When I stopped licking, the lady panicked.

Although the phantom had disappeared, Lin Xuan's doubts remained.

He remained filled with doubts and curiosity about the relationship between the royal family and the Lin family.

"Alright, let's go inside and take a look first," Lin Xuan said, striding inside to begin selecting martial arts manuals from the bookshelf.

The scrolls on the bookshelf are all encased in a barrier, and only those with sufficient cultivation can break through it.

For example, if the minimum requirement for cultivating a certain technique is the Spirit Profound Realm, then only those with a cultivation level of at least the Spirit Profound Realm can break the barrier.

Lin Xuan glanced at the bookshelf and could judge the strength of martial arts based on the thickness and color of the barrier.

Moreover, the bookshelves were labeled with the different levels of martial arts, so Lin Xuan only needed to follow the labels to find them.

After watching for a while, Lin Xuan found it somewhat boring. Compared to the cultivation techniques in his mind, these techniques were obviously insignificant.

Just then, Lin Xuan was suddenly drawn to a scroll in the corner.

The scroll wasn't encased in the barrier and was quite inconspicuous; it was even a little dusty.

Lin Xuan was deeply curious. The Langhuan Pavilion contained the original martial arts manuals of nearly half of the Great Qing Dynasty. Even if they weren't the most top-tier, they certainly wouldn't be too bad.

Why would there be a scroll here that isn't enclosed by any barrier?

Lin Xuan took the scroll off and gently blew away the dust.

The scroll was dark blue with gold lettering. Although the lettering had faded, it was still faintly discernible that it read "Tracing the Origins Sutra".

Lin Xuan frowned and curiously opened the scroll.

The spool had long been yellowed, and some parts were even damaged, which resulted in the contents of the entire spool being incomplete.

Many martial arts practitioners dare not rashly practice incomplete martial arts techniques, because you simply do not know whether the missing words are crucial.

If those few words are crucial, then the consequences of rashly practicing them will be: at best, you will suffer from qi deviation, and at worst, you will explode and die.

Lin Xuan examined the scroll carefully, and the more he looked at it, the more terrifying it seemed.

"Predestined fate in the past life, tracing back to the source in this life, without roots or limits, following the natural way."

"Heaven and earth are ruthless, and all things are disrespectful. I am the anchor point, and I will turn the world upside down."

"..."

Lin Xuan gasped, "This... what kind of technique is this? It's too arrogant!"

Even though Lin Xuan had lived two lifetimes, he had never seen such an audacious cultivation technique.

Moreover, judging from the meaning of this technique, it seems to allow people to recall their past lives, or even reverse time.

"What nonsense! Rewinding to a past life, turning back time?" Lin Xuan laughed out loud.

Let alone a mere cultivation manual, even Lin Xuan, who was about to become an immortal in his previous life, wouldn't dare say that he could turn back time.

What makes this little technique so special?

Lin Xuan originally wanted to throw it away, but then he thought that since this cultivation technique could be displayed in the Langhuan Pavilion, it must have something special about it.

Just to be on the safe side, Lin Xuan summoned the guardian, and soon, the guardian's phantom appeared in front of Lin Xuan.

"Have you made your choice?" the gatekeeper asked.

Lin Xuan asked, "Senior, what is the origin of this 'Tracing the Origins Scripture'? The contents are too unbelievable!"

The keeper advised, "I advise you not to choose this book."

"Why?" Lin Xuan asked.

The pavilion keeper explained, "Those who can come to Langhuan Pavilion are all geniuses among geniuses."

"Over the years, I have seen too many people who, relying on their genius, choose to challenge the 'Tracing the Origins Sutra'."

"But without exception, they all went mad."

Lin Xuan was taken aback and said, "Have you gone mad?"

"Yes, they've gone mad. They can't remember who they are, where they are, or what year it is," said the gatekeeper.

Upon hearing this, Lin Xuan frowned.

That really sounds like madness.

But... Old Master Lin felt that something was not quite right.

"Destiny of the past life, tracing back to the source in this life... I am the anchor point, turning the world upside down?"

Lin Xuan muttered a few words, as if he suddenly understood something.

"Senior, what happened to them after they went mad?" Lin Xuan asked.

The guard said, "They were taken to see the imperial physician, but even the physician couldn't figure out what was wrong with them."

"In the end, they were all sent home and never heard from again."

Lin Xuan fell silent.

The gatekeeper asked, "Do you also want to become one of them?"

Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "I don't want to, but I don't think I'll become one of them."

The gatekeeper smiled helplessly and said, "That's what everyone says."

Lin Xuan looked at the scroll in his hand. The three dim characters "Tracing the Origin Scripture" stirred his emotions.

To turn the world upside down—that's a terrifying thing.

Once mastered, one is no different from an immortal.

As we all know, compared to ordinary people, cultivators only have a longer lifespan, but they cannot achieve immortality.

The ultimate goal of cultivation is to become an immortal, because becoming an immortal means achieving longevity and having a sufficiently long lifespan.

Therefore, in a sense, the tracing of origins is the secret to longevity.

"I've made up my mind, I'll choose this one," Lin Xuan said.

"Sigh... another one who won't listen to advice." The gatekeeper shook his head helplessly. "I'm tired of trying to persuade them, I'm too lazy to try anymore."

Lin Xuan clasped his hands in thanks and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Senior."

"Go now and take care of yourself," the keeper sighed helplessly. "The borrowing period for the scroll is one month. After one month, the spell on the scroll will take effect, and it will automatically return to Langhuan Pavilion."

"Understood." Lin Xuan nodded and turned to leave Langhuan Pavilion.

Watching Lin Xuan's departing figure, the gatekeeper shook his head helplessly.

"Another genius is about to fall, what a pity."

"What was the name of that crazy genius again? I think it was Li something Wang, but I can't remember."

……

After obtaining the "Tracing the Origins Scripture," Lin Xuan left the palace and rushed back to the Lin residence.

Qingzhou City is adjacent to the capital and not far away. The Lin family mansion is located at the northernmost part of Qingzhou City, so the Lin family mansion is particularly close to the capital.

Upon returning to the Lin residence, Lin Xuan encountered spies who had returned from elsewhere.

They all reported their investigation results to Lin Xuan, and without exception, none of them found any trace of Shen Mu.

"I need to see him alive or dead," Lin Xuan said. "Let's go look again!"

"Yes." The spies left the Lin residence again.

Lin Xuan turned around and went back to his room. He sat on the bed and began to read the "Tracing the Origins Scripture".

As Lin Xuan read on, he noticed some paragraphs with missing words. Fortunately, Lin Xuan had a high level of comprehension and managed to fill in the missing words using his own abilities.

While it may not be entirely accurate, its accuracy rate should be quite high.

"This Origin Tracing Scripture is very strange. It has no levels, no general outline, and no moves."

Lin Xuan was deeply curious.

"Moreover, cultivating the Source Tracing Scripture also requires depleting the true energy in the dantian, causing the dantian to become deficient."

"Then it absorbs the surrounding spiritual energy, brings it into its dantian, transforms it into true qi, and then releases it again."

Lin Xuan's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

"Is this really cultivation? I feel like this is just playing with people?"