Wu Ninglu did not know the exact name of the Sun Clan's supreme treasure or what form it took.
However, based on deductions drawn from the history of the Sun Clan's rise to prominence, the treasure's power was very likely related to deduction and foresight!
Around a thousand-odd years ago, the Sun Clan was merely an ordinary, minor cultivation family.
The strongest person in the clan was only at the Nascent Soul realm.
Yet from a certain day onward, fortune suddenly seemed to smile upon the Sun Clan. Not only did several members break through to the Soul Formation realm in succession, but by a stroke of serendipity, they even rescued a severely wounded Dao Integration cultivator.
Under the protection of this Dao Integration grand cultivator, the Sun Clan soared to the skies from that moment on.
The Sun Clan's sudden rise naturally drew the attention of numerous factions. On the surface, it appeared to be purely a matter of luck.
But not everyone thought so.
Especially the faction that had orchestrated the ambush from behind the scenes against the Dao Integration cultivator the Sun Clan rescued.
This was also the mastermind that had directed Wu Ninglu to spare no feminine charms to infiltrate the Sun Clan.
The Chen Clan was one of the largest families in Tianquan Province. Clan members were mostly proficient in pill concoction and held many important posts in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' Pill Hall.
At that time, due to an old grievance, they had plotted to put that Dao Integration cultivator to death. Yet a plan that should have been foolproof was foiled by a mere Nascent Soul cultivator!
After eliminating possibilities, they confirmed there had been no leak. Furthermore, on the very day of the incident, that Nascent Soul cultivator from the Sun Clan had abruptly crossed several provinces via teleportation arrays and waited along the escape route of the critically injured Dao Integration cultivator.
It was as if he had known all along that it would happen!
All of this defied reason. From then on, the Chen Clan set its sights on the Sun Clan.
Under the Alliance's system, despite the vast disparity in strength between the two families, the Chen Clan dared not simply kill and seize treasures outright. This was especially true after the gravely wounded Dao Integration cultivator recovered and faintly suspected the Chen Clan had been behind the attack.
By the time the Chen Clan had resolved all their troubles and regained their footing,
the Sun Clan had already connected with prominent figures at the Alliance Headquarters, relocated from an outside province to Tianquan Province, and even produced a Dao Integration cultivator of their own.
The Sun Clan had risen too fast. The various coincidences along their road to prominence only made the Chen Clan all the more convinced that the Sun Clan was hiding some extraordinary treasure.
Yet the Sun Clan acted with immense caution. Once their foundation had gradually stabilized, they rarely made use of that treasure.
Though the Chen Clan coveted it, they simply could not find a suitable opportunity to make a move.
Even within the clan, the matter had gradually faded from memory.
It was not until fifty-odd years ago, when the Sun Clan made a massive splash in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals once more, that those buried memories were stirred back to life.
At the Alliance Headquarters, on the path toward the Protector Hall, mere passing contact was all it took for the Sun Clan Head to recognize the identity of an infiltrated Five Elders Association spy as they brushed past each other.
He struck immediately, clashing with the other party.
This naturally alerted the Alliance upper echelon. Both men were arrested, and after an investigation, it turned out the Sun Clan Head's accusation was actually true!
That Five Elders Association spy carried a Law-Audience Jade Plaque and had been ordered to use an evil curse to attack the Yanfa Jue.
Fortunately, it had been detected in time, averting a catastrophe!
After this incident, the Sun Clan took another step forward, gaining the opportunity to expand their influence within the Protector Hall.
Meanwhile, the Chen Clan once again focused their gaze upon the Sun Clan.
According to investigations into the past, that Five Elders Association spy had always been deeply undercover. Even his closest friends and relatives had never suspected his true identity.
Yet an operative so close to perfection had been identified at a single glance by the Sun Clan Head!
Although during subsequent interrogations the Sun Clan Head insisted it was purely his intuition, and exhaustive investigations by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals ruled out the possibility of a self-directed charade by the Five Elders Association, the occurrence still baffled many.
In the end, it could only be attributed to the Sun Clan's "good fortune."
Yet several Chen Clan elders who still remembered the events of that distant past instantly recalled their deductions from back then.
Thereafter, a plot centered around the Sun Clan's supreme treasure slowly unfolded.
Through decades of relentless probing, the Chen Clan had gathered several crucial clues.
First, the treasure might be incomplete; over the years, the Sun Clan had secretly been searching for something.
Second, each time the treasure's power was unleashed, it seemed to require some sort of replenishment. Whenever the Sun Clan displayed astonishing feats, the Sun Clan Head would mysteriously vanish for a period.
Third, activating the treasure appeared to come at the cost of consuming the Sun Clan's bloodline. Over the years, several Sun Clan offspring had vanished without reason—unaccounted for in life, missing in death.
Although they possessed considerable information, the Chen Clan had long hesitated to seize it by force. This was naturally due to the treasure's suspected power of "foresight."
If they failed and exposed themselves in the process, they might lose any chance of obtaining this supreme treasure forever.
Until recently, the long-waiting Chen Clan finally encountered the optimal opportunity for a breakthrough.
Spies discovered traces of the Sun Clan Head. He seemed to have suffered injuries while aiding the treasure's replenishment. To guard against mishaps, he would likely cut his journey short and return home as quickly as possible to heal.
The treasure was still in its cooldown period, and the Sun Clan's strongest expert, the Clan Head, was heavily wounded.
It was practically a godsent opportunity!
Hence, risking exposure, the Chen Clan ordered contact with Wu Ninglu to closely monitor the Sun Clan Head's movements at all times.
...
"To think the feud between the two families has actually spanned nearly a thousand years."
Having learned the ins and outs of the matter, Li Fan couldn't help but grow even more intrigued by this so-called supreme treasure of the Sun Clan.
The reason was simple: the Sun Clan Head's actions on multiple occasions bore far too many similarities to Li Fan's own past behavior.
He, Li Fan, reversed everything through True Reversion to achieve prescience.
What kind of power could the Sun Clan's supreme treasure possess?
Li Fan did not have to wait long.
More than ten days later, Li Fan's divine sense keenly detected a somewhat disarrayed Dao Integration aura returning to the Sun Clan.
Departing Wu Ninglu's body and locking onto the target's location, Li Fan silently slipped near him.
Prudent as the Sun Clan Head was, the arrays and restrictions he had laid out were practically nonexistent before Li Fan.
He had not the slightest inkling that a strand of divine sense had followed him right into the secret chamber.
"Cough, cough."
Sun Clan Head Sun Luyuan, despite being a Dao Integration cultivator, actually coughed up traces of fresh blood.
Yet, paying no heed to his injuries, his eyes filled with heartache as he took out an object and gingerly placed it back in its position.
Then, he slit open a wound on his wrist and refined it with fresh blood.
And the moment Li Fan laid eyes on this object, his true body and avatars tens of thousands of li away all trembled slightly at the same time.
"This is..."
"The Heavenly Profound Mirror?"
The object Sun Luyuan was nourishing with fresh blood looked remarkably similar to the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
However, in all past encounters, the light representing the power of the Heavenly Profound Mirror was mostly green.
Yet the small mirror in this secret chamber gave off an eerie black radiance.
Chapter 1157