chapter xiv - the tomb under the palace

　　Another month passed, during which Nalan Ruoshui treated Chen Nan again, but there was still no "improvement". Chu Yue also once came, gave Chen Nan a thin book, on which there are a few internal heart method, want him to choose one, try to cultivate from new. Visible, Chu Yue for the recovery of his power thing, already do not hold any hope. 　　However, Chu Yue was immensely disappointed, as Chen Nan cultivated any of the heart techniques to no avail, unable to condense even a trace of true qi. The Grand Princess was a bit anxious, and finally brought the Houyi Bow from the palace to the Qishi Mansion, asking Chen Nan to try to see if it could be pulled apart without internal force, with predictable results. Chen Nan pretended to pull a pass, and finally deflated, "No, I can't pull it open." 　　Chu Yue's eyebrow slightly frowned, said, "How can this be, it makes no sense ah, Ruoshui never lies, she said that your power can theoretically be restored, and ...... should not have any effect from a new cultivation of martial arts." 　　Chen Nan duly said, "I feel that my body is a bit odd, but the feeling of holding Houyi Bow in my hand just now is very special, it's as if I feel that the true qi in my body seems to be showing signs of reviving over." 　　Chu Yue's eyes lit up and said, "Really?" 　　"Truly, I do have that feeling." 　　Chu Yue considered for a moment and said, "Alright then, I will place the Hou Yi bow here with you, you can sense it with your heart, and you might be able to recover your power. However, I need to send some manpower to guard it, after all, the divine bow is the heirloom treasure of my Chu Kingdom, in case the thieves know about it and come here to steal it, it would not be good." 　　Chen Nan made a look of gratitude and said, "Your Highness has even lent me the national treasure in order for me to be able to recover my power, such a kindness, if I recover my power, I will definitely vow to serve the Chu Kingdom to the death." 　　Chu Yue smiled faintly and drifted away. 　　From that day onwards, there were more guards outside Cinnan's courtyard, guarding his compound day and night. 　　"Is it to prevent thieves from stealing, or are they afraid that I'll abscond with the Houyi Bow?" Regarding this question, he did not think deeply, after all, Chu Yue gave him a pretty good impression. 　　The last few days Cinnan was a bit confused, he admitted that he had always had a hint of affection for Nalan Ruoshui, but he thought that it was never love. However, lately, if he couldn't see the beautiful and famous doctor any day, he would feel empty in his heart. 　　At first, he didn't quite believe his feelings, until Nalan Ruoshui had something to do and disappeared from his sight for a few days, then he vaguely felt that there was a little bit of Nalan Ruoshui's shadow in his heart. However, he thought about it carefully and finally came to the conclusion that it was limited to just good feelings. 　　There were some things that could never be forgotten, and engraved true feelings could never be erased, Chen Nan could not forget his confidante from ten thousand years ago until now. The image of Yuxin suffering death on his behalf floated in his mind from time to time, whenever he thought of the past, his heart ached, and he wondered how much longer it would take before he could start a new relationship. 　　Although Chen Nan didn't know what the beautiful famous doctor was thinking, he felt that Nalan Ruoshui seemed to be running away from something and was no longer as open as she was in the past when she faced him, his heart jumped, don't make a mistake, don't make a mistake! 　　"Could it be that she ......" 　　On this day, after Chen Nan walked into the library of ancient books, he completely translated the last few pages of that ancient book for the old man. The old man held the organized volume and said, "I've got what I need, what about you, have you found what you want?" 　　Chen Nan was startled and said, "Ah, what did you say?" 　　"Hehehe ......," the old man laughed, the grooves on his face quivering. 　　"Young man you're quite something, at a young age, your cultivation is already so amazing, and you also know ancient languages, what a wizard!" 　　"Ah, what are you saying old man, why can't I understand?" 　　The old man said, "Young man stop acting, I have no ill will towards you. In fact, since the first day you stepped into the bookstore, I have already realized that you are a profound cultivator, your cultivation should have just reached the third stage." 　　Chen Nan's heart was shocked beyond measure, the cultivator's aura he emitted outside his body was extremely weak, he didn't expect the old man to have already seen through him in their first meeting. 　　