Daoqi Huangcheng

Chapter 67, Section 66: The Wonderful Uses of the Time Capsule (3.0K words - Please Subscribe)
In the night fog, a streak of pale blue light flew northward.

As night fell, Song Chen glanced at the direction of the capital again. Many of the bright lights had been extinguished, and every household had closed their doors and windows, preparing to reunite and rest.
His gaze swept across the vast capital city before slowly returning to his own.

He originally did not plan to go to the Crane Demon Secret Realm.

But now that the [Treasure Box of Time] is usable, he needs to go to the Crane Demon Secret Realm to complete some simple tests.

The [Treasure Box of Time] is the only intact treasure remaining from the original [Book of Three Lifetimes], and it is even ranked above the extremely damaged [Mirror of Illusion and Reality].

Now, as the owner of this box, he probably knows the function of this treasure: once something enters it, it will shed all its acquired appearance and return to its original simplicity.

To put it simply, it's about letting everything placed within it travel back in time and return to its original state.

When he was first captured and taken to the Crane Demon Realm, he visited its library.

That time, he chose an abridged version of "The Secret of Evergreen Trees," but deep in the library he also saw some scrolls that smelled of decay and mold but had not been thrown away. He had briefly looked at them, but found them blurry and tattered, so he gave up.

Now, it seems like an opportunity.

As for those corrupt and dilapidated paintings, he roughly knew their origins. They were most likely from the "Niangniang Temple" on the second level of the Crane Demon Secret Realm, since the Crane Demon Secret Realm was originally the location of the Niangniang Temple.

The Niangniang Temple is extremely mysterious, and the things left behind must be extraordinary.

The ripples of the secret realm spread out.

Song Chen entered it.

As soon as he entered, more than a dozen crane demon figures took to the air and surrounded him.

The leading crane demon demanded sharply, "Who goes there?!"

But after asking just three words, it felt that the person in front of it was so familiar.

The next instant, it came to its senses.

Song Chen then pulled out the bronze feather and shook it.

Almost simultaneously, all the crane demons hurriedly bowed and respectfully said, "Greetings, Clan Chief."

The crane demon guards dispersed, and Song Chen landed on the ground.

At this time, there weren't many crane demons in the Crane Demon Secret Realm; most of them had already gone to the Yellow Springs in the northern suburbs.

He Bai, still recovering from the severe injuries inflicted by the soul-searching, rushed out to greet Song Chen upon hearing of his arrival.

The man and the crane walked through the garden full of pavilions and towers again. Many rogue cultivators who had been tamed by the crane demon hurriedly came over to pay their respects to their master. The slaves who were repairing the manor looked over timidly. After seeing Song Chen's face, some of the slaves recognized the man and were all shocked.

Between the flowerbeds in the garden, there was a wheelchair. A young woman with a blank stare was leaning against the wheelchair, motionless. Beside her, a female slave was lighting a charcoal stove, and another was feeding the young woman.

Song Chen stopped in his tracks.

He recognized the young woman.

It was none other than Hongye, who had served him back then.

On that day, he was summoned by the Crane Demon to the Temple of the Goddess to retrieve the "Yellow Springs Scripture". He himself did not know whether he would come back alive, so he left a sword for Hongye. The sword was to give Hongye a quick death so that she would not suffer humiliation.

His hand was inside his wide sleeve when suddenly a black jade slip containing the "Yellow Springs Sutra" appeared.

The mirror of karma reflects all that has passed.

He fled that day, and the Crane Demon went to find Hongye. Hongye hesitated for a moment while holding the sword before being captured by the Crane Demon. The Crane Demon searched Hongye's soul but found nothing. Just as the Crane Demon was about to kill Hongye, the Crane Elder stopped him. The Crane Elder looked at the sword and realized Song Chen's intentions, as well as Song Chen's slight feelings for this woman. Thus, Hongye survived, her purpose perhaps to be used as a bargaining chip in the future.

Hongye was imprisoned in the dungeon. After her soul was searched, she was already in a daze, and the cold dungeon made her practically a living dead. Fortunately, when Song Chen reappeared and became a core disciple of the Five Elements Sect, the crane demons took Hongye out of the dungeon and arranged for slaves to take good care of her, but it was too late.

After He Bai returned and revealed his identity as the new patriarch of the Crane Demon Clan, Hong Ye's treatment improved again. Now, every day someone takes her out to bask in the sun and feeds her delicacies. However, Hong Ye has become like a wooden doll, no longer reacting to the outside world.

Song Chen walked up to her, but she didn't react.

Song Chen spoke to her, but she still didn't respond.

No matter what you say, there is nothing.

The gazes cast by the surrounding slaves held a hidden hostility and hatred.

Song Chen suddenly turned his head and glanced at He Bai.
He Bai's soul was searched by his master, and now he looks only slightly better than Hong Ye.

Looking at the crane demons, both Elder Crane and the giant black crane that had previously served as their clan leader were dead, and they looked much more miserable than before.

He hesitated for a moment, then finally said, "Take good care of her."

Afterwards, he followed He Bai to the library.

He first asked about the origins of the ancient scrolls in Hebai's library.

The answer is: When the crane demons were cleaning the secret realm, they felt that although these scrolls were worn, they were very ancient, so they collected them and put them together. As for the secret realm before the cleaning, many treasures in this realm had obviously been looted long ago, leaving behind only worthless items.

