Ritual of Filling Gaps and Restoring the Old

The Ritual of Filling Gaps and Restoring the Old

It was hardly surprising that Xuan Sect relics had ended up in the Convergence Zone. Throughout history, the Xuan Sect and Zen Sect had battled one another, with both sides rising and falling in turn.

Moreover, both had numerous branch sects. Whenever one side found itself at a disadvantage, it might place some of its sect's treasures in the Convergence Zone and entrust them to members of a branch sect for safekeeping, thereby avoiding plunder from outside forces. If danger arose, the treasures could also be taken away at any time.

But the Convergence Zone was complex. In seeking refuge, there were times when elders of the sect disappeared along with the items they carried.

To prevent the items from being lost, they would leave markers along the route that only sect members could understand. They might also use the sect's secret language beforehand to hint at where they were going, allowing later generations to recover them.

The item Protector You sought was probably a case like this.

As Chen Chuan read the Stone Tablet records, he discovered that although Protector You had found the Stone Lotus early on, the words never showed that he had given up searching for the lost treasure. From time to time, he would even remind himself with a line or two, saying that once the lotus seeds matured, he would try looking again.

Even later, when the man had become immersed in those "Mystic Methods," the words on the Stone Tablets grew fragmented and incoherent, yet they still contained scattered references to the lost treasure.

Things like, "The treasure is in water, or in the sky?" "Overturning Sky Lake—what does it rely upon?" And, "I understand, I understand! Now that I have obtained the method,