The old man said, "If you are not yet twenty years old, your cultivation is enough to rank among the top twenty cultivators under twenty years old in the continent, and if you are close to twenty-five years old, your cultivation can rank among the top two hundred cultivators under twenty-five years old in the continent. Regardless of which situation you fall into, you can be considered an outstanding young expert." 　　Chen Nan remained silent and waited to see what would happen. 　　The old man said, "Young man you hid it well, I believe that not many people can see through the fact that you are harboring great skills, but I am not one of them." 　　Chen Nan nodded his head and said, "The old man really does have an eye like a torch, the younger generation has nothing to hide in front of the senior." 　　The old man nodded and said, "What are you looking for?" 　　Without answering, Chen Nan asked instead, "What is senior looking for? And what did you get?" 　　The old man laughed, his face full of wrinkles piling up and trembling gently, his appearance somewhat frightening. 　　"Hehehe, young man, I asked you to translate an ancient book but disrupted the arrangement of the sentences, you must be very dissatisfied with me in your heart, right?" 　　Chen Nan said, "No, you're thinking too much." 　　The old man said, "I can't help it, that book is a paraphernalia, which involves many taboos that are forbidden by common people. I'm afraid that when you learn about it, you'll despise the old man and not translate it for him, so that's why I came up with this plan." 　　Chen Nan said, "A thing of the sideways path?" 　　The old man said, "Yes, I also have no choice, now I'm over a hundred and seventy years old, my body has already aged beyond recognition, I can't cultivate Taoism, I'm not gifted in practicing martial arts, and I can't make my body rejuvenate again ......" 　　"A hundred and seventy years old! Rejuvenate again?!" Chen Nan exclaimed. 　　"Yes, more than seventy years ago, I achieved a small success in martial arts and returned to childhood at the age of a hundred, these decades, although my power is getting deeper and deeper, I have never been able to step into a higher realm, my body is gradually aging, time is not waiting for me ah! The Immortal Martial Realm is getting farther and farther away from me." 　　Chen Nan's mouth opened wide in surprise, not expecting this old man in front of him to be a great master, the old man's "small success" was never "small", it must be a great success. 　　The old man then said, "In order to continue my life, I had to study the evil books and develop other methods, with the hope of one day realizing life and death." 　　Chen Nan was surprised, "Studying evil books to realize life and death?" 　　"Yes. In fact, there is no distinction between good and evil in this world, 'good' merely conforms to the perceptions of the vast majority of people, while 'evil' is not tolerated by the vast majority of people. At an age like mine, I have seen through everything and have long since lost the distinction between good and evil, so I don't care what book I have to cultivate. As long as it can continue my life, it is 'righteous'." 　　Although Chen Nan felt that there was a hint of truth in these words, he still felt a chill run down his back as he said in his heart, "People say that old Buddhas become devils, this old man wouldn't have fallen into the devil's path after reaching a certain level of power, would he?" He was now certain that this old man's cultivation had at least reached the fifth order realm. 　　The old man said, "What are you looking for young man?" 　　"As senior said, I am indeed looking for something. As I said, I'm very interested in the myths and legends of the ancient times, especially the origin of the Divine Devil's Mausoleum, which has me mesmerized, and I want to unveil its mysteries with the help of the royal family's vast canon." 　　A green light flashed in the old man's eyes, saying, "The Divine Demon Mausoleum is a mystery of the ages, I don't know how many generations it has plagued, if you are able to find traces of it, it will certainly stir the entire continent, have you found anything?" 　　Chen Nan deflated, "No, I've almost gone through the entire library of ancient books, but the Divine Demon Mausoleum is like an empty place in an endless void, no book has a record of its origin." 　　The old man said, "Alas, the truth has long been annihilated in history, if you want to understand what exactly happened ten thousand years ago, I'm afraid that only by stepping into the Immortal Realm will you be able to gain some insight." 　　Chen Nan nodded his head and agreed, Chu was one of the most powerful empires in the Eastern Continent, and its royal texts could be said to be all-encompassing, but there was not the slightest record of the origins of the Divine Devil's Mausoleum, so it could be seen that it really was not possible to find out the truth from the historical records. 　　