Chapter 137: The Great Secret of the Sentient Snake

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Xing took the token that Qin Haoxuan handed back to him. His playful expression vanished, replaced by a serious one. “Tsk tsk, you’re really lucky to get this token. If it weren’t for the existence of an expert like this seat, who is proficient in the language of the Flying Immortal Era, you’d never figure out how to use this thing in your entire life…”

Qin Haoxuan impatiently cleared his throat, cutting off Xing’s self-aggrandizing speech.

“This token is a great item. With it, you have permission to enter the Aqueous Manor for one to two days every month. If you can collect more of these tokens and combine them, you can enter more often and stay for longer.”

“You’re saying there’s more than one of these tokens?” A sharp glint flashed in Qin Haoxuan’s eyes. If that were the case, then others might be able to obtain them as well.

“Of course there’s more than one. But as for how many there are in total, I don’t know. The token doesn’t say.” Xing flipped it over and looked at it for a while before adding, “And it also says here that this token is a key to another treasure vault.”

“A key to another treasure vault?” Qin Haoxuan’s voice rose a few notches. It seemed this token was a truly amazing item. “Which treasure vault does it lead to? Where is it?”

Xing pouted. “That I don’t know. The token only says it’s a key to another treasure. It doesn’t say where the vault is, nor does it give a single specific detail… Don’t look at me with such suspicion! If you don’t believe me, look for yourself!” Xing said, looking slightly aggrieved in the face of Qin Haoxuan’s serious and questioning gaze.

“Alright, of course I believe you.” Qin Haoxuan sighed helplessly. Firstly, Xing had no reason to lie to him. Secondly, he couldn’t read the script himself. He had no choice but to trust him.

Qin Haoxuan took the token back and gently rubbed the various raised characters on its surface. “There are at least a hundred restrictions on this. Does this token count as a magical artifact?”

At this, Ye Yiming spoke up. “It is definitely a magical artifact,” he confirmed. “But for you, it isn’t one yet. It has over a hundred restrictions on it. You would have to undo all of them and then find the central control point to be able to use it. It’s not like your Thousand-Mile Mirror, which you can activate just by infusing it with spiritual energy. Right now, its greatest use for you is as a brick. If you encounter a powerful enemy and can’t dodge their attack, you can throw this out to block it for a moment. This token is made of the material of an artifact and has been tempered countless times; it is indestructible.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded thoughtfully. Just then, Xing immediately chimed in, “Have you forgotten about me? I can recognize these restrictions! If you give me a corresponding reward, I can help you undo all of them right now!”

Not just Qin Haoxuan, but even the usually calm Ye Yiming shot him a disdainful glare. Qin Haoxuan said, “Forget it. The last time you ‘broke’ a ward, you nearly blew us up. Every one of the hundred-plus restrictions on this is stronger than that one. I’m afraid you’d blow up the entire Aqueous Manor!”

Xing grinned widely and patted his chest. “Absolutely not! Trust me!”

Qin Haoxuan gave the shameless creature a scornful look. He would not dare to give this token to Xing to unlock. Putting aside his half-baked skills, he was also worried that if Xing did manage to unlock it, he might use it to attack him.

Since he now knew how useful the token was, Qin Haoxuan was still very happy to put it away in his robes, even if he couldn’t undo the restrictions. He then took out the Thousand-Mile Mirror again, preparing to see where they were and find a way out.

When he took out the mirror, Xing’s eyes went wide. These two cultivators were at the very bottom of the cultivation world, especially this Qin Haoxuan, whose First-Leaf cultivation was as weak as a Nether-Soul’s. Yet he always had all sorts of strange and wonderful things. Now, he even had a magical artifact like the Thousand-Mile Mirror.

Although the Thousand-Mile Mirror was a low-level support artifact, its value lay in the fact that its creation method had been lost for thousands of years.

Qin Haoxuan activated the mirror. After its surface flashed, it displayed their current location. They were in a desolate plaza, with nothing but barren wasteland for hundreds of li in every direction. There was no one else in sight.

He continued to infuse it with spiritual energy, trying to expand the search range. At that moment, the surface of the mirror began to flicker erratically.

