I Am Overlord c1-962
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The angered Xiang Shaoyun couldn't even be bothered to show the palace master any respect anymore.
Yang Gaochuan blanked out before he called out, "Fine, fine. Kid, come back. We can talk it out."
Xiang Shaoyun pretended he didn't hear anything and continued leaving.
"Fine. Do you still want to advance quickly or not? If you are so capable, be sure to not come back," Yang Gaochuan grumbled then added, "I originally planned to open the Martial Palace to help you quickly increase your cultivation, but looks like you are not interested in that after all."
Yang Gaochuan was indeed an old fox. He successfully attracted Xiang Shaoyun's attention with those words.
"Palace master, what is that Martial Palace you speak of?" Xiang Shaoyun turned around and asked.
"Just leave. It's not like we are lacking in disciples," Yang Gaochuan said resentfully. He would have long ago slapped to death any other disciple showing such disrespect. Unfortunately, this kid here was the one he didn't dare touch.
"Come on, my dearest palace master. You are a wise leader, a brilliant and magnanimous leader who is always kind and fair. You are also young and powerful, tall and handsome..." Xiang Shaoyun started buttering up the palace master.
In fact, the praises were so much that they embarrassed the palace master himself.
Chapter 89: Martial Palace Inheritance
The Martial Palace was in fact a forbidden zone at the Martial Hall Palace. There, the inheritance intent of King Realm cultivators, also known as Skysoar Realm cultivators, could be found. Generally, only those at the peak Transformation Realm were allowed to enter and comprehend the inheritance intent. Yang Gaochuan was planning to make an exception for Xiang Shaoyun. From this, it was clear how highly he looked upon Xiang Shaoyun.
The so-called inheritance intent was the remnant of a King Realm cultivator's comprehension on the path of cultivation left behind upon death. In the Martial Palace, they were preserved and protected by magical formations so the people of the later generations could learn from them.
Different inheritance intent would bring about different results. Some would help a cultivator break through into a new realm, some would allow a cultivator to comprehend a powerful battle technique, some would allow a cultivator to comprehend the presence of a king, and so on.
Each person had a different comprehension skill, thus, the effect of an inheritance intent would also be different for everyone. Most of the time, only a very small number of people could actually fully comprehend the entirety of an inheritance intent.
After all, the intent was a remnant of the dead, and it no longer had a thought of its own. Actually capturing and comprehending it was not something a normal person could do. If it wasn't for Xiang Shaoyun’s remarkable talent, Yang Gaochuan wouldn't even consider letting him enter.
It was worth noting that each time the Martial Palace was opened, the inheritance intents within would become weaker. Thus, opening it for an unsuitable person was a very unfavorable thing to do.
Only if the corpses of the King Realm cultivators that had passed while meditating in a lotus position were in there would the inheritance intents be replenished naturally upon exhaustion.
Yang Gaochuan brought Xiang Shaoyun to the depths of the Martial Hall Palace. There, a crude stone palace could be seen on a mountain, and before the stone palace were two demonic beasts at the Great Demon rank, both standing guard before the palace.
When Yang Gaochuan and Xiang Shaoyun arrived, the two Great Demons opened their eyes. At that instant, a vicious aura appeared slightly before it vanished. Yang Gaochuan stole a glance at Xiang Shaoyun and found that Xiang Shaoyun was still perfectly calm, seemingly completely unaffected by the two guardian beasts.
This calmness alone was something very few disciple could compare with. Yang Gaochuan mused inwardly, This kid has a mysterious background. Perhaps he really is a young master from a declining large clan?
Rumble. Rumble.
The entrance of the stone palace opened by itself, leaking out a sort of profound sensation, carrying with it an incorporeal pressure that gave them a heavy feeling.
"Go in yourself. What you can gain from here will rely only on yourself," said Yang Gaochuan as he stopped at the entrance.
Xiang Shaoyun nodded at Yang Gaochuan before striding forward with his head held high. The inside of the stone palace looked gloomy. Faint whistling sounds were ringing in the air, as if there were spirits wailing and roaring here, giving off an extremely creepy feeling.
