Myth Beyond Heaven

"What's your name, little friend?" Shen Ning asked kindly.

Yun Lintian bowed his head slightly and said. "Greetings, Senior. My name is Yun Lintian from the Northern Continent's Misty Cloud Sect."

"Misty Cloud Sect… Surname Yun… I see." A trace of nostalgia emerged in the depths of Shen Ning's cloudy eyes. Obviously, he knew the Misty Cloud Sect and the surname Yun.

"May I know if Senior is familiar with my sect?" Yun Lintian asked curiously. Perhaps this old man was another admirer of the Misty Cloud Sect's founder, Yun Wushuang.

"Yes and no," Shen Ning replied with a kind smile. "Similar to others, I once witnessed your sect founder's grace in the past. There's nothing more than that."

He looked at Yun Lintian for a while and said further. "You are similar to her. Are you perhaps her descendant?"

Yun Lintian shook his head slightly. "Unfortunately, I am not, Senior."

He paused briefly and took the Fruit of the Immortality out. "For some reason, I feel very familiar with you, Senior. Since we are fated to meet here, please accept this gift of mine."

When the Fruit of Immortality came out, the entire floor was filled with abundant vitality instantly, causing Shen Mingjun and Shen Ning to look at it in surprise.

"This is…?" Shen Mingjun had never seen such a thing before. In his eyes, the abundant vitality within this fruit could definitely extend one's lifespan for hundreds of years with no problem, and Yun Lintian actually wanted to give it away?

If Shen Mingjun knew that Yun Lintian had a thousand of them, his mind would definitely be blown away.

To everyone's surprise, Shen Ning calmed down and said with a smile. "You should keep it for yourself. This thing is not useful for me."

Yun Lintian quickly said. "Senior can take it at ease. I will have a long cooperation with your Shen Clan, and I want the Shen Clan to be at its peak. This is my selfish motive for giving you this."

Shen Ning still shook his head. "We will talk later when you come down."

He opened a drawer, took out a small rounded object with the word "Shen," and placed it on the table. "Take this. The things you want are on the sixth floor."

Shen Mingjun and Shen Liqiu were shocked when they saw this. Even though they had a high status in the clan, they had never been to the sixth floor before, as it was always regarded as a forbidden zone.

Only those who were granted permission by Shen Ning himself could go there. Throughout history, Shen Shanyuan was the only one who had ever been to the sixth floor beside Shen Ning and the clan founder.

Shen Ning looked at Shen Liqiu and said. "You can go too."

"Me?" Shen Liqiu was surprised. She subconsciously looked at her father, and the latter nodded his head gently.

"Since Uncle Ning allows you to go, you should go." Shen Mingjun encouraged.

Yun Lintian didn't know the significance of this move from Shen Ning. He put the fruit away and said. "Alright. I hope Senior will take it afterward."

He picked the token up and said to Shen Liqiu. "Let's go?"

Shen Liqiu came back to her sense and bowed to Shen Ning before leading Yun Lintian to the second floor.

Watching the two leaving, Shen Mingjun turned to look at Shen Ning and asked. "Uncle Ning?"

Shen Ning smiled and said. "The future belongs to young people. We, old people, should try our best to help them."

Shen Mingjun frowned deeply, trying to understand the meanings behind Shen Ning's words. Unfortunately, he couldn't understand a bit of it.

Seeing Shen Mingjun was at a loss, Shen Ning said further. "You will understand in a while."

Shen Mingjun could only nod his head and take his leave. "Then I'll leave first. I will come back again later."

"Go ahead." Shen Ning said and continued to look at the book in his hand.

***

Yun Lintian and Shen Liqiu walked all the way toward the sixth floor. Along the way, Yun Lintian could see a lot of profound art and various records from the lowest to the considered top secret ones. This made him wonder what kind of record was kept on the sixth floor.

"I asked my great-grandpa about the sixth and seventh floor, but he only smiled and told me I would see it myself one day. I didn't expect that it would be true today." Shen Liqiu said emotionally.

"You have no idea at all?" Yun Lintian asked.

Shen Liqiu shook her head. "Literally zero… Well, we will know it soon."

Soon, the two arrived at a bronze gate at the end of the stair toward the sixth floor.

When Yun Lintian saw a rounded slot in the gate, he immediately inserted the token into it and discovered it was perfectly fitted.

Creak…

Suddenly, the gate trembled and slowly opened, revealing an empty space behind it.

Yun Lintian and Shen Liqiu glanced at each other and stepped forward.

The moment the two walked in, the original empty room suddenly changed, transforming into an ancient room filled with countless books and strange objects. Some of them were ancient artifacts that Yun Lintian couldn't even evaluate their ranks.

At the end of the middle aisle, a small stone table could be seen, and there was a transparent crystal ball on top of it.

What confused Yun Lintian and Shen Liqiu the most was that a stair toward the seventh floor was nowhere to be seen. It was as if this was the top floor.

"These books…" Shen Liqiu looked at the books carefully, and her expression changed drastically. "How could it be possible!?"

Yun Lintian was attracted by her voice and glanced at the books on the shelves. His eyes were filled with shock as he discovered these books were actually records of the ancient era more than ten thousand years ago!

Although it was common knowledge that the Azure World existed for more than ten thousand years, most of the historical records were only traced back to the last five thousand years. Whatever happened before that had somehow been lost unknowingly, and everyone simply called it an ancient era.