Chapter 1 The Three Flowers Gather on the Crown Divine Skill

【Name: Sanhua Juding Divine Skill】

【Skill Card Attribute: Passive skill, permanently learned】

【Skill Category: General】

【Effect: Increases survival value, stamina value, and spiritual energy recovery speed by 50%】

【Learning Conditions: None. This skill card cannot be traded after being picked up】

【Remarks: The human flower refines essence into qi; the earth flower refines qi into spirit; the heavenly flower refines spirit to return to emptiness. With the three flowers gathered on the crown, there is no fear, no resentment, no anger, no attachment, constant clarity and constant awakening. Those who achieve great success in this divine skill will shed their mortal shell and return to the void realm.】

Bei Ling, upon obtaining this item, saw that it was untradeable and promptly learned it. The manual in her hand transformed into white light once more and disappeared. A second later, it became a set of data in her menu.

The power and practicality of this skill were undeniable. It was believed that over 95% of players would not hesitate to allow it to occupy a spot in their twelve-slot skill bar. The remaining 5% were extreme cases, such as one or more players having a set of interconnected skill combinations in the later stages of the game, leaving them with no room for a passive skill.

Except for the aforementioned situation, this skill could basically be used by any player until they reached max level and beyond.

In addition, because the non-explicit attribute of "recovery speed" varies according to the player's level, specialization, and the upper limits of various stats, the 【Sanhua Juding Divine Skill】 also has no learning conditions set.

Bei Ling was very happy to obtain this skill. From the time she fell into the underground cave until now, she had finally gained something. It was not in vain that she and Xiao Tan had spent so much time and suffered so much hardship.

After browsing the skill description, she turned to look at Xiao Tan, thinking, *Your 【Heaven and Earth Reversal Divine Art】 shouldn't be too weak either. You must be overjoyed now.*

However, Xiao Tan's face wore a perplexed expression.

He wasn't the type to hide his emotions or act, so his expression already revealed a lot...

【Name: Heaven and Earth Reversal Divine Art】

【Skill Card Attribute: Active skill, permanently learned】

【Skill Category: Combat】

【Effect: Reverses heaven and earth, inverts yin and yang. (No cooldown time)】

【Consumption: 2% of maximum stamina value】

【Learning Conditions: Combat specialization B, Spiritual Arts specialization C, Level 30 or above. This skill card cannot be traded after being picked up】

【Remarks: Martial artists seek to improve their cultivation and mastery of techniques for offense and defense. This art takes a different approach, using profound Taoist methods to reverse the nature of the human body's interaction with the outside world, creating a unique and unparalleled divine skill.】

Xiao Tan neither understood what the skill's effect meant, nor met the learning conditions. He could only pout and temporarily store the skill card in his bag.

"What's wrong?" Bei Ling asked with an evil smile, "Could it be written on it, 'To practice this divine skill...'"

"To practice this divine skill, first reach level thirty," Xiao Tan replied.

"Oh, so you can't learn it," Bei Ling laughed.

"The three manuals have now been given away completely, and my days in this world are coming to an end," the stone said. "My master is still waiting for me in the upper realm. Farewell..."

"Wait!" Bei Ling quickly called out. "Can you answer a few more questions for us?"

"What? Do you want me to personally guide you in your kung fu?" the stone asked impatiently. "You mortals are really getting dumber with each generation. I don't even have hands or feet. Even if I were willing to teach you with words, what's the difference between that and you learning directly from the manuals? Are you illiterate?"

"We want to ask, who is your master? What are you? Why are you here? And why did you give the manuals to strangers like us?" Xiao Tan asked all the questions he could think of in one breath.

Bei Ling also added, "Also, if it's convenient, it would be best if you could also tell us how this underground cave was formed. Is the Cang Ling Town above really haunted? And what kind of person was the one who came to take the Tai Xu Wu Xiang Great Art?"

That stone, worthy of its constant "mortals" this and daring to call them "stupid," actually remembered every single one of the two players' series of questions after hearing them, and began to answer them in a very organized manner. "My master's name is Zuo Dao, known in the world as the 'Heretical Immortal'.

I don't know how many years ago... I can't calculate the time anymore. In any case, at that time, I was just a stone on the northern mountain of Cang Ling Town.

One year, the villagers killed a little girl named Ling Er. After her death, she transformed into a vengeful ghost and haunted the Cang Ling Temple. The entire mountain was terrified by her resentment, and I was also stained by her demonic aura, becoming a demonic stone.

Later, I became her subordinate, hunting villagers who entered the mountain, as well as the monks and Taoists they invited. This went on for many years. In Cang Ling Town, those murderers who killed Ling Er and their families had all died. None of the exorcists who came to the mountain survived. But Ling Er's resentment was still difficult to quell, and she continued her killing.

