He instinctively descended and swept the area with his divine sense.
Soon, he arrived before a rather luxurious tomb enclosed by carved blue stone bricks.
The tombstone bore the prominent inscription, "Tomb of my late father, Jiang Zhe," with the smaller words "Erected by Jiang Haisheng" carved beside it. It looked as though it had stood there for quite a few years.
"Jiang Zhe? So it really was him..."
Understanding dawned on Taiyi.
Jiang Haisheng was the grandfather of Jiang Tingting, who possessed the Supreme Yin Physique.
Their family had once been one of the town's wealthiest, even owning a restaurant and other businesses.
Later, after tragedy befell Jiang Tingting's parents, the Li Family, with whom they had a feud, seized those businesses, and the Jiang Family gradually declined.
Still, given the wealth the Jiang Family had once possessed, building a relatively luxurious tomb like this for his father...
Was hardly surprising.
None of that mattered. What mattered most was this.
He discovered that although this tomb was at least several decades old, the corpse inside its coffin had not rotted.
"The Desolate Ancient Jiang Family?"
Taiyi's eyes flickered.
The Jiang grandfather and granddaughter had quite the background.
If he remembered correctly, Jiang Zhe had been a Great Power in life, possessing formidable strength and unfathomable cultivation.
But he had presumably suffered some grievous injury. Perhaps even all the power within him had been ground away, leaving him no different from a mortal.
Otherwise, the killing intent from his corpse alone would have been more than ordinary people could withstand, let alone bury.
Yet a Great Power was still a Great Power. Even with all his divine essence ground away, his corpse would not rot so easily in the short term after his death.
"A renowned Great Power, a man of the Desolate Ancient Jiang Family who once clashed with the family head's lineage, left his clan, and lived here under an assumed identity for decades... Did he really leave nothing to his descendants after his death?"
Taiyi recalled Jiang Zhe's identity.
Not only had he come from the Desolate Ancient Jiang Family, but he was also the elder brother of Jiang Yi, the Ninth Great Bandit, and had once been a Great Power of unfathomable might.
That could not help but stir some ideas in him.
"Forgive the offense!"
There was no one around.
With a casual gesture, Taiyi laid down formation patterns to block any probing.
Ignoring the eerie surroundings, he bowed respectfully before Jiang Zhe's tomb.
He did not destroy the tomb outright. Instead, he bored a hole beside it, easily reached the bottom of the burial chamber, and opened the coffin, which gave off a faint rotten stench.
Perhaps Jiang Zhe had once suffered some unimaginable injury. There seemed to be terrifying Dao patterns lingering within his body like maggots clinging to bone, grinding away all his vitality.
Although this Great Power's corpse had not rotted away after all these years, it emitted no oppressive aura whatsoever, just like that of an ordinary man.
Taiyi carefully explored the Five Great Secret Realms within his body but found nothing.
In the end, however, he discovered something unusual about the Jadeite Thumb Ring worn on his right thumb.
It was no ordinary thumb ring. Though its radiance was concealed and it looked utterly unremarkable...
It was very likely a magical artifact on the level of a Great Power.
"A Storage Ring?"
Taiyi's pupils contracted sharply.
He removed the thumb ring and probed inside, then found himself momentarily stunned.
"Hiss..." The space within was filled with riches. The pure source alone amounted to at least three or four hundred thousand jin.
Although there were no other collections, magical treasures, or rare wonders, there was a complete Ancient Scripture.
Unfortunately, it was not the renowned Hengyu Scripture, the ancient inheritance of the Desolate Ancient Jiang Family, but a Sage Ancient Scripture that also recorded quite a few astonishing secret techniques.
Clearly, it had been deliberately left for his descendants.
Yet it also showed that he had carried his resentment to the grave, unable to let go.
He had been utterly unwilling to let his descendants become entangled with the Jiang Family again.
Among the treasures he had left behind, there was not a single item connected to the Jiang Family.
Perhaps even this Ancient Scripture was something he had obtained through a chance encounter long ago, with no connection to the Jiang Family.
"As expected, even at death's door, still brooding over those old grudges and somewhat unwilling to let his descendants embark on the path of cultivation, he still hesitated..."
Holding the thumb ring...
Taiyi could not help sighing. "So he deliberately left these things for his descendants!"
"Unfortunately, his son Jiang Haisheng never noticed anything unusual, and he certainly wouldn't suddenly dig up his own father's grave to examine the corpse... Still, logically, this Jadeite Thumb Ring should have been passed directly to his descendants!"
Of course, he did not know.
