Even if it was only a rumor, the main ingredients of the Elixir of Immortality remained objects of tireless pursuit for countless people—especially the strong.
Ordinary mortals already suffered under the constraint of short lifespans and possessed an extraordinary obsession with seeking immortals, pursuing the Dao, and prolonging their years. Martial artists, who had already touched upon the transcendent or even achieved it, naturally craved such things all the more.
The stronger a person was, the more they harbored thoughts of eternal life and immortality. Those who truly only wished to remain invincible for a lifetime and behold all the splendor of the human world were ultimately a minority among minorities.
If the rumor was true, if Old Xi Kou's treasure truly contained a Ten Thousand Year Pearl of the Eastern Sea, then the value of that treasure would be beyond estimation. Once word spread, the foremost great powers of the realm, including the imperial clan, would swarm toward it in search of that faint, seemingly unattainable possibility.
According to Hong Minghui, rumors of this treasure had circulated through Hebei Province for a long time. At first, they had merely been folk tales, but later the Jianghu Martial Arts World became involved as well. No one knew how many martial arts experts and great heroes had sought Old Xi Kou's treasure.
Yet without exception, they had all failed—or what they found had been a fake treasure.
There was another example of this. A demonic path practitioner had secretly laid traps and spread false treasure maps, luring numerous martial artists to a fake treasure site. He then calmly used those traps to kill the martial artists and refine Earthly Origin Great Elixirs for his martial cultivation.
After the matter was exposed, the man had actually retreated unhurriedly. Though no further traces