Chapter 406: Chapter 405 Heavenly Palace, Endless Collection of Books

"To be specific, I can’t really explain it well."

Shi Miaoxue shook her head, speaking.

"No one has ever seen a real Sky Demon, the only known fact is they come from the Outer Realm."

As she spoke, she added.

"There were rumors that Sky Demons come from a dimension that is permanently parallel to the Big World and their ultimate goal is to invade the Big World. Whether the rumor is true or false is uncertain, but if true, without any countermeasures, they might soon succeed."

Upon hearing, Li Jing fell silent.

Rumors are interpretive.

You can’t easily believe them, nor can you completely deny them without knowing the specifics.

However, Li Jing didn’t worry about these rumors.

Even if the Sky Demon Great Method were really spread to the big world, there would inevitably be those who strayed, but they would always be a small number of people.

After all, he had already grasped the truth behind the Sky Demon Great Method.

The people of the present world aren’t foolish.

Without knowing the consequences, some might take risks.

Knowing the truth behind it, only those who have lost their minds would attempt it.

Moreover, Longyu isn’t the Da Xia.

Unable to control the power of the Sect, its voice is relatively limited.

As for the ultimate goal of the Sky Demon.

Li Jing thought it didn’t really matter.

Invade the present world?

Would they dare to enter the Big World while the entire present world let the Sky Demons run rampant without any defenses?

The limitations of the Big World aren’t to be taken lightly.

Crossing realms above the Seventh Realm would result in Heavenly Punishment for non-Big World creatures.

What Li Jing was thinking about at the moment was whether the so-called Outer Realm Sky Demons could be the ones often mentioned in the tales of mythology.

The concept of Sky Demon is actually well-known in the present world.

However, the concept of Sky Demons only exists in novels and tales of mythology.

There are many theories regarding it.

The most popular one is roughly that they are ancient yet immortal, formless oddities existing in the Outer Realm Sky.

Looking at it now.

The characteristics basically fit.

Outer Realm Sky.

Formless.

Thinking about it without any physical references to work with didn’t seem significant, so Li Jing took out a Dark Pearl casually.

"Is this Dark Pearl the nourishment that a cultivator of the Sky Demon Great Method ultimately becomes, as you mentioned?"

Seeing his question, Shi Miaoxue looked over unblinkingly.

"You’ve just entered the Heavenly Saint Land and you already know quite a bit."

As she spoke, she spoke indifferently.

"To be precise, the Dark Pearl is an inferior source of sustenance that the Sky Demons do not need. They place the Dark Pearls in the Heavenly Saint Land with the intention of using them to cultivate high-quality sustenance, thus forming a never-ending cycle."

Li Jing nodded without saying a word.

The situation in the Heavenly Saint Land is far from ordinary.

Just with the information he currently possessed, it could be fully confirmed that the entire Da Xia Dynasty had become a "pigsty" used to raise food for the Sky Demons many years ago.

After a moment of silence, Li Jing glanced towards the depths of the polar region, speaking.

"Is the reason Ghostly Evil Beasts keep appearing hidden deep within the polar region?"

"I do not know."

Shi Miaoxue responded, speaking.

"Before the Ghostly Evil Beasts appeared, no one had the ability to truly reach the deepest parts of the polar region. No one knows what is there. Some speculate that the deepest part of the polar region is the end of the world, while others speculate that it is the Abyss of Ruins."

After narrating, she fixed her gaze on Li Jing, speaking.

"You aren’t asking me if there is a way to save those who embark on the path of the Sky Demon?"

"Saving the world is not my responsibility, nor is it the responsibility of the Big World People."

Li Jing smiled lightly, speaking.

"Moreover, as you have said, the Da Xia is already rotten to the core. Even if there’s a way to save it, who can actually bring it back?"

As he spoke, he looked at Shi Miaoxue, tilting his head to speak.

"You know about the secret plan, you surely aren’t naive enough to want to rely on the strength of Big World People to save this world, are you?"

"I’ve lived for hundreds of years, a little naivety should be okay, shouldn’t it?"

Shi Miaoxue chuckled.

Li Jing let out a small laugh, and bowed respectfully.

"It’s been a pleasure, I shall leave."

