Shenxiao Great Emperor resided in the Shenxiao House of Jade Purity, as the Jade Purity True Monarch, and in the Nine Heavens he took on the form of the Nine Heavens Elemental Thunder, ruling over all thunder from the Jade Pivot Palace.
Within a vast, open palace, the most eye-catching object is the statue of the Shenxiao Great Emperor.
Before the statue, there is an altar, on top of which lays an ancient, plain sandalwood box.
The group exchanged looks, understanding that unless something unexpected happened, the item they desired should be within that sandalwood box.
"Taoist friend, please proceed!" said Qingxu and Bai Xiaosheng, tacitly agreeing.
Pei Xuanjing realized that the two were nervous there could be some sort of mechanism, and among the three, Pei Xuanjing was the closest to being a member of the Shenxiao Sect, which made him the most suitable for retrieving the item.
However, he had no intention of refusing.
According to what he discovered in his life simulation, the Shenxiao Command token should be within the sandalwood box.
"Alright!" agreed Pei Xuanjing, walking slowly forward.
Everything was as he expected, with no unfortunate surprises. He walked calmly up to the altar.
He activated Shenxiao True Qi to envelop his palm and slowly opened the sandalwood box. Inside, was indeed the token he had discovered in his life simulation.
The token, the size of a palm and oval-shaped, had "Shenxiao" inscribed on it surrounded by thunder patterns.
As soon as Pei Xuanjing held the Shenxiao Command token, he received a new message in his mind: [Shenxiao Command token, refine to receive 50,000 Taoyun points]
Before Pei Xuanjing could respond, the moment his Shenxiao True Qi made contact with the Shenxiao Command token, a mysterious change took place.
The 'Shenxiao' inscription and the thunder patterns on the token began to light up, emitting dazzling rays that filled the entire hall with its purple-blue light.
Then, under the illumination of the light, the eyes of the immense statue of the Shenxiao Great Emperor began to glow, then slowly started moving to the side, revealing a doorway.
"This must be the core to activating the system from the previous simulation," thought Pei Xuanjing. He turned towards Qingxu and Bai Xiaosheng and asked, "What are you two waiting for?" Without another word, Pei Xuanjing turned towards the revealed doorway and charged.
The two, upon being reminded by Pei Xuanjing, quickly carried out their respective methods and charged towards the doorway.
"What exactly did Shenxiao Sect do in the past?" Bai Xiaosheng asked with a serious look on his face.
After stepping through the doorway and moving along the path for a bit, they came to a palace marked 'Scripture Depository'.
However, they stood at a distance, with no intention of moving forward.
Because, right before the Scripture Depository lay almost a hundred enormous beasts; they were of the same kind as the massive tiger the group had encountered earlier.
Moreover, these beasts seemed even more gigantic and ferocious than the previous tiger.
This prompted Bai Xiaosheng's serious query.
"It seems that those beasts we encountered earlier were not an accident, everything was manipulated by Shenxiao Sect," sighed Qingxu.
If the earlier isolated incidents involving huge beasts didn't tip him off, the gathering of these beasts together did, because he could sense some sort of similar, as though originated from the same source, energy coming from them.
These beasts were guarding outside the Scripture Depository therefore, without any doubt, they were a result of the Shenxiao Sect's doing.
Although Qingxu Tao didn't know how the Shenxiao Sect managed to do this, or why these beasts were still alive after so long, he guessed that these beasts are likely related to the Shenxiao Sect's Longevity Plan.
"Regardless, we came here, surely we can't return empty-handed because of these beasts, " laughed Pei Xuanjing.
He was almost certain that these beasts were a result of the Shenxiao Sect's experiments, although he didn't know how it was done, the answers undoubtedly lied within the Scripture Depository.
And as he said, having come so far, they could hardly be rejected here just to return empty-handed. To obtain these, the other two have plotted for several years, paying the price of blood and sweat.
"Indeed, how could we back away now?" Bai Xiaosheng sighed quietly.
So much has been given up in the pursuit of this plan, Qingxu and Bai Xiaosheng are close to reaching it, they are hardly willing to give it up now.
Pei Xuanjing chuckled, "If that's the case, then let's not delay any longer."
