After the guidance of the attendants, Long Chen followed a small stone path through the ancient forest.
Birdsong and the fragrance of flowers a.s.saulted him. There were countless precious plants that he saw, many of which he had never seen on the Martial Heaven Continent.
He also noticed marks of eleventh tier medicinal ingredients within the forest. Eleventh tier medicinal ingredients were like divine medicines on the continent, but they were actually just randomly growing here as if they were no more than normal vegetation.
Long Chen was growing more and more shocked by the foundation of this everlasting family. Ever since he had conned the continent’s geniuses in Pill Valley, his wealth had soared, and he had thought that he would at least be able to compete with these ancient powers in terms of money.
However, upon arriving here, he found that he was no more than a local bandit. His eyes were opened to the world.
“Mister Long Chen, I can only bring you here. I’m not qualified to enter past here. If you need anything, you can activate your tablet, and someone will immediately come to a.s.sist you.” After arriving at a small gate, the attendant guiding him stopped.
“Many thanks.” Long Chen cupped his fists in thanks and walked in. Once inside, he sensed an even more ancient air than what he had felt outside.
It was like this s.p.a.ce had sealed the boundless laws of the Heavenly Daos. Even though Long Chen wasn’t an Empyrean, he could sense a bit of it.
“No wonder the alliance head made me come here. This place probably has a formation that sealed some of the energy of the ancient era. In such an environment, one can gain insight into some of the lost aspects of the Heavenly Daos. Regretfully, it’s useless to me.” Long Chen shook his head.
Everyone said that the current Martial Heaven Continent had declined. Not only had the spiritual qi in the air grown spa.r.s.e, but even the laws of the Heavenly Daos had started to become incomplete. So the experts of the current generation on the continent were looked down upon by the experts of the ancient era.
Long Chen had no choice but to admit that these disciples from the ancient powers were truly stronger than the current disciples of the Martial Heaven Continent. Within the same realm, their auras were much stronger. Their auras felt fuller as if they were bigger.
The Martial Heaven Continent’s disciples felt like malnourished children in comparison. There was a qualitative difference between their auras.
“These fellows were smart. Seeing the Martial Heaven Continent start to decline, they concealed themselves, sealing a portion of the ancient Heavenly Dao energy, scrimping and saving through some tough days. But now that the continent has declined, for them to come out once more, they’re instantly at the peak.” Long Chen could only sigh. Those old fellows had made a brilliant move.
Whenever a supreme figure appeared amongst their disciples, they would send them to the Martial Heaven Continent for tempering, and if they were able to reach the point of dominating everyone within the same generation and being unrivaled, they would immediately be sealed.
Sealing a peerless expert like that cost an enormous amount of resources. Even these ancient hidden sects weren’t able to afford it so easily.
So whenever such a peerless genius appeared in one generation, those ancient powers would essentially stop raising the other disciples in the same generation.
Their limited resources had to go into maintaining their bloodline. They were like hibernating animals, just waiting for the great era to come.
Now that the great era had truly come, they were spending all their money, doing everything they could to raise the disciples they had. Before the qi flow eruption, all those slumbering monsters would be awakening.
There was no longer any need for them to preserve their resources. They were going all-out. Long Chen’s guess was that places like the Soul Harmony Courtyard were normally hidden and concealed, treated like absolute treasures. However, now it was taken out as a show of the family’s power.
Long Chen looked at the map and found that this Soul Harmony Courtyard could be treated as its own world. There were many spectacles to see.
Following the path, he pa.s.sed by a mountain stream. The trickling water was clear enough for him to see the bottom, and he saw fish happily swimming inside.
“These are Boneless Koi!” Seeing the rainbow-colored fish, Long Chen’s heart skipped a beat. This was a miraculous fish, on the same level as his Scarlet Blood Spirit Fish.
However, the Boneless Koi were not to be eaten. What was special was their gallbladders. They were so bitter that upon consuming them, it would allow a person to experience all the bitterness of the world. It allowed a person to view the world from another angle, to comprehend another aspect of life. It had a great cleansing effect on a person’s mental realm.
Although he knew that the everlasting family was intentionally showing off a bit, Long Chen had no choice but to admit that they had succeeded. They really had good stuff.
Looking left and right and seeing that there were no people, Long Chen had an urge to jump down and take a few. However, the reason these fish could survive was related to this water. If he put them in the primal chaos s.p.a.ce with the Scarlet Blood Spirit Fish, they probably wouldn’t survive.
“I, Long Chen, am not such a person!”
