Natural Treasures

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

Qing Fang fell through the sky at hundreds of miles an hour, his huge body betraying him at this moment.

His eyes were still glazed, showing the huge damage his soul had received as he struggled to arch his body through the night sky. The wind crashed into his body as an ugly expression crept across his lips, trying to move his wings.

The huge city filled his vision below him, lights pulsating in the centre and a huge ring of dark slums that encased the whole place. However, Qing Fang let himself glide through the air beyond the huge city walls to the east and into deep marshes that stretched downwards into unknown places.

Qing Fang could feel himself healing and the strength returning, however, the aching headache that gripped him never left me even simmered. It seems the damage to his soul was extremely serious this time. If before, he could hope to heal his soul in ten years, now it was looking like one hundred.

The ground was fast approaching as Qing Fang could see himself landing just a few hundred meters beyond the huge city walls. They stood tens of meters high and had cultivators from the City Administration patrolling them, meaning there was a beast issue here.

His body fell beyond the sight of the patrolling cultivators and, with a flap of his wings that made him grimace, Qing Fang dispelled all the downward force and fell to his knees lightly. The ground was especially soft and he seemed to sink half a meter downwards as water encased his knees.

He picked himself up and started to walk slowly into the deep marshes, his feet sinking a meter into the ground as he walked. There was a mist that clung to the ground and made him quite nauseous, even with a Stage 5 body.

However, he held strong as pain encased him. He felt extremely tired and his eyelids shut subconsciously before he opened them again. His body wavered weakly and wanted to collapse to the floor, but he wouldn't let it.

The ground started to sink deeper and deeper until Qing Fang was up to his waist and wading through the soft ground that seemed to fall apart into water. He could see aquatic life beneath the ground and even some weak cultivation beasts.

Qing Fang's huge seven-meter tall body pushed through the marshes as he walked for hours until he was up to his neck. He tried to find other paths multiple times, but the entire place was a creepy marshland. The most entered his nostrils and made him stumble a few times, his body surfacing from the water moments later and causing huge waves.

He looked behind him and saw nothing from the city. He must be at least twenty kilometres away from the walls now.

Qing Fang felt like falling asleep as his eyes started to drift off, not even caring if he was alive when he wanted to wake. His soul was trying to force him into slumber so it could start to heal itself slowly.

However, through his eyelids, Qing Fang's eyes shone as he saw a torrent of the Law of Fire burst open a few more kilometres away from him. It was on the higher Stage 3 level and seemed to be fighting something. That was the strongest beast Qing Fang had seen so far, he thought until his eyes glared.

'Nu Li...' Qing Fang's eyes brightened as he saw traces of his servant. He must've found someplace for them to hide, hopefully. Qing Fang wanted to enter deep seclusion and stabilise his soul as soon as possible.

So, Qing Fang carried on walking forth into the marshes and toward Nu Li. His head submerged into the murky water, but he didn't care. He could breathe underwater for hours with his middle Stage 5 body and he would reach Nu Li by then.

...

Nu Li breathed heavily as a huge area of his chest burned red and bled through his skin.

He looked forward to the lake he had found, seeing the heavily concentrated natural Laws somewhere deep within, knowing it would be the perfect place to hide with his master.

However, within the murky water, a big shadow moved and stopped Nu Li from coming any closer. A bald and monstrous head as well as two greyed eyes surfaced from the water and looked at him, a beak snipping at the air towards him.

Nu Li bared his teeth and his claws glowed a bright red, causing the water to evaporate around them! He saw many tentacles as thick as his body shoot towards him so he thrust his claws forward and attacked!

His claws embedded deeply within one of the tentacles and burned the flesh as he brought it towards his maw and bit heavily onto it! The tentacle twitched incessantly but eventually fell dead in Nu Li's grasp!

However, the other tentacles were already wrapping around the entirety of his body! The suckers latched onto his skin and made it feel like it was burning away under the pressure! Nu Li could feel himself losing control so he tried to thrash his body and move from the creature's control!

However, ink started to secrete from the suckers that were latched onto him as they formed into thin needles that impaled his body all the way through from multiple angles! He looked like a porcupine as several sickly black needles surfaced from all over his body and made him cough a mouthful of purple blood!

Nu Li could feel the black ink flooding into his body and slowly killing him...

The creature then unlatched itself from Nu Li and quickly swam in the direction he had entered the lake from.

His body was screaming in pain as he couldn't stop the water from flooding into his mouth anymore and he sunk into the darkness! He felt his body slipping away as he couldn't muster the strength to think!

