Chapter 487 The Owner of the Ice Seal Divine Techniques

Chu Bamboo fluently recited the coordinates for four tombs scattered across the country, even accurately describing their layouts, how to enter, the best places to dig robber’s tunnels… and what to retrieve from inside.

Although Sun Rui was dumbfounded, he still subconsciously pulled out a notebook to take notes.

“As for everything else besides the Artifacts I need!” Chu Bamboo said after a moment of thought, glancing at Elder Qian. “The officials can just conduct a proper archaeological excavation.”

“Alright,” Elder Qian nodded calmly. “That part is easy. Sun Rui, I’ll deal with the procedural red tape for the excavation. You just head out and start digging immediately.”

“What about manpower…?” Sun Rui hesitated.

“Requisition them directly from State Security,” Elder Qian said without hesitation. He then added an explanation for Chu Bamboo, “Secretary Sun was a soldier in his early years before transferring to State Security. According to his internal file… he’s considered to be on temporary assignment here. His status over at State Security was never actually revoked, so he can mobilize some of their resources.”

“Alright,” Chu Bamboo nodded. He chose his words carefully. “Besides that… I also need some antiques from inside museums. Oh, and there are other antiques I need that are hidden away in private collections… I can provide the funds to purchase them.”

“…You mean to say!” Realization dawned on Elder Qian, his mind reeling. He understood these antiques might be the Artifacts. His attitude shifted in an instant, and he declared decisively, “How could we possibly take your money? Rest assured! Before noon tomorrow… as long as the antiques you mentioned are under official control… or their owners are in the country, they will be brought before you!”

The antiques that needed excavation couldn’t be guaranteed to arrive by the next day. After all, even with Chu Bamboo’s detailed instructions, who knew how long a dig like that would take?

It would be perfectly normal for an unexpected delay to drag things out for weeks. But for items that had already been unearthed, that was a different story.

After a brief pause, Elder Qian couldn’t suppress his doubts any longer. “But are you really sure? I can’t speak for the others… but the ones in the museums? We’ve run them through official inspections. If they really were…”

After confirming the existence of Artifacts, they had subjected any item that could possibly contain some kind of power to rigorous inspections! Over and over again…

Logically, nothing should have slipped through the cracks…

“It’s not the same,” Chu Bamboo said, shaking his head. “Ultimately, you and they are not the same kind of existence.”

Chu Bamboo was being deliberately cryptic—a habit he’d picked up in the future. When it came to Extraordinary matters, you could never be too explicit. You had to assume that those in the know would naturally understand.

“Forget top-tier Artifacts—even many mid-tier ones have developed their own Spirituality. It’s not just you; even for one of their ‘own kind’ like me… it’s hard to earn their acknowledgment without resorting to certain methods.”

“…I see.” After a moment of silence, Elder Qian gave a bitter smile. ‘No wonder. So many of the famous weapons from history—for example, some of the authenticated Ten Great Swords in our own possession—none of them turned out to be Artifacts!’

‘We used to think they were either forgeries from the same period or were simply famous in name only…’

‘But now…’

A flurry of thoughts raced through Elder Qian’s mind. He made a decision: they had to increase the security level for all suspected Artifacts immediately.

Sun Rui waited a moment longer. Confirming Chu Bamboo had no further orders, he gave a crisp salute, turned, and left.

“Miss Su,” Chu Bamboo said, turning to Su Mobai. After a moment’s thought, he continued, “I’ll have to trouble you with something… A friend of mine is busy building a virtual reality headset… but as you can imagine, it sounds a bit too fantastical. Some of the parts suppliers he’s contacted don’t trust him… I’m hoping you could vouch for him, just to make sure he can finish everything today.”

“?!” Su Mobai’s expression froze. But she was, after all, a professional. She quickly composed herself and nodded seriously. After listening to the precise list Chu Bamboo gave her, she also turned and departed.

“…A virtual reality headset?” Elder Qian mused. “Something like a brain-computer interface?”

Elder Qian was actually familiar with the subject. After all, the Divine Continent had not fallen behind in this area…

“No. You just put on a normal headset and enter the Virtual World. Like in The Matrix,” Chu Bamboo replied, his face devoid of expression.

Elder Qian froze. He gave Chu Bamboo a long, hard look. A thousand unspoken words were finally distilled into a single, heartfelt sentence: “You never fail to bring me ‘surprises,’ do you!”

“But, with our current level of technology… have we really met the basic hardware requirements for constructing a Virtual World?”

