Mountain-Sea Immortal Palace Outer Disciple Register

"Another treasure?"

Fang Shu froze, immediately reaching out to grab the plaque. But at the last moment, he picked up a chunk of gravel and poked it with the stone instead.

After inspecting it and confirming that there was no poison on the plaque, he finally seized it, his face full of astonishment.

Fang Shu rubbed the plaque and found it was palm-sized. Strange words were embossed on one side and engraved on the other.

They resembled snakes, insects, and tadpoles, twisting and wriggling like the Mystic Script characters used in spells.

Yet after merely glancing at those few characters, before he had even visualized them in his mind, he felt his head spin and his body grow weightless.

He hurriedly shut his eyes, calmed his heart and steadied his breath, and endured for quite a while before managing not to vomit.

Even so, when Fang Shu opened his eyes again, his face was still deathly pale and had not fully recovered.

But his eyes shone startlingly bright. He felt no fear at all. Instead, he stared fixedly at the wooden plaque in his hand and experienced that dizzying sensation once more.

This time, with experience to guide him, Fang Shu shut his eyes in time and did not dwell upon it, so it did not affect him too badly.

This plaque was exceedingly bizarre.

Yet joy appeared on Fang Shu's face. He was even happier than when he acquired a new spell.

He sprang to his feet, clutching the plaque covered in strange writing, pacing through the cave as he muttered without pause:

"Fortune! This is fortune meant for me, Fang Shu."

"A magical treasure? Or some profound spell? Where did that old fox get it from?" Countless thoughts churned through his mind.

At that moment, he was as excited as when his past-life wisdom had awakened and he realized that Divine Immortals existed in this world, that his own second uncle was an immortal practitioner, and that he had specifically come to deliver Fang Shu across.

After all, an object that could make one's soul sway with a single glance was no common thing. It might even help him enter the Dao through Refining Essence, perhaps even Refining Qi—or Foundation Establishment!

Still, he kept his composure and did not become so delighted that he forgot himself.

After calming his heart and steadying his breath, Fang Shu hid in a corner of the cave and began considering how to use the object.

"According to what Second Uncle said, when encountering an immortal treasure, one must never imitate the storybooks and directly drip blood to acknowledge it as master.

"Otherwise, if it is an evil thing, or a treasure of too high a grade, one careless move could drain every drop of one's essence and blood and cost one one's life."

After thinking it over and hesitating several times, he stuck out his tongue, wiped at his mouth with one hand, and removed the painstakingly refined Long-Tongue Sword.

Fang Shu cut open the Long-Tongue Sword and made the Tongue Sword bleed, then brought it close to the plaque that was neither metal nor wood, intending to nourish the object with the Tongue Sword's essence and blood.

That way, even if the plaque was abnormal, at most it would drain the Tongue Sword dry and ruin the spell he had painstakingly cultivated. It would not cause Fang Shu's true body to die.

But the instant the plaque touched the essence and blood on the Tongue Sword, it hummed and floated into the air. Yellow spiritual light surged around it, wondrous beyond belief.

Fortunately, Fang Shu was in the cave's corner, and the spiritual light did not spill outside.

Then, before his eyes, twisted and eerie characters suddenly flowed across the plaque. Some were large, some small; they resembled snakes and insects, tadpoles and vermin, profound and mysterious beyond measure.

More horrifying still, he did not recognize a single character, yet somehow understood them:

"Mountain-Sea Immortal Palace Outer Disciple Register, transmit cultivation for personal use, acknowledge master and confer registration... bloodline descendants... soul spirit..."

Anticipation appeared on Fang Shu's face.

He saw his Long-Tongue Sword get sucked over with a whoosh.

Although the Long-Tongue Sword struggled as its essence and blood spilled out, it was effortlessly suppressed by that so-called "Child's Register."

"Register conferral incomplete. Neither human nor Dao, activation denied... suspected blood artifact, expand its scope."

Before Fang Shu could come to his senses, the plaque suddenly lunged at him.

It landed before him with a thud, and a terrifying suction force descended upon him, making his consciousness reel as though his soul were about to be torn out and ground to dust.

