Chapter 8: The Qing Shan Inheritance
Riding a small donkey that perfectly matched her stature, Yan Tangtang departed from the small town. Before leaving, she had made sure to purchase a stash of fruit to keep the little beast content.
As she navigated toward the southeast, her heart was a messy tangle of excitement and trepidation. Even in her past life, she had never ventured into the wilderness alone. Now, she was trekking through a world teeming with unknown perils, inhabitng the body of a child, and fumbling her way toward an uncertain destination. A wave of indignation washed over her. In the transmigration novels she used to read, didn't the protagonists usually just strive for a stable life? For her, not only was there no "Golden Finger" cheat, but the world was already occupied by a predetermined female lead.
Wait—no. It wasn't entirely accurate to say she was without a Golden Finger. According to the original plot, the female lead of this world had transmigrated into the cultivation realm from elsewhere, meaning she wouldn't possess innate knowledge of this world's secrets. Yan Tangtang, however, held the blueprints to the future.
Most importantly, she knew the female lead's trajectory. Whether this foreknowledge was a blessing or a curse remained to be seen, but Yan Tangtang was determined to avoid that woman at all costs.
Fortunately, it was still very early in the timeline. The pivotal chapters of the novel wouldn't begin until the female lead reached adulthood; currently, the story was merely focused on her childhood years, detailing the profound bonds of affection growing between her and the Chi family.
Yan Tangtang retraced the plot in her mind, scouring her memories for useful data.
The novel never explicitly stated what specific items were needed to break the seals on the original Yan Tangtang's potential. Therefore, if her primary goal was to shatter those barriers, her first mission was to find items powerful enough to do the job.
Among the information she possessed, several details stood out as potential goldmines: the birthplaces of legendary artifacts, the hidden forest glades where rare spirit herbs grew, the exact timing of treasure manifestations, and the opening of secret realms years down the line. She even knew of secret crushes, impending assassinations, and which sects would clash or form alliances in the future.
Of course, many of these treasures and sects were tied to major characters or the female lead herself.
Despite knowing all this, Yan Tangtang wasn't thick-skinned enough to go around snatching things clearly destined for others. Instead, she began mental bookkeeping on treasures that had gone unclaimed by anyone in the original story. However, knowing what they were was one thing; knowing how to get to them was another. She lacked both spiritual energy and physical strength. She was a mere mortal who hadn't even begun her cultivation journey. These high-level artifacts were not easily taken. Forget searching for them; currently, she found it difficult enough just to move about in the mortal realm.
One by one, Yan Tangtang mentally crossed items off her list until her focus landed on the final entry.
[The Qing Shan Inheritance]
"That's it!" Yan Tangtang exclaimed, accidentally patting the little donkey's head in her excitement.
The Qing Shan Inheritance consisted of the lost treasures of the long-defunct Qing Shan Sect. This particular plot thread wouldn't even surface until halfway through the novel.
As the lore went, two great sects of antiquity had once torn each other apart in an irreconcilable blood feud. Both suffered catastrophic losses, but one was utterly annihilated: the Qing Shan Sect.
While their assets were largely plundered by the rival sect, legend said a single Nascent Soul Elder had managed to fight his way out. He escaped with a portion of the sect's core heritage, leading his pursuers on a desperate chase until he vanished into the White Mist Forest.
When the Elder eventually re-emerged from the woods, the rival sect ambushed him. Rather than face capture, he chose to self-detonate, taking his secrets to the grave.
Because he died without being captured, the trail to the inheritance went cold. No one knew if he had hidden the treasures deep within the White Mist Forest or elsewhere. However, the rival sect refused to give up, doggedly hunting for clues for centuries. That persistent rival was none other than the Zhuo Shui Sect—the very sect the female lead belonged to.
Though the ancient war had crippled the Zhuo Shui Sect, they had spent two thousand years recovering and were now once again among the top-tier powers of the current era. The female lead had entered the Zhuo Shui Sect with great prestige as a once-in-a-century genius.
