Chapter 106: The Contribution of the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal
As Jiang Li had anticipated, the other nations couldn’t simply copy Great Zhou’s Spiritual Treasure Law wholesale. Each country had its own unique circumstances and needed to tailor its approach accordingly.
The rulers of these nations were well aware of the state of their own laws. Calling them useless wouldn’t be entirely accurate—they served both a ceremonial function and provided some practical enforcement.
Thus, instead of adopting Great Zhou’s law, they turned to the Dao Sect to study the Dao of Contracts, using contracts to formalize the relationship between spiritual treasures and their owners.
The Dao Sect, having been forewarned by Jiang Li, had long been prepared to teach the Contract Dao. Everything was ready—from instructors and textbooks to contract templates—ensuring a smooth learning process.
The Dao Sect was also the first faction to study in Great Zhou, needing to base its contractual framework on the Spiritual Treasure Law before other dynasties could modify the contract templates to suit their own needs.
Beyond the nations, sect forces also needed contracts to regulate their spiritual treasures—perhaps even more so than the imperial dynasties.
Jiang Li had once lamented that modern cultivators were too reliant on spiritual treasures, neglecting their own strength. This issue was even more severe within sects than in imperial dynasties.
If a nation lost its spiritual treasures, it still had armies and national fortune to serve as its combat strength. But in cultivation sects, from the Grand Elders to the outer disciples, who didn’t rely on spiritual treasures? With so many spiritual treasures refusing to obey commands, their battle power had been greatly weakened.
Thus, while both countries and sects sent representatives to study Contract Dao, they also brought back contract templates, implementing reforms in parallel, striving to catch up to Great Zhou as soon as possible.
However, some factions believed that Great Zhou was being far too generous to spiritual treasures.
For example, their contracts included provisions such as:
One rest day every six days
A monthly stipend of spirit stones
Prohibition of unnecessary damage
The right for spiritual treasures to dissolve the contract if they suffered severe damage due to their owner’s fault
To them, this was absurd.
“Just because a spiritual treasure has intelligence, we should start treating it like a person? There’s no need to be too considerate of them—after all, they’re just objects!”
Many factions rejected such terms outright, modifying their contracts to drastically reduce spiritual treasure rights.
The most extreme example was the Great Yong Dynasty.
They placed all contracts under state control
Private individuals were prohibited from making their own contracts
All cultivators using contracts had to pay a spirit stone tax
As a result, not only did spiritual treasures flee to Great Zhou, but even cultivators wanted to escape Great Yong!
The Great Yong Emperor’s Outrage
“Emperor Yong, if I return the spiritual treasures to you, what will you do if they escape again?” Jiang Li asked.
“Then Great Zhou will return them again!” Emperor Luo Zheng replied confidently, as if this was the most reasonable thing in the world.
Jiang Li glanced at him, unimpressed. “In that case, I suggest you implement a policy of national isolation.”
This Emperor Luo Zheng had gained the throne through scheming and political backstabbing, but his governing ability was among the worst in Great Yong’s history.
“Next. Who else has a problem?” Jiang Li dismissed him, unwilling to waste time mediating between Great Yong and Great Zhou.
Losing more spiritual treasures would eventually force Emperor Luo Zheng to realize his mistakes—there was no need for Jiang Li to interfere.
However, Luo Zheng wasn’t willing to give up so easily.
“W-Wait! I have another request!” Seeing that Jiang Li had no intention of helping him, he turned to Bai Hongtu from the Dao Sect.
“I request that the Dao Sect erase the intelligence of all spiritual treasures in the Great Yong Dynasty!”
He wanted neither to grant spiritual treasures rights nor to let them escape. If that was the case, it was better to revert them to their original state—lifeless objects. Without intelligence, there would be no problem at all!
Some of the other dynasties and major sects weren’t as extreme as Great Yong, but they also opposed granting spiritual treasures too many rights.
“They’re just tools—why treat tools so well?”
If the Dao Sect agreed to Luo Zheng’s request, they would all follow suit and erase the intelligence of their own spiritual treasures as well.
However, many of the more rational representatives immediately realized the grave implications.
Most notably, Yu Yin, who understood just how terrifying intelligent spiritual treasures could be.
For example, the Ruyi Gourd—with intelligence, it was a completely different entity. If it willed it, it could kill even a Terrestrial Immortal!
Thus, in Tianyuan Dynasty, the contract template Yu Yin implemented was the closest to Great Zhou’s model.
Though many cultivators didn’t understand why they should be so kind to spiritual treasures, Yu Yin’s reputation and authority forced them to comply.
Yet, as time passed, they discovered…
The results were actually quite good?!
Some cultivators tried to privately draft their own contracts to exploit their spiritual treasures, claiming their terms were “better” than the official contracts.
Yu Yin didn’t prohibit this, but those cultivators quickly realized something—spiritual treasures were smarter than they thought.
They could easily recognize whether a contract benefited them or not.
Since contracts required mutual consent, if a spiritual treasure didn’t agree, the contract wouldn’t be established.
After prolonged negotiations, the privately drafted contracts ended up closely resembling Yu Yin’s official template.
Some were even worse, riddled with loopholes that let spiritual treasures exploit them!
The Dao Sect’s Astonishing Revelation
“If the Great Yong Emperor wishes, we can proceed,” Bai Hongtu said casually.
“Then—!” Luo Zheng was ecstatic.
He had assumed Bai Hongtu would refuse or demand some hefty compensation, yet he had agreed so easily!
Great Yong couldn’t appear stingy, so Luo Zheng mentally prepared to offer formal gratitude afterward.
“However, there is one thing I should mention first,” Bai Hongtu continued, raising his hand.
Jiang Li gave him a slight nod, allowing him to proceed.
“Our Dao Sect’s Grandmaster Tianyin has developed a cultivation method exclusively for spiritual treasures. We welcome anyone to bring their spiritual treasures to study at the Dao Sect—or let the treasures come on their own.”
A wave of shock rippled through the audience.
“Who is Grandmaster Tianyin? That sounds like—wait!” Luo Zheng instinctively began to question, but then his expression froze.
“Tianyin Grandmaster”… wasn’t that just another name for the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal?!
A hush fell over the room.
Spiritual treasures can cultivate?!
Jiang Li was equally surprised. He had heard that the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal had been secretly researching methods for spiritual treasures to cultivate, but he never expected results so soon!
“It’s not as exaggerated as you think,” Bai Hongtu said in his usual unhurried manner.
Everyone could tell he was deliberately teasing them, but who could stop him?
“Just as we cultivators struggle to ascend to immortality, spiritual treasures cannot yet cultivate to the level of Immortal Artifacts. Moreover, the current method is crude—it can only raise a spiritual treasure by a small tier.”
“For clarity, we’ve divided spiritual treasures into nine tiers, ranging from ‘low-low’ to ‘high-high’. Grandmaster Tianyin’s method can elevate a treasure from ‘low-low’ to ‘low-mid’.”
The crowd let out a collective sigh of relief—if they had suddenly claimed that a low-grade spiritual treasure could ascend directly to an Immortal Artifact, they might have collapsed from shock.
Even so, Bai Hongtu’s announcement was groundbreaking.
More astonishingly—the Dao Sect was willing to share it!