Just as dawn approached, the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter returned alone.
“Senior Sister, you did not catch him?”
The Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter replied softly, “An expert secretly obstructed me along the way, so I lost him. Young Master Xiao, are you injured?”
Xiao Chen shook his head and told the Holy Daughter everything he told Chu Xiang earlier.
“Who do you think that person is?” Xiao Chen asked at the end.
The Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter said helplessly, “I have no idea. However, we should have met this person before. He purposely hid the Martial Techniques he is familiar with. Otherwise, I would not have injured him so easily. I suspect he was one of the participants in the Wine King Contest on the tall platform. However, I have no idea which one.”
That person had a treasure that could isolate his aura. Furthermore, he intentionally hid his identity. Hence, it would be challenging to figure out who it was.
It was already tough for the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter to narrow it down to the eight other participants in the Wine King Contest.
As for who it was, Xiao Chen’s first guess would be the Glacial Mountain Manor’s Ye Han.
This person showed a strong desire for the Ethereal Immortal Palace’s key. He had even taken the initiative to seek out Xiao Chen for it.
Perhaps Xiao Chen’s vague response made Ye Han feel like it was impossible to trade for the Ethereal Immortal Palace’s key.
Therefore, Ye Han resorted to this means, taking the risk to come to the Heavenly Fragrance’s residence and snatch it away.
However, was Ye Han this strong?
Xiao Chen knew that the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter comprehended Heart Force. It would be very difficult to escape her.
Besides Ye Han, the Profound Heaven’s Wenren Yu, the Heavenly Slaughter Sect’s Wang Yun, Xiahou Wu, and Pei Shaoxuan were also worth suspecting.
“Young Master Xiao, do you have any guesses?”
Xiao Chen recovered his wits and said, “None. Actually, it does not matter. Even if we guess it, we cannot do anything without any evidence. As long as he does not give up, he will fall into my hands sooner or later. Holy Daughter, can you explain to me what kind of place the Ethereal Immortal Palace is and what the key is for?”
The Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter thought before asking, “How many grades of Soul Tools are you aware of?”
Xiao Chen knew the answer to this. He readily replied, “Soul Tools can be divided into three grades: Inferior, Medial, and Superior.”
An average Rank 6 sect would possess only Inferior Grade Soul Tools.
Sects and factions had to be at least Rank 7 to grasp Medial Grade Soul Tools. As for Superior Grade Soul Tools, only Holy Lands and the four dynasties had them.
Xiao Chen’s God Shadow Bow and Qiongqi Beast Ghost Pennant were both Medial Grade Soul Tools left by the Scarlet Blood Pirate King after careful selection. They were extremely precious and rare. Even among Medial Grade Soul Tools, they were top-class.
Xiao Chen did not dare to take out these two Soul Tools under normal circumstances lest word of them leaked and brought him great trouble.
“Wrong. There are four grades.” The Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter corrected Xiao Chen.
“Four grades?”
“Yes. Besides Inferior Grade, Medial Grade, and Superior Grade, there are also Transcendent Grade Soul Tools.”
Xiao Chen asked in confusion, “How is this related to the Ethereal Immortal Palace’s key?”
“Legend has it that the Ethereal Immortal Palace houses a Transcendent Grade Soul Tool. After the Heavenly Realm broke, Divine Tools ceased to exist in the Martial Epoch. Transcendent Grade Soul Tools are now the world’s strongest treasures. Whichever faction possesses one could immediately rise, becoming a Holy Land—possibly even surpassing a Holy Land.”
The Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter continued, “One hundred thousand years ago, the Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor used this Transcendent Grade Soul Tool to defeat and seal the unparalleled Black Dragon King, ending the war between the righteous factions and demonic factions.”
The Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor once wielded this Soul Tool?
Xiao Chen’s heart immediately skipped a beat. Then, he quickly searched the Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor’s vast memories for anything about Transcendent Grade Soul Tools.
The Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor’s memories were overly extensive. Without any crucial clues, Xiao Chen could search the memories for years without finding anything useful.
With the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter providing the keyword “Transcendent Grade Soul Tool,” the situation changed. Xiao Chen quickly found some useful memories. Then, he could not help asking, “Are you talking about the Wings of Time?”
“So, you know. That’s right. It is the Wings of Time. Back then, the Black Dragon King was unparalleled. He used the Annihilation Dragon Flame and burned down the World Tree. This resulted in the Heavenly Realm losing its source of energy, so it immediately crumbled. All the True Gods sustained severe injuries and weakened significantly. Practically no one was a match for him.”
Xiao Chen’s knowing this secret surprised the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter somewhat. However, this made sense to her when she recalled that Xiao Chen was from the Dragon Race.
