Only I am Venerable

Qin Li’s curiosity about this Third Elder grew. He really wanted to ask which Mysterious Land this Martial Artist was from to know so much, even seeming to have a deep understanding of the Land of the Far West. After all, most of what Qin Li himself knew about the Land of the Far West came from the memories he had inherited from Hu Yanbo. And Hu Yanbo’s memories were mostly filled with various skills like Alchemy and Artifact Refining, along with many recollections of the war back then.

Therefore, Qin Li had always believed that he was probably the person who best understood the war and the changes of the Primordial Era. After all, he had the memories of someone who had personally experienced it!

But this Third Elder, Jiang Heng, also seemed to have a profound understanding and had done extensive research on the Primordial Era.

"Why?" Qin Li was curious about the Third Elder’s claim that no one could take anything from the Divine Temple.

"Without the key, no one can open the Temple Gate. And the key... it was lost to the various corners of the Celestial Essence Continent back in the Primordial Era. There’s been no news of it since. Finding it... is nearly impossible!"

"The key?"

Qin Li’s brow furrowed. ’Could the key be the Ancient Map that was split into who knows how many pieces?’ he wondered.

The Third Elder gave a wry smile. "The key is a map! First, you have to find all the pieces of the map and put them together to receive the revelation about the key! Of course, this is all according to the scriptures. I’ve never even seen what the map looks like."

"So that’s how it is. What’s inside the Divine Temple that’s worth all this trouble?" Qin Li asked again.

The Third Elder smiled and shook his head. "That I don’t know. But I do know a thing or two about the Ancient Map. It’s said that the front of the complete Ancient Map marks all the Mysterious Lands on the Celestial Essence Continent! The back is the map to the Divine Temple’s key! Sigh... back then, I didn’t dare believe it was true—that the countless Mysterious Lands on the Celestial Essence Continent actually appeared because of a war. They were created by many supreme experts of the Primordial Era... as places similar to shelters, to protect the last vestiges of the human bloodline. The enemy, on the other hand, wants this map more than anything so they can destroy all the Mysterious Lands... Therefore, the complete Ancient Map is, in itself, a priceless treasure!"

Qin Li smiled wryly. "Third Elder, you trust me so much, telling me something so important so casually. I... I don’t know what to say!"

"Hehe, Young Master Qin, you cured my junior sister, saving me from being punished by my sect. This little bit of information is nothing in comparison." The Third Elder shook his head, looking at the black wall in the distance before continuing, "The Divine Temple has already appeared. Even if I don’t say anything, those people from the Land of the Far West will probably arrive soon. By then, this won’t be a secret anymore. So, I figured I might as well tell you first, Young Master Qin, and consider it a personal favor, haha!"

"Third Elder, I, Qin Li, accept your favor!" Since the man had been so forthcoming, it would have been too much for Qin Li to not even tell him his name.

The Third Elder smiled faintly. "I’ve always enjoyed studying the texts from the Primordial and Ancient Times. I’m especially interested in the most esoteric of matters. So, I was able to see a few clues about you, Young Master Qin. If it were anyone else, how could I so casually reveal these things? Although it’s not some great secret, it’s not information that just anyone would know."

Qin Li was slightly taken aback. "Oh? What can you see, Third Elder?"

Jiang Heng’s expression was a little strange as he said, "Young Master Qin, your fortune reads like that of someone destined for an early death, yet you now possess supreme strength. Furthermore, everything about this Ancient Divine Temple seems to be inextricably linked to you... Alas, my abilities are limited, so this is all I can see."

Little did he know, Jiang Heng’s words had already set off a tidal wave in Qin Li’s heart!

Since coming to this world, this was the first living person—and a seemingly ordinary one at that—aside from the memories left by Hu Yanbo, who could see through to his true identity!

Even though he hadn’t seen everything, it was enough to stun Qin Li!

"Also..." The Third Elder glanced around. Even though they had been using voice transmission when discussing the Land of the Far West, he still subconsciously checked his surroundings before transmitting to Qin Li, "Actually, in that scripture, there’s a sentence about this Divine Temple that I still can’t understand to this day!"

"What does it say?"

"’The Temple emerges, conflict arises anew, and glory is restored!’" The Third Elder gave a wry smile. "The sentence seems simple, but it’s filled with countless hidden meanings. When the Temple emerges, why would conflict arise? And what kind of glory is this ’glory restored’ referring to?"

After hearing this, Qin Li also fell into deep thought. For some reason, the memories he inherited from Hu Yanbo were specifically missing any information about the Divine Temple. ’Logically,’ he thought, ’if this Divine Temple was truly the creation of those supreme experts from the Primordial Era, then Hu Yanbo, as a Great Power from that time, should have known of its existence!’

