The Martial Palace was in fact a forbidden zone at the Martial Hall Palace. There, the inheritance intent of King Realm cultivators, also known as Skysoar Realm cultivators, could be found. Generally, only those at the peak Transformation Realm were allowed to enter and comprehend the inheritance intent. Yang Gaochuan was planning to make an exception for Xiang Shaoyun. From this, it was clear how highly he looked upon Xiang Shaoyun.
The so-called inheritance intent was the remnant of a King Realm cultivator's comprehension on the path of cultivation left behind upon death. In the Martial Palace, they were preserved and protected by magical formations so the people of the later generations could learn from them.
Different inheritance intent would bring about different results. Some would help a cultivator break through into a new realm, some would allow a cultivator to comprehend a powerful battle technique, some would allow a cultivator to comprehend the presence of a king, and so on.
Each person had a different comprehension skill, thus, the effect of an inheritance intent would also be different for everyone. Most of the time, only a very small number of people could actually fully comprehend the entirety of an inheritance intent.
After all, the intent was a remnant of the dead, and it no longer had a thought of its own. Actually capturing and comprehending it was not something a normal person could do. If it wasn't for Xiang Shaoyun’s remarkable talent, Yang Gaochuan wouldn't even consider letting him enter.
It was worth noting that each time the Martial Palace was opened, the inheritance intents within would become weaker. Thus, opening it for an unsuitable person was a very unfavorable thing to do.
Only if the corpses of the King Realm cultivators that had passed while meditating in a lotus position were in there would the inheritance intents be replenished naturally upon exhaustion.
Yang Gaochuan brought Xiang Shaoyun to the depths of the Martial Hall Palace. There, a crude stone palace could be seen on a mountain, and before the stone palace were two demonic beasts at the Great Demon rank, both standing guard before the palace.
When Yang Gaochuan and Xiang Shaoyun arrived, the two Great Demons opened their eyes. At that instant, a vicious aura appeared slightly before it vanished. Yang Gaochuan stole a glance at Xiang Shaoyun and found that Xiang Shaoyun was still perfectly calm, seemingly completely unaffected by the two guardian beasts.
This calmness alone was something very few disciple could compare with. Yang Gaochuan mused inwardly, This kid has a mysterious background. Perhaps he really is a young master from a declining large clan?
Rumble. Rumble.
The entrance of the stone palace opened by itself, leaking out a sort of profound sensation, carrying with it an incorporeal pressure that gave them a heavy feeling.
"Go in yourself. What you can gain from here will rely only on yourself," said Yang Gaochuan as he stopped at the entrance.
Xiang Shaoyun nodded at Yang Gaochuan before striding forward with his head held high. The inside of the stone palace looked gloomy. Faint whistling sounds were ringing in the air, as if there were spirits wailing and roaring here, giving off an extremely creepy feeling.
With a bright heart, one would fear no evil spirits! Xiang Shaoyun chanted inwardly to steady his mind before stepping into the main hall of the stone palace. There, he saw seven large coffins, and on each coffin, the name and the history of a King Realm cultivator were carved.
"Zhang Gongyue, first palace master of the Martial Hall Palace, fifth-stage Skysoar Realm, lived to the age of 374 years old."
"Luo He, first generation's first elder, third-stage Skysoar Realm, lived to the age of 259 years old."
"Feng Yusheng, second generation's palace master, fourth-stage Skysoar Realm, lived to the age of 350 years old."
...
Xiang Shaoyun browsed through all the histories and found that these seven Kings were mostly the predecessors of the Martial Hall Palace. What caught his attention the most was one particular coffin with "Unnamed" carved on it, and it was written that this unnamed person had reached peak Skysoar Realm.
The unnamed coffin was placed at the end of the hall, yet the strength of the unnamed person was the highest of them all. The reason for that arrangement was because this unnamed person wasn't actually a member of the Martial Hall Palace. For some unknown reason, his coffin was placed here after his death.
"Peak Skysoar Realm, well, this is decently strong, I suppose," Xiang Shaoyun muttered to himself. He wandered back and forth in the hall, trying to sense the inheritance intent of the Kings.
Xiang Shaoyun did not intend to bite off more than he could chew. Thus, he stopped in front of the coffin of the weakest King in the room. This was the coffin of a first-stage Skysoar Realm, and he was not as long lived as the others, as he only lived to about 100 years old. For a King, dying at that age was considered dying at a young age.
Xiang Shaoyun stood before the coffin. He bowed to it as a sign of respect, and he sat down in a lotus position on the praying mat before the coffin. He tossed all distracting thoughts out of his mind and shut his eyes. He then sensed the hazy intent on the coffin with his heart.
Nobody knew better than Xiang Shaoyun that the so-called King's intent was in fact an extremely weak strain of consciousness a King left behind upon death. Of course, inheritance intent left behind by experts above the King Realm would be much clearer and thicker.
Generally, it wouldn't be easy for a low-level cultivator to catch on to this weak strain of intent. If the cultivator did not know some special tricks for it, establishing a connection with the strain of intent was basically impossible.
Xiang Shaoyun was a well-read person who had studied many ancient texts. This could be considered one of the gains he had acquired during the 10 years he spent not cultivating. Because of that, he understood what he needed to do in order to establish a connection with the inheritance intent.
The lump of consciousness known as inheritance intent was in fact a weak collection of energy that had not fully dissipated upon the death of a cultivator, and this collection of energy would naturally disperse as time went on. Only extremely powerful intents would be able to last forever.
As for the intents here, even with the help of the Martial Hall Palace's formation, it was still very hard to preserve them for a long time. Xiang Shaoyun released a strain of his consciousness as he fully activated his gift of visualization. As of this moment, his mind was akin to a hazy empty space, and he needed to establish a connection between this hazy empty space and the space before the coffin.
To comprehend an inheritance intent, which was a form of consciousness, one had to use one's own consciousness to sense and understand before ultimately combining the two together. Shortly after, a strain of indistinct consciousness entered the hazy empty space in Xiang Shaoyun's mind.
"Ahhhh!"
Numerous wails containing endless sorrow echoed repeatedly in his mind, a sorrow that would cause a person to feel grief just from listening to the wails. This grief was comparable to the grief one felt when left by one's beloved. That sharp pain in one's heart, as if one's heart had been shattered, was something extremely hard to bear.
Xiang Shaoyun was infected by the sorrow—or perhaps he had once experienced the same—as he resonated with the strain of consciousness. Vaguely, he saw a sweet and happy couple. They cultivated together, went through difficulties together, grew together, and left their marks in numerous dangerous situations.
But ultimately, his beloved stabbed the cultivator in his back. The reason? His beloved was merely a chess piece sent to his side by his enemy. The cultivator then personally killed his beloved and transformed his grief into strength and directly broke through to the King Realm. He proceeded to kill all his enemies, and after doing so, he himself died from excessive sadness.
The entire scene quickly flitted across Xiang Shaoyun's mind. It moved so fast an ordinary person wouldn't even be able to notice it. But Xiang Shaoyun used his gift of visualization to capture the entire scene, enlarging it to finally understand the story being told by the strain of consciousness.
Even in his death, the King Realm cultivator still couldn't forget the betrayal of his beloved. He was certain his beloved had sincerely loved him, and if so, why had she decided to stab him in the back?
He eventually found out that his beloved had been forced, as she had been threatened with the lives of her family members. And from that realization, he created a king-grade sword technique named the Sword of Sorrow.