With a bright heart, one would fear no evil spirits! Xiang Shaoyun chanted inwardly to steady his mind before stepping into the main hall of the stone palace. There, he saw seven large coffins, and on each coffin, the name and the history of a King Realm cultivator were carved.
"Zhang Gongyue, first palace master of the Martial Hall Palace, fifth-stage Skysoar Realm, lived to the age of 374 years old."
"Luo He, first generation's first elder, third-stage Skysoar Realm, lived to the age of 259 years old."
"Feng Yusheng, second generation's palace master, fourth-stage Skysoar Realm, lived to the age of 350 years old."
...
Xiang Shaoyun browsed through all the histories and found that these seven Kings were mostly the predecessors of the Martial Hall Palace. What caught his attention the most was one particular coffin with "Unnamed" carved on it, and it was written that this unnamed person had reached peak Skysoar Realm.
The unnamed coffin was placed at the end of the hall, yet the strength of the unnamed person was the highest of them all. The reason for that arrangement was because this unnamed person wasn't actually a member of the Martial Hall Palace. For some unknown reason, his coffin was placed here after his death.
"Peak Skysoar Realm, well, this is decently strong, I suppose," Xiang Shaoyun muttered to himself. He wandered back and forth in the hall, trying to sense the inheritance intent of the Kings.
Xiang Shaoyun did not intend to bite off more than he could chew. Thus, he stopped in front of the coffin of the weakest King in the room. This was the coffin of a first-stage Skysoar Realm, and he was not as long lived as the others, as he only lived to about 100 years old. For a King, dying at that age was considered dying at a young age.
Xiang Shaoyun stood before the coffin. He bowed to it as a sign of respect, and he sat down in a lotus position on the praying mat before the coffin. He tossed all distracting thoughts out of his mind and shut his eyes. He then sensed the hazy intent on the coffin with his heart.
Nobody knew better than Xiang Shaoyun that the so-called King's intent was in fact an extremely weak strain of consciousness a King left behind upon death. Of course, inheritance intent left behind by experts above the King Realm would be much clearer and thicker.
Generally, it wouldn't be easy for a low-level cultivator to catch on to this weak strain of intent. If the cultivator did not know some special tricks for it, establishing a connection with the strain of intent was basically impossible.
Xiang Shaoyun was a well-read person who had studied many ancient texts. This could be considered one of the gains he had acquired during the 10 years he spent not cultivating. Because of that, he understood what he needed to do in order to establish a connection with the inheritance intent.
The lump of consciousness known as inheritance intent was in fact a weak collection of energy that had not fully dissipated upon the death of a cultivator, and this collection of energy would naturally disperse as time went on. Only extremely powerful intents would be able to last forever.
As for the intents here, even with the help of the Martial Hall Palace's formation, it was still very hard to preserve them for a long time. Xiang Shaoyun released a strain of his consciousness as he fully activated his gift of visualization. As of this moment, his mind was akin to a hazy empty space, and he needed to establish a connection between this hazy empty space and the space before the coffin.
To comprehend an inheritance intent, which was a form of con
sciousness, one had to use one's own consciousness to sense and understand before ultimately combining the two together. Shortly after, a strain of indistinct consciousness entered the hazy empty space in Xiang Shaoyun's mind.
"Ahhhh!"
Numerous wails containing endless sorrow echoed repeatedly in his mind, a sorrow that would cause a person to feel grief just from listening to the wails. This grief was comparable to the grief one felt when left by one's beloved. That sharp pain in one's heart, as if one's heart had been shattered, was something extremely hard to bear.
Xiang Shaoyun was infected by the sorrow—or perhaps he had once experienced the same—as he resonated with the strain of consciousness. Vaguely, he saw a sweet and happy couple. They cultivated together, went through difficulties together, grew together, and left their marks in numerous dangerous situations.
