Chapter 334: Sumeru Free Observation of the Hidden Treasure Realm

Gu Lichuan and Yue Ling’Er weren’t the type to stand on ceremony. Since Chen Yuan had been so direct, they didn’t refuse and accepted the items.

Afterward, the group searched the great hall once more but found nothing else.

Militan Temple’s method of teaching its disciples was somewhat similar to that of the Valley God Palace, using a decentralized approach.

The Valley God Palace had countless Daoist Palaces under its command, while Militan Temple had innumerable halls where disciples cultivated various Cultivation Techniques.

The Martial Artists in the outer halls had fought and killed one another, destroying many things in the process. The group had already explored those areas and found that not much of value remained.

Furthermore, the treasures held by Militan Temple’s upper echelon were now in their possession. They had more or less looted the ruins of everything valuable.

Chen Yuan then told Gu Lichuan and Yue Ling’Er the news about Luo Lie and the others being trapped in the Endless Immortal Palace. Upon hearing this, the three of them wasted no time, immediately leaving Militan Temple via the maze to head toward the Endless Immortal Palace.

Strictly speaking, there were still many statues within the gateways at the entrance to Militan Temple. Defeating them would yield numerous Cultivation Techniques of a decent grade.

But for Chen Yuan and the others, the remaining Cultivation Techniques were not worth the trouble.

Gu Lichuan had already obtained a Cultivation Technique related to the Sword Dao, and he had no intention of cultivating any others.

The same was true for Yue Ling’Er. The Vajra Cultivation Technique she had obtained earlier was of no use to her, so she planned to take it back for the other disciples of the Mist Rain Alliance to cultivate.

As for Chen Yuan, he had already obtained Militan Temple’s Core Technique. The other Secret Techniques were of little value to them, so it was better to leave them for the next wave of Martial Artists who entered the Heaven-Reaching Tower.

The Endless Immortal Palace was an extremely majestic and vast set of Sect ruins in the middle region of the Heaven-Reaching Tower, and it was exceptionally well-preserved.

However, due to its Sect Protection Array, the Endless Immortal Palace was hidden amidst clouds of the void most of the time. It wasn’t accessible every time the Heaven-Reaching Tower opened; entry was entirely a matter of fate and luck.

Many Martial Artists had explored the Endless Immortal Palace over the generations, but according to their records, the areas they had explored amounted to less than a tenth of the palace’s total size.

Therefore, for most Martial Artists who entered the Heaven-Reaching Tower, the Endless Immortal Palace was no secret. On the contrary, every time they entered the tower, everyone would head to its location to see if the immortal palace had opened.

Chen Yuan had been rather unlucky, getting transported directly to the lowest level, a great distance from the Endless Immortal Palace.

Luo Lie and the others, on the other hand, had been more fortunate. They were transported to a location near the middle region and had thus discovered the opening of the Endless Immortal Palace right away. However, they ended up trapped inside, and it was unknown what kind of crisis they had encountered.

On the way to the Endless Immortal Palace, Chen Yuan took out the Human Skin Evil Book and asked, “How much do you know about the Endless Immortal Palace?”

“The Endless Immortal Palace is full of lunatics.”

“Lunatics?”

The pages of the Human Skin Evil Book trembled slightly. “Master, you call me an evil thing, but the people of the Endless Immortal Palace are more wicked than any evil thing!

The Endless Immortal Palace isn’t a Martial Dao Sect. Some of its members came from other Sects, some were Loose Cultivators, and some came from various Clans. In short, its composition is very complex, with people from all corners of the world. Their sole purpose in founding the Endless Immortal Palace was to pursue eternal life!

‘Endless’ means a day that never ends. In their view, as long as one could live forever, they were an Immortal.

So, in their pursuit of eternal life, they experimented with all sorts of unimaginable methods. Some were wildly imaginative, others were bizarre and wicked. In the end, they created many incomparably malevolent existences.

Some even turned themselves into monsters, but in their eyes, this was the correct path toward eternal life.

Therefore, during the Ancient Era, the Endless Immortal Palace was a truly unique existence. The Daoist, Buddhist, and Demon Three Veins, both righteous and evil paths, and all the Sect Clans were extremely hostile toward them. They were seen as heretical and demonic, to be shunned at all costs.

That’s why when the Heaven-Reaching Tower was first being built, the Human Race Alliance was reluctant to let the Endless Immortal Palace join.

That bunch had created many wicked things and caused immense trouble in the Jianghu. Letting them into the Heaven-Reaching Tower might have jeopardized the entire project.

However, the people of the Endless Immortal Palace possessed extremely high attainments in Arrays and were also skilled in Artifact Refining and Mechanisms. The palace itself was one of the grandest and most majestic Sects of the Ancient Era, almost like a miracle.

Such abilities would be of immense help in constructing the Heaven-Reaching Tower. So, after many deliberations, the alliance had no choice but to allow the Endless Immortal Palace to join.

And since the Endless Immortal Palace’s goal was also to achieve immortality, they were naturally very interested in the Heaven-Reaching Tower.

In short, the people in the Endless Immortal Palace are all lunatics, driven mad by their desire for immortality. There are bound to be many wicked things inside, and the danger level is definitely not low.

But at the same time, the attainments of the Endless Immortal Palace’s people in the Martial Dao, Arrays, Artifact Refining, the Dao of Life and Death, and Gu Insect Beast Taming were unparalleled. There are bound to be many good things inside as well.”

Chen Yuan nodded. ‘I see.’

The information Liu Suifeng had given him also contained some records about the Endless Immortal Palace, but its origins weren’t explained as clearly as the Human Skin Evil Book had just done.

