Chapter 95: The Second Restoration of the Divine Seal of the Heavenly Emperor!-From Servant to Saint: The Path to Enlightenment(The mountains rise high beneath a small, distant moon.)

After taking his leave, Shen Yan quickly located his shop according to the map. The location was far from desirable—otherwise, it would not have remained vacant—but for Shen Yan, it was more than sufficient. He had never expected to secure a prime spot, so disappointment did not trouble him.

He pressed the jade talisman against the shop’s front door. In the next instant, a flash of spiritual light swept by and the door swung open automatically.

The shop’s interior was simple, divided into a front hall and a back room. The front hall held a counter and two shelves; the back room was empty, making it clear that he would need to furnish everything himself.

“These three great families truly have everything arranged perfectly—every necessity must be purchased from them, with spirit stones at that,” Shen Yan muttered.

Securing the shop’s formation, Shen Yan made his way again to the Treasure Pavilion.

“You’ve already rented a residence so quickly, Senior?” Qian Muqing exclaimed in surprise when he saw Shen Yan return to the Treasure Pavilion.

“It’s all thanks to your directions,” Shen Yan replied with a cupped fist and a smile. “I’d like to purchase some supplies for a meditation chamber, as well as some spiritual materials. I hope you can advise me.”

“You flatter me, Senior. For meditation chambers, our Treasure Pavilion has complete sets of implements readily available. As for cultivation materials, you’ll need to choose them yourself. Here is a list of our spiritual materials—please take a look.”

With that, he handed Shen Yan a yellow jade slip.

Shen Yan took it and began to peruse the contents. An endless list of cultivation materials appeared before his eyes. After a long moment of consideration, Shen Yan made his selections and returned the jade slip to Qian Muqing.

“Fifty pieces of hundred-year-old qilin turtle shell, ten thousand catties of triple-layered earth, ten thousand catties of crimson dragon sand, eight thousand catties of fifty-year sandalwood ash, twenty spirit eye cores, five spirit spring hearts...”

Reading Shen Yan’s selection, even someone as experienced as Qian Muqing could not help but feel a shiver of awe.

“Senior, might you be a refiner?” Qian Muqing asked, his voice trembling.

Shen Yan shook his head and smiled. “You jest. I need such a quantity of spiritual materials only as a pastime when I’m not cultivating. Though the amounts seem great, they are all just basic materials. Please prepare them for me.”

Qian Muqing paused in silence, then came to his senses and replied, somewhat taken aback, “You make sport of me, Senior. But all you require are first-tier five-element materials. Our Treasure Pavilion does indeed have sufficient stock. However, you’ll need to wait a little while, as I must report such a large transaction.”

He smiled apologetically. “You truly have refined tastes, Senior. Such a bulk of first-tier materials is enough to keep our Treasure Pavilion busy. As for the implements for your meditation chamber, allow me to gift them to you. For the five-element materials, let’s set the price at eighty thousand spirit stones.”

Shen Yan nodded with a smile. “You’re a forthright man, my friend. No wonder you’ve made the Treasure Pavilion so successful. I’ll accept your offer with thanks.”

“Please wait a moment, Senior.” This time, Qian Muqing did not send a subordinate but went personally.

After more than an hour, he returned with a storage pouch in his hands, which he offered to Shen Yan. “Everything you requested is here. Please check and count at your leisure.”

Shen Yan found the contents exactly as ordered. After exchanging a few more polite words with Qian Muqing, he stowed away the materials and left the Treasure Pavilion.

Having procured everything he needed, Shen Yan took out a formation disk, sealed his shop completely, and began arranging the rooms required by a cultivator—meditation chamber, alchemy room, and refining room—in the backyard.

Once all was in order, Shen Yan began pulling spirit stones from his storage pouch, crushing them one by one and letting their spiritual energy diffuse into the air.

He took a deep breath, connected with the Celestial Emperor’s Divine Seal at his chest, and began absorbing the innate purple qi from the world’s spiritual energy. After a long time, when the innate purple qi within the Divine Seal reached ten units, Shen Yan’s heart leaped.

This time, he did not stop absorbing. Instead, he continued crushing spirit stones, testing if he could gather more innate purple qi.

A flash of delight crossed Shen Yan’s face—the innate purple qi within the Celestial Emperor’s Divine Seal was not yet saturated!

When he was still in the Qi Refining stage, the Divine Seal could store at most ten units of innate purple qi. Shen Yan had always suspected that this was not the Seal’s true limit, but rather a restriction imposed by his own cultivation.

Now, having broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage, his test confirmed his theory—the capacity of the Celestial Emperor’s Divine Seal had indeed increased.

Yet as the Seal absorbed more and more innate purple qi, Shen Yan noticed something was amiss.

For all the Seal’s absorption, he could not sense any actual increase in the amount of innate purple qi within.

“Could it be... just as when I took that pill long ago, the Celestial Emperor’s Divine Seal is repairing itself again?”

The more Shen Yan pondered, the more convinced he became. When the Divine Seal had first revealed its wonders, he had seen, in a vision, the Seal breaking through endless time and space to descend upon Jinzhou Bay, ultimately sinking into the sea. By then, the Seal was already in ruins. After Shen Yan obtained it, it absorbed innate purple qi for a full decade before awakening the functions of the Qi Refining stage, granting him command over the laws of water.

Now, at Foundation Establishment, it seemed the Divine Seal would repair another portion of its abilities.

With this thought, Shen Yan’s anticipation grew. He spared no expense, breaking open spirit stones from his pouch one after another, replenishing the innate purple qi within the Divine Seal.

Only on the second day, when fatigue finally crept over him, did the innate purple qi in the Divine Seal reach its new peak.

Careful inspection revealed that the Seal’s capacity had risen from ten units to fifty.

“No easy feat,” Shen Yan sighed, then began experimenting with the Divine Seal’s new functions.

Naturally, he started with the five elemental laws, since the first gift the Divine Seal had given him was control over the law of water.

With mastery over water, he had been able to traverse Jinzhou Bay freely, gathering vast quantities of innate spiritual treasures and rising swiftly in power.

Now, having reached Foundation Establishment, he was eager to see what new abilities the Divine Seal might hold.

In the next moment, a profound and mysterious message surged from the Divine Seal into his mind. Just as when he had been an ordinary man, this cryptic information informed him of the functions now available at the Foundation Establishment stage.

The Celestial Emperor’s Divine Seal’s ability to govern the law of water stemmed from a special domain known as a Blessed Land. To construct such a domain required at least the Golden Core stage of cultivation. However, a cultivator could begin building their domain at the Foundation Establishment stage, in preparation for completing the Blessed Land when they reached Golden Core.