The scholar Sui Zhen and the Lin sisters exchanged a glance. What they were thinking about was not rewards. As long as Li Musheng did not come to their door, they would already be thanking heaven and earth.
But at that moment, Sui Zhen's gaze shifted suddenly. He narrowed his eyes toward Wu Yong and spoke, "All along, we have only known the sect sent us to Falling God Peak to find a stone stele. We have no idea what this stele actually is, or why it is so important. Would Elder Wu be willing to enlighten us?"
At those words, both Lin sisters immediately looked toward Wu Yong as well.
They naturally understood that Wu Yong was not the sort of person to be ignorant of how terrifying Li Musheng was.
And he was normally an extremely cautious man. Behavior as reckless as this tonight was completely unlike him, as though a different person had taken his place.
Of course, they could roughly guess that the reason must lie entirely with this stele.
And so, though they were genuinely annoyed with him, they were also deeply curious about what secret this stele actually held.
Faced with Sui Zhen's question, Wu Yong was visibly quiet for a moment.
He seemed to be weighing whether to share the stele's secrets with the three of them.
At those words, Sui Zhen immediately nodded, "Elder Wu can rest assured. We will keep it to ourselves entirely."
And both Lin sisters gave a quiet nod as well, indicating they would not let a word slip.
Seeing this, Wu Yong considered for a moment, then glanced at the dark jade stele on his back. His eyes suddenly became intensely bright, and he said in a low, grave voice, "This stele is called the Divine Talent Stele, and it is a divine object that fell from the heavens."
"Furthermore, this object has an intricate and profound connection to those of us with divine nature. To us, it is a true and supreme sacred object."
At those words, a look of surprise crossed Sui Zhen's face, and he asked with puzzlement, "Connected to those of us with divine nature? And yet I have never heard that something like this exists in the world."
Wu Yong glanced at him and said coldly, "There is a great deal you do not know. You know you have divine nature, that when each of you was born heavenly phenomena accompanied the event, that you are one in ten thousand."
"But what you do not know is that, long ago, people like us were also known as 'Children of the Gods.' We were the apostles of the ancient deities who walked among mortals."
At those words, even the Lin sisters' expressions changed, though they had been members of the sect for some time already and knew far more than Wu Yong gave them credit for.
Regarding some matters within the sect, they had learned a few things. For instance, they knew the Divine Nature Sect had a long lineage, though there had been a period of no small length when that lineage had been broken, and it was only a supremely powerful person of divine nature who had stepped forward to reestablish the sect afterward.
Beyond that, however, the sect's more closely guarded matters were still things they did not yet have sufficient standing to be told.
So when Wu Yong suddenly brought up these secrets, they were both genuinely astonished.
Wu Yong took in the expressions of all three of them, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said, "I do not know the full details of this Divine Talent Stele's secrets myself. But what I can tell you is this: this stele not only holds the potential to enhance our innate divine abilities in ways that are difficult to imagine, it also conceals within it the secret by which those of us with divine nature can transcend mortal bodies and ultimately ascend to divinity, living forever in immortality."
"This..."
"Ascend to divinity?"
"Immortality?"
Sui Zhen and both Lin sisters all went still at once.
Clearly, none of the three had ever known that those of them with divine nature had any such path available to them, a path they had never once heard of.
Before this, to enhance their innate divine abilities, the only options available to them had been to continually deepen their mastery and use of their own abilities, to explore and develop the deeper potential of their divine nature, and beyond that, to use meditation to refine the power of their divine nature and strengthen their innate divine abilities.
But this method of enhancement was slow. It was nowhere near as fast as the approach Falling God Peak had used, draining blood of divine nature from others to advance.
In fact, part of their purpose in slipping into Falling God Peak while the Tianjin Guards and the sect were fighting had been not only to find the stele, but also to try and obtain the Divine Consumption Art.
Unfortunately, the Tianjin Guards had won too quickly, leaving them almost no opportunity to search for it. And then Wu Yong had gone and stolen the jade stele, forcing them to abandon the effort and flee.
So when Wu Yong now said the Divine Talent Stele could enhance innate divine abilities, that alone was deeply shocking.
But what shocked them even more was the other secret contained within it.
Setting aside the vague and uncertain promise of ascending to godhood, immortality was something every person in the world had always dreamed of.