Having said that, he flew away as if transformed into thunder, heading towards the eastern mainland. In mid-air, he entered the Little Universe with a thought.

Seeing his action, Shi Miaoxue was stunned.

One would not expect him to leave so abruptly and decisively.

He had actually left...

Could it be because she’s...?

Thinking about Li Jing’s insightful performance, Shi Miaoxue didn’t take it to heart, concluding that attempting to use him to leverage the power of the Big World was but a pipe dream.

Glancing towards the Da Xia’s location in the Eastern Continent, Shi Miaoxue sighed lightly, turning around to enter the Folded Space.

Following that, she emerged with a ghastly face.

Her eyes scanned left and right. Shi Miaoxue’s ferocious gaze seemed ready to devour someone, but at most was impotent rage.

"Chen Tang City’s Li Jing!"

Grinding her teeth, she spat out someone’s "alias" between clenched teeth. Eyes blazing, Shi Miaoxue took to the air, transforming into a streak of light that disappeared in a flash, heading straight for the Eastern Continent.

...

Meanwhile.

Inside the Little Universe, Li Jing, Liu Sisi, and Jiang Yini were meeting in a pavilion on Canglong Mountain.

Upon seeing him enter, both Liu Sisi and Jiang Yini let out a sigh of relief.

Looking at Li Jing, who was neither missing an arm, a leg, nor appearing to have just battled someone, Jiang Yini’s expression was peculiar.

"That woman didn’t give you any trouble?"

"Not this time, but I can’t guarantee the same for the next encounter."

Li Jing smiled.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yini gave a wry smile.

Liu Sisi on the side also shared a bitter smile.

Not just Li Jing, if they have another chance to meet that woman, they might also become her targets.

They could only wish not to meet that woman again...

"I got a lot of useful information from that woman, Yini, you need to know this."

Li Jing began.

As he spoke, he looked up at the second floor of the building.

Ya’er wasn’t with the two women.

He sensed that the little girl was up on the second floor.

Liu Sisi was always careful.

Seeing him looking towards the second floor, she considerately said,

"The little one is tired after all the commotion, and she’s now sleeping in a bedroom on the second floor that she tidied up."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing nodded and told everything he had learned from Shi Miaoxue in detail.

This brought a lot of information.

But Jiang Yini and Liu Sisi didn’t take much time to digest it all.

What the problem was with the Sky Demon Great Method, and where the Dark Pearl came from.

They were informed and had predicted these things beforehand.

The information Li Jing had gotten from Shi Miaoxue was mostly just confirmations of what they already knew.

The only thing that surprised them a bit was the fact that Shi Miaoxue and the mysterious National Master of the Da Xia, Shi Miaoying, were actually sisters by oath.

Having digested all this information, Liu Sisi turned her head to Jiang Yini and then looked at Li Jing.

"Husband, you found out some critical information. Should we change our plan a bit and send the information back first?"

Before Li Jing could respond, Jiang Yini said,

"There’s no need."

Rejecting the proposal, she continued to speak.

"Besides needing two full days to go back to Da Xia from the Arctic, we already spent two days coming here. Some things might have already happened by now and couldn’t be stopped. Going back now would basically be just delivering information, which isn’t very meaningful."

"And we actually don’t need to worry too much about this. Our Longyu is not Da Xia and cannot become Da Xia. Even if Shi Miaoying successfully lets the Sky Demon Great Method enter the present world, it won’t cause much wave. Heavenly Saint Land is located in the Northern God Country, and it’s not easy to spread things to Longyu. Our Longyu Research Institute and the Immortal Learning Research Association aren’t just for show either."

Having said these two things in a row, Jiang Yini looked at Li Jing.

"Rather than that, I’m more interested in knowing what’s going on with the golden and glorious palace at the foot of the mountain."

"Didn’t I tell you in advance?"

Li Jing shrugged and said,

"I found some interesting things in the layering space and collected them."

"..."

Jiang Yini’s lip twitched.

"..."

Liu Sisi held her forehead with her hand.

They had indeed started to suspect when they had first seen the palace after entering the little universe.

But now that Li Jing had confirmed it, they were genuinely hoping from the bottom of their hearts that they wouldn’t run into Shi Miaoxue again.