Until one day, my master passed through Cang Ling Town. After inquiring about the ins and outs of the matter from the villagers, he came to the mountain to investigate and met me. He took the bell that Ling Er used to tie me down and went to the Ling Zhong realm for a trip. In the end, he actually came back. He was the first person to see Ling Er's ghost alive and return.

My master said that Ling Er was no ordinary person, so the ghost she transformed into after being wronged was extremely powerful. Although the murderers of that year were all dead, the so-called sins of the ancestors affect future generations. Cang Ling Town was destined to die. No one can live in this village anymore, otherwise, no matter how many lives you have, it will not be enough to fill it.

The villagers and the officials all believed my master's words. So, under his arrangement, the entire village moved out, and the government sealed off the roads. The town was abandoned.

My master stayed in the town alone. He spent months using magical treasures and spells to go deep underground and open up several underground caves. This changed the town's root veins and feng shui, and renamed the place 'Cang Ling', hoping that this method could solve the calamity here over time.

After doing all this, my master left.

After many years, my master came to the town again and brought me down from the mountain. My master told me that he was a visitor from another world, traveling outside of reincarnation. Now in this world, he could not stay any longer and would soon ascend to the upper realm of immortals.

However, my master had collected many treasures over the years. It was useless to take them to the upper realm, and it was not safe to leave them in the world, so he hid these things in this underground cave and asked me to guard them.

In the days before his departure, my master transformed my spiritual intelligence and roots, and painstakingly taught me the methods of cultivation, allowing me to concentrate on cultivation in this cave. He also told me... external things can be given to those who are destined. Except for those three manuals, which cannot be given to the same person and must be personally supervised by me, other items can be taken by anyone who enters the cave."

The stone said all this in one breath, explaining it quite clearly. However, Xiao Tan and Bei Ling digested the information to different degrees, one with a dumbfounded expression and the other in deep thought.

The stone continued, "Now that my cultivation is complete and my master's instructions have been fulfilled, the opportunity has arrived. Don't delay my ascension." It paused for a moment. "As for the Tai Xu Wu Xiang Great Art, I gave it to a person named Lin Chang." Its eyes looked to the side. "But it wasn't given in this stone room. He entered through a different entrance than you and went to different places."

"Lin Chang?" Xiao Tan and Bei Ling repeated in unison.

"Yes, Lin Chang. Is that name strange?" the stone asked.

"When did you give him the manual?" Bei Ling asked immediately. "And... how did he get out? How big is this underground cave anyway?"

"That Lin Chang was much easier to deal with than you," the stone replied. "He found another stone room. At that time, I had just come out of the wall, and he was so scared that his face turned pale. As soon as I spoke to him, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed." The stone's tone seemed to find this a bit funny. "I asked him which one he wanted, but he didn't say anything, just kept begging for mercy, so I randomly gave him one. After he got the manual, he flipped through a few pages and laughed like a madman. After laughing for a while, he muttered to himself, 'I must get out'. Since he said so, I used magic to send him out."

"You can use magic to send people out?" Xiao Tan was overjoyed, thinking he had found a one-way teleportation method. "Then the two of us..."

"You can get out yourselves. I'm about to ascend. Performing the act of sending people away will cause delays." The stone actually said such an irresponsible thing, and immediately continued, "Alright, I've said everything you asked. There are several entrances and exits to the cave. As for the size... if you keep walking, it will take you at most a day and a night to go through it. Well... I'll take my leave first. We'll meet again if fate allows."

After saying this, the stone shrunk back into the wall. The cracks on the wall rippled again like waves, and returned to normal after a few seconds.

"Hey!" Xiao Tan shouted at the wall. "You've already said so much, would delaying a little longer kill you!"

Bei Ling ignored Xiao Tan, simply crossed her arms in front of her chest, lowered her head, and fell into deep thought.

"The Heretical Immortal he spoke of, is that the person who left the message at the entrance of the village..." Bei Ling muttered. "That Ling Er is undoubtedly the ghost in the main quest 【Enter the Ling Zhong realm, find Ling Er's soul】. According to this stone, this Ling Er is very strong, definitely a Boss-level existence. Could it be... the real Boss of this script is her? And the duel storyline is just a side quest, and the haunting is the real main quest?" Thinking of this, she opened the game menu and glanced at the quest log. Their side quest 【Find the Yin and Yang stone tablets, open the stone door】 had just been checked off. But the main quest was still there, which meant that Feng Bujue and Si Yu had not yet come into contact with that Ling Er.