Dao Companions Help Me Live Forever

Chapter 45: The Prince's Collection

Behind the underground passage was a wide and sturdy stone door, seamlessly fitting with its surroundings, without a single gap. It was commonly known as the Dragon-Breaking Stone.

Without knowing the mechanism and without a key, it would be impossible to push it open without the strength of tens of thousands of kilograms.

Facing the stone door, Yu Xian initially wanted to ask the princess if the Prince had left behind any keys or tokens.

But then he thought, he had just made advances towards the princess, and going to her now might make her feel like he was taking advantage of the situation, which would not be good.

He stopped in front of the stone door and pondered for a moment.

Yu Xian opened his mouth and a green light, about three inches long, appeared in front of him. It was his blood-refining artifact, the Jade Blood Sword.

The name didn't mean much; "jade" referred to the color, "blood" was indeed his blood, and "sword" described its shape. It was simple and crude.

As for any derived meanings like "jade blood masterpiece" or "gentleman's integrity," they were really overestimating him.

"Go!"

With a thought, the green light suddenly surged, like a drill bit piercing towards the stone door.

And unexpectedly, it was effortless.

It was as if a small knife was cutting through tofu, encountering almost no resistance.

The green light cut into the stone door, swiping left and right a few times, and created an opening big enough for a person to pass through.

Yu Xian glanced at the cut and found that the stone door was about a foot thick, completely solid.

It must have taken a lot of effort for the Prince to place it here. Even if a Grandmaster of the Qi Refining stage went all out, it would be difficult to break through even a little bit.

But in the face of his artifact, there was no resistance at all.

"The Dragon-Breaking Stone is impervious to water and fire, and is connected to the earth's veins. If I were still in the mid-stage of Qi Refining, I would have to go through some trouble to get in.

No wonder one can be considered a master once they reach the late stage of Qi Refining. With an artifact in hand, it's truly a qualitative change."

Yu Xian opened his spiritual sense and explored the secret room, but found no mechanisms or obstacles.

Obviously, in the designer's mind, whether there were mechanisms or not, it didn't matter as long as they could open the Dragon-Breaking Stone.

Snap!

A spark flashed, and the secret room lit up with a faint light.

Yu Xian took a breath and didn't feel the slightest bit of stuffiness. It was no different from the outside world, indicating that there must be ventilation ducts in the secret room, and it wasn't completely sealed.

The secret room was about a hundred square meters and had rows of bookshelves.

On the bookshelves were treasures worth a fortune in the outside world, as well as some valuable paintings and calligraphy that could be passed down through generations, all meticulously framed and hung up.

At this moment, a layer of dust covered the shelves, indicating that no one had cleaned them for some time.

Yu Xian glanced at them and didn't look any further.

Antiques in a prosperous era, gold in a chaotic era.

Now that the country of Yue was in a chaotic era, these things wouldn't fetch him much silver even if he took them, and they would take up space in his storage bag.

Next were some divine weapons, mostly knives and swords.

Clang!

Yu Xian drew out a sword with seven colored gemstones embedded in the scabbard. Half of the sword was exposed, emitting a cold light, and the blade seemed sharp enough to cut a hair.

"The sword is called Seven Stars, but it's just an ordinary sword."

Yu Xian pushed the sword back into its scabbard, then turned his wrist and casually slung the Seven Stars Sword behind his back.

"But it's good for disguising as a swordsman, flashy enough to match me."

Next were several silk boxes.

Yu Xian first scanned them with his spiritual sense to confirm that there were no mechanisms inside, to avoid any accidents. Even if it couldn't harm him, it might still cause some inconvenience.

He opened the silk boxes.

Inside were actually medicinal herbs!

Yu Xian had become quite knowledgeable about medicinal herbs after dealing with Doctor Huang for so long, and he had some discerning eyes when it came to identifying certain herbs.

"This ginseng has complete roots, resembling a human figure, and is filled with spiritual energy. It must be at least two hundred years old.

Even in the cultivation world, it would be considered a good spiritual medicine, worth at least several dozen spirit stones. I wonder where the Prince got it from.

Cough, Your Highness, I'll take care of your princess and your son. Consider this ginseng as my reward."

Yu Xian muttered to himself, and the next moment, the silk box was stored in his storage bag.

A ginseng that is over a hundred years old can be considered a spiritual medicine, and it is the limit for ordinary worldly herbs.

The most precious thing in the medicinal wine that Doctor Huang prepared for him was a hundred-year-old ginseng, and he only used the roots.

But there are exceptions to everything, and occasionally there are herbs that can grow beyond their age, but they are rare and hard to come by.

I didn't expect the Prince to have one here.

"Did Prince Fu really die? Otherwise, why would such precious medicinal materials be left behind?"

Yu Xian had always suspected that Prince Fu had faked his death and escaped.

But seeing the treasures in the secret room, he found it less convincing.

"That doesn't make sense. Perhaps Prince Fu felt that there was no safer place than here, so he chose to stay put instead of moving elsewhere."

Yu Xian's thoughts were spinning, but it didn't stop him from opening each and every brocade box.

