Only I am Venerable

Chapter 283: Chapter 281: Those Annihilated Histories

From Qin Li’s perspective, all of this was quite easy to understand. It was just like the Xia Dynasty from his previous life, whose very existence had been debated for countless years. Time was the most ruthless and terrifying weapon in this world. No matter how formidable a Great Power was, they would eventually be mercilessly erased by time until, gradually, no one even knew they had ever existed.

That was why a particular lament from Hu Yanbo echoed in Qin Li’s mind: no matter how glorious you once were, you will eventually be forgotten by all.

The decline of the Ancient Era was, in fact, still related to the Outer Celestial Demons. However, this time it involved their descendants.

The once incomparably tyrannical Outer Celestial Demons had descendants who were still powerful, but because their bloodline was no longer pure, they were much weaker than their ancestors.

But deep in their bones, their hatred for the native powerhouses of the Celestial Essence Continent had been passed down to this day.

And the place where the descendants of the Outer Celestial Demons were most concentrated was... the Land of the Far West!

Many of the Outer Celestial Demon descendants with purer bloodlines had received inherited memories from their ancestors. Therefore, at the peak of the Ancient Era’s civilization, these Purple-eyed People once again launched a world-shaking war!

This war directly led to the deaths of nearly all the Purple-eyed People and... the decline of the Ancient Era!

However, at that time, many families and Sects of the Ancient Era had already found numerous Mysterious Lands through various means, where they could live and prosper.

Profound Island, a famous Mysterious Land, was one such place. This was also why the Seven Great Superpowers on Profound Island knew almost nothing about that great war of the Ancient Era. Before the war had even begun, their ancestors had already entered Profound Island and established themselves there.

Although they might hear whispers of it when they occasionally left Profound Island, the island was truly like a paradise unto itself. It was already vast, and they preferred to remain and develop on Profound Island.

After all, back in the Ancient Era, the ancestors of the Seven Great Superpowers had been quite weak.

Finally, there was the Golden Palace. As a product that had existed through the Primordial Era and then the Ancient Era, it had participated in both great wars!

During the Ancient War, the Golden Palace was in the hands of an Alchemy Great Power. That person was a descendant of Hu Yanbo. The massive Golden Palace was practically a supreme Magical Treasure when used for defense. Its simple yet powerful Array was incredibly difficult to breach!

The Spiritual Water Qin Li had seen flowing outside had all been created by a past master of the Golden Palace, who had used formidable alchemy techniques to forcibly liquefy Top-Grade Spirit Stones!

As Qin Li processed the memories to this point, the corner of his mouth twitched for a long time, his expression quite colorful. Just a moment ago, he had done something of ultimate extravagance: bathing in Spiritual Water made from liquefied Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

’I really am one of a kind!’

Qin Li thought, speechless, ’If that old man Hu Yanbo were still alive and saw this, would he have been angered to death on the spot?’

During the Ancient War, the Golden Palace was mainly used as a refuge for the Huyan Race. The incredibly spiritual flowers, plants, and trees in the courtyard were also transplanted inside at that time.

As time went on, after the end of the Ancient War, the Golden Palace fell into the hands of a son-in-law of the Huyan Family. But this man’s heart was not righteous. He schemed to completely seize the Golden Palace, intending to erase all of the Huyan Family’s imprints from it.

It was only then that Hu Yanbo, who had been dormant for untold years, awoke and personally obliterated the man, after which the Golden Palace automatically flew away. By the Ancient Era, the Golden Palace had already become a legend. Only the descendants of the Great Powers who had survived the Ancient War and the descendants of the Outer Celestial Demons knew of its existence.

And all of them coveted this supreme treasure. Just imagine, a massive palace that could withstand an Outer Celestial Demon’s attacks for a full hour without breaking—who wouldn’t want it?

However, Hu Yanbo took the Golden Palace and vanished into a Mysterious Land: the summit of Black Tortoise Peak on this very Profound Island. No one could find it.

Later, when war broke out in the Ancient Era, the Golden Palace appeared a total of three times. Hu Yanbo’s hatred for the Outer Celestial Demons ran incredibly deep, so every time the Golden Palace emerged, a great number of their descendants would die!

This enormous Golden Palace had crushed an unknown number of Purple-eyed People to death. Thus, during the war of the Ancient Era, the Golden Palace became a lingering nightmare for all Purple-eyed People.

Likewise, it also became one of the most coveted treasures in the eyes of the descendants of the Great Powers on the Celestial Essence Continent.

After repeatedly activating the Golden Palace to traverse the continent for distant battles, Hu Yanbo’s soul was severely depleted. Moreover, this kind of consumption was irreversible.

Finally, after his third strike to exterminate the Purple-eyed People, he barely managed to return to Profound Island and land atop Black Tortoise Peak. Within a few hundred years, his soul had dissipated into nothing.

What Qin Li saw before him was merely a sliver of his Divine Sense!