In the novel, it was revealed two millennia later that the inheritance was indeed hidden within the White Mist Forest, and its location was finally pinpointed. The Zhuo Shui Sect had intended to monopolize the find, but the news leaked, sending shockwaves through the entire cultivation world.
While it was referred to as "portions" of an inheritance, one had to remember that the Qing Shan Sect had once been a titan. Back then, they stood on equal footing with the Zhuo Shui Sect. Though the Zhuo Shui Sect had survived, the loss of their heritage and generations of decline meant they had never quite returned to their former glory. They hoped that by devouring the Qing Shan Inheritance, they could reclaim their ancient status.
The novel described the hoard in detail: secret cultivation techniques, priceless magical treasures, artifacts, pill formulas lost to the current era, rare spirit herbs, and a mountain of cultivation resources. The weapons alone ranged from the Golden Core level to the Immortal grade.
Naturally, the leak led to intense friction between the great sects. Ultimately, the Zhuo Shui Sect was forced to back down and cooperate with the others.
The agreement was that each sect would send only their Golden Core cultivators into the White Mist Forest. Even then, the Zhuo Shui Sect held the upper hand; only they possessed the approximate coordinates of the hoard. At that point in the story, the female lead was also at the Golden Core stage and entered the forest. However, her interest wasn't in the treasures—she was preoccupied with "shipping" talented boys from various sects with one another. The novel noted that she managed to "couple" three BL pairs right inside the mist.
But there was a catch.
The White Mist Forest was exactly as its name implied—a vast expanse choked with white fog. No matter how high one's cultivation level, the mist could not be cleared. Once inside, visibility was reduced to a few measly steps. This was exactly why the inheritance had remained lost for so long.
The Zhuo Shui Sect disciples had wanted to use their specialized knowledge to go it alone, but the female lead, wanting to continue her match-making, insisted everyone travel together. In the end, they found the Inheritance Palace as a group.
Inevitably, a violent struggle for the treasures broke out.
What they didn't know, however, was that the Inheritance Palace had a strict prohibition against combat.
If you fight within the palace, the inheritance will be destroyed.
The resulting explosion of the palace killed more than half the cultivators present. Even the female lead was said to have been severely injured.
Yan Tangtang clicked her tongue in annoyance. That woman was truly a hardcore fujoshi; she was willing to sacrifice a legendary inheritance just for her "sons."
Suddenly, Yan Tangtang's brows knit together as a new thought struck her.
Wait a minute. The palace exploded and everyone left empty-handed. Looking at the big picture, wasn't that entirely the female lead's fault? It was because she shared her sect's advantage with everyone that the infighting occurred inside the palace.
If the inheritance was the two-thousand-year hope of the Zhuo Shui Sect, why didn't the female lead get into trouble for the disaster? According to the novel, she remained the sect's pampered darling even after the incident.
Yan Tangtang suddenly felt the logic of the world was skewed. Was this simply the "Plot Armor" of being the Heaven's Chosen Daughter?
Regardless, that wasn't her concern. Her concern was the Inheritance Palace itself. Since no one in the original story had successfully claimed the treasures, she considered them "ownerless." Taking them wouldn't weigh on her conscience.
Furthermore, she remembered a specific detail: while the palace forbade combat, it didn't forbid mortals. The novel had mentioned:
"The items within the Inheritance Palace were so accessible that even a mortal could have picked them up, yet..."
Yet... the female lead and her group had made a fatal error. They engaged in the one thing the palace prohibited—violence—effectively pulling the pin on a metaphorical grenade.
Yan Tangtang allowed herself a small smile, feeling as if the Qing Shan Inheritance was practically waiting for her. As she smiled, her deep blue eyes sparkled like silver dust scattered over the ocean.
Just then—
"Hey... look ahead! I think I see a little black steamed bun riding a donkey! Hahaha!"
The voice startled Yan Tangtang. She looked toward the sound and saw four teenagers riding toward her on horseback.
There were three boys and one girl. As they drew closer, she felt a distinct aura...
Wait!
Cultivators?!