Chapter 294: Qinghu Empire

The vast sea stretched out as far as the eyes could see.

Fang Chen stood with his hands behind his back on the deck, silently watching the continent in the distance come into view. Suddenly, a slight chill swept over him. He gently extended his palm, and a crystal-clear snowflake landed in his hand.

"It's snowing," murmured Fang Chen, feeling a sense of deja vu. Snowfall meant that the New Year was approaching. When he first met Senior Yun He, it was shortly after the New Year.

“Seems like a year has passed already.” Fang Chen sighed inwardly. “The changes I’ve experienced in this past year outweigh the entire twenty-three years before it.”

In just one year, he had transformed from a cripple into a cultivator at the 12th stage of the Qi Refining Realm. Wherever he went from now on, he couldn’t be said to be weak. After all, the majority of the world's population were ordinary mortals.

Jiang Zhong approached Fang Chen with Jiang Tianai. "Sect Leader Fang, up ahead is the Qinghu Empire. Once we pass through Qinghu, we'll arrive at Grand Qian,” he said, his eyes rife with gratitude.

It had been ten days since they left the Flame Empire, and in this time, Jiang Zhong had been able to finally ascertain that Fang Chen had no connection to the Spirit Blood Sect. Not only that, but he hadn’t shown any interest in their family since that one time he asked them about it. Even if he had questions to ask, they weren’t about their family. He didn’t seem to covet their inheritance.

“Speaking of Qinghu, have you ever heard of the Blood Corpse Sect?" asked Fang Chen casually.

"Blood Corpse Sect?" Jiang Zhong's expression changed, and he nodded slightly. "I do know about them. Their disciples practice corpse refining techniques. They control corpses to fight for them, and there are different levels of corpses, such as Walking Corpses, Copper-Armored Corpses, Iron-Armored Corpses, Golden-Armored Corpses, and Flying Corpses. They all differ in strength.

“It’s rumored that the Copper-Armored Corpse controlled by the Blood Corpse Sect Leader is indestructible. Even a mid-grade, yellow rank treasure with thirty-six Soul Imprints would not be able to destroy it"

Fang Chen then turned to Jiang Zhong and smiled. "I really wasn’t wrong about you,” he said. “How do you know so much about these sects with your sixth stage Qi Refining Realm cultivation?”

Jiang Zhong hesitated for a moment before retrieving an ancient book from his storage ring and handing it to Fang Chen. "Sect Leader Fang, this book is called Mirror of the Universe. It is an extremely mysterious treasure and its grade is unknown."

Fang Chen flipped through the ancient book, but he found its contents far from how Jiang Zhong had described them; there wasn’t anything mysterious about it.

"A special technique is needed to activate it, which is why Immortal Sea wasn’t able to discover it." Jiang Zhong sighed. "We have had some ancient books passed down in our family, but they're all gone now."

"Don't be sad, Uncle Zhong. I memorized them all. I can recite them for you anytime," Jiang Tianai comforted him.

Jiang Zhong froze, then he couldn’t help shooting Fang Chen an embarrassed look.

"I'm not very interested in your ancient books," Fang Chen chuckled, his gaze falling on the Mirror of the Universe. "So, how do you use this?"

Jiang Zhong immediately transmitted the method.

After a while, Fang Chen imbued his spiritual energy through his palm and into the Mirror of the Universe. Soon, the writings on the book seemed to have come alive, swimming like fish in water. After a dozen or so breaths, the contents of the book completely changed.

The first page: Mirror of the Universe

The second page: Records of Famous Sect Ancestors

The third page: Emperor's Ranking

The fourth page: Spiritual Treasure Ranking

Fang Chen's eyes flashed with shock. This Mirror of the Universe actually had records of Sect Ancestors? He tried to see the contents but found that no matter how he focused, he couldn't see it clearly. The writing on it seemed to blur, becoming even more indistinct the harder he tried to see it.

Returning his divine soul to his body, Fang Chen closed the Mirror of the Universe and handed it back to Jiang Zhong. "I can't see the first few pages clearly."

"Sect Leader Fang, I can't see the first few pages either. I don't even know what they contain. However, I can see the later pages, so it should be related to one's cultivation level,” replied Jiang Zhong. He looked at Fang Chen’s outstretched hand but didn’t take Mirror of the Universe back.

Fang Chen was surprised. "What's wrong?"

Jiang Zhong's expression became solemn. "Sect Leader Fang, you’ve saved our lives. We’re indebted to you. You’ve even helped us reach the Grand Qian Empire. I have no way to repay you, so please accept the Mirror of the Universe."

"You want to give me this?" Fang Chen's expression was strange. "This looks like a pretty valuable treasure... Are you sure about this?"

"No matter how extraordinary it is, it cannot compare to the life of my young lady." Jiang Zhong glanced at Jiang Tianai, then nodded solemnly. "Sect Leader Fang, please take it."

"You really didn’t have to. I was the one who promised to send you here, and I only did as I said I’d do.” Fang Chen smiled. "But since I might find this useful, I'll accept it,” he agreed. “In return, if there's anything you need help with later on, just let me know."

"Thank you!" exclaimed Jiang Zhong in excitement. He had thought that giving the Mirror of the Universe away would ensure their full protection. However, he didn’t expect to also receive an unexpected promise, which was extremely crucial for them in their current plight.

Next, Jiang Zhong shared some insights he had gained from studying the Mirror of the Universe. Besides the first twenty pages—where he couldn't see anything written on them—the words on each subsequent page kept changing. But it didn’t change to whatever one wanted to see, but it shifted randomly, so one could only read whatever it decided to settle on. That was how he had accidentally come across information about the Blood Corpse Sect.

From Jiang Zhong’s explanation, Fang Chen noticed that he didn't know the titles of the first twenty pages.

"You can’t see what’s written here?" Fang Chen pointed to the five words “Records of Famous Sect Ancestors.”

"I can't see anything." Jiang Zhong shook his head, then asked curiously, "Can you?"

"More or less,” answered Fang Chen with a smile. “This page should be recording the world’s Sect Ancestors.”

"Whoa..." Jiang Zhong took a sharp breath, exchanging a glance with Jiang Tianai.

They were the first ancient family, so they naturally knew what the term ‘Sect Ancestor’ represented. However, the Jiang Family had been in sharp decline for countless years. Even though the Mirror of the Universe had never been lost, it had been many, many years since the family had anyone who could see what was written in the first twenty pages.

After all, over the past few years, the Jiang Family had only been able to produce a single Foundation Building Realm cultivator, and even that ancestor couldn't decipher the writings on the first twenty pages.

Jiang Zhong suddenly regretted proffering the book to Fang Chen. The Mirror of the Universe had turned out to be more important than he had imagined. However, since the item had already been given away, he couldn't ask for it back, and could only console himself.

"What exactly is written on it, Sect Leader Fang?" Jiang Tianai asked curiously as she leaned her head forward.

Seeing her curiosity, Fang Chen couldn't help but smile. "I only managed to make out a few words. I couldn't see the specific content either, probably due to my low cultivation." He was also curious about what was recorded on it, but even with his strong divine soul, he could only see the titles. It indicated that the Mirror of the Universe wasn't meant for ordinary cultivators. Perhaps one would need to at least be in the middle three realms to see what’s written.

The ship had approached the shore by now.

It had begun to snow heavily, so the port seemed to have been covered in a sea of white.

Hardly had they approached land when Fang Chen’s brow furrowed. "Something's not right,” he muttered. “Why is the demonic qi here so thick?"

He scanned his eyes around the port only to notice that there were many demons disembarking from ships. Most of these demons were as powerful as Victorious Buddha, some even stronger.