You, a living person, are telling me I've served in the underworld for ten years?

Undeterred, he walked through the hall and into the courtyard at the back.

The courtyard was small, with a few side rooms. Chen Yang inspected them one by one; they were all living quarters, of no value whatsoever.

Finally, his gaze fell upon a heavy, tightly closed iron gate in the corner of the courtyard. There was no lock, but Chen Yang's keen eyes spotted a dim yet resilient energy barrier—a protective enchantment!
"The warehouse!"

Chen Yang's spirits lifted. The presence of protective barriers meant there might be something else inside!
He walked to the iron gate, his eyes shining with a golden-red light as he carefully analyzed the restrictions on the gate.

This restriction wasn't particularly complex; its main functions were sturdiness and early warning, and its deployment method was quite ancient. For Chen Yang, who possessed keen eyesight and could see through energy nodes and weaknesses, breaking it wasn't too difficult.

He extended his finger, and a wisp of pure spiritual energy gathered at his fingertip, like the finest probe, precisely pointing at several key energy convergence points of the restriction.

"Puff puff……"

With a few soft thuds, the energy barrier on the door burst and dissipated like bubbles. Chen Yang pushed open the heavy iron door, and a musty smell, a mixture of metal, wood, and strange herbs, wafted out.

It was indeed a warehouse! It wasn't large, but there were many display shelves and racks against the walls. Although most of the shelves were empty, about a third of the space was filled with items!
Chen Yang strode in, his gaze sweeping over the area.

On the shelves were various medicinal herbs that, though their spiritual energy had dissipated, still retained their form, and were packaged in jade boxes or wooden boxes; there were unknown pills sealed in wax pills; and there were several fragments or unfinished magical artifacts with dim spiritual energy but made of special materials.
There were also some mineral powders, monster materials, and other items in bottles and jars. Although none of them were top-tier treasures, the variety and quantity were considerable, clearly representing the pawnshop's accumulated inventory over many years, which they hadn't had time to process or take away due to unforeseen circumstances.

“Not bad, not bad. Although the individual items are not very valuable, they are diverse and plentiful. Once we go back and sort them out, we can always find something useful. Or it would be good to give them to the sect disciples to practice identifying materials and to learn alchemy and weapon crafting.”

Chen Yang showed no mercy, sweeping away everything on the shelves like autumn leaves in the wind. With a wave of his hand, he collected all the items that were still presentable, along with the empty jade boxes and wooden caskets of decent quality, into his storage bag. In the blink of an eye, the warehouse was completely emptied, leaving only bare shelves.

After looting the warehouse, Chen Yang left in high spirits. Just as he was about to leave the courtyard, his gaze was drawn to a relatively small room next to the main house.

Above the door of the room hung a small plaque with the words "Elegant Appraisal" written on it, which looked like the study of a pawnshop appraiser or manager.

Chen Yang pushed open the door and entered. The study was simply furnished: a desk, a chair, and two large bookshelves against the wall. The bookshelves were densely packed with various books, scrolls, and… jade slips!

Chen Yang stepped forward, casually pulled out a book, which was a kind of mineral atlas; then he picked up a jade slip, probed it with his divine sense, and found it was a miscellaneous record about the habits of common monsters and the processing of materials.

He quickly flipped through the books and found that the two bookshelves were mostly filled with various natural history books, illustrated guides to materials, local chronicles, miscellaneous treatises on basic martial arts techniques, business account notes, and so on. Although they were not profound secret manuals, they covered a wide range of knowledge and could be considered an ancient "encyclopedia" and "business database".

"These ancient texts may be even more valuable than those other materials!"

Chen Yang deeply understood the importance of knowledge, especially for the Qingwei School, which was rebuilding and developing. This basic and intermediate knowledge, covering all aspects of the cultivation world, was exactly what they needed most.

Without hesitation, he waved his hand again, taking all the books, scrolls, and jade slips from the two bookshelves, regardless of their contents, leaving the shelves completely empty.

After finishing all this, Chen Yang's gaze fell upon the large desk. Besides some ordinary writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, in the very center of the desk sat a palm-sized, exquisitely crafted brocade box!

This brocade box is carved entirely from a dark purple wood, and its surface is inlaid with tiny, star-like silver jade fragments, outlining intricate and mysterious patterns.

