Before the colossal lava hounds, Prince He and the others were as insignificant as ants.
But martial cultivators at their age were in their prime. They had spent much time developing their dao techniques and mystiques to the keenest edge, and their deadliest.
Each provincial lord, minister, and city lord had been through countless battles, let alone the Huang Dragon Army General Yuwen Changfeng. Of course, the Cloud's Equal State Lord Qi Tianyin was fairly powerful as well. He was comparable to Jiang Wenyu and Jiang Wuzhou.
Prince He basically did not need to fight, and the dozen lava hounds were already carved up. As they slayed the Spirits of the Universe, they also checked their bodies for the Yan Huang Golden Bead.
Wu Yu did not fight. After all, he saw that there were many more lava hounds in the river. However, they had sensed how strong this group was, and did not dare to confront them. There were probably 20 or so holding back.
Spirits of the Universe were like animals, typically with a stunted intellect, a primal nature, and survival instincts. Of course, they were miraculous life forms with no parents.
As the battle raged on intensely above, the beasts below thrashed, and the lava hound bodies fell down. The battle grew even more heated, but no more lava hounds came rushing out. They merely peered out from the lava.
In order to search for the Yan Huang Golden Bead, Prince He naturally wanted to flush every last one of them out. He was not above entering the magma to kill them all.
Seeing this, Wu Yu noted just how terrifying Prince He's party was. They fought these lava hounds as if they were chopping melons and other assorted vegetables. They used a myriad of dao techniques and mystiques, and their advanced dao treasures were wielded with practiced ease!
"Seraphic dao treasure!"
Wu Yu even saw that there were seraphic dao treasure users in their mix, and two of them at that.
This did not include Prince He, who was not even fighting.
The seraphic dao treasure caught Wu Yu's eye.
Without question, those with seraphic dao treasures had to be the most respected besides Prince He. They were the two women, prince's consort Hua Muchen and Kingmaker He, Su Yeji.
Amongst them, Hua Muchen had come from the Oriental Flower Tribe in the Oriental Flower Immortal Realm. She was as pretty as a flower fairy in the battle. Her dao techniques and mystiques filled the air with dancing petals and flowers, and she danced in their midst. Her fighting style did not have any killing intent at all, an enchanting dance within the world of flowers that she had created. The petals were artistic and deadly weapons.
The seraphic dao treasure in her hands was a longsword. It was covered in flower petals, as abundant as in a dream world. A glimpse of a red blade could be seen, but it was not blood red. Instead, it was the red color of peonies, a vibrant and fresh color. It was a cut above Wu Yu's Dark North Royal Obelisk, but naturally still not as powerful as the Imperial Insignia.
On the other side, the seraphic dao treasure in the hands of Prince He's Kingmaker was also a sword. However, it looked like a ghostly cultivator dao treasure. It was a jade-green longsword, with a line of blood in the core of the blade. Su Yeji's fighting was not as elegant as the Prince's consort’s, but it was straightforward and clean. The jade-green longsword was a fatal threat, and resembled the Blood Coagulant Rapier, although obviously much stronger. Even the lava hounds would be cleaved into two after a strike from this sword.
"What are those two seraphic dao treasures?" Wu Yu asked Prince Le.
"Those two? They are indeed seraphic dao treasures. The one used by the prince's consort is the Saintly Sword of Hundred Flowers. It is a reward that the Oriental Flower Immortal Realm's Oriental Flower Fairy gave to the Prince's consort for her contributions in creating a fast friendship between the Oriental Flower Immortal Realm and the Yan Huang Ancient Country. It has 570,000 spirit designs. Although not as strong as the Imperial Insignia, any seraphic dao treasure is definitely stronger than an advanced dao treasure. I actually haven't seen her fight before this," Prince Le said.
And then he turned to Su Yeji. "As for Su Yeji, that should be the Saintly Sword of Blood Jade. It was found by my seventh brother in an ancestor's reliquary. It is one of his treasured possessions. It's said that an ancient martial cultivator known as the Blood Jade Reverend forged that seraphic dao treasure, and that martial cultivator eventually reached immortalhood. The Saintly Sword of Blood Jade makes a more infrequent appearance, but is said to have 560,000 spirit designs, also fairly good."
Saintly Sword of Hundred Flowers and Saintly Sword of Blood Jade.
Wu Yu watched them fight for a while. They were indeed experts. Prince's consort Hua Muchen was probably about as strong as Yuwen Changfeng. And with the Saintly Sword of Hundred Flowers, Yuwen Changfeng was not her match at all. This was the power of a seraphic dao treasure.
Seeing Wu Yu's interest, Prince Le continued: "Their seraphic dao treasures are considered rather average. They are far from the Imperial Insignia, which has 790,000 spirit designs. There is one more elite seraphic dao treasure besides the Imperial Insignia here. And coincidentally, it also came from my father emperor. Another seraphic dao treasure that he personally forged and bestowed." Wu Yu was currently not fighting. The lava hounds that had rushed up were more or less decimated, and the Yan Huang Golden Bead had not appeared yet. His eyes turned to the area above the lava river, where Prince He was preparing to go down. "It's Prince He's seraphic dao treasure. Am I right?"
