Shi Zhao came back to her senses and shook her head, setting those thoughts aside for now.
She gazed at the Mountain Treasure inside the Black Cauldron, her large eyes bright and gleaming. Rubbing her hands together, she took it out, a captivating smile spreading across her delicate little face.
Whatever else happened, the treasure was hers now.
It was a cube of bone, snowy white as jade, with a crystalline sheen.
She stroked the bone cube in her hands and found that it was indeed extremely similar to the Primitive True Understanding in Stone Village, only slightly dimmer. The two shared the same root and origin.
After turning it over and examining it for a while, she unleashed six Precious Techniques in succession, applying them all to the bone, one technique for each face.
During her studies at the Stone Kingdom Imperial Family's Scripture Temple, Shi Zhao had learned many Ancient Species Precious Techniques. Though she seldom used some of them, that did not mean she had not mastered them.
In an instant, the bone cube blazed with dazzling light, releasing a brilliant shower of radiance.
With a crisp crack, the six-sided white bone cube opened just like that.
One of its faces was a lid, which detached on its own to reveal the interior.
"This treasure and I were destined for each other!" She chuckled, showing a rare flash of girlish delight.
Specks of rosy light glimmered inside the bone box. It looked small, hardly spacious at all, but actually contained an enormous space.
Within lay several animal hides, ancient and stained with mottled, dried blood. There was no telling how many years they had existed.
At that moment, Shi Zhao could no longer keep calm. Excitement rose on her face as she quickly took out the hides.
"It really is the Supreme Hall's legacy. Let me see..."
As she looked at the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art in her hands, she could not stop the corners of her mouth from lifting.
What was a heavenly art?
A heavenly art was neither a Precious Technique nor a divine ability, but a means of wielding Precious Techniques and divine abilities. Such arts were nearly impossible to find anywhere in the world, each a unique, invincible method.
And the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art was an unsurpassed heavenly art that could truly reign supreme over the world!
Throughout the ages, scriptures, Precious Techniques, and other legacies had endured, but texts worthy of being crowned world-supreme methods were exceedingly rare. Now Shi Zhao possessed an invincible foundation.
Even putting everything else aside, possessing this heavenly art allowed her to activate six Precious Techniques simultaneously, merging and stacking them to produce even more terrifying combat power.
If those were the Precious Techniques of the Ten Fiends, how domineering and powerful would such an attack be? Who in the world could withstand it? Who could contend with it?!
Shi Zhao studied this supreme scripture and unconsciously began comprehending it. A faint chanting seemed to rise, shaking her heart as though great bronze bells were thundering within her.
Gradually, the chanting grew clearer and clearer, drawing her into its depths until she was utterly entranced.
Shi Zhao devoted herself heart and soul to it, studying every line of scripture and grasping every passage of symbols. She pondered each word and phrase at length, silently absorbing their meaning.
Her brow shone as well. Her primordial spirit opened a brilliant embryonic Cave Heaven, like a divine halo suspended behind her.
Threads of dawnlight also flowed across the Tattered Cloth. Six black holes faintly appeared on its reverse side, as though six small thousand worlds were being opened.
No one knew that a young girl was listening alone to the legendary Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art, taking it into her grasp.
A vast aura spread through this decaying world.
Gray mist could be seen surging toward this place, followed by sweeping black winds, while blood-red lightning gradually drew near.
Just then, a wisp of chaos qi swept out, dispersing these apocalyptic phenomena.
Dimly, a divine disk rose and fell within the chaos qi. As though sensing something, it gradually revealed itself.
Ancient patterns were carved upon it, intricate and unfathomable. It seemed to have just broken free of dust-sealed ages, revealing its true form.
Strictly speaking, it was incomplete-merely a fragment, no more than one-sixth of the whole. Yet those patterns interwove and became light, restoring its original appearance.
The divine disk imprinted itself upon the void like a blazing sun, illuminating the entire small world.
For a moment, those shattered mountains and rivers and all those decaying things seemed to revive from annihilation, becoming a vast world of grace and spiritual splendor.
But in the next instant, everything returned to its former state, leaving only ceaseless wind and sand.
Shi Zhao seemed to have forgotten time and where she was. She focused on the Six Paths Reincarnation Scripture, silently pondering its true meaning and comprehending its most fundamental mysteries.
Eventually, even time seemed to fall into confusion before her eyes.
In one instant, she seemed to have lived through eternity, journeying from Immortal Ancient and witnessing every rise and fall of the mortal world;
In another dazed moment, she felt as though she were gazing into the distant future, losing herself and forgetting everything.
After an unknown length of time, Shi Zhao let out a muffled groan. Bright red blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and only then did she break free of that wondrous state.
Ultimately, her cultivation was still shallow and her realm too low. There was no possibility of fully comprehending this supreme heavenly art in such a short time. She could only leave it for the future, to absorb its meaning slowly.
"Boom!"
She formed an opening seal. With a thunderous boom, heaven crumbled and earth split, and an illusory, ethereal world appeared, as though heaven and earth were being created.
She then tried wielding several Precious Techniques simultaneously, only to suddenly discover something else before her.
Somewhat dazed, she instinctively held out a hand.
A fragment dropped into her palm with a clack. It was heavy, and anyone who did not know better would have thought it was a broken stone casually picked up from some ruin.
"Huh?"
Shi Zhao looked at the fragment in her left hand, then at the scripture in her right.
"Ah!"
Something stirred within her, and she understood instantly, crying out in surprise.
"Th-this... so those stories about accidentally falling off a cliff and picking up an ancient supreme treasure are true? It actually happened?!" The girl's mouth fell open and stayed that way for a long while.
Was this right?
This was very right!
"Six Paths Reincarnation Immortal King, I love and revere you!" Unable to help herself, she bowed toward the sky.
As a result, heaven and earth shook violently. Sinister winds howled, gray mist billowed, and blood-red lightning surged, as though the world had reached its final moment and was about to cease to exist.
No, it was not merely as though-it really was breaking apart, collapsing, being destroyed!
Countless enormous cracks suddenly opened in the void, stretching beyond any visible end. At this moment, the entire world reached the end of its road. Its final essence of origin scattered, leaving only a few wisps.
"..."
Shi Zhao froze, the corner of her mouth twitching. She suddenly wanted to slap herself.
I should never have let success go to my head. Why did I have to bow? Wonderful-dead before the campaign even began. The Six Paths Reincarnation Immortal King really has come to claim me.
The girl wailed, wanting to cry but finding no tears.
In the end, she could only treat a dead horse as though it were still alive and bring out the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk she had just obtained.
The girl prayed, "Divine disk, divine disk, heed my wish and manifest your power, quick!"
"As you wish."
The fragment truly heard her call. A hazy will emanated from it, and then it trembled gently. A sheet of chaotic light flew out, fixing the surrounding void in place.
Overjoyed, Shi Zhao hurriedly hid inside the Black Cauldron. After a moment's thought, she tucked herself into the bone box as well.
"Boom-!!"
Overwhelming waves of power swept through, as though heaven and earth were being created anew. Within the chaos, everything was shrouded in a haze, and nothing could be seen.
Only a black cauldron remained, enveloped by the phantoms of six small worlds, before it too vanished.
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