This had been Jiang Zhe's favorite thumb ring during his lifetime, and he had originally left it to his son, Jiang Haisheng.
But Jiang Haisheng was exceptionally filial. Thinking that his elderly father had left this world with nothing to his name, and that this ring was something he had often handled and admired in life, he had deliberately put it back on his father's body as a burial offering.
Otherwise...
Setting aside whether Jiang Haisheng could have discovered its secret and embarked on the path of cultivation with this thumb ring...
There were still Jiang Haisheng's exceptionally talented son and daughter-in-law, who had joined Yanxia Cave Heaven and begun cultivating back then.
Had they discovered that this thumb ring was extraordinary, they likely could have risen swiftly with the resources and Ancient Scripture inside. They might not have fallen victim to someone's schemes and met their tragic end.
One could only say that fortune toyed with people, and fate had willed it so.
Naturally, he was somewhat disappointed that he had not obtained the Hengyu Scripture.
But honestly, the divine treasures within this thumb ring alone were already staggering.
Moreover, he had obtained a complete Sage Ancient Scripture. Although it was only a Saint-level inheritance, it was undoubtedly quite astonishing.
After confirming that he had overlooked nothing, he quietly withdrew from the tomb and erased his traces.
"What an unexpected windfall... This haul is enormous!"
Taiyi toyed with the Jadeite Thumb Ring.
An excited smile spread across his face.
At first, it had only been a sudden impulse, and he had wanted to give it a try.
He had held little hope, never expecting to actually gain something.
Putting the Jadeite Thumb Ring into his Bitter Sea, he had no intention of lingering and raced straight into the distance.
Together with what Danyangzi had left him before passing away in meditation, the pure source inside this ring brought his total to over a million jin. He believed it would be enough for him to cultivate straight to the fifth heaven of the Dao Palace.
This was undoubtedly excellent news. At least he no longer had to rush into the risk of going to the Yaoguang Holy Land.
Chapter 16: Arriving at Yanxia, Lin Jia?
The Yan Kingdom was vast.
It stretched two thousand li from north to south and three thousand li from east to west.
Yet such a vast territory was merely a drop in the ocean within the boundless Eastern Wasteland. Kingdoms like it were beyond counting.
The Six Great Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands within the Yan Kingdom had almost all been established around the primordial region of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.
"So this is Yanxia Cave Heaven!"
Before long, Taiyi arrived at Yanxia Cave Heaven.
Ahead lay verdant peaks and emerald valleys, with mist drifting through them and rosy light appearing and disappearing. It truly lived up to its name.
"Who goes there?" Seeing a party descend from the sky, the disciples guarding the mountain gate dared not take them lightly and stepped forward to inquire.
"Please inform your sect leader that a successor of the Yaoguang Holy Land's secluded lineage has come to visit!"
Taiyi remained composed and spoke calmly.
Skill bred courage. He was completely unafraid of whatever great trouble might arise from having just killed cultivators of Yanxia Cave Heaven.
"What?"
"The Yaoguang Holy Land?"
Although they did not know what this secluded lineage was...
Yanxia Cave Heaven was merely a grotto-heaven and blessed land affiliated with the Yaoguang Holy Land, that towering colossus which stood above the world and held the Southern Region in awe.
They looked at the exceptionally young man, handsome and imposing, and saw that his sleeve did indeed bear the Yaoguang Holy Land's emblem.
"Please wait a moment. We'll inform the sect leader immediately!" The disciples guarding the mountain gate dared not neglect him and were filled with reverence.
They hurried to receive him, while one of them immediately ran off to report his arrival.
Clang, clang...
Soon...
Bells echoed through Yanxia Cave Heaven.
The great bell, sounded only for important matters, rang three times in succession.
It stirred quite a few elders and core disciples from their secluded cultivation.
An elderly man in Daoist robes, with the bearing of an immortal, crane-white hair, and a youthful face, apparently the sect leader of Yanxia Cave Heaven, came out to greet him with a group of elders, most of whom were in the Divine Bridge Realm.
"I am Qingyang, sect leader of Yanxia Cave Heaven. I did not know an honored guest was coming and failed to welcome you from afar. Please forgive me..."
The sect leader of Yanxia looked at Taiyi, who stood at the front and made no deliberate effort to conceal his strength.
Though somewhat surprised, he still stepped forward courteously and asked, "Young master, you have already reached the Other Shore Realm at such a young age. Your talent is truly extraordinary... May I ask your name, and which elder of the Yaoguang Holy Land you study under?"
"Forgive me for arriving uninvited..."
Before you continue