14 Legacy

Page 1 of 3 — Chapter 14

Shen Yihan was horrified. Yun Ran’s two calls of “Shen Zhuo” had left him almost completely flustered.

In his present state, with Xie Xiaofeng’s corpse lying on the floor and that dream something he could never explain to Yun Ran, the situation was already impossible. Xie Xiaofeng had been Uncle Mei’s disciple—and Yun Ran’s junior fellow disciple, at that.

If Yun Ran saw what lay within the secret chamber, Shen Yihan feared that even if he had a hundred mouths, he would never be able to explain himself.

And this secret chamber was exceedingly strange. It possessed the ability to seal spiritual power. He could not even open his Cosmos Bag and hide Xie Xiaofeng’s corpse inside.

…Wait!

This chamber could seal spiritual power!

Yun Ran had been searching for him outside, pacing back and forth without forcing open the door. Clearly, although he had followed Shen Yihan’s aura here, the trail had vanished at this spot. With no clue that Shen Yihan had gone elsewhere, Yun Ran had concluded that he must still be nearby and was calling his name in search of him.

Years ago, Shen Yihan and Yun Ran had marked one another’s spiritual senses so they could communicate over long distances. That was how Yun Ran could sense his aura and location.

Who would have thought that this chamber could even sever the connection between those spiritual marks?

In the space of only a few moments, countless thoughts had already passed through Shen Yihan’s mind—

The cavern twisted and turned, and this secret chamber was hidden in such a bizarre and concealed place. So long as he did not answer, Yun Ran would probably have no easy way of finding it.

Sect Master Shen grew even more tense. Afraid that the slightest sound might alert Yun Ran, he held his breath like a thief, not daring even to exhale. He did not even dare to rise and put on his clothes, leaving him looking all the more disheveled and absurd.

Fortunately, things went just as he had expected. Yun Ran’s footsteps wandered back and forth outside several times, and he called Shen Yihan’s name repeatedly, but the cavern remained silent and empty of response.

Yun Ran seemed to hesitate for a while. At length, his footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Shen Yihan listened in silence for a long time. Only after no further sound reached him did he finally let out a breath and rise to straighten his clothes.

The parasite was formidable, but perhaps because Xie Xiaofeng had died, the shameless aphrodisiac had not required intercourse to be relieved, as such things ordinarily did. After taking matters into his own hands, Shen Yihan found that the burning sensation in his body had lessened considerably. Yet when he stood, his limbs still felt weak.

He knew that although the poison’s immediate effects had been suppressed, the parasite remained inside him. Xie Xiaofeng was dead, but Shen Yihan had no idea whether it might flare up again or cause some other complication. This could not possibly be a permanent solution.

He turned Xie Xiaofeng’s body over and searched inside his robes. As expected, he soon found several objects: a Cosmos Bag, a beast-hide scroll about the length of a palm, and two small bottles.

Shen Yihan opened them to inspect their contents. One held more than a dozen luminous white pills, each about the size of a fingernail and exuding a delicate fragrance. The other contained half a bottle of fine rose-red powder. The moment he removed the stopper, a strange sweetness assailed his nose. Fearing that it might be dangerous, he hastily sealed the bottle again.

There was also the black jar. Shen Yihan searched several times but could not find it. Most likely, it was inside Xie Xiaofeng’s Cosmos Bag.

Unfortunately, spiritual power could not be summoned within this secret chamber. Whether it was his own bag or Xie Xiaofeng’s, he had no way of opening either one.

Shen Yihan remembered that when he first entered the chamber, the stone door behind him had closed by itself. There was probably some mechanism involved.

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At the time, Xie Xiaofeng had taken a book from near the shelves and begun reading.

Shen Yihan walked to the shelf where Xie Xiaofeng had been standing and was about to search it when he noticed that the books were packed tightly together. Their covers were all blank, without titles; only a line of tiny writing appeared on each spine.

Looking more closely, Shen Yihan saw that the writing consisted entirely of names. Some were accompanied by Daoist names or honorific titles.

Although Sect Master Shen considered himself well connected throughout the cultivation world, he could not recall who any of these people were.

At last, he saw a book placed high on the shelf whose spine bore the words “Perfected Azure Nether, Yun Ziying.” He froze.

That name sounded strangely familiar…

Azure Nether… Azure Nether…

That was it! One of the Three Sects, Everlasting Valley, had among its founding patriarchs a figure now revered as the Azure Nether Dao Ancestor—and that ancestor’s surname was Yun. Moreover, if Shen Yihan remembered correctly, this Senior Yun seemed to have been one of Yun Ran’s mother’s forebears.

Why had his name been recorded in this book?

Shen Yihan recalled Xie Xiaofeng’s earlier claim that this was where his “Grandmaster Matriarch” had lived in seclusion. The more he thought about it, the more baffled he became. In the end, he simply pulled out the volume titled “Perfected Azure Nether, Yun Ziying” and opened it.

