Chapter 342: Ancient Secrets

The Immortal Fairy sighed, lamenting, "It's a tragedy of your era; everyone seems to be spreading rumors, even about Immortals!"

As a member of this era, Lu Yang listened to the Fairy's admonishment and promised to reflect deeply.

"Yingtian Immortal was such a good person. Even though I challenged him beyond his cultivation level every time before he ascended, which was unlucky enough for him, he was still a rare genius throughout the ages, destined for boundless glory. It's unbelievable that after he became an Immortal and achieved great success, he would be ruined by rumors from later generations."

Lu Yang seized the opportunity to ask, "Did Yingtian Immortal have a wife and children?"

"He likely didn't, but he had an exceptionally good way with women."

"In what way?"

"From the perspective of ordinary people, Yingtian Immortal was incredibly handsome. I didn't quite see it that way, though, which might be because I always beat him black and blue."

"Before his ascension, powerful female cultivators who admired him would often abduct him and forcibly engage in relations. This wasn't a rare occurrence; I witnessed it more than five times, and heard countless more stories from others."

"...How enviable—oh, no, I mean how unlucky."

Lu Yang continued to peruse "Ancient Secrets," noting that while the book mentioned the Four Ancient Immortals, only Yingtian Immortal was named directly. The other three were referred to by epithets like "Demon Immortal" or "a certain Immortal."

"Perhaps Yingtian Immortal was the most renowned among the Four Ancient Immortals, or it could simply be that a book costing only three thousand spirit stones wouldn't reveal every secret."

Given that Yingtian Immortal created the Heavenly Tribulation, Lu Yang had reason to suspect that his name was either widely known or widely reviled among high-level cultivators.

"Look at this!" Meng Jingzhou exclaimed, pointing to a page. "It mentions the ancient war between the Dragon and Phoenix Ancestors, and the Phoenix Ancestor's ability to be reborn through fire!" He seemed quite excited to recognize the story.

He had heard this tale from a pure-blooded Phoenix in Luofeng Commandery. Their version was more detailed than the book's, but the main events were largely the same.

Lu Yang rubbed his temples, wincing. He mused that archaeological scholars had an incredibly difficult job; their extensive efforts to verify historical events often led them completely astray from the truth.

"This is a secret about the Chaos clan, one of the Four Ancient Fiends. Members of the Chaos clan are born faceless and genderless; upon reaching adulthood, they can change their gender and appearance at will. In ancient times, the Chaos clan established a rule: in the cultivation world, the strong are revered, and the strong must submit to the weak. The strong would be male, and the weak would be female."

"Is that true?" Lu Yang asked the Immortal Fairy for verification.

The Immortal Fairy confirmed, "That part is true."

"As you've heard, the Chaos clan is born in a state of utter shapelessness; nothing about them is defined. They are a rare species where acquired traits determine innate ones, with some even citing them as proof of cause and effect reversal."

"The Chaos clan once had such a rule: the strong determined the gender of the weak."

"The rule itself wasn't inherently problematic. The coincidence was that a truly exceptional genius appeared in the Chaos clan during that period. While he couldn't quite rival the prodigies of the Dragon and Phoenix clans, he was still one of the top three combatants in the Chaos clan's history."

"This individual enjoyed maintaining a harem and seeking thrills. So, he defeated every single member of the Chaos clan, transforming all of them into females."

"And since the Chaos clan could freely determine their appearance, they all became beauties."

"Consequently, in the vast Chaos clan, he was the sole male; all others were female. They were on the verge of extinction."

"Ultimately, it was Qilin Immortal who intervened to mediate, advising him to curb his desires and, incidentally, suggesting the Chaos clan revise their rule."

"Later, the Chaos clan changed the rule to allow self-determined gender. I'm not sure if the rule has changed again since then."

Lu Yang was speechless.

Lu Yang was speechless.

It would be best not to tell Meng Jingzhou about this, lest he become envious upon hearing it.

"This book also records a legend: in ancient times, a woodcutter went up a mountain to chop firewood and stumbled upon a cave dwelling. Inside, he found two Immortals playing chess. Their chess skills were profound, containing the vast principles of the universe. When the game concluded, the woodcutter discovered that the world outside the cave had drastically changed; a hundred years had passed."

"Presumably, the story of the Immortal Sect's first patriarch was adapted from this ancient legend."

Lu Yang stated with certainty, "If I'm not mistaken, one of those two ancient Immortals must have been the Time Immortal. Only he could cause a hundred years to pass while the woodcutter merely watched them play!"

The Immortal Fairy chuckled. "Wrong guess! The ones playing chess were Yingtian Immortal and Qilin Immortal—those two terrible chess players."

"At the time, I invited the four of them to my home for dinner. They all readily agreed, but Yingtian Immortal and Qilin Immortal said they were in the middle of a chess game and would come once a victor was decided. I told them that was fine."

"I waited and waited, but they never showed up. I asked Nine Heavens Immortal to chop firewood, and he volunteered to go check on them. He left and never returned."

"During this time, the Time Immortal also went to check. He came back and told me they were engrossed in comprehending the Great Dao through their chess game and shouldn't be disturbed. I suggested, 'Then let's just the two of us eat.' But the Time Immortal replied that as fellow Immortals, they should share both prosperity and adversity. 'If we're to eat, we eat together; otherwise, no one eats. How can two feast while three starve?'"

"I thought he had a point, so I waited a bit longer. That 'bit longer' turned into a hundred years."

"After a hundred years, the food was already cold. There was no way to eat it, so the meal never happened."

The Immortal Fairy expressed some regret, lamenting how truly inept Yingtian Immortal and Qilin Immortal were, unable to finish a single chess game in a hundred years.

Lu Yang was speechless.

Indeed, they were Immortals with boundless lifespans; a century simply vanished. Those Immortals were truly something else, willing to play chess for a hundred years just to avoid a meal.

Although "Ancient Secrets" differed slightly from actual ancient history, it was still the result of scholarly research. The core stories had original forms and were not entirely fabricated.

As for why Yingtian Immortal was rumored to be fond of beautiful women, Lu Yang had no idea. Perhaps the research methods were flawed, or the intelligence sources were mistaken.

As Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou passed a roadside stall, Lu Yang glanced over. The vendor's display included a small golden pagoda, a jade pure bottle, sealed pills whose potency was still slowly fading, and a broken flying sword.

"Lu Yang, wait!" the Immortal Fairy exclaimed excitedly, stopping him. "Did you see that flying sword? It's a treasure! That's a flying sword once wielded by Qilin Immortal!"

The flying sword was heavily damaged and looked vastly different from its original state. Had the Immortal Fairy not seen it several times before, she wouldn't have been able to confirm it was Qilin Immortal's sword.

"What?" Lu Yang's heart pounded. He couldn't believe he'd find a flying sword used by Qilin Immortal in such a place—an Immortal sword, no less!

The Immortal Fairy, his 'golden finger' cheat, was finally proving useful.

"Wait," Lu Yang said, looking at the Immortal Fairy warily. "This isn't the sword Qilin Immortal used when he was still in the Foundation Establishment stage, is it?"

The Immortal Fairy frowned, feeling that Lu Yang was being overly distrustful. "What nonsense! Of course not. This is the Immortal sword Qilin Immortal wielded *after* his ascension. Qilin Immortal specifically requested Yingtian Immortal to temper it with the power of thunder!"

Lu Yang was ecstatic. Refined by Yingtian Immortal and used by Qilin Immortal, the value of this flying sword would undoubtedly skyrocket.

What a massive find!