424: Ancient records

Compared to the Great Flood Dragon bone, they were more concerned with the stone tablet deep within the bronze platform.

It was common knowledge that a stone tablet appearing in a tomb could not possibly be just an ordinary stone tablet.

It would either have a history carved onto it, or it would simply leave behind a method as a Legacy.

In short, it was a valuable item, sometimes even better than everything else in the tomb.

Therefore, the moment the Grand Array completely disintegrated, the many hidden methods remaining in the tomb vanished, and the ancient stone tablet was exposed.

Countless players immediately enveloped it with their Spiritual Sense, investigating it carefully.

"Huh? There's no writing on it?"

"It doesn't seem to react. There's nothing there?"

"Has too much time passed, causing the words to disappear?"

"It should only be from ten thousand years ago, right? Words on stone shouldn't fade that quickly, should they?"

"Besides, no matter how you look at it, this must be the work of a Cultivator. If the Grand Array could last ten thousand years, this stone tablet shouldn't have crumbled in just ten thousand years, right?"

"There must be an independent hidden method. Let's think of a way."

Player Cultivators had a major drawback: they lacked a wide variety of auxiliary skills.

Specifically, most players specialized in combat, and at most, they practiced Artifact Refining or Alchemy, which could "make big money."

As for the more obscure ones that were harder to "monetize," such as various exotic arts, secret techniques, and Divine Abilities, very few people cultivated them.

To solve this problem, top-tier players led by Li Changfeng specifically allocated a sum of transaction points for funding, but it hadn't been long enough.

In short, when they arrived before this stone tablet, the group of players stared at each other blankly; not a single one knew what to do next.

Everyone tried various methods, but none could make the text appear on the stone tablet, and naturally, there was no other information either.

Yet everyone knew that this stone tablet definitely had great utility and could not be destroyed.

For a moment, the situation reached a stalemate.

Until...

Yan Xiao stepped forward and reached out to touch the stone tablet.

Some players wanted to stop him but were held back by their companions nearby.

"Damn, are you crazy? That's Yan Xiao!"

Everyone knew what kind of fate awaited those who hindered Yan Xiao, so they didn't dare to step forward.

Yan Xiao seemed to be inspecting the stone tablet. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly released his exotic fire.

Blue, red, and green exotic flames crawled over the stone tablet, twisting and swirling, scorching it from bottom to top.

The players' hearts trembled.

Burned by the exotic fire like that, this stone tablet would probably be destroyed, right?

Was Yan Xiao destroying it because he couldn't get the Legacy inside, so he wouldn't let anyone else have it?

Was he that petty?

Only Ma Dun thought of something, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

He remembered how Yan Xiao had previously used exotic fire to obstruct the Yuyao Kingdom's detection.

Could it be that the Opportunity here also happened to be related to his exotic fire?

Whoosh!

After scorching it once, the tri-colored exotic fire slowly dissipated.

The brilliant flames were full of power. If a Fifth-Rank Cultivator so much as touched a spark, they would have to use all their power to dispel it; if they were scorched by the whole thing, they would have no choice but to abandon their Physical Body, and their Soul might even be ignited.

Yet the stone tablet remained unmoved.

This stone tablet, about five meters tall, looked like it had been built by piling up broken stones and then compressing them together with immense force; the workmanship was not particularly refined.

Yet it unexpectedly possessed extreme toughness and had not been burned by the exotic fire.

Furthermore...

"Look! Words are appearing on the stone tablet!"

"Damn, he really got it to work?"

"Yan Xiao is awesome!"

Ma Dun listened to the players' praise, the corners of his mouth twitching.

As a player who had traveled with Yan Xiao for a long time, he was the one who knew best just how outrageous Yan Xiao was.

Being able to unearth the secrets within the stone tablet at this moment was nothing more than expected.

Shaking his head to cast aside these thoughts, Ma Dun also curiously observed the characters on the stone tablet.

Almost unsurprisingly, what was left on it were ancient characters.

However, they were not the ancient characters favored by the High-level Cultivators of Burial Emperor Star, which were rich in some kind of terrifying power, but rather the normal, commonly used characters of the ancients.

Not many players understood ancient characters, but after all, the players' information was shared; uploading it to the Forum to ask would yield the answer.

Consequently, the analysis of the ancient characters on the stone tablet was quickly provided. Although there were only a dozen or so characters in total, they recorded an entire story.

It recorded the story of the battle between the Great Flood Dragon and the Yuyao Kingdom at that time. It said that the Great Flood Dragon came from the East Sea, shattered the seventeen thrones, extinguished Helian Meng's ambition to ascend with his entire clan, and subsequently died of exhaustion. His remains were collected by the local Dragon descendants, a tomb was constructed underground, and this tablet was left to record the event.

"Extinguished Helian Meng's path to Ascension?"

After reading it, Ma Dun's first reaction was that there was a problem with the translation.

But his second reaction was that he had misunderstood.

The stone tablet recorded the extinguishing of Helian Meng's ambition to ascend with his entire clan, but it did not say it had severed Helian Meng's immortal path to Ascension.

At this moment, Yan Xiao also told him the translation, which was no different from the translation provided by the Forum players.

"So, ten thousand years ago, Helian Meng wanted to ascend with his entire clan, but was stopped by the Great Flood Dragon?"

Ma Dun frowned: "That's strange. If the Great Flood Dragon came for the sake of Ascension, why didn't he cooperate with Helian Meng instead of cutting off his path to Ascension?"

Yan Xiao was also curious about this question; after all, he had come for the immortal path.

He thought for a moment and said:

"If the records on the stone tablet are correct, I think there may be two reasons.

"First, Helian Meng and the Great Flood Dragon were mortal enemies; it was impossible for them to agree on a joint Ascension.

"Second, the price required for an entire clan to ascend is extremely high, so high that the Great Flood Dragon could not accept it.

"Regardless of which point it is, the stone tablet's record indicates one thing..."

Yan Xiao's expression became serious: "Helian Meng's Ascension likely didn't rely on the original immortal path, but rather he found a new path to the Immortal Realm himself."

"That is why he had the ambition for his entire clan to ascend, and why there is a record of the Great Flood Dragon of the East Sea doing everything in its power to stop him."

Too much time had passed, the records were too sparse, and it involved something as major as Ascension.

Therefore, what was left for future generations to imagine could be described as both little and a lot.

No one could provide a definitive conclusion.

But regardless, after today, the Great Flood Dragon jade bone and the stone tablet records would immediately spread throughout the entire player community, then spread to the Eastern Domain, and even diffuse to the Central Domain.

At that time, chaos in the Eastern Domain would be expected.

Ma Dun thought of this, and suddenly hit upon a key point, saying:

"In that case, is there a possibility that back then, the East Sea was in chaos first, the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda was shattered, and the immortal path was severed?

"And Helian Meng left after seizing something from the East Sea, which gave him the confidence for his entire clan to ascend?

"With the Great Flood Dragon's strength, even if he wasn't the master of the East Sea, he probably wasn't far off. I suppose he was pursuing him for this reason?

"The later cloud-swallowing and mist-spitting to create obstacles wasn't to intercept the Yuyao Kingdom's southward march, but rather to fear that the strong from the entire Prison Land would step into the East Sea in search of the immortal path?"

Yan Xiao nodded: "That is a very likely possibility."

He then added: "Later, it was rumored that the immortal path for Ascension was only in the Central Domain; perhaps that was precisely what happened after the East Sea's immortal path was shattered..."