Finished off, lit a fire, crushed the remains.

After completing the Yang Family’s standard post-action procedures, Yang Lingrui finally loosened his stiffened expression. Only then did he realize his entire body was shaking violently—icy fingers and toes contrasting with his burning scalp, heart pounding so fiercely he could hear its drumbeat through his ribs.

Still doubting this reality, he conjured a sharp gust to slice his palm. The sting of warm blood trickling down his arm finally convinced him.

He’d done it.

That single fleeting chance—he’d seized it!

Legs giving way, he slumped to the floor like a puppet with cut strings, the bone-deep relief of surviving a disaster washing over him. He resisted the urge to rifle through Wang Weiming’s robes or claim the storage bag. Solitary Moon Mountain’s Condensing Essence cultivators lurked nearby, and disciples of Wang Weiming’s rank often carried trackable treasures. Killing him undetected here was miracle enough.

After steadying his breathing, Yang Lingrui approached the high platform. The stone slab’s markings remained blurred behind swirling smoke. When repeated probing techniques failed, he reached for it.

His fingertips made contact.

Memories flooded his sea of consciousness alongside a torrent of pure spiritual power. Warmth spread through his veins as his cultivation level skyrocketed—in mere breaths, stabilizing at the peak of the sixth level of Gathering Qi.

No time for celebration. He sat cross-legged, wrestling with the mental deluge. When his eyes refocused half an hour later, the stone slab crumbled to dust.

“The Mayfly Illusion Technique…” he whispered.

The late-stage Condensing Essence body technique now burned in his mind: two components—Mayfly Step and Feather Transformation Illusion. The foundational footwork boosted speed and agility. Master that, and one could conjure an illusionary body mirroring the user’s cultivation level and aura, even mimicking simple techniques—though short-lived and fragile against attacks.

“A true treasure!” His knuckles whitened. “For escape or ambush… perfection.”

Yang Lingrui silently praised.

This technique would finally fill the Yang Family’s lack of inherited body techniques.

After returning home, he’d make copies for all his siblings to practice!

Crack—

As the Inheritance vanished, a stone door rumbled open behind the chamber.

Yang Lingrui glanced at Wang Weiming’s remains reduced to black ashes before exiting.

……

Chongtian City, ChengTian Academy, Hall of Divine Governance.

A boy in red with a vertical braid swept dust from carved table corners using a palm-sized broom.

Three-tiered shelves displayed orderly wood carvings – serpents, winged birds, bizarre insects, spectral beings, and spiritual material sculptures.

Eighty-one figures occupied the top tier, thirty-six on the middle, with nine carvings crowning the bottom level.

Floating flames flickered above most carvings, though some had gone dark.

While cleaning the lowest shelf, the boy noticed an extinguished flame above a twin-tailed insect carving with translucent wings.

“Master! Master!”

He scurried to the courtyard where an old man lounged beneath an elm tree. “The mayfly’s flame went out!”

“Hmm.”

The elder fanned himself lazily. “Wasn’t that the Inheritance called ‘The Mayfly Illusion Technique’?”

“Exactly! The Condensing Essence body technique!” The boy stood at attention. “That makes five Inheritances claimed from the Twenty-Four Secret Treasure Sites!”

“Noted.”

The old man sat up. “What of the Black Snake Secret Treasure?”

“Death energy thickens around its carving. More cultivators perish daily.”

The Black Snake anomaly began two decades prior. Its flame died after the initial opening, only to flicker back during the next decade’s cycle before extinguishing again. This time, the flame had reignited two days after opening and still burned.

“Ten more years survived. Impressive endurance.” The elder stroked his beard. “Should he live through this, I’ll grant both the Transformation Pill and a Condensing Essence stage path.”

The red-clad child wrinkled his nose at these words.

“Master, if you say that, this person might be in real trouble!”

“Hey! You brat!”

The old man raised his hand as if to strike.

The boy in red covered his head and darted aside. “Remember that cultivator in Cloud Dragon Cave? He endured for a century, nearly succeeding until you declared ‘This old man senses his aura – today’s the day of triumph!’ Then boom – lightning struck him dead!”

“And that alchemist in Earth Fire Cave? He’d just completed his elixirs when you said ‘What fortune! I’ll call him Friend when he emerges.’ Then he choked on his own pill toxins!”

“Now you’re jinxing this poor soul again. Twenty years wasted, I tell you~”

Seeing his master scrambling for a switch, the red-clad boy vanished like smoke.

“Damn rascal! He’s driving me mad!” The old man’s beard quivered as he slumped onto his seat. “Fine! I’ll rephrase – whoever emerges from Black Snake Secret Treasure with the final prize gets my precious elixir! Happy now?”

……

Mayfly Treasure Land’s entrance.

Five Condensing Essence cultivators hovered mid-air, maintaining careful distances. Three weren’t Tiger-Chasing locals, here merely on assignment to avoid karma.

The Solitary Moon Mountain protector tapped his foot. He itched to dispatch these juniors and return to Lanyue Sect.

Crack!

A jade token shattered in his robe. His face paled as he lifted the fragments engraved “Wang Weiming”.

“Impossible! How could he fall?”

Four strands of divine awareness brushed his direction. He snarled at the eavesdroppers: “My charge died! None leave until I investigate!”

“Friend jests,” chuckled one. “Treasure lands always claim lives.”

“Since when’s death noteworthy here?” another sneered.

“Shall we abandon cultivation to play inquisitors at every secret treasure site?” the last mocked.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep