201: This is actually a history book?

“These are the things you asked for.”

Meng Ke rarely wore such a serious expression.

“Although some of the characters are from the Middle Ages, they are actually Secret Scripts used by the Ancient Imperial Dynasty to record special content.”

“This is because the Imperial Dynasty existed even before the Ancient Era, spanning three epochs: the Ancient Era, the Middle Ages, and the Recent Era.”

“Therefore, their inherited script hasn't changed much overall, which is why I misread it back then.”

“I don't know exactly what you obtained, but the Imperial Dynasty is connected to the time before the Ancient Era after all.”

“It's hard to guarantee that they haven't left behind information you shouldn't see.”

“As for what ‘you shouldn't see’ is, since you've used the trump card the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven left for you, you should understand what I'm referring to.”

“The Sect made you a Reserve Holy Son and sent you out for experience precisely because they didn't want you to come into contact with things like this too early.”

Having said this, Meng Ke stared intently into Zhou Yan's eyes.

“I know that even after I've said all this, you'll still look at it if you feel you should.”

“But I hope that, with my warning, you will stop immediately if you sense something is wrong.”

“After all, I don't want to fall in love with someone only to feel the pain of losing them before I've even had them.”

After speaking, Meng Ke smiled faintly again.

“I know you don't want too much contact with me right now, so I'll leave first so as not to bother you.”

“I wish you sweet dreams tonight.”

With her words finished, Meng Ke stood up and left without saying anything further.

Sensing that Meng Ke had gone far away, Zhou Yan looked at the books in front of him and fell into contemplation.

Most of these were books made of special paper and leather-bound books.

Unlike the futuristic-looking books in the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven, these were more like products of an ordinary Xuanhuan world.

Zhou Yan casually flipped through them and found that the content was similar to textbooks used for learning a foreign language, with the rest being annotations and study methods.

After only briefly glancing at two books, he tossed them back onto the desk, his fingers rhythmically tapping the surface.

It was rare for someone like Meng Ke to show such a serious expression.

Her consistently unconventional behavior always made Zhou Yan subconsciously overlook that she was actually a Nascent Soul expert.

According to the descriptions of the Nascent Soul Stage in the Cultivation Technique.

Only after a Cultivator achieves the Core Formation Breakthrough does their life level initially advance; they still lack divine characteristics and require self-development.

The Core Formation Stage at this point is like evolving into a transcendent life form and then returning to an embryonic state to redevelop.

The Nascent Soul Stage, however, is the phase of breaking out of the shell and truly mastering the abilities of a transcendent life form.

The biggest change is the condensation of a Nascent Soul within the body, granting a second life.

At the same time, the Nascent Soul can leverage the Laws of Heaven and Earth and perform some rudimentary utilization.

The specific method is to deploy a Domain, temporarily mastering the authority over that area within a certain range.

At this stage, they have begun to touch upon the Laws, but they cannot yet comprehend them.

Yet, something that could make Meng Ke so vigilant and issue such a solemn warning, perhaps even involving the purpose of his current training,

How could Zhou Yan not be curious?

But if the other party warned him so seriously, wouldn't looking at it still be courting death?

“Sigh.”

The more Zhou Yan thought about it, the more his head ached.

If Xiao Sheng's mention of “Unfulfilled Desires” was just a casual remark, then Zhou Yan's current situation could truly be described as having Unfulfilled Desires.

As a Transmigrator, anyone would be curious about this Xuanhuan world that is completely different from their own understanding.

This curiosity, after stepping onto the path of cultivation, creates Xuanhuan-side effects. Otherwise, Zhou Yan wouldn't have used an opportunity for intelligence exchange to acquire these items.

Pushing open the window, Zhou Yan looked at the white glow of dawn on the horizon and finally made up his mind.

Look!

But only a little bit.

Just as Meng Ke said, taste it and stop immediately.

Actually, with this kind of thing, you either don't look at all or you look at everything. What's the point of looking at just a little?

But Chinese People ultimately favor the Doctrine of the Mean.

Therefore, even though he anticipated potential unknown consequences, Zhou Yan still chose this seemingly less cost-effective option.

After making his decision, Zhou Yan first studied the textbooks.

Only after seeing three new skills added to his skill bar—“Middle Ages Common Language,” “Ancient Era Common Language,” and “Imperial Secret Language”—did he take out the ancient, decaying book.

The title, originally composed only of a few symbols, transformed in Zhou Yan's eyes into... *History of Human Dao Development: Interpretation of the Incomplete Manual*, Author: Anonymous.

