He looked around. Only the faint blue crystals embedded within the walls illuminated the darkness, casting an ethereal glow across the underground chamber.
Mo Xuan returned to a meditative state, seated on the cold stone floor, allowing his breathing to gradually return to normal. The battle with the Blood Wolf had exhausted nearly every drop of his strength.
His arms ached. His ribs throbbed with every breath. Cuts and bruises covered his body. Yet despite his injuries, a smile slowly appeared on his face. He was alive. His first true battle had ended in victory.
After resting for nearly half an hour, Mo Xuan slowly pushed himself to his feet. A faint illumination rune appeared above his palm. "Glow Script."
Soft white light spread throughout the cavern. For the first time, he was able to properly examine his surroundings. He froze.
The walls of the cavern were completely covered in ancient carvings. They were not ordinary decorations.
Nor were they random scratches left by time. Every line… Every symbol… Every curve possessed an indescribable rhythm. Mo Xuan slowly approached.
His fingers stopped only inches from the nearest carving. "They're runes…"
"No…"
His breathing became heavier. "These are Living Script."
The inscriptions were ancient beyond imagination. Despite countless years having passed, not a single stroke had faded. Whoever had carved them possessed a mastery of runes that far exceeded anything Mo Xuan had ever studied in the Rune Archive.
His heartbeat quickened. "Grandmaster…"
"No…" "Perhaps even higher."
For someone capable of preserving Living Script for centuries, their understanding of the Dao of Runes must already have reached an unimaginable level.
Mo Xuan forced himself to look away.
If he continued studying them now, he feared his mind would grow numb from the attempt—this level of comprehension was still far beyond him. Instead, he committed a few of the simpler patterns to memory before turning his attention to the rest of the cavern.
The deeper his gaze travelled… The more astonished he became. The Spiritual Energy inside this place was astonishingly dense. Every breath he took filled his meridians with pure Spiritual Energy. It was several times richer than anywhere within the Mo Clan.
His eyes soon fell upon a clear underground pool. Its surface reflected the pale rune-light like fragments of a broken sky. The water was so pure that he could clearly see the smooth stones resting at its bottom.
Beside the pool…
A small tree quietly swayed despite the complete absence of wind. Its crimson fruits glowed faintly from within. Each fruit was no larger than a child's fist, yet every one emitted astonishing vitality.
Mo Xuan's pupils contracted. "This…"
He hurried toward it. "This is impossible."
He had seen an illustration of this spirit plant only once within an ancient medicinal compendium. Its description had occupied less than half a page. Yet he remembered every word.
Blood Essence Fruit. A Tier Three Spirit Fruit.
Capable of purifying Blood Qi. Strengthening one's marrow. Reinforcing the Soul Foundation. A treasure rarely seen even by major clans.
Before him… More than a dozen fruits hung from the branches. Enough to make countless cultivators kill for them.
Mo Xuan took several deep breaths to calm himself. "No rushing."
"Greed clouds judgment."
He carefully memorised the appearance of the tree before moving on. Only then did he notice another astonishing sight.
Books. Dozens of them.
Neatly arranged beside the pool. Not one was covered in dust. Not one showed signs of decay. It was as though someone had placed them there only yesterday.
Mo Xuan slowly knelt before the stack. His fingers gently brushed the cover of the first volume. The preservation formation surrounding the books was still active.
A Time-Stasis Script.
His heart skipped a beat. Whoever owned this cave… Had prepared everything with extraordinary care. Almost as though they had been waiting for someone to arrive.
Mo Xuan slowly reached for the nearest book. His movements were careful, almost reverent. The preservation formation surrounding the stack shimmered faintly as his fingers passed through it before becoming still once more.
Lifting the ancient volume, he was surprised by how light it felt. The cover was fashioned from an unfamiliar black material that resembled neither leather nor wood. Despite the countless years that had passed, it remained completely unblemished.
He gently opened the first page. His excitement lasted only a heartbeat. Then his brows furrowed. The characters were unlike anything he had ever studied. They were neither the Common Script used throughout the Central Plains nor the Living Script he had painstakingly learned in the Rune Archive.
Each character seemed alive. Every stroke flowed into the next with impossible elegance. Merely looking at them gave him the illusion that the words were slowly changing. Mo Xuan instinctively released his Spiritual Sense.