In an instant, Fang Shu had no time to think. Expectation and terror tangled in his heart, leaving only a single thought:

"Second Uncle truly did not deceive me. Immortal treasures really are perilous!"

At that moment, more twisted characters flowed over the yellow-glowing plaque:

"Mountain-Sea Immortal Palace Outer Disciple Register, transmit cultivation for personal use, acknowledge master and confer registration.

"Bloodline descendants... pure!

"Soul spirit... pure!

"Register conferral complete. Activation begins.

"Note: Register master is an ordinary mortal with an ordinary soul, roots upright and stock pure. Three authorities of transmitted cultivation are all activated in accordance with the law..."

Clang!

The yellow-glowing plaque spun rapidly before Fang Shu.

It actually turned from solid to insubstantial, transforming into mysterious characters that surged around Fang Shu like a waterfall, then whooshed into his mind and vanished.

In an instant, all the various spiritual lights within the cave came to an abrupt halt, as though everything that had just happened had been an illusion.

But at the same time, a storm of wind and clouds raged within Fang Shu's mind.

Slowly, Fang Shu opened his eyes. His expression was incomparably strange, yet his eyes were filled with intense delight.

He first felt over his own body. Once he found himself whole and unharmed, he reached out and picked up the Long-Tongue Sword, which lay on the ground like a dead snake, and returned it to his mouth and belly.

With a hum, the moment the Long-Tongue Sword entered his mouth, the Child's Register appeared in his mind, twisted characters flowing across it:

"One blood artifact exists outside. According to the register master's knowledge and experience, it is named the 'Long-Tongue Sword.'

"Evil-warding capability activated... no evil aura, no remnant soul, no filth or impurity. Permitted."

Unlike usual, the Long-Tongue Sword did not eagerly rush back into Fang Shu's flesh. Instead, it paused for an instant.

Only when the word "Permitted" appeared in the Child's Register did the Long-Tongue Sword successfully connect with Fang Shu's body.

Only then did Fang Shu realize through this incident that everything just now had not been false.

He truly had successfully acknowledged that plaque of strange writing as master and made it his own!

Its full name was the "Mountain-Sea Immortal Palace Outer Disciple Register." It had entered his body and become linked to his life, and it was quite useful.

According to the information conveyed by the Child's Register, it seemingly belonged to a force called the Mountain-Sea Immortal Palace. It was an item used to nurture its disciples, transmit cultivation, and resolve doubts. Among Dao Registers, it was the most basic rank, intended for children.

The Child's Register had only three major functions, all of which had now been activated for Fang Shu:

First, evil warding. It could connect to Dragon Qi, monitor the register master's body and soul, drive away evil qi, and prevent possession and soul-searching.

Second, recording. It could store records and monitor the register master's cultivation, techniques, bodily condition, and more, making them convenient for the register master to review.

Third, analysis. It could analyze the languages and scripts of all races, allowing the register master to understand the principles of the Dao, take all things as teachers, and grow into a Daoist who devoured nourishment from every direction.

Just as Fang Shu was considering what benefits these three functions could bring him, the Child's Register in his mind began humming again, and a string of runes flashed past:

"Notice: Dragon Qi has vanished without trace!

"By the Mountain-Sea Expedition Edict, evil-warding capability now draws upon the register master's qi, blood, and true qi to prevent possession, bar soul-searching, reject enslavement, and refuse to submit even in death."

"Notice: The register master knows not the Yellow Heavens, understands not Mountain-Sea, and has not received Dragon Qi. Suspected Mountain-Sea remnant, descendant of the Yellow Heavens!

"By the Mountain-Sea Dao Seed Edict, all supreme authorities of the Dao Register are activated and transferred. From this day forward, they shall renew themselves. Of all heavens and ten thousand Daos, none may strip them away."

"Mountain-Sea Immortal Palace Outer Disciple Register wishes only:

"May Mountain-Sea endure forever, may the immortal Dao never perish. May the register master suffer no calamity, may his Dao endeavors bear fruit.

"Until we meet again."

Snap!

After the final rune flashed through Fang Shu's mind, the Child's Register showed no further abnormalities. It fell silent as death.

Fang Shu recalled the streams of information in his mind and remained unable to recover his senses for a long while.