The Memory Stone

Shi Yan's body transformed uncontrollably into his Beast God form in an instant, bathing in endless radiance.

"Argh..."

A vast amount of information flooded into Shi Yan's mind in an instant. The sheer volume was so great that even his soul felt saturated, while deep within his mind, a bronze rhombus mark slowly condensed.

As the mark took shape, countless streams of information poured into it, and Shi Yan immediately felt much more at ease.

"The Inheritance Mark has formed..."

As the rhombus mark formed in Shi Yan's mind, Old Sage sensed that, after all these years, a new being had finally resonated with this two-story tower.

Shi Yan, meanwhile, was still working to adapt to the newly formed Inheritance Mark. At the same time, he curiously sensed the two-story tower resonating with his mark.

With the mark, he had become the tower's second authorized user. The first was Old Sage.

"You can feel it, can't you? The Guardian Tower was originally built by the three First Ancestors, then refined and strengthened by generations of Founders. It has long since become an immensely precious treasure. Only those who have earned the approval of someone who already bears an Inheritance Mark and formed one of their own can inherit the Guardian Tower." Old Sage explained.

Shi Yan had returned to human form and nodded slightly.

The more precious the treasure, the more difficult and exacting it was to claim as one's own. As a legacy treasure of the Three Saints Palace, the Guardian Tower was not difficult to claim, but the conditions were extremely strict. Clearly, one had to earn the approval of one's own people.

"Now that you have an Inheritance Mark, all I have to do is relinquish my authority, and you'll inherit the Guardian Tower in full. But... before you do, I need you to swear an oath." Both of Old Sage's heads and all four eyes fixed on Shi Yan.

"Please tell me, senior."

Shi Yan met his gaze.

"I want you to swear on your soul that you will never pass on the Three Saints Palace's inheritance to anyone except future disciples of the Three Saints Palace," Old Sage said slowly. "If you refuse to swear, I'll have no choice but to kill you here. Don't worry. Though I'm only a phantom consciousness now, as the Guardian Tower's first authorized user, killing a True God won't take much effort."

Shi Yan felt a chill in his heart at those words and promptly pointed to the sky. "I, Shi Yan, the 345th Sage of the Three Saints Palace lineage, swear on my soul that I will never pass on any of the Three Saints Palace's inheritances to anyone outside the Three Saints Palace. If I break this oath, may my soul be destroyed!"

"May my soul be destroyed..."

"May my soul be destroyed..."

"..."

Shi Yan's voice echoed through the River of Time and Space left behind by the First Ancestor. The Inheritance Mark in his mind seemed to stir in response. Black threads swirled across its surface for a moment, then vanished from sight.

The faint power of those threads made Shi Yan shudder. If he ever broke his oath, he really would perish on the spot.

"You felt it, didn't you? If you break your oath, the power within the Inheritance Mark will immediately strangle your soul. This contract's strangling power might be powerless against the ultimate beings, but even I would be killed with ease," Old Sage said calmly.

Shi Yan, however, was utterly unconcerned.

He was a lone cultivator. Whether he could pass on the inheritance was completely unimportant to him.

Shi Yan chuckled. "I'm sure you know my circumstances, senior. There's simply no reason for me to pass it on."

Old Sage smiled at that. Clearly, he knew as much, but he still said, "This is a precaution for our Three Saints Palace lineage, and we can't take it lightly. Besides, it only applies to the Core Inheritance on the Guardian Tower's first floor. You should be able to sense that the second floor holds numerous Peripheral Inheritances collected over the ages from other factions. To pass those on, you only need to meet some relatively lenient conditions."

"Understood." Shi Yan nodded.

"All right, that settles the Guardian Tower. Let's go to the inheritance grounds in this River of Time and Space." As he spoke, Old Sage disappeared.

Shi Yan's figure shifted as well, and he arrived at the source of the River of Time and Space. As the Guardian Tower's second authorized user, he no longer needed Old Sage to guide him.

"The source of this River of Time and Space is extremely well hidden. Without an Inheritance Mark, you could search for an eternity and still never find it," Old Sage said when Shi Yan arrived.

Shi Yan nodded as he examined the source of the river.

It was dark and barren, with only 64 points of light floating in the air. On closer inspection, Shi Yan saw that each point of light was a small stone. Sixty of them were black, while four were silver.

"These stones are called Memory Stones. The Ancient Civilization used them as the ideal vessels for storing inheritances. They can easily hold all the memories of a super expert," Old Sage explained. "The First Ancestor was the source of our Three Saints Palace's Path of Space-Time, so he left behind numerous inheritances. None of the later Founders or outstanding disciples could compare to him, not even the 21st Founder, despite being more powerful."

"The First Ancestor's inheritances?" Shi Yan's eyes burned with excitement. Sixty-four inheritances—how precious were they? If even one were taken out, the entire Universe Ocean would fight over it, let alone all the other inheritances.

There must be tens of thousands of Memory Stones on the Guardian Tower's first floor, right?

