206: Chapter 206 The Old Man and the Hall of Soul Lamps

The Soul Lamp Hall's design was simple; compared to the grand halls within the academy, it even appeared somewhat plain.

The entire hall was a three-story stone tower, constructed entirely from rare Soul Jade mined from the depths of the Tianyang Mountain Range.

This jade was rare in the world; after a hundred years of mining in the Tianyang Mountain Range, the obtained stone was barely enough to build this single stone tower.

The tower body was sealed with no windows, featuring only a single heavy stone door, its surface carved with dense, archaic runes.

Every few breaths, the runes would light up with a faint blue glow, alternating between bright and dark, as if a living creature were breathing.

It exuded a sense of mystery and strangeness.

Pushing open the stone door, the light inside the hall was dim, with only the night-luminescent pearls embedded in the four walls casting a soft white glow.

There were no idols or spirit tablets in the hall; rows upon rows of Soul Jade shelves stood neatly, reaching from the ground to the top of the tower.

On the jade shelves, palm-sized jade tablets were neatly arranged.

On the surface of each jade tablet, a Disciple's name was engraved.

Below the name condensed a drop of dark red blood, dried by the passage of time yet unchanged in color.

This was the life essence blood fused by the Disciple using a unique secret technique when they entered the Inner Sect.

If the jade tablet was intact, the person was alive; if the jade tablet shattered, the Disciple had fallen.

This was the supreme method left behind by the Tianyang King.

Using rare Soul Jade as a carrier, life essence blood as a tether, and supplementing it with heaven-defying Soul secret techniques.

Every Disciple's life and safety were firmly bound to Tianyang Academy.

The other three major Sects did not possess such capability, whether it was the Luoxue Sect, the Qingfeng Sword Sect, or the Lieyang Martial Gate.

None had been able to reach such a profound Domain involving the Soul Origin.

It was rumored that the previous King of the Tianyang Kingdom had already reached the Peak of the Early Stage of the Martial King Realm.

Looking across the entire Tianyang Kingdom, only a few reclusive old monsters within the Imperial Palace could stand on equal footing with him.

The Divine Ability of a Martial King powerhouse was naturally not something an ordinary Martial Artist could fathom.

For hundreds of years, many enemies had secretly intercepted and killed Academy Disciples, thinking their actions were secretive and flawless.

Little did they know that the moment they struck, the corresponding jade tablet in the Soul Lamp Hall would shatter in response.

Academy Elders, relying on the timing of the jade tablet's destruction and the Disciple's last known whereabouts.

Combined with secret techniques to track the residual Qi, they could lock onto the true culprit nine times out of ten.

Precisely because of this, when Tianyang Academy Disciples traveled outside, very few dared to easily provoke them.

Once a lethal blow was struck, it meant openly becoming an enemy of the entire Tianyang Academy.

It was also a complete break with the Tianyang Imperial Family, the consequences of which no one could bear.

...

The one guarding the Soul Lamp Hall was an aged old man.

No one knew his name, and no one could say for sure how many years he had lived.

When the Elder with the highest seniority in the Academy today was still a mere child, this old man was already stationed here.

Decades of time flowed by, and the people and events around him changed several times, yet his appearance had never changed in the slightest.

The old man wore a gray cloth robe washed until it turned white all year round, with an old wine gourd hanging at his waist.

His hair was completely gray, and his face was crisscrossed with deep wrinkles, as if carved by knives and chisels.

In his daily life, he always sat on a worn-out rattan chair at the entrance of the hall, half-closing his eyes to bask in the warm sun, taking a sip from his wine gourd from time to time.

He looked no different from an ordinary old gatekeeper.

Yet, when the Academy Dean passed by, he would always take the initiative to stop and respectfully salute him.

And the old man would never even lift his eyelids, never returning the salute.

In the vast Tianyang Academy, he was the only one who could make the Dean bow in salute and accept it with peace of mind.

Rumors spread in the streets, with some saying he was the personal guard who followed the previous King of the Tianyang Kingdom in his campaigns.

He had once stepped into the Martial King Realm, but later suffered heavy injuries in a great battle, damaging his Foundation, and his Realm fell.