However, his body was suddenly grabbed by a large hand that pulled him up and surfaced his draconic scales from the water! He breathed the air in as he looked to see his huge wet master floating on the water and holding him up by his wrist! He was eating a tentacle that was madly struggling between his jaws!

Nu Li smiled happily as he saw his master's cold expression and moved to speak.

"Master, I found something! There is a high concentration of natural Laws deep in the lake that should hide us well! We can go there!" Nu Li spluttered as the ink was still ravaging his insides.

Qing Fang looked on at him with large eyes as he stared deep into the lake and at the huge array of natural Laws swarming a single area! His eyes lit up as he licked his lips!

'What a high concentration! There will surely be natural treasures down there that can supplement me!' Qing Fang thought. Natural treasures were amazing items different from concocted pills as they were formed from Laws themselves!

To reach peak Stage 3 before, Qing Fang had boosted his cultivation with natural pills that helped his talentless self. However, natural treasures were normally much stronger than pills! The only problem is that the likelihood of the treasure being Blood path was extremely slim. Other than that, it could be a general supplement that could help all paths as well as something to help the soul!

Qing Fang hoped it would be something for his soul the most!

But first...

Qing Fang looked at Nu Li's ravaged body and took control of the blood within him to push out all the black impurities from his wounds!

Nu Li felt extremely strange as he felt things moving beneath his skin and he was almost wretched, however, he saw the black ink flowing out from his wounds and into the water! Surprised, he looked up to Qing Fang who nodded deeply.

Nu Li was incredibly grateful as he started to swim downwards to the concentrated natural Laws!

Qing Fang followed him slowly as he unleashed his aura to the maximum and made the surrounding water shimmer!

What he had just eaten was a Stage 3 Marsh Squid. He could feel many Stage 4 Marsh Squids moving around the deep waters and even an early Stage 5! He unleashed his aura to the maximum to make them flee the area, even the Stage 5 started to swim away!

'The Laws here must be extremely rich for a Stage 5 to be born from such a small pack of Marsh Squids! The treasures within must be amazing!' Qing Fang was truly excited. He had never seen, let alone used, a natural treasure before. But he had heard of youths stumbling across them and immediately transforming into monstrous cultivation geniuses!

The water was completely barren as all surrounding life had been scared off by Qing Fang as the two moved deeper into the lake. The Laws were enlarging in their eyes and Qing Fang could make out the Law of Water, Law of Mist and other things like it. However, he hoped to find something useful for him. The other things could be used to sell or concoct a pill in the future!

Qing Fang suddenly saw Nu Li's body start to disappear from before him as he seemed to be swimming upwards and into some rock formations!

Qing Fang followed him eagerly and he started to swim up. It wasn't long before he saw the shimmering surface water illuminated by the light from above! This was an underwater cave!

He watched Nu Li leave the water and swam up quicker than before!

His huge head created small waves as it surfaced in the water strongly, he looked around and seemed to be in a small pool in the middle of the natural cave! Mossy grass that was soft to the touch littered the ground as luminescent plants lit the cave in multiple colours! Here and there, exotic plants grew from the ground and immediately attracted Qing Fang's attention!

'Natural treasures! And so many!' Qing Fang exclaimed as he saw four strange plants shimmering in the air around them!

He immediately dragged his huge body from the water and dripped a flood as he walked past the small Nu Li that just stood there with his mouth agape. Qing Fang placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him to sit on the floor. Nu Li frowned but didn't say anything.

Other than the natural treasures, there were many rare herbs that were used in pill concoctions that Qing Fang would collect later. Qing Fang had no talent in concoction but he could find someone who did!

The four treasures were the furthest they could be from each other and were in the four corners of the cave. Qing Fang started to walk to one of them and heavily inspected it under his gaze.

The plant stood thirty centimetres from the ground and had only two leaves which encased what seemed to be a small whirlpool of water! The water dripped and leaked but would be sucked from the ground by the glowing green stem as soon as it did, creating a fountain.

Qing Fang crouched before the thing and felt the heavy Laws of Water within the thing. There was enough to push a mortal to Stage 4! It was undoubtedly an awesome treasure that could instantly create a genius. The plant would also vastly increase the user's affinity for water, making it dreadfully powerful and sought-after.

However, Qing Fang was bitter. If he and found this when he was still Water path, he would-be soared to the heavens! But, alas...

He left it in the ground as its vitality and effectiveness would diminish if he moved it at all. Qing Fang moved to the next treasure which also took the form of a flower.

It was like a beautiful blue rose that burned with blue fire and scalded the surrounding air into a blurry mess. The Law of Fire was extremely strong and shimmered through the air, however, its level seemed below that of the Water path treasure.

