Chen Chuan reached out and retrieved an item from the pouch of his external implant. It was composed of several fingertip-sized segments of smooth, pristine white jade strung together, resembling a section of white lotus root.
"The Moyun lotus root?"
Mingchengzi's eyes lit up, but he made no move to take it. Instead, looking at Chen Chuan with utter solemnity, he said, "Xuanji, as I said before, if we could slay the false emperor, I would gladly offer this treasure with both hands. Moreover, I am merely a wandering phantom left behind after my sect's ruin—how could I possess the virtue to claim such a thing? Even if I took it, I might not be able to keep it safe. Please, Xuanji, you must accept it."
With that, he bowed deeply to Chen Chuan once more.
Chen Chuan nodded and said, "This item is indeed useful to me, so I will accept it."
It truly was a rare relic—one that gave him the distinct impression of being beneficial for breaking through layer limits. Furthermore, having seemingly passed through Emperor Wenguang's ascension ritual, it harbored another latent power within, one that drew him even more strongly.
Having given away the item, Mingchengzi was overjoyed. Though Chen Chuan had made no explicit promises, it seemed certain now that his future defection to Great Shun would find solid ground.
Chen Chuan browsed through the scriptures preserved here. Most were esoteric records handed down from ancient times concerning ascension to immortality, alongside a substantial number of martial methods. Many were unique lost copies of the Xuan Sect, while some were texts he had encountered before with the Tianji Sect.
Now that he already knew the direction he needed to strive toward, these books served primarily to broaden his horizons and expand his breadth of knowledge.
Interestingly, there were many portraits of ancient deities here, which bore notable differences from those he had seen at the Tianji Sect.
This was only natural. Deities lingering in the mortal world would shift alongside dynastic transitions and transform under the influence of certain powers.
Speaking of which, he had not seen any of the Three Ancient Lords, including Lord Anshi, during this conflict, nor were there portraits of them here. It stood to reason that given the capabilities of those ancient deities, Emperor Wenguang had been in no position to bind them.
Since none of this was of vital importance, he recorded the room's contents in his external implant and continued toward the rear, where another area shielded against spiritual energy lay.
Pushing open the heavy doors of the next palace chamber, a fragrance of medicinal herbs immediately greeted his senses. Jars of varying sizes and categorized chests of drawers filled the space, all labeled with seals and paper tags.
This was an alchemy chamber.
Chen Chuan swept his gaze across the room and noticed a long table at the far front, bearing an assortment of porcelain bowls and bronze vessels of varying designs.
Only these bore no labels, yet they were undoubtedly of great significance—otherwise, they would not occupy such a prominent position.
He asked aloud, "High Priest, as a member of the Xuan Sect, you are an expert in these matters. Can you tell what these are?"
Mingchengzi inspected them from a distance first, then stepped forward and nodded. With a gentle lift of his hand, a jar floated upward.
Brushing his sleeve, he removed the lid. The instant a wisp of luminous mist drifted out, his heart jolted, and he slammed the cover shut at once.
With a trace of shock, he said, "This is 'Ascension Water.' Emperor Wenguang was truly brazen!"
He turned back to explain to Chen Chuan.
So-called Ascension Water was an elixir fluid concocted by slaying or annihilating deities and spirits, then blending their lingering essential qi with rare, precious materials before refining and harmonizing the mixture.
It could be ingested directly or utilized in pill refinement. Generally, it could substitute for a portion of a Xuanji martial artist's daily cultivation. Most importantly, prolonged consumption aided cultivators in comprehending higher realms, making it far easier to breach layer limits. It was extraordinarily useful for martial artists of the Visage of the Divine and Visage of the Aberrant.
"The reason I say Emperor Wenguang was brazen is that refining a single jar..." Mingchengzi held up the vessel in his hands. "...often demands several deities..."
As he spoke, he stepped forward to inspect the ten-odd vessels arranged across the long table one by one. In the end, he said with lingering dread, "Xuanji, what fills every single one of these containers is this very water."
Chen Chuan said, "Oh? All of them?"
Mingchengzi nodded, then shook his head. "Audacious indeed. Slaying ancient deities inevitably invites their curses. That false emperor truly cast all caution to the winds for the sake of ascension."
Chen Chuan was well aware of this. Ancient deities were exceptionally adept in arts of erosion and aberrant transformation, using them to craft numerous curse-like secret arts. Some were even intimately bound to their very existence, triggering instantly upon their destruction.
This was a method they had gradually cultivated specifically to avoid being eradicated.
Getting rid of one or two might not amount to much, but strike down too many without the ability to protect oneself, and the curses would accumulate deeper and thicker, inevitably bringing harm to one's own Xuanji martial artists.
Then again, Emperor Wenguang had likely cared very little.
Mingchengzi set the jar down and took a few steps back, a sneer appearing on his face.
The former imperial household had constantly sought a balance between the ancient deities and the Xuan Sect. When it came to wiping out the Fulong Faction, those ancient deities had exerted considerable effort.
Yet in the end, were they not boiled down into elixir water just the same?
It was not hard to deduce that the Chan Sect had certainly fanned the flames behind the scenes. But from the looks of it now, the Chan Sect had hardly triumphed either. How truly ironic.
Suddenly recalling something, he crossed the room toward a chest of drawers, rummaged through it, and ultimately retrieved a record book.
