403: Chapter 403 Monument and Dharma Seal

"Monument?"

Long Tianxing blurted out, causing Zhou Yan's eyes to widen instantly.

"You recognize these characters?"

Zhou Yan looked at the symbols engraved at the top of the giant stone Monument; even he couldn't understand what they meant.

It was clearly not a modern language, nor was it from the medieval or ancient eras.

He had originally thought they were just decorative patterns; he hadn't expected Long Tianxing to actually be able to read them out, which truly surprised him.

"I wouldn't say I recognize them. After all, I practice unorthodox paths, so I know a bit more about various miscellaneous things."

"Looking at it as a whole, it shouldn't be pure decoration; it's more like some kind of characters."

"There aren't many decorations in this Secret Realm to begin with, but they can still serve as a reference; in many places, the decorations are in clusters, each with its own characteristics."

"But here, there are only a few lonely symbols, which is strange, so I deduced that they should be words."

"As long as I'm sure they're words, I can use Spells to deceive my own perception and forcibly interpret their meaning. Combined with Luck, by making educated guesses, I can read them out."

"And this Monument should be used to record achievements, so calling it a 'Monument' is about right."

Listening to Long Tianxing's casual explanation, Zhou Yan didn't feel relieved; instead, he was even more shocked.

What was this guy talking about?

Deceiving himself into thinking he knew the words, and then relying on Luck to guess what they were?

How is this different from someone with Alzheimer's forgetting they have Alzheimer's and then getting cured as a result?

Long Tianxing didn't notice Zhou Yan's expression; he just stared at the stone Monument and slowly approached it.

"There seem to be names on it; let's take a closer look."

Seeing him step forward, Zhou Yan followed, while remaining alert to the dangers around them.

The mountaintop seemed to be the end, with no other buildings; it was hard to say if there was danger.

However, if this place really was Little Kunlun, Suo Jialuo should have left something here. What could it be?

Zhou Yan multi-tasked, staying on guard while searching for the legacy Suo Jialuo had mentioned.

The mountaintop wasn't large, and the two quickly reached the stone Monument. Standing beneath it, they felt even more insignificant.

"Wu Wencheng, Li Jue, Zhang Yanshu, Chen Ping, Yan Huan..."

"What are you reciting?"

Zhou Yan, who was looking around, heard Long Tianxing recite a string of names and looked over curiously. Long Tianxing stepped aside to make room.

"There are names here, and they are in normal script."

Zhou Yan leaned in for a closer look.

"There's nothing there?"

Long Tianxing didn't say much; he just placed his hand on the stone Monument and signaled Zhou Yan to do the same.

Thinking of Long Tianxing's specialty in Luck, and the fact that he himself had escaped his unlucky Physique after taking half of Long Tianxing's Luck, Zhou Yan placed his hand on it with confidence.

The stone Monument felt icy and smooth to the touch, not as rough as it appeared. Following Long Tianxing's lead, Zhou Yan extended his Divine Sense into the Monument through his palm.

The moment his Divine Sense connected, the ancient stone Monument suddenly glowed, and rows of names emerged upon it.

Zhou Yan's Divine Sense range also seemed to expand for a short time, just enough to take in all the names at a glance.

"Good grief, it seems you guessed right; this really is for recording achievements."

Unlike Long Tianxing, who only knew modern script, the language skills Zhou Yan had acquired from the Joyous Union Sect were quite extensive.

There was a clear hierarchy among these names.

Many characters at the top were as unrecognizable as the symbols at the peak of the Monument, but from the middle section down, Zhou Yan could understand them.

He even saw a familiar name, Yu Kou.

This name appeared in the section for medieval script.

Further down, there were no more familiar names.

Zhou Yan had originally wanted to see if the names of the Fourth Elder and Fifth Elder were there, but he couldn't find them anywhere.

Zhou Yan looked at Long Tianxing, thinking there might be names from their own sect on it, and asked.

"Are the names of the Sect Master and the others on there?"

Long Tianxing had a flat expression.

"Aside from my Master, I haven't memorized the names of any of the other Elders."

At this point, he seemed to remember something and looked at Zhou Yan in confusion.

