103: Chapter 104 The Lamp Burns Alone

Creak—

The sound of the door hinge turning was exceptionally clear in the silent space.

The courtyard was clean and tidy, with a few species of plants growing in a corner that he couldn't recognize, full of vitality as if they were constantly being tended to.

In the courtyard, there was also a small swing hanging from a banyan tree.

The door to the small cottage was also unlocked, and he pushed it open gently.

In an instant, a scent mixed with a faint ink fragrance, the fresh scent of medicinal herbs, and a trace of an ethereal perfume wafted toward him.

The scene inside the room made Shen Moyan freeze slightly.

The interior furnishings of the small cottage were simple, yet they exuded a sense of warmth and life everywhere, a stark contrast to the cold Chaos mist outside.

In the center of the main room was a square table with an elegant tea set on it.

Two teacups sat side by side, with some undried tea stains still remaining in them, as if the owners had just been drinking and discussing the Dao here and had left temporarily.

Jade Slips and books were neatly stacked on the bookshelf against the wall.

With a glance at the handwriting on them, Shen Moyan felt it was ancient and obscure.

The great power of the Nine Songs Wenchang Immortal Lord had no effect inside this small cottage.

"That's right, my Qing Ming space was originally outside the scope of the Immortal Lord's 'carrying the Dao through literature'."

Shen Moyan exited the space, and with a thought, his consciousness connected to the Nine Songs Net.

After spending hundreds of Spirit Stones to search and compare within the vast library of classics, he finally managed to decipher the text.

But what surprised him was that these Jade Slips did not record profound Cultivation Techniques.

Instead, they were mostly travelogues, miscellaneous talks, basic introductions to Alchemy, basic Formation diagrams, and even a few mundane poetry and prose books.

In the corner, an Ever-Burning Lamp emitted a soft and steady glow, its oil almost but not quite exhausted.

Turning his gaze to the inner room, the furnishings were more private.

A simple wooden bed was covered with plain-colored bedding, and beside the bed were two cushions, one large and one small.

What caught his eye the most was a neatly folded purple dress, clearly for a young girl, resting quietly on the small cushion, with a butterfly-carved hairpin placed next to it.

And in front of the desk by the window, a wide green robe was draped, with signs of wear on the cuffs.

Beside the green robe was a suit of armor made of countless scales.

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our Domain 101𝓀𝓀𝓈.𝓬𝓸𝓂]

Shen Moyan approached the armor and was instantly shocked by the aura on it.

"This is covered entirely in dragon's reverse scales!" Shen Moyan's mind shook violently.

"Not just Three-tribulation, but even Four-tribulation! Five-tribulation!"

How many Great Demons, Demon Kings, or even Demon Emperors must have been killed to sew this armor?

However, this armor was wrapped in golden runes of 'As I Have Written', and its Killing Intent was firmly locked away.

With a thought, Shen Moyan slightly loosened the runic seal, and the killing aura cut across his finger, causing the tip to bleed.

"It seems the things in this room cannot be moved lightly," Shen Moyan noted, circulating his magic power as the wound healed.

He would use this armor once his cultivation level was higher.

Shen Moyan turned his head and noticed that the ink in the inkstone on the desk didn't seem to be completely dry.

A brush was placed on the Brush rest, its tip slightly moist.

He frowned; all of this was filled with strong traces of life.

Especially that purple dress and the green robe, which clearly indicated that two people had once lived here.

One was a man dressed in a green robe.

The other was a woman who loved purple clothing.

Shen Moyan's Divine Sense swept through every inch of the space, his fingertips brushing the tabletop, feeling that almost imperceptible aura.

Combining the room's furnishings, the blurred past pieced itself together in his mind like shattered images:

A gentle-tempered, perhaps somewhat carefree man in a green robe, who should be the Master, lived here in seclusion.

He adopted a girl, raising her from childhood, teaching her to read, practice cultivation, practice swordsmanship, and identify medicinal herbs.

The girl was very good but lively and playful, and she liked the color purple.

The Master and disciple lived a peaceful life in this small world, away from the world's strife.

The Ever-Burning Lamp never went out, and the tea in the cups still held its warmth.

But where did the people go?

From the residue in the teacups, the undried ink, and the nearly exhausted lamp oil, it seemed they had only left for a moment.

But it was this one instant.

That seemed to have become eternal.

This small cottage, along with the frozen time within it, had been sealed away by some great power, or perhaps the previous owner of the qingming pearl, and placed into the pearl's internal space.