At this time, he suddenly felt a strange fluctuation gently rippling within the ancient book library, exactly the same as when he first stepped into this place on the first day. Last time he didn't care, this time he closed his eyes to sense that fluctuation with his heart, slowly, a shocked look appeared on his face, that fluctuation was actually coming up from the ground. 　　After the old man saw his face change drastically, he nodded and said, "Young man is really not simple, even this subtle fluctuation can be sensed, it is evident that you are endowed with spiritual roots." 　　Chen Nan said, "Senior, what is that?" 　　The old man said, "Just as well, in order to repay you for translating the ancient scriptures for me, I'll lead you to take a look." 　　The old man led Chen Nan to a bookshelf, and forcefully moved the bookshelf to the side, and then after a moment of groping on the ground, a black cave appeared in front of Chen Nan's eyes, and the fluctuations came outward precisely from there. 　　Chen Nan simply could not believe his eyes, the hallowed Royal Ancient Book Depository would have such a location. 　　The old man said, ''Seventy years ago, when I became successful in my martial arts and my spiritual root was opened in my body, I inadvertently sensed this strange fluctuation. I didn't realize that you were born with a spiritual root, alas, people can't be compared to each other!" 　　Chen Nan was a bit puzzled, saying, "How could the Royal Ancient Book Depository have such a secret cave?" 　　The old man smiled and said, "This cave entrance was secretly excavated by me." 　　"You excavated it?" Chen Nan was a bit surprised, this old man's guts were too big. 　　"What's not to like, I'm just blatantly opening a cave under the emperor's dragon chair, he wouldn't dare to say anything because I'm his Xuan Ancestor." 　　Dizzy, wildly dizzy, Chen Nan was really a bit at a loss, he didn't expect this old man to come from such a big place. 　　"Follow me, let me lead you down to have a look." 　　The cave snaked underground in a spiral shape, Chen Nan followed behind the old man with one foot deep and one foot shallow, he was more or less apprehensive in his heart. Along the black hole of the tunnel down about thirty meters, below came a light, about another ten meters down, the two came to the light where the old man dug out of the tunnel and a tunnel into the "D" shape intersected together. 　　Tunnel monuments mottled, four walls for hard as iron adamantine rock, you can imagine that year to excavate such a road is how difficult, above the tunnel, every three feet distance will be inlaid with a night pearl, the light is these beads put. 　　Chen Nan marveled, "What a great gesture, a single pearl is already worth a lot of money, I can't imagine that here, so many pearls are used as ordinary lighting." After saying that, he stared at those bright beads with unblinking eyes. 　　The old man said, "Kid out of breath, you won't want to rob a tomb, right?" 　　"Ah, this ...... is a tomb?" Chen Nan felt some chills at his back, realizing that the light emitted by those bright beads were a bit demonic. 　　"Of course, living people who live underground ah." 　　"No way, the Imperial Palace of Chu would be built on top of a grave?" 　　"When the palace was first constructed, who knew what was underground, who would dig fifty meters into the ground." 　　The old man led Chen Nan along the ancient tunnel towards the brighter end, the only sound in the empty tunnel was the "pitter patter" of footsteps, making the ancient tomb seem particularly eerie and cold. 　　Along the winding ancient tunnels, the two came to a bright hall, although the hall in the underground, exempt from the erosion of rain, snow and frost, but also carved on the traces of the years, monuments spotted. The four walls of the hall are a pair of exquisite reliefs, mostly gods, devils, demons, and monsters from myths and legends....... There are beads embedded between the reliefs, making the whole hall as bright as day. Lifelike reliefs in the illumination of the beads, as if there is a soul in general, seems to want to break out of the wall. 　　In the center of the ancient hall was a white jade platform, which was crystal clear, emitting a soft light, and was a superb jade. What attracted Chen Nan's eyes was not the white jade platform, but the person on the jade platform, a tall and majestic middle-aged man stood in the center of the jade platform. 　　