Weijin was deadly pale while kneeling on the ground and trembling with fear. Not in his dream would he expect that this little servant was the queen in disguise.

Thinking about how he called her “lowly” earlier, she became even more afraid. This was a crime worthy of clan extermination. Even if the Peng could escape unscathed, his head would certainly be rolling on the floor.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

“Your Majesty, please spare me!” He continued hitting the ground with his head.

Wang Han glared at him but focused on Li Qiye’s intent.

Meanwhile, Li Qiye was only looking at the rock in his hand. When the queen looked over, awaiting his command, he simply said: “Slap.”

Wang Han didn’t need to do anything for Shengping rolled up his sleeve and coldly said: “Young Lord Peng, the Young Noble and Her Majesty are quite merciful right now. You need to be grateful!”

Having said that, he raised the guy’s chin.

“Bam! Bam! Bam!” A barrage of slaps continued causing Weijin’s cheeks to turn red with blood oozing out of the corner of his mouth.

More slapping continued but Weijin didn’t dare to utter a single word of discontent. It was good that he gets to keep his head.

Many didn’t know what was going on and only saw the young lord kneeling on the ground for a slapping punishment. This was very humiliating for Weijin but it was still better than losing his life.

Eventually, the fierce slap made his teeth fall off, leaving gaps behind. Meanwhile, Li Qiye only cared for the rock in his hand. Wang Han stood near him, too lazy to care for the punishment scene. People took a deep breath after seeing this, not daring to talk.

“I want it.” Li Qiye told the workers.

The workers immediately packed it up for Li Qiye and Wang Han handled the rest. She had named the price at ten million earlier and stuck with it since it was no big deal to her.

The guests here found the whole thing insane, paying so much for a rock. Even some of the workers shared this sentiment. It was rare for them to meet such a rich guest.

Li Qiye accepted the stone and didn’t give it to anyone. He started leaving with Wang Han and Sijing right behind him.

Shengping gave several more dozen slaps before following the rest. Peng Weijin was humiliated kneeling there, wanting nothing more to hide in a hole.

After a while, he clenched his fist tightly; even the fingernails were digging into his palms. He swore with a murderous glint to have revenge for today at all cost - to make those who have humiliated him pay a great price!

Once they were back in their place, Li Qiye told the rest of the group to leave. He sealed space and took out the rock with a solemn expression: “Geezer, perhaps this is an inevitable part of fate.”

Having said that, he took a deep breath. His fate palace emerged along with the Primordial Will and twelve laws.

Runes appeared in his brain. They were ancient, seemingly formed throughout the long years.

“Clank!” These runes came together to form a tiny, silk-like law. It was profound and beautiful with pulsing light and swam out of his finger to enter the brick-like rock.

“Buzz.” The rock lit up as well with immortal rays. Each ray seemed to have its own life.

“Poof!” The rays wove together to form the figure of an old man. Despite the muddy nature of the image, his pair of eyes could still pierce through time itself.

Li Qiye stood there quietly since the figure was too familiar to him. This was Xiao Shi of Immortal Demon Grotto, a remnant intent left behind.

“Brat, if you are capable of opening this, then it is true.” The figure spoke to him: “I have read through many ancient scrolls and used a law from the nine Heavenly Scriptures in order to see the future and understand the eras. Visual phenomena emerged before me but not the truth just yet. Now, the two of us have met again through the long years, who knows if this is real or not. If it is real, then I must have died. Death is inevitable anyway; no beings could escape from its grasp. One could have eternal life using the Longevity Grass or continue to hide in the shadows, but that’s not real immortality, not real freedom! A true immortal is able to live forever without relying on external items. You have my stone of memories now, proving that my speculations and calculations were correct. Alas, this is not the reality I want, why is immortality so unreachable...”

The old man spoke gently as if he was meeting an old friend or a close family member.

“Nevertheless, brat, I am proud to see you being able to take this step. I have no one close in this world so I consider you as my only family regardless of your own feelings about it. Our past meeting is ultimately a stroke of fate, perhaps determined from a long time ago.” He smiled and continued: “I’m sure you have no lack of treasures right now, but I still left a legacy for you. Consider it a gift, a reparation perhaps, for refining you into the Dark Crow. These are my memories, not quite priceless, but will be very helpful in the future.”

Having said that, the old man stared at Li Qiye for a long time before softly concluding: “Goodbye.”

The figure dispersed, leaving nothing behind as if it had never showed up in the first place.

“Buzz.” The rock suddenly had pages flipping crazily now as if it was an ancient book.

Next, obscured runes shot out. No one could see through their profundity.

They also danced together to form tiny laws with a dark glow. These laws have weathered the temporal torture and contained unreachable secrets.

Li Qiye gently sighed and raised his hand to pull the laws closer. These laws were flowing quietly like a spring.

Under the protection of the Primordial Will, he successfully refined these laws into his mind and became memories from the old man.

This knowledge was massive, not inferior to the old man from Drystone at all. It contained informations and clues accumulated across the years. It wasn’t as simple as the old man put it. In fact, it was certainly priceless.

Back in the grotto, Li Qiye learned many things not privy to others from the old man. Now, these memories reinforced his previous knowledge and filled in the gaps, especially about Three Immortals. Xiao Shi has been here before and left behind a dao system as well.