Turning the layering space into an unrecognizable mess didn’t exactly constitute a major issue.

At most, it was just a matter of face.

But Li Jing stealing someone else’s palace...

That might be a difficult thing to explain.

Especially when they met Shi Miaoxue, who claimed that the layered space was her master’s cave mansion...

However, since the incident had already occurred, they wouldn’t insist on Li Jing returning the palace now.

Sighing out heavily, Jiang Yini looked up.

"Shall we go inside and have a look right now?"

"Sure."

Li Jing nodded, saying,

"It seems like Shi Miaoxue’s master did a lot of research on the Sky Demon Great Method and appears to have a method to reverse it. Perhaps we can find some useful information in the remaining palace."

After that, he moved with a thought and instantly transferred himself and the two women onto the square in front of the palace at the foot of the mountain.

Upon entering the mini universe.

The palace’s internal restrictions naturally couldn’t stop Li Jing.

Standing on the palace square, the three of them looked up.

The golden plaque hanging on the main entrance of the palace came into sight, with the two characters "Sky Pavilion" engraved on it.

Such ostentatious self-promotion did have a certain appeal.

However, none of them paid it any mind.

Entering the palace, they immediately found that the inside of the Heavenly Palace was much bigger than it appeared from the outside.

Inside the whole palace, it was so spacious that it was astonishing.

Just the main hall they stepped into could accommodate more than a hundred thousand people at a glance.

Seeing this, Jiang Yini and Liu Sisi were utterly stunned.

How...

How was this possible?

After his initial surprise, Li Jing was prepared and said to the two women.

"When I found this palace, I discovered that there were hidden array restrictions even more superior than those in Shi Miaoying’s residence. Now it seems that these arrays are superior by more than a little. The inside of the palace is so spacious, I’m afraid it’s related to the arrays hidden here. As far as I can see, there is only one array restriction here, and the palace itself is not a refined artifact."

Hearing his words, Liu Sisi responded in surprise.

"Husband, you mean... the array hidden inside the palace has altered the interior space size of the palace?"

"Most likely, there’s no doubt about it."

Li Jing nodded,

"You really struck gold this time."

Jiang Yini gasped in awe, glancing around.

"Counting our current main hall, there are at least twenty hall spaces in the palace from the outside view. If every hall is as spacious as the main hall, then the internal space of this palace might not be much smaller than your Little Universe."

Li Jing originally hadn’t thought too much, just felt that this palace was impressive.

Only after Jiang Yini’s remark, did he react.

Damn it, seems like he truly stumbled upon a big treasure!

Without much thought, Li Jing mentally moved and teleported out on his own.

Soon, he had walked a full circle around the whole palace.

The entire palace had a total of twenty-two hall spaces.

The remaining hall spaces weren’t as spacious as the main hall, but not much smaller either.

Overall, the interior space of the palace was nearly equivalent to half of the Little Universe.

This...

Was flippin’ amazing!

Although his Little Universe wasn’t very large, the existence of this palace could effectively increase his available space.

He was initially worried that moving a mountain, a palace, and a forest region inside could create a space issue if he encountered more ’large objects’ in the future, but this problem no longer existed at this moment.

It was indeed necessary to set aside some time to study the principles of the formation.

It’s settled - tonight is the night!

Making up his mind, Li Jing teleported to the side of Liu Sisi and Jiang Yini and said.

"There are quite a lot of things in the palace, but most of them are just decoration. There is a large number of books in a hall space at the very end, let’s go there directly."

With that, he thought and took the two women to the deepest hall space.

When Liu Sisi and Jiang Yini were brought over, they lifted their eyes and saw that the hall space, which could accommodate tens of thousands of people and was comparable to a large sports stadium, was filled with bookshelves made of some kind of spiritual wood, each bookshelf was stuffed with scrolls.

There were bamboo slips, and also antiquated parchment books.

Paper books were the most numerous.

Seeing so many scrolls, the two women were astonished. Jiang Yini randomly picked a paper book and browsed through it, raising her eyebrows.

"This one is a cultivation method of Orthodox Immortality Path."

"Cultivation method?"

Li Jing was slightly stunned, went over to her side, had a look, and randomly picked a book himself.

What met his eyes was also a cultivation method.

