Shen Xiuhan finished reading the last few bamboo slips, shook his head in disappointment, and casually closed the ancient scroll.
This 『Tongbei Stance』 could not be integrated into his current combat system, so keeping it was of little use.
He stood up, walked over to the couch, and fished out a small gray cloth bundle from a hidden compartment under the bed.
Inside were all the treasures he had accumulated during this period.
There was silver.
There were Yuan Stones.
There was the mysterious jade plaque he had swiped from Gao Fu's hiding place, which was said to be the key to a Blessed Land...
As for the spiritual artifact 『Overturning Sea Bead』, Shen Xiuhan had used a few strands of silk to make a thread and hung it around his neck. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought it was just some kind of ornament!
He tossed the old bamboo slips into the bundle, piling them together with the other rare treasures, and grabbed the corners of the cloth to tie a tight knot.
Just as he was about to stuff it back into the hidden compartment, his movements suddenly froze.
“Hmm?”
Shen Xiuhan's brows furrowed tightly as his gaze locked onto the gray cloth bundle in his hand.
The bundle, which should have been completely opaque, was actually emitting a deep blue light!
The light was faint but highly penetrating, breathing like a living thing as it flickered and alternated between bright and dim inside the bundle.
“What's going on...?”
Shen Xiuhan's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly tore open the bundle.
The sight before him made his breath catch in his throat.
At some point, several slips of the old bamboo scroll had come loose, and the golden thread binding them was now wrapped around the mysterious jade plaque like a spiritual serpent.
The moment the two came into contact, it was like dry wood meeting a blazing fire, or a missing puzzle piece finding its other half...
Two completely unrelated objects were now bizarrely interwoven.
The deep blue aura condensed into a near-solid form.
It rippled and surged between the jade plaque and the golden thread like water, the light growing more and more intense.
Three breaths...
Five breaths...
After about ten breaths!
“Swish!”
The light flared up without warning, illuminating the entire bamboo room as bright as day.
Right after.
Thousands of fingernail-sized, pale blue characters erupted from the glowing aura where the jade plaque and bamboo slips intertwined, densely floating in midair and hanging quietly.
A freezing and vast pressure of water vapor pressed heavily into the small bamboo room.
Shen Xiuhan's pupils contracted sharply.
His gaze locked onto the few large characters at the very top. His throat bobbed, and he subconsciously read aloud:
“『Divine General Muxu Upper Radiance Scripture』...”
Beneath this line of large characters, thousands of tiny, glowing, watery words hung down like a waterfall, densely packed together, clearly detailing the cultivation method.
Shen Xiuhan's heart leaped.
In his mind, he recalled the 『Mystic Dark Ice Fiend Sea-Overturning Scripture』 he had glimpsed when inspecting the 'Overturning Sea Bead'.
This identical naming format...
Coupled with the fact that it could only manifest when bound together with that “jade plaque”...
Could it be...
This technique was also a legacy method left behind by the “Diaohai Pavilion”?
Shen Xiuhan's mind raced.
He happened to have a bit of 『intelligence points』 left, so he used them without hesitation:
【Today's Intelligence has been refreshed!】
【Intelligence 1: The 『Tongbei Stance』 you obtained was originally named 『Tongbi Fist』. This technique is a lower-tier introductory technique stripped from the 『Divine General Muxu Upper Radiance Scripture』.】
【Note: Because the thirty-ninth and seventy-first lines in the stance work trajectory of the 『Tongbi Fist』 were artificially tampered with, anyone who cultivates this technique will never have a chance to break through to the Huajin Rank in their entire lifetime!】
‘Hiss...’
Seeing this piece of intelligence, Shen Xiuhan felt a layer of cold sweat break out on his back.
‘The 『Tongbei Stance』... was actually secretly tampered with in its mental cultivation trajectory? Completely blocking any possibility of breaking through to the Huajin Rank?’
Shen Xiuhan's expression changed dramatically!
Such a sinister, lineage-ending plot...
Song Huatang and Madam Han had been tortured to the brink of death by Yan Xiao for this technique;
Yan Xiao and his wife had almost turned the martial arts hall upside down for it...
In the end, they were all risking their lives for a useless technique that could never be fully mastered!
The person who tampered with the technique behind the scenes...
Just who was it?
What kind of conspiracy did they have in mind by laying such a grand trap here in Changyun County?