The box's surface was spotless and dust-free, standing out starkly from its dilapidated surroundings, as if time had left no trace on it.

"This box... is unusual!"

A slight alarm bell rang in Chen Yang's mind, but his curiosity was also piqued. A brocade box placed in the most conspicuous spot in the study, and remaining perfectly intact after so many years, must contain something extraordinary!

He walked to the desk, but instead of touching it rashly, he first used his keen eyesight to carefully examine the brocade box.

What he saw made him gasp in shock!
Before their keen eyesight, it was clear that the small brocade box was covered with at least hundreds of tiny, exquisite restrictions, layer upon layer! These restrictions were interlocked and interconnected, forming a complex and terrifying three-dimensional protective network.

Among them are defenses against physical activation, defenses against divine sense probing, and even terrifying restrictions that can confuse, hallucinate, or even trigger spatial teleportation or destruction! This is hardly like a box; it's more like a miniature, perilous, deadly trap!

"What a powerful technique! The person who set up this restriction must have terrifying cultivation and skill in weapon crafting and talisman making!"

Chen Yang's expression turned serious. But at the same time, he became even more certain that the contents of the box were of immeasurable value!
"Let's take the risk! Fortune favors the bold!"

Chen Yang gritted his teeth and decided to try to crack the code.

He was confident in his ability to see through the barriers, but it required time and extreme concentration.

He pulled over the rotten chair, focused intently, and the golden-red light in his eyes was steady and bright, like the finest scalpel and microscope, as he began to analyze and peel away the hundreds of intertwined restriction nodes on the brocade box one by one.

This was an extremely demanding project, requiring immense mental and spiritual energy. Chen Yang had to be completely focused and could not afford the slightest mistake; otherwise, if he triggered any of the chain restrictions, the consequences would be unimaginable. Sweat gradually seeped from his forehead and slid down his cheeks.

Time passed slowly, and the study was silent except for Chen Yang's slightly heavy breathing. One restriction was safely peeled off and dissipated, then the next one...

More than half an hour passed before Chen Yang's eyes flashed, and he let out a low shout.

"break!"

As he precisely pierced the last core restriction node with an extremely fine wisp of spiritual energy, the complex and despair-inducing protective network on the entire brocade box collapsed and vanished into nothingness, like a tent with its frame removed.

"It's done!"

Chen Yang let out a long sigh of relief, feeling a wave of exhaustion, but even more so, excitement.

He reached out and, with a slight tremor, picked up the dark purple brocade box, which was now completely unprotected.

The box feels warm and smooth to the touch, with a faint sandalwood scent.

He gently opened the box lid.

Just as the box lid was opened a crack—

"puff!"

A thick, pinkish-purple cloud of smoke suddenly burst out of the box at an astonishing speed, instantly engulfing Chen Yang's head and face!

Caught off guard, Chen Yang, though vigilant, hadn't anticipated that the first mechanism inside the box after the barrier was broken would be this instantaneous sleeping smoke! He instinctively held his breath, but it was too late. The pinkish-purple smoke, as if alive, penetrated directly through his skin pores and even entered his slightly open nostrils!

A strong sense of dizziness surged through his consciousness like a tsunami, and everything before his eyes began to spin and blur.

He tried to use the Qingwei Yuanjiang Great Technique to resist, but the flow of spiritual energy within his body also became sluggish.

"Oops……"

This was his last thought before he completely lost consciousness.

Immediately, his body went limp and he fell backward, the brocade box in his hand falling to the dusty ground with a "thud." The lid was completely open, and the box was empty, except for the remaining, rapidly dissipating pinkish-purple smoke.

Chen Yang fell into a deep coma.

However, before his senses completely sank into darkness, the pinkish-purple smoke he inhaled seemed to trigger some strange change in his consciousness.

He did not completely "sleep," but rather fell into a bizarre and incredibly real "dream."

In the "dream," his perspective became peculiar, as if he were an invisible ghost floating above a familiar scene—the very floating fairyland where he was now! Below him was the luxurious yet empty city, with the central palace complex clearly visible.

His gaze was involuntarily drawn, penetrating the layers of palace walls and landing in an exquisite and magnificent pavilion deep within the palace grounds. Inside the pavilion, by the window, sat a young girl.

The girl was about sixteen years old, wearing a light blue palace dress with a trailing hem, and had a slender figure.

