Chapter 86: Chapter 85: Prince Wu
A divine being. He was truly a divine being!
Qin Li sat there, unable to compose himself for the longest time.
This Ancient Great Power named Prince Wu wasn’t just some amazing expert; he was a true legend!
Setting aside his achievements in the Martial Dao, the sheer number of fields he had mastered—and the depth of his expertise—was enough to intimidate anyone.
First, Prince Wu was a Martial Artist who had reached the Celestial Shattering Realm and lived to be over nine hundred and eighty years old. This journal was written in his later years and chronicled his glorious life and lonely latter half. By the time he wrote this, Prince Wu was already over nine hundred and sixty.
The Celestial Shattering Realm!
Qin Li’s blood boiled with excitement as he read this. While he was striving to reach the Celestial Level, here was someone who had actually lived for nearly a thousand years!
And in the end, he had only died because he missed his late wife so dearly and had lost all will to live, choosing to pass on peacefully!
In other words, if this Great Power hadn’t been so hopelessly devoted, he could have very well lived past a thousand!
In Qin Li’s previous world, there was a cynical saying: "The good die young, while scourges live a thousand years." But in truth, everyone knew it was just a saying. How many people, throughout the thousands of years of human history, had ever actually lived past one hundred?
The Celestial Essence Continent was rich in Spiritual Qi, and the Martial Dao flourished. Most Martial Artists could live past a hundred. If one reached the Celestial Level, living for two or three hundred years was not just a dream!
To Qin Li, this was already an incredible temptation!
’If you can live, who would ever choose to die?’
But to think that someone had actually managed to enter the Celestial Shattering Realm and live for a millennium! ’What incredible longevity! What a profound destiny!’
Qin Li thought of Shangguan Shiyu, his mother Qin Hanyue, and Qin Xue, who had all entered the Profound Island. Legend had it that most Martial Artists on the Celestial Essence Continent went there after breaking through to the Celestial Realm. Of course, besides the Profound Island, there were several other Mysterious Lands that were also rumored to be home to Supreme Powerhouses of the Celestial Shattering Realm.
Besides, not everyone chose to leave their family after breaking through to the Celestial Level.
Some ancient families with thousands of years of history were rumored to have their own Supreme Powerhouses at the Celestial Shattering Realm. Of course, that was just a rumor. Still, it was clear that Prince Wu’s cultivation in the Celestial Shattering Realm must have reached an extremely high level! Otherwise, he couldn’t have lived so long. This was evident from what he later wrote about his late wife.
Beyond the Martial Dao, Prince Wu was also a master of architecture, worthy of being called a Grandmaster!
The ancient city Qin Li was currently in had been built by Prince Wu alone, bit by bit, over a period of two hundred years.
The reason for building the city was rather heartbreaking.
He was lonely. He missed his late wife so much that he couldn’t sleep. The five powerful pieces of jewelry Qin Li had found were merely creations Prince Wu made in his later years to alleviate his loneliness.
He placed them there simply to console himself. This immensely powerful old man fantasized that one day, the door would be pushed open gently, and that peerlessly beautiful woman with bright eyes and a radiant smile would walk in. Like any woman who loved to shop, her eyes would light up at the sight of the jewelry, and she would cry out, "I love them!"
He knew she loved jade and peculiar Extraterrestrial Metals, which was why all these items, including the Spatial Ring Qin Li had obtained, were crafted from such materials.
Reading this, Qin Li silently took out the jewelry he had so excitedly acquired just moments before. Though they had existed for thousands of years, the pieces still shimmered with a dazzling, brilliant light. But in that instant, Qin Li felt as if he could sense the deep longing imbued within them, carrying all of Prince Wu’s love for his wife!
Qin Li stared at the jewelry in a daze, his expression focused. After a moment of silence, he carefully placed the pieces back in their box and put it away in his Storage Ring.
Prince Wu’s name was peculiar; it sounded like he was a member of the imperial family. In reality, he had no connection to them whatsoever. How could a man of such breathtaking talent ever care for worldly power?
Beyond all that, Prince Wu was skilled in forging, alchemy, Alchemy, and Illusion Skills... He wrote that from the entrance of the ancient city all the way down, every single room was protected by an Illusion Skill!
And only those who cultivated the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Only I am Venerable combat technique would be completely unaffected!
And by "cultivated," he meant... a Martial Artist who wouldn’t undergo Nirvana!
When Qin Li read this, he had only one reaction: he broke out in a cold sweat!
A genuine cold sweat, because Prince Wu had written in a mocking tone: ’Why is this combat technique named Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Only I am Venerable? The reason is simple. In any given era, the number of Martial Artists in this world suited to cultivate it will never exceed three! And to reach a certain level of mastery, one must meet numerous criteria, such as immense physical strength and an extremely high-quality Primordial Power Heart Method!’