After pausing for a moment, the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter continued, “Working together, the Righteous Dao factions gathered fragments of Divine Eternity Steles and forged the Wings of Time that can reverse time. This Soul Tool helped the Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor defeat the Black Dragon King and finally ended the war between righteous factions and demonic factions.”
Xiao Chen silently continued to search the Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor’s memories for any useful information about the Wings of Time.
He finally found some.
After the Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor sealed the Black Dragon King, there was no more need for the Wings of Time.
Due to the Wings of Time’s overwhelming strength, the various Holy Lands feared the Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor’s possession of it.
The Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor also understood this, so he handed over the Wings of Time.
Then, the various Holy Lands refined an Immortal sect Remnant to seal the Wings of Time.
This Immortal sect Remnant was the Ethereal Immortal Palace.
After that, there were no more memories. The Blood-Soaked Dragon Emperor had suffered irrecoverable damage from the epic battle with the Black Dragon King and passed away one hundred years later.
Xiao Chen looked at the Ethereal Immortal Palace’s key he held, which suddenly felt incredibly heavy. “Don’t tell me that this Ethereal Immortal Palace’s key is the key to unlock the Ethereal Immortal Palace?”
If that was the case, why did the Peach Blossom Sovereign Emperor give it away as a prize?
The Wings of Time is a Transcendent Grade Soul Tool. Why did he not open the Ethereal Immortal Palace himself?
The Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter smiled and said, “That is right. This is indeed a key to open the Ethereal Immortal Palace. However…”
“However, what?” Xiao Chen prompted.
“However, your key is useless. No one knows where the Ethereal Immortal Palace is now. Furthermore, you need to have a total of seven keys—some of which are lost. Most importantly, the inheritance key has not appeared for tens of thousands of years already.”
Xiao Chen felt somewhat flabbergasted. “In that case, isn’t my key worthless despite it being precious?”
“That is natural. Otherwise, why would the Peach Blossom Sovereign Emperor be willing to give away something so precious? However, it is not really useless. Did you notice the divine characters on it? If you use the divine characters to cultivate Soul Energy, you can accomplish more with less effort. It is very useful for you, a person who just advanced to Sovereign Personage.”
Divine characters could indeed help cultivate Soul Energy. Back then, Xiao Chen relied on reading divine characters to temper his will of soul to a Great Perfection Sovereign Personage’s level.
The Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter’s words reminded Xiao Chen of this.
What might be useless to the Peach Blossom Sovereign Emperor was quite useful to him.
However…
Xiao Chen entered deep thought before asking, “In that case, what was the purpose of that person in coming to my room to steal the key?”
At the mention of this, the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter’s expression turned somewhat grave. “I hope he only wanted to rely on the key to raise his Soul Energy.”
“If not?”
The Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter remained silent for a long time before sighing, “If not, there will be big trouble. A boundless calamity will sweep up the entire Martial Epoch. A Transcendent Grade Soul Tool like the Wings of Time should not appear in the world.”
Xiao Chen understood that the words of the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter were no exaggeration.
If someone opened the Ethereal Immortal Palace’s doors and the Wings of Time appeared in the world, the delicate balance between the righteous factions and demonic factions would immediately collapse.
The previous great war between the righteous factions and demonic factions destroyed the Heavenly Realm and inflicted extensive damage to the vitality of the Martial Epoch.
Who knew whether the Martial Epoch would continue existing if there was another great war between righteous factions and demonic factions?
Calling it a calamity would be no exaggeration.
The Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter added after some thought, “Don’t dwell on it too much. I don’t believe anyone can gather all seven keys. No one even knows what the inheritance key looks like. Like its name, the Ethereal Immortal Palace should continue being ethereal forever.”
Xiao Chen thought about it and agreed that this was just some groundless fear. It was just a person coming to steal the key, yet the two considered the possibility of a calamity for the Martial Epoch.
While the two spoke, the sky had turned bright without them realizing it.
When the rising blazing sun appeared, it shone a fiery light upon the Heavenly Fragrance’s residence.
Only the Desolate Sea had such a fiercely blazing rising sun.
“Your Highness Holy Daughter, Senior Cui is here. He brought a gift from the Peach Blossom Sovereign Emperor for Young Master Xiao.” A Heavenly Fragrance disciple came and reported at this moment.
Xiao Chen felt slightly surprised. He recalled the Peach Blossom Sovereign Emperor saying the previous day that everyone who participated in the Wine King Contest would receive an item from the Peach Blossom Sovereign Emperor’s treasury.
However, Xiao Chen did not expect to get one, as well.