"Of course it is his. It has a deep affinity with the Imperial Insignia. My father emperor forged them at the same time. Back then, he found the roc dragon and the tortoise dragon, and also other ancient immortal treasures. And there were three treasure spirits! That means that he found five ancient seraphic dao treasures that were close to decay. He took the immortal treasure spirits out and forged dao treasures from new materials. Finally, they became two seraphic dao treasures. One is the Imperial Insignia, and the other is the mystical weapon that my seventh brother uses. It has three immortal treasure spirits inside. It also has 830,000 spirit designs, 40,000 more than the Imperial Insignia."
Five broken seraphic dao treasures, made anew with new materials and spirit designs to form two whole seraphic dao treasures. They would definitely be stronger. Wu Yu possessed the Imperial Insignia, and he knew of its potential.
And these two seraphic dao treasures were given as rewards to his children, the ninth princess and the seventh prince.
Of course, Prince He and Princess Yin were different. He was on good terms with Prince Le, and Wu Yu did not covet his seraphic dao treasure. Besides, it might not be a fit for him. But he was still deeply interested to know how this seraphic dao treasure functioned. After all, it had 830,000 spirit designs.
"What are the three immortal treasure spirits?" After seeing what the roc dragon and tortoise dragon were capable of, Wu Yu's curiosity was piqued.
Their conversation was cut short by a commotion at the lava river. A frightful growling had begun, manifold the volume of the lava hounds. Suddenly, the lava was churned up even more than before.
Prince Le looked over. "You'll see soon enough."
Wu Yu immediately knew that an even more powerful Spirit of the Universe had appeared, and Prince He was entering the fray. He sent Prince Le and the others further up, for safety's sake. With the Imperial Insignia in hand, he readied himself for battle. Prince He looked back at him and said with a slight smile, "Leave the lava lion to me. The rest are yours. Let's compete to see who finishes faster."
A competition?
Wu Yu was excited. He quickly used the Lawful Embodiment of Heaven and Earth to become the largest golden Immortal Ape he could. His physique bulged! In his hand was the Imperial Insignia in its Dragon Sword form, a super sword of at least three zhang long. It was as though Wu Yu was wielding a live mystical dragon in his hand.
RUMBLE!
The situation had changed. As Prince He and Wu Yu made their agreement, the Prince's consort and the others rapidly withdrew to Prince Le's position, leaving just Wu Yu and Prince He. At the same time, the Spirits of the Universe rose from the magma. Wu Yu saw that there were a total of 25 lava hounds!
However, most striking in their midst were two lava lions. They were lion-shaped beings made of the fiery rock, with the heroic manner of lions. One male and female. The lion was full of fiery fury, while the lioness was more agile, crouching like a stalking killer!
Their stature and power were more than 10 times those of a lava hound. It was roughly fair for Prince He to have assigned Wu Yu 25. Wu Yu knew that he himself would have had to expend quite a lot of energy to defeat the two lava lions.
His eyes flashed past quickly, and he did not spot the Yan Huang Golden Bead on the lava lions.
If it was there, he would not even bother with the lava hounds.
Without the Yan Huang Golden Bead, the Prince He's seraphic dao treasure was now Wu Yu's motivation to compete. Since he wanted to play, Wu Yu would humor him. He had to take him down a peg, or risk Prince Le being seen as vulnerable.
In that instant, Wu Yu saw the seraphic dao treasure in Prince He's hand!
A golden battle axe!
From the moment it debuted, Wu Yu was awed by how impressive it was.
On a closer look, the golden battle axe was covered in golden scales. Wu Yu assumed that they were dragon scales, but he was wrong.
At the uppermost part, there was a spear-tip like protrusion. From both sides, crescent blades extended. This was a classic one-jab-two-slash battle axe. It could thrust, it could sweep, and it could cleave your enemy in two!
What was the immortal treasure spirit? When the seraphic dao treasure appeared, Wu Yu saw three fiery beasts appear behind Prince He. They looked like dragons and also beasts. They were golden in color, and crushed the lions' auras in an instant. They were the legendary immortal beasts of all walking beasts - Qilins!
And the most fiery of them all, red Qilins. They were elite immortal beasts, as rare as a true phoenix or mystical dragon.
This was a Qilin battle axe.
The three Qilin immortal beasts were the immortal treasure spirits. They were indeed stronger, more savage, and more impressive as a whole than the combination of the tortoise dragon and the roc dragon.
The Imperial Insignia had the edge in balance.
Prince Le said, "This is my seventh brother's seraphic dao treasure. With three ancient fire Qilins as the immortal treasure spirits, it was given the name Imperial Descent by my father emperor."