I'm a proper student; I only take nine kinds of potions every day.

Chapter 126 The Secret of the Silver Key, the Immortal First Emperor

With the successful casting of the spell, Ivan felt his spirits weaken slightly.

But in the demon hunter's view, that pale yellow film steadily covered the entire interior of the apartment.

"Damn it! Let's see who dares to humiliate me with this again!"

After completing the ceremony, Ivan wrapped the silver sword with the character "干" in cloth and stuffed it deep under the bed.

Then he sat down in the chair and looked at today's harvest.

A talisman made of tortoise shell, with four gemstones of different colors inlaid on the front.

They are gray, blue, green, and purple, respectively, with densely packed tiny runes engraved on the back.

There was also $82 in cash found on Jack.

He had intended to have the amulet appraised, but then he remembered that today was Monday, not Wednesday, a suitable day for appraisal.

But then he realized he had another way.

So he went into the baptismal chamber.

Then it came out after about ten seconds.

The Ironblood Potion hasn't expired yet.

He no longer has those worldly desires.

"never mind!"

He was squatting on the toilet.

Splash!

A large amount of glass shards fell into the toilet, making a crisp clanging sound in the water.

Evan's eyes twitched as he looked at the fragments.

"Three dollars again!"

He touched his anus; it was completely healed.

The Cain Thirst Blood's super self-healing ability made the skin there smooth as new, without even a trace of a previous wound.

"Let's organize our memories first!"

Ivan went back inside, sat down in a chair, and closed his eyes.

The memories extracted from Jack's mind unfolded frame by frame in his consciousness like a reel of film being rewound at high speed.

First, let's talk about the origin of the silver spoon.

The image was blurry, as if viewed through a dirty glass.

The back view of a man, broad shoulders, long hair, wearing mid-19th-century hunting attire, covered in mud and looking very disheveled.

He stood before the entrance to an ancient tomb, holding a nearly extinguished oil lamp in his hand, and tremblingly pulled a mud-covered silver key from a coffin with illegible patterns.

Jack's father: Alcott I.

The location and origin of the ancient tomb are a blank in my memory.

Jack didn't know, because his father had never said so.

Even judging from the lingering emotions in his memory, Alcott I himself seemed unable to articulate it, as if that memory had been ripped from his mind by something.

Later, Alcott I used the Silver Key to kill a monk who was chasing him, thus stepping into the world of the extraordinary.

Afterwards, he used the Silver Key's ability to "open any door" to begin his rise to power.

Secret rooms, vaults, forbidden areas, seals—no door can stop this key.

Then, fifteen years ago, because he had no more secrets, he was swallowed by the Silver Key.

The scene in my memory was brief: Alcott I was sitting in his study, holding a silver key, screaming hysterically.

Evan couldn't hear what he was saying, and then he saw him convulse for about a minute before his body suddenly froze and his head just vanished into thin air.

Jack, on the other hand, was groomed by his father from a young age.

The training focuses on only one thing: creating and preserving secrets known only to oneself.

The more the better! The more exclusive, the better!

Secrets are the fuel for the silver key; the day when there are no more secrets to pay for it is the day the holder dies.

After his father's death, Jack took over the Silver Key and began to expand and develop the Theosophical Society.

During this time, he used the resources and connections of the Theosophical Society to investigate a great deal of content and legends related to the Silver Key.

A flood of memories came rushing back.

However, Silver Spoon's standards for memory stripping are quite strict; all mission backgrounds, character faces, and location information unrelated to Silver Spoon are blurred.

It looks like someone used a mosaic to blur out all the irrelevant parts of the image.

Ivan can only see the fragments that are directly related to the Silver Key.

"With this kind of censorship skill, it's a shame he's not a cavalry commander."

Just a quick rant before continuing.

Among those blurry fragments, one image suddenly became clear.

"Wait—this is—a bronze cauldron?"

Ivan suddenly sat up straight.

In the scene, a piece of greenish-blue bronze fragment is delivered to Jack through a secret channel.

It was a fragment of a cauldron, the broken edges covered in green rust, its surface engraved with intricate patterns.

And among the patterns, one can barely make out a single character.

The writing looked familiar, but Evan just couldn't recognize it.