The middle-aged man had a head of long pitch-black hair flowing casually over his shoulders, a bronze-colored face, long eyebrows into his temples, a straight nose and a square mouth, and a pair of dark eyes that were so intimidating that looking at them caused one to feel chills. However, the most mind-blowing thing was the middle-aged man's aura, the absolute dominance, the majestic posture of looking down on the world, making the middle-aged man look like a demon god looking down on all living beings. 　　Chen Nan's eyes were hot, tears almost rolled down, the middle-aged man's demeanor and his father is too much like, the same wise, sharp eyes, the same domineering aura of the world, that kind of unique and worldly posture deeply shocked him. 　　The old man said, "See, that strange fluctuation is issued from the person who has passed away in front of us, this senior is truly an outstanding person!" 　　When Chen Nan heard the word "deceased", his heart and mind were shaken, he couldn't believe his ears, he once again carefully surveyed the person in front of him, and finally found a bit of light in his long hair, which was clearly the hilt of a sword. The word "flying sword" flashed in his mind, the overwhelmingly domineering middle-aged man was killed by a flying sword through his head. 　　"Dead, such a supreme expert died under a flying sword?" Chen Nan was a bit disbelieving, the aura of the middle-aged man in front of him was by no means weaker than his father, Chen Zhan, and must have long since surpassed the Fifth Order realm, back then, after Chen Zhan stepped onto the peak of the martial arts path, even those Taoist Mahayana monastics would find it difficult to oppose him. He had heard his mother say, cultivating martial arts to that kind of heaven and earth, the earthly world no longer has a sword to hurt, and it is difficult to meet the opposing hand again. 　　He circled around the jade platform and found a piece of bone powder behind it, and not far away from the other, there was a pile of broken bones with inches of roots. He didn't even need to think about it, he knew that these two people had died under the gaijin power of the middle-aged man on the stage. 　　The old man said: ''That book of mine was obtained from here, judging from those fonts on the book, everything here should be six or seven thousand years old. And this senior's body is so immortal and still standing tall, it's simply unbelievable." 　　Chen Nan sighed in his heart, "This senior's power is heavenly, he has condensed his physical body into an indestructible body, a strong man will always be a strong man, his aura is still so compelling after death." 　　The old man said, "Go, go up and watch, there is still writing at his feet." 　　"Oh?" Chen Nan's spirit perked up and leapt onto the jade platform with the old man. 　　On the crystal jade platform, there were only a few lines of words, carved with finger power, like iron hooks and silver scratches, strong and powerful, and there was an air of sadness that greeted the face, causing infinite sighs in the heart. 　　"Demon road to become immortal, heaven can not tolerate, cut off the demon to eliminate sins, in order to warn the world. Sigh call, the demon has a brother, coinciding with the return. Seriously injured body, and the fight, back to heaven, the same death. Ang Zang's body, the silence of the demon cave, my body shame, self-seal here!" 　　"So that's how it is, alas!" Chen Nan sighed and sighed, "Although the Demon Road has just stepped into the realm of Immortal Road, but after all, it is already an Immortal, this senior's bravado is so great that he has destroyed an Immortal, admiration, admiration!" 　　The old man was also somewhat emotional, "Yes, if he hadn't missed one person, I'm afraid that there would be another powerful Martial Immortal in this world." 　　Chen Nan sighed, "In life, the divine power overcomes the world and tops the heavens. After death, the form is immortal, standing tall. Thousands of years of domineering aura, condensing but not dispersing, a great hero of the absolute generation, looking down upon the earth." 　　Then he suddenly laughed out loud, "Haha ...... I am now full of confidence in the martial arts, how powerful the immortals are, but they are still not exterminated by a martial arts subversive, it can be imagined that if a person who practiced martial arts stepped into the realm of immortality, hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe ..." 　　The old man said, "Let me take you to the Demon Dao's cultivation place to have a look." 　　Chen Nan followed the old man through the ancient hall and along the tunnel to an ancient cave that was like an inferno on earth. The bright pearl glowed with an eerie light, the ground was white, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be thousands of withered bones, some of which had been completely crushed, and the slightest gush of air currents swirled up gusts of powder, and a sinister aura permeated the ancient cave. In the center of the thousands of dead bones is a dry blood pool, the pool's four walls are black and red and demonic, flooded with a cold air, as if there are ghosts floating above it. 　　