She possessed an unparalleled beauty, with exquisitely beautiful eyebrows and eyes, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as rouge without rouge. Her temperament was as aloof as a fairy in the moon palace, yet she also carried a faint sorrow unique to women in the deep palace.

She was leaning on the railing, gazing into the distance at the endless fairy islands and eternal clouds outside the pavilion. Her beautiful eyes, clear as autumn water, were filled with an unyielding melancholy and... a sense of bewilderment that transcended time and space.

She sighed softly, a sigh that seemed to pierce through her dreams and resonate directly in Chen Yang's heart.

Just as her sigh faded, she seemed to sense something, a subtle hint of surprise appearing on her exquisite face. Then, slowly and somewhat uncertainly, she turned her gaze toward the void where Chen Yang was "located"!

Chen Yang was shocked!

She can see me? How is that possible? I'm unconscious right now, this is a dream! How could characters in a dream possibly be aware of the "dreamer's" existence?

He forced himself to remain calm, telling himself that it was just an illusion created by a dream.

He controlled the "perspective" in his dream, quietly "moving" a distance to the side to "observe" the girl from a different angle.

However, the gaze of the girl in palace attire also shifted slightly, and once again accurately "landed" in the direction of his "new position"!

Although her pupils did not have a specific focal point, as if she could not see the entity, the feeling of being "watched" and "perceived" was incredibly clear and was definitely not an illusion!

A faint smile suddenly appeared on the girl's lips, a smile that dispelled some of the sorrow between her brows, but made her seem even more mysterious and unpredictable.

She spoke softly, in an ethereal and melodious tone, yet with a hint of understanding. Her voice entered Chen Yang's "consciousness" directly.

"You... came back from the future?"

Chen Yang was shaken again and almost lost his "dream perspective".

Was she really talking to me? Did she know I was from the future? What's going on?

Surprised and suspicious, Chen Yang chose to remain silent, keeping his "heart" closed, revealing no thoughts and offering no response.

He instinctively felt that exposing himself in this bizarre dream might come with unknown risks. Perhaps the girl was just testing him, bluffing; she wasn't actually sure, but had only sensed something amiss through some special intuition.

Seeing that Chen Yang did not respond, the girl's smile deepened, but there was no malice in it.

She stood up gracefully, her light blue palace dress flowing like ripples on water.

She actually took a few steps toward where Chen Yang was, then stopped, tilted her head up slightly, and although her gaze was still somewhat unfocused, the feeling of being "face to face" was incredibly strong.

She spoke again, her voice soft.

"Don't hide it. I can feel your 'presence,' it's special, unlike everything here that's 'frozen,' it carries the scent of flowing 'time.'"

Although my eyes cannot see your form, you have touched my 'Dream Box,' and your presence has been drawn into this long-dormant obsession of mine.

The Dream-Guiding Box? Does it refer to that brocade box? Chen Yang suddenly realized why the sleeping smoke was so strange; it wasn't poison, but a medium that could guide a person's consciousness into a specific "dream" or "space of obsession"!

The girl before them was not a living person; she was likely just a lingering remnant, a fragment of memory, or something more complex left behind by the former master of this immortal island city.

The girl seemed to sense Chen Yang's sudden realization. She tilted her head slightly, a sly look on her face, as if she had seen through Chen Yang's feigned composure.

She suddenly raised her slender hand and, from who knows where, took out a brocade box, holding it in her palm.

Chen Yang's "gaze" was instantly drawn to it—the style, size, material, and even the star-shaped jade patterns inlaid on the brocade box were exactly the same as the one he had opened! No, to be precise, the one he had opened was the "future" version of this one!
The young girl, holding the brocade box, explained softly.

“Look, this is my ‘Dream Box.’ It carries a part of my consciousness and a silhouette of the last moments of this city. And what you opened is the physical form that survived by chance after many years.”

When you open it in the 'future,' triggering the 'dream guide,' your consciousness follows this thread of cause and effect, tracing back through time, arriving here with me, arriving at... that 'moment' before all of this has completely solidified and vanished.

She paused, her gaze seemingly piercing through Chen Yang's invisible consciousness, seeing into the turbulent waves within his heart.

"So, do you understand now? You're not simply wandering in a 'dream'." (End of Chapter)