These characters are called Qin Small Seal Script.

"#!" Evan cursed inwardly.

"I only regret that I didn't study enough! I don't know it."

"Others who time-travel read simplified Chinese characters, why do I have to read Qin Small Seal script?"

Just as Evan was filled with regret, he discovered that Jack knew him!

Or perhaps Jack spent a great deal of time and money, inviting numerous paleography experts to research and decipher the characters, successfully unlocking their meaning.

When Jack understood the meaning of those words, he became so excited that he started dancing around like a madman.

The meaning of those words is: "The First Emperor obtained the elixir of immortality—cast a golden statue—and ascended to heaven."

"Immortality! Immortality is truly possible! The First Emperor has truly achieved immortality!!"

Jack was so excited that he danced around, as if he had discovered the ultimate secret of the world.

Because of the Ironblood Potion, Evan wasn't particularly excited; his mind was currently processing this strange information.

From that moment on, Jack poured all his resources into this direction.

Ivan followed Jack's memories, traversing his investigation journey spanning over a decade.

Pieces were pieced together, and clues were connected.

Finally, a complete picture emerged in Ivan's mind.

"The core difference between this world and the original world lies here!"

According to Jack's investigation, the origin of the Silver Key is very likely related to the legendary first immortal being in all of human history.

The First Emperor.

The timeline of this world diverges two thousand years ago.

The First Emperor has achieved immortality.

This also explains why, despite being in this world for so long, Evan has never seen any Chinese faces and has never heard any information about Dongda University.

Because on the map of this world, the entire Eastern Continent and a large area of ​​the surrounding region have disappeared for two thousand years!

What was once land has now become an ocean filled with mist, storms, and thunder.

The sailors called that area of ​​the sea "Heavenly Storm Ocean".

This has led to the continued circulation of legends about the "mysterious ancient Eastern country" in the world's supernatural circles.

That is the ultimate answer that all mystical scholars dream of, the source of all mystery and the extraordinary.

But no one has ever been there, and no one has ever seen it.

Every expedition that attempted to cross the Ocean of Heavenly Storms has, without exception, never returned.

According to Jack's investigation and speculation, after achieving immortality, the First Emperor led his people in completing a ritual that transcended ordinary understanding.

Ascend!

They went to the Heavenly Court of Immortality.

After ascending to heaven, the First Emperor left behind a secret ritual on earth that enabled him to travel to the heavenly court.

Based on Jack's deduction using the clues at hand, this mysterious and powerful spell can be performed by using the Silver Key as a medium.

Its name is: The Ascension of the Immortal Ladder.

It is said that the practitioner can open a path to the heavens, and if one can cross the heavenly ladder, one can obtain an elixir of immortality and thus gain eternal life.

They can even use the passages of the Immortal Staircase to travel quickly throughout the world.

Jack speculated that Ivan's ancestor, the immortal witch, might also have possessed a silver key.

The reason she was able to live forever was because she had successfully performed this ritual and obtained the elixir of immortality.

For the past decade, Jack has been using these vague and unsubstantiated findings to persuade Sap to provide him with enough funds to run the Theosophical Society.

However, what Sap didn't know was that Jack's investigation had come to a complete standstill in recent years.

The mysterious ancient Eastern kingdom disappeared two thousand years ago, and several expeditions he sent to the edge of the Paradise Storm Ocean never returned.

The surrounding area, centered on that stormy sea, has lost much of its traditional culture to the former vassal states after two thousand years of weathering and the plunder of modern colonizers.

The records of the past were destroyed in the war and are difficult to restore.

He only vaguely knew that some of the important artifacts and records were completely monopolized and hidden by several mysterious families and organizations.

At his level, he wouldn't even be qualified to lick the soles of those people's shoes.

Ultimately, he had no choice but to turn his attention to the witch.

But given his abilities, he wouldn't dare to mess with someone in a higher position.

So he could only do some minor things to Ivan to appease Sap's growing impatience.

But he never expected that his wretched son, Bote, would cause trouble ahead of time and ignite the conflict.

Their family went from being somewhat useful helpers to becoming a burden that needed to be dealt with.

That's the end of my memory.

