Another three years passed. It was the tenth year since Jiang Chen had entered closed door cultivation.
Since his ascension to third level divine realm three years ago, he spent his days studying the three items from his past life, in addition to refining the Great Veluriyam Torch.
One day, he recalled something from days gone by – a conversation with his father about the different methods of refining items. He vaguely remembered his father bring up a technique called “feigned mundanity”
“Feigned mundanity… did father refine these three items with this technique?”
The idea flashed through Jiang Chen’s mind, igniting his enthusiasm.
“Perhaps I’ve been on the wrong track over the past three years. I thought father obscured the items with seals, but maybe I was wrong. Items refined through ‘feigned mundanity’ would look just like any everyday objects, simple and unassuming. To manipulate such a treasure requires a special skill. Once I master the method, I’ll be able to recover the items’ divinity.”
The thought filled Jiang Chen with anticipation.
The more he explored the idea, the more likely he found the idea. When he put himself in his father’s shoes, the possibility seemed even more possible.
If his father had foreseen the cataclysm befalling the heavenly planes and planned to send him into the cycle of reincarnation to avoid it, his father would’ve made preparations for the future.
These treasures must be the contingency plane.
In order to keep it a secret, his father wouldn’t have sealed items he often used or well-known treasures in Jiang Chen’s consciousness.
That would be too easily detectable. Only the unassuming could fool others.
Perhaps not even his father’s must trusted subordinates knew about what he’d done. The items hidden in Jiang Chen’s consciousness were everyday objects from his past life. They all appeared very ordinary.
A ruler used to discipline him, a belt, and a mirror.
No one would’ve cared about the items vanishing in the cataclysm. If it’d been well-known treasures of the heavenly planes, their disappearances would elicit suspicion, but these? No one gave a damn.
Jiang Chen was delighted, growing increasingly confident in his theory and decided to pursue the hunch.
He’d exchanged thoughts about the technique of ‘feigned mundanity’ with his father. Therefore, he knew a thing or two about how to activate such items. It was actually more difficult than manipulating a regular treasure.
Tapping back into the divinity of a feigned mundane item also required a complicated process.
Once activated, however, the treasure would be tremendously powerful. More importantly, the seemingly mundane items could often catch enemies off-guard in battle.
Jiang Chen began his experimentation.
To activate a feigned mundane item, he had to first communicate with it with the most serene attitude, slowly and gently, like one would stoking a fire for a stew.
The results were miraculous as the ferule slowly began to react.
Jiang Chen perked up with delight. So he had spent three years studying the items in the wrong way!
His father was such a great master!
No one would’ve picked up the items even if they laid discarded on the streets. Some people might give them a try due to their fine design, but no one would take them seriously once they perceived the lack of spirit energy.
That was what made items refined with the technique so remarkable. Their true nature was well-concealed.
Jiang Chen continued to turn up the intensity of his approach. Gradually, the Measure of Heaven began to demonstrate the tremendous power of a divine treasure.
Grasping it imparted the feeling that the world was within his hands.
He continued to communicate with it through his consciousness.
“The Measure of Heaven is an item with many uses. It can be used for both offense and defense, and more importantly, it’s an item of spatial abilities. With the ferule as a medium, one can compress space and jump through an endlessly large distance. At its peak, the ferule can enable the wielder to jump to another plane. What a heaven-defying, powerful item!”
Never had he thought that the ruler used to discipline his palms in his past life would be an item that could shock the heavenly planes!
“As remote heaven and earth may extent span,
So too, life and death in samara for man.”
He finally understood the text etched into the ferule.
Refined to the fullest, the Measure of Heaven could negate all distance. Such an item was magical even by the standards of the heavenly planes!
Not even divine cultivators could completely negate distance, let alone jump from plane to plane. To think that the ferule would be so remarkable!
Jiang Chen handled the ferule gingerly. He could almost feel the warmth left by his father. An overwhelming excitement filled his chest fit to bursting.
Now, he could be certain that the ferule, belt, and mirror had been treasures left by his father.
His reincarnation into the Divine Abyss Continent must have been part of his father’s plan as well.
“I thought my reincarnation was a gift from fate. Now it seems the connection between everything isn’t fate, but my father.” Jiang Chen sighed.
With the knowledge of what the ferule was capable of, he knew it was his newest prized possession. In some ways, it was even more impressive than the Great Veluriyam Torch.
The belt and the mirror wouldn’t be any lesser, could they now?
Jiang Chen approached the two items in the same way. Indeed, they’d been refined with the same technique.
The belt was called the True Dragon Rope of Water and Fire. It could fire off water and fire attacks and constrain enemies. Its restraining power was especially impressive.
Once activated, no one would be able to escape entrapment.
Jiang Chen was delighted. The rope resembled the Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice in properties, but as a heavenly plane item, it was superior in every way. Its restraining power, especially, made the Lotus pale in comparison.
His attention shifted to the mirror. The previous two items had been so remarkable. The mirror must be something else too.
