The next day, w.a.n.g Wei woke up feeling fresh and alive. He took a deep breath, feeling a vast amount of spiritual qi entering his body and was.h.i.+ng away all of his pain, worries and fatigue--both physically and spiritually.
A few minutes later, a maid knocked on the door signaling w.a.n.g Wei that his bath had been prepared. And so, he followed her to the washroom.
Inside was a gold basin filled with very clear water. However, the water was s.h.i.+ning brighter than polished diamonds. It also exudes an intoxicating scent that could attract lost travelers from thousands of miles away.
"What is this?" asked w.a.n.g Wei, to which the maid answered. "Young master, this is Holy Spring Water. With it, all the injuries and dark wounds you suffered during the Spirit Road Trial will be healed as if nothing ever happened."
w.a.n.g Wei looked at her and said, "I know this is Holy Spring Water. I also know that this is a precious material used when making Healing Saint Pills. I also know that even a sip of it is enough to save any dying cultivators in the Void Shattering Realm and lower. What I"m asking is why is it being used for me to shower?"
The young maid lowered her head and explained. "Young master, it was the order of the Sect Madam."
Upon hearing this, w.a.n.g Wei"s corner of the mouth started twitching. Although he knew that his mother could go a little overboard when it comes to him, he did not think that she would go that far.
"My father must be crying somewhere right about now and secretly cursing her for being too wasteful," thought w.a.n.g Wei.
Meanwhile, the maid--who saw that w.a.n.g Wei was not going into the bath--immediately knelt down and cried, "Young Master, please go into the bath otherwise later I will get into trouble with the Madam."
Seeing her like this, w.a.n.g Wei sighed, then nodded to her. Then, she got up and undressed him, then started to wash his back and hair.
During his bath, w.a.n.g Wei watched as all the scars in his body vanished one by one. Additionally, he felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from his body. He became more light and nimble. The ache he felt sometimes on his back was gone.
The Holy Spring Water was truly a miracle. w.a.n.g Wei felt like he had just acquired a brand new body; it was like he was just a newborn baby taking its first breath in the world.
After his bath, w.a.n.g Wei called w.a.n.g Ju to inform him of what important news he needed to know during the past year.
It was through her that he knew that Ji Song had already recovered and is already in the Bodyrefining Realm 6th-Layer.
Although a little surprise, w.a.n.g Wei thought it was a normal thing considering the deep foundation of the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty. However, he also guessed that they must have paid a steep price to help him recover so quickly.
After reading about Ji Song, he looked at other news of things that happened. Suddenly, he thought of something and asked. "w.a.n.g Ju, do you know the origins of Yan Liling? I"ve never heard of Great Elder Yan Mei having a niece."
As such, w.a.n.g Ju explained. "Yan Liling is the heir trained in the Yan Family Secret World."
"Secret World?"
"Young master, each family in the sect has a Secret World that houses the Main Bloodline. The secret world served as a back up plan to preserve the family bloodline in case something were to happen to the ones outside. It also served as a way to train an heir for the family outside in case their descendants are mediocre. For example, Li Jun is the rightful heir of the Li family, however he was about to be replaced due to his low talent."
"However, since the young master intervened and proved that Li Jun was worth training, he was accepted as the heir of the Li family. As for the Yan family, since Great Elder Yan Mei did not have children, one person was chosen from the countless children in the secret world."
"Oh," said w.a.n.g Wei, "Since Yan Liling became the Yan family"s heir, she must be very talented?"
"Indeed she is. She has an extremely terrifying talent for pill refining. Without starting cultivating, she can use earth fire to make Top grade Profound Tier Pills."
"That is indeed a terrifying talent." said w.a.n.g Wei, then he thought, "No wonder in the Spirit Road Trial, she could identify all of these ancient pills by just smelling them--despite the fact they were all rotten, expired, and even some of which were lost throughout history."