Qing Fang eyed Nu Li who stared at the flower longingly and examined it. It would increase Nu Li's affinity to a genius-level and also purify his bloodline immensely, maybe even making him a pureblood Fire Dragon! However, it would soar his cultivation beyond Stage 5 as Nu Li was already Stage 3.

Qing Fang didn't want to have a servant that instantly became Stage 6... How could he be sure that the slave brands still worked at that level? He wasn't a formation master so the rune in his soul space just looked like a pretty thing and nothing more!

Qing Fang left the Fire path treasure alone as he walked to the third treasure. He had no use for it unless he could find a pill master with enough skill to use something of that level, which he wouldn't find on this planet! So, the only other way of using it would be on Nu Li...

However, he would wait for now until either he himself became Stage 6, or he put another restrictive formation on him which worked on Stage 6 beings.

Approaching the third treasure, it seemed to be a crown of wood growing from roots in the ground. However, despite it being, made of wood, Qing Fang could feel nothing of the Law of Wood coming from the thing.

Looking closer, there seemed to be a whirlpool of Laws flowing around the thing as all kinds of Laws were naturally drawn towards it! Qing Fang's eyes widened as he found something he could use! This was a cultivation treasure!

Wearing the wooden crown would increase his cultivation speed by many folds, he was sure of it! Laying a claw on the crown, he felt its extreme sturdiness and he couldn't even put an etch into it! But as he touched it, he felt the Laws of Blood in his stomach rile and surge, wanting to flow into his Dao Body!

He tried to cultivate for a second and felt himself build his Dao Body five times faster than normal! And this was even on top of his massive affinity that increased his cultivation speed! With something like this, Qing Fang's two-month seclusion would shorten to a mere twelve days!

'This is simply heaven-defying...' Qing Fang could not imagine the pandemonium if he revealed that he had a treasure like this... He could imagine it ending up in the hands of a Stage 8 by tomorrow... All of the worldly natural treasures like this already belonged to Stage 8s anyway!

Qing Fang pulled the crown from the ground and felt the roots retreat back into the earth before dissipating into natural energy! He took the crown and felt it shrink and enlarge if he moved it to his head or arm! Qing Fang eventually pulled it over his head and felt it tighten around his neck.

This was the safest place for it. He could lose his arms in a fight and the crown could be knocked from his head, but if he lost his neck, he would be dead anyway...

The crown was like the folding of branches that resembled a bird's nest, however, the wood pulsed with a strength that made it seem incredibly powerful. Qing Fang hid its aura with his own as he felt a rush of euphoria in his mind. He looked to Nu Li and saw him staring, however, not at him but still at the blue fiery flower.

Qing Fang smirked and spoke. "If you use that you will probably lose your intelligence." Nu Li recoiled but frowned a second later.

It was true. If Nu Li purified his bloodline and became a pure Fire Dragon, he would lose the intelligence he currently held. Fire Dragons had a weak bloodline among dragons and they didn't possess advanced intelligence. So if Nu Li used that, he would become a stupid beastly dragon.

It sounded more like a curse than a blessing, even if he could become Stage 6...

Qing Fang left the slave to his thoughts as he moved to the last natural treasure. Out of the first three, only one could be used by him but he saw satisfied already. The wooden crown was incredibly powerful and he couldn't imagine himself losing a use for it. He could imagine others like this existing but they were all held by powerhouses that still clung to higher realms that they probably couldn't reach...

He approached the last treasure. It seemed to be a small pearl that radiated a soothing blue light. Qing Fang could feel something similar to soul vibrations emanating from it and immediately became excited! He moved toward the peal that was growing within the petals of a golden flower.

He plucked it and immediately swallowed it, looking at his soul and waiting for something to happen! And a second later, Qing Fang saw a ring of blue light encase his soul, it looked extremely sturdy, but unmoving which put a frown on his face.

'This is...a shield?' Qing Fang thought questionably as he felt his soul encased with a protective shell. He laughed ruefully after he had realised. He hoped for something that would heal his soul back to its normal state! After all, that would mean he could immediately take over this city with the power of an unlocked soul!

However, it seemed that he had gained a shield for his soul, which was still very useful but not exactly what he wanted.

'No matter, it will heal in one hundred years anyway. At that time, only Stage 7s can threaten me.' Qing Fang thought before sitting between the Water flower and the Fire flower.

He immersed himself in his cultivation, trying to break through to Stage 3!

But what luck he thought, finding all these good things. Qing Fang had never thought he would be so lucky!

However, a tyrannical figure made of lightning stared down at him from beyond the universe seeing everything that there was to see. Maybe luck didn't play a part, after all...

*3,077/3,000 words*