Sovereign of the Ashes

The innate spiritual treasures Hanliu spoke of, as Sein understood them, referred to raw materials that had naturally reached the level of world-class secret treasures without undergoing any form of refinement.

To him, such treasures were... practically unheard of.

What puzzled him even more was that if these supreme materials, nurtured by the world’s essence and cosmic spiritual qi, possessed such extraordinary quality, why were they not refined into even higher-grade treasures?

The fundamental conceptual differences between Magus Civilization and Immortal Realm made it difficult for Sein to fully grasp this idea for the time being.

Hanliu and the others were not professional artificers in the Immortal Realm, so they were unable to offer clear answers to his questions.

These doubts would likely remain unresolved until the day Sein personally set foot in the Immortal Realm.

***

Because of the unexpected discovery of a fragment of a world-class secret treasure, Sein and his group lingered somewhat longer at this Black Merlot Civilization ruin.

Through further exploration and analysis, they concluded that this site, or more precisely, wreckage, had once served as the vehicle of a powerful Rank Four or Rank Five creature from the Black Merlot Civilization.

The world-class secret treasure fragment in the form of a domino had originally belonged to that powerhouse.

Unfortunately, after countless years of erosion, only the fragment remained. The original owner had long since perished without a trace.

In the end, all Sein and the others could determine was that the entity’s name might have been “Youzhuo”.

What a peculiar name.

Available research suggested that the Black Merlot Civilization also belonged to a humanoid species.

However, the Magus Civilization had uncovered very few Black Merlot ruins. This star domain was dominated by relics of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization.

Perhaps because the Black Merlot Civilization had been the defeated party in that ancient conflict, most of the excavated remains consisted of war beasts. Traces of the Black Merlot Civilization’s own species were exceedingly rare.

As a result, Sein and his group’s understanding of the Black Merlot Civilization remained limited, beyond knowing that it had been a top-tier civilization with extraordinary achievements in taming war beasts.

Motivated by Roth’s discovery of a world-class secret treasure fragment, Sein and his group slowed their pace slightly as they continued deeper into the ruins.

Sein also had HALL-E describe the environment where it had once lived and worked.

According to the robot, it had been a vast expanse of steel ruins.

Unlike the endless yellow sands surrounding Sein and his group now, the heart of these ruins was a sea of metal.

Another three months passed.

This time, it was Qixiu who made a noteworthy discovery.

Already proficient in geo elemental laws, Qixiu was exceptionally sensitive to unusual disturbances beneath the sand.

After excavating a large stretch of dunes, several relatively well-preserved warships of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization emerged into view.

Inside a capital-ship-like vessel, Qixiu discovered an energy sphere emitting a faint glow.

Another fragment of a world-class secret treasure!

Unlike the domino fragment, this energy sphere appeared to retain a portion of its original functionality.

Qixiu knew nothing about the products of technological civilizations, so Sein ended up examining the sphere for quite some time.

When he finally managed to activate a special internal program, the energy sphere suddenly expanded in all directions, unfolding into a massive energy barrier.

The barrier resembled many of the defensive fields scattered throughout the ruins, though this one was far more solid, and its hue leaned slightly toward blue.

“Who would’ve thought that after enduring such prolonged erosion, this thing would still retain so much energy. The thickness of this barrier is enough to withstand a full-force strike from a Rank Five creature. At its peak, it could probably endure an attack from a Rank Six being as well,” Sein commented.

After studying the energy sphere for a while longer, he tossed it back to Qixiu.

In human form, Qixiu appeared as a broad-shouldered, powerfully built young man.

He stared at the energy sphere in his hands for a moment before chuckling like an idiot.

Once Black Oblivion and Hanliu also returned to their human forms, they gathered around Qixiu to take a closer look.

In Sein’s opinion, the sphere offered limited practical value to Qixiu.

Qixiu’s dragon scales were already extraordinarily tough, making the defensive barrier provided by this world-class secret treasure fragment largely redundant.

Moreover, as a product of a technological civilization, repairing that sphere or modifying it for future upgrades would be far beyond Qixiu’s capabilities.

From what he had learned about the powerful Immortal Realm through these dragonkin, Sein had come to understand that although it was internally divided into cultivation paths such as Buddhism, Daoism, Yao-ism, and Demonism, with countless sub-branches beneath them, its cultivators nonetheless shared a common attitude of arrogance and disregard toward technological civilizations and any systems outside their own cultivation traditions.

For example, when technological systems were localized within Magus World, they gave rise to the profession of mechanics.

Yet those same technological principles found no fertile ground for survival within the Immortal Realm!

It was a haughty, powerful, yet deeply conservative civilization.

Within the Immortal Realm, tradition was regarded as a virtue.

Although Sein believed the energy sphere offered little real benefit to Qixiu, that did not stop Qixiu from feeling pleased with it for the foreseeable future.

That said, Qixiu did manage to find one practical use for the sphere. When he activated his lawful body, the energy barrier it generated would adhere closely to the dragon scales covering his skin, forming an additional layer of defense.

Roth’s and Qixiu’s experiences during the subsequent exploration of the ruins seemed to inject everyone with a surge of adrenaline.

Not only the Rank Four beings, but even the hundreds of low-ranking knights and mages following Sein and the others threw themselves into the exploration with renewed enthusiasm.

One “good find” after another was uncovered by Sein and his companions.

Although no fully intact world-class secret treasures appeared, fragments of secret treasures bearing unique and unusual fluctuations were repeatedly discovered.

Before long, Grethel also obtained a secret treasure fragment she had been hoping for—a stone block.

Although it was discovered within the ruins of the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization, Sein concluded that it was not a technological artifact created by them, but rather the product of another civilization.

After all, there were no rules stating that only technological civilizations could own technological secret treasures.

Given the immense power the Eiyurant Papillon Civilization had wielded in its prime—enough to defeat the equally top-tier Black Merlot Civilization—it was entirely plausible that they had subdued weaker large or medium-sized worlds and seized their world-class secret treasures in the process.

For the time being, the exact function of the stone block remained unclear to Sein and the others. It appeared to serve some kind of cultivation-assisting purpose.

Even so, Grethel herself likely had little use for it. Her plan was probably to sell the stone block for a high price once they returned to the Magus Civilization.

She was not the only one to make a find. Sein, Black Oblivion, and Gilbert also came across valuable discoveries.

The world-class secret treasure fragment Sein obtained was a broken radar, clearly a product of a technological civilization.

Although its screen had been broken, it still retained a degree of scanning capability.

However, since Sein already possessed the Faceless Mask, the broken radar held little practical value for him.

Just as Sein prepared to chuck the radar back into his spatial storage, considering it yet another decent haul from this subspace ruin, the Magic Cube suddenly reacted.

It seemed like it wanted to devour the broken radar!

Sein stared at the cube in his hand in stunned silence for a long moment.