“What’s happening?” Qin Haoxuan quickly stopped, thinking he had overloaded it. But then he thought, This artifact can be used by high-level cultivators. How could my meager spiritual energy possibly break it? He cast a questioning look at Ye Yiming.

Ye Yiming took the mirror and infused it with his own energy. After flickering a few more times, it returned to normal. “This mirror hasn’t been nourished with spiritual energy for a very long time,” he explained. “It’s on the verge of becoming scrap. If it isn’t nourished within two months, it will be completely useless.”

“How do you nourish it? By infusing it with spiritual power?”

“You use spirit stones to set up a Nourishing Array and then infuse it with their power,” Ye Yiming said. “However, I don’t know how to set up a Nourishing Array. We’ll have to ask your master when we get back. This mirror can still be used for another two months, but not frequently, or it will break down sooner.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded, his heart aching. This mirror was a wonderful tool.

Seeing his pained expression, Xing said, “Why ask your master? You can just ask me! I know how to set up a Nourishing Array!” He took the mirror from Qin Haoxuan’s hands and, after examining it, said, “Your senior brother is right. This mirror has about two months of life left. To extend its use, you must use one thousand low-grade spirit stones to set up a Nourishing Array. That will let you use it for another half a year. Two thousand stones will get you a full year.”

Hearing this, Qin Haoxuan’s breath caught in his throat. It was no wonder so few people owned magical artifacts. Never mind the cost to create one; just the maintenance alone was an astronomical sum for an ordinary cultivator.

Seeing the look on his face, Xing said, “You still have two months. There’s no rush. When you have the spirit stones, I’ll set up the array for you.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded, then changed the subject. “Since we have to reduce the mirror’s use, you can go and scout a thirty-li radius. See if there’s any danger, and try to find a way out of here.”

Xing rolled his large eye. “Didn’t the mirror just show that it’s barren for hundreds of li? What danger could there be?”

“I told you to go, so go,” Qin Haoxuan said, his face hardening.

Xing glanced helplessly at him, then at the Aqueous Manor Token in his hand, and immediately guessed his intention. He obviously wanted to hide the valuable token and didn’t want him to know how. “Alright, fine, I’ll go take a look around,” he said with resignation.

Qin Haoxuan held up the Thousand-Mile Mirror. “Remember, thirty li. This mirror can see your every move.”

This move dashed any hope Xing had of slacking off. He rolled his eye again, thinking to himself, Just a moment ago he was talking about reducing its use, and now he’s using it to spy on me.

Ye Yiming, seeing that Qin Haoxuan wanted to send Xing away, also made an excuse to go patrol, to avoid seeing any more of his junior brother’s secrets.

With a look of great reluctance, Xing shot off, disappearing from their sight in the blink of an eye. After confirming with the mirror that Xing was indeed moving away, Qin Haoxuan lay down on the ground, took out the small snake from his robes, and prepared to have it swallow the token.

The moment his consciousness entered the snake’s body, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Previously, when he entered the snake’s body, his was the only consciousness inside. But now, he could clearly feel another, extremely weak consciousness within the snake’s body. He could clearly sense that this was the snake’s own, original consciousness.

Qin Haoxuan was stunned. When he had first obtained the snake, he had thought it was a non-living object. But now, it had actually given birth to its own consciousness.

He cautiously tried to make contact with this weak consciousness. The snake’s spirit showed no hostility towards him. It did not resist his presence in its body at all; instead, it seemed to feel a great intimacy, allowing him to control its body freely.

To avoid harming this nascent spirit, Qin Haoxuan had the snake swallow the token and then quickly withdrew to his own body.

The small snake, which had shown no signs of life for years, slowly moved its eyes. It looked at Qin Haoxuan with great warmth. It slithered closer and coiled affectionately around his hand, neither fleeing nor attacking, as if it regarded him as its own family.

Although the snake’s body had not changed, Qin Haoxuan could clearly feel that it had grown. It was a strange sensation; it was as if the snake now had a spirit.

He then thought, My own spiritual sense has grown, and the snake has awakened its own spirit. I wonder if I can go even deeper into the Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley now. With the help of the Thousand-Mile Mirror, I might be able to find even more heavenly treasures.