Yang Qing remained stupefied unable to tear his eyes away from the sight before him. He kept pinching his thighs a couple of times to confirm that all he was seeing wasn't an illusion. Despite its stingy nature, he was constantly reminded of the Order's accumulations. Just sitting there on the carpet scroll, he could feel his essence, qi, and spirit being renewed, strengthened, and transformed by the second. He felt like his mind was being expanded, with his thoughts becoming clearer and sharper.

The voice being produced from the stream below, or the auspicious beasts above affected his palace realm, as it seemed to tremble with excitement and hunger. The ocean within his palace realm churned, the sun blazed with more intensity, the moon released a gentle brilliance and the green flame tree at the center vibrated with vibrancy as a blinding verdant light was released from every part of his body.

The voices produced outside by the living dao gold sands were like a candle flame when compared to the effects Yang Qing was feeling at the moment from this immortal-like lair.

Yang Qing was pulled from his daze when one of the auspicious beasts above him which looked to be the Xuanwu black tortoise sauntered its way to him. From the stories he had read and a few accounts here and there, the Xuanwu tortoise was said to be as big as an entire ocean but the one headed to Yang Qing was about the size of a regular tortoise, however, its presence made Yang Qing feel small in front of it. It was like an entire planet was headed towards him. Its pressure and presence were suffocating and overwhelming.

Yang Qing found himself igniting all the runes within his physique on reflex before he forcibly calmed himself down, but even then, he felt slightly unnerved as he stared at the Xuanwu slowly making its way before him. The unnerving feeling wasn't out of his regular cowardice and apprehensions, but out of a more primal signal like he was facing heaven's mandate. The beast before him didn't feel like the Xuanwu, while it did look like one,what Yang Qing was seeing, what was making him feel the way he was, was the profound law within it, something within it felt primordial and old, like something that was birthed during the foundation of the world. That law could suppress and contain everything from the skies above to the earth below.

Just as Yang Qing was wondering why the Xuanwu was headed to him, he felt his token tremble as it released a gentle heat. It escaped Yang Qing's clasp and floated gently toward the Xuanwu while releasing an ethereal light that came from all the runes and ancient writings on it being activated at the same time.

Yang Qing felt relief wash over him as the overbearing pressure of the Xuanwu, disappear. The ethereal light from his token seemed to have formed a bubble of protection around him.

Once the token was a few inches from the Xuanwu, the Xuanwu paused its steps and disintegrated into a golden auspicious light that made it seem like a golden milky way of stars as it flowed into the token. The token buzzed with a strange resonant sound as the golden light fell on it, and a few seconds later it trembled and morphed into a palm-sized Xuanwu.That Xuanwu now felt like a real Xuanwu to Yang Qing even if he had never met one. However, he had heard that the Xuanwu was a master of all forms of the water element. It could flood the planet with one limb and encase it completely with ice that would never melt for eternity with the other. Everything that touched on water, it was a paragon existence that embodied it all.

If he was to have a special physique based on a mythical being, Yang Qing never wanted a phoenix, dragon, white tiger, vermilion bird, Kunpeng, or any of the others, ever since fear and self-preservation became his close companion there was only one mythical being he truly wished to share a bloodline with, and that was the Xuanwu tortoise. The reason for that had nothing to do with the mastery over all the laws of water but more to do with something he had read about how those who were lucky enough to have a contract with it or its bloodline, would have an inexhaustible lifespan, absurd vitality and sturdy defense that was able to defend against almost anything under the sun.

It was the perfect physique for him. Sometimes he wondered if that was why he ended up with yin yang nature peerless jade physique. Was the physique an embodiment of his strong desire? He often wondered that because the physique more or less gave him some of the features that were common with the Xuanwu, like his high vitality and regeneration, and also the enormous amount of qi he had. It was rumored that a single droplet of qi from a Xuanwu would fully fill the dantian of several thousand peak-stage core formation experts.

While Yang Qing's spiritual qi capacity wasn't as exaggerated, he always had more in his reserve than those of the same cultivation base him, and that capacity has been growing during his recent breakthroughs with his physique. The only thing he was lacking was the sturdy defense, though if one wasn't completely technical about it, one could argue his physique granted him some defense, especially with his immunity to countless toxins and curses.