’Or could it be,’ he wondered, ’that Hu Yanbo felt this Ancient Divine Temple had nothing to do with me and deliberately erased this memory?’

Qin Li shook his head with a self-deprecating smile. ’My current strength hasn’t even reached the Shattered Void realm. Although I have ways to fight against Martial Artists at the Shattered Void realm, I’m still fundamentally a Supreme Martial Artist. This Divine Temple clearly hides countless secrets, so mysterious that even Hu Yanbo might have known nothing about it. Why should I... trouble myself so much over it?’

’When the time comes for the truth to be revealed, it will be revealed. There’s no use rushing it.’

In fact, Qin Li had guessed correctly. Of course Hu Yanbo knew about the Divine Temple, because in the Primordial Era, it was the Holy Land of the entire Celestial Essence Continent!

However, by the time those Space Great Mages set up that world-shaking Grand Array, Hu Yanbo was already long dead. His soul was in the Golden Palace, so it was impossible for him to know that when those Space Great Mages who had passed the Thunder Tribulation laid the array, they used the Ancient Divine Temple as its hub!

In other words, this Ancient Divine Temple was the anchor for all the Mysterious Lands in the world of the Celestial Essence Continent! If mastering the Ancient Map was equivalent to mastering all the Mysterious Lands in the world, then... controlling the Ancient Divine Temple was equivalent to controlling all the Mysterious Lands!

Therefore, this ancient, time-worn, super Divine Temple—whose creator was unknown even to the Great Powers of the Primordial Era—had been given a new meaning now that it had broken through the earth and reappeared in the world!

But even without knowing all this, Qin Li understood one thing: the appearance of such a colossal entity would inevitably attract the attention of the entire Celestial Essence Continent. Although the Land of the Far West was extremely far away, and coming from there was as troublesome as a Void Crossing, hadn’t people from the Land of the Far West come over before? And not all of them were supreme experts!

From this, it seemed that the people from the Land of the Far West weren’t unable to come, but unwilling!

To them, the East was simply too weak, with nothing worthy of their attention. But the appearance of the Divine Temple would definitely change that!

Qin Li could even foresee that in the not-so-distant future, more and more people from the Land of the Far West would begin to appear on the Eastern Continent.

As Qin Li, the Third Elder, and the others continued their conversation, Lu Qi, unable to get any useful information from the two men, pulled Shangguan Shiyu aside to chat. Although Shangguan Shiyu had a cool personality, her aura was extremely noble, and she didn’t come across as arrogant. So even though she mostly listened and rarely spoke, Lu Qi still had a very good impression of her.

"Shangguan, how did you and Qin meet?" Lu Qi’s lively eyes darted about as she tried to pry more information about Qin Li out of Shangguan Shiyu.

Shangguan Shiyu smiled faintly and said, "We’ve been engaged since we were children."

"Huh? Really?" Lu Qi was a little incredulous. She couldn’t believe that such a well-matched pair also had one of those cliché arranged marriages. ’How anticlimactic!’ she thought.

"Of course. We were only in our teens back then. It was... an alliance between our families, I suppose!" As Shangguan Shiyu spoke, the memory of seeing Qin Li for the first time surfaced in her mind, and a warm smile touched her lips.

Of the major families in Yellow Sand City back then, only the Fang Family was still powerful today, and even the Fang Family was subordinate to Hu. Therefore, the old affairs of the Shangguan Family and the Qin Family were rarely mentioned even in Yellow Sand City itself, let alone by these Martial Artists from the Mysterious Lands, who would know nothing of such rumors.

"Still an alliance between families... Heavens. But you and Qin really are a perfect match!" Lu Qi said with a hint of envy.

Shangguan Shiyu smiled faintly. "I think that young senior brother of yours is also very concerned about you!"

Hearing this, Liang Luo’s eyes showed a flash of gratitude. At the same time, he pricked up his ears, wanting to hear what kind of place he held in his junior sister’s heart.

Lu Qi glanced at Liang Luo out of the corner of her eye and muttered under her breath, "But I only see him as a brother."

Shangguan Shiyu just smiled faintly. Over in the distance, Liang Luo’s eyes filled with unconcealable disappointment and dejection.

Just then, someone up ahead suddenly grew excited and shouted, "Look! The Temple Gate is right there!"

Everyone’s attention was drawn over. A large crowd had already gathered in that spot, and from a distance, it seemed someone was shouting something.

Qin Li and the Third Elder also stopped their conversation, looking ahead. The black wall, which had been perfectly flat, now had a section that was recessed inward. After walking closer, they discovered that a massive, dark yellow door—as pristine as if it were new, five hundred meters wide and two thousand meters tall—had appeared before them!