Huu-!
Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to compose himself. Even then, he could not stop his heart from palpitating wildly.
How could he?
This was definitely not an issue with him. Given the circumstances, he was certain that even the core disciples of the Black Tortoise Sect would feel overwhelmed if they were in his shoes. After all, laid out before him was the core legacy of the Untethered Sage!
Obtaining just one of these three parts could already be considered a great fortune, not to mention all three of them together!
However, while there was certainly excitement as well, what Zhao Yunxiao felt at the moment was actually more of anxiety.
Deep, deep anxiety.
The very instant that Zhao Yunxiao saw the jade pagoda hovering in front of him and heard the ancient voice calling out to him, one thought immediately came to mind.
He messed up!
When he first decided to seek out the legacy of the Untethered Sage, it was with the understanding that the ancient cultivator must have already passed on after so many years. And even then, he still had his reservations.
But if the Untethered Sage were somehow still alive, then things would become far more complicated.
That said, had he been given this option to unseal Jiang Taiming before arriving here, Zhao Yunxiao would likely still have gone ahead due to the enormous benefits of getting in the good books of such a powerhouse.
But not anymore.
In fact, as far as the current Zhao Yunxiao was concerned, unsealing the Untethered Sage Jiang Taiming was something completely out of the question!
Yes, according to his understanding, Jiang Taiming truly only wanted to live a life of freedom, much like Zhao Yunxiao himself did. He was not someone who would go out of his way to harm someone else for no good reason, especially if it was someone who had just helped him out.
However, what if there was a reason to do so?
What if this someone actually knew of all his secrets?
The tragic manner in which his life had turned around when he was still a boy, and how he had asked for the death of all those involved without hesitation.
The way he had gained enlightenment atop the golden hill, and all the underlying concepts of his signature techniques.
The truth that he had formulated all those foundation techniques not to benefit the masses, but only because he was trying to gain enlightenment to advance his cultivation.
The real reason why he had subdued Luo Qin, and how it was solely to gain the latter's abilities instead of trying to rid the world of terror.
The fact that his overconfidence, or perhaps even arrogance, had caused him to fall prey to Luo Qin's tricks in the end, causing him to fall to a point where he even needed a mere Essence Gathering realm cultivator to save him.
There was absolutely nothing that the current Zhao Yunxiao could do to Jiang Taiming even if he knew all this information, but what about in the future? What about if this information was spread to a third person, a fourth person, or the rest of the cultivation world?
If he were the Untethered Sage, would he allow this puny cultivator to live to tell the tale?
Why would he, when he could stamp out all such potential future problems as easily as snapping a finger?
The Untethered Sage was known for not caring about the opinions of others, but who could truly attest to that fact?
Of course, this could be mere paranoia on his end, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The allure of the treasures in front of him might be great, but they were still not worth potentially losing his life for!
But if not that, then what?
Now that things had already come to this point, what could he possibly still do in this situation?
Get up and leave?
Would this jade pagoda in front of him – or the entity within – really allow him to do so?
Well, that was not impossible.
After all, Kindness had remained here for who knew how many years. That was the best proof that the Untethered Sage's sealing technique was truly top-notch, such that even he himself was unable to break free from it.
Considering that, perhaps it was actually highly likely that the Untethered Sage truly had no way of stopping him?
Zhao Yunxiao slowly stood up and clasped his fists towards the jade pagoda, "Senior, this junior is slow and untalented. Because of that, I am unable to comprehend the profundities of your divine technique. Please pardon me as I leave for now. However, I promise to definitely bring someone back to help you out!"
...Silence.
He took a step back, then another. Bit by bit, he inched towards the door, making sure to keep an eye on Kindness at all times.
But no matter how far he retreated, there was no reaction from the jade pagoda.
When that remained the case even as he stepped foot into the previous room, Zhao Yunxiao finally let out a sigh of relief.
It would appear that the self-inflicted seal on the Untethered Sage was still holding strong. That changed things entirely!
With that, perhaps he no longer had to escape immediately. Instead, it had become a matter of how much benefit he could gain even if he did not do as the Untethered Sage had planned.
And the first thing that came to mind was the Divine Tether. Since comprehending it was necessary in order to unseal the Untethered Sage, there was almost no chance of him coming to any harm while trying to learn it.
Otherwise, how would the Untethered Sage ever escape his own seal?
After backtracking another two rooms to confirm that Kindness would truly remain inactive, Zhao Yunxiao finally returned and sat in front of the verses of glowing words.
He carefully read through the verses of glowing words, making sure to engrave each and every character into his mind. As he read on, he could feel his heart beating faster once again.
This was the signature technique of the Untethered Sage – a technique far above the level of any other that he had ever come across in the past. And right now, the governing concepts were being laid out clearly before him, almost begging him to learn it!
Even so, he was aware of his own limits. He knew that someone like him was unlikely to have the capability to master this technique in its entirety, but that was not too big an issue. For a technique this powerful, even learning a fraction of it should be enough to bring about huge benefits to his cultivation path!
It did not take long to memorise the governing concepts, but deriving the actual technique from these concepts was not as easy a task. In fact, had he not known about the thoughts of the Untethered Sage during the birth of this technique, doing so would still have been completely impossible for Zhao Yunxiao.
A sealing technique that did not adhere to the world laws, but indiscriminately bent them to its will.
