Inside the student dormitories of Modu University.
Ling Tian sat cross-legged on the bed, slowly opened his eyes, and let out a turbid breath.
He had awakened from his meditative state of adjustment.
But his eyes, which had always carried an arrogant disdain for all beings, were now, uncharacteristically, filled with deep apprehension and a hint of confusion.
The reason was none other than the scene that kept replaying uncontrollably in his mind: the moment a few days ago in the exhibition hall when he met the gaze of that mortal named Lu Cheng!
Just a glance!
The coldness, indifference, and the terrifying, almost tangible pressure contained within that gaze!
It actually made him, a being who once dominated the Nine Heavens Immortal Realm, played chess with Immortal Kings, and contended with Demon Sovereigns, feel a shiver from the depths of his soul!
This was an utter humiliation!
It was even more unbelievable than when he was ambushed by a joint force, his soul shattered.
He realized that he had underestimated this world from the very beginning!
"How could such a powerful individual be born in this desolate world, devoid of spiritual energy and with incomplete laws, in this Age of Dharma Decline?"
"I thought that with the Qi refining strength remaining in my remnant soul, I could move unhindered. Now it seems I underestimated the natives of this world."
He recalled the ten-thousand-year soul nourishing wood, so close yet missed, and the two supreme cauldrons that should have been his, and his heart filled with endless unwillingness and anger!
But he was, after all, an unrivaled Immortal Emperor who once stood above the Nine Heavens!
Although he was now a tiger fallen into the plains, a dragon swimming in shallow waters, the calmness and strategy befitting an emperor were still present!
After the initial shock and anger, he forced himself to calm down and began to analyze the current situation carefully and objectively.
He realized that in this unfamiliar world, with his current weak body and faint remnant soul, it would be absolutely impossible to overpower others and act unrestrainedly as he did in his previous life.
Especially with such an unfathomable and mysterious powerhouse like Lu Cheng, eyeing him covetously!
Rushing in recklessly for a head-on confrontation would be akin to hitting a stone with an egg, courting death!
"Hmph! So be it!"
"I, the Emperor, will temporarily let you, this slightly stronger ant, live a few more days."
Ling Tian snorted coldly in his heart, and a rational determination flashed in his deep eyes.
"A gentleman's revenge is not too late in ten years. An Immortal Emperor's revenge is not too late in ten thousand years!"
"The most urgent task is to quickly find a way to restore the power of my soul origin!"
"As long as my soul can recover even one ten-thousandth of its power, crushing you, this ant, will be a matter of a flick of a finger!"
He temporarily put aside the idea of directly seeking revenge on Lu Cheng and seizing those two supreme cauldrons.
He knew that those two cauldrons were also heavily protected by Lu Cheng.
If he went there in his current state, he probably wouldn't even be able to touch their clothes and would be beaten out as a pervert.
He must find another way!
Search for other heavenly materials and earthly treasures!
But... in this Age of Dharma Decline, where could he find those spiritual items that could nourish the soul?
Ling Tian fell into deep thought again.
He began to frantically operate the remnant wisp of his soul, like the most efficient supercomputer, rapidly absorbing and organizing the rather unremarkable twenty years of memories of this body's original owner.
Soon, a place he had once disdained surfaced in his mind.
The library!
"Alas... To think that I, the Emperor, once possessed the Lingxiao Treasure Hall with billions of scrolls, and could freely access all the wondrous techniques and secret arts of the myriad realms."
"Now, I am reduced to flipping through so-called ancient texts written with mortal ink and brush?"
"This is an utter humiliation!"
Ling Tian inwardly complained about his current predicament with an arrogance befitting an Immortal Emperor.
But circumstances were stronger than pride.
In order to recover his strength as soon as possible and return to his peak, he could only temporarily put aside that ridiculous pride.
Then, he walked out of the dormitory door with steady steps.
"Bang!"
It wasn't until the dormitory door was completely closed that the other three boys in the room let out a long sigh of relief, as if they had survived a disaster!
"Holy crap! You scared me to death!"
"That kid Ling Tian, he seems a bit off!"
"He's more than off, he's downright creepy!"
"In my opinion..."
"Ling Tian probably stopped taking the medicine he was on for whatever illness he had!"
"Now he's having a relapse of his mental illness after stopping the medication!"
As soon as these words were uttered, the entire dormitory instantly fell into a deathly silence!
Holy crap?
He wouldn't suddenly get up in the middle of the night and take a knife to... *slice* us all up, would he?
...Modu University Library, vast in area and with an ocean of books.
Ling Tian, this supreme being of the Immortal Realm who once couldn't even be bothered to glance at mortal books.
Now, he plunged into this ocean of knowledge like the most ordinary, diligent student.
His powerful soul, at this moment, displayed unparalleled and terrifying learning ability!
Thick ancient texts that ordinary students would take days, or even months, to barely finish.
In his eyes, it was merely a matter of a quick scan with his divine sense!
He absorbed all the knowledge in the library almost by "scanning," like a sponge soaking up water!
From astronomy and geography to history and humanities.
From medical texts to unofficial histories and secret anecdotes.
He even delved into those posts hidden deep within the internet, considered by ordinary people as feudal superstition and supernatural phenomena, such as "supernatural forums" and "secret realm explorations"!
In just a few days, he had almost grasped the general outline of this world, as well as the historical changes and mythological legends of China over thousands of years!
Although most of this mortal knowledge was "junk information" useless to him.
However, some occasional records about "ancient tomb relics," "incorruptible divine objects," and "secrets of longevity" still reignited a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes, which had almost completely despaired.
He believed that in this seemingly spiritual energy-depleted world, there must still be some unknown, ancient opportunities sealed by time!
And what he needed to do was to find those truly valuable clues from these fragmented pieces of information, whose authenticity was hard to discern!
After several days of sleepless information sifting, finally!
Just as he finished "scanning" a very old-looking book with yellowing pages, titled "Modu Local County Annals," and was about to casually toss it aside, a record about the Shen Family, an ancient, long-declined family in the outskirts of Modu, caused a faint ripple in his soul!
"The Shen Family has lived for generations in Qingxi Town on the city's outskirts. It is rumored that their ancestors were once high-ranking officials in the previous dynasty, tasked with guarding an ancient supreme treasure. However, only a few family members received the treasure's blessing, making rapid progress in martial arts, while most of their descendants were frail, susceptible to cold, and suffered from incurable diseases..."
Ancient supreme treasure?
Incurable cold disease?
When Ling Tian saw these keywords, filled with mystery and an eerie aura, his eyes, which had become somewhat numb, instantly burst forth with an incomparably brilliant light!
"Found it!"