Long Chen comforted himself and turned away, doing his best not to look at the Boneless Koi again. Continuing, he grew even more shocked. The pavilions built in this area were all made of divine materials. They were overwhelmingly extravagant.
He didn’t run into anyone as he walked, making him take a second look at the map. He realized that he had ended up in an extremely secluded s.p.a.ce.
This was someone else’s territory, so using divine sense to look around was definitely taboo. That was why each person was given a map.
Long Chen looked more closely at the map and saw that a nearby place was marked with a name: the Heavenly Music Stone.
Long Chen walked over to that location and saw that it was a mountain peak. There was a strangely shaped rock located within the trees there.
This stone looked like a lotus flower throne. There was a large stone egg on it.
This egg had natural Dao runes on it that were constantly moving. At the same time as those runes flowed, the music of the Grand Dao filled the air.
That sound was like buzzing, without any rhythm. However, by paying close attention, one could hear the pentatonic scale within it. Although it couldn’t be called a beautiful sound, it pierced people’s hearts.
It struck a cord within Long Chen’s heart. The seven emotions of joy, anger, worry, longing, sorrow, fear, and shock all welled up within him at the same time. At that moment, he no longer felt like a cultivator, but a normal person.
The five notes led to the seven emotions, which activated the six senses. This music of the Grand Dao was transmitted through them all, seeming to contain the essence of heaven and earth. It was like the heartbeat of the world. If you could listen to it long enough, you might be able to see the mysteries of the world.
“The Grand Dao is formless, giving birth to heaven and earth; the Grand Dao is emotionless, moving the sun and moon; the Grand Dao is nameless, nouris.h.i.+ng all life. The Grand Dao is actually simple. Everything in this world has its own Dao, with no Dao better than the last. Greed is what blinds people, and with the leaf in front of them, they don’t see the mountain behind it.” Long Chen unconsciously sighed, his heart filled with emotions.
People pursued the Grand Dao, when every leaf, every tree beside them was the Dao. Everything was the Dao. Even if there was nothing there, it was the Dao as well. As for making a distinction between the Dao, saying some were minor and some were major, that was just laughable, wishful thinking.
“This kind of comprehension is worthy of the world’s current number one expert.”
Just at this moment, a gentle voice rang out, and a figure appeared behind Long Chen.
Long Chen turned to see a white-robed woman. This was the mysterious woman that had appeared when he had killed the experts of the Mechanism Sect.
Every time she took a step, a ripple would appear on top of the ground as if she was walking on top of the water. There were also ripples in the air as if she was currently within a waterfall. Despite being so close, she seemed to be far away. It was both mysterious and holy.
She always appeared silently without Long Chen being able to sense her presence. This was Long Chen’s first time encountering such a terrifying expert.
However, Long Chen had the utmost confidence in the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. The reason he couldn’t sense her was because she had no hostility toward him.
“I"ve made you laugh. A coa.r.s.e man like me is not worthy of a fairy’s praise. Also, please don’t bring up that t.i.tle of the number one expert. I don’t want to get beaten up by others who want that t.i.tle.” Long Chen shrugged helplessly.
So many monsters had appeared, and this world was no longer the same. Who knew just how many people had set their sights on being number one? Long Chen wasn’t afraid of people, but as for fighting to death over some meaningless t.i.tle? That was stupid.
The woman smiled and walked closer. The waterfall around her slowly dissipated, revealing her true appearance.
She had willowy eyebrows and almond eyes, a jasper nose and cherry lips. Her skin was white with a hint of rosiness. Her eyes in particular seemed to contain watery fluctuations as if they could melt a person within them.
In terms of pure looks, she was definitely a beauty, but she wasn’t as flawless as Meng Qi, Leng Yueyan, and Yue Xiaoqian.
However, she possessed a gentleness to her that made people have an automatic urge to protect her to the death.
“This little one is Nangong Zuiyue. I’m sorry for not introducing myself last time, mister Long Chen.”
“You… you are the Nangong family’s top genius?” Long Chen was startled.
The four everlasting families were only going to send their top experts to this gathering. For her to be surnamed Nangong, she was definitely the Nangong family’s top expert.
“I wouldn’t dare to call myself such a thing. I was just born at the wrong time. There wasn’t a genius like mister Long Chen in my era,” said Nangong Zuiyue.
“Ah, please don’t say such a thing. Really, you’re going to give me a big head.” Long Chen waved his hand. It was better to be low-key here, rather than bragging to the point that he ended up slapping his own face.
Just at this moment, rumbling rang out behind him, and a sharp aura pierced toward his shoulder. It came suddenly, like a wild storm.