"Aren't you the Saint? You don't even know the Sect Master's name?"

Zhou Yan was choked by the question.

Isn't that obvious? If I knew, would I be asking you?

Aside from the Fifth Elder, who was known throughout the sect for his notoriety, Zhou Yan only knew the Fourth Elder's name.

Although the Grand Elder was serious, he was worthy of respect; Zhou Yan usually addressed him by his title, so he hadn't learned much more.

The Third Elder resided on the Third Peak, where there were mostly female Disciples; Zhou Yan rarely even went out, let alone visited a place with many female Disciples.

The Sixth Elder spent all day in Alchemy, and it was hard to even catch a glimpse of him, so the two hadn't had much interaction after all this time.

As for the Sect Master, who knew what he was busy with all day? He was as elusive as a divine dragon, so it went without saying.

Realizing he hadn't even recognized everyone after two years in the sect, Zhou Yan felt embarrassed and quickly changed the subject.

When he had extended his Divine Sense earlier, he had already roughly understood how to use the stone Monument.

"By using a Divine Sense imprint, you can carve your name on the Monument. Do you want to try?" Zhou Yan coughed lightly.

Long Tianxing looked at the stone Monument again but was uninterested.

"On a normal day, seeing this Monument, I might say it's 'magnificent'."

"But here, a single Monument seems petty instead."

"If this were some kind of trial that I passed through my own ability, leaving a name would be fitting for my status."

"But I didn't climb the mountain on my own, and I don't want to just write 'I was here'; I'm not in the mood for that."

"Write it if you want; after all, you made it up here based on your strength." After saying that, Long Tianxing took a few steps back and continued rubbing his arms.

This stone Monument emitted a piercing chill; standing next to it made the cold even more intense, so he simply moved away to wait for Zhou Yan to finish signing.

Long Tianxing actually regretted it a bit; if he had known there was nothing on the mountain, he wouldn't have followed him up. Being in such a pathetic state now was truly embarrassing.

Fortunately, those words he just said should have salvaged his image quite a bit (or so he thought).

Zhou Yan ignored Long Tianxing, who was desperately trying to save Face behind him, and pressed his palm onto the stone Monument again.

Since he was already here, leaving a memento wouldn't be bad.

The characters "Zhou Yan" appeared.

The stone Monument didn't react, and the imprint quickly dissipated.

Zhou Yan was stunned and wrote "Zhou Yan" again.

Still no reaction.

He then tried different fonts, but he still couldn't imprint his name.

Oh no, have I lost my own name?

He didn't know if it was due to the influence of the symbols, but Zhou Yan couldn't write his name no matter what.

Even more troublesome was that no matter how he changed the font, those special characters remained unchanged.

Because they weren't words at all, and this world had no 'isotype' for them, he could only keep trying.

After repeatedly trying various versions with and without the characters, Zhou Yan finally gave up.

What frustrated him even more was that he had no clue what Suo Jialuo had left behind.

When he was writing his name earlier, he had searched the surroundings; there was nothing here but snow.

If the item was hidden within the stone Monument and required carving a name to obtain, but he couldn't write his name, wouldn't it all be for nothing?

Unwilling to give up, Zhou Yan began trying to write Suo Jialuo's name on it.

He tried all sorts of versions, even using Chinese characters, and then tried Meng Zhang's name, but there was still no reaction; they all disappeared.

Finally, he could only shake his head in disappointment and prepare to leave.

Just as he turned around, Zhou Yan suddenly remembered something and turned back.

It was at this moment that the Luck he had advanced from Long Tianxing quietly ran out.

He compared the symbols at the top of the Monument and began trying to write them one by one.

The characters left by Suo Jialuo seemed somewhat similar to those at the top of the Monument, but he wasn't sure which specific one it was.

If the problem really lay with this stone Monument, as long as he copied all those symbols and tried every combination, he should be able to find the corresponding name.

Once this thought surfaced, he couldn't get rid of it.

He wrote down the symbols one by one; halfway through, he wasn't even sure which characters were working, but the System notification sound had already rung.

[Ding, detected "Cangming Dharma Seal" (unidentified), would you like to learn it?]