Chapter 67: The Wondrous Use of the Shop
“Binding sentient spiritual treasures by law will greatly benefit Great Zhou’s national fortune.” Ji Zhi spoke in an indisputable tone. “Next topic—how to establish laws suitable for spiritual treasures.”
The ministers all agreed, understanding the reasoning behind the Zhou Emperor’s decision.
Great Zhou’s national fortune was tied to its laws. If people disobeyed the laws, the national fortune would decline. Conversely, if more “people” obeyed the laws, the national fortune would grow.
Here, “people” didn’t strictly refer to the human race but rather to all intelligent beings—humans, demons, and now, sentient spiritual treasures.
No one knew the exact number of spiritual treasures in Great Zhou, but everyone understood that the number was likely far greater than they imagined.
High-grade spiritual artifacts were rare, and even among ten cultivators, it was unlikely that one of them owned such a treasure. However, low-grade spiritual artifacts were everywhere.
According to Ji Zhi’s estimation, on average, every three cultivators owned at least one low-grade spiritual artifact. If these artifacts could follow Great Zhou’s laws, the national fortune would visibly strengthen!
However, enacting a law was easy—making it effective was the hard part.
If the law was unreasonable and the artifacts refused to obey or exploited loopholes, the damage to the national fortune would be catastrophic.
The ministers continuously proposed ideas, only for others to immediately find flaws. Every time they patched one loophole, another emerged, frustrating everyone.
“I propose granting spiritual treasures the same rights as humans.”
“If a spiritual treasure breaks during battle, does that mean someone has to pay with their life?”
“What if a spiritual treasure kills someone?”
“Then ban spiritual treasures from killing.”
“If treasures can’t kill, should cultivators duel with words instead of magic?”
“Spiritual treasures must obey all their owner’s commands.”
“What if an owner orders their treasure to kill them? Does that count as murder or suicide?”
In the past, at least there were existing laws to reference when drafting new ones. But this time, legislating for spiritual treasures was completely unprecedented—laws had to be created from scratch.
Jiang Li hovered above the Great Zhou Imperial Palace, waiting until the ministers left the Hall of Mental Cultivation before approaching Ji Zhi.
Ji Zhi looked utterly exhausted and drained, making Jiang Li jump in shock. “Were you poisoned, or are you entering the Five Decays of Heaven and Man?”
Ji Zhi shot him a glare. “Do you even know how to talk to people? I’m just stressed!”
“Because of the ministers’ discussion?”
“It’s all because of that damned Heaven Seal from the Dao Sect! Making all spiritual treasures develop sentience!” Ji Zhi complained.
“Why don’t you hear my thoughts on it?” Jiang Li had come precisely for this matter. He repeated the ideas he had shared in the Dao Sect, making Ji Zhi’s eyes light up.
“Brilliant, Brother Jiang!” Ji Zhi immediately understood. Jiang Li’s three fundamental rules, along with the additional overarching principle, completely eliminated the risk of spiritual treasures rebelling against their owners while setting a clear foundation.
With this framework in place, the remaining details could be refined quickly!
After Ji Zhi agreed, Jiang Li needed a place to enter secluded cultivation for a few days, so he returned to the long-unvisited Human Sovereign Hall.
The Human Sovereign Hall held a supreme status, located at the center of the Nine Provinces. Aside from Jiang Li, it housed six commanders—one at the Tribulation Stage, and five at the Late Soul Formation Stage. Additionally, there were a hundred Human Sovereign Guards. When Jiang Li was absent, the Tribulation Stage commander held the fort year-round.
Originally, there had been another Tribulation Stage commander, but he had perished in battle against the Outer World Demons before Jiang Li ascended to the throne—a great loss.
“Lord Sovereign!”
Two guards stationed at the Human Sovereign Hall brightened at the sight of Jiang Li, immediately straightening their postures even more.
They felt an urge to cry.
How long had it been? How long since they had last seen their lord?
When they first joined the Human Sovereign Guard, they thought they would get to witness the majesty of the Human Sovereign every day. Yet, decades had passed, and the number of times Jiang Li had returned to the hall could be counted on one hand.
And those times never fell on their shifts.
Their fellow guards often remarked that Jiang Li visited the Dao Sect more than the Human Sovereign Hall.
Now, after decades of service, this was the first time they were seeing the real Human Sovereign in person.
Jiang Li returned to his personal cave residence and entered secluded cultivation.
He wrote furiously, treating Soul Formation Stage cultivation techniques as if they were as common as cabbage. He effortlessly penned down volumes, and on rare moments of inspiration, even managed to write a Tribulation Stage technique.
After ten days, his cave was piled high with cultivation techniques, leaving no room to even step.
He sold all the techniques to the system, earning a massive amount of Source Points.
The system probably hadn’t expected Jiang Li to generate such a ridiculous volume of techniques and nearly crashed.
The techniques were numerous but of low quality, rendering them nearly useless. For example, Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique increased the practitioner’s appetite tenfold compared to others of the same realm, but provided no other benefits. Another, No Thought, No Worry Technique, simply allowed the cultivator to enter a dreamless sleep instantly.
That being said, they were still legitimate cultivation techniques capable of reaching the Soul Formation Stage. The system had no choice but to purchase them at the standard price for Soul Formation Stage techniques.
Jiang Li flooded the system with an overwhelming quantity of techniques, and his Source Points kept skyrocketing. Eventually, after acquiring all his techniques, the system displayed his total:
【Source Points: ???】
“What’s going on?” Jiang Li was puzzled. He bought a random item from the shop, only to find that his Source Points still showed “???”.
Though he didn’t fully understand the situation, it seemed that he had somehow achieved Source Point freedom.
When Jiang Li purchased the Dao Ancestor’s stone tablet from the shop, he realized that the shop didn’t create objects out of thin air. Instead, they truly existed somewhere. Otherwise, there was no reason why the shop’s inventory only updated when he traveled to different worlds.
With this in mind, the method for locating the remaining Immortal Artifacts became obvious.
“Purchase Brahma Tower, Great Scholar’s Manuscript, Ruyi Gourd, Other Mountain Stone, Dragon Pearl, and Ancient-Modern Sword.”
Jiang Li found these Immortal Artifacts in the shop and clicked purchase.
Why waste time searching other worlds when online shopping was so convenient?
Six glowing portals appeared in the cave, and the Immortal Artifacts dropped out of them.
“What just happened?”
“Where is this? I was about to establish my own empire!”
“It’s the Human Sovereign, Jiang Li!”
The artifacts chattered amongst themselves. They had barely enjoyed a few days of carefree life in their respective worlds when Jiang Li inexplicably pulled them back.
As for escape? Against the well-prepared Jiang Li, not a single artifact had the chance to flee.
However, not all artifacts were successfully retrieved.
Brahma Tower did not appear. The portal trembled slightly before stabilizing, and despite Jiang Li’s attempts to pull it through, the artifact had already escaped.
“As expected of an Immortal Artifact that controls space, not even the system can capture you,” Jiang Li mused. He wasn’t worried—buying Immortal Artifacts through the shop had just been a shortcut. A slower but reliable method still existed: using the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal’s karmic abilities. No matter where Brahma Tower fled, he would find it—just at the cost of more time.
As for Ancient-Modern Sword, its portal showed no response at all. Jiang Li guessed that it had fled into the River of Time, where spatial techniques were useless, making it impossible even for the system to retrieve it.
Just as he was about to set out in search of Brahma Tower, the system issued a particularly interesting mission.
The mission itself wasn’t important—what caught Jiang Li’s attention was the reward.
【Mission Reward: Unlock Special Mission “Finding the Stairway to Immortality Fragments”】