Chapter 153: Grilling

What is the meaning of the Hidden Ancient prefix? In this world, it means power, resources, and unimaginable wealth. Why is that?

It is all because of the history and development of this world. In ancient times, according to records uncovered by sages of the current era, spiritual qi was many times more abundant than it is today, especially during the Primordial Era.

It is even said that precious herbs, for which many sects kill each other to obtain today, were equivalent to roadside grass that people casually pulled from their flowerbeds. Spirit stone mines did not produce common spirit stones filled with impurities. Instead, they produced supreme spirit crystals that were used in daily life.

Gods and immortals walked upon the earth. The concept of a mortal was as foreign to them as the concept of stars and sky is to an earthworm, completely foreign and unimaginable, as every life form was born with at least Nascent Soul Realm cultivation.

These points illustrate the difference between ancient times and the current era, especially the Primordial Era.

Thus, the Hidden Ancient prefix refers to forces or factions that survived those turbulent times and endured until today. Even though they have weakened greatly due to the decline of spiritual qi and the changes in the laws of heaven and earth,

the accumulation of their wealth remains immense. More importantly, the cultivation methods from those old eras are usually far more powerful than those of the current era. However, they also require much stricter qualifications from cultivators who wish to practice such techniques.

These factions are usually few in number, but they wield highly destructive techniques and possess terrifying individual strength. Some great clans of that time even had specialized divisions that served them, such as death warriors who would do anything for their masters and go to any length to complete their tasks.

However, most people assume that the Ancient prefix refers only to the old eras no earlier than the Demonic Dominance Era.

This is because the gap between the Primordial Era and the Demonic Dominance Era is vast, even greater than the gap between the Demonic Dominance Era and the current era.

Besides, proof of the Primordial Era, such as the Primordial Era ruins, was only recently discovered by Wei Chen. This provided the first solid evidence to scholars that this era truly existed and was not merely myth or folklore.

Mo Jue, who was listening to his subordinate’s guess on the other side, felt as if he had just discovered a new continent. He was stunned speechless by the notion. Why had he not thought of that before?

“Continue gathering clues and evidence. If possible, try to determine what kind of technique, signature move, or weapon they used and report back to me,” Mo Jue said.

“Yes, Lord Patriarch,” the other side replied.

Mo Jue hung up the call and placed the U Phone on his desk. Then he took out a small wooden box and opened it. Inside was a small pile of silver dust. It was the residue from the disintegrated sword shard he had once used.

This thing had given him many questions and left him constantly pondering over it. When he tried to find answers by consulting a sage who might know something about it, it only brought him even more questions.

Yes, as the patriarch of his own sect, Mo Jue did not trust anyone unconditionally except his daughter. He had already investigated Wei Chen’s background before, and he had found nothing unusual.

But after Wei Chen gave his daughter a sword shard as collateral for his debt, he was no longer sure that Wei Chen was truly who he claimed to be.

He thought back to a month ago, when he brought this silver dust to the Heavenly Sword Sect to consult Jian Heng.

When he arrived, Jian Heng invited him to sit in his private courtyard. There, he witnessed an unbelievable scene. The Eternal Ice that had frozen Jian Heng’s beloved Su Yurong was melting.

The ice was being melted by a small flame no larger than a single candle. The flame floated above an artifact that looked like some kind of bowl. It was slowly but steadily melting the ice. From what Mo Jue remembered, more than one third of the ice had already melted.

He asked what that flame was, and Jian Heng smiled as he answered.

“It was a gift from your son in law, Patriarch Mo. I believe it is called the Eternal Flame. I do not know exactly what it is, because our sect has no records of it. I am thinking of visiting Unity Sage’s Archive to pay a visit to Sage Wen Moyuan and ask him about this Eternal Flame,” Jian Heng said.

After hearing this, Mo Jue trembled inwardly. The words Eternal Flame, and the fact that it could melt Eternal Ice, were not things that an ordinary person could produce on a whim.

After further inquiries, Mo Jue learned that it had been a gift in gratitude for Jian Heng’s help when they repelled the soul of the Gu Clan ancestor, who had used Gu Tianhe’s body at that time.

He then asked about the silver dust.

At first, Jian Heng was confused and did not know what it was. He tried testing it by burning the silver dust in the smelter fire used to melt iron ore, but it did not even become hot.

He then consulted the swordsmith elder of his sect. The elder conducted several tests and discovered that even the earth fire forge, which was a treasured asset of the sect, was required just to heat it.

In the end, Mo Jue did not obtain a clear answer about what it truly was. He only knew that it was not something simple. Perhaps it could not even be found in the lower realm.

Wisely, Mo Jue decided not to tell Jian Heng that the silver dust had once been part of a sword shard. Even though Jian Heng was one of the rare righteous oath cultivators who was truly upright, the human heart was complicated, and Mo Jue did not want to take that risk.

“Come to think of it, many of the things that that brat has taken out are precious and invaluable. Is he truly a young master from a Hidden Ancient Clan?” Mo Jue muttered in wonder.

— Meanwhile – Underworld —

While Mo Jue was wondering whether Wei Chen was truly a young master or not, Wei Chen, on the other hand, was now sitting in front of his boss.

The feeling of this meeting was like a grilling session prepared by a boss or manager for their incompetent employee. It felt like a torture room without any actual torture devices.

Wei Chen was sitting on a chair in front of his boss, who was checking and signing documents, clearing the piles of work awaiting him on the desk.

In this room, Wei Chen was not alone. Beside him, another seat had been prepared, and the one sitting on it was none other than the little troublemaker, Ningning.

She was sitting with her mouth pursed into a pout, her hands clutching her little butt as if she had just been spanked.

Beside his boss’s desk stood someone glaring at him as if he had done something wrong. Well… maybe he really had done something wrong, but those eyes still made him shudder.

Wei Chen now had a few scenarios in mind as to why he had been called to sit in this cold grilling session along with the little troublemaker.

The most likely reason was the recent incident in which he had helped her.

After waiting for about half an hour, his boss, the Lord of Death, handed a stack of finished documents to Youqi. She quickly walked out of the room.

Then he began to speak.

“Oh… sorry to keep you waiting. Those documents were a bit urgent. I hope you do not mind,” the Lord of Death said in his usual calm voice.

“Err… it is okay, Your Honor. I do not mind,” Wei Chen replied.

At that moment, Youqi returned.

His thoughts began to wander to a rather strange place. He looked at the skeletal face of the Lord of Death and at his hands, which were nothing but bones. Then he glanced at Youqi, who stood there like a perfect gorgeous office lady in her OL suit.

Did this guy even have a boner? Or was it because he was all bones that why he has boner?

A completely ridiculous intrusive thought flashed through his mind, and Wei Chen quickly crushed it before anyone could sense what he had been thinking.

“Do you know why I called you here?”

The sudden question startled Wei Chen.

“What!? Er… boner… Er…. I mean… Your Honor. I do not know, sir…”

Hearing the slip-up, the Lord of Death looked at Wei Chen, the green light in his eye sockets flickering as if to say, what the hell was inside this guy’s head all of a sudden?

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