darknovel Chapter 22 Immortal Legacy
Chapter 22 Immortal Legacy
"Could this be the bedroom of the Mechanical Sage?"
Looking at the skeleton on the stone bed in front of him, Xiao Xuan felt a mix of emotions.
It's truly lamentable that a legendary figure in the martial arts world met such a lonely end.
The skeleton had many cracks, indicating that the person had suffered severe internal injuries before death, which were beyond effective treatment.
This echoes the inscription on the stone wall: "I know my days are numbered."
"Since he is an immortal, then..."
Xiao Xuan was somewhat excited. Their group's goal was to inherit the legacy of the Ingenious Immortal, but unexpectedly, he stumbled upon a back door.
A stone table stood in front of the stone bed. In such a messy environment, the things on the stone table immediately caught Xiao Xuan's eye.
He pushed aside the jumbled parts at his feet and came to the stone table, on which lay countless parchments, a scroll, a jade box, some gears, a few charcoal pencils, and some bone fragments.
Xiao Xuan first looked at the parchment, which contained design drawings of the mechanisms in the valley, and seemed to have been revised repeatedly.
In Wei Ziheng's eyes, this thing would probably be considered a priceless treasure, something he wouldn't trade for even ten thousand taels of gold.
However, Xiao Xuan couldn't understand these things. When it comes to science, if you don't know it, you simply don't know it.
Xiao Xuan put down the parchment, opened the scroll, and found a map of the cave on it.
It turns out that the caves in these mountains are all interconnected and were designed with great care.
The stone cave where Xiao Xuan is now can even lead directly to the stone cave containing the jade statue.
"This is a good thing, you must write it down."
After noting down the details of the map, Xiao Xuan turned his attention to the jade box.
He carefully opened the jade box, but the moment the lid was lifted, the gears on the table immediately sprang out of control, smashing into the jade box and creating numerous cracks.
Xiao Xuan picked up the jade box, but the gears were stuck to it and he had to pull hard to remove them.
The jade box contained a dark iron ruler, about one finger thick, two fingers wide, and more than twenty centimeters long, except that one end was painted red.
Xiao Xuan was puzzled as to why the object looked familiar, but the inscription inside the jade box provided the answer.
"After leaving Ningguo, I traveled around and accidentally obtained a natural magnet with strong magnetic force. When metal is placed with it, it can add magnetic force. When not in use, it needs to be isolated with jade."
There is another line of relatively new inscription below.
"I discovered this by chance today. With the addition of true qi, I can control the strength of the magnetism. Unfortunately, my power has dissipated, so I can't use it."
Xiao Xuan took out the magnet and played with it in his hand. With a slight shake, the gears on the table seemed eager to fly over.
Immediately afterwards, Xiao Xuan turned the magnet in his hand around and stretched it forward, and the gears were immediately repelled by the repulsive force.
"It is indeed fun, but apart from being able to counter some hidden weapons, it doesn't seem to have much use."
Xiao Xuan gripped the bottom of the magnetic ruler, thinking that if he could have a sword that could attract other people's weapons, that would be a good choice.
He thrust forward with the Tianshan sword technique, and suddenly heard a "bang," as if two objects had collided.
The source of this sound was under the stone bed.
Xiao Xuan quickly put the magnetic ruler back into the jade box, went to the stone bed, and bowed to the skull on it, saying:
"Senior, we've met as fellow countrymen, please forgive any offense. I'll make sure you have a grand funeral."
After saying that, Xiao Xuan used the tattered bedding on the bed to roll up the skull, placed it aside, and then lifted the stone slab underneath.
"really!"
Sure enough, there was an iron box hidden under the stone bed, with several sheets of paper covering it.
"It's so heavy?"
Xiao Xuan struggled to move the iron box out, only to discover that there was also a combination lock in the middle of the box.
"990707?"
Upon discovering that the passwords were different, Xiao Xuan looked at the papers and found that they did not contain passwords, but rather a Sudoku puzzle.
The fact that all the papers are identical suggests that the result of the game is the password to unlock the lock.
"If the locals had a chance to solve the puzzles in the previous ones, then this one can only be left for time travelers."
The iron box was incredibly hard; even a cold steel sword could only leave scratches on it.
Helpless, Xiao Xuan could only sit on the ground and play Sudoku.
...
Several hours passed in the blink of an eye, and the light in the cave gradually dimmed. Just as the sun was about to set, Xiao Xuan finally finished his calculations.
"This is the third time. If you make a mistake again, there's really nothing we can do."
Xiao Xuan entered the numbers in the first line into the iron box, and finally, with a 'click,' the lid of the iron box popped open slightly.
"It's done!"
Xiao Xuan looked over excitedly and saw several letters, a pair of wrist guards, a thick book, and a token in the iron box.
The top letter faced Xiao Xuan, and the words on it were clearly visible.
"To Zhou Renjie"
"Was this written to the founding emperor?"
In Xiao Xuan's memory, Emperor Taizu had been dead for less than ten years. When the cunning immortal died, the other party must still be alive.
However, after so many years, all the grudges and resentments have turned to dust.
Xiao Xuan thought for a moment, opened the letter, and immediately felt that he had been a bit abrupt.
"Zhou Renjie, if you open this box yourself, it can only mean that your hypocrisy has reached a certain level. What else can I say? You are invincible."
The rest were mostly pure profanities, along with some friendly gestures, showing that the Clever Immortal truly hated the founding emperor.
The second letter sent chills down Xiao Xuan's spine, for it was addressed to: "To the Transmigrator."
Xiao Xuan nervously opened the envelope. Inside was a long string of text, written in a weak and feeble hand, clearly written in an extremely weak state.
"If you are not Li Zhou or Zhou, then you can only be another time traveler."
This world is fairly friendly to time travelers, and I wish you a lot of fun.
But if you receive what I left behind, please fulfill two regrets for me.
I, Deng Fei, have two regrets in my life. One is that my beloved Li Peipei was taken away by Zhou Renjie.
If Li Peipei is still alive when you read this letter, please deliver the letter in the box to her for me.
If he/she has passed away, please burn the letter in the box.
The second regret is that I have extremely poor martial arts talent, and my cheat ability has nothing to do with martial arts. I have never been able to achieve harmony between heaven and man in my life, and I have never been Zhou Renjie's match.
After being defeated by Zhou Renjie, I pondered for many years and finally created a peerless martial art that can improve a martial artist's aptitude, break through limits, and eventually achieve oneness with the universe.
If you are under thirty years old when you read this letter, please practice this exercise and improve any deficiencies.
One day, they will overthrow the Zhou dynasty for me.
"Li Peipei should be that Empress. Anyway, she's already passed away, so we don't need to worry about her anymore. As for the second point..."
After reading the letter, Xiao Xuan couldn't help but sneer.
This Deng Fei is really full of bookish idealism, and he thinks things are far too simplistic.
Overthrowing a dynasty is no simple matter.
"Just thinking about how to survive is exhausting me."
Xiao Xuan stuffed the letter back and immediately forgot all about what it said.
He wasn't a knight, so he didn't have to abide by any treaties, and besides, this wasn't even an agreement.
Even worse, Xiao Xuan didn't feel much sympathy for Deng Fei, only thinking that his current predicament was entirely his own fault.
Xiao Xuan's choice was simple: he would try to learn this martial art, but as for everything else, he would have to decide for himself.
Taking out the letter addressed to Li Peipei, Xiao Xuan threw the three letters onto a nearby torch and lit them. Then he took out the book from the box.
"Scientific martial arts training methods?"