He flipped it open, skimmed it, and murmured, "So that's how it was, so that's how it was!" Returning to Chen Chuan, he presented it with both hands: "Xuanji, please take a look."
Chen Chuan took it and leafed through a few pages, discovering it was a log of the Ascension Water's refinement, detailing both the procurement and the preparation process.
Yet what mattered most was the history behind it. According to the text, the original elixir formula had been presented by the Duanchen Faction.
Chen Chuan's mind turned over the implications. The Duanchen Faction's motive was quite intriguing. Judging from the anomalies the former imperial household had arranged long ago, this formula had played right into their desires.
Looking at the former dynasty's landscape at the time, once the ancient deities were drastically weakened, the Duanchen Faction and the Chan Sect would be evenly matched, preventing either from monopolizing power. In the end, only the imperial household reaped the greatest benefit.
Moreover, he saw that Emperor Wenguang had originally ordered Prince Lin to carry out the slaughter of the ancient deities.
Later, when envoys dispatched by the deities—headed by the Three Ancient Lords—arrived to demand answers, Emperor Wenguang had pushed the blame entirely onto Prince Lin. To appease them, he ground away the spirit of Prince Lin while the prince was in the midst of purging the curse's erosion.
And from subsequent events, it was clear Emperor Wenguang had long intended to use Prince Lin as a protective vessel. In doing so, he obtained the Ascension Water, secured Prince Lin's vessel, and offered an account to the Three Ancient Lords—a thoroughly calculated scheme.
With a mocking expression, Mingchengzi said, "I imagine those ancient deities could not have been entirely blind to the false emperor's designs.
"Yet I have heard the false emperor loosened the imperial laws, allowing the common folk to freely worship the deities. With such benefits, they likely chose to turn a blind eye.
"I expect the false emperor saw through their hollow strength through this very exchange, which gave him the nerve to take that final desperate gamble."
Chen Chuan gave an affirmative sound. The situation in the convergence zone was tangled, with multiple factions entwined, yet Emperor Wenguang had managed to seize every advantage simply because his faction was the strongest.
Had the Progressive Faction within Great Shun not resolved to overthrow the former dynasty, he might very well have succeeded.
He instructed his external implant to log these records.
As for the contents here, he held no interest in the Ascension Water. The Visage of Man had the least need for such things, and drinking it was hardly without risk, carrying the potential for lingering aftereffects.
For now, they would seal it off and transport everything back together once a full inventory had been taken.
Having finished here, they moved on to the next chamber.
Beyond lay another pharmacy, though this one stored various cultivation resources required by combatants and martial artists.
Here, too, was a registry. Mingchengzi located it and quietly calculated according to the entries, arriving at an astounding figure: these reserves were sufficient to sustain the cultivation of a ten-thousand-man martial formation, ten Xuanji martial artists, three at the Longevity View, and one at the Dongxuan View.
Judging by the warehouse logs, old stock that had sat too long was purged at regular intervals and replaced with fresh arrivals, maintaining a steady overall inventory.
All of it was harvested from the imperial hunting reserves, plantations, and medicinal herb fields, meaning it belonged entirely to the emperor personally.
Chen Chuan felt that in Emperor Wenguang's eyes, these likely held little extraordinary value.
After all, the imperial retinue that had set out in his name earlier had not carried much in the way of cultivation medicines.
Of course, it was also possible that far greater reserves existed elsewhere, rendering these negligible by comparison.
Indeed, while such wealth was staggering for an individual, it amounted to very little for an entire nation.
He recalled that a rift had been unsealed back in Haixi Dao; there were likely stores remaining there as well.
Once this place was thoroughly surveyed, he certainly would not overlook that location.
Emerging from the pharmacy, they found a stone-paved path leading directly behind the mountain, where defenses against mental fields were likewise present. This, too, had to be examined.
Crossing the stone path, they came upon a solitary stone palace. Fallen leaves blanketed the surrounding ground, untouched for so long that the scene felt thoroughly unnatural.
When they pushed open the stone doors barring the entrance, a foul stench of rot surged outward.
What met their eyes were heaps of bleached bones. Some could still be identified by the garments of imperial concubines and palace attendants, and among them lay the smaller skeletons of children.
Mingchengzi inspected them and said with absolute certainty, "Flesh rotted away yet the bones remain firm, the crown of the skulls stained crimson—this is Bo snake venom, in all likelihood the work of Consort Teng, who remained at Emperor Wenguang's side."
A thought struck Chen Chuan. It seemed the one his duplicate had fought earlier had been that very Consort Teng.
A Bo snake?
He had not recognized it at the time, simply because snake-bodied immortals and spirits were far too numerous to count.
Now that it had been identified, he recalled the legends: such serpents could assume human form and were fiercely devoted to their masters, yet rearing one to maturity required the master to feed it the flesh and blood of their own kin.
Mingchengzi stepped inside and picked up a jade ring inscribed with the character "Yue."
Judging by the garments on the skeleton, this had clearly been Consort Yue, invested by Emperor Wenguang. Moving to another set of bones, he retrieved another jade ring bearing the character "Jie"—this was Consort Jie.
He shook his head. Who could have imagined that the imperial concubines and princes who followed Emperor Wenguang had long since been reduced to a mound of withered bones?
Chapter 1441