Lord Xue Ying

The black-robed stooped male waved his hand before passing a talisman to Xue Ying: “Refine this talisman. Only you can use it. Whenever you killed someone from the Ancient Sacred Religion with sufficiently high status, you can activate this talisman anywhere within the region of Nine Cloud Great Land. This will teleport you directly to this palace for you to collect treasures of relevant value.”

Xue Ying refined it after receiving.

“Follow me.” The black-robed male turned around and went ahead. He proceeded deeper along the palace hall. Xue Ying followed behind him.

When they reached a hidden staircase within the palace hall, they went down the stairs before entering a secretive cultivation room.

“This is master’s cultivation room.”

The black-robed male entered the cultivation room with Xue Ying.

Glancing over, this room was huge. It was practically the size of the Myriad Elephant Palace Hall in Great Void Heaven Temple. Actually, located at the front most of the cultivation room were many bookshelves and a large number of original ancient books. These bookshelves occupied about 30% of the entire room.

At the back was an empty space.

There was only a praying mat placed there.

“The bookshelves contained books Master collected or created.” The black-robed male pointed at the praying mat, “And Master would usually cultivate here.”

“You can read all the books within the cultivation room. If you are able to thoroughly grasp them, it is fine for you to impart them to the others.” The black-robed male said, “This is a benefit all ‘aides’ will have. Once you are done and that you plan to leave, just shout for me. I’ll send you away from here.” Saying that, the black-robed male turned around and left.

“I can hear you whenever you speak within the palace.” The black-robed male added before walking out of the room.

And now, only Xue Ying was left in the place.

Xue Ying did not hesitate to walk directly to the bookshelf. He began reading through those books. They were the crystallization of the wisdom of the senior cultivators, and books that could be collected by Monarch Nine Cloud would certainly not be mediocre.

‘Wu?’ Xue Ying looked at the first book in his hand.

This was an ancient cultivation-related book called “Eye of Split Dissolution”.

If the ancient cultivator awakened a talent in something eye-related geared towards offense, they could cultivate along the direction of “Eye of Split Dissolution”. Some ancient cultivation depended purely on luck, and some of the more formidable ones would guide the cultivator to evolve certain parts of his body…’innate’ talent was essential, and guidance after ‘awakening’ was similarly important.

This Eye of Split Dissolution referred to one of the systems at the Cosmos God level within ancient cultivation.

Both eyes would emit the light of split dissolution. Just by staring at a certain place, the entire cosmos could be dissolved and destroyed. Even Cosmos Gods would not dare to use their bodies to withstand against such attacks.

…

Xue Ying carefully read through the books.

Almost half of the books here were related to ancient cultivation. At the least, they could be cultivated to the Primal Chaos level. Some could be cultivated to the Cosmos God level. In terms of strength, the innate talent was essential and guidance after ‘awakening’ was important too. Only when both factors were perfect could one reach large success. The Sacred Master was the strongest ancient cultivator to date.

‘Maybe I can cultivate in ancient cultivation too?’ Xue Ying could not help but have this thought after reading through many of the books on ancient cultivation.

Cultivating multiple systems was considered normal for experts.

Like the bloodline cultivation system, once they reached the peak, they would merely be at the Primal Chaos realm and have to cultivate other systems. Most would choose a system that covered their weaknesses.

Xue Ying did not think of this previously, but now that he had obtained so many different cultivation techniques of the ancient cultivation system… if his luck was excellent, with his high talent, it was possible for him to spend some effort in this.

‘No rush.’

‘I should wait until I’ve settled the matter regarding Jing Qiu and the others. Only then would I have enough time and concentration to cultivate this.’ Xue Ying thought. There were quite a few in Great Void Heaven Temple who cultivated in ancient cultivation too. There was no need to mention about True God disciples, but at least for the Primal Chaos realm giants… like Inquisitive Sky Hall Master, he cultivated in the ancient cultivation, allowing him to easily discover matters happening in the past across a vast region. Furthermore, he could teleport Xue Ying to the Nine Cloud Great Land easily.

This was a talent geared towards supplementary ancient cultivation. It was heaven-defying too. After all, the primal chaos void was too big. For instance, the distance between the Seven Star Oceanic Sacred World and the Nine Cloud Great Land was immense. Even Cosmos Gods had a hard time trying to travel across this distance, yet Inquisitive Sky Hall Master could easily send other people over.

The techniques of the ancient cultivation would sometimes make others envious.

******

After spending half a year, Xue Ying finished reading through all the books. There were only a few that were helpful to his cultivation. After all, it was too difficult at his current realm to find books related to his path. But reading through the books broadened his horizons. At least he had some guesses as to the reason why he could not display the second style of Dark World, the ‘Sky Punishment Edge’.

‘It is most likely related to my heart realm.’ Xue Ying vaguely guessed.

Because in some of the books on absolute art he had read, there were related illustrations: ‘Third boundary: Nirvana Fire, if one has yet to reach the third heart realm, even if one comprehended all the fundamental laws, he would still be unable to display the Nirvana Fire. One has to reach the third heart realm and experience the meaning of nirvana before he can succeed.’

This absolute art had something similar. If Xue Ying did not reach the requisite heart realm, he could not display the technique despite comprehending it.

Just like a mortal drawing, his technique would depend on a particular heart realm. Otherwise, he could not produce drawings of that level.

‘I have to reach the third heart realm…’ Xue Ying was also pondering over it. He was even thinking over all the nirvana meaning illustrated in that absolute art.

According to the illustration of that absolute art, once the cultivator reached a stage of being benevolent and was willing to sacrifice for the public without any complex thoughts, then could he comprehend the meaning of nirvana in the midst of altruism, reincarnating through death. This was also the pre-requisite of achieving the heart realm for the Nirvana Fire.

Xue Ying sat there comprehending for a long time but to no avail. He shook his head. It seemed that the third level of heart realm was something he could not force.

‘Time to leave.’

Xue Ying stood up.

Since he had read through all the books, it was time for him to leave.

Xue Ying looked around the cultivation room. He carefully looked at every single location and landed on certain vestiges of drawings. Many of the drawings had been stopped halfway through, and there was not a single completed drawing!

‘Monarch Nine Cloud cultivated here, and these should be his comprehensions. He then casually drew on the walls.’ Xue Ying guessed. It was normal for experts to draw on the walls casually like graffiti during their cultivation.

‘Some of the absolute arts which have been completed are written into books. Those that aren’t were left on the walls.’

‘Before leaving, I should take a look on these vestiges of drawing. Who knows if I might get something out of it.’

Xue Ying thoroughly looked through them.

But as he inspected, he frowned because it was too complex! Even the absolute arts which Monarch Nine Cloud had yet to complete were extraordinary.

There were certain parts which he could understand as he observed, but he only comprehended a little.

As Xue Ying watched, he would walk along the walls. Suddenly, when he reached a corner, he saw the continuous drawings on the wall. There were a total of four drawings, and the first three were completed, with the fourth being unfinished. Clearly, this was a certain absolute art which had yet to be completed.

These four drawings which Xue Ying was inspecting…

“Weng~’

Suddenly, many silk strands appeared in front of Xue Ying. They formed a hazy complex but substantial array diagram. Clearly, Xue Ying was attempting to ponder over it.

Xue Ying remained very calm, but as he continued thinking and researching about it, his face gradually revealed an astonished look.

‘This, this is…’

Xue Ying waved his hand, causing the praying mat from afar to fly beneath his body. He sat down cross-legged and began putting all his concentration into comprehending, ‘This seems to be somewhat related to my Voidwalker lineage system?’