Chapter 295
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There were six jade slips laid out atop the stone table, quietly and unremarkably resting there. If Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense hadn’t been blocked by the restriction, preventing him from seeing them clearly, he would have truly thought these slips were no different from the one he had found in the cave last time—without any barriers at all. Zhang Xiaohua’s pupils narrowed slightly.
“The last jade slip contained the art of alchemy. Though it was only the basics, I spent nearly a year just to get a grasp of the fundamentals. There’s still a vast ocean of knowledge within that I haven’t even touched, and now, there are suddenly six of them here. Just what kind of things could be recorded inside?”
“That cave had only a coin pouch and a jade slip, likely left behind casually by some senior of the Immortal Dao. But this cave has the corpse of a senior cultivator—these jade slips must be all he had left behind. Hehe, I’ve struck it rich, truly rich! Surely they’re filled with Immortal Dao knowledge—cultivation techniques? Pill recipes? Array formations?”
Zhang Xiaohua began guessing at everything he’d ever heard about the Immortal Dao, and drool was practically dripping from the corner of his mouth.
“But, why isn’t there a money pouch here? Strange, just a few jade slips? If there were a money pouch, wouldn’t that be another stroke of good fortune? Judging by the luminous pearl in this senior’s cave, he must have been immensely wealthy. Tsk tsk… where did the money pouch go?”
Blinded by greed, Zhang Xiaohua actually didn’t inspect the jade slips right away. Instead, he looked around, then used his divine sense to scan the cave thoroughly. Yet he saw nothing resembling a “pouch”. What he did detect, however, was a faint and obscure ripple of Yuan Qi deeper within the cave. The moment his divine sense tried to probe into it, it was instantly bounced back.
“Oh? Must be another restriction. This old senior really enjoyed playing hide and seek. The whole cave is riddled with restrictions. Interesting. Still, at least that luminous pearl wasn’t sealed by one.”
Zhang Xiaohua rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his gaze falling once again upon the jade slips on the stone table. Then he reached out his hand—and just as expected, the moment his hand reached the invisible barrier, it could go no further. His hand pressed against the empty air in a bizarre manner. He felt it with his palm—hmm, it was quite springy. He pinched it between two fingers, only to be bounced back. The texture wasn’t bad. Though it felt just like a thin membrane to his divine sense, Zhang Xiaohua had no intention of using brute force again. He wasn’t about to take on the restriction with bare hands—didn’t he already have a treasure for breaking restrictions hidden in his robes? Why bother using strength when he could overcome it with finesse?
As he thought, Zhang Xiaohua drew the small sword from his robes with his left hand, a faint smile playing at the corners of his lips.
“Let’s subdue it with the sword!”
While speaking, he thrust the small sword toward the orange-hued restriction. However, because he was standing close, the strike came from above, and he didn’t use his usual nameless sword technique.
As a result, when the small sword touched the restriction, a faint glow flickered from the transparent barrier—just like the one he’d encountered at the mouth of the cave earlier. It shimmered briefly, then bounced the small sword back.
Zhang Xiaohua was startled. “W-what’s going on? Could it be that the method I used earlier to break the restriction doesn’t work here?”
“Am I just going to sit here and watch a table full of delicacies, unable to take a single bite?”
“What a waste.”
“But earlier, it was the small sword that pierced the restriction. It worked before, didn’t it? Why is it useless here?”
Lowering his head in regret, Zhang Xiaohua thought for a moment, then suddenly smacked his forehead.
“Aiya! How could I forget? The last two times I used the sword technique, and a warm current flowed from my left arm into the sword. This time, there wasn’t one—could that be the reason?”
Thinking this through, Zhang Xiaohua switched the sword to his right hand and gave it another try—but sure enough, he was once again repelled.
“It must be that. So the one that can break the restriction isn’t the sword itself, but the warm current!”
He once again gripped the sword in his left hand and casually performed a move from the nameless sword art, thrusting at the invisible barrier. This time, the warm current surged into the small sword, and as the tip pierced the restriction, the barrier began to flicker rapidly. Then, with a faint “pop,” like a bubble bursting, the restriction shattered. Immediately, a rush of dense fire-aligned Yuan Qi surged into his divine sense before dissipating into the air.
Sensing that intense wave of elemental energy, Zhang Xiaohua felt not alarmed, but delighted. He had been worried that, just like with the jade slip containing the Earth Burrowing Technique, this one might have suffered from the passage of time—its qi dissipated, its contents faded. But this restriction was still filled with so much Yuan Qi—it must have preserved the jade slip well. Unconsciously, he once again felt a surge of respect for this unknown senior of the Immortal Dao.
The restriction on the stone table vanished completely after being broken—it didn’t recover like the one at the cave entrance. Zhang Xiaohua relaxed as he looked at the row of six smooth, delicate jade slips, and reached out excitedly!
The first one on the left was plump and round. Zhang Xiaohua didn’t take a liking to it, so he passed it over and picked a pink one that looked more slender and elegant. As he reached out and grabbed it, his fingers stroked the slick, glossy surface, and his divine sense immediately penetrated without hesitation.
But then, the pink jade slip flashed with a ring of light, sending out ripples like those on water, and Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense was instantly bounced back.
“A restriction?”