Song Chen nodded.

Then they drove all the crane demons and rogue cultivators away from the library.

Here, even if he emptied the entire library, no one would dare to interfere.

So he moved.

He put the wooden bucket containing the scrolls at the end of the library into his storage bag. However, to be on the safer side, Song Chen took out the black jade slip containing the "Yellow Springs Scripture" again.

With a single thought, the Yellow Springs spring forth; with a single thought, the Ghost Realm appears.

At this moment, if any cranes were to enter the library, they would find that their patriarch had vanished.

Song Chen created another secret realm within the secret realm to prevent any accidents.

In the White Wraith Ghost Realm.
laugh.
Wow.
Song Chen pulled out a tattered scroll. He tried to unfold it slightly, and countless dust particles immediately rose up, making everything on the painting blurry.

He then took out the "Treasure Box of Time".

This box is slightly wider and longer than a regular sword box. Generally speaking, it can easily hold scrolls and swords, but it cannot hold long weapons such as large axes or corpses.

Song Chen placed the first tattered scroll inside and closed the [Treasure Box of Time]. Almost instantly, the lid of the [Treasure Box of Time] opened again, spitting out the scroll.

Song Chen hurriedly pulled him over and took a look.

Good heavens, the scroll is brand new, and the ink on it is even quite lustrous. The meaning it contains is profound and mysterious, and it is in no way inferior to the "Taibai Picture" he saw before.

The scene depicted in the painting is a mysterious long bridge spanning the starry sky, one end seemingly close at hand, the other end appearing as if in distant darkness. This seems to echo the "teleportation array"-like ability possessed by the mysterious temple of the goddess.

Song Chen continued to use the [Treasure Box of Time].

This treasure can be used at will; as long as the scroll is placed inside, it will be restored to its original state immediately.

Soon, he received eleven more drawings.

However, only three of these eleven paintings share a similar mystical feel with the previous "Mysterious Bridge Painting," while the rest are quite different. One of them is even similar to the "Bear Hunting Painting" that Song Chen saw in the cannon fodder camp. Judging from the style of the scroll, they are not from the same hand at all.

Song Chen speculated that if the "Niangniang Temple" was likened to an ancient tomb, some of the paintings might have been left by "tomb raiders who died there later. Because they were equally ancient and the crane demons could not distinguish them, they were collected and put together later."

Song Chen took out the four paintings, preparing to study them.

These four paintings are by no means inferior to the previous "Taibai Picture", and some even surpass it by many.

Although he couldn't distinguish them clearly, Song Chen could still roughly tell the difference between strong and weak by feeling.

On the first day, he gleaned a mysterious meaning from the first "mysterious bridge picture".

Ten threads make one line.

This line means "to move".

If you use this intention when fighting with others, some of their supernatural powers will be moved aside when they touch you. If there is a significant difference in their level of power, they may even be completely moved aside.

The next day, he gleaned a second meaning from the second "mysterious star map".

Still a frontline worker.

When he first comprehended the "Taibai Diagram," he probably used less than one-tenth of his wisdom.

The second interpretation is quite absurd; it refers to some kind of "starlight attraction."

Before transmigrating, Song Chen had no knowledge of celestial phenomena, and after transmigrating, he had even less knowledge of them, so he didn't know what kind of starlight he was drawing upon.

In short, it seems quite absurd, because his previous "shifting" technique was still within the scope of what he could use, but this "unknown starlight attraction" technique consumes an extremely large amount of energy.

Even if he just tries to use it, it seems to exhaust all his energy, and even then he can only unleash a very small amount of power.

However, the Niangniang Temple is already mysterious, and the [Treasure Box of Time] is even more mysterious. It's not surprising that the combination of the two gave birth to an outrageous treasure.

On the third day, he gleaned a third meaning from the third "Mysterious Embroidered Ball Picture".

This is a concept imbued with the mysterious power of "marriage".

Song Chen was certain that as long as he spoke with that intention, the person he was talking to would instantly fall in love with him.
However, he also seems to fall in love with the same person at the same time.

Of course, this kind of "love" does not last forever, but will dissipate on its own after the "willpower" is exhausted or the two people are separated for a period of time.

On the fourth day, he gleaned the fourth meaning from the last "mysterious flying bird painting".

This is a kind of meaning imbued with the mysterious power of "bird affinity".

As the name suggests, this feeling can make "birds" feel extremely close.

Bridge, starlight, hydrangea, birds
These four mysterious styles of painting originated from the same person, and seem to be a mysterious whole.

But Song Chen quickly and keenly realized that the whole was not complete.

Clearly, the person who painted these four paintings did not only paint them.

But not much is missing.

Suddenly, Song Chen thought of the tribulation-crossing secret technique, the Five Intentions Pagoda, recorded in the Yellow Springs Scripture.

The Five Intentions Pagoda is used to break through the "Three Tribulations of Foundation Building" – the "Tribulation of Illusion and Destruction of the Heart".

The essence of the text is as follows: The Heavenly Soul generates energy, and intention creates karma. Karma feeds the Earthly Soul and the Human Soul, thus giving form to the Divine Soul. Internally, a pagoda is forged from the five intentions, serving as the dwelling place for the Divine Soul, capable of warding off all kinds of illusory thoughts and evil.

(End of this chapter)