Then w.a.n.g Wei asked. "What about the w.a.n.g Family? Do I have to pay attention to these people in the Secret World?"
"No need to worry, young master. With your talent and what you have accomplished in the past years, your status as heir is 100% guaranteed."
"Well, that"s good. Anything else to report?"
"Yes. The Elders said that one month later, everything will be ready and you can begin."
w.a.n.g Wei just nodded as his father already told him, so he motioned her to get back to her work and notified him if something important happened.
One month later, Great Elder w.a.n.g Fu brought w.a.n.g Wei to a secret location by pa.s.sing countless teleportation formations. He was quite dizzy with all of the teleportation and did not have a single clue to where he was.
w.a.n.g Wei found himself in an extremely large room with countless upper echelons of the sect. He saw his father, grandfather, Dao Protector, Great Elder Li Jiang and Great Elder Yan Mei standing on the side waiting for him.
Great Elder Li Jian of the Alchemy Hall was holding two bottles of pill as they were more precious than his life. Great Elder Yan Ji of the Formation Hall was helping someone setting countless formations in the entire room--from the ground to the ceiling, they were everywhere.
It turns out this woman called Li Fen was one of the Supreme Elders in charge of a.n.a.lyzing the information the sect got from Han Li"s dissection.
After they finished, Supreme Elder Li Fen excitedly motioned w.a.n.g Wei to come over and lay in the middle of the formation with his clothes off.
After shamelessly being nude in a room full of people--including women--w.a.n.g Wei just started to observe the formation around him.
Then, with the help of Great Elder Yan Ji, Great Elder Qin Hua of the Talisman Hall and Great Elder w.a.n.g Fu of the Refining Hall started to paint divine rune all over w.a.n.g Wei"s body.
He recognized some of these runes are from the Formation Rune Body, while the rest were unknown. They must have been modified to fit this occasion.
After the runes were finished painted, Great Elder Li Jian approached w.a.n.g Wei and handed him two pills, then explained. "This pill is the Vitality Protection Pill which will protect vital parts of your body like hearts, brain, and organs. The second pill is the Soul Protection Pill, which will ensure that nothing happens to your soul in case of an accident."
w.a.n.g Wei took the two pills and swallowed them. In only a few seconds, the pills dissipated from into his bloodstream and spread to all parts of his body.
After everything was ready, another Supreme Elder who was responsible for Han Li appeared in front of w.a.n.g Wei holding a grey-white turtle shelf. His name was s.h.i.+n Dong.
"What is this?" he asked, to which True Monarch s.h.i.+n Dong responded. "This is called the [Eight Trigram Turtle Sh.e.l.l]. We borrowed it from the Heaven Mystery Pavilion."
"I thought the sect was supposed to get a cultivation technique from the Heaven Mystery Pavilion?"
"Since there was a better option, we went with it instead. This [Eight Trigram Turtle Sh.e.l.l] is actually an Immortal Artifact that allows its user to summon the River of Fate itself and peep into the fate or secret of myriad things."
After saying that, True Monarch s.h.i.+n Dong looked at the artifact with admiration and a little greed in his eyes, then he continued. "It was forged by a Great Emperor as reward to the Heaven Mystery Pavilion for helping her during her rise. And the pavilion used it as their Luck Condensing Treasure. If it was not due to the power of the Immortal Venerable, they would never allow us to borrow it so easily."
"Borrow?" asked w.a.n.g Wei.
"Yes, borrow. As in you eventually have to return it and more."
w.a.n.g Wei could guess the gist of things. The sect must have made a "deal" with the Heaven Mystery Pavilion that he could use this treasure, and one day in the future, if he manages to prove the Dao, then he has to not only return it, but also pay off the karma of borrowing it.
And if w.a.n.g Wei fails to become a Great Emperor, then the Dao Opening Sect will have to pay his debt off. Of course, that is if they want to. With the ma.s.sive Qi luck of the sect, they can ignore such little karma if they wished to.