When the Heaven-Reaching Tower was established, countless Sect Clans from across the world joined the alliance, comprising nearly half of all Cultivators.

However, some factions were more shrewd. Even after joining the alliance and entering the Heaven-Reaching Tower, they didn’t abandon their foundations in the outside world. They only moved a portion of their Sect’s power into the tower, leaving themselves a fallback plan.

The Endless Immortal Palace, however, was more extreme. They moved their entire palace into the Heaven-Reaching Tower, leaving not a single trace of their power in the outside world.

Thus, after the fall of the Heaven-Reaching Tower, records of the Endless Immortal Palace in the outside world became scarce, to the point of being almost non-existent.

Chen Yuan didn’t remain idle on the journey; he took the time to take stock of his trump cards.

‘Half of the Greedy Wolf Demon Qi within the Demon-Drinking Saber is left. At a critical moment, it can serve as a trump card second only to a Divine Artifact Incarnation. Moreover, I have four Divine Artifact Incarnations on me: the Corpse Tower Forest, the Sun-piercing Sword, the Nine Nether Demon Sword, and the Shenxiao Decree.’

‘The Corpse Tower Forest is my ultimate trump card; it’s best not to use it unless absolutely necessary. The Sun-piercing Sword and the Nine Nether Demon Sword are slightly weaker, so I can use them first. The Shenxiao Decree is also incredibly powerful. And since I possess the Shenxiao Evil-slaying Sword and the Purple Sky Demon Slaying Sword, activating the Shenxiao Decree is effortless.’

‘However, it’s best if no one sees me use the Shenxiao Decree. After all, if the Shenxiao Sect finds out that I killed Zhang Xuanzhong and that both the Purple Sky Demon Slaying Sword and the Shenxiao Decree have fallen into my hands, they’ll likely go berserk. Of course, a Cultivation Technique is impossible to hide forever, but the longer I can keep it a secret, the more trouble I can avoid. Gu Lichuan and Yue Ling’Er are trustworthy; they won’t just blab about something like this.’

‘Actually, if there were enough time, I’d like to start cultivating that Sumeru Free Observation of the Hidden Treasure Realm from Militan Temple. I don’t need to spend special effort cultivating the Purple Sky Demon Slaying Sword. I already have the foundation from the Shenxiao Evil-slaying Sword and know Zhang Xuanzhong’s initial cultivation process. It’ll be easy to condense the Purple Sky Thunder and wield the Purple Sky Demon Slaying Sword, though its power will certainly be weaker than the Shenxiao Evil-slaying Sword, which I’ve practiced for much longer. But the Sumeru Free Observation of the Hidden Treasure Realm is different. It requires proper study and cultivation. I’d have to enter a period of deep, secluded cultivation just to get started with it.’

As he traveled, Chen Yuan also took the time to gain a preliminary understanding of this Cultivation Technique.

‘Judging by the Skill Level system, the Level of the Sumeru Free Observation of the Hidden Treasure Realm is actually hard to classify. Its floor is very low, but its ceiling is incredibly high. If mastered, it could not only be ranked as a Celestial Level Upper Grade technique but could even approach the level of a Supreme Technique.’

‘At the same grade, a Cultivation Technique is far more precious than a Martial Arts Secret Technique because a Cultivation Technique is the very foundation of one’s power. A Celestial Level Cultivation Technique inherently includes many Celestial Level Secret Martial Techniques. The Sumeru Free Observation of the Hidden Treasure Realm is just like that. The power of its Secret Techniques is nearly at the Supreme Level.’

‘This technique doesn’t cultivate Inner Power Buddhism; it cultivates the Intention Root. The Buddhist Scriptures say humans have six roots: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and intention. The ability to perceive phenomena and generate consciousness from them is what is known as the Intention Root. So, strictly speaking, the Sumeru Free Observation of the Hidden Treasure Realm is a Cultivation Technique that is partially focused on Spiritual Power. For me right now, even just its effect of increasing Spiritual Power would be immensely useful.’

‘To cultivate this technique, one must construct a Hidden Realm within their sea of consciousness. This Hidden Realm can be as vast as Mount Sumeru or as tiny as a mustard seed. A Cultivator needs to cultivate their Intention Root within this Hidden Realm. Then, by combining their own Cultivation Techniques, their self-understanding, and their insights into the world, they perform Visualization to manifest a ‘Temple.’ Take the Abbot of Militan Temple, for example. When the entire temple faced a great calamity, he single-handedly used a Moving Array to seal the temple. He held back two monsters, contending with them for ten thousand years. In the end, he underwent a final sublimation, fighting to the death to help me and the others kill those two monsters. His personality was surely resolute, decisive, fierce, and fearless. Thus, what he manifested was the fierce and valiant White Tiger Temple.’

‘So, what kind of ‘Temple’ you can manifest with the Sumeru Free Observation of the Hidden Treasure Realm depends entirely on your own Cultivation Techniques, your personality, your insights into the Martial Dao, and so on. If some good-for-nothing weakling were to try, they might only be able to manifest something like a rabbit or a pheasant. For them, this Cultivation Technique wouldn’t even be considered Celestial Level. Moreover, the ‘Temple’ manifested by the Sumeru Free Observation of the Hidden Treasure Realm isn’t static. As you gain more insights, the ‘Temple’ you manifest will also grow stronger. Its potential is astonishing. It could absolutely be cultivated as a main Buddhist Cultivation Technique.’

Musing over his research while they traveled, it took Chen Yuan and the others nearly a full day to cross the numerous land fragments and arrive at the middle region of the Heaven-Reaching Tower, right outside the Endless Immortal Palace.