The first two pages seemed normal enough. The handwriting was graceful and delicate, apparently written by a woman. But when he turned to the third page, Shen Yihan was startled.

A man’s profile had been drawn across the page. His long hair was swept high, his brows were sharp and swept toward his temples, and his gaze was cool and distant. He bore a vague resemblance to Shen Yihan’s friend. He was plainly a rare and strikingly handsome man.

What was more, the portrait seemed to have been created with some unknown spell, for it actually moved.

As Shen Yihan turned to that page, the man appeared to sense some disturbance and turned his face toward him.

The image was so lifelike that it seemed ready to leap from the paper.

Shen Yihan had seen spells of this kind used in paintings before, but they were generally applied to landscapes, birds, and flowers, making the scene feel more immersive. They were rarely used on portraits, much less portraits this realistic. Even Shen Yihan’s heart had given a start when he first saw it, and he had nearly believed the figure in the painting was still alive.

Such exquisite realism was truly unprecedented.

Could this person be the Azure Nether Dao Ancestor, Yun Ziying?

Could this book be Senior Yun’s biography?

With that thought, Shen Yihan noticed several lines of tiny writing beside the portrait. They were bewildering, though he could understand the first two:

“Before the Lesser Vehicle”—

This was clearly referring to a cultivation realm.

“Born in the seventh month of the Year of the Wood Boar; water and wood in harmony, spiritual power gentle and abundant, nature like green jade”—

This seemed to describe the qualities of Perfected Azure Nether’s spiritual power. But why would the writer have recorded such things?

The lines that followed were incomprehensible.

First came “approximately seven inches in length,” then “white as jade,” and then phrases such as “at times lasting as long as seven days”—all of which left Shen Yihan utterly bewildered.

His confusion only deepened when he turned the page. He was so startled that he nearly flung the book from his hands.

What the book contained was a vivid erotic illustration!

More precisely, it was a vivid erotic illustration that moved.

The man’s features were clearly visible. It was unmistakably Perfected Azure Nether from the previous page. The woman had her back turned, so her face could not be seen; Shen Yihan could make out only the elegant silhouette of her beautiful back.

Perfected Azure Nether was the founding patriarch whom every disciple of Everlasting Valley now revered as a divine figure. Yet here he had been depicted in such a lifelike collection of erotic scenes. The desecration was so outrageous that if the disciples of Everlasting Valley ever saw the book, they would surely be enraged half to death.

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Shen Yihan hastily looked away, not daring to continue.

He repeated silently: My apologies, my apologies. This junior had no intention of spying.

That was the only reason he did not throw the book aside. After finally steadying it in his hands, he avoided looking at the illustration and instead noticed several words written upon it. They recorded a date and a place.

A thought stirred in Shen Yihan’s mind.

Could the author of this book be the woman in the illustration?

The date and location… naturally, they would refer to her and Perfected Azure Nether…

Ahem. Could this woman be the Grandmaster Matriarch Xie Xiaofeng had mentioned?

Shen Yihan flipped through several more pages. Every one contained a moving erotic scene like the previous one, though the positions and locations differed, as did the dates recorded.

Calculating according to the years, he realized that the events had taken place more than ten thousand years ago—

Their dates matched perfectly with Perfected Azure Nether’s known birth and death years.

Shen Yihan could not help feeling that these pictures did not resemble fabrications by some artist. The dates and locations all seemed to have a basis in reality. They looked almost as though the Azure Nether Dao Ancestor had truly shared these amorous adventures with the woman who had left the book behind.

Yet Perfected Azure Nether had been a founding patriarch of one of the orthodox sects. Could he really have had an affair with Xie Xiaofeng’s Grandmaster Matriarch—

Who, by extension, must also have been a female demon?

It was utterly inconceivable.

When Shen Yihan reached the final page, there was, at last, no erotic illustration. Only a few sparse words had been written there:

“This man has been pestering me endlessly of late. How tiresome. I am bored with him.”

The pages after that were blank. Not a trace of ink appeared in the remainder of the book.

Shen Yihan returned the volume to its place and glanced over row after row of tightly packed books, their spines covered in names. Gradually, his memory began to return.

Many of the names appeared to belong to the ancestors and patriarchs of the various sects and schools in the modern cultivation world. Taken together, they seemed to encompass more than half of all the sects that had survived to the present day—orthodox spiritual sects as well as ghost-path and demonic schools.

The collection truly contained everything under heaven.

Shen Yihan’s feelings were exceedingly complicated. For a moment, he did not know whether he ought to marvel at the Grandmaster Matriarch’s “extensive collection,” or be shocked that so many ancestors and venerable forebears of the orthodox sects had once fallen at her feet.

Before he could finish contemplating the matter, however, his gaze stopped on the spine of another book.

The handwriting was still that of the Grandmaster Matriarch.

But what it said was—

“Lord of the Ascendant Sun Sword.”

Shen Yihan: “…”

Shen Yihan: “?”