As soon as he said it, his hand pressed on the hilt, Pei Xuanjing jumped up, and a cold sword light slashed horizontally.
Sword Drawing Skill!
After so much training, Pei Xuanjing's Sword Drawing Skill had reached perfection.
The true meaning of the Martial Arts spread all over the place, the radiant sword intent, accompanied by wind and thunder, showed its power to cut through the heavens and the earth.
Those huge beasts were also very sharp, sensing the danger the moment Pei Xuanjing made his move, they let out a deafening roar, baring their teeth at him.
Swoosh!
Pei Xuanjing swung his sword, countless sword Qi attacked those beasts.
However, such sharp sword Qi landed on these beasts barely scratched them, unable to inflict any substantial damage.
Instead, the pain stirred up the ferocious nature of the beasts, making them roar at Pei Xuanjing more ferociously.
Boom!
These huge beasts ran wildly, creating infinite strong winds, shaking the earth like an army.
However, facing such threats, Pei Xuanjing remained fearless, his face unchanged, a cold smile crossed his lips.
He held the Shenxiao sword tight, true Qi flowing, his vital energy boiled.
Swoosh!
One sword pierced through, the Shenxiao sword actually cut off the head of a huge beast.
"Attack!" Seeing Pei Xuanjing act, Qingxu didn't wait any longer. The treasure sword strapped to his back made a clanking sound as it was unsheathed and fell into his hands.
Zhenwu Sword!
During the time that Master Sanfeng dominated the world, he was known for his unrivaled swordsmanship. His Zhenwu Sword had claimed the lives of countless evil masters.
This Zhenwu Sword was the Treasure of the Zhenwu Sect and one of the rare Ten Thousand-Forged Divine Weapons in the world.
When this Ten Thousand-Forged Divine Weapon showed its edge, its power made the heavens and earth tremble.
Ninety-nine rounds of Nine Palace Continuous Swords.
Sword after sword like a flowing river, endless.
Each swing of Qingxu's sword left a bloody gash on one of the beasts.
With the addition of the exquisite Cloud Ascension Skill, for a moment, he was like in a land of no man.
Bai Xiaosheng, seeing the two act, didn't want to be left behind either. He closed his folding fan, and a bow and crossbow of about one foot long appeared in his hands.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Numerous crossbow bolts flew out, bringing a piercing noise through the air..
It is incontestable that these beasts are quite a handful. Fierce, fearless, and massively strong they are.
Purely in terms of strength, they are as strong as a common first-grade martial artist.
It can be said that the absence of wisdom is their only shortcoming.
However, this only shortcoming is their fatal weakness.
Faced with the full force of Pei Xuanjing and his two companions, despite the great effort required to deal with these massive beasts, they pose no great hindrance or threat to their lives.
After a ferocious battle, the three cooperative individuals nearly exterminated these enormous beasts.
Of course, slaying nearly a hundred boars isn't easy, let alone nearly a hundred of these enormous beasts.
"Let's see what is inside this Scripture Pavilion?" suggested Bai Xiaosheng.
Pei Xuanjing and Taoist Qingxu nodded their heads, and the trio ventured into the Scripture Depository.
Creak!
At the sound of the opening doors, they ventured inside.
The Scripture Depository was not that large. A few bookshelves were placed inside, filled with numerous books, nearly a hundred.
"Shall we split up and search?" proposed Pei Xuanjing.
"Absolutely!"
The two concurred, split up and perused the bookshelves on their own.
Pei Xuanjing began to leaf through the books in front of a bookshelf.
He learned that the books here were divided into several categories, including some legacy martial arts skills of the Shenxiao Sect, methods for producing talisman, Shenxiao Tao Scriptures, handwritten notes from the masters of Shenxiao Sect , and so on.
A sense of satisfaction appeared at the corners of Pei Xuanjing's mouth. Even if they found no other secrets in the Scripture Pavilion this time, these handed-down martial arts skills and enlightening notes would be a hefty harvest.
It can provide him with an enormous amount of Tao Yun, and also be used as the foundation for the Sect when he intends to re-establish the Shenxiao Sect in the future.
