Chapter 378

Chapter 378: Chapter 377 The massive Ancient Tomb Sect was located within a large mountain and was not as one would expect, filled with Yin Qi without a trace of sunlight. It was only after Ye Tianchen carried Dongfang Meng inside that he discovered the sect was lit everywhere by Luminous Pearls, ensuring brightness at night. During the day, sunlight could enter as well because the top of the Ancient Tomb Sect was ingeniously designed not to block sunlight yet still prevent rain from entering. The sect’s founder, Grandmaster, was indeed a master of ingenuity, a truly remarkable woman.

Ye Tianchen took out a sheepskin map that Zhang Yide had given him and marked five red spots on it, indicating the locations of five secret chambers of the Ancient Tomb Sect. Not to mention outsiders, even the internal disciples of the sect would find it impossible to enter these chambers. Perhaps even Dongfang Meng had always adhered to the sect rules and had never entered them.

Therefore, finding the Jade Maiden Heart Scripture and its cultivation method was not going to be easy. If they were not within these five marked chambers, Ye Tianchen would be in trouble. The Ancient Tomb was vast, filled with countless uncharted secret chambers. Finding the chamber containing the Jade Maiden Heart Scripture’s cultivation method, or even just ensuring not to get lost, was difficult. Thus, Ye Tianchen increasingly felt he was looking for trouble where there was none. Originally, he had no significant connection to Dongfang Meng; his interest was merely out of curiosity about the Ancient Martial Sect.

However, Ye Tianchen was not one to admit defeat. In his mindset, the word "defeat" did not exist. The more challenging something was, the more he enjoyed it. So, Ye Tianchen still carried Dongfang Meng on his back and slowly made his way to the left towards the marked secret chamber. He noticed the red lacquer seal on the chamber’s stone guard, which seemed to be age-old, slowly changing color without any signs of loosening. Apparently, no one had ever entered, as the rules of the Ancient Tomb Sect were strict. Even now, when only Dongfang Meng remained in the sect, she had never entered, strictly adhering to the sect’s rules as a form of respect to the founder.

"I am also doing this to save your sect’s disciples; forgive the offense!" Ye Tianchen thought to himself.

With his right hand, he grasped the stone door’s handle and slightly forced it, cracking the red lacquer seal while he shifted to one side. Gradually, he pulled open the heavy stone door, wary of possible traps or hidden weapons. Ye Tianchen had already readied the Superpower Light Shield for defense. The door was immensely heavy, weighing at least several hundred pounds, and Ye Tianchen felt a bit strain pulling it open with one hand, finding numerous intriguing things within the Ancient Tomb Sect.

With a creak, Ye Tianchen pulled open the massive stone door, and light leaked out from inside, similar to the glow of Luminous Pearls. It seemed each secret chamber in the Ancient Tomb Sect was equipped with Luminous Pearls for illumination. The sect’s founder, Grandmaster, was truly remarkable—Ye Tianchen was thoroughly impressed.

Unexpectedly to Ye Tianchen, he had thought there might be traps or hidden weapons of some sort, but when the stone door opened, nothing appeared; no traps, no hidden weapons. Ye Tianchen remained cautious, carrying Dongfang Meng into the room. As he entered and saw the scene inside the chamber, he was startled—the contents were nothing like he had anticipated.

At this time, Ye Tianchen had entered into a secret chamber on the left. When he opened this chamber, there were neither traps nor any strange items. It was a small room lit by a Luminous Pearl. Apart from the limited space and illumination, on the flat stone walls, there were four paintings.

The first painting depicted a young girl practicing swordsmanship. Her skills were advanced, yet somewhat raw, leaving her breathless. It seemed she had just begun her cultivation journey. After practicing with the sword, the girl would sit cross-legged on the floor and meditate for a while. The age of the paintings on the stone wall was unknown, but they were vividly exquisite. The girl’s attire was ancient, yet she looked serene and beautiful, which made Ye Tianchen pause in admiration.

The second painting resembled the young girl facing reproach of some kind, sitting sadly beside a waterfall. It appeared as though she was confiding her troubles to the waterfall. Birds flew to her hand, and the girl joyfully placed the bird in her palm, cautiously cherishing it as if afraid to hurt it. From then on, the girl visited the waterfall daily, feeding and caring for the birds.

