Chapter 77: Inheritance
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Eh?"
Fang Yuan approached the side of the cave, examined it carefully, and felt anxious.
"This tunnel is smooth and doesn't seem to be formed naturally, but rather, man-made... Furthermore, the layer of rocks outside is obviously a cover-up. There was too much commotion made by the red-eyed white king bird and I while we were fighting, and the rocks gave way?"
After re-enacting the scene, Fang Yuan made a guess on what caused the rocks to give way.
"It seems that this spiritual land is not unclaimed. Did someone discover it before me?"
With this thought, he became solemn.
"Seeing the surroundings outside, it seems that it had been quite a while since someone came here?"
Fang Yuan lit a tree branch and threw it into the tunnel.
"Whoosh!"
The flame was huge and the surroundings were illuminated.
"There is no air circulation, so how is it possible..."
Seeing this, he became suspicious. "How is it possible for fresh air to enter this secret tunnel? Could it be that there is another tunnel inside that leads to the outside world?"
Who would have thought that within the nest of the red-eyed white king bird there would be a secret tunnel?
What was even more surprising was that this tunnel was antique, but seemed like it was rebuilt, and smelled like it was lost in time.
"Flower Fox Ferret!"
Fang Yuan nodded his head. The Flower Fox Ferret dashed into the cave and appeared after a short while.
"Is there any danger?"
Seeing the response of the Flower Fox Ferret, Fang Yuan sighed and carefully entered the cave.
The four walls of the cave were smoothened out, and with the light from the flame, a distinct shadow could be seen on the wall.
"This is impossible... What material is this made out of?"
Fang Yuan touched the wall, and it felt cold and smooth, like the finest silk, or a mirror. It was shocking.
Furthermore, within the woods, the purpose of a secret tunnel would be to bring convenience and act as a shortcut, or a hiding place; there was no need to make it so exquisite.
Unless... It was effortless to make it as such.
Fang Yuan continued walking inwards, and his shadow continually appeared on the walls, overlapping each other, appearing somewhat hypnotic.
All of a sudden, a layer of fog appeared, covering the ground.
"Go to sleep! Sleep!"
A strong hypnotic force was felt as Fang Yuan became sleepy.
"This is... The unknown force surrounding Green peak spiritual land?"
Fang Yuan felt a chill down his spine.
Surrounding the spiritual land, there was a similar hypnotic force protecting the land. This force seemed to only affect humans, and even Fang Yuan himself was previously affected by it, and only pulled through with a little bit of luck. After that incident, he slowly grew a resistance to it.
However, the force here was stronger by 10 times! 100 times!
Fang Yuan felt his eyelids becoming heavy, and even the miniature elemental force within him felt lazy, and he could not call upon it.
"The mind is the owner of the body. If it is calm, it will become wiser; if it is unsettled, one will become lost. In meditating, one must find peace and leave all behind. Only if this is fulfilled would someone find void and reconcile with the teachings. In leaving everything behind and meditating, there are four deviations in which one must avoid, and they are: The mind lost in blindness, the mind cannot be controlled, the mind does not know where it comes from and where to go, and one's thoughts do not agree with one's actions. Only by overcoming these four difficulties would one be able to control their mind and enter the next step of cultivation..."
In a moment, the entire Meditative Tea Ceremony appeared in his head.
Fang Yuan crossed his legs, sat down and began to recite.
After a while, he felt a cooling sensation flowing from his consciousness. He felt a chill all over, and the restricted inner force began to flow smoothly throughout his entire body again.
Fang Yuan opened his eyes, and a furry face appeared in front of him.
"Keke!"
The Flower Fox Ferret looked at Fang Yuan, and seeing that he was alright, patted its chest with its paws, as though it heaved a sigh of relief.
There was an urgent chirp coming from outside, and the Iron-tailed Black Eagle sounded rather desperate. It was too big-sized to enter the tunnel and could only make a commotion outside to attract attention.
"I'm alright!"
Fang Yuan shouted, and appeased the two spiritual beasts. He felt comforted that spiritual beasts were much more loyal than humans; if Zhou Wenwu was here instead, who would've known what would happen.
After getting a grip, Fang Yuan looked at the tunnel. The walls were as reflective as before, and the fog rose up from the ground as though he was in Heaven; the only difference was that there was no more hypnotizing effect.
"Master... You saved me once more..."
Fang Yuan sighed and walked on.
Very quickly, he approached a dead end. There was a crystal door made up of many tiny crystals.
Above the door was a crack, and within it was an obvious green colour. It seemed like a squarish jade piece.
With its features, Fang Yuan could recognise from one look and recall the jade with the Blood Magic Technique.
Without hesitation, he stretched his hand out to retrieve the jade.
"It is indeed similar..."
