"""
An hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Continuously absorbing the Shaoyang Essence, Lin Yue felt the essence within his body nearing saturation, so he stopped.
"At this rate, it won’t even take a month to reach the third layer of the Four Symbols."
Lin Yue opened his eyes and nodded in satisfaction.
Now he finally understood why the young geniuses of elite families could reach the peak of the Four Symbols in their teens.
As long as one’s natural talent was decent and a foundation was built with Heaven and Earth Treasures from a young age, with ample cultivation resources, achieving the Four Symbols Peak in a few years wasn’t difficult.
After leaving the cultivation chamber of the Yin Yang Cave Heaven, Lin Yue didn’t rush to leave the Ancestor Hall but first went to the Treasure Hall.
The Treasure Hall’s appraisal elder, unlike the previous two elders who were very respectful, maintained a calm demeanor, only answering normally.
"Does the Martial Uncle wish to exchange for any treasures?" the appraisal elder inquired. Explore stories on Freewebnovel
"Do you have any life-extending treasures?" Lin Yue asked straightforwardly.
"Yes."
The appraisal elder replied, "Martial Uncle, being of equal status with the Hall Masters, can exchange for any treasure in the Treasure Hall as long as you have enough merits. What level of life-extending treasure does Martial Uncle wish for?"
"Level?" Lin Yue couldn’t help but ask, "How are life-extending treasures classified by level?"
The appraisal elder said, "The lowest level of life-extending treasures is useful for mortals, and it is not too precious."
He paused, then said, "Higher are treasures that can extend the vitality and lifespan of cultivators, which are considered relatively precious. The one with the least effect is the Heavenly Silkworm Seven-colored Flower, which can extend life by about seven years. It can be exchanged for eight hundred merits, but Martial Uncle’s current merits are probably insufficient."
"Eight hundred merits would do?" Lin Yue’s eyes lit up.
Suddenly, a doubt arose in his heart. The life-extending treasures seemed not too hard to obtain. How could Duke Heng not find them?
After pondering for a moment, Lin Yue asked, "Is this Heavenly Silkworm Seven-colored Flower useful for all cultivators?"
The appraisal elder shook his head and said, "Of course not. Such Heaven and Earth Treasures that extend vitality and lifespan are mostly effective for Great Cultivators, but useless for Saints."
Saints?
Lin Yue knew that the Martial Saint level referred to this so-called Saint.
Duke Heng, the Hall Masters of the Ancestor Hall, most of the princes, the Sect Leader of the Shenxiao Sect, or the highest echelons of the Three Religions Holy Land were at this level of Great Power.
"Life-extending treasures are useless for Saints?" Lin Yue slightly frowned.
"Yes." The appraisal elder nodded and said, "Saints embody their dao, their vitality and lifespan are boundless, their Primordial Spirit is undying, thus their physical body is immortal. Why would they need treasures to extend vitality and lifespan?"
Lin Yue grew more puzzled.
If so, why was Duke Heng nearing the end of life?
"Martial Uncle, the limit of a Saint does not depend on the physical body, but on the heart’s dao."
The appraisal elder explained, "As years pass, Saints gradually realize their dao proves unattainable, causing unease in their hearts, leading to the collapse of their heart’s dao, thus approaching their life’s end."
Lin Yue somewhat understood.
Proving?
This seemed to be the standard for the Divine Emperor when selecting princes and princesses. The princes and princesses all seemed to have potential for proving.
"To delay a saint’s end, one must rely on treasures that stabilize the heart realm and dao."
The appraisal elder shook his head and said, "But such rare treasures are found only once in a long time by the Ancestor Hall, with no inventory, and are valued at a minimum of ten thousand merits."
Lin Yue became thoughtful.
Such precious treasures were evidently deeply desired by even Saints. Understanding they were worth ten thousand merits was reasonable.
Even if the Ancestor Hall had such treasures, he couldn’t afford to exchange for them.
"What kind of treasures are there?" Lin Yue asked.
The appraisal elder thought for a moment, then handed Lin Yue a list, saying, "Martial Uncle, these fifteen treasures on the list are rare ones able to stabilize the heart realm and dao."
Lin Yue took it with his hand and carefully read it.
These types of treasures were called ’Dao Heart Treasures.’
There were low grade, mid grade, top grade, and superior grade distinctions, yet even the low grade was exceedingly valuable.
The lowest level was called Heart-Cleansing Flower Tears, a low-grade Dao Heart Treasure, capable of repairing cracks in one’s heart’s dao, stabilizing the heart realm, and extending life by three to five years.
The most precious was known as the ’Reincarnation Fruit,’ the only known superior-grade Dao Heart Treasure, allowing the user to reshape their dao heart through illusory reincarnation, thus extending life for at least a thousand years.
Unfortunately, this Reincarnation Fruit was merely a legend.
"Hmm?"
Lin Yue suddenly fixed his gaze on a name of one Dao Heart Treasure.
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— Three-inch Spirit Heart, a low-grade Dao Heart Treasure, capable of awakening spirituality in the dao heart, extending life by five to ten years.
He had seen the name of this treasure in the list of treasures left in the Silent Bone!
But its simple description only mentioned aid in the dao heart aspect, not delaying life’s end. Who knew this was a precious Dao Heart Treasure?
That hidden treasure was in Di Hong City, and only the token in his possession could unlock it.
Previously, he thought of obtaining Heaven and Earth Treasures in the treasure to extend Duke Heng’s life. Now, it seemed only the Three-inch Spirit Heart was of use.
"If Lord Qi could delay five to ten years... it would be enough."
Lin Yue made up his mind to prepare and then unlock the hidden treasure to obtain the Three-inch Spirit Heart.
Though he had already acknowledged the Main Hall Master as his master, such a figure couldn’t possibly involve himself in party struggles for him. The greatest benefit was allowing him to compete more fairly.
Whereas Duke Heng was willing to aid his party struggle, along with the influence and connections of Duke Heng’s mansion, how could he abandon them?
"""