And yet, for tens of thousands of years, from the late Ancient Era until now, this mere sliver of Divine Sense was able to make the Golden Palace descend upon the Xuanwu Platform once every seventy years. It did this for two reasons: first, to continue the legacy of the Primordial and Ancient Eras, and second, to find a suitable successor. In just a few hundred more years, this sliver of his Divine Sense would also dissipate.

Over these countless years, he had seen many astonishingly talented geniuses, but not one had he fully approved of. This time, he hadn’t expected any surprises either. But Qin Li’s appearance truly was a pleasant surprise. What surprised him even more was Qin Li himself!

He was actually a person beyond fate! And he didn’t have Purple Eyes! Otherwise, Hu Yanbo would have exhausted all his power to obliterate Qin Li. Then there was the combat skill Qin Li cultivated—it was actually an Ancient Combat Skill!

To Hu Yanbo, who had existed for countless years, this was both incredibly familiar and yet strangely foreign. His memories of the Primordial Era were already beginning to blur. Upon suddenly seeing Qin Li use this Ancient Combat Skill, he even thought he had returned to his own glorious past, seeing the commanding figure he once was.

That was why he had let Qin Li in. Otherwise, let alone Qin Li, even if ten thousand Venerables attacked the Golden Palace, they wouldn’t have been able to cause so much as a ripple in its defenses.

The pinnacle of the Primordial Era’s Alchemy, with defenses capable of withstanding an Outer Celestial Demon’s assault for an hour—that was how powerful it was!

In the end, Hu Yanbo infused this final sliver of his Divine Sense completely into Qin Li’s mind. From that moment on, the name Hu Yanbo no longer existed in this world.

It was just as he had once said: no matter how glorious you once were, you will eventually be forgotten by all.

However, for him, this was also the best possible outcome. His memories, all the knowledge he had acquired in his life—everything was passed on to Qin Li along with that sliver of Divine Sense.

As long as Qin Li cultivated with unwavering determination, then one day, he would surely restore Hu Yanbo’s former glory.

Perhaps even... surpass him!

As Qin Li followed the memories to this point, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of lingering fear. If Hu Yanbo, this Primordial Great Power, had harbored even the slightest ill intent, his doom today would have been inescapable.

Qin Li didn’t even need to access Hu Yanbo’s vast and complex sea of knowledge to know. Just by using his own imagination, he could tell that for such a Great Power, seizing a body to be reborn would absolutely not be a difficult task.

An Earth Immortal!

An Earth Immortal with a lifespan of twelve thousand years!

Who could have possibly stood against him?

However, the surprise that followed made Qin Li uncontrollably excited. He never imagined that this supreme treasure from the Primordial Era, having crossed the long river of time, would actually fall into his hands.

Although he currently lacked the strength to fully control it, this did nothing to hide Qin Li’s overwhelming joy.

As for the descendants of the Primordial Great Powers and the Outer Celestial Demons, in Qin Li’s eyes, there was practically no difference. The whole world bustles with activity, all for the sake of profit.

The Land of the Far West, which seemed to be where those powerful Great Powers were concentrated, and the Ancient Map that the Cui Family was so desperately chasing—for which they had spared no expense, sending out numerous family elites to conquer secular territories—all of it now held a completely different meaning in Qin Li’s eyes.

As they say, your perspective changes depending on where you stand.

If the old Qin Li’s gaze was limited to Profound Island, entangled in various grudges and feuds, then now, his sight had passed over the vast Celestial Essence Continent and landed on the legendary Land of the Far West.

’How could such past glory be so completely annihilated?’

’Since it exists, if I don’t go see it for myself, how could I ever be worthy of the second chance at life that heaven has given me?’

The knowledge in Hu Yanbo’s mind, accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years, was truly as vast as an ocean. The bulk of it consisted of various alchemy formulas, a subject about which Qin Li was completely clueless. Therefore, he never even considered studying them in depth.

Using a finite life to learn infinite knowledge was, in Qin Li’s view, very foolish. Everyone has their own specialty. As long as he could master one path, that would be enough.

The current Qin Li was like someone holding the key to a massive treasure vault. He could open it, but trying to thoroughly master everything inside was a near-impossible task.

But there was one enormous benefit: from now on, when it came to knowledge of alchemy, if Qin Li claimed to be the second-best in the world, absolutely no one would dare claim to be the first.

Of course, that was limited to theory.

Through Hu Yanbo’s inherited memories, Qin Li learned that each descent of the Golden Palace was actually the magnificent main palace at the very front. It would land on the Xuanwu Platform, and after the Spirit Stones from this room filled the golden slot, the main palace would automatically fly up and begin the once-every-seventy-years... Venerable Tournament!

However, this time was destined to be the final Venerable Tournament. Of course, if Qin Li wished, he could continue it. Unfortunately, Qin Li didn’t possess Hu Yanbo’s magnanimity. Even if he were to pass on the legacy, it would be done within his own sphere of control.

’A selfless inheritance? I’ll think about that after I’m dead!’

What made Qin Li even more excited were the few small pets that Hu Yanbo had raised on Black Tortoise Peak in his boredom.