But ultimately, his beloved stabbed the cultivator in his back. The reason? His beloved was merely a chess piece sent to his side by his enemy. The cultivator then personally killed his beloved and transformed his grief into strength and directly broke through to the King Realm. He proceeded to kill all his enemies, and after doing so, he himself died from excessive sadness.
The entire scene quickly flitted across Xiang Shaoyun's mind. It moved so fast an ordinary person wouldn't even be able to notice it. But Xiang Shaoyun used his gift of visualization to capture the entire scene, enlarging it to finally understand the story being told by the strain of consciousness.
Even in his death, the King Realm cultivator still couldn't forget the betrayal of his beloved. He was certain his beloved had sincerely loved him, and if so, why had she decided to stab him in the back?
He eventually found out that his beloved had been forced, as she had been threatened with the lives of her family members. And from that realization, he created a king-grade sword technique named the Sword of Sorrow.
Chapter 90: You Dare to Not Reveal Yourself?
Sword of Sorrow!
This was a sword technique born of negative emotions consisting of grief, sorrow, and heartache. A slash of a sorrowful sword to create a fountain of tears and blood! Only one at the extremities of sorrow would be able to comprehend the essence of this sword technique.
Scenes of betrayals Xiang Shaoyun had personally experienced flitted through his mind one after another. The pain of being betrayed by his brothers and woman was deeply etched into his bones, and it was a feeling he would never forget his entire life.
As sorrow flooded Xiang Shaoyun's mind, the intent in the coffin turned clearer and clearer as strains of incorporeal energy converged into Xiang Shaoyun. Tears streamed down his eyes without stop. The tears flowed down uncontrollably, and he couldn't stop them even if he wanted to. These were the tears from the depths of his heart, tears originating from his truest emotion.
Abruptly, Xiang Shaoyun bit his own lip and stood up straight. He shouted, "Wallowing in grief and sorrow is only something the weak will do. I, Xiang Shaoyun, am a natural-born king. Even if the entire world betrays me, I will not shed a drop of a tear. F*ck off!"
As Xiang Shaoyun shouted, his kingly presence stirred, and an unyielding willpower surged out and blocked the consciousness of the dead King. He regained his clarity of mind, and his tears stopped flowing. Not a trace of sorrow could be found on his resolute face.
"All of you were mighty King Realm cultivators, but all of you were among the weakest of King Realm cultivators. I am a natural born king, the king of kings. Now, show me, what sort of legacy have you guys left behind." Xiang Shaoyun changed his mind and decided to no longer bother with slowly comprehending these intents. Instead, he unfurled his presence of a king, causing the aura around him to immediately change. He now looked like a child of the heavens, an imposing and overbearing king of kings.
As his kingly presence spread, the nine stars within his astral sea erupted as well. The astral energy from his stars converged in his astral cosmos sea, and at the same time, his purple lightning bone started shining brightly. His body dazzled, as if he was a humanoid river of stars.
He activated his gift of visualization as he wrapped his consciousness around all the coffins. It was unknown if it were these coffins that were sentient or if it were the inheritance intents that had sensed Xiang Shaoyun's kingly presence, but three lumps of consciousness proceeded to hover out of three different coffins.
The three coffins were respectively the coffins of Zhang Gongyue the first palace master, Feng Yushen the second palace master, and a second-stage Skysoar Realm cultivator.
The intent left behind by Zhang Gongyue constituted mainly of stubbornness, a stubbornness to pass on the Martial Hall Palace to the future generations. His entire life had been dedicated to growing the Martial Hall Palace, and because of that, this lump of consciousness contained selflessness, an inheritance intent filled with a desire to teach.
The lump of consciousness also contained the comprehension he had gained while breaking through into the King Realm. Any peak Transformation Realm cultivator would be able to easily enter the King Realm if they got their hands on this lump of consciousness.
Unfortunately, Xiang Shaoyun was still an Astral Realm cultivator. Thus, this particular inheritance intent wasn't too helpful for him. But it still helped further enrich his experience, which he could make use of during his eventual breakthrough.