The result was the same. "I can't read it…"
He slowly turned another page. Still nothing. Another page. Nothing. His disappointment was evident. "So much knowledge…"
"…yet it's completely beyond me." He sighed. "Ancient Script."
"No…"
He narrowed his eyes. "Perhaps a Heavenly Script variant from before the Great Bang." If that were true, it explained everything. Such a language had disappeared long before the current era. Even the greatest scholars of the Mo Clan had never mentioned seeing it.
Mo Xuan refused to give up immediately.
Knowledge lost to time could not simply be discarded. He carefully examined every page. The illustrations. The spacing. The arrangement of symbols. Although he could not understand the language, he hoped to uncover some hidden clue.
As he turned another page… Something slipped free.
*Clink.*
A metallic object struck the stone floor. Mo Xuan looked down. "A ring?"
He bent over and picked it up. The ring was forged from deep silver metal engraved with tiny spatial runes around its outer edge. Despite lying hidden inside a book for countless years, it remained flawless.
His heartbeat quickened. "No way…" He had only seen such objects from a distance before.
Only clan elders and powerful cultivators possessed them. A Storage Ring.
A true Spatial Artefact.
One capable of storing treasures within a pocket of independent space.
His breathing gradually became heavier. If this really belonged to the owner of the cave… Then whatever remained inside… Would likely be extraordinary. He remembered reading how such artefacts were claimed. A blood sacrifice.
Followed by a Soul Imprint.
Without hesitation, he bit the tip of his finger. A crimson drop of Essence Blood slowly gathered.
Mo Xuan hesitated for only a moment. Essence Blood was precious. But opportunities like this came only once in a lifetime. He allowed the drop to fall onto the ring.
The instant the blood touched its surface—
It disappeared.
Consumed.
The entire ring flashed with brilliant silver light. A gentle connection suddenly formed between the artefact and his Sea of Consciousness. Mo Xuan instinctively released his Spiritual Sense. His consciousness entered the ring.
The next instant…
His eyes widened in utter disbelief. The space inside was enormous. Far larger than anything he had imagined possible. Rows of jade bottles rested neatly upon carved shelves.
Spirit Stones glittered beneath the silver light. Some weapons stood arranged in perfect order. Materials used for forging and alchemy. Ancient scrolls. Everything had been organised meticulously.
For several long breaths, Mo Xuan stood there in stunned silence. Then he let out a quiet laugh.
"Heaven…" he murmured. "…really hasn't abandoned me after all."
His Spiritual Sense lingered inside the Storage Ring as he slowly surveyed the seemingly endless space before him. Even after several more breaths, he still found it difficult to believe what he was seeing.
"This…" he whispered. "…is an entire lifetime of accumulation."
Based on everything he could see, all of it organised with astonishing precision, he suspected this single ring might rival the entire accumulated wealth of the Mo Clan.
Several batches of medicinal pills occupied one section, but what truly lit up his eyes were the sword manuals. Ever since resolving the mystery of his Cosmic Soul, he had been quietly teaching himself swordplay. The moment he spotted the manuals, everything else was forgotten. He could understand only a handful of them, but even that was enough to lift his spirits.
Mo Xuan carefully picked up the nearest volume. It was titled *The Fundamentals of Swordsmanship*. He opened the first page. Unlike the ones written in the ancient language, this one was written in a language he understood—one he had learned since childhood, as fluency in it was compulsory for every member of the Mo Clan, given their dealings with merchants and clans from many different regions.
He quickly sat cross-legged on the floor and began turning the pages. The book did not teach profound sword techniques. Instead, it explained the foundation of wielding a sword. The more he read… The brighter his eyes became. "So that's why…" He finally understood. His battle with the Blood Wolf replayed itself in his mind. Several mistakes that he had believed were unavoidable suddenly became obvious.
Minutes passed before he finally exhaled and rose to his feet. He quickly pulled out the remaining cultivation manuals and skimmed through them, but his expression fell. The rest were written in the same foreign script he could not read.
Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself. The battle with the Blood Wolf had taught him an important lesson. Never assume a place is safe simply because it appears quiet.
With cautious steps, he began walking toward the ancient passage, unaware that the greatest secret hidden beneath the mountain did not lie within the Storage Ring…
It awaited him deeper inside the cave.