The extra bonus Yu Chen gave Wu Qi was indeed incredible.
As mentioned earlier, everything in Liangzhu and You Xiong Plain was beyond imagination, be it the energy or the natural spirit items. It was no exaggeration to say that a day of cultivation in You Xiong Plain was worth a year elsewhere in Pangu Continent, and hundreds or even thousands of years in the outer heavenly realms.
However, except for those who had lived in Liangzhu and You Xiong Plain for generations, the local officials administrating You Xiong Plain, and the ministers who served in the imperial court, the laws of Great Yu prohibited anyone from entering You Xiong Plain, unless ordered to do so by the Human Emperor.
As for a Marquis of Province like Wu Qi, he had the chance to visit and stay in You Xiong Plain for not more than half a month when he was accepting his title of nobility from the Human Emperor. Unless he could perform meritorious deeds again and get promoted, he would never have a chance to visit the place again in his entire life.
Even Ji Ao, who was a member of Great Yu's imperial clan, was not allowed to visit You Xiong Plain without permission in the past. When his title was still King Yang Qiu, he could either dwell in his own fief or travel anywhere on Pangu Continent, but never set his foot in You Xiong Plain. Moreover, if he dared to violate the prohibition, his title as a King might be deprived, or he might be imprisoned.
But, things had changed for Ji Ao now. Emperor Haozun had ordered him to be a military advisor, giving him an actual post in the imperial court just like his father, King Yang Shan. With that, it also meant that he now had the permission to freely visit and stay in You Xiong Plain for the long-term. That was the reason why Ji Ao did not seem too excited about his promotion of grade during the ceremony, but was shaking with emotion as soon as he received the special promotion from Emperor Haozun.
And just now, Yu Chen told Wu Qi that as long as he made any new discoveries in the Dao of Formation, he could visit Yan Tian Palace at any time and discuss his findings with any of the Great Oracles here!
This was equivalent to giving Wu Qi the permission to freely visit You Xiong Plain and Liangzhu! If he were able to come out with some strange and eccentric findings every so often, and purposely spent a few months or even years on discussing the findings with these Great Oracles, it would surely benefit him greatly!
With Wu Qi's chaotic constitution, if he could spend three to five years cultivating here, a place where a day of cultivation was worth a year elsewhere in Pangu Continent, how strong could he become? Just by looking at so many Sun Oracles in their early twenties here, he knew that cultivating in Liangzhu would bring him great benefits.
"If I do have any new discovery, I'll certainly visit Liangzhu and discuss my finding with the Seniors here!" Wu Qi said as he looked at Yu Chen, his eyes gleaming brightly. "But, how can I..."
Before he could finish, Yu Chen had already produced a silver jade medallion and handed it to him. It was about the size of a palm, half an inch thick and with faint starlights swirling within. Its surface was carved with a tiny but exquisite star map, with a powerful energy fluctuation constantly radiating out. "This is my token, the token of the First Master of Yan Tian Palace. Bring it with you, and you will be able to freely visit the place without any obstructions," Yu Chen said.
Then, he laughed complacently and wagged his head while saying, "If you make any new discovery in the future, just take this medallion directly to the imperial palace, and someone there will bring you to Yan Tian Palace." He paused for a moment while frowning, then went on, "No, I have to make sure only you can use this medallion, and prevent anybody from seizing it."
After saying that, he grabbed Wu Qi's hand and made a cut on the wrist. Blood sprayed out of the cut as strong starlight flashed across Yu Chen's eyes; in the next moment, Wu Qi's blood condensed into a tiny star map with 17,200 stars in mid-air, which then fused with the medallion. The silver jade medallion was immediately covered with a faint layer of blood-red light, and the energy fluctuation emanating from it was beating vigorously, as if resonating with Wu Qi's heartbeats.
Yu Chen smiled and said, "I've added a blood curse to the medallion, so it will always stay within three feet from you from now on. Also, if anyone tries to seize it from you, those who are weaker than me will be instantly killed by the backlash of the curse. As for those who are stronger than me..."
Wu Qi gave the six black Supreme Towers embroidered on Yu Chen's sleeve a quick glance and shook his head. Why would someone stronger than Yu Chen want to seize this medallion from him? Those who had such a formidable cultivation base were either the Primordial Immortals from the Heaven, who would be slain as soon as they stepped into You Xiong Plain even with the medallion, or Elder Oracles from the Directorate of Celestials and the Secret Palace, for whom Wu Qi could never think of a reason why they would want to seize his medallion.
But, then he heard Yu Chen let out a strange laugh and say, "If those who are stronger than me try to seize this medallion with force, hehe...the truth is, this medallion is directly connected to the core of the defensive formation that protects Yan Tian Palace. So, if they dare to do so, they will surely learn a good lesson from me, the other eight Masters, and all the Elders of Yan Tian Palace!"
The corner of Wu Qi's mouth twitched. The other eight Masters of Yan Tian Palace? Their cultivation bases should not be too far apart from Yu Chen's, right? And all the Elders of Yan Tian Palace...Even though they were weaker than Yu Chen, the difference should not be too great, right? Even so, they still wanted to teach others a lesson together with the help of the defensive formation? Didn't they know that this was not an honorable act? Those Primordial Immortals from the Heaven would never have done something as shameful as this, but Wu Qi reckoned that this group of mad scientists of Yan Tian Palace did not mind being so shameful.