Was it an unavoidable catastrophe?

Was it a voluntary seclusion?

Or... some other reason?

Shen Moyan stood silently in the center of the cottage, feeling this frozen warmth and that wordless absence.

He was not a sentimental person, but this scene still cast a small stone into the lake of his heart, which had seen many partings through Reincarnation, creating a slight ripple.

This qingming pearl was far more than just a simple spatial Magic Treasure.

It carried a past.

Or rather, a perhaps unfinished destiny.

"Master and disciple? Father and daughter? Or... husband and wife?"

Shen Moyan murmured to himself, his gaze drifting over the purple dress and the green robe.

This reminded him of the records in the 'records of the mountain and sea official appointments'.

Could it be [Qing Ming] and [Zi Wei]?

Without thinking further, Shen Moyan's gaze fell back onto the desk by the window.

Besides the inkstone, a slightly old roll of Xuan paper was spread on the desk, with a few lines of elegant yet stubborn handwriting on it:

When stars sink behind heavy curtains and the snow clears,

Leftover tea layers deep as the lamp is trimmed late.

The purple hairpin and green pearl find it hard to face their shadows,

A sealed stele of Mountain and Sea, a departure without return.

Shen Moyan felt an undissolvable sorrow from this poem.

Such delicate brushwork; the one who wrote the poem must have been the owner of the purple dress, the female disciple who was adopted and raised.

"Mountain and Sea sealed stele, a departure without return?"

Shen Moyan was somewhat puzzled; could it be referring to the origin dao preaching stele?

But there was too little information to investigate further, and his gaze swept through the room once more.

Teacups in pairs, yet the people were nowhere to be found.

The Ever-Burning Lamp burns alone, shining in vain on old belongings.

"An instant... eternity, an instant is eternal."

Shen Moyan's still embryonic Innate Divine Ability began to condense and gradually take shape.

[Innate Divine Ability, recorded in Bookmarks]

"It's perfected."

To think that he actually perfected his Innate Divine Ability here.

[Innate Divine Ability: What is Written in an Instant is Eternal]

[This Divine Ability is rooted in your Dao comprehension, combining 'As I Have Written', the Profound Truth of breaking through space-time from the Scripture of Severing All Manifestations, and the eternal Dao Rhyme touched upon when 'Seeing Xiyi']

[Using oneself as the brush, Karma as the ink, and space-time as the paper, the 'instant' state of the target's existence is written and fixed as relatively eternal]

[Currently, without a Purple Mansion constructed, performing this Divine Ability requires consuming lifespan; crossing realms will significantly consume your lifespan, the extent of which is determined by the cultivation level of the target within the Domain]

Shen Moyan was silent for a long time, then gently rolled up the Xuan paper and put it back in its place.

He exited the cottage and gently closed the door, leaving that story sealed by time back in the corner of the Qing Ming space.

The Ever-Burning Lamp remained lit, as if persistently waiting for a Master who would never return.

"This Mountain and Sea is getting more and more interesting."

An indescribable curve formed at the corner of Shen Moyan's mouth.

This was exceptionally similar to the scene in the Qing Ming Grotto-Heaven in the 'records of the mountain and sea official appointments'.

That armor should be the battle armor made from the reverse scales of Flood Dragons collected by [Qing Ming] when he was A Fan, standing alone on the front lines to slay demons in the mortal world.

"No wonder that Immortal Master Yin He treasured this qingming pearl so much that he didn't hesitate to kill everyone to silence them."

"This qingming pearl is actually the treasure of the legendary Qing Ming Fate Controller."

Shen Moyan was somewhat pleasantly surprised.

"But, did the Qing Ming Fate Controller really die? How?"

"And the ancient Mountain and Sea, what exactly happened? What caused the collapse of the Immortal Dao?"

Pity, the truth, like this eternal cottage, has its Karma obscured and is forever hidden.

With a thought, Shen Moyan's consciousness returned to his body.

The mountain wind blew against his robes, and his gaze grew deeper.

The road ahead is unknown, with powerful enemies, conspiracies, supreme treasures, and secrets buried by time like this mythical cottage.

And this, perhaps, is the scenery on the path of cultivation.

Thinking up to this point, Shen Moyan didn't stay any longer; his figure turned into light and sped away.

As for the goal, it was naturally Di Lin Prefecture.

origin dao preaching stele!