"Oh?"
Great Elder Wei Yuan's face turned grave. He murmured, "It would be perfect if there were Black Silk?"
He paced a few steps, then abruptly turned around. "The Holy Venerable's talent and brilliance are both unmatched in our Holy Land for ten thousand years."
"However!"
"In the eyes of the Immortal Great Emperor, she still needed Black Silk to reach perfection."
Wei Yuan's expression grew increasingly serious. "This shows that Black Silk is surely no ordinary thing."
The elders pondered for a long while, then nodded repeatedly.
Yuan Ruoyu had a vague feeling that something was off, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
Wei Yuan let his thoughts run wild. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that they were on the right track. He immediately said in a solemn voice:
"Holy Venerable!"
"This is a matter of great importance. I believe we should take action at once."
Yuan Ruoyu asked, "Great Elder, what do you think we should do?"
A glint flashed in Wei Yuan's eyes.
"We'll proceed in two steps. First, send people to search the ancient texts and see if they can find any records concerning Black Silk."
"Second, immediately send people to the Xuanqing Sect in Qing Province."
Wei Yuan looked at Yuan Ruoyu with eager enthusiasm and explained, "After all, it was the sect where the Great Emperor once lived. There may be some clues there."
Yuan Ruoyu agreed that it made sense and immediately approved.
Her cool voice rang through the hall. "Do as the Great Elder suggests!"
"But be careful not to antagonize the Xuanqing Sect."
Such a scene was unfolding not only at the Jade Pool Holy Land.
Nearly the entire Cultivation World of the Eastern Profound Continent was trying every possible way to decipher the contents of the Immortal Diary.
Of course, everyone had their own interpretation!
At the Primordial Holy Land.
Beneath a towering ancient tree, a crowd had gathered, each holding the contents of the Immortal Diary and racking their brains.
As they stared at the unfamiliar words one after another,
they all wore troubled expressions!
The Primordial Holy Land's Great Elder, Xiao Changqing, had a short temper. The more he read, the angrier he got!
He cursed, "Grass? What the hell is 'grass'! Why don't you explain it clearly?"
"Grass! Grass! I'm so damn fed up!"
At the Liyue Immortal Dynasty.
In the Gathering Immortal Hall.
Empress Ye Qingge sat upon the imperial throne, her face cold as she surveyed the ministers below.
The court was in chaos.
"I believe a Transmigrator must be some kind of special group. Perhaps the Immortal Great Emperor became one of them."
"What group? Are you saying there are lots of people in this world like the Immortal Great Emperor?"
"This..."
"If we want to decipher the Diary, I think the Golden Finger is the key!"
"Isn't the system important?"
"Isn't Black Silk important?"
"Isn't Soul Grandpa important?"
"Uh, that's not what I meant!"
A trace of impatience showed on Ye Qingge's face. Her gaze shifted to Prime Minister Gongsun Mu.
"Gongsun Mu, what do you think?"
The hall fell silent at once.
Gongsun Mu looked like an old man, but he was full of vigor. He immediately stepped out of the ranks.
"Your Majesty!"
"The Immortal Great Emperor was no ordinary person. To completely decipher the Diary he left behind would be as hard as scaling the heavens."
Ye Qingge took interest. "Then what does Minister Gongsun suggest?"
"I believe we should tackle it piece by piece!"
Gongsun Mu pondered for a moment, then continued, "Send people throughout the Immortal Dynasty to find those born with golden fingers. Give them special training and observe how they change!"
"From that one point, we may be able to understand the whole. Perhaps we'll make a breakthrough."
Ye Qingge considered it. For now, there really wasn't another option. She nodded. "Approved!"
In a desolate place.
Suddenly, an old man with youthful features burst out of the mountain forest, a huge wine gourd strapped to his back.
He sprinted barefoot, reaching up to scratch his head every so often.
In just a few breaths...
The old man had crossed mountain after mountain and arrived at a peak dozens of miles away.
He stopped and roared at the sky, "I can't decipher this Diary! I can't!"
"Pfft—"
After his bellow, he suddenly spat blood and fell backward to the ground.
Not long afterward,
a group of people dressed in matching robes came looking for him. The young woman at their head cried out, "Grandmaster Uncle! Grandmaster Uncle, are you all right?"
"Not good, he's gone into cultivation deviation! Don't touch him. Notify the elders of the sect and have them come at once!"
Qing Province, Southern Region.
The Xuanqing Sect.
Sect Master Yan Changkong paced back and forth, his brows knitted in worry. Every so often, he sighed.
The Immortal Great Emperor had once been a disciple of their sect!
The news had been so shocking that he was still reeling from it.
