117: Chapter 117 Preparing to Decipher the Inscription on the Jade Pendant

Xia Jin returned to Great Xia. Instead of heading straight back to his Jin Wang Palace, he went directly to the entrance of the imperial palace's Scripture Pavilion.

"Your Highness!"

The two guards had just started to feel drowsy when they dazedly noticed someone walking toward them. They hurriedly rubbed their eyes, and upon seeing clearly that it was Xia Jin, they immediately knelt on one knee and bowed respectfully.

Xia Jin swept his gaze over the two of them and gave a casual wave of his hand. "Fine, stand up."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" The two guards quickly stood up and moved to the side, looking at Xia Jin with respect.

Xia Jin ignored them and walked straight inside.

Xia Jin was no stranger to this place. In his earlier years, when he was still an "Idle Prince," he often came here to pass the time.

He didn't stop on the first or second floors but went directly to the third.

"I remember that Nameless Book should be in this corner of the third floor!"

Xia Jin's gaze swept across the rows of bookshelves, soon landing on the innermost shelf in the northwest corner. That shelf was clearly very old, with most of the black lacquer on its surface having peeled off.

He stepped forward, his eyes moving slowly, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"Found it! As expected, I didn't remember wrong; this Nameless Book is still here."

Xia Jin pulled out the yellowed volume, which even had a small piece of its cover missing. He flipped to a random page and began to examine it.

A few breaths later, he tucked the Nameless Book into his robe. Although he still couldn't recognize the characters inside, he was now certain that the writing in this Nameless Book and the runes on the jade pendant shared the same origin!

...

Xia Jin left the Scripture Pavilion and returned directly to his Jin Wang Palace.

At this moment, in the center of the hall, Leng Yuexi was sitting cross-legged on the Cold Jade Bed with her eyes slightly closed, clearly in the middle of cultivating.

After Xia Jin had repeatedly used the Nine Turns Creation Sutra to nourish her Meridians and temper her internal organs, Leng Yuexi's cultivation progress could only be described as "advancing by leaps and bounds, a complete transformation."

In just a few short months, she had jumped six levels from the third level of the Spirit Wandering Realm to the ninth level, and was now only a step away from the Land Immortal Realm.

Suddenly, the cultivating Leng Yuexi felt a tightening around her waist. A familiar scent came from behind her, and she was soon gently pulled into a warm embrace. Before she could react, she felt a warmth on her cheek, clearly a stolen kiss from the newcomer.

Leng Yuexi opened her eyes and looked behind her. When she saw Xia Jin's face clearly, a flash of surprise crossed her eyes.

"Husband? Why are you back so soon?" She remembered that before Xia Jin left, he had said that since the domain had caused such a massive celestial phenomenon this time, it would likely attract experts from across the entire Eastern Profound Continent to fight for the treasure, and he probably wouldn't return to Great Xia for a while.

"Hahahaha! Even I didn't expect things to go so smoothly!!" Xia Jin lowered his head, meeting Leng Yuexi's bright eyes. He couldn't help but flick her nose and said with a laugh, "Now that the treasure is in hand, I naturally came back. Could it be... that my wife didn't want her husband to return early to accompany her?"

"You're always so glib!" Leng Yuexi's cheeks turned slightly red, and she gave him a light punch. "By the way, husband, now that the treasure is in your hands, won't it cause trouble later on?"

"Trouble?" Xia Jin sneered, his eyes filled with absolute confidence. "If anyone dares to come looking for trouble, I wouldn't mind slapping them to death."

"Husband, where is the treasure you mentioned? Quick, let me see!" Leng Yuexi hugged Xia Jin's waist and looked up, asking curiously.

"You want to know!? Come, give me a kiss here, and I'll take it out for you to see!"

"Hmph!! Quick, take it out!" Leng Yuexi pinched Xia Jin's waist hard and gave him a sharp glare.

Xia Jin only shook his head with a wry smile. With a flip of his palm, the jade pendant appeared in his hand, and he held it out to Leng Yuexi.

"That treasure is this jade pendant?" Leng Yuexi carefully took the jade pendant directly from Xia Jin's hand.

After examining it closely, she frowned. The jade pendant looked ordinary, and she couldn't see anything miraculous about it. Even the craftsmanship was quite a bit worse than that of her own jewelry.

"That's right, it's exactly this object!!" Xia Jin's expression also became serious. "Don't look down on it. This jade pendant caused several experts in the Land Immortal Realm to fight over it, which is enough to show its extraordinary nature."

He pointed to several Sanskrit-like characters on the jade pendant. "If we can figure out the meaning of these characters, perhaps we can learn about the origin of this jade pendant."

As he spoke, he took out the nameless ancient book he had brought back from the Scripture Pavilion and handed it to Leng Yuexi. "When I just got back, I went to the Scripture Pavilion first and found this book. The characters recorded in this book should share the same origin as those on the jade pendant. I believe we should be able to find the meaning of the characters on the jade pendant from here."

"Yue Xi, I'll have to trouble you for the next few days!"

Leng Yuexi held the jade pendant in one hand and took the Nameless Book with the other, then nodded.

"Don't worry, husband, leave this to me." Leng Yuexi patted Xia Jin's hand. "Rou'er has an encyclopedic memory and is also quite well-versed in ancient texts and miscellaneous studies. I'll go find her tomorrow and invite her to study this with me. With her help, we should be able to quickly figure out what the characters carved on this jade pendant represent."

"That's good. With Jiang Rou's help, I can rest easy! However, there's no need to rush; we have plenty of time, so just take it slowly."

As he spoke, Xia Jin's gaze fell on Leng Yuexi's skin, which had become increasingly translucent like jade due to her cultivation, and he couldn't help but feel his throat go dry.

Leng Yuexi noticed the change in his gaze. Her cheeks suddenly flushed, and she instinctively tried to pull away, but it was already too late.

"Ah! Husband, you..." Before her shy exclamation could fully escape her lips, she had already been picked up by Xia Jin.

"Official business is finished. Now, Madam, it's time to discuss our private business..." Xia Jin laughed softly, carrying the blushing Leng Yuexi straight toward the adjacent bedchamber.

...

The next day, a soft ray of sunlight shone in from outside.

Leng Yuexi rubbed her somewhat sore waist, her cheeks still carrying a faint blush that hadn't fully faded, and walked out of the Jin Wang Palace.

Inside the Jin Wang Palace, only Xia Jin remained.

Xia Jin didn't get up but sat cross-legged on that Cold Jade Bed.

At this moment, his consciousness sank completely into his body, filtering out the sounds of birds and insects that had just begun to chirp outside.

Xia Jin silently thought: "System, extract task rewards."

[Command confirmed. Congratulations, Host, for successfully extracting task rewards: Three Feet to the Horizon (Entry-Level), and three thousand years of cultivation!]