Mortal: I am the young sect master of the Thousand Illusions Sect

Chapter 68 The Ice Soul Divine Light and the Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure

The Xu family of Hanpo Island has a long and distinguished history. As the ancestral hall that carries the Xu family's ten-thousand-year tradition and hopes, its scale is breathtaking.

The entire ancestral hall is a towering nine-story building that rises from the ground.

Su Yunluo led Su Mixin to the ancestral hall.

Looking up, the buildings are tall and spacious, with nine layers of flying eaves extending upwards. Strings of frozen black jade wind chimes hang from the eaves, but after the great battle, the wind chimes are silent, with only the cold sea wind sweeping across the eaves, bringing with it gusts of cold wind.

The entire building was a hundred feet in circumference, even more magnificent than the main hall of an ordinary sect. It stood alone at the highest point in the heart of the island, overlooking the entire Cold Soul Island. It was once a symbol of the Xu family's thousand-year glory, but now it stood alone in the blood-red ruins, solemn yet filled with endless sorrow and desolation.

The two slowly ascended the layers of white jade steps. The heavy vermilion gate of the ancestral hall was already open. Inside, there was silence. Gone were the days of clansmen worshipping their ancestors and the smoke of incense. Only a deathly stillness remained.

The upper eight floors of the building were all used for ancestral worship. The stairs spiraled upwards, and in the halls on each floor, countless memorial tablets were neatly arranged. The tablets of the Xu family's ancestors from generation to generation were silently displayed, witnessing the family's rise and fall.

The once bustling ancestral worship site, filled with incense smoke and endless prayers, is now deserted, desolate, and devoid of any trace of human activity.

Su Yunluo and Su Mixin did not intend to go up to the upper floor, but their gazes fell together on the spacious main hall on the first floor.

The main hall is spacious and empty, paved entirely with simple blue-patterned stone bricks. It has been cleaned for years and is spotless, but it is empty and desolate, exuding a solemn atmosphere.

In the very center of the hall, a huge and heavy natural stone wall stands majestically: the stone is rough and plain; the surface is flat and without patterns; there is no carving, no inscription, no spiritual charm, and it looks no different from ordinary rocks in the mountains.

In front of the stone wall, dozens of ice silk futons are arranged in a neat and orderly manner, with a clear distinction between primary and secondary ones, implying the Xu family's unchanging hierarchical system for thousands of years.

These meditation cushions, with their simple colors and soft texture, have been the place where generations of the Xu family's core members have sat in meditation, contemplating the profound principles of the stone wall.

"This should be the stone wall."

Su Yunluo's gaze narrowed slightly, and her brows furrowed gently.

With his vast divine sense at the peak of the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, he suddenly spread out, covering the entire stone wall like a tide, carefully examining every inch of the stone's texture.

No matter how much divine sense probed and scanned, it was like a mud ox sinking into the sea, with no response whatsoever.

The ancient wall before us, towering and majestic, showed no trace of spiritual energy or Daoist charm from beginning to end; it was as plain and unremarkable as a mundane, ordinary rock.

Su Mixin nodded in agreement, casually chose a clean futon, and sat cross-legged on it.

He focused his mind and calmed his emotions, slowly releasing his divine sense and carefully pressing it against the surface of the stone wall, exploring and meditating little by little.

A moment, a moment—time quietly slipped by, and a full hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Despite his repeated attempts to penetrate and explore with his divine sense, he found nothing.

The stone wall remained deathly silent, offering no response whatsoever, as if it had completely cut off all divine perception.

After a long while, Su Mixin finally couldn't suppress her doubts. She withdrew her divine sense, slowly stood up, and looked up at Su Yunluo, who had been standing quietly to the side for a long time.

His tone was tinged with confusion and bewilderment: "Father, this matter is quite strange. I have tried to probe and comprehend it with my divine sense several times, but it has all been like throwing stones into the sea, yielding no results whatsoever. This stone wall seems to completely block divine thoughts, making it impossible to comprehend it at all."

Su Yunluo didn't say much after hearing this, and looked at the stone wall with a solemn expression.

He slowly stepped forward and stood directly in front of the stone wall. With a wave of his hand, an extremely refined and pure spiritual energy surged forth. There were no fancy spells, only the purest spiritual energy impact, which directly struck the ancient stone wall in front of him.

A muffled, piercing roar suddenly exploded.

The seemingly imposing and solemn giant stone wall, concealing profound mysteries, was utterly powerless to resist and exploded in an instant.

Countless pebbles flew everywhere, tumbling and scattering coarse stone chips all over the ground. The stone wall that had stood for countless years completely collapsed, turning into a pile of ordinary, stubborn stone fragments that covered the blue bricks of the hall.

The father and son stood side by side, their gazes fixed on the rubble scattered on the ground, both silent.

At that moment, both of them understood.

This reveals that the ancestral hall stone wall, which generations of the Xu family had spent countless hours meditating and comprehending the Dao, was a complete illusion from beginning to end—just an ordinary, mundane stone devoid of any wonder or Daoist charm.