Seeing Shi Yan's feverish gaze, Old Sage smiled. He was proud of the Three Saints Palace's greatness and strength.

A moment later, Old Sage waved his hand, and four silver stones among the 64 Memory Stones flew over to Shi Yan. "Among these Memory Stones, the silver ones contain the most fundamental inheritances of the Three Saints Palace, while the black ones are secondary. You've only just joined the Three Saints Palace. Trying to take in too much will leave you unable to master any of it. These four inheritances are the most basic and most central to our Three Saints Palace's Space-Time Lineage. For now, focus on these."

"All right."

Shi Yan nodded. Old Sage undoubtedly knew the Three Saints Palace better than he did, so his recommendation was probably best for him.

"Senior, what should I do?" Shi Yan asked, looking at the four silver stones before him.

"Wrap them in divine power."

Shi Yan immediately wrapped the four Memory Stones in divine power. The moment he withdrew it, ancient, complex patterns appeared on the silver stones.

Then a vast amount of information began pouring into his mind. But this time, unlike the overwhelming rush from the Inheritance Mark, the flow seemed deliberately limited to what Shi Yan could absorb.

That allowed Shi Yan to take in the First Ancestor's inheritance with relative ease.

Even with Shi Yan's current willpower and level of cultivation, absorbing the enormous amount of information took a full half-day.

Old Sage remained quietly beside him the entire time, watching Shi Yan receive the inheritance.

He had waited so long for this moment. Before Shi Yan appeared, he had even wondered whether another master of the Three Saints Palace would arrive before the world's destruction.

This moment was, in a sense, the ultimate purpose of his phantom consciousness's existence.

At last, Shi Yan slowly opened his eyes, filled with astonishment.

"This... This... The First Ancestor really wasn't one of the Ancient Civilization's ultimate experts?"

From Old Sage's account, Shi Yan knew that the First Ancestor of the Three Saints Palace's Space-Time Lineage had been a Saint-level Existence, or Chaos Realm expert, rather than a God King, or Universe God. Yet how could someone at the Chaos Realm have created such a cultivation method?

The four inheritances Shi Yan had received consisted of two Secret Techniques and two sets of guidance.

The two Secret Techniques included a life-saving technique called "World-Crossing Shuttle." Once activated, 17 afterimages of the user from different points in time would travel through spacetime alongside the Main Self, greatly increasing their speed.

The more divine power it consumed, the faster it allowed one to travel. With Shi Yan's current reserves, burning seventy percent of his divine power would increase his speed a hundredfold. That was also the minimum amount of divine power this Secret Technique could consume.

According to the First Ancestor, however, this Secret Technique was only useful up to the Eternal Grade. Once an Inheritor reached the Eternal True God Level, they would naturally have better ways to escape.

Shi Yan couldn't see what those methods were. In the Universe Ocean, he couldn't access anything above the Void True God level, so seeing content about the Eternal Grade was simply out of the question.

The other Secret Technique was a divine power burning secret technique called "Countercurrent." It was somewhat like the way little fellows at the Undying level burned their undying bodies, but it was clearly countless times more powerful.

"I suspect it can at least rival the divine power burning secret technique 'Severing Extinction' from the Duan Donghe Lineage, if not surpass it," Shi Yan guessed to himself.

This move wasn't especially useful to him, though. His Divine Body was barely larger than that of an ordinary True God, and he didn't have much divine power to burn. Still, it could serve as an emergency burst of strength.

"This divine power burning secret technique is a standard tool among the more powerful factions of the Ancient Civilization."

Seeing Shi Yan's stunned expression, Old Sage smiled. "Of course, the divine power burning secret technique passed down by our Three Saints Palace lineage is among the very best. But you're a Law True God, so your divine power reserves aren't large. This technique may not be crucial for you, but you still need to master it properly."

"I understand." Shi Yan nodded.

Old Sage continued, "As for life-saving techniques, the only one passed down by the Three Saints Palace is this escape technique, 'World-Crossing Shuttle.' But you should understand that both the Path of Time and the Path of Space excel at staying alive.

"For example, once cultivators of the Path of Space reach the later stages, they can create true clones, each one a life of its own. This Secret Technique can be cultivated at the Saint-Calling level. The Path of Space-Time also has many other ways to stay alive, and I'm sure you've experienced some of them yourself."

"That's true."

Shi Yan deeply agreed. When it came to staying alive, the Path of Space-Time truly surpassed most other paths. That was precisely why the Three Saints Palace's Secret Technique inheritance contained few life-saving techniques.

It didn't even have a technique like the Duan Donghe Lineage's "Undying River." The reason was simple: an enemy capable of preventing a cultivator of the Path of Space-Time from escaping could also follow the causal connection or soul link and destroy the Life Imprint in the Undying River.

After all, a mere Life Imprint was far less resilient than a complete soul.

"In short, spend some time on these inherited Secret Techniques. Your main focus should be on the two sets of guidance." Old Sage urged Shi Yan. "Those two sets of guidance are the true essence of our Space-Time Lineage."