“Your Highness, could you part with this ancient scroll and gift it to me? I do not ask for it for nothing. Once I comprehend this fragment, I will compile the insights into a volume and send them to you through my disciples.”
Lu Changsheng took an interest in the Princess’s treasured collection and thus sought to acquire the ancient scroll, to see if granting it to his disciple would allow the system to restore a complete Cultivation Technique.
“…”
The Princess wore a peculiar expression.
This fragmented scroll contained but a hundred or so characters. Could Lu Changsheng really decipher the missing content after taking it?
It looked awfully like getting something for nothing.
However, to secure Lu Changsheng’s friendship, the Princess gritted her teeth and said, “Alright, consider this item a gift to Daoist Lu.”
The Princess, indeed of royal blood, understood that sometimes relationships were more valuable than treasures.
Even if she kept the ancient scroll, she was unable to decipher it herself; better to give it away in exchange for a relationship.
This was a kind of investment.
As with any investment, it carried both risk and reward.
If Lu Changsheng acquired the treasure but later reneged on their friendship, she had no recourse.
Lu Changsheng made no fuss and accepted the ancient scroll.
He knew it was impossible to deduce its secrets, but by awarding it to his disciple, he hoped the system might return a complete ancient Cultivation Technique.
“Where did you obtain this fragment?”
“I stumbled upon it in an uninhabited cave while venturing into the ‘Emperor’s Tomb’, a forbidden area in the central part of the Immortal Realm.”
“Emperor’s Tomb, huh…”
Lu Changsheng had heard of this forbidden land in the Immortal Realm.
In ancient times, a group of Human Race Great Experts, with their astounding talents, created a plethora of cultivation techniques, birthing an ever-increasing number of powerful beings, ultimately leading to the prosperity of the Human Race.
These earliest Great Experts of the Human Race were addressed by the ancient cultivators as Great Emperors, each with their respective titles.
The Qing Emperor was one such ancient Human Emperor who, alongside other Emperors, led the Human Race in a great war against the Demon Race.
These Human Emperors besieged the Ancient Demon Gods, and most of them perished alongside these foes, with very few survivors left.
The Emperor’s Tomb was the burial site of the Ancient Qing Emperor after his fall, filled with various deadly ancient formations he had set up. It was considered among one of the Immortal Realm’s forbidden areas, more treacherous than the Valley of Doom, Ruins of the Ancient Heavenly Court, Sword Tomb, and other dangerous places.
Ordinary cultivators only dared to explore the periphery of the Emperor’s Tomb, fearful of stepping inside.
It is said that even Great Powers who possessed immortality would perish upon activating the Ancient Peculiar Formations laid by the Qing Emperor.
The Cultivation Level of the Qing Emperor, was one that commandeered the essence of heaven and earth.
The Ancient Peculiar Formations he set up held enough destructive power to obliterate the heavens and the earth.
Besides the fear of death, later generations of Great Powers from the Human Race generally chose not to intrude upon the Qing Emperor’s Mausoleum, avoid offending their ancestors.
If it were not for the Qing Emperor and other ancient Human Emperors leading the Human Race out of the darkest of times, without them, human cultivators would still be mere prey for the Demon Race.
The Princess happened upon this fragmented bamboo scroll during her trials on the outskirts of the Qing Emperor’s Mausoleum.
Made from the almost eternally enduring Xiangshui Bamboo, buried deep within the cave, it would have been quite difficult to discover without keen attention.
Lu Changsheng himself had practiced one of the Ancient Qing Emperor’s Body Tempering Skills—the “Qing Emperor Eternal Life Art.”
The “Qing Emperor Eternal Life Art,” being of Emperor Tier high-grade, was likely a Body Tempering Skill created by the Qing Emperor during his early, weaker days.
To know that during Ancient Times, when the Human Race hardly had any cultivation methods and were still groping in the dark, the Qing Emperor was able to create an Emperor Tier high-grade Body Tempering Skill from scratch, which showcases his heaven-defying innate talent.
The Qing Emperor’s Mausoleum is located in the central region of the Immortal Realm, within the territory of the Immortal Dynasty.
Perhaps the royal house of the Immortal Dynasty had some knowledge of this forbidden area, and the fragmented scroll obtained from the outer caves of the Qing Emperor’s Mausoleum by the Princess could very well have been an item belonging to the Qing Emperor.
“Is the Qing Emperor’s corpse truly within this Qing Emperor’s Mausoleum?”
“I do not know,” replied the Princess, shaking her head. “I suspect that this fragment is a Cultivation Technique created by the Qing Emperor because our Immortal Dynasty once possessed writings from the Qing Emperor that are nearly identical to the script on this scroll. Moreover, the Qing Emperor always favored leaving his calligraphy on near-eternal materials like Xiangshui Bamboo. Alas, I am of limited talent, and given the severe damage to the scroll, I have been unable to comprehend the technique recorded within.”
One important reason why she valued this treasure so much was because she knew it was a Cultivation Technique from the Ancient Qing Emperor.
If it weren’t for the scroll being fragmented, it might have become a national treasure of the Immortal Dynasty and would not have been casually shown to Lu Changsheng, let alone given to him.
“The Ancient Qing Emperor created an immense number of Cultivation Techniques, truly unparalleled in both the past and future. However, the techniques he created varied with the period. During his weaker days, the Qing Emperor created techniques across all tiers, including Immortal, Saint, and Emperor Levels, as well as Divine Level techniques and even more formidable ones after his ascension. Furthermore, it is said that to forge more powerhouses for the Human Race, the Qing Emperor also crafted numerous low and mid-grade techniques for mortals. Regarding this fragment, it’s unclear at which point in time and for what purpose the Qing Emperor developed this technique. If it is anything below Divine Level, it may not be very useful to us.”
Lu Changsheng knew that this Princess was a formidable practicer at the Divine King Realm.
If the scroll recorded a technique of the same caliber as the “Qing Emperor Eternal Life Art,” it would indeed be of little use to the Princess.
But if this was a technique created at the peak of the Qing Emperor’s power, its value would be immeasurable.
The Princess nodded in agreement with Lu Changsheng’s opinion: “Now that I have given it to you, it is your treasure. Whether you can garner any insight from it depends on your own destiny and opportunity, Daoist Lu.”