’Take the Primordial Power Heart Method, for example. Merely cultivating Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is not enough. One must be able to cultivate the very essence of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi!’
’Otherwise, how could it dare to bear such a name?’
’What were the odds... one in a hundred million? One in a billion? Or one in ten billion?’
Qin Li was horrified but also felt incredibly fortunate. If he didn’t possess the Innate Purple Qi Technique, and if he didn’t have the Body Refining Technique from the Profound Island, he would likely be in these Ancient Ruins right now just waiting for Nirvana, waiting for death!
According to Prince Wu, there was no such thing as a Celestial Profound Pill Formula in this world. It was just something he made up out of boredom to fool everyone. He just wanted to see what kind of uproar would be caused when the combat technique he’d left at the most obvious spot in the city’s entrance was discovered, be it a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand years after his death.
Reading this, all Qin Li could think was: ’You old bastard, you’re a true Demon King!’
He was a master of calligraphy and a titan of literature! He was an expert in astronomy and geography, his wisdom evident in the design of this ancient city. He was versed in all sorts of miscellaneous arts, from mechanics to... horticulture and agriculture. He poured all his life’s knowledge into the design of this city. If it were to ever fully rise from the water, it would shake the entire continent!
It would even rewrite much of the history of the Celestial Essence Continent!
At the same time, he was a fool for love. He used every treasure and resource he could find to concoct all sorts of Miracle Elixirs, but he still couldn’t save her life. His wife, who originally had no talent for cultivation, had been forcibly raised to the Celestial Shattering Realm by him using nothing but elixirs!
But alas, she still passed away several hundred years before he did.
In the end, this supreme Great Power, arguably the number one figure of his time, gave up on pursuing the Celestial Dao and the chance for eternal life. When his longing reached its peak and drove him to madness, he crazily attacked the valley floor. He blasted over a thousand springs out of the earth of the massive valley and then watched as the water slowly submerged the ancient city he had built with his own hands!
However, not wanting his and his wife’s bodies to be soaked by the water, he created a massive, cyclical Energy Array. Every fifteen years, the water level of Phoenix Lake would drop significantly as the Energy Array absorbed the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. Each absorption period would last for fifteen days!
The cycle would repeat, on and on, without end!
In this desolate mountain wilderness, fifteen days would pass in a flash, and few would ever notice such a change. Moreover, the old man had devilishly placed the combat technique—the culmination of his life’s work—at the entrance to the ancient city. He had written clearly on it that cultivating it recklessly would damage one’s soul.
Then he gave them a sliver of hope: obtaining the Celestial Profound Pill Formula would prevent them from falling into Nirvana. In reality, not only did the Celestial Profound Pill Formula not exist, but even if he could have concocted such an elixir, he would never have left it for posterity! With a mind like his, how could he not have known what a flawless version of this combat technique would mean for a continent?
So, this was nothing more than a prank played by a breathtakingly brilliant old genius in a moment of extreme boredom. That was all.
The journal ended with this passage: ’If you managed to make it here and still had the patience to read this old man’s boring monologue, then congratulations, you are now my disciple of a future generation! In the corner of this library, move the table. There is a hidden room. Inside that room are the memorial tablets for my late wife and me. If you are so inclined, go and pay your respects. It would be a comfort to this lonely old man’s spirit in the heavens. If you have no such inclination, then forget it. When a person dies, all is said and done, and there’s no point in holding a grudge. Further ahead is a weapon shop with a number of weapons inside. Beyond that, there is a room filled with a large quantity of Spirit Stones and heavenly treasures. All of this I bequeath to the fated person who finds it.’
Qin Li didn’t hesitate. After receiving such a great benefit, it was only right to go and pay his respects.
He easily opened the hidden room. Sure enough, the chamber was lit by the dim, yellow glow of an Everlasting Lamp, but it didn’t feel sinister. On the wall opposite the door was a mural depicting a man and a woman.
The man was young and handsome, with sharp brows and bright, star-like eyes. The woman was a peerless beauty with the grace of a celestial fairy. Anyone who saw them would sigh in admiration: ’What a perfect, immortal couple!’
Below the mural was an altar table with two memorial tablets. One read: "The tablet of my beloved wife, Xiao Longnu." The other read: "The tablet of Prince Wu."
A clean meditation cushion sat on the floor. With a solemn expression, Qin Li knelt on the cushion and said, "Master and Mistress, please accept Qin Li’s three bows!"
He kowtowed respectfully three times and then stood up. At that moment, he felt a sudden sense of kinship with this master from a distant generation whom he had never met. He felt a deep empathy for the loneliness and solitude of the man’s final years.
Just then, a faint sound came from within the hidden room. On the wall to Qin Li’s left, a secret door silently swung open!