Zhang Xiaohua frowned to himself and casually set the slip—well, not back on the stone table, but into his robe. Since it was already in his hand, how could he put it back?
Then he picked up a small, exquisite-looking jade slip—again, his divine sense was bounced back by a restriction, and again, it went into his robe.
Next, he chose one that looked tall and elegant—same result, same place: into his robe.
Zhang Xiaohua started to feel frustrated. “What is this? Why do all of them have restrictions? Are you messing with me? The restrictions on the cave entrance and stone table—I could break those with the small sword. But what about these jade slips? The moment divine sense enters, it gets repelled. I can’t just stab them with the sword, right? Not only would I never do something so crude as to ruin jade, even if I did, there’s no guarantee they wouldn’t be damaged!”
He had a vague sense of understanding, but by now, his stubbornness had kicked in. Even a clay figure has some temper—why should he always follow others’ rules? He refused to pick up that fat, short, not-so-pleasant-looking jade slip!
But of the remaining three, whether they were smooth, bumpy, or brightly colored, all had restrictions. Zhang Xiaohua could only admire them with his eyes—there was no way to peer deeper into them.
Once he had tucked them all into his robes, he let out a sly chuckle.
“Doesn’t matter if they’ve got restrictions—if you won’t let me see them, I’ll just keep them to myself! Then no one else can see them either. If I’m the first to look, fine. As for whether anyone else gets to see later, that’ll depend on my mood! Hahaha!”
Only one jade slip remained on the stone table—the plump, round one.
Zhang Xiaohua had seen jade slips before, but most of them were dull and dim, on the verge of losing their stored Yuan Qi. Only that one found in the snowy cave could be considered intact. But even then, it looked like just an ordinary rock—he had nearly tossed it away.
And yet now, with so many jade slips in hand, each one had a different form. Though all were made of white jade, some actually had other colors streaked inside. Such differences naturally stirred likes and dislikes in the heart. This first one on the left-hand side, though, was very ordinary—its shape unimpressive, and even the thickness of the jade slip was twice that of the others. But the moment Zhang Xiaohua picked it up, he instantly understood: all the secrets, all the questions—would be answered in this unassuming piece of jade.
You can’t judge a person by appearance, nor measure the ocean with a ladle—and the same holds true for jade slips!
Zhang Xiaohua did not immediately inspect the jade slip. Instead, he carefully surveyed the cave once more, especially the areas where there had just been a surge of elemental energy. Only after confirming that nothing had been overlooked did he sit cross-legged on the stone bed and cautiously extend his divine sense to examine it.
Sure enough, this time his divine sense wasn’t rejected. It slipped into the jade slip with ease, and in that instant, countless ancient characters surged forward, flooding Zhang Xiaohua’s mind.
Frowning slightly, he closed his eyes and began to study them patiently.
The entire cave sank into complete silence, broken only by the faint, timeless glow of the luminous pearl that knew neither day nor night.
It was unknown how much time passed. Sitting cross-legged, Zhang Xiaohua finally let out a long sigh, then slowly opened his eyes and looked at the jade slip in his hand with a complex expression.
“True Person Fire Dragon(Huo Long)! So he was a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Then, Foundation Establishment must be the realm after Qi Refining? That must be it. Didn’t the jade slip say it? He cultivated Qi for over sixty years before barely managing to build his foundation and earned the title of ‘True Person.’ He was one of the rare experts of the Qiongxiao Continent. But where is this Qiongxiao Continent? Could it be where I’m living now? That makes sense—this was what it was called ten thousand years ago. It’s likely changed by now. I only know about the Yu Capital and Pingyang City. The name of the continent itself… my memory’s fuzzy. I think it was recorded in Travel Notes—was it the Liewu Continent? Or was it called the Divine Zhou Continent?”
“Hehe, over sixty years just to refine Qi? This True Person Fire Dragon’s aptitude wasn’t all that great either. Eighteen levels of Qi Refining—if it’s one level every three years, that’s forty-eight years; four years per level would be seventy-two. And yet I, in just two short years, have already broken through five levels. Ai… being too smart really isn’t a good thing. It makes the whole world jealous.”
Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help it—his tail was practically sticking up with pride.
“Oh? Heaven and Earth changed, Yuan Qi sharply declined, the Dao of Immortality fell into ruin… The immortals searched for a way to survive, joining hands to build a Gate to the Heavens, but failed. In the end, they each sought their own path. True Person Fire Dragon was a solitary cultivator with no sect. He hadn’t found a suitable heir either, and when the extinction of the Immortal Dao came, he was still alone. So, he left all his possessions in a cave dwelling in the Feilu Mountain Range, set down a restriction upon it, and then drifted off toward the sea, seeking a way to transcend.”
“Ai, Old Huo, Old Huo, why’d you leave it in the Feilu Mountain Range, huh? Ever heard of carrying your valuables with you? You just dropped it there and left—how’s anyone supposed to find the Feilu Mountains? And that restriction of yours, no one could even get through it. Wasn’t that all just a waste? Squandering heaven’s treasures, honestly… You really didn’t carry forward the fine virtues of our frugal and industrious ancestors!”
Alas, what Zhang Xiaohua failed to consider was that a cave full of luminous pearls really didn’t scream “frugal” or “simplicity” at all.
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