The previous King, mindful of his unparalleled loyalty and lifelong service.

Specifically issued an imperial decree for him to guard the Soul Lamp Hall, to live in peace and spend his remaining years in comfort.

Others speculated that he had learned the Imperial Family's top-tier secret technique for preserving youth and extending Lifespan, which was how he could maintain his appearance and have a long Lifespan for decades.

Rumors were ultimately just rumors; the truth had long been drowned in the passage of time.

Everyone only remembered one thing: this seemingly ordinary old gatekeeper must never be provoked.

This morning, the sky was mild, and the warmth was gentle.

The old man was still leaning on the rattan chair, half-closing his eyes, his fingers idly tapping on his knees.

Inside the hall, rows of jade tablets were placed quietly, the runes' faint light alternating in an orderly manner, and the entire Soul Lamp Hall was peaceful and harmonious.

Suddenly, a subtle, crisp sound came from inside the hall.

The fingertips tapping on his knees paused slightly, then returned to normal.

He was long accustomed to such cracking sounds.

The Academy had thousands of Disciples, and every year, not a few fell outside.

Either losing their lives in the mouths of Yao Beasts, or accidentally entering a Secret Realm and falling into danger, or unfortunately dying in Sect conflicts.

As long as it was not a core figure with a special status, the mere shattering of a few jade tablets could not attract his attention at all.

But the next moment, a second, third, and fourth crisp sound rang out in succession.

Within just a few breaths, a total of four jade tablets shattered one after another.

The old man finally stopped his movements, slowly straightened his body, stretched lazily, and turned to push open the stone door of the Soul Lamp Hall.

The white light of the night-luminescent pearls cascaded down, illuminating the rows of jade shelves.

Sweeping his gaze over, on the far right of the third row of jade shelves, several pieces of crystalline broken jade were scattered.

The old man slowly stepped forward, lowered his head to examine them for a moment, and reached out to pick up a piece of broken jade to inspect it.

He immediately put it down and picked up a jade tablet that was still intact nearby.

On the jade face, the two characters "Zhou Heng" were clearly visible.

The old man narrowed his eyes slightly.

He didn't have a deep impression of this name; there were thousands of Academy Disciples, and it was impossible for him to memorize them one by one.

But he was all too familiar with the surname "Zhou".

The Zhou Family was one of the four great families of the Tianyang Kingdom, with deeply intertwined forces; both in the imperial court and the Academy, there were clansmen holding important positions.

The current head of the Family, Zhou Tiande, was one of the three Vice Deans of Tianyang Academy.

His cultivation had reached the Peak of the Martial Spirit Realm, only one step away from the Martial King Realm.

Zhou Family descendants were spread throughout the inside and outside of the Academy.

From Outer Sect handymen to Inner Sect elites, from ordinary deacons to senior Elders, they could be seen everywhere.

As for this Disciple named Zhou Heng, the old man vaguely remembered his appearance.

This person had a somewhat effeminate face, and his cultivation had barely reached the Half-step Martial Spirit, which was not considered outstanding among his peers in the Zhou Family.

But he had a younger brother who was famous.

The old man turned the jade tablet over, and on the back, a line of small characters was written in cinnabar: "Elder Brother Zhou Heng, Younger Brother Zhou Yu."

Seeing the two characters "Zhou Yu", a bit of understanding appeared in the old man's eyes.

Zhou Yu was a top True Disciple of the Academy, only in his early twenties, yet he had already cultivated to the third level of the Martial Spirit Realm, and his Tianyang Sword Art was executed with supernatural skill.

Even among all the True Disciples, his strength was firmly in the top five.

What was even rarer was that these two brothers shared a deep fraternal bond.

In their early years, because Zhou Heng lacked talent, he was judged by the Family as unlikely to achieve anything great, and all resources were skewed toward the exceptionally talented Zhou Yu.

Yet, after Zhou Yu obtained Cultivation resources, the first thing he did was to secretly give most of the Medicinal Pill to his Elder brother.

One had mediocre talent but was unwilling to be mediocre and persisted in hard Cultivation.

One had supreme talent but valued affection and righteousness, firmly keeping his Elder brother's friendship in his heart.