It was true that this had happened six thousand years ago.
But six thousand years wasn't all that long—or all that short—for a mortal.
For them, it was the span of dozens of lifetimes.
But to a powerful cultivator and a sect, what did it amount to?
Some great experts spent over a thousand years in seclusion each time they cultivated. Six thousand years was just a few more rounds of seclusion.
The Xuanqing Sect was only a small sect in Qing Province.
But it had a long and illustrious history, once producing a cultivator at the Body Integration stage.
The sect had been passed down for nearly eighty thousand years.
"Ah..."
Yan Changkong sighed. This was no trivial matter. If they mishandled it, the sect might be wiped out!
He did the math.
When the Immortal Great Emperor had been at the Xuanqing Sect, Yan Changkong's grandmaster had been the sect master. Yan Changkong hadn't even been born yet.
And now, this bombshell had dropped into his lap.
"Still, if we handle this well, it could greatly benefit the sect's development!"
Yan Changkong was calculating the possibilities. He was of average height and a little plump, his eyes gleaming with energy.
Suddenly, a disciple hurried in to report.
"Reporting to the sect master!"
"We've finally found some traces of the Immortal Great Emperor, though little was recorded because so much time has passed."
Yan Changkong's expression shifted. Without a word, he flashed into a hall.
Thousands of people were searching through the sect's archived records and jade slips.
That's right.
The Xuanqing Sect was an exception. Their busiest task lately wasn't deciphering the Diary; instead, they were digging through records.
They hoped to uncover the Immortal Great Emperor's true identity from six thousand years ago.
An elder in gray robes came forward with a sheet of yellow paper and said,
"Sect Master, based on the clues mentioned in the Diary, we searched and sifted through everything. We've finally found something."
"Fortunately, there weren't many outer sect disciples back then!"
Yan Changkong acknowledged him and took the paper to read.
Outer Sect Disciple Register:
Name: Lin Feng.
Talent: Ordinary.
Cultivation method: Mystic Clarity Art.
Background: None!
There were a few other records as well, such as which cultivation methods or spells Lin Feng had borrowed from the sect's Scripture Library.
After reading it, Yan Changkong's face turned livid. "That's it?"
The gray-robed elder replied, "That's it!"
This record held practically no useful information. They'd have been better off with nothing.
Yan Changkong lowered his head, his eyes flashing repeatedly.
After a long while, he suddenly looked up.
"This information won't do. Who would believe the Immortal Great Emperor had such an ordinary past?"
The gray-robed elder asked, "What should we do, then?"
Yan Changkong gritted his teeth. "Touch it up a little."
"His talent definitely can't be listed as ordinary. It has to be peerless. We'll say we only wrote 'ordinary' to protect him!"
"Add some interesting stories about his cultivation, an account of his life, his Master's comments, and so on."
The gray-robed elder nodded. "Sect Master, I understand!"
But Yan Changkong hadn't finished. He continued, "Do as I said and prepare ten thousand copies first."
"Also!"
"We need to clearly mark the cave dwelling where the Immortal Great Emperor once lived, the place where he bathed, even the latrine where he took a dump!"
The gray-robed elder looked troubled. "He was only an outer sect disciple. How could he have had a cave dwelling?"
"He had to have one! We'll call it the Former Residence of the Great Emperor. Understand?"
"Understood!"
And so, over the following days, everyone in the Xuanqing Sect sprang into action.
One copy after another of the Great Emperor's biography was transcribed.
Many places within the sect were cordoned off: the Former Residence of the Great Emperor, the Great Emperor Bathing Pool, the Great Emperor Latrine, the stone where the Great Emperor most liked to sit...
Even a half-dead old tree benefited from the association and was placed under special protection.
Because the Great Emperor had once climbed it while fooling around!
Two days later.
"Boom!"
The sect bell rang out thunderously through the Xuanqing Sect.
Yan Changkong's eyes flew open. The next moment, a disciple came rushing in with a report!
"Sect Master!"
"Someone from the Jade Pool Holy Land has arrived!"
Before long, another disciple came running in. "Sect Master, the Liyue Immortal Dynasty's Blackbird Guards are here!"
"Sect Master, someone from the Primordial Holy Land is here!"
"Sect Master, the ancient clans—the Jiang Clan, Zuo Clan, and Hua Clan—have arrived together!"
"Sect Master, there are many more sect elders outside. You should go take a look!"
Yan Changkong waved his hand, and the disciple withdrew.
Only then did he rise from his chair. His legs trembled, and his scalp went numb!
Yan Changkong was the master of a sect and had lived for over three thousand years, but when had he ever witnessed a scene like this?
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