Chapter 101: The Old Ancestor’s Great Secret

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: The Old Ancestor’s Great Secret

The Emperor’s Palace was adjacent to the main Imperial Palace, serving as the place where the Old Ancestor lived out his golden years in retirement.

Every plant and tree was personally planted by the Old Ancestor; every brick and tile was personally laid by his own hands.

「One thousand three hundred years ago.」

Before his death in the Emperor’s Palace, the royal family’s Old Ancestor—a man who possessed wealth, fame, and power unrivaled in all of Jing Country—pointed to this land and uttered a single sentence.

"I have left my greatest secret right here."

That single sentence ignited a passionate obsession within the entire royal family that lasted for centuries.

For the next several hundred years, nearly every royal descendant found all manner of excuses to visit the Emperor’s Palace, searching for the Old Ancestor’s so-called greatest secret.

However, thirteen hundred years passed, and not a single person ever found so much as a trace of the secret the Old Ancestor had left behind.

As time went on, interest in the Emperor’s Palace’s secret eventually faded into obscurity.

Su Han had heard Prince Jing speak of this matter before—the one about the Emperor’s Palace holding the Old Ancestor’s greatest secret.

He even knew that back in the day, both Prince Jing and Emperor Jing had come to the Emperor’s Palace, filled with high hopes, to search for that same so-called greatest secret.

As for the result... rumor had it the search ended with his Uncle—the one known for his peerless genius and lifelong wisdom—getting so scared by a stray cat that he wet his pants.

Just like his last visit to the Imperial City, this time... Emperor Jing had, as expected, arranged for Su Han to stay in the Emperor’s Palace.

As he stepped through the gates of the Emperor’s Palace, Su Han’s thoughts naturally drifted to the legend of its secret.

He didn’t have the means before, but now he just wanted to be a good—pfft, wrong script.

He didn’t have the means before, but now he had the Eye of Truth.

’If the Emperor’s Palace really does hold the Old Ancestor’s greatest secret... if there’s one person left in this world who could possibly discover it—’

’—then,’ Su Han thought, ’it would have to be me, the one who wields a piece of identification Divine Magic like the Eye of Truth, right?’

With his eyes gleaming with anticipation, Su Han scanned the entire Emperor’s Palace, but he couldn’t find anything that even remotely looked like it was hiding a grand secret.

What he did find, however, was a large willow tree—one among the many plants personally sown by the Old Ancestor—shimmering with a golden light in his eyes.

’So, could it be that there’s no grand secret in the Emperor’s Palace at all?’

’Was it all just a massive prank the Old Ancestor played on everyone before he died?’

Standing beneath the willow tree glittering with golden light, Su Han felt he might have discovered the truth.

’No! It’s not that there isn’t a secret!’

’The Old Ancestor... he definitely did leave his life’s greatest secret here in the Emperor’s Palace.’

’And what’s more, it was a secret Su Han had probably known for a long time—the Old Ancestor... was a massive troll!’

’He had to pull one last prank before he died, playing a joke on all his descendants that fooled them for thirteen hundred years. That... was probably the true secret the Old Ancestor left behind.’

The more he thought about it, the more Su Han felt he was closing in on the truth.

Shaking his head with a sense of resignation, Su Han gave up on finding any other secrets. For now, he would just have to accept that the Old Ancestor’s greatest secret was the fact that nobody knew what a massive troll he was.

He glanced around. Other than Su Xiao’Er and Su Yi, there was no one else nearby.

Su Han turned to Su Xiao’Er. The familiar glint in his master’s eyes sent a jolt of panic through Su Xiao’Er.

’His Highness, he wouldn’t be...’

"Su Xiao’Er."

Su Xiao’Er snapped to attention. "Crown Prince?"

"Su Xiao’Er, look at this tree. Doesn’t it look a bit familiar to you?"

Su Xiao’Er: "...Crown Prince, in what way do you mean familiar?"

Su Han pointed at the glittering golden willow tree.

"Look at this big willow tree. It has roots, a trunk, and branches. Most importantly, it even has willow leaves."

Su Xiao’Er: "..."

’Isn’t that... just the basic definition of a tree?’

’If it had poplar leaves, could you still call it a big willow tree?’

"Sigh..."

Seeing Su Xiao’Er’s dumbfounded expression, Su Han sighed in resignation.

"Crown Prince, what is it?"

Su Han looked at Su Xiao’Er. "Su Xiao’Er, do you remember a certain theory I once proposed?"

"Which theory are you referring to, Crown Prince?"

"Do you remember how I once said that you can never find two identical leaves in the entire world?"

Su Xiao’Er nodded. "You have said that, Crown Prince."

"Mm, that’s right."

Su Han let out another long sigh. "But... I think I’m now looking at a big willow tree that’s identical to one I’ve seen before."

Su Xiao’Er: "...Crown Prince, you mean...?"

Su Han turned to look at the glittering golden willow beside him, a hint of mock melancholy on his face. "So... shall we burn it? If we burn it, there won’t be two identical big willow trees in the world anymore."

Su Xiao’Er: "..."

Watching Su Han cast a Rain of Fire and seeing the great willow tree engulfed in a sea of flames, Su Xiao’Er felt an odd sense of familiarity.

’This... must be the fourth tree personally planted by the Old Ancestor that His Highness has burned down, right?’

’So... is the Crown Prince just burning a tree, or does he have some kind of grudge against the Old Ancestor?’

The thought vanished as quickly as it came. Su Xiao’Er didn’t dare to dwell on it.

Glancing at Su Han, whose eyes were glowing as he stared at the willow tree being consumed by flames, Su Xiao’Er hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking a question.

"Crown Prince, you said this willow tree looked familiar... I was just wondering, when did you see one that looked just like it?"

Su Han glanced back at Su Xiao’Er, tilting his head in thought. "Hmm... If I remember correctly, it must have been about ten years ago?"

After a moment, he nodded in confirmation. "Yes, at least ten years."

Su Xiao’Er: "..."

’Ten years... If I’m not mistaken, ten years ago, His Highness was... in the Imperial City?’

His expression turning a little stiff, Su Xiao’Er asked another cautious question.

"Um... Crown Prince, do you happen to remember where, exactly, that was ten years ago?"

Su Han gave him a surprised look. "Don’t you remember when we attended the Grand Court Assembly with my father and mother ten years ago?"

"We were staying right here in the Emperor’s Palace!"

Su Xiao’Er: "..."

Glancing at the willow tree, still burning fiercely, Su Xiao’Er... felt an inexplicable pang of sympathy for it.

He opened his mouth, but ultimately, he couldn’t bring himself to say the words on the tip of his tongue. ’Your Highness... do you think there’s a possibility...’

’...that this... is the very same willow tree you remember seeing back then?’

Su Han couldn’t care less which willow tree it was. Even if it was one the Old Ancestor had personally planted, that didn’t change the fact that it was a Skill Tree.

’And if it’s a Skill Tree... then there’s no reason to let it go to waste!’

So, really, he wasn’t targeting the Old Ancestor. It’s just that the Old Ancestor left behind... well, quite a few Skill Trees!

At this thought, Su Han couldn’t help but feel a little wistful again.

’If the Old Ancestor were still alive,’ he mused, ’with his special talent for planting Skill Trees, if we were to work together in earnest, wouldn’t my Divine Sea reach Perfection in just a few years?’

Still feeling a bit wistful, Su Han opened the Skill Tree’s Skill List.

Inside, two selectable skills lay waiting.