These words gave birth to a compass that guided the direction of Zhao Yunxiao's thoughts, assisting his desperate attempt to comprehend something from the governing concepts.
It was also fortunate that comprehending the world laws was not a necessity for this technique. After all, ordinary Essence Gathering realm cultivators like him were still incapable of touching upon these abstract matters.
Had it not been the case, Zhao Yunxiao would have had no choice but to give up before he even started!
Bit by bit, time passed.
Bit by bit, he continued to ponder over the matter.
The governing concepts slowly came together as traces of fundamentals, giving it the nascent form of a sealing technique. He did not know how much time had passed while he was trying to deduce the technique. But when Zhao Yunxiao opened his eyes once again, he felt like a completely different person.
It was just a feeling though, as even he could not pinpoint just what exactly had changed within him.
What he did know, however, was that he now had one more card in his arsenal.
He might not have fully mastered the technique just yet, but he had definitely gained an understanding of it at the fundamental level. With the governing concepts that he had already deeply engraved into his mind, he could slowly improve his comprehensions in the Divine Tether in time to come.
With that, Zhao Yunxiao used his spiritual sense to perform a careful inspection of the room.
The aura of corruption was much stronger here as compared to the other rooms, unsurprisingly so as well. After all, this was where the Untethered Sage had performed most of his experiments on the Soul Devil.
And because of the sheer density of the aura of corruption, Zhao Yunxiao could finally sense the flow of the ominous aura to a certain degree. It was slowly flowing out of this room, through the door behind him that led to the previous rooms he was in, all the way towards the entrance of this separate space.
At this point, he formed a conjecture as to what had happened over the past year.
There was no doubt that this dense aura of corruption had originated from Soul Devil Luo Qin here in this hidden space. But over the years, the sealing arrays had started to weaken, allowing this aura to find its way out and leak into the outside world, eventually shrouding over the entire Blueflag Mountain.
And when the Scarlet Leaf Sect started with their summoning array, it had forcibly widened the leak, creating an even greater outflow of the aura of corruption to the outside world. The statue at the Hei Residence probably still contained a faint will of the Untethered Sage, which had in turn reacted to this heightened density of the aura of corruption.
Or at least, that was what made the most sense to him right now.
In that case, in order to truly resolve the ominous signs that the Hei Residence's jade statue was experiencing, one had two options. Either stop the leakage of the corruption aura and allow it to clear up in time to come, or purify it directly!
Honestly, neither option was feasible for the current Zhao Yunxiao.
Well, if he truly wanted to purify the aura of corruption around Blueflag Mountain, it was not entirely impossible. However, the process would likely take years, if not decades. That was not an amount of time that he was willing to spend, especially when the goal was simply to stop some ominous signs from a jade statue.
Alternatively, he could also request for the unsealed Jiang Taiming to purify the aura of corruption as a form of repayment for his help. Such a thing should not be difficult for the Untethered Sage whatsoever.
The problem here was that.. Zhao Yunxiao was not intending to unseal the ancient cultivator.
Ah, forget it!
Technically, he had already completed his mission. It was unfortunate that he could not resolve the issue in its entirety, but he could not possibly be blamed for that!
Zhao Yunxiao turned his attention to the other two items in the room.
The Divine Tether was definitely an incredible gain in and of itself. That said, whether he could eventually master it enough to use it in an efficient manner would still have to depend on his talent.
But that was not the case for Caution and Kindness.
These were material treasures of the Untethered Sage, and were already valuable in and of themselves. Even if one disregarded the actual quality of these treasures, their historical values alone would already place them at the level of being priceless!
That said, selling them off immediately would be a huge waste.
It would be best if he could first research these treasures to gain some valuable insights, or perhaps just use them for protection purposes.
But at the same time, he would also have to carefully consider the huge waves that could arise from the appearance of the belongings of the Untethered Sage. While it was unlikely that anyone in the contemporary cultivation world would be able to recognise the treasures of the Untethered Sage, the chances were definitely not zero.
If he handled this poorly, he might just end up being targeted by those who wanted to force out information on the Untethered Sage's legacy instead!
Zhao Yunxiao shook those thoughts out of his head. There was no need to rack his brain over how to use treasures that he had yet to even acquire.
Instead of worrying incessantly, he should first think about what to do next!
Of the two treasures, Kindness was out of the question. With Jiang Taiming's soul sealed within, the last thing that Zhao Yunxiao would ever want was to bring it along with him. That would almost be equivalent to taunting the Untethered Sage on the latter's inability to free himself – an act similar to bringing along a bomb that could explode at any moment.
That left... Caution.
He narrowed his eyes at the inconspicuous-looking boots. Would there be any consequences if he took it?
Zhao Yunxiao tossed a small dagger at the treasure boot, and watched as the dagger bounced off harmlessly.
Nothing.
It was a pity that the aura of corruption was so strong here. Otherwise, he could have tried to retrieve it with a clone.
Alas, his hands were already full trying to protect himself from the aura. He had simply no leftover energy to protect a clone.
That said, the treasure boots had to be placed here as a reward for the successor... right?
Otherwise, surely it would have been hidden somewhere instead.
Surely the Untethered Sage would not have set up traps in advance, and risk harming the very person who held the key to his freedom!
...Right?