“So this isn't some peerless divine technique at all, but a history book?”

Although slightly disappointed, Zhou Yan's emotions didn't fluctuate much.

It was still the same principle: if it were truly useless, it wouldn't have been placed in such an important location.

Zhou Yan took a deep breath, ready to take medicine at any moment.

If the situation went south, he would immediately take a large dose of pills.

He could feel that this book was extremely unusual, and opening it would certainly cause him suffering. But a sudden, inexplicable impulse drove him to turn the first page.

“May the spirits of my ancestors in heaven forgive the incompetence of their unfilial descendant.”

“My status is too low; I am no longer capable of bearing the responsibility of continuing to write history.”

“I am trash. I failed to touch the Immortal Dao throughout my life, stopping ultimately at the Void Refining realm.”

“I hate it! I hate that I couldn't achieve Immortal Ascension! My ancestors could do it, so why couldn't I!”

These nearly frantic words right at the beginning made Zhou Yan feel even more uneasy.

“I cannot write the historical facts, so I can only do my best to transcribe them here in the language I understand.”

“May a Prodigy of a later generation be able to use this content to reclaim the true history for me, your unworthy ancestor.”

“For the beginning of the story, let us discuss the origin of the Human Dao.”

Such a natural transition?

He was just raving, and now he's suddenly telling a story.

Zhou Yan continued reading, picking up from the previous sentence.

“The Human Dao was born because of humans, but it did not appear simultaneously with humans.”

“The Human Dao was originally the Dao of Sentient Beings, and it was only successfully pioneered under the leadership of our clan's Second Generation Ancestor of Humanity.”

“Since then, the Human Dao has stood alongside the Heavenly Dao and the Earth Dao, and the Human Race once again stood at the pinnacle of all races.”

“At that time, the title of the Human Race leader was changed from ‘King’ to ‘Human Sovereign,’ and the Human Race Alliance was officially renamed the ‘Human Dynasty.’”

Although the information density was high, Zhou Yan could still accept it, treating it merely as reading a story.

The subsequent content was mostly about the development of the Imperial Dynasty.

The Human Race first unified the entire Mortal Realm, roughly dividing the Human Race territory into Four Regions and one Ancestral Land. From then on, the Mortal Realm was renamed the Human Realm.

The Second Generation Ancestor of Humanity, later known as the Human Sovereign, was compassionate and personally carved out several Small Worlds, connecting them to the Human Realm.

The races that failed in the contest for the “Dao of Sentient Beings” were exiled to these worlds.

This was the prototype of the later Monster Realm.

Further on, it was almost all complaints, sometimes cursing himself as trash, sometimes blaming everyone else.

Zhou Yan read over a dozen pages, but the actually useful content was minimal.

No wonder the author seemed frantic; he must have been stifled.

This was probably similar to Zhou Yan's state after using the Sword Seal.

While using it, he felt as if he understood everything, but afterward, he couldn't recall anything.

The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't know how to express them. In the end, all he could bring back was “Sword Dao Skill +1.”

The author could only write this much content, and his mood was probably similar to, or even worse than, Zhou Yan's at the time.

Zhou Yan pressed his thumb against one of the pages, closed the book, and kept his finger wedged between the leaves.

To relieve the pressure, he first took several deep breaths, confirmed his body was fine, and checked his status bar.

No abnormalities.

“It feels... like nothing happened?”

This book might be like the bookshelves on the upper floor of the treasury—mostly diaries and records of madness, with only a small portion of useful content.

But based on Zhou Yan's years of watching horror movies, there must be something big hidden inside, just waiting for him to lower his guard.

Therefore, he decided to change his approach and flip directly to the end.

Having made up his mind, Zhou Yan spread out the section he had just read, casually found something to use as a bookmark, closed the book, and started flipping from back to front.

“The world is fake!”

“The Dragon Gate is real!”

“The First Emperor is not the Second Generation Ancestor of Humanity, he is the Ancestral Dragon!”

“Revive the Human Dao! Revive the Human Dao using the new method!”

“Humans can achieve Immortal Ascension!”

“Transform into a Dragon!”

These characters were not the previous script but leaned more toward modern characters, and the handwriting was completely different from the front.

They were written in a type of blood that Zhou Yan found familiar. The blood seemed to retain its vitality, and faint Dao Rhymes were flowing within it.

A buzzing sound echoed in Zhou Yan's mind.

His gaze could not be pulled away, especially fascinated by two specific characters.

“Ancestral Dragon.”