished there. His Treasure Vessel absorbed his divine soul, birthed sentience, and evolved into a Dharma Treasure Embryo capable of Draconic Transformation.]

Wu Yuan’s heart skipped a beat.

The azure light radiating from this intelligence prompt was so incredibly dense it bordered on a regal purple. The sheer value of a Dharma Treasure was incomprehensible.

In the realm of Cultivation, Qi Condensation practitioners wielded Magical Artifacts—basic tools forged from first-grade materials that merely amplified spells. Foundation Establishment experts utilized Treasure Vessels, which possessed complex spirit patterns capable of harnessing the ambient power of heaven and earth. Yet, they remained inanimate objects.

But a third-grade Dharma Treasure was a completely different entity. A Dharma Treasure possessed genuine sentience. When bonded with a high-level cultivator, a true Dharma Treasure possessed the apocalyptic power to boil seas and incinerate mountains.

Channeling the Karma Pearl, Wu Yuan’s gaze pierced through the dense, heavy mists of Snake Valley. Deep within the subterranean abyss, he envisioned a pristine, jade-like human skeleton.

The skeleton was draped in a weathered Dragon Snake Dharma Robe, its fabric embroidered with vivid serpents that seemed to writhe in the dark. Cupped in the skeleton’s bony hands was a dull, unassuming copper bowl. Yet, through the lens of the Karma Pearl, that simple bowl radiated a terrifying, suffocating aura of purple energy.

Wu Yuan stared fixedly at the copper bowl, burning its exact dimensions and aura into his memory.

He slowly closed his eyes, taking several deep, measured breaths to suppress his rising greed. I must remain objective, he calculated silently. This azure intelligence is far beyond my current weight class. I cannot forcefully acquire it.

If it has evolved into a semi-sentient Dharma Treasure Embryo, it means the copper bowl can autonomously activate its powers. Even a fraction of a Golden Core-level strike would vaporize me. That terrifying gaze I felt watching me during my first expedition into Snake Valley… it must have been the artifact’s sentience. If I march down there unprepared, I will not return.

Opening his eyes, Wu Yuan looked down at the shivering Fleshy Crest Snake King. “Go find Bibo,” Wu Yuan ordered smoothly. “Tell him I authorized you to taste the absolute freshest batch of Snake Spirit Blood.”

The Snake King’s bloated body went completely rigid. His pupils dilated to the size of coins. “Thank you, Great King!” he shrieked in absolute ecstasy. Without another word, he spun around and slithered out of the cavern with terrifying, frantic speed, desperate for his fix.

Left alone, Wu Yuan laid back in his treehouse and closed his eyes, projecting his consciousness inward.

He materialized within the Azure Radiance Grotto-Heaven. The familiar, misty mountain peaks stretched out before him. Checking his spiritual standing, he noted that his relentless physical refinement had paid off; he had officially edged past Princess Peacock, claiming the absolute vanguard position among the local demons.

He looked up at the cloudy expanse. “Do you know the history of Daoist Dragon Snake and his Dharma Treasure hidden in Snake Valley?”

Several breaths passed in silence. Then, the Azure Radiance Grotto-Heaven’s voice echoed across the peaks, dripping with cruel amusement.

“Ah! I remember now! You mean that phenomenally unlucky bastard, Daoist Dragon Snake!”

“Back then, he was a hair’s breadth away from breaking through to the Golden Core realm. He had successfully survived the physical lightning tribulation and was deep in the throes of his mental Inner Demon tribulation!”

The entity let out a booming laugh. “But coincidentally, that was the exact moment the Azure Spirit Mountain Range was physically severed from my Grotto-Heaven! The entire mountain range plummeted from the sky and crushed him flat! The idiot Perished thinking the falling mountain was just a hyper-realistic Inner Demon hallucination! Hahaha!”

Wu Yuan stared at the sky in deadpan silence.

What an absolutely absurd way to die, he marveled inwardly. A transcendent genius, fully capable of reaching the Golden Core realm, wiped out by a freak geological accident.

“Because his divine soul had already been tempered by the lightning tribulation, it survived his physical death and fused with his Treasure Vessel,” the Grotto-Heaven explained, its tone turning slightly more serious. “Flush with spirituality, it mutated into a Dharma Treasure Embryo. Its raw power is catastrophic; it only lacks the final tempering of a lightning tribulation to become a true Dharma Treasure.”

“I estimate the artifact’s sentience is currently equivalent to a three- or four-year-old human toddler,” the entity warned. “If you intend to steal his legacy, you are walking a tightrope. He undoubtedly hates the Azure Radiance Grotto-Heaven with every fiber of his being for crushing him. If that toddler-brained superweapon detects even a trace of my aura on you, you will be erased from existence!”