Chapter 514: Twice Imprisoned, Finally Obtaining the Inheritance

"This, how is this possible?! Where did you get this spiritual Qi!"

"There is actually still a little bit in the air; if it really doesn't work, one can try to find substitutes. After all, nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets their mind to it!"

The old mage heard these words and felt as if they were deafening.

I was shocked; if it were him, perhaps he could truly accomplish what others could not! Perhaps this was the opportunity to replace that girl Qing Lan, allowing her to stop suffering, and the starting point to truly resolve the disaster of the Grudge Demons! His heart roared with these thoughts, and the flame of persistence, which had never been extinguished, burned fiercely as fuel and firewood were violently added to it.

"Kid, you must not attract attention from now on. You need to know that excessive abnormality will invite fear from others. It is best if you maintain a situation similar to your father's, or perhaps slightly better. This way, you can make everyone acknowledge that you are capable of succeeding him and carrying forward his legacy, without inviting exclusion or targeting too early!"

The old mage warned him solemnly. The genius opposite him was slightly stunned, then nodded hesitantly.

A certain intuition told him that this might not be right.

But another impulse made him choose to accept it.

He did not want to leave his hometown immediately, he still needed to find a way to save his mother, and most crucially...

In short, after that, the old mage taught him everything he knew.

It took less than two years for him to teach everything he knew.

One must know that he was originally the sole successor of a certain sect, shouldering its entire heritage. After joining the Research Association, he learned even more of the various methods gathered there. His knowledge had long since surpassed his cultivation realm; although many were only half-understood, the quantity was truly not low.

And the young genius absorbed them all! A direct example was that he modified the alchemy method, created a new type of medicinal pill to treat his mother's body, and the results were quite good. In the current situation where spiritual herbs have gone extinct and only a few remain in storage, it was simply shocking!

I must go back to the Association! The old mage felt his responsibility was heavy; he had to go to the Research Association to bring back more and deeper method inheritances, and most crucially, the various research and investigation records of predecessors and contemporaries regarding the Grudge Demons.

Then.

"Sorry, these cannot be given to you."

In the Research Association, the Association Head before him looked the same as ever, never having been defeated by setbacks. Her gaze was still so bright that it was hard to look directly at her, yet her mouth uttered unbelievable words.

The old mage now dared to look directly at her; he was so angry that his hair and beard stood on end, looking like a crazed lion.

"Why! He clearly has unimaginable talent. According to the ancestor's notes, he is the kind of person who can overturn the status quo and break the deadlock. Why do you want to delay and stop him!"

Completely incomprehensible! Wu Rui felt the same.

Watching this memory jump to this point, she seemed to be able to feel the anger and hatred that had not yet diminished or dissipated. A sense of confusion and déjà vu arose spontaneously, and she couldn't help but lower her eyes, unable to bear watching any further.

Du En continued to watch calmly.

He could see that the Association Head did not give any reason, only sighed slightly, then slowly shook her head, her attitude very firm.

The old mage did not notice that small action at all. At this moment, he only felt a sense of betrayal; he was still shocked and angry, but also began to calm down.

If I can't get it openly, I'll steal it! This thought arose in his heart.

So, on the surface, he continued to argue his case and pester her, attempting to persuade her, while secretly he began to make preparations, intending to strike fiercely when the time was ripe!

And then he was caught.

Actually, he had almost succeeded.

After all, he was very familiar with the Research Association, and he had been tempered on the battlefield, having practiced an excellent Earth Escape technique. Even though the Scripture Storage Tower, which kept various inheritance records, had restrictive arrays, he still managed to sneak in.

It was just that at this critical moment, another major event happened in the Research Association, which affected the Scripture Storage Tower, causing him to be accidentally discovered and then captured. Ultimately, because the situation was not normal, he was only hastily sentenced to fifteen years of imprisonment.

"It is as if fate had destined it so."

Wu Rui glanced at the old mage, who was still somewhat dazed when he was locked up, and couldn't help but whisper softly.

Du En's eyes rippled slightly as he listened, but he was now more concerned about another point.

Just in the aftermath of the event that had just occurred, although it was not directly shown, the old mage had only heard clues from afar at the time and was too busy to care due to the upheaval, and later forgot about it. But now that the memory was reproduced, even though it was very blurry, he still heard and noticed it.

Grudge Demon Association! Within the Research Association, it seemed that at that time, a new organization split off.

One could tell what they were generally trying to do just by the name, so Du En secretly took note of it.

It was a pity that the old mage and that side were two completely diverging trajectories, and he never had any contact with them afterward.