This was an eerie and terrifying mass grave, and in the extreme silence, it was as if there were thousands of living souls hissing, causing one's scalp to tingle and one's heart to chill. 　　Chen Nan watched in horror, saying, ''This is where the demonic path practiced? It's truly brutal and inhumane, in order to satisfy one's own selfishness, it goes so far as to slaughter thousands of living souls, for such a person to become an immortal, it's truly unforgivable for heaven to condone it!" 　　After saying that, he couldn't help but look at the old man, if he wasn't wrong, the so-called evil book in the old man's hand must be the evil method that the Demon Road had once practiced, he couldn't help but be flooded with a chilling aura, the person standing in front of him could possibly be the second Demon Road. 　　The old man laughed, the wrinkles on his face trembled, said: ''Young people do not need to be afraid, I am a person who practiced martial arts, how can I go to cultivate again, and moreover, it is the dangerous blood cultivation way. A person who practiced martial arts to go back to cultivation, not the talent of the heaven and earth is difficult to do, the two are essentially different. I'm just borrowing some of the unique insights from that evil book, that is, if you need raw blood, I think the livestock that the Imperial Cuisine slaughters every day will suffice." 　　The coldness on Chen Nan's body decreased slightly, and then the two of them left the eerie ancient cave. 　　After arriving at the ancient hall, Chen Nan came to the jade platform, gazed at the overwhelmingly powerful man, and said to the old man, "When I was at the Ancient Book Depository, I had sensed this strange fluctuation twice before and after, so why didn't I sense it during that time?" 　　The old man said, "These two times you coincided with the approaching full moon, only at this time do the fluctuations become strong, I think it has something to do with the layout of this place, there may be some ancient formations hidden here that gather heaven and earth yuan qi." 　　"There are ancient formations here?" 　　"Not bad, I think it was laid down by the demonic dao back then, if you cultivate here, you will definitely get twice the result with half the effort. However, the risk is bound to increase as well, cultivation that goes too smoothly without experiencing the corresponding sharpening of the mind will definitely cause the mind to grow, and it will be easy to go off the deep end." 　　Chen Nan nodded his head in agreement and said, "The so-called gain must be accompanied by loss, right? This world is balanced, one must learn to have and know how to give up. The Demon Road was too greedy and ferocious back then, and after laying down a large formation that gathered heaven and earth's energy, it also slaughtered so many living beings, or else it wouldn't have gotten into the trouble of killing people." 　　The old man said, "Saying is one thing, doing is another, many inferiorities are rooted in the depths of one's soul, and it's hard to hold them in the face of great temptation. For example, right now you have the possibility of obtaining a supreme power from a supreme expert, can you not be tempted?" 　　Chen Nan laughed and said, "Motivated, of course I'm motivated, but I don't have such an opportunity." 　　The old man said, "What if there really was such a chance?" 　　"Although I'm moved, I'll give up in the end." 　　The old man gazed at Chen Nan with unblinking eyes and said, "Why?" 　　Chen Nan said, "Power obtained from the outside world is always less pure than that obtained from one's own cultivation, and I'm afraid that it will shackle the development of one's own power." 　　The old man sighed, "Young man you are very conceited, but you have the qualifications to be conceited, I can't, death is a constant threat to my life, if there is such a powerful force, I will never give up." 　　Chen Nan smiled and did not say anything. 　　The old man said, "Young man will you give me a hand? Let me get rid of the shadow of death." 　　Chen Nan revealed a perplexed look. 　　The old man's wrinkled cheeks trembled as he said, "Do you know, young man? The first time you stepped into the Ancient Book Vault, I sensed the aura in your body, and under careful observation, I realized that you were born with a spiritual root. If I can get the help of someone born with a spiritual root, I can potentially obtain a huge force, thus not having to cultivate the evil books and being able to continue my life for decades." 　　