The clash with the qilins was only a minor setback in the Three Purities' eyes, and they resumed their pilgrimage up Buzhou Mountain. The further they ascended, the greater the coercion. Even Golden Immortals of the Great Firmament felt weak under it. However, the Three Purities also felt a sense of gratification the higher they scaled.

If Tongtian had to name the feeling, it was akin to the warmth of a mother. The coercion suppressed them, but it also purified and refined them. The further they walked, the purer the energy in their bodies became.

The green clouds in their consciousness began to roll and grow, and even the buds showed signs of flowering, but they didn't pay any attention to any of that. They just focused on slowly ascending the mountain and strengthening their daohearts.

Laozi was the first to reach the peak. When he did so, green clouds manifested behind him, and his third flower bud bloomed into a nine-petaled flower. The coercion suddenly disappeared, and he relaxed. The second to reach the peak was Yuanshi. His second flower bud bloomed into a nine-petaled flower.

Tongtian was the third to arrive. She closed her eyes and straightened her back. Green clouds appeared behind her head, and her second flower bud also bloomed into a nine-petaled flower.

"Congratulations to Third Sister for reaching the Intermediate Great Firmament Realm," Laozi said as Yuanshi also smiled.

'Are you praising yourself or me?' Tongtian inwardly rolled her eyes. Still, she clasped her hands together and said, "Congratulations to Eldest Brother for reaching the Advanced Great Firmament Realm, and congratulations to Second Brother for reaching the Intermediate Great Firmament Realm."

After congratulations to her two brothers, Tongtian surveyed her surroundings. Below her, she could see all of the Great Desolation, and above her, she could see the Starry Sky, where the three hundred sixty-five great stars resided among the millions of lesser stars.

She sighed and wondered what Pangu's thoughts were when he looked at all of this. Was he satisfied or discontent?

The Three Purities decided to descend the mountain after the baptism. It had taken them over an eon to climb all the way to the top, and Laozi could sense the secrets of heaven becoming murkier and murkier, signifying the coming of the tribulation.

A tenth of the way down, the sky suddenly brightened to an unnatural degree. All three stopped and gazed at the Supreme Yang Star in the Starry Sky.

"Born of the Supreme Yang Star, I am Di Jun!"

The sun seemed to have transformed into a giant crow with red feathers and three legs. The crow unfurled its wings and cried out. This was the apparition of the golden crow. Simultaneously, another star's brightness increased as if resonating with Di Jun's birth. The star exuded a deep purple color. It was the Purple Majesty Star, also known as the emperor's star.

Yuanshi snorted. "Just a flat-feathered beast, and it still has the ambition of ruling things?"

Although Laozi didn't say anything, he also had his pride. As the orthodox lineage of Pangu, he was unwilling to submit to anyone or anything. Tongtian was the same, but she had long expected Di Jun's birth. She looked forward to Taiyi's birth more.

Di Jun's apparition disappeared, and the sun returned to its original appearance, but soon, it started to shine brilliantly again. "Born of the Supreme Yang Star, I am Taiyi!"

Unlike Di Jun, no other star in the Starry Sky resonated with Taiyi's birth, but Laozi and Yuanshi's expressions turned furious. Because with Taiyi's birth, the ringing of a bell echoed throughout the Great Desolation.

After Pangu formed heaven and earth, the Heaven Opening Ax split into three. The ax front turned into the Taiji Diagram, the ax handle turned into the Pangu Banner, and the ax back transformed into the Chaos Bell. The Three Purities weren't present to witness this, but their inheritance allowed them to know.

All three were top-grade cardinal spiritual artifacts. Even compared to the Heaven and Earth Pagoda formed by Xuanhuang Qi, they were not one whit inferior. In addition, since they were part of the Heaven Opening Ax, each one was bestowed with a large amount of Heaven Opening Merit.

In the entire Great Desolation, perhaps only the Three Purities, Taiji Diagram, Pangu Banner, Chaos Bell, twelve drops of Pangu's blood, Jade Butterfly Disk of Good Fortune, and Thirty-sixth Ranked Jade Lotus of Chaos could have Heaven Opening Merits.

It was not useful now, but that would change in the future.

"Dammit, how could a mere beast have Father God's treasures?" Yuanshi demanded in anger. In his eyes, since the three were of the orthodox lineage of Pangu, the three artifacts formed from the Heaven Opening Ax should belong to the three of them.

Even Laozi thought so. Out of the three of them, only Tongtian remained calm without any fluctuation in her mood. She knew that in the future, Laozi would gain the Taiji Diagram, and Yuanshi would gain the Pangu Banner.

As for her? She would gain the Four Immortal Extermination Swords.

"Elder Brothers, don't worry about it. What's ours will eventually return to us," Tongtian said. 'Taiyi, I'll let you borrow it for now, but I'll be sure to collect the Chaos Bell from you in the future, with interest.'

Hearing Tongtian's words, Laozi and Yuanshi calmed down. "Third Sister is right. What's ours will eventually return to us."

"Hmpf, I'll let that flat-feathered beast be prideful for now," Yuanshi said.

---

"Elder Brother, should we go to the Great Desolation?" a young man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties and wearing red robes asked.

Next to him was a man appearing to be in his early thirties. He wore purple robes and a crown above his head, a book in one hand.

Di Jun opened his eyes and closed his book. "I just calculated the secrets of heaven with the Celestial River Diagram. Our time to unify the Great Desolation hasn't come. Our chance will come after the tribulation ends. For now, we should improve our strength as much as possible."