After letting out a few more complacent laughs, Yu Chen shoved the medallion into Wu Qi's hand and ordered him to wait outside the palace. Then, he turned and strode inside.
This palace kept all the books and records of Yan Tian Palace. Apart from the various secrets of formations all the Oracles in Yan Tian Palace had discovered, it also housed many other peculiar artifacts, which were personal belongings left here by all the successive Masters and Elders of Yan Tian Palace before they died. Among them, many were actually powerful artifacts some Elders had painstakingly refined for countless years, but had to leave here because they had no heirs to inherit their legacy.
Because of that, no one was allowed to step into this palace except the nine Masters and the Elders of Yan Tian Palace. As the First Master, although Yu Chen could give Wu Qi special permission to freely visit Liangzhu, he still could not let him step into this palace, as that would be a violation of Yan Tian Palace's prohibition.
After waiting for a quarter of an hour outside the palace, Wu Qi saw Yu Chen slowly walk out with a silver crystal ball, the size of a human's head, in his hand. Judging by his slow and careful pace, the crystal ball was obviously very heavy. It was emanating waves after waves of energy fluctuation which felt heavy and sluggish at one time, then light and active in the next moment.
Although there was still some distance between them, Wu Qi had been able to sense that the energy fluctuation was rather bizarre, as if all the stars in the sky had been compressed into it. What it was emanating was the unique fluctuation of star power, and as the energy fluctuation of the stars differed from one another, that gave it an ever-changing and unpredictable aura.
Wu Qi was not only shocked by the bizarre energy fluctuation, but gaped in terror as soon as he saw the silver crystal ball. His mouth opened so wide that it almost caused his jaws to dislocate. From the descriptions of the various rare treasures recorded in the Scroll of Stealing, he was able to recognize the origin of this crystal ball, and it made him feel like robbing the entire Secret Palace. This silver crystal ball carefully brought out by Yu Chen was actually the core of an innate star!
Before the Great Saint Pangu opened up this world, the chaos was not just an empty avoid. As everything originated from the chaos, it was only natural that there were all kinds of spirit items within the chaos. In fact, those legendary Chaotic Supreme Artifacts were precious artifacts born in the chaos and later refined by someone. Every single one of them contained boundless profound laws, and if an immortal or a Buddhist cultivator could have one such legendary artifact, it was equivalent to having the foundation to establish a base or even a sect.
There were also innate stars in the chaos. The so-called innate stars were actually masses of energy formed from extremely compressed chaotic energy containing countless secret laws of the star, hence called innate stars. Legends had it that the countless stars existing in the outer heavenly realms now were actually evolved from the fragments of innate stars which the Great Saint Pangu had smashed and shattered in the ancient times.
But, the core of an innate star in front of Wu Qi was intact and undamaged, and he was certain that it contained many Great Dao Essence. If it were shattered, as long as there was sufficient natural energy, it could easily evolve into tens of thousands of ordinary stars.
The Great Dao Essence contained in every single innate star was completely different. In other words, the Great Dao contained in this star core was strange to even those mighty Primordial Immortals from the Heaven.
Ultimately, it meant that if Wu Qi could control this star core and use it to construct a formation, although those mighty immortals could still break it with force, it was basically uncrackable for anyone!
As Yu Chen's eyes were resting on the silver star core when he carefully brought it out, he did not notice the shocked expression on Wu Qi's face. Wu Qi quickly closed his mouth and adjusted his expression, then walked toward Yu Chen and snatched the star core with one swift move.
"What is this, Master Yu? Are all the books and records of Yan Tian Palace recorded in it?" Wu Qi asked with feigned indifference. This inner core of an innate star was extremely heavy. Although it was only about the size of a human's head, it weighed nearly fifty million kilograms. It was no wonder Yu Chen took it out at such a slow and careful pace. He was a pure Oracle, so he did not have a strong physical strength like Wu Qi. Obviously, he had to take it out with the help of some magic.
"Well, it's only an ordinary star core, a treasure my great-grandfather accidentally found when he was traversing the outer space in those years. Initially, everybody thought that it was the core of an ancient star, but after being examined by numerous Elders and the successive Masters, it was discovered to only be an ordinary star core. Although it doesn't have all the magical features of an ancient star core, it does have a very large storage space. Only this has enough space to contain all the books and secret records of the Dao of Formations in Yan Tian Palace!"
With a wry smile, Yu Chen shook his head and continued, "If I were to use ordinary jade slips to copy all the books and records in Yan Tian Palace, it would take at least ten million of them. Since I've promised to give you a copy of all the books and records, I have no choice but to use this star core!"
Wu Qi's heart was filled with wild joy, and he hurriedly offered Yu Chen a deep bow. The inner core of an innate star whose magical power the successive Masters and Elders of Yan Tian Palace had failed to activate...
Could it be that thing recorded in the Scroll of Stealing?
Wu Qi was struck by sudden happiness, like a mouse who suddenly fell into a storehouse full of rice!