The second lump of consciousness belonged to the second palace master, Feng Yusheng. This was a King Realm cultivator who had pursued the apex of speed, and the inheritance he left behind was a gust of wind. The gust of wind moved at a speed so fast it was nearly undetectable.
If it wasn't for Xiang Shaoyun's gift of visualization that allowed him to slow down, record, and reflect on these lumps of consciousness, he wouldn't have been able to notice this gust of wind.
The wind was shapeless, the wind was quick and violent, the wind was destructive, the wind was vast and boundless...numerous core theories of the power of wind could be found in the gust of wind.
As for the third lump of consciousness belonging to a second-stage King Realm cultivator, it was rather indistinct and much weaker than the others. But from this lump of consciousness, Xiang Shaoyun found the reason this cultivator had been able to step into the King Realm. It was because this cultivator had worked much harder than others, his achievement was all thanks to hard work.
He wasn't a particularly talented cultivator, and after numerous sufferings, he relied on his own hard work and advanced step by step until he eventually reached the King Realm. This was an inheritance intent filled with tenacity. Tenacity was something important for many people but doable for only a small number.
Xiang Shaoyun was able to fully capture all three of these inheritance intents. But of the three, the most helpful for Xiang Shaoyun was the gust of wind. The comprehension of wind would allow him to better understand the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps, allowing him to move even faster.
The tenacity also proved helpful, however, since it pointed a clear direction in his future path. A mediocre cultivator had been able to reach the King Realm through hard work alone. Xiang Shaoyun was a natural born king. Thus, instead of being lazy, he should learn from this cultivator so that he could reach an even higher height in his path of cultivation.
These two intents did not give Xiang Shaoyun an immediate boost in strength, but they helped him understand the direction he should be taking his cultivation. In fact, his actual gains were immeasurable. These intents were akin to a guiding light that could light up his path of cultivation.
"Not bad, not bad at all. In fact, if you had all been supplied with more resources, you guys could have reached an even higher height. It's a pity, really," Xiang Shaoyun lamented.
The owners of all three of the intents were decently talented people. The first palace master focused too much on teaching, resulting in a limited achievement in his own cultivation. But it was also his very same selfless heart that had helped him reach the King Realm.
The
second palace master was in fact a genius in cultivation, as he had slightly comprehended the essence of wind. If given the right opportunities, he would have been able to reach an even higher height. For some unknown reason, his cultivation had stopped at the fourth-stage King Realm.
As for the final King Realm cultivator, he had been shackled by his poor talent. Regardless of the amount of hard work he put into cultivating, the King Realm was his limit. It was also too bad that he was based in such a poor region where there were no sufficient resources to help him improve his physique.
Xiang Shaoyun sat on the praying mat in a lotus position and started meditating on the two latter intents, and after he made sure he had committed everything to mind, he walked toward the other direction.
Of the seven remaining coffins, four of them were reacting. The other three coffins were goners as their inheritance intents had dispersed along with the passage of time. Currently, Xiang Shaoyun was heading toward the unnamed coffin. He refused to believe that a peak King Realm expert would leave nothing behind. His coffin wouldn't be stored here if that were the case.
When Xiang Shaoyun arrived before the coffin, he rested one palm on the coffin as he berated, "You dare to not reveal yourself before this young master?"
As Xiang Shaoyun spoke, his kingly presence swept out and crushed down upon the coffin. He wanted to use a straightforward method to force the intent out. If even after doing this there was still nothing, it could only mean that nothing was left of this unnamed cultivator either. He sent his senses in, and when it almost seemed as if he wouldn't find anything, the purple bone in his body reacted.
Swish!
An incorporeal energy surged out of his purple bone and flowed through his arm toward the coffin. The purple energy shrouded the coffin, seemingly trying to enter the coffin. But since this coffin was reinforced by a formation, the purple energy couldn't enter no matter what.
Suddenly, a loud rumble rang out from within the coffin.