The third painting depicted a young girl feeding birds at a waterfall, basking in delightful weather. She seemed blissful, her mood significantly uplifted as she hummed to the birds and practiced a gentle martial art. Ye Tianchen couldn’t help but exclaim upon seeing her movements, which appeared naturally fluid and supremely soft, yet contained immense strength within their gentleness.

In the fourth painting, after a day of cultivation, the girl was feeding the birds and talking to them when suddenly, a loud noise erupted from the nearby waterfall. A figure burst forth, plummeting down from the waterfall. As it fell, a huge water serpent also emerged from within the waterfall, ferocious and formidable, as if intending to devour the person. At the critical moment, the girl acted, striking the serpent on the head with a palm, while her left hand grabbed a vine by the waterfall, and her right hand caught the falling figure, quickly returning them safely to a large rock by the waterfall. In the girl’s arms lay a man, but Ye Tianchen noticed that the man’s face had been erased, as if deliberately removed later, because unlike the previous pristine paintings, this appeared altered, puzzling him further!

The sequence of four paintings left Ye Tianchen baffled. He didn’t understand the purpose or what message they intended to convey. A young girl saving a man with a longsword strapped to his back—that was where the story ended abruptly, but what about the rest of the story? This made Ye Tianchen even more eager to continue looking, perhaps to uncover more.

On checking Dongfang Meng and without delay, Ye Tianchen had only opened the first chamber, containing just four paintings and no cultivation techniques from the Jade Maiden Heart Scripture. Before leaving, he had thoroughly checked but didn’t discover anything unusual, indicating this chamber wasn’t the right one.

After exiting, while still carrying Dongfang Meng, Ye Tianchen glanced at the chamber on the right. Initially thinking it unlikely, but to be absolutely sure, he opened the right chamber, sealed with red lacquer. Inside, without any traps or hidden weapons, Ye Tianchen felt puzzled because, like the left chamber, it contained four paintings, but these flat stone walls were shattered by sword qi, utterly obscuring the image content, perhaps continuing from the paintings in the left chamber, or maybe telling a different story entirely.

After a moment of thought, Ye Tianchen decided to delve deeper. His eyes concentrated superpower, blurring his vision momentarily. He used a unique Superpower Skill called "Memory Restoration Skill," which he had encountered by chance in a secret book during his time in the apocalypse stars. This secret technique, usually useless except for tracing murderers, turned out to be exceedingly handy.

To employ the "Memory Restoration Skill" wasn’t overly difficult; the main challenge lay in the method of this secret technique, which average individuals struggled to grasp unless one had reached a supremely powerful realm. Possibly, only an Emperor-level Expert might manage it through their origin power, for harnessing origin power at will is extremely challenging, and without reaching the Emperor level, origin power remains limited. Overusing it could result in death by exhaustion, as what happened when Dongfang Meng used it in a desperate attempt to perish alongside Qing Chengyue, making any manipulation of origin power exceedingly perilous without considerable mastery, akin to a suicidal action.

When Ye Tianchen activated the "Memory Restoration Skill," the scene that materialized in front of him showed a young girl standing right before him, identical to the one in the paintings of the left chamber. She was donned in ancient attire, with delicate silk flowing around her beautiful and lively figure. She wielded a longsword, continuously etching something onto the stone wall. Throughout, her face wore a beautiful, reminiscent smile. However, stunned, Ye Tianchen froze when she completed the last painting, connecting it to the paintings in the left chamber, unraveling the mystery of who she was and why she ultimately destroyed all the paintings in the right chamber—it was out of a broken heart, inflicted by the very man she had saved.

"The founder of the Ancient Tomb Sect, the Grandmaster, had already been here in her youth, wounded by love and led a lonely life. In fact, she had always been waiting for the man she deeply loved, only for both to perish alone, questioning the nature of love, which binds one in both life and death," Ye Tianchen realized as he observed the ruined paintings in the right chamber, deeply moved. Even if someone becomes as powerful as the founder of the Ancient Tomb Sect, capable of developing Internal Cultivation Methods comparable to Shaolin’s Yijin Jing, their human emotions remain inescapable, and painfully, she loved deeply for a lifetime. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote at qidian.com. Your support drives me forward.)