Taiyi nodded. He sat down, and a bronze bell flew out of his mouth. The bell flew above his head and enlarged itself. Di Jun also sat down and started flipping through the Celestial River Diagram, and the milky way appeared above his head.

---

Halfway down the mountain, the Three Purities felt something attracting them. They shared a look and decided to check it out. It wasn't like it was the first time.

Buzhou Mountain was a treasure trove. On the way down, they had already collected quite a bit of material and spiritual roots. But this time, it felt as if something was calling them.

They reached a cave entrance, and there, they saw an azure mist blocking their way. Laozi turned to Tongtian and said, "Third Sister, it's up to you."

Tongtian nodded and used her energy to penetrate the array guarding whatever treasure was behind it. It took over twenty-nine thousand years to break it. She could have broken it earlier, but she spent the extra time comprehending the array.

Once the array broke, all three entered.

Inside the cave was a small pond so clear it looked like air. Furthermore, flashes of light blinked rapidly, but it was what was floating on the pond that caught the Three Purities' eyes.

"Twelfth-Ranked Green Lotus of Good Fortune!" Yuanshi said in surprise.

After Pangu created the world, the Thirty-Six Ranked Jade Lotus of Chaos fractured into six lotus seeds. Tongtian knew of the Twelfth-Ranked Green Lotus of Good Fortune, Twelfth-Ranked Black Lotus of Destruction, Twelfth-Ranked Golden Lotus of Merit, and the Twelfth-Ranked Red Lotus of Karma that grew from those lotus seeds, but she had never heard of what happened to the last two lotuses.

The Three Purities entered a dilemma. The Twelfth-Ranked Green Lotus of Good Fortune was comparable to a top-grade cardinal spiritual treasure, but there was only one. How should they split it?

"I see that the green lotus has three parts: the flower, leaf, and stem. How about we each take one?" Laozi suggested.

Yuanshi and Tongtian both agreed. Just as Laozi was about to pluck the flower, Tongtian stopped him. "Eldest Brother, I see that the green lotus is full of vitality. It should be about to produce some seeds. How about we split it after the seeds come out?"

"Don't you know that the vitality of the lotus will drop after producing the seeds?" Yuanshi asked. "The Twelfth-Ranked Green Lotus of Green Fortune's grade will degrade after being split by the three of us. The thirds might even drop to middle-grade artifacts after producing the seeds."

"No, Third Sister has a point," Laozi said. He pointed at the pond below. "This is Threelight Divinewater. It can heal and nurture all things. As long as we spend a bit of time and materials, we can restore the lotus to its peak after it produces its seeds."

Yuanshi's eyes lit up, and after thinking about it for a moment, he agreed.

Tongtian erected a new array to prevent other people from discovering the cave since she took down the original protective array.

It didn't take long for nine seeds to form from the Twelfth-Ranked Green Lotus of Good Fortune. The spiritual light coating it dimmed a bit, but it was still a top-grade spiritual root.

"Not bad. Since there are nine, each of us can get three," Laozi said as he took three lotus seeds for himself. Yuanshi and Tongtian followed suit.

Yuanshi cupped his hands. "We will have to rely on Eldest Brother to restore the green lotus's foundation.”

"We're siblings. No need to be polite," Laozi said. Several materials flew out of his sleeve. Using his alchemical prowess, he refined them into vitality-restoring elixirs and fed them to the Twelfth-Ranked Green Lotus of Good Fortune.

It took a hundred thousand years before the good fortune green lotus returned to its peak condition. During this time, Tongtian had to sigh. 'Time really is the most worthless thing in the Great Desolation.'

Laozi plucked the lotus flower, and it transformed into a horsetail whisk. "From now on, it will be the Void Refining Whisk."

Yuanshi was next. He plucked the lotus stem, and it turned into a jade scepter with violet, gold, and silver gems encrusted into it. "The heaven has three treasures: sun, moon, and stars; the earth has three treasures: water, fire, and wind; and man has three treasures, too: qi, essence, and spirit. From now on, it will be called the Three-Treasured Jade Scepter."

'Do you have to be so dramatic?' Tongtian thought. She waved her hand, and the lotus leaf transformed into a cyan-colored three-foot sword. The more she looked at it, the more pleased she became.

Suddenly a thought occurred to her. What if she merged the Chaos Clock shard with the sword in her hand? Would it evolve from a high-grade cardinal spiritual artifact into a top-grade cardinal spiritual artifact?

Tongtian wanted to, but she did not have the ability right now. She took out a slab of wood she collected and refined it into a simple sheath. After she sheathed the sword, she said, "From now on, you'll be called the Qingping Sword."

The sword thrummed in Tongtian's grasp as if in acknowledgment.

After getting three high-grade cardinal spiritual artifacts, the three did not immediately leave. They had to refine the artifact in hand first.

All spiritual artifacts had a set number of restrictions. Spiritual artifacts with twelve or fewer restrictions were low-grade spiritual artifacts; middle-grade spiritual artifacts had thirteen to twenty-four restrictions; high-grade spiritual artifacts had twenty-five to thirty-six restrictions; top-grade spiritual artifacts had thirty-seven to forty-nine restrictions.

Perhaps the Twelfth-Ranked Green Lotus of Good Fortune was destined for the Three Purities because it took less than a thousand years for all of them to refine over thirty restrictions on the spiritual artifacts.

They only stopped because they felt it would take too long to refine all the restrictions. The three descended the mountain the same way they ascended, by foot. However, at the base of the mountain, they were met by over ten qilins in the Great Firmament Realm.

"All who offended the Qilin Clan will perish!"