"It's laughable that the Xu family has been blinded by a mere stone for generations, sitting in meditation to seek enlightenment, wasting their lives." Su Mixin spoke slowly, her tone tinged with a hint of regret and indifference.

"Not necessarily. Perhaps this is just a smokescreen, and the core members of the Xu family might know about it." Su Yunluo slowly shook his head.

Both of them were meticulous people and did not give up.

Although the stone wall is fake, the legend that the Xu family has been using the stone wall to attain enlightenment for generations is by no means unfounded, and the real mystery must be hidden elsewhere.

"Examine the entire ancestral hall carefully, and do not miss a single trace," Su Yunluo ordered in a deep voice.

"Yes, Father."

Su Mixin nodded in agreement, and the light locked onto the remaining foundation of the stone wall. With a thought, he summoned two puppets, which landed steadily on the ground.

Under his control, two puppets stepped forward and carefully cut, cleared the soil, and dug along the roots buried deep in the stone wall.

As the gravel and loose soil were cleared away, and the soil around the roots became shallower, a completely different rocky landscape quietly emerged.

The stone here is jet black and smooth, and cool to the touch. It is completely different from the ordinary blue-patterned floor tiles and broken stone walls around it. It exudes a sense of deathly heaviness and can completely absorb and block all divine sense probing.

In no time, the puppet cleared away the stones below, revealing a dark and deep passageway entrance. The entrance was square and neat, pitch black, and bottomless, its destination unknown.

"So the secret was hidden underground." Su Mi's eyes lit up, and she immediately raised her hand to collect all the special stones that could block divine sense.

Such rare and extraordinary materials are extremely rare; keeping them may prove very useful in the future.

After getting ready, the father and son exchanged a glance, said nothing, and stepped into the dark passage together.

The passage is extremely well-organized, having been carved out by hand. The stone steps spiral downwards, winding through a long and secluded area.

The two slowly descended the stone steps, the surrounding light growing dimmer. Su Mixin took out a large luminous pearl to illuminate their path.

After walking for more than a quarter of an hour, the stone steps still stretched endlessly, and the end of the passage could not be seen at all.

The depth of this underground world far exceeds what ordinary people can imagine.

"Walking like this is too slow."

Su Yunluo spoke calmly, then raised his hand and grabbed Su Mixin's arm. His powerful spiritual energy enveloped the two of them, transforming them into a streak of dark blue light that plunged rapidly down the spiral passage.

The wind whistled past my ears as the deep darkness receded into the distance.

After about several dozen breaths, the rapidly descending light slowly stopped, and the two landed steadily, having reached the end of the passage.

Roughly estimated, this place is more than ten miles deep from the ground. Such depth is astonishing and could not have been excavated and preserved by an ordinary family.

At the end of the passage lies a vast and open natural cave.

The cave's dome is high and wide, and the rock walls are sparsely dotted with tiny luminous crystals, which cast faint, cold light that barely illuminates the entire space.

The air inside the cave was slightly damp, carrying an ancient and desolate atmosphere.

In the very center of the cave, a colossal cauldron stands silently, occupying the core of the entire cave.

This cauldron is magnificent and imposing, far exceeding the size of ordinary cauldrons used for alchemy and weapon crafting.

However, ravaged by time, it is no longer intact, showing signs of decay and vicissitude.

One of the four legs of the giant cauldron was missing, and its body stood crookedly on the ground. A huge crack ran from top to bottom along the edge of the cauldron's mouth, tearing most of the entire cauldron apart and making it look dilapidated.

Even in its current state of disrepair, the giant cauldron still exudes a faint yet profound spiritual pressure that has not completely dissipated even after ten thousand years of silence.

The father and son quickly stepped forward and examined the area closely.

On the outer wall of the giant cauldron, countless ancient and obscure inscriptions were densely engraved. The patterns were deep and varied, and even after being sealed underground for thousands of years, they were still clearly discernible, flowing with a faint Daoist aura.

Su Mixin focused intently, her eyes narrowing slightly as she carefully examined the ancient inscriptions, deciphering their meaning word by word.

Because of Feng Hou's presence, he had read through countless books in the sect's library and happened to recognize this inscription.

A moment later, his breath hitched, and a look of intense surprise welled up in his eyes.

These inscriptions actually record the complete cultivation method of the Ice Soul Divine Light Divine Power that he had been longing for!

Su Mixin quickly took out a jade slip and carefully made a complete copy.

Just as Su Mixin was about to delve into the matter, Su Yunluo beside her fixed her gaze on the giant cauldron. Her fingertips lightly touched the cauldron's surface, and a hint of surprise flashed across her brows as she let out a soft exclamation.

"Father, what's wrong?" Su Mixin immediately suppressed her joy and turned to ask.

Su Yunluo withdrew his fingertip, his expression solemn, and slowly said, "The material of this giant cauldron is extraordinary; it is forged from the rare ancient Yuanming Spirit Iron."

