Tudou and Tongluo, two small paper figures, hurried forward and directly burrowed into Ming Zhitian's storage bag. After a few searches, several bottles and jars were shaken out.
Tudou and Tongluo looked at Ming Zhitian with expectant eyes, politely waiting for him to speak.
Ming Zhitian smiled faintly, "You two are so polite."
Then he looked at the mixture of ink and wine, "Eat up, it's all yours."
They picked them up and ate. The ink and wine were completely absorbed, becoming their nourishment. Their bloated paper bellies looked like they were stuffed with food and had nothing to do.
But soon, they returned to normal, becoming two thin paper figures again.
Tudou and Tongluo immediately grabbed Ming Zhitian's hand and said, "Come, Ming Zhitian, we'll take you somewhere."
Ming Zhitian didn't think much of it and was pulled away by the two of them. The two paper figures carried Ming Zhitian through the air. It was daytime, so it was fine, but at night, it would surely be terrifying.
They brought Ming Zhitian to an ancient cave. Standing at the entrance, he could smell an ancient aura, like the scent of a thousand years of dust.
Tudou said, "Go in. Take whatever you want, look at whatever you want."
Ming Zhitian said, "Is that okay? Does your master know?"
Tongluo said, "Master doesn't know. This is a little secret between me and Tudou. Just go in and see if you can enter."
Ming Zhitian nodded and, with a try-it-and-see attitude, entered the ancient cave. Tudou and Tongluo couldn't help but gasp.
Tudou said, "What… what's going on? He actually got in?"
Tongluo said, "It seems fate has its own master. No one can enter, only a martial cultivator can. This is destined."
The cave was small, but it was brimming with immense spiritual energy. Ming Zhitian could easily feel that a powerful being had once lived here, and not just an ordinary one.
Ming Zhitian couldn't help but begin cultivating the Longevity Art. After a while, it allowed him to break through to the 120th level of the Longevity Art! And the 30th level of the Artifact Control Art!
"Ah…"
Comfortable, Ming Zhitian stood up and continued walking, collecting bottles and jars as well as some divine-level cultivation techniques.
Suddenly, he saw a tattered leather book made of unknown animal hide, very sturdy and very old.
But the moment he opened it, golden characters flew out on their own and neatly appeared before Ming Zhitian's eyes.
It turned out that the Ancient Cultivation World was once jointly protected by ten powerful beings, and the one residing in the cave was one of them.
The book was rich in content, from the初开 (chūkāi - beginning) of the Ancient Cultivation World to its present prosperity. It covered everything from the twenty-three sects and thirty-nine schools to the Divine Emperor Sacred Land Sect, the Star Ancient Sect, and the Suohai Wuge (娑海无阁). It knew of the ten directional planes and the bottomless nine wastelands, knowing everything and understanding everything, making it the epitome of omniscience.
Upon encountering the content about Suohai Wuge, Ming Zhitian suddenly felt a sense of kinship, "Is it also the Ming family?"
Ming Zhitian then shook his head, "It's just the same surname. In the end, I was just overthinking it."
The two small talisman figures outside the cave informed him of the habits of Qianyang Xili. Ming Zhitian read the encyclopedia while listening to them narrate about Qianyang Xili.
He learned that she and Bai Ju, the Grandmaster of Mechanisms, were deeply in love. However, Bai Ju believed she was dead, and Qianyang Xili was permanently confined there, never to return to the Hongma Empire.
The golden characters of the encyclopedia entered Ming Zhitian's mind completely, without missing a single word!
It took Ming Zhitian a long time to recover, and he slowly processed the terabytes of content, integrating it and making it a part of himself.
When Ming Zhitian came out of the cave, Tudou and Tongluo looked at each other in surprise. Tudou quickly asked, "Ming Zhitian, what's wrong? I thought something happened to you inside. A whole day has passed."
"Huh?" Ming Zhitian was taken aback, "Has it been another day already? I had no idea inside."