But from ancient times to the present, who had ever actually achieved it?
Those who climbed to the absolute peak of the martial path, the Martial Gods, had not. The world's strongest at any given time had not.
Even the Tianqi Emperor, hailed as the greatest ruler of a thousand years, who had spent his entire life searching the world and even voyaging overseas to seek immortality from sages and spirits, had in the end become nothing more than a handful of yellow earth.
In this world, all people sought long life, and yet long life had never been achieved.
At that moment, all three of Sui Zhen's group found it difficult to believe what Wu Yong was saying. Some of them even wondered whether he was fabricating it all to mislead them.
Wu Yong seemed to read their thoughts and gave a cold laugh, "Believe it or not as you will. But there is one more thing I can tell you. When each of you was born, no matter the distance between you and this stele, whether a thousand li or ten thousand li, the Divine Talent Stele would sense it and respond. And it was through this stele that Falling God Peak located people with divine nature and killed them to drain their blood."
At those words, the gazes of all three fell again on the stele on Wu Yong's back, and every one of them wore an expression of astonishment.
Wu Yong swept an impassive look over the three of them and said, "One more thing. I would advise you not to think about getting your hands on the Divine Talent Stele yourselves. This stele is indestructible. With your abilities, forget uncovering its secrets. You could not even cause it the slightest damage."
"It was probably only that prince who managed it, through some method none of us understand, to reduce what was originally a stone stele into the form it now takes."
At those words, Wu Yong's eyelid twitched.
He had discovered Li Musheng and the big black cat somewhat by chance earlier, and had followed covertly in the shadows, watching, which was the only way he had managed to confirm that the dark jade stele was indeed the stone they had been sent to find.
And after seeing what Li Musheng was capable of, stripping the original stone stele down to the jade form it now bore, the man's terrifying methods had naturally filled him with dread.
Even thinking of it now, he could not suppress a cold shudder.
Even so, he quickly pushed that thought aside, and then warned all three of them with great solemnity, "The true secrets of the Divine Talent Stele are known only to the sect's leadership and a few senior elders. Keeping it privately would be useless to us. I strongly advise you not to entertain any ideas you should not be entertaining, unless you wish to bring death down on yourselves."
At those words, a subtle shift moved through Sui Zhen's eyes, and he exchanged a glance with both Lin sisters.
"Elder Wu can rest easy. We know our place, and would never do anything so unwise. We will escort you and the Divine Talent Stele safely back to the sect's hidden location."
Sui Zhen immediately clasped his hands and spoke, while both Lin sisters also gave a quiet nod.
Setting aside whether any of them fully believed what Wu Yong had told them, even if every word of it was true, none of them had the power or the nerve to try and hold on to something that touched both Li Musheng and the Divine Nature Sect.
To do so would be little different from courting death.
Wu Yong, seeing this, narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Good that you understand. Our contribution here is enormous, and the sect will not be ungenerous. When the sect's leadership and elders have unraveled the secrets of the Divine Talent Stele, they will not forget any of you."
With that, Wu Yong said no more and pressed on at full pace.
...
Within Lan Province, in a small city's rowdy tavern, the ground floor was busy with people coming and going, and the second through fourth floors were packed without an empty seat.
At the sound of a bronze gong, a black-robed elder stepped up before a table on the wooden stage built over the open courtyard below. His hand rose and fell, and the storytelling block in his hand came down with a sharp crack.
"Today this old one will not continue from last time, with the story of the 'Secret History of the Tianqi Imperial Palace.' Instead, I have a truly earthshaking event from the recent martial world to share."
The elder's face was deeply wrinkled and his hair white, but his voice was deep and resonant.
Even amid the clamor and noise of the tavern, his words cut through both floors and rang clearly in every ear.
At those words, the crowd immediately broke into a wave of boos.
All these people had gathered in the tavern and spent a fair amount on food and drink for the very purpose of hearing about those affairs among the Tianqi imperial consorts, carrying on behind the emperor's back with imperial physicians, princes, or palace guards.
With the elder now refusing to continue, the crowd was naturally quite displeased.