"Primordial Spirit Iron?" Su Mixin looked bewildered. He had read extensively in cultivation texts, yet he had never heard of such a spiritual material. "What kind of spiritual material is this? Is it very precious?"

"More than precious."

Su Yunluo's gaze was solemn, and his tone was filled with a mix of sighs and admiration. "Yuanming Spirit Iron was still circulating in this world in ancient times, but its production was extremely limited. It was completely extinct at the end of the ancient era. Most cultivators in later generations have only heard of its name but have never seen its form. It can be called a legendary treasure material."

As he spoke, his gaze returned to the broken giant cauldron. Looking at this heavy artifact, which was entirely forged from pure Yuanming Spirit Iron, he slowly uttered a sentence: "Mi Xin, you are truly blessed this time."

Su Mixin's doubts deepened, and she looked at her father with confusion.

Su Yunluo looked up at him and slowly recounted a long-forgotten story: "When you retrieved that ancient Xuan Turtle shell, I told you that it could be used to forge a top-grade defensive shield magic weapon. Do you remember?"

"I remember." Su Mixin nodded solemnly; of course, he had always kept this matter in mind.

Su Yunluo glanced at him: "The refining process has been temporarily delayed because the Nascent Soul stage elder of the Hundred Crafts Pavilion had an unfortunate time."

"That refining method originated from your mother's clan." Su Yunluo's tone softened, tinged with reminiscence. "Your mother took this method out of the clan back then. Although I have never seen the whole thing, she once mentioned to me that it was not an ordinary method for refining magic treasures. The complete method can forge a true heaven-reaching spiritual treasure."

"A celestial treasure?!"

Su Mixin's pupils shrank suddenly, and she cried out in shock, her heart filled with a tidal wave of emotions.

Through the original work, he knew what a Heavenly Treasure meant. It was something above magic treasures and ancient treasures, and in the spirit realm, only cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage or above were worthy of possessing it.

The treasures that remain in the human realm today are all brought down by cultivators from the spirit realm during the ancient war against the invasion of the demon realm. They are extremely rare and are the most coveted treasures among human cultivators, a once-in-a-millennium opportunity. Even those powerful cultivators in the human realm who have reached the Nascent Soul stage may not be able to obtain one!

Of course, although all spiritual treasures in the human world are collectively called Heavenly Spiritual Treasures, in reality, only those who have made it onto the Chaos Myriad Spirits Ranking are worthy of this title in the spirit world.

Su Yunluo nodded emphatically, his expression becoming increasingly solemn: "That's right, this treasure is called the Xuanming Shield, a defensive spiritual treasure that reaches the heavens."

Its main refining materials are two: one is the shell of a high-grade Xuan Turtle (at least at the Nascent Soul stage), and the other is the spiritual material refined primarily from this Yuanming Spirit Iron.

"Although the other auxiliary materials for refining spiritual materials are also rare, most of them can be found. With time, effort and resources, they can be gradually collected. Even if a few spiritual materials are truly extinct, finding substitutes will not have much impact on the power of the refined spiritual treasure."

"This Yuanming Spirit Iron has been extinct for ten thousand years since ancient times. It was thought that there was no one left in the world and no one could gather the complete main material to forge the Xuanming Shield."

He raised his hand and pointed to the broken giant cauldron in front of him, his eyes filled with a sense of relief and joy: "But who would have thought that such a massive amount of Yuanming Spirit Iron was hidden beneath the Xu family's land on Hanpo Island, enough to forge this giant cauldron weighing ten thousand catties?"

"The shells of Xuan Turtle at the Nascent Soul stage and above, and the Primordial Netherworld Spirit Iron, are both the two core main materials."

Looking at Su Mixin, whose expression was one of shock, Su Yunluo slowly smiled and said, "It's truly a stroke of good fortune. Once we've gathered all the other auxiliary materials and your mother has passed on the complete refining method, we can begin preparing to refine this treasure."

"At least it can reproduce most of the power of this ancient treasure."

Upon hearing this, Su Mixin stood there for a long time, pondering with her head down for a moment.

The method for forging this Xuanming Shield should have been brought down by the true cultivators of the human and demon races in the spirit realm during the ancient war of invasion from the demon realm.

The Xuanming Shield should have originally been a finished product. Although my father kept claiming it was a heaven-reaching spiritual treasure, the probability of it being listed on the Chaos Myriad Spirits Ranking was not high.

Moreover, the original owner of the Xuan Turtle shell was at most at the Nascent Soul stage. Using it as a main material, the quality of the resulting spiritual treasure would most likely only barely reach the threshold of the spiritual treasure level.

However, even low-grade spiritual treasures are still spiritual treasures, and they are extremely precious to Nascent Soul cultivators in the Spirit Realm.

The allure of spiritual treasures is so great that even the powerful Nascent Soul cultivators of the Great Jin Dynasty cannot remain indifferent to it. It is enough to overturn the strength and foundation of any Nascent Soul cultivator in the human realm.