Shen Xiuhan suppressed the chill in his heart, calmed himself, and continued reading.
【Intelligence 2: The 『Divine General Muxu Upper Radiance Scripture』 is the inheritance technique of the 'Divine General Peak', one of the four main lineages of Diaohai Pavilion! This lineage is as famous as the 'Mystic Dark Peak', the 'Ape God Peak', and the 'Old Man Peak'. Cultivating this scripture to a profound level allows one to master the Divine Ability, 『Muxu Eye』! Once this eye is opened, it can see through the weaknesses of all things in the world and replicate all techniques under heaven!】
Seeing through all things, replicating all techniques!
“This is... a Divine Ability!”
Shen Xiuhan's eyelids twitched wildly!
He had never expected that after the old bamboo slips and the jade plaque came together by a stroke of luck, a Divine Ability that pointed directly to the Great Dao would be hidden inside!
“Just like 『Old Man of the Creek』, it really is a legacy Divine Ability from Diaohai Pavilion!”
Shen Xiuhan exhaled a long breath of turbid air, suppressing the drum-like thumping in his chest.
Looking at the words on the intelligence screen, his brain worked at high speed, and countless clues pieced themselves together into a complete network at this moment.
‘So that's how it is... Diaohai Pavilion has a total of four main lineages. They must correspond to four sect-guarding scriptures that point directly to the Great Dao, and each scripture allows one to master a Divine Ability!’
‘The Divine General Peak corresponds to the 『Divine General Muxu Upper Radiance Scripture』 in front of me, which can cultivate the Divine Ability 『Muxu Eye』.’
‘The Mystic Dark Peak... should correspond to that 『Mystic Dark Ice Fiend Sea-Overturning Scripture』.’
‘The Old Man Peak is bound to be closely related to that 『Old Man of the Creek』! The 『Thousand Lakes Fishing』 I deduced through the fragment is, in essence, a lower-tier technique of 『Old Man of the Creek』!’
‘Only the Ape God Peak is left... which I haven't come into contact with yet.’
‘Four main lineages, four Divine Abilities, and four spiritual artifacts, including the Overturning Sea Bead...’
Shen Xiuhan's gaze darkened slightly.
‘Such a massive, deeply-founded super sect cannot even be heard of in today's martial world, as if it has been completely erased from the history books.’
Thinking of this, Shen Xiuhan finally confirmed something in his heart, and everything became clear.
‘Diaohai Pavilion... has probably long since vanished into the long river of time!’
‘And that so-called Blessed Land is, in all likelihood, the ruins of Diaohai Pavilion!’
Shen Xiuhan lowered his head, looking at the mysterious jade plaque still intertwined with the ancient golden thread, and thought to himself:
‘As for this jade plaque, it must be one of the keys to entering that sect's ruins!’
In his mind, an intelligence report he had refreshed before naturally surfaced:
【Intelligence 3: The mysterious jade plaque you obtained from the hidden compartment in the rafters seems to be a key to opening a 'Blessed Land'... Blessed Land opening countdown: 349 days...】
‘Since I got the jade plaque, more than fifty days have passed. The time left until the Diaohai Blessed Land appears is less than two hundred days, even by the most generous estimate.’
A sense of urgency flashed in Shen Xiuhan's eyes.
‘Once an ancient ruin harboring such great fortune opens, it will definitely attract the attention of major forces. If I want to get a piece of the pie and seize my own opportunities inside... I must increase my strength at all costs!’
With his mind made up, Shen Xiuhan took a deep breath, reached out with both hands to grasp the jade plaque and the golden thread on either side, and gave a gentle tug.
“Buzz...”
In midair, the thousands of tiny characters condensed from water vapor instantly lost their support.
“Splash!”
The writing collapsed, turning directly into countless sparkling, translucent water droplets that came showering down.
“Pitter-patter...”
Inside the bamboo room, it was as if a gentle Jiangnan spring rain, just damp enough to wet one's clothes, had started falling out of thin air.
The water droplets hit the green bamboo floor, splashing into tiny, cool blossoms of water.
Shen Xiuhan let the droplets fall onto his cheeks. A strange look surfaced in his eyes, and he couldn't help but marvel:
“Condensing water from the void, turning scattering words into rain... As expected of a Divine Ability method, it is truly marvelous.”
After carefully hiding the jade plaque and the bamboo slips, his gaze swept toward the last two pieces of intelligence.
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