There was no special trap or mechanism when Fang Yuan attempted to retrieve it. He tried to push the crystal door, but it was as firm as a mountain and would not budge.
Mustering up all his strength, he tried a few more times. Fang Yuan was disappointed that even with his current strength, he still could not open the door.
"If the top of the door could have this piece of jade, then I wonder what other treasures would be inside?"
Fang Yuan hesitated, thought about it, and placed the jade on his forehead. He focused his magical energy on his Mind Palace, and something broke through.
"Rumble!"
A rumbling was heard from around. Fang Yuan became dizzy and a scene appeared in front of him!
Within the fog, an old man wearing a feathered robe appeared in front of the door, and looked over, full of compassion.
"Master?!"
Witnessing this scene made Fang Yuan feel like he was seeing a ghost!
This old man's image was exactly this same as his buried Master- Master Wenxin!
He witnessed Master Wenxin's last breath and even saw his body being cremated, and tombstone erected.
"Fang Yuan, do you feel shocked after witnessing this scene?"
Master Wenxin jokingly asked, and his tone and expression were the same as how Fang Yuan remembered him. "Master must let you know, that this is not a joke, nor it is my rebirth from the dead. What you are witnessing now is the imagery I left behind... This spiritual land was set-up by myself, and only you can pass the tests along the way to make it alive here!"
"Imagery..."
Fang Yuan realised that the surroundings were not real, but just a figment of his imagination. "Whatever is recorded in this jade is now playing in my mind? Is Master this powerful? This move is unprecedented... Furthermore, setting up this spiritual land?"
One of his suspicions was removed.
With such a strong hypnotic force around the entire mysterious spiritual land, how could his Meditative Tea Ceremony easily counter it?
The only possibility was that he held the 'key' to it!
This land was an inheritance from Master Wenxin!
After he cleared this doubt, another doubt arose. "Master... What kind of person are you, why would you leave it here for me to discover and not pass it to me directly?"
"When I was young, I made a little name for myself. I became tired of the happenings in the city and left to live in the secluded valley, then subsequently met you. All this is fate..."
Of course, Master Wenxin could not answer Fang Yuan's question; after all, he was just an imagery and had no mind of its own. It could only continue as to how it was programmed. "Master initially prepared to bring all my teachings to the grave, and let you led a simple life. That might be a good choice, but after that, I realised that you were not a normal person!"
Even though this was just an imagery, Master Wenxin's expression still shocked Fang Yuan, as though he was being seen through. He began to suspect if Master Wenxin had known about his secret all along.
"Therefore, as a special person, you will undergo a special journey. Your life will be full of surprises... Master shall leave you this piece of land, and see if fate brings you here!"
At the end, Master Wenxin's tone became serious. "Master will split my inheritance into a few parts, and you have to progressively inherit in order to receive the full inheritance. This is for your own good; after all, my teachings are too dangerous... But if you may succeed in the future, you can stand tall and proud..."
"Lastly, after inheriting what I have for you, you will definitely pass it down. I use to have a nickname in the past, called 'Heartless'..."
After Master Wenxin's description, Fang Yuan's expression kept changing; from the joy at the beginning, to being surprised by his master, then shock. It was complicated.
After a long while, the imagery disappeared, and what was left was a line of words.
"Master's inheritance..."
Fang Yuan did not read on. He kept the jade, looked at the crystal door, confused, and suddenly, he knelt down and kowtowed three times.
"Master, don't you worry. As your disciple, I will pass down whatever I have learnt, take over whatever you might have, and also... take your revenge!"
"Dong! Dong!"
After paying his respects, he left without turning around.
Master Wenxin's inheritance was split into a few parts, and without accomplishing what was written on the jade, no one could open the door, not even by brute force. Fang Yuan had no other choice but to leave.
The information he gathered today was too much for him. He needed to calm down and think through it.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
Fang Yuan took a quick glance at the unconscious red-eyed white king bird, went out to the cliff, rode the Iron-tailed Black Eagle, and flew over the Green Peak spiritual land.
Although this spiritual land was rather small, it was still over half a square mile. Although most of it was hilly and uneven, to Fang Yuan, it could be flattened out and converted to a farm and it could be expanded by another 200,000 square yards.
"Such a spiritual land with a dream-like surrounding... Who would have known that it was made by Master from scratch..."
Fang Yuan looked at the entire spiritual land, and his became increasingly shocked. "Is he a dream master?"
Based on Master Wenxin, he was a dream master.
A dream master was different from a spiritual knight who could conjure spells with the flick of a wrist and different from an alchemy master who could make spiritual pills. A dream master was much more superior, and based on rumours, on the list of talents, a dream master was ranked first, and if becoming a dream master was impossible, only then would one consider to become a spiritual knight or an alchemy master.
Furthermore, if one were to become a true high-level dream master, his dream world could be actualised, and such dream-like surroundings would be formed!