A rough-faced large man sitting by the railing on the second floor even yanked out his long blade and slapped it on the table, eyes fixed furiously on the black-robed elder below, shouting, "You old fool, yesterday you stopped right at the good part, right when it had this man hooked! And now today you suddenly quit! Do you want your head to find out whether this man's blade is sharp?"
At those words, the people nearby immediately chimed in one after another, and even more were happily watching the trouble unfold.
But at that moment, a middle-aged man at the adjacent table spoke up to warn the large man, "I have heard that storyteller has quite a background, and his martial ability is nothing to dismiss. I would advise you not to provoke him, or you will find yourself in trouble."
At those words, the rough-faced large man stood up abruptly, apparently not taking the middle-aged man's words seriously at all, "You think I am afraid of some old man? This is Lan Province. Falling God Peak's territory. My second uncle is a manager in Falling God Peak. Let him try and touch me. See if he dares."
At those words, people on every floor instinctively looked over, and many began to quiet down.
Falling God Peak was not only a top-tier sect of the martial world, it was effectively the true lord of Lan Province. Just the name, at that moment, was enough to make people's expressions change.
The rough-faced large man, seeing the reaction around him, grew visibly more brazen, and bellowed down at the black-robed elder on the wooden stage with a nasty look, "Talk! Pick up right where you left off yesterday! Say anything else and this man today will chop off your head and use it as a chamber pot!"
The moment those words left his mouth, the entire tavern went abruptly silent.
Even some of the martial world figures present who could have bested the large man easily chose to say nothing.
Perhaps they did not fear the large man himself, but they had to be wary of Falling God Peak behind him. No one wanted to provoke that enormous force, and certainly not on its own territory.
The black-robed storytelling elder, however, simply narrowed his eyes at the domineering large man on the second floor, then calmly swept a look around all four sides of the tavern and spoke in an unhurried voice, "Friends in the audience, the story this old one wishes to tell today concerns the current Great Li court."
At those words, the rough-faced large man erupted with fury, "Outrageous! You old fool, you are asking for death!"
He reached for the blade on the table, but right at that moment, a surge of energy shot out from somewhere and struck the acupoint in his wrist.
In an instant, the hand he had extended froze completely, and the man found he could not move a single muscle.
And at the same time, the black-robed elder's voice continued to reach the large man's ears.
"The story begins not so long ago, when a case of an impostor prince secretly swapped into the Great Li imperial household twenty years earlier was made public, shaking the entire martial world."
"The Seventh Prince, considered the strongest candidate for the position of Great Li's Crown Prince, was thrown into the imperial dungeon by the current Great Li Emperor, and his identity as a false prince became an indelible stain on the Great Li imperial family."
"After this came to light, the Great Li court was thrown into upheaval. Emperor Yuanwu flew into a rage and issued orders that very night to the Six Doors, the Tianjin Guards, and the Hidden Intelligence Bureau to jointly investigate the case and get to the bottom of the true and false prince affair."
At those words, the storytelling elder brought the block down sharply, then swept a look across the tavern crowd and asked, "Most of you have surely heard of this matter by now. Does anyone know what happened afterward?"
By this point, many in the tavern had already noticed the large man's odd state, and had dimly guessed at something.
For a moment, the crowd looked toward the storytelling elder with expressions they could not quite read. Quite a few were puzzled as to where this man came from, that he dared act so freely even after learning the large man had ties to Falling God Peak.
Even so, many in the tavern had had their curiosity piqued by the thread the storytelling elder had raised.
A seemingly ordinary young swordsman of the martial world rapped the hilt of his sword and picked up the thread, "Afterward, naturally the true-and-false prince case had not yet been resolved when the Great Li court set up the Aurora Pavilion to search for the real Seventh Prince, who had been lost among the common people."
At those words, the storytelling elder on the stage below turned toward the young swordsman who had spoken and gave a nod, "This young hero is correct. But I wonder what else you have heard? Why not share it as well?"
At those words, the young swordsman furrowed his brow and shot the storytelling elder a look, "You old man are something else. I paid money to listen to stories, not to tell them."
Even so, despite saying this, he cleared his throat loudly and went on, "As for what came next, I heard the Qingshan remnants made quite a scene at the Aurora Pavilion, and it was actually after that incident that the real Seventh Prince was found."
"Ah, no, he should not be called the Seventh Prince anymore. He should be called the Eighth Prince."