Jiang Chen's assessment of the Zhuque Divine Bird was, in fact, quite accurate.
After the Demon Lord of the Heavenly Demon had possessed a new body, he would need a considerable amount of time to refine it. Add to that the time needed for fusion and for recovering his strength—even if it didn't require a full three hundred years, one or two centuries at minimum was a certainty.
As long as he had those one or two centuries, Jiang Chen wasn't worried about the Demon Lord running wild!
At the end of the day, what Jiang Chen truly feared wasn't the Demon race—it was not having enough time to grow. Given sufficient time, he was confident that even if all ten clans of the Demon race appeared at once, he could handle them all.
This trip to Sunken Fragrance Valley had originally been a reconnaissance mission—Jiang Chen had hoped to uncover its secrets and perhaps stumble upon some fortuitous opportunity. But the process had been a brutal lesson in life's dizzying highs and lows, far more thrilling than he could have imagined.
"Senior, people say the Sacred One Sect possessed three great sect-protecting treasures. The True Spirit Beam counts as the third, and the ancient divine bow counts as the second. So where, exactly, is the first sect-protecting treasure?"
Jiang Chen still hadn't let go of his fascination with those treasures.
If he had to name the thing he lacked most right now, it wasn't martial arts manuals or pills—it was equipment and resources.
Bound by the current limitations of the human domain, acquiring heaven-defying equipment and resources was extraordinarily difficult. Opportunities of that caliber were rare to come by.
This expedition to Sunken Fragrance Valley had been harrowing, but if it bore fruit, the journey would have been well worth it.
As for the first sect-protecting treasure, even the Zhuque Divine Bird was at a loss. Though it had a close relationship with the Sacred One Sect, it knew very little about the three great sect-protecting treasures. As for the one ranked first—what it actually was—the bird had never heard of it.
Failing to learn the identity of the top-ranked treasure brought a twinge of regret, but Jiang Chen didn't intend to linger. He understood that if this treasure was truly fated to be his, it would reveal itself in due time. Sitting around and waiting served no purpose.
"Big Stone, you eight brothers—have you thought it through? Are you certain you want to follow me from now on?" Since Jiang Chen was preparing to leave, he needed to settle things with the eight brothers first.
Though the eight brothers were formidable in strength, they had essentially been in their infancy during the primordial age. Their minds weren't as mature as a human's, and they possessed an instinctive fear of the unknown.
Hearing Jiang Chen's question, Big Stone grew somewhat nervous: "Benefactor, you don't want to take us in?"
Jiang Chen laughed. "Of course not. You eight are simple of character and powerful in strength—I hold you in high regard."
"Then we'll follow you, Benefactor."
"Benefactor, please, you have to take us in. Otherwise we truly don't know where to go."
The eight brothers of the Giant Stone Clan spoke with unmistakable anxiety.
The scene left the Zhuque Divine Bird entirely speechless. The eight brothers of the Giant Stone Clan—beings of enormous power—were begging a young man far weaker than themselves to take them in, like a cluster of frightened children.
Even the Zhuque Divine Bird had to admit that this human, and especially this Jiang Chen, possessed truly extraordinary fortune.
Suddenly, the Zhuque Divine Bird's eyes brightened. "Wait—Jiang Chen, what if the first sect-protecting treasure of the ancient Sacred One Sect is none other than Big Stone and his seven brothers?"
The bird's words gave Jiang Chen a moment of surprise.
Then he broke into a grin: "Of course! Why didn't I think of that angle?"
The eight brothers of the Giant Stone Clan stood guard at the entrance of the Sacred One Sect's palace, majestic and awe-inspiring, appearing all the world like stone sculptures meant to safeguard the sect's fortune.
Yet those sculptures possessed life.
And Jiang Chen had, by a miraculous twist of fate, encountered these sculptures and collected the divine souls of all eight brothers.
Could this not be the will of heaven?
Moreover, these eight brothers had been taken in by the Sacred One Sect's founding patriarch during the primordial age and installed here at the sect's sacred grounds.
A flash of insight struck Jiang Chen, and he sighed: "Senior, your suggestion has reminded me. Big Stone and his seven brothers—they must be the Sacred One Sect's first sect-protecting treasure! No gain could possibly surpass acquiring eight such capable assistants. Wouldn't you agree, Senior?"
"I no longer have the words to describe the sheer magnitude of your fortune. I can only say this, in four words: treasure it well!"
The Zhuque Divine Bird had naturally encountered many people in the primordial age who were said to possess extraordinary fortune.
But it had truly never seen anyone whose fortune could compare with this young human prodigy. Time and time again, the young man had given it far too many pleasant surprises.
And this was without the Zhuque Divine Bird even knowing the full scope of Jiang Chen's achievements in the outside world. Had it known, it would likely have been even more astonished.
Jiang Chen looked at the towering frames of the eight brothers and still wasn't fully satisfied.
The brothers stood at roughly ten times the height of an ordinary person. Goliaths like these walking out of the Sunken Fragrance Valley's secret realm and into the human world would inevitably draw stares and frighten countless people. Worse, wherever they went, they could easily become targets for those with ulterior motives.
After a moment's thought, Jiang Chen spoke: "Big Stone, your Giant Stone Clan's towering stature is a precious gift bestowed upon you by the heavens. However, in the human world, your size draws far too much attention—that won't do. I possess a Divine Ability called Bone-Shrink and Form-Condense that can reduce your frames to roughly that of normal humans. When you need to fight, you can revert to your true size at any time. Would you be willing to learn it?"
"Yes, yes!" Big Stone agreed eagerly.
The Giant Stone Clan had always been troubled by this very problem. Their enormous frames made them easy targets during the primordial age—whether deliberately or not, others shunned them for it.
When the Giant Stone Clan faced near-extinction in that ancient era, this factor had likely played no small part.
Now, hearing that Jiang Chen possessed such a Divine Ability, they were naturally eager to learn it. The Giant Stone Clan had no desire to remain perpetual oddities in the eyes of others.