Liu Sisi came over as well, similarly selecting a book from a bookshelf, and after looking through it, she looked up.

"Mine is also a cultivation method."

Hearing her, Li Jing slightly frowned and said.

"It seems that Master Shi Miaoxue is definitely not an ordinary person, at the very least not just an overqualified yet underpowered strong one in the central mainstream as she claimed to be."

With that, he glanced around.

"Unless I’m mistaken, this hall space should have gathered most of the cultivation methods that have been circulating in Da Xia’s Earth Realm, including related classics of Magic Skill System, Immortal Creation System and so on."

"Let’s just confirm it first."

Jiang Yini spoke out, placing the book in her hand back in its original position, and quickly walked towards another bookshelf nearby.

Seeing this, Li Jing exchanged a quick glance with Liu Sisi, and the two separated, each acting on their own.

...

The fact was exactly as Li Jing had guessed.

The books collected in this hall space were all related to the Orthodox Immortality Path.

There was a vast amount of cultivation methods, Magic Skill Systems, Immortal Creation Systems, formation systems, etc.

This place was essentially an Orthodox Immortality Path library.

Undoubtedly, the books here were Immortal Learning texts that used to circulate in Da Xia’s Earth Realm.

"Master Shi Miaoxue is truly extraordinary," Liu Sisi praised, holding an ancient parchment book, and said.

"He preserved the seeds that can put the whole Eastern Continent back on track. What a pity that he died in the hands of Shi Miaoying." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Saying this, she looked at a certain person not far away who was examining books.

Before she could speak, Li Jing smiled.

"If we ever meet Shi Miaoxue again in the future, and she doesn’t try to kill me instantly, I will return these books to her."

Liu Sisi gave a light smile and nodded.

Just about to speak, Jiang Yini came forth.

"Of course, we have to return them. But before that, we need to find a chance to meet up with people from the Research Institute, get the scanner from them, and scan these texts to bring them back to the present world."

With that, she said seriously.

"Just these texts alone make our journey to the Heavenly Saint Land worthwhile. I can even responsibly say that none of the benefits that Longyu has discovered in all the Secret Realms so far can compare to this palace."

Li Jing turned his head on hearing this.

"So, how much merit do these account for?"

"..."

Jiang Yini choked.

She was being serious and he brought up merits out of the blue.

Can they still have decent conversations?

Does talk of merits harm relationships?

The key was that she felt no matter how many merits she granted, it wouldn’t be appropriate.

At least a few million types of books were stored in this hall space!

All this learning knowledge from Da Xia can make a tremendous change in Longyu.

Speaking of Orthodox Immortality Path, the thousand-year-old Longyu couldn’t possibly compare to the vast Da Xia.

The key was all Longyu had was contemporary knowledge.

It wasn’t that Longyu didn’t have old, historical knowledge, it was just most of them, handed down from ancient ancestors, were controlled by powerful Sects.

Before the rise of Longyu, the shifts in dynastic changes were lightning quick.

The knowledge and documents left by ancient pioneers have either been lost in endless conflicts, or have been collected by those early opportunistic Sects, possessing the Secret Realm Space.

It’s not that easy to ask those Sects to give up these things peacefully.

Because these were their basis of existence.

It’s often the case that disciples of Sects are stronger than cultivators in the present world, not only because they isolate themselves from the world to cultivate in seclusion, but also because they have mastered many ancient traditions unknown to the outside world.

Of course.

Longyu has indeed made efforts.

Most of the forbidden skills in the Longyu Forbidden Skill Library were acquired from Sect forces.

Overall.

Such a vast number of classics in front of him can be called invaluable!

Seeing Jiang Yini standing there awkwardly, Li Jing smirked.

"Alright, how many merits to give is up to you, just show some goodwill at that time. Being from Longyu, I naturally hope for Longyu’s progress. However, this matter needs to proceed carefully, requiring meticulous examination."

Saying so, he continued.

"Earlier, I found numerous heritage secrets and even many Evil Way methods, these cannot be allowed to casually disseminate among the public."

Seeing him loosen up, Jiang Yini pouted and said.

"After we get out, I’ll put in a request for you. It isn’t up to me how much merit they will bestow, it depends on the decision of the higher-ups. Normally, they should grant you an exceptional merit that allows you to learn another forbidden skill."