Chu Bamboo didn’t answer, but it was as if Elder Qian had received one anyway. He nodded slowly, his mind unable to settle for a long time.

…

「Six o’clock in the afternoon.」

「Atop the Huaren Building.」

Lin Xia stepped out of the helicopter that had landed on the roof, his face a mask of bewilderment. He turned stiffly to the pilot and stammered, “Th-thanks!”

As he went through the shutdown sequence, the pilot replied earnestly, “Just doing my job!”

“I-is that so?” Lin Xia laughed awkwardly. Then, his eyes landed on Chu Bamboo standing by the stairwell door. His face lit up, and he dashed over. “Ah Zhu! A day away from you feels like…!”

Chu Bamboo held up a hand, stopping him.

“?!” Lin Xia froze mid-stride. He saw Chu Bamboo studying him with a complicated expression, and an inexplicable shiver ran down his spine. “Hey, if you’ve got something to say, just say it… The way you’re staring is freaking me out!”

“…Have you prepared yourself to risk death?” Chu Bamboo said, leading the way. Lin Xia hurried to follow. His breath hitched at the words. He bit his lip, and just as he was about to speak, Chu Bamboo added, “Don’t force yourself. I’ve told you before how to begin your Cultivation… You should know that the risk is very high.”

“Besides, in the future, there are much cheaper and safer ways to get stronger… Their only drawback is a lower power ceiling, but otherwise, they’re perfect.”

“‘A lower power ceiling’ just means I wouldn’t be able to help you, right?” Lin Xia replied, not directly answering the question. He took a deep breath and broke into a brilliant smile. “So bring it on! I trust you’ve got some safety measures in place for me anyway… Besides, you’re just trying to scare me, aren’t you? After all, you can see…”

“No, no, no. When it comes to the Extraordinary, even if you succeed your first initiation, it doesn’t guarantee you’ll succeed the second time. The risk is always there. I can just compress that risk to almost zero… but even so, you can’t be careless.” Chu Bamboo led Lin Xia into a room.

He turned, his gaze fixed sharply on Lin Xia, and patted a book on the table. “Take a look at this.”

“This is…” Lin Xia picked up the book and glanced at it. His expression changed. He was stunned to find that the handwriting in the book was his own. “‘Various Methods for Cultivation Problems?!'”

“Mhm,” Chu Bamboo said succinctly. This was, of course, something he had printed directly using his Memory Divine Techniques. “These are the Cultivation methods summarized by your future self.”

Lin Xia was the very person who would awaken the Ice Seal Divine Techniques in the future.

At first, Chu Bamboo had thought it a mere coincidence. But after mulling it over, he began to grasp the root of it. To put it simply, the so-called Divine Techniques were a crystallization of one’s innermost desires, combined with a measure of serendipity.

‘For Lin Xia, faced with my departure for Mars, unable to help, forced to watch me leave… what would his heart desire most?’

‘Perhaps… to travel to the future! To meet another ‘Chu Bamboo’!’

Before Chu Bamboo left for Mars, Lin Xia hadn’t chosen to pursue Cultivation. But afterward, he resolutely embarked on that path…

Even though, at that point in time, the path was still fraught with immense risk.

In the end, he awakened this Divine Technique and became the proposer and executor of the “Future Support Plan.” All the so-called coincidences had perhaps been destined from the start. This Divine Technique was merely the fruit of his obsession.

However, Chu Bamboo had never found any information on Lin Xia in the future. Perhaps… he was already dead. Or maybe… he had awakened at some point in time, just not during the correct period where Chu Bamboo was.

After listening to Chu Bamboo’s explanation, Lin Xia’s brow furrowed. He flipped through a few pages absently, lost in deep thought, before finally raising his hand. “I have a question!”

Chu Bamboo raised an eyebrow, gesturing for him to speak.

“‘Right now, I don’t have the kind of absolute desire to travel to the future that you’re talking about. Maybe… it’s because you’re still here by my side?’ Lin Xia asked cautiously. He didn’t finish the thought, but his meaning was perfectly clear.

“Don’t worry… I’ll make some adjustments,” Chu Bamboo said, his tone unreadable. He actually had a bold theory. ‘If the future is anchored by my existence, then could Lin Xia’s Divine Techniques also be in a similar anchored state?’

‘Of course, it doesn’t matter if that isn’t the case. It’s not as if Lin Xia can achieve a breakthrough in a day or two… In that time, I’m confident I can work with my good friend to engineer the perfect scenario for him to awaken his Divine Techniques.’