Regarding the Silver Spoon, the information accumulated by Jack's three generations mainly consists of background stories.

As for the core abilities of the Silver Key, they didn't even have as many as Ivan had figured out on his own.

For example, the ability to extract other people's memories once a week by paying a secret was something that three generations of the Alcott family were unaware of.

They only knew two things: they could open all the doors and they could enhance their supernatural abilities.

Did our ancestors also possess silver keys?

Ivan opened his eyes, sensing the presence of the key within his body.

It resides quietly deep within his flesh and blood, able to move freely within his body under his control.

His brain was working at high speed.

"If her ancestor also possessed a silver key, then her immortality would have a reasonable explanation."

"And is her behavior of devouring one of her offspring every few generations also related to the secret fuel mechanism of the Silver Key?"

"The bloodline memories, life experiences, and exclusive secrets of her descendants—are they the fuel that sustains her life?"

He looked down at his palm: "No matter what, this thing holds a big secret!"

He closed his eyes and organized all the documents.

"Although technological development and historical processes are similar, I feel that this world is not simple and holds great secrets!"

Just as Evan was pondering, he suddenly felt that he had lost a certain perspective in his eyes.

The field of vision suddenly dropped from the sky back to the ground.

The clarity that allowed me to see details at an extraordinary level vanished instantly.

The Insight Potion has expired, and the Vision stat has dropped from 18 back to 3.

At the same time, the intermediate-level blasphemous potion also expired.

A kind of instinctual deficiency returned to his perception.

The aversion and fear towards silverware became an insurmountable barrier.

Ivan wasted no time and took out his books to start studying.

The main point is the maddeningly complex German language.

Before the Ironblood Potion expires, I'd better hurry up and take the bitter pill.

Another half hour passed, and it was 10:20 PM.

The Ironblood Potion has finally expired.

The force that had completely flattened his mind receded like the tide.

"Hahaha! Awesome! I made a killing today!!"

"My darling, status, money, the secret of the Silver Key —"

Ivan sprang up from his chair, excitedly waving his fists twice, the powerful gusts of wind kicking up dust from the floor and bed.

After laughing twice, he immediately ran into the altar to prepare the fourth offering for the ceremony.

Fifteen minutes later, he came out with a sigh.

"Hey! Sometimes being too erect isn't a good thing for a man."

He returned to the bedroom and then prepared the necessary ritual materials.

White sea salt, moonstone, mercury, and the Witcher's bodily fluids.

Draw the magic circle and then recite the incantation.

Thanks to the blessing of bodily fluids, the ceremony was quite successful.

The blurry soul reappeared, uttering a voice that was neither male nor female, neither old nor young.

"It's called: Four Blessings Amulet."

"Carrying it can help you warn of four invisible attacks: toxins, curses, spiritual erosion, and mental pollution."

"And it can share 10% of the effect with you."

"As a trade-off, once activated, users must spend at least thirty hours a week soaking it in flowing seawater."

"If it cannot achieve this, it will return all the damage it has suffered to its master."

After listening, Ivan nodded.

"The stats are good, but they're useless to me."

He has a panel notification.

The system's early warning function is far more comprehensive than this amulet, and it doesn't require the troublesome maintenance of soaking in seawater for thirty hours every week.

"Hmm, we can find a suitable opportunity to sell it."

He turned the amulet over and looked at the faint light reflected from the four gems under the kerosene lamp.

"Or, depending on the situation, give it to Hill or Richard as a gift."

Just because you have a control panel doesn't mean everyone else does.

He wrapped the amulet in a clean cloth, put it in his desk drawer, and continued reading.

Outside the apartment, on the dilapidated roof covered with countless footprints, a black owl sat motionless to the side.

In the shadows further away, a pair of gray-white blind eyes were staring at the pale yellow membrane.

Inside the membrane, all fluctuations of extraordinary power have been isolated.

Seeing this, Gust nodded in satisfaction.

That stain that I couldn't wipe off has finally disappeared on its own.

"Finally, things have calmed down!"

But the next second, when he thought about the conversation he had just had, Gust became confused again.

"How did this guy find out I could monitor whether he was masturbating?"

"Sigh, I'm finding it harder and harder to keep up with the way young people think these days."