Chapter 54: Treasure Trove

Jiang Yu's hand pressed the book, and the yellowed pages instantly glowed.

She only saw fragments of brilliant starlight, rows of characters flying from the book into the Mud Pellet Palace.

Between the old man, the characters condensed into a star cluster, but they were not transmitted to her; instead they were attached to the back of the last page of the Chaos Primordial Talisman book.

Jiang Yu was startled, quickly sending a thread of spirit awareness into the star cluster; the five large characters "Mixed Origin Enlightenment Manual" appeared, but when she tried to look further down, there were only two short verses.

Obscure and hard to understand!

So the Chaos Primordial Talisman is actually a Mixed Origin Talisman? And it shares the same lineage as the Mixed Origin Formula?

She didn't trouble herself, withdrew her spirit awareness to take the book off her head, and when she lifted it, it made no creak.

The whole book cracked and scattered; even when she gently held it, it would split again.

Jiang Yu inhaled a cold breath, unsure how many spiritual stones she would have to pay; a Foundation Establishment practitioner was at this bookshelf.

Seeing her crouch on the ground, unwilling to pick up the pages, he reminded, "Call the steward to handle it; they have special preservation methods."

"Thank you, master uncle." But before she could send a messenger talisman to summon anyone, Dao Xu Immortal had already entered.

All the hidden books have seals; once a book is destroyed, the supervisory formation on the fourth floor receives an immediate alert.

Dao Xu Immortal put on silk gloves, inspected the cracked pages, and then placed them into a special wooden box.

He transmitted, "The original manuscript is ruined; the handwriting is lost."

"If you wish to receive the transmission, you must rewrite it once."

"I only saw two lines of text and can't remember them," Jiang Yu said, skipping over the talisman book.

"Elder, how many more merit points does this require?" She had previously exchanged many items, and upon entering to choose a technique she had already prepaid a hundred merit points.

Currently, her identity jade badge held only nine hundred fifty merit points, while the techniques on the second floor all start at ten thousand spiritual stones.

Dao Xu Immortal led her outside and said, "This book was obtained by an elder of a hidden library several thousand years ago at a wandering cultivator market; it was bought then for only two hundred ninety spiritual stones."

Unfortunately, over the years no junior has been able to see its contents; today its opening is also due to fate.

"You have already prepaid a hundred merit points; this one requires another hundred, but you must rewrite a copy to return."

"Oh, when traveling abroad I sensed a decent technique; as long as the heart feels it, it can be bought back, and the original hidden library accepts all visitors."

"Alright, I'll write it now." Jiang Yu, after a false alarm, thanked the elder who had bought it at a low price.

Dao Xu Immortal took her identity jade badge, deducted the merit points and returned it, saying, "If other characters appear later, continue to rewrite them here."

"Understood." Jiang Yu exhaled silently, took the ready paper and brush on the table and began copying.

Boom—

The first character of the title was not finished when the paper in front of her instantly burst into sparks and ash, even the brush tip was half burned away.

"Switch paper and brush?" Jiang Yu hesitated.

Dao Xu Immortal waved his hand, "Try reciting the verse."

Jiang Yu immediately announced the book's title, but when she tried to utter the first character of the verse, no matter how many times she said it, no sound came out, and the transmission was the same.

Dao Xu Immortal saw sweat on her forehead from anxiety, shook his head and laughed, "Never mind, some techniques can only be unlocked at a certain cultivation level."

"But the disciple doesn't understand the verse and wishes to ask you," Jiang Yu said urgently, not knowing how to practice it.

Dao Xu Immortal instructed her to ponder two or three times daily; with time it will become clear, "If you don't get it in a few days, it will take a few months; if still not, three years."

Read a text a hundred times and its meaning will reveal itself; perfecting your main cultivation technique is essential.

What could Jiang Yu say? Before reaching Foundation Establishment, she had already used up her only chance to go to the second floor.

The first floor has countless techniques, but today is not suitable for choosing; she must set out tomorrow.

Little Turtle Jiang Tu gnawed on a chicken foot, seeing her return without appetite, "Hungry? I saved some braised vegetables for you."