"Forbidden skill?"

Li Jing tilted his head and laughed.

"Considering that there are so many books in this hall, do you think I would still crave forbidden skills?"

Jiang Yini, upon hearing that, paused, her face slightly changing.

"This place collects forbidden skills?"

"The several shelves I’m near are filled with them"

Li Jing shrugged.

"..."

Jiang Yini.

Swiftly walked over to Li Jing and randomly picked out a book to open.

Liu Sisi also followed over, picked out a book, and then gasped with surprise.

"Is this a forbidden skill? I can’t understand it at all!"

Li Jing grinned at the exclamation.

The threshold for learning Forbidden Skills is the Fifth Boundary, and it is for a reason.

This threshold isn’t set by Longyu, but without cultivating to the Fifth Boundary and gaining the corresponding cognition, even if you have the forbidden skill classics, it’s most likely you may not grasp the intended meaning in the text.

Liu Sisi’s reaction was a bit of being cute on purpose.

On the other hand.

Jiang Yini probed the book in her hands, unable to ascertain if it was a forbidden skill for a while.

She was of the Fifth Boundary, capable of understanding the intended meaning behind the lines of a forbidden skill text.

But because she could understand, she became uncertain.

Without personally trying it, who knew if it truly was a forbidden skill?

Liu Sisi was able to definitively confirm it because she couldn’t understand it.

Li Jing was able to confirm it because his status bar gave him an alert, explicitly telling him that it was a forbidden skill.

In reality.

All the way here, Li Jing’s status bar had never stopped showing notifications.

It kept asking if he wanted to learn.

Of course, Li Jing couldn’t just randomly learn.

The spells and forbidden skills documented in the classics here were numerous, but the problems were also obvious.

These classics only documented the corresponding maxims and general uses, without any experience of predecessors or key points for use.

It was unknown whether it would be good or bad after learning it.

Li Jing didn’t mind seeing and learning whatever came his way.

Just as long as he didn’t spend Skill Points, there was no loss in learning.

The problem was that without spending Skill Points, he had no way of knowing if it was good or bad.

Setting these aside.

Liu Sisi, who said she couldn’t understand it at all, asked Jiang Yini to confirm that the classic in her hands was a forbidden skill.

After carefully reading it over, she tucked the classic back into the bookshelf and turned to them.

"It might not be convenient for us to leave right now, I bet Shi Miaoxue is waiting outside. Even if we do leave, we also need a place to stay. Why don’t we spend the night inside the Little Universe, look around together, perhaps we may find some unexpected gains."

"Agreed."

Li Jing nodded, then looked at Liu Sisi pointing at a bookshelf far away.

"Sisi, you should go see that one. That shelf has a lot of books with special ice and water attribute inheritances."

Liu Sisi’s eyes brightened, nodding enthusiastically she quickened her pace and walked over.

Jiang Yini was staring at him in surprise.

"Not only are you capable of distinguishing forbidden skills, but you can also distinguish special inheritances? I can understand some explicit descriptions, but I’m completely uncertain about the ones with vague descriptions. How do you do it?"

"When you reach my stage, you’ll understand"

Li Jing responded mysteriously.

"..."

Jiang Yini twitched the corner of her mouth, gave him a rolled eye, and walked away.

Could have spoken properly, but someone had to play wise!

Can’t stand it.

HAD to give a rolled eye.

Getting an eyeroll, Li Jing silently praised his status bar.

Forbidden skills are explicitly suggested by the status bar.

For inheritances, the status bar hints also specifically display the inherited secret methods.

Watching the two girls go to select books, Li Jing wasn’t idle himself, spinning on his heel he walked deeper into the hall to look at other classics.

With the aid of the status bar, although he was not able to fully evaluate whether a spell was useful, he could effortlessly discern whether it’s a common spell, a forbidden skill, or a rumored secret method.

This needed to be carefully confirmed.

Previously, he had decided to ponder the way of the formations—he found some of those.

But so far, he hadn’t seen anything related to space.

Given that her mentor, Shi Miaoxue, had gathered this vast collection of classics to act as the seed for Da Xia’s "rebirth," she must have included what she learned. He needed to find it.

...