When his prison term ended, the first thing he did was rush to see his disciple, fearing that he had fallen into the hands of those who had deviated from their original intentions!

Naturally, nothing had happened to him. By now, he was a high-spirited young man with quite a reputation in his hometown. Everyone acknowledged that "a tiger father has no dog son," and it was clear he had followed the old mage's words to hide his light, not showing anything too extraordinary.

He breathed a sigh of relief at this. He had wanted to show himself and meet him, to talk about their experiences over the years, but at this moment, another matter came to mind, so he made a new decision and did not show himself. Because what he was about to do next was a serious crime that might affect the other side!

"Hmph! Since the Research Association does not support me, then I will go outside the Qing Kingdom to look. There must still be other inheritances left by our ancestors there, as well as the efforts of predecessors from other past kingdoms. Kid, you wait patiently for me; your master will definitely bring back what you need!"

So he secretly returned to the Border Great Wall, which he had thought he would never approach again in this life. And then, just after finding a gap in the patrols to slip out, he was caught again.

The Qing Kingdom imperial court, the Research Association, and the Divine Tree Sect—the sages of all three parties had arrived, waiting outside the city wall to block him, looking as if they had been prepared and anticipated it.

Even though he had been on guard, even though he had been hiding...

"Damn it, have you all fallen?!"

Amidst his unwilling roar, the old mage was thrown into prison again!

A hundred-year sentence, imprisoned nearby! But this time, he anticipated defeat before victory. Even though his entire cultivation base was sealed, he relied on various preparations made in advance and spent nearly five years secretly escaping from the cage.

He had intended to leave the Border Great Wall immediately, but unexpectedly saw his good disciple.

"What is going on?! How did my good disciple become such a fool, without a shred of his former cleverness?!"

He watched from afar as the other party revealed a look of confusion and doubt, standing blankly in place and thinking hard. He was simply shocked beyond words, because that was not the demeanor a genius should have! Then, his face became ferocious and terrifying; he had already reached a conclusion.

Someone had made a move to seal his Spirit Platform! Who could it be? Who else could it be!

"The Association Head..."

She was the only one he had ever told about parts of his disciple's situation, and both times he was caught, she had been involved.

Finally confirming that he had been betrayed, the old mage was filled with killing intent, but realized helplessly that he could not confront her at all, because she was the only Golden Core stage cultivator within the current Qing Kingdom, and an incomparable Golden Core Perfection at that!

"It can only be this way, there is no other plan..."

He was full of pain and regret. He had no time to delay, so he chose to leave a letter for his disciple and left the Border Great Wall, intending to leave the Qing Kingdom from another place. He had to retrieve his ancestor's inheritance, he still had to come back to defeat the Association Head, and he even more so had to help his disciple change the status quo of the Qing Kingdom! All sorts of persistence drove him to continue his actions.

He even shattered a certain invisible cognitive barrier.

The border outside the Border Great Wall was like a drawn line in the eyes of the people of the Qing Kingdom; they were certain that no danger would ever come from there, and in their daily lives, they would never even think about that place. The whole thing was strange and unnatural.

Now, Du En and Wu Rui followed the old mage's perspective and saw the Qing Kingdom border beyond the Border Great Wall.

It was an endless abyss of a natural chasm!

Several broken Dharma artifacts are fixed in its deepest reaches, their ends towering like high mountains, protruding from the abyss as if piercing into the body of a star, thereby curbing the Grudge Demons from climbing and spreading from this place, preventing the Qing Kingdom from being attacked from both front and rear, while also emitting a cognitive obstruction to the outside, causing the people of the Qing Kingdom to overlook and forget this place, so as to avoid the breeding of any accidents.

"Sixth-rank Dharma artifacts, no, they are Dharma treasures. Have True Immortals descended into this realm before, only to eventually fall?"

Du En began to ponder rapidly, quickly reviewing the roster of True Immortals of his sect that he had once consulted, but he could not find any True Immortals corresponding to these Dharma treasures.

He was not surprised by this; after all, there are those officially registered, and naturally, there are those who remain hidden and unregistered.

In truth, it was also because his clearance was insufficient; otherwise, he would have been able to consult the master roster of True Immortals.

That is not something that can be hidden; it is a true roster that collects all True Immortals within the entire territory of the Falling Feather Immortal Sect through the involvement of karma and fate. The target of this Summoning of True Immortals order is the true roster, so even the hidden True Immortals currently above the Grudge Demon Realm were summoned.

