In Qing Han’s eyes, Situ Zong’s lack of finesse was clear as day. The Pelagic Orb wasn’t fully his yet; he needed more time.

Although the Star Demon senior could make use of some of the orb’s functions, other dao immortals were perfectly capable of taking it from his hands.

“Young lord,” Situ Zong replied with a helpless smile, “the Pelagic Orb is a connate-grade treasure. I need at least a hundred years of hard work to properly refine something like this.”

His current state was a far cry from complete ownership. A completely refined connate treasure meant that the treasure recognized the wielder as its master, who could then deploy it as effortlessly and fully as an extension of their own limbs.

Currently, Situ Zong was merely injecting his own power into the treasure to empower it. Wielding the orb was actually a considerable burden on him.

Qing Han glanced at Lu Yun, who quickly shared Situ Zong’s expression in turn. His friend seemed to think he was some kind of omnipotent deity. Perhaps he was even a little worshipful of Lu Yun?

Shaking his head, the young man began to draw talismans in the void.

“That’s an ultimate skill, talismans from the void!” Situ Zong’s pupils dilated in mesmerized fixation as he watched Lu Yun’s fingers dance in the air.

After a hundred breaths or so, a stack of that many talismans appeared in Lu Yun’s hand.

“Here, some Treasure Refining Talismans—a hundred, to be precise. Each is worth a year of effort. If you use all of them at once, it should help you fully refine the treasure… in theory,” he said calmly.

Xuanxi had invented this talisman ten thousand years ago as a helpful tool, useful for immortals who were in a rush to refine their treasures. After she became the Dusk River God, its method of manufacture was slowly lost to history.

Of course, her original version hadn’t been capable of assisting with a connate-grade treasure; the Tome of Life and Death’s power had filled that particular gap.

“Treasure Refining Talismans? The very same ones lost for ten thousand years?!” Situ Zong was astounded. As an old man who’d lived for twenty thousand years, he’d certainly heard about the existence of such a thing, but had never been lucky enough to see one personally… until now.

Lu Yun had drawn a full hundred of them on the spot!

“Young lord, these talismans are too valuable!” Situ Zong hurriedly put the stack away. “They’re both extinct and incredibly potent. Showing them off would only attract unscrupulous eyes! I recommend being more discreet in the future….”

“Master.” Situ Yun tugged at his teacher’s sleeve. “I don’t think they’re worth much to the young lord. Just now, he drew a Principal Nineheavens Talisman for me!”

Situ Zong’s face froze in the middle of his best goldfish imitation, and he looked at Lu Yun like one would a monster. No wonder the sect’s five heavyweights had issued orders to respect the young lords’ authorities. There was a very good reason after all!

The two youths’ raid on the North Sea monster palace earlier had benefited from expert help covering any trouble that arose from their actions, but Lu Yun’s unbelievable show of skill just now was all his own.

When Situ Yun transmitted the young lord’s plans to his master, Situ Zong’s face ran through the purple gradient before he let out a long sigh. “You have a big heart, young lord. Your ambition is grand indeed.”

Taking the talismans back out, he began to use them straight away.

Xuanxi’s talisman skills were unmatched, even when compared to many of her ancient peers. In addition, the Tome of Life and Death had bolstered her talents, allowing her latest invention to apply to connate-grade treasures as well.

Indeed, every envoy across the board had grown stronger, thanks to the book. Their frequent internal discussions in research and development had even sparked several inventions unseen in the ancient world.

……

The hundred talismans helped Situ Zong get through the initial stages of complete refinement very quickly, and the connate treasure finally recognized itself as his. However, the old man ultimately decided against killing the trapped immortals from Witherdew.

If the two arcane dao immortals died here, the Star Demon Sect would make an unmitigated enemy of Witherdew Major and its government would spare no expense in eradicating them. Not exactly a good idea, considering the sect headquarters was there.

No, it’d be far better to claim a ransom for those people’s lives. Any treasures gained wouldn’t burn their fingers nearly as much.

Judging from their equanimous demeanors, the two dao immortals from Witherdew Major thought the same thing.

Lu Yun wasn’t the least bit interested in the prisoners. He was already facing the full power of Nephrite Major; doubling that stress would be utterly foolish.

“Take me to where you obtained the Cosmic Skycarver!” Qing Han pounced when Situ Zong opened his eyes. “The sword isn’t quite complete—there’s a crucial component missing!”

“Of course!” Situ Zong answered readily. “Disciples,” he turned to the other sect members, “You are free to look for treasures elsewhere in the tomb. Situ Yun and I will accompany the young lords to that place.”

The dragon tomb was enormous and treasures could be found around every corner. The Star Demon Sect had made their foray here to acquire loot and train the younglings; it wouldn’t do for them to follow Situ Zong around the entire time.

Plus, sticking together made them a much bigger target. As a group, they were vulnerable to being annihilated all at once. In fact, that was the reason they’d been detected by the Witherdew dao immortals in the first place.

Strength and luck were both important factors in raiding a tomb.

“Hold on,” Lu Yun called out to the departing juniors. “Take these Principal Nineheavens Talismans with you. They’ll spare you from the threat of the immortal ghosts here.”

Lu Yun passed out a dozen of the talismans around the room. He’d drawn the lot of them himself. They weren’t quite duplicates with the strength of the original, since he wasn’t a dao immortal himself, but the hellfire he added to his own version arguably made them better at repelling ghosts.

The recipients gasped with uniform astonishment. They were Star Demon’s core disciples in their own right, but Situ Yun far outranked them. None of them were remotely important enough to carry something as nice as a Principal Nineheavens Talisman.

Lu Yun’s kind gesture was reciprocated with a flood of goodwill, flowing back into his body.

“Accept what the young lord is offering you!” Situ Zong laughed at his juniors’ hesitation. Lu Yun’s attempt at buying loyalty was proving to be quite effective!

“Thank you very much… young lords!” The dozen disciples knelt to the ground. At this moment, all of them, including Situ Zong, finally wholly accepted the ‘young lord’ before them as their own.