The only place he was lacking was the lifespan. His physique, coupled with his foundation as a purple core expert did grant him more lifespan than most in the same level, such as,as an early-stage palace realm expert, a normal one would have a lifespan of 15,000 years, and if they had a purple core when breaking through, they would have 20,000 years but Yang Qing could feel his lifespan would hit 30,000 years as things stood which already exceeded the limit of a regular peak stage palace realm expert who would have 25,000 years on reaching the late stage of the palace realm. Even though he had some advantages in that regard, it could not beat having an inexhaustible lifespan like the Xuanwu.

"Come to think of it can the Xuanwu be considered an Ancient because of its absurd lifespan?" wondered Yang Qing as he recalled the description Dean Zhu Lao gave of those beings, monstrous beings known for having long lifespans and being the progenitors of mythical creatures like dragons and phoenixes.

However, Yang Qing pushed those thoughts behind him when he heard the palm-sized Xuanwu suddenly talk when it perched itself on his shoulders. The voice though gentle, contained boundless and unfathomable power. Yang Qing felt that its voice contained a mysterious power that was able to influence the fabric of the world, collapsing oceans, calling stars into existence, and raising and falling mountains.

"You have 69 hours left on your access to this floor. While here, do not leave the confines of the scroll carpet. With your cultivation base, there are things here that would drive you to madness maybe temporarily, maybe permanently. Whatever you do, please don't leave the confines of this carpet, even when you hear a voice telling you to do so, don't do it. If you do, you may end up getting lost here forever, or worse, you may end up as one of the objects of wisdom in this place.."

Yang Qing hurriedly shrunk back when he saw the miniature Xuanwu smirk ominously as it said those words."With your accumulations and foundations, mmh, it might not be a bad thing to have all you know permanently absorbed into this place and add to the collection..." added the Xuanwu.

"S..sorry senior, but I doubt I have any accumulations. I barely know anything. It was because of my inadequacies that I even got sent here in the first place. I would likely give out heart demons and qi deviations if I were a scroll. I don't want to ruin the lives of promising talents.." Yang Qing said with a slight stammer as he swore to not take a single step outside the carpet. Not even an immortal feast would drag him out of the carpet.

The Xuanwu stared at him meaningfully while wearing a playful gaze before it said,

"Fine.. The usage is similar to the other floors. You only need to think of the books you want and they will come to you. I don't need to say this, but your access is restricted within certain sections. This is the list of information you have access to from this floor.."

The Xuanwu placed its palm on Yang Qing's forehead. A pale blue glyph appeared on its forelimb which pierced into Yang Qing. A flood of information was gently poured into Yang Qing's mind.

The information was the books, scrolls, and jade scripts he could access with his temporary clearance. It was as the seniors from the Judicial Review Committee had said, Yang Qing could only access information that related to the history of the Deer Mountain Kingdom, those that touched on the Bi Xie Empire which was the former owner of the territory of the Deer Mountain Kingdom was built on top of, and lastly a curated list of cultivation arts, spirit beasts, plants, treasures, and organizations known to have aspects that projected the characteristics the sacred flame swan had said she felt when the mysterious presence was outside the graveyard or torch or the personal account of the lunary fury crane that the sacred flame swan helped him get via her art, the urn of legacies.

"You can also access any information you may require from the floors below, once again you only need to think of them or access the catalog via the scroll carpet. You will probably need this to process the information from this floor.." said the Xuanwu as it waved its limbs. A blue veil filled with complex glyphs appeared which then covered Yang Qing's entire body before it concentrated in his eyes.

Just as Yang Qing was wondering what the veil was for, he saw the sight before him change. The hills transformed into orange shelves surrounded by auspicious lights and these orbs were covered by complex runes that seemed to contain something calamitous within them.

He could finally see the scrolls, and books within those hill-

sized shelves and the meadows below. As for the river, while it remained a mysterious river that looked to be the source of all profundities contained within it, Yang Qing could feel his ability to separate and identify those profundities rapidly increase. It was no longer just voices but he could trace the countless lines of profundity that were flowing within the river.

"Make the most of the time you have.." said the Xuanwu as it retreated into its shell.

"What should I start with.." muttered Yang Qing with his heart rapidly racing quickly forgetting the fear that had assaulted him a few. He mulled over for a couple of minutes before he finally settled on his starting point.

"The Bi Xie empire it is.."