Jiang Yu turned her disappointment into a meal, pairing the braised vegetables with a spiritual mantou.

Then she set aside the mysterious verse and spent a long time studying the Wooden Hidden Talisman, but she still couldn't reproduce it on paper.

"Try using beast skin?" Jiang Tu, good at organizing things, stored the spoils he obtained in the little wooden hut Jiang Yu built in her space.

He thought for a moment, then took two beast skins from the hut's shelf.

Jiang Yu tried, still to no avail, "Later I need to buy some fifth‑tier spiritual material, like peach wood or jujube wood."

She didn't force it now; in the afternoon she only drew ordinary talisman scripts, practiced light skill, and pretended to be a young knight in the mortal world.

When night cultivation ended, she silently recited the verse from the talisman book several times, and as she recited, she drifted into a dream.

The next day, she was full of vigor with a minor chain of qi.

The reason she said so is that on the ship heading to the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, among over two hundred people, she was the second youngest.

The first was the steward's little girl Guan Xun'er, who pulled Jiang Yu to the rail and looked far away, "I'm this old, and it's my first time leaving the sect for ten thousand li."

She didn't say ten thousand li because her grandfather had taken her into Er Mountain to hunt demons and gather herbs.

"The Cloud‑Clearing Boat is fast; after a short while the sect is already out of sight," Guan Xun'er's excitement was evident.

"I've been in the sect for years and rarely go out; the last time I rode a tower boat was the last time," she said, noting that sect distances in the Cultivation World can be tens to hundreds of millions of li.

Jiang Yu had only ever been active in the first market, Tian Nan City, when she first entered the Cultivation World.

"Hahaha, Senior Sister Jiang speaks so interestingly," Guan Xun'er glanced around at the other close companions and immediately erected a sound‑proof barrier.

"Senior Sister Jiang, I always thought you entered the inner gate and would become a disciple under Master Lin."

"He has looked after you, often visiting the Transmission Hall to see Senior Brother Lin and your progress, and my grandfather secretly protected you when you went down the mountain alone."

Jiang Yu couldn't explain, so she changed the subject, "So, were you also present when Ye Lin set the ambush?"

"Um… Senior Sister Jiang, look at the bow; the handsome scholar talking to Sister Ye is Elder Ye's fourth disciple, Master Uncle Deng Yuanwu. He is already in the later stage of Foundation Establishment and has just returned to the sect," Guan Xun'er said, blinking at her a few times.

Jiang Yu only glanced briefly, then greeted Senior Brother Lin, Senior Brother Fan, and Senior Sister Gu on the other side, and pulled her junior sister toward their spot.

Thus when Deng Yuanwu looked up, he couldn't tell who had just looked at him.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yu's side had already entered the tea house with the senior brothers and sisters, drinking tea and chatting about the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.

As for Jiang Yu, she had already gone into the tea house with the senior brothers and sisters to drink tea, chatting with each other about the Ten Thousand Sword Sect.

After several hours, the tower ship entered the deep night and docked at the market square of the Falling Moon Sect.

A Core Formation Real Person from the Falling Moon Sect came to request entry, but Zhuang Real Person and Sang Real Person, leading the group, politely declined, citing that their disciples were currently cultivating and could not stay at the guest hall on the mountain.

In the storage rooms on the second and third floors, the Foundation Establishment disciples were indeed cultivating, while the junior cultivators secretly observed with the naked eye, scanning the ornate lanterns and buildings around the square.

Guan Xuner evaluated: "The Falling Moon Sect's market is much like ours; at the hour of the Rat the street pedestrians thin out, but the tavern and brothel are bustling with voices at this hour.

Senior Sister Jiang, tomorrow we… " She turned, saw that the senior sister on the opposite bed was already in meditation, and said nothing further.

However, there was none.

Jiang Yu could not resist Jiang Tu and, with her spiritual consciousness, sank into the Dragon Pearl space, watching the real‑time image on the dragon stele alternately zoom in and out.

She actually saw someone fighting in a dark alley, but Jiang Tu moved too fast, and the scene flashed away.