For now, he suppressed these thoughts. He could see the old mage crossing the natural chasm and going outside the Qing Kingdom... Amidst a sound of blurring and tearing, the obsession memory began to become mottled and fragmented, as if it had touched some ominous taboo, causing this situation to occur, and it was about to come to an abrupt end as it could no longer continue.

"Playing the mystery."

Du En raised his hand and used great Dharma power.

An interference technique imitated from the heaven-gifted geniuses of this realm.

Easily excluding and eliminating the external interference.

Thus, the blur and mottling faded, and the memory flowed again.

"How could it be... like this?"

The old mage was bewildered at this moment, even feeling a nameless fear.

He had originally thought that this trip would surely be climbing a mountain of blades and descending into a sea of fire, that a moment of carelessness would lead to his death, or even being eaten alive by a large group of Grudge Demons; he had imagined all sorts of horrors.

As a result, after leaving the Qing Kingdom, he saw that the outside world was a scene of extreme ordinariness.

Birds and beasts, primeval forests, peaceful and quiet—it was terrifying! How could the lair and origin of the Grudge Demons be in such a state?!

In his panic, he flew by controlling his artifact, crossing high mountains and seeing oceans; except for the lack of sunlight and human traces, everything else was a scene of natural harmony.

Finally, he suddenly had a premonition and chose to fly to a high altitude. Looking down, he was immediately filled with a bone-chilling horror as if falling into an abyss.

That continuous, harmonious, strange, and absurd wilderness, that primitive nature that should not exist, was like a giant mouth biting at the Qing Kingdom, where people still lived and which was shielded by the Azure Sky.

The star is eating people!

When he realized this, something quietly crept toward him, like a tongue extended by something that had noticed food attempting to escape and did not want it to run away.

In his horror, he was dazed and did not notice it at all.

Just as he was about to be eaten, the Azure Sky Divine Tree swayed slightly.

When the old mage came to his senses, he found himself appearing at the edge of the boundary chasm.

He developed a misunderstanding about this.

"It is the ancestor!"

Only then did he notice the mountain-like Dharma treasures inserted into the depths of the chasm. Recalling the horrifying scene he had witnessed, he immediately felt that these broken Dharma treasures were like nails, pinning down that terrifying giant mouth.

Admittedly, such a situation did exist, but the power of these broken, ancient relics was no longer sufficient to do anything else. The gaps in the Qing Kingdom's border were also caused by this, and it was only by the help of the Azure Sky Divine Tree that they could barely hold their ground.

The old mage's vision was limited after all, so he only felt that by studying and exploring the ancestor's relics, he could obtain the ancestral inheritance he desired.

In fact, he really did stumble upon the truth.

The natal Dharma treasures of immortal cultivators carry and imprint their Dao and their Dharma. This is even more true after reaching the Void Refinement stage, as they contain specific inheritances and techniques.

The old mage began to study, and with his genius talent, he gained the recognition of one of them.

After all, the Spirit Severing stage is the threshold for geniuses, and the Void Refinement stage is a realm that only strong geniuses can step into. Therefore, when faced with a genius who stood out among the descendants, the relic, which was about to fail, naturally followed suit and chose to pass on its technique.

Dharma treasures also have spirits.

Although Du En's does not.

The subsequent development was well within expectations.

The Grudge Demon gloomy rain fell, the star withered as a whole, and the evil transformation reached a new stage.

Whether it was the True Immortal relics or the Azure Sky Divine Tree, neither could hold on any longer.

Seeing that the situation was bad, the old mage returned to the Qing Kingdom, and subsequently, he was unable to resist the fall into corruption. Because of the intense hatred he held for the Research Association, he drove straight in, killing his way toward the Research Association, eventually stopping in front of the outer Great Canyon, where he wandered, unable to enter.

Just as his disciple had predicted!

Here the obsession memory ends.

Du En became thoughtful.

"The situation in the Light-Severing Star Realm before was perhaps the same as here: the star was undergoing evil transformation and eating people. Whether they were True Immortals, mortals, or even ordinary True Monarchs, they were all viewed as food on the plate, a part of its own growth. If they wanted to run, they would be suddenly eaten. And then, Great Cultivator Mo Ju interrupted the evil transformation..."

"Bring, bring it to him..."

A trembling voice sounded before him.

In the reality outside the obsession memory, the purifying azure light began to dim. The old mage was experiencing a final burst of lucidity. He struggled to pull a box from his bosom; the various sealing techniques on it had long been tottering, and now, having just been unsealed by magic, it shattered impatiently, revealing the rusty yellow small sword inside.

That was the hope he had taken great pains to retrieve, the legacy obtained from his ancestor.

(End of this chapter)