Although the remaining medicinal materials were valuable, such as musk, deer antler, and polygonum multiflorum, they were all rich in medicinal fragrance and clearly not ordinary products.

But they were still at the level of the mortal world.

However, Yu Xian didn't mind and packed them all into his storage bag.

The medicinal materials here were all great for nourishing the body and could be used to make good wine. There were several main ingredients for Dr. Huang's Ten Complete Nourishing Wine.

In the corner, there were several secret manuals, also stored in brocade boxes and sprinkled with some kind of insect repellent. The books emitted a strange smell, somewhat similar to camphor pills.

"The Art of Tendon Separation and Bone Shifting," "The Great Stone Tablet Technique," "The Chaos Thunderclap Technique," "The Tai Chi Pushing Hands Technique"...

"The Flying Grass," "The Flying Swan Steps on Snow," "Crossing the River with a Reed," "Walking on Water," "Eight Steps to Catch the Cicada"...

"The Golden Body Technique," "The Bronze Statue Body," "The Pure Yang Child Body," "The Roar of the Tiger, the Song of the Dragon"...

"The Profound Female Scripture," "The Plain Female Scripture," "The Pengzu Scripture"...

At first, Yu Xian didn't pay much attention, thinking that these were just ordinary martial arts techniques, and even the so-called innate martial arts were not as exquisite as a random spiritual technique.

But it wasn't until he saw the bedroom arts collection that Prince Fu had collected.

"Learning knows no bounds, the sea of learning is boundless. It's worthy of being Prince Fu's collection. These paintings are truly exquisite. Hm, this posture seems quite powerful."

In any case, the secret manuals were not thick, so Yu Xian picked a few of each type, especially the bedroom arts. He didn't miss a single one and packed them all into his storage bag.

This was related to his path and couldn't be taken lightly.

After collecting the bedroom arts and the medicinal materials, Yu Xian felt that this trip was worthwhile.

But when he saw the last brocade box, he realized that he had been too happy too soon and there was still room for more happiness.

Inside the box were three jade slips, some white and some yellow, but all dull and lifeless, as if they had been casually polished with miscellaneous jade.

But Yu Xian could tell at a glance that these jade slips were the medium used in the cultivation world to record information.

All cultivators possessed spiritual consciousness.

Therefore, information was no longer solely confined to written form, and many precious pieces of information were stored using jade slips, which were much more convenient than paper or animal skin.

Yu Xian swallowed his saliva and picked up one of them, pressing it against his forehead.

"The Azure Sea Tide Technique, a low-grade superior cultivation method. After cultivation, the mana surges like a tide, surpassing others of the same level by thirty percent. It can be cultivated up to the Foundation Building realm."

Yu Xian roughly skimmed through the cultivation method and found that it was indeed much more advanced than his own low-grade inferior "Innate Qi Refining Art." The mana cultivated from it was not only deeper than that of cultivators of the same level, but it also enhanced the power of water-based spiritual techniques.

However, this cultivation method was only compatible with water-based techniques, so if he wanted to switch to another cultivation method in the future, he could only choose another water-based technique.

"This should be the cultivation method of the royal high priest in the palace. It's truly the royal heritage. They can casually produce a low-grade superior cultivation method.

It's a pity that it's not suitable for me. It would be great if there were cultivation methods related to gold and wood."

If this were an intermediate or higher-level cultivation method, even if it wasn't suitable, Yu Xian would not hesitate to switch.

But it was a low-grade superior method, and low-grade methods only had an advantage during the Qi Refining stage. Once they reached the Foundation Building stage, the advantage became extremely weak.

He was already at the ninth level of Qi Refining, and unless it was particularly suitable, it would be a loss to switch to a low-grade method.

He then picked up the second jade slip.

"The Complete Guide to Basic Water-based Spiritual Techniques: Water Arrow Technique, Water Shield Technique, Water Prison Technique, Water Wall Technique..."

"This is not bad. Although my mana is not compatible with water-based techniques, spiritual techniques are universal. At most, the power is not as strong as others.

And these techniques are very comprehensive, combining offense and defense. Now I don't have to rely solely on fireball techniques to conquer the world."

"And the last jade slip, I wonder what surprise it will bring me?"

"The Concealing Qi Technique, a first-level secret technique. It can conceal one's mana fluctuations, hide one's presence, and when cultivated to perfection, it can conceal one's cultivation level from the scrutiny of the Foundation Building realm's divine sense."

"This...!"

Yu Xian was stunned by the pleasant surprise.

This was simply a must-have technique for being sneaky. He had long desired it, and with this technique, he wouldn't have to worry about revealing his cultivation level in front of others.

After a while, Yu Xian finally calmed down from his excitement.

"Your Highness, you can rest assured and leave. I will take good care of the princess."

Otherwise, it would be a waste to receive so many gifts.

After leaving, Yu Xian called someone to come and move the other treasures in the secret room, packing them all and taking them away.

Since he was going to run away anyway, keeping these things would only benefit his enemies. It would be better to exchange them for some silver coins.