Just then, his gaze fell on a book. There was a glint in his eyes as he picked it up and began to leaf through it.
By then, the only sound in the Scripture Pavilion was the flipping of pages by the three.
After a long while, Pei Xuanjing finally looked up, revealing a look of sudden enlightenment.
The book he had just read was the Shenxiao Sect's record of this Forbidden Place and their predictions of the work they had done.
"How about the two of you? Any gains?" The sound of Pei Xuanjing's voice echoed in the hollow Scripture Depository.
Heard Pei Xuanjing's words, two figures started to move towards the source of the sound.
Actually, they had noticed something while Pei Xuanjing was reading. They knew that he appeared to have discovered something.
But, seeing how engrossed Pei Xuanjing was, they didn't want to disturb him and continued to search on their own for any findings.
Hearing Pei Xuanjing's summon, they no longer wasted time.
"Any discoveries?" Bai Xiaosheng asked, getting straight to the point.
Pei Xuanjing had no intention of hiding anything from them and immediately started recounting what he had just learned.
The Shenxiao Sect, since receiving the manual about the Longevity Plan from Jinmen•s Feather Guest, has been constantly trying to explore the methods to longevity and enshrine a Divine Position.
Unfortunately, even if they accidentally enshrined a god who showed some characteristics of longevity, they realised that the god they created wasn't genuinely immortal.
After Jinmen's Feather Guest ascended, the Shenxiao Sect was heavily hit and they had no chance to try these methods once more. Their only choice was to keep looking for clues to continue seeking the method to longevity.
Luckily, they came across this forbidden place which became pivotal in their research of the longevity plan.
The enormous beasts they had encountered earlier were the results of Shenxiao Sect's experiments over the years.
They gleaned hints from ancient books and notes and used these to formulate elixirs and talismans to nurture these beasts. They experimented to see if they could develop these fierce beasts into the legendary demonic beasts.
If this method proved to be a success, it would validate their current strategies and the next step would be to modify key points and test it on humans.
Unfortunately, their eventual experiment was still a failure.
Despite using the abundant Heaven and Earth Essence from within the forbidden place to breed these ordinarily fierce beasts into powerful creatures, they still couldn't imbue them with wisdom to embark on cultivation and gain longer life spans.
According to the analysis of the god involved in the original experimentation, the abundance of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi in the forbidden place falls short of the environment required to birth a demonic beast.
This failure led the Shenxiao Sect to abandon this approach.
However, they did reap a lot of benefits from this experiment, which made them put all their bets on another longevity plan: to seize the imperial inheritance, capture the empire's Qi Luck, and then consecrate gods. The god would live as long as the kingdom lasted.
see!"
"Does it mention how that longevity plan should be carried out?" Bai Xiaosheng asked Pei Xuanjing.
Pei Xuanjing understood his question.
Although Zhenwu Sect and Bai Xiaosheng's lineage were participants in the initial Longevity Plan, the most critical core had always been under the control of the Shenxiao Sect.
So, their purpose in exploring this forbidden place of Shenxiao Sect is to uncover the core secrets of the Longevity Plan that they were not privy to.
Pei Xuanjing nodded, "Yes!"
Upon hearing Pei Xuanjing's answer, even the usually indifferent Taoist Qingxu bore a smile on his face.
However, after listening to the method Pei Xuanjing was indicating, their expressions altered.
"The key to the Longevity Plan is to seize the imperial inheritance, then set up a great, world-best formation to draw on the power of the earth's veins and stimulate the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. It would then establish a Divine Dynasty on earth and consecrate a divine position. As long as the Divine Dynasty persists, the gods would live." Pei Xuanjing revealed.
"What utter bastards! They really deserved being annihilated by the Imperial Court of Great Ming!" exclaimed Bai Xiaosheng.
"Hehe! So Shenxiao Sect had hidden this so deeply. I really admire these people," Taoist Qingxu said, his face filled with anger while he chuckled.
Why such expression from Qingxu?
No other reason, just the fact that they were tricked by Shenxiao Sect.
While Shenxiao Sect's initial Longevity Plan was real, it was not the complete plan.
To put it another way, it was just a small part of the total plan..