The old man pointed at the domineering supreme expert on the jade stage and said, "Do you know why there are hints of strange fluctuations surging out of his body? That's because there's a huge power hidden within his body, that's his world-defying cultivation, if you can channel those powers out ......" 　　After hearing this, Chen Nan's heart was cold, he was still wondering just now, the old man didn't have to lead him here even if he was repaying a favor, so it turned out that all of this was premeditated by this old man. 　　"Elder you're overthinking it, it's been thousands of years since then, the soul of that supreme expert has long since faded away, how could there be a powerful force hidden within his body? I think it's the result of his indestructible body resonating with the heaven and earth energy." 　　The old man said, "I can't rule out this possibility, but it could be what I guessed, how can I know unless I try, young man are you willing to help me?" 　　Chen Nan said, "My cultivation is far inferior compared to yours, how can I help you?" 　　The old man said, "This has nothing to do with cultivation, you are endowed with spiritual roots, it is very easy for you to attract heaven and earth vital energy, if you and I work together, we will definitely be able to stimulate the power within that supreme master." 　　In his heart, Chen Nan was very unwilling to help this old man with a deep heart, and even more so, he was unwilling to desecrate that supreme master, but considering his current situation, he had to agree to the old man's request. 　　The old man was very happy and said, "Your spiritual root is innate, my spiritual root was cultivated later in life and is far inferior to yours. Later on, you put both your palms on his back and use your heart to sense the power within him, while guiding it out, I will assist you from the side." 　　After ascending the jade platform, Chen Nan secretly said, "I'm offended." He placed his hands against the back of that Imperishable Body, sensing the strange fluctuations with his heart. 　　The old man also reached out and placed his hands against the back of the indestructible body, closing his eyes to carefully sense it. 　　A complex, inexplicable emotion seemed to come leisurely from the ancient times and traveled into Cinnan's heart, making him feel as if he had experienced a thousand years of light in an instant, and his heart was lost. He was startled, and if it wasn't for the Undying Body being cold to the touch, he would have thought that this absolute expert was going to be resurrected. He knew that the complex emotions were the feelings of a supreme expert in his dying days, there was loss and helplessness ...... 　　Chen Nan meditated and concentrated, excluding all distracting thoughts, carefully sensing the unusual fluctuations within Undying. Suddenly the unusual fluctuations seemed to resonate with him, and a majestic force began to surge within Undying. Chen Nan was shocked, a huge power was actually hidden within the remains of a supreme expert. He was shocked, this was beyond his imagination, a person had been dead for thousands of years, and he actually still retained that overwhelming power within his body. 　　Chen Nan peeked out and saw that the old man seemed to be oblivious even though his hands were also against the back of the Indestructible Body, he secretly made a decision in his heart that he must not channel this massive power out and inject it into the old man's body. He felt that this old man's heart was too deep, always making people unable to see through it, if he were to let him, who was already exceptionally powerful, absorb this power, he didn't know what horrifying consequences would be induced. 　　After a long while, Chen Nan put down his hands and sighed longingly, "Other than that strange fluctuation, I didn't sense any power flowing within this Imperishable." 　　Hearing him say so, the old man also lowered his hands, his face unable to hide his disappointment. 　　After coming out from the Ancient Hall, within the empty ancient tunnel, Chen Nan was apprehensive in his heart, he was afraid that this deep-minded old man would silence him here. It was only after drilling out from the hole in the ancient book vault that he let out a long breath. 　　The old man pushed the bookshelf back to its original position, smiled at Chen Nan and said, "Hey ...... young man don't be afraid, I won't be unfavorable to you, you're my Chu's future generation of heroes, how could I destroy Chu's future supreme expert?" 　　The old man patted his shoulder and said, "Work hard, my old man can still live for 20 or 30 years by relying on that evil book, during this period I can still instruct you a bit." 　　Chen Nan nodded woodenly, and it wasn't until he returned to the Qi Shi Mansion that he felt the icy cold sweat on his body.