“Yala, to be honest, is your true form a raven?”

“I know what you mean, but that joke is too old, it’s not funny.”

Putting down the official phone, which could forcibly connect even without a signal, a feat that seemed more like magic than science, Su Zhou ended his call with Yan Sheng. He couldn’t help but scratch his head: “A Xian Shen (Immortal God) relic appearing just like that, the Kunlun relic? I know that the spiritual energy outburst will lead to the further opening of Xian Shen relics all over the world, so it’s not strange that it can be explored now—but why are they looking for me?”

In his mind, relic exploration was similar to archaeology, essentially a technical job that had little to do with a simple, young high school graduate like himself.

Of course, Xian Shen relics might be a little special, but they shouldn't have any weird traps. After all, it was said that they were relics left behind, and there were quite a few in Zheng Guo that were the inheritances left by those Xian Shen themselves. Opening them probably wasn't dangerous, so there was no need to call on an ordinary student like himself who hadn’t even gone to Shuyuan (academy).

Although he was full of doubts, Su Zhou was too lazy to delve into them.

In any case, he could just ask the special official from Tian Du about the details.

At around eight o’clock in the evening, Su Zhou told his parents and then went to a private room in a hotel, where a rather handsome young man was waiting.

This young man had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, and his long hair was tied into a braid behind his head. His movements were fluid, and every step he took was flawless. When he saw Su Zhou enter the room, he stood up and greeted him with a smile, giving the impression of a fierce tiger preparing to pounce, his aura very imposing.

“Hello, hello.”

Of course, Su Zhou didn’t fall for that. He was really weak when it came to sensing aura, probably because no one’s aura was bigger than his own—one could see that this handsome young man had a twisted expression when he shook hands with Su Zhou, his body limp, almost kneeling. “Hello, Professor Su, ouch, please don’t release your aura, I’m just a high-level Awakened, I can’t stand your pressure…”

“Ah, it’s just that you released yours, and I thought I should release some too. Mutual respect is a traditional virtue of Zheng Guo.”

After shaking the other party’s hand vigorously, shaking it until his arm bones were a little loose, Su Zhou didn’t bother with the other party's attempt to test his strength: “Yan Sheng said that you would tell me the specifics—what exactly is this Kunlun relic? Why do they have to call me?”

“Eh?”

Hearing these words, the young man was quite surprised. He stood up straight and then scratched his head: “Professor Su, don’t you know? We thought you had actively requested to join.”

After this young man, who introduced himself as Bai Canglang, explained the whole process to Su Zhou, Su Zhou finally understood what was going on.

Bai Canglang came from the Bai family of the Northwest, an ancient transcendent family—and in this era, transcendent forces that still used family inheritance instead of integrating into Shuyuan were either insignificant or used ‘Hua Yao Ni Dao’ (imitating the way of demons), requiring bloodlines to transmit information.

The Bai family was the family that possessed the inheritance of the ‘White Tiger of the West’, practicing the martial arts of the White Tiger for generations to ensure that the White Tiger blood in their bodies was always in an active state. Therefore, they had not lost the relevant inheritance over the years. The aura that Su Zhou had seen just now was half testing and half instinctive White Tiger pressure.

And that long hair could be strengthened into a weapon with Jin Xing (metal element) spiritual energy at any time. Plucking a strand could turn hair into swords and blades, capable of cutting steel and breaking armor—it was said that because of this technique, ancient Bai family martial artists were basically bald in their old age. Fortunately, spiritual energy had been cut off for the last thousand years, and the world had gradually stabilized, with not so many battles, so the Bai family didn’t have to worry about everyone going bald in their later years.

“Kunlun Yushan (Jade Mountain), is where the Xian Shen inheritance that has a great relationship with Hua Yao Ni Dao is located.”

Bai Canglang and Su Zhou sat at opposite ends of the dining table. It was obvious that neither of them was very particular. They had already started eating and began to talk about serious matters at the dinner table, following the traditions of Zheng Guo: “One of the most powerful Xian Shen in the past, the Lord of Kunlun Yushan and Yaochi (Jade Pool), the Ximu Datianzun (Great Heavenly Venerate of the West), was one of the earliest Ni Dao (imitating the way) practitioners. And the Kunlun Yushan where she lived, the place of Yaochi, is the core relic of our Hua Yao Ni Dao inheritance.”

“Mm, I know that.”

Su Zhou nodded. In the earliest legends, Ximu Datianzun did indeed have the tail of a leopard and the teeth of a tiger, a half-beast, half-human Xian Shen. She was also one of the earliest female deities in the history of Zheng Guo Shenzhou. Later, it was estimated that the inheritance had improved, and Ximu Datianzun returned to the human form of a goddess, but her fundamental origin was indeed greatly related to Hua Yao Ni Dao.

To be honest, many similar Xian Shen legends were like this, which also proved that the way of Hua Yao was indeed one of the orthodox paths in ancient times.

After all, in the early days of cultivation, simulating the power of extraordinary beasts was not a shameful thing. It was all for the sake of protecting the inheritance of the human race. Was changing one’s body something unacceptable? The ancients were not like modern people. The precarious life and dangerous environment left them with no other choice.

“Kunlun Mountain is the place of a hundred gods, and also the headquarters of many Xian Shen who practiced Hua Yao Ni Dao. One year ago, when spiritual energy revived, Kunlun Yushan had already appeared, but in essence, it is a sub-space that is half-isolated from our world. In other words, Kunlun Yushan is actually an entrance to a secret realm cave, and the real Kunlun relic is behind it.”

Bai Canglang was currently eating a grilled fish. One could see that all his teeth were sharp, and his four tiger teeth were especially prominent, indicating that the White Tiger blood in his body was very strong.

This young man had now escaped from the influence of Su Zhou’s pressure, eating fish in large bites while speaking fluently: “So it wasn’t until recently that the technical personnel of the Dao Ji Ju (Dao Records Bureau), based on the information left behind by ancient inheritances, initially unlocked the secret realm doors on Kunlun Mountain. In this way, the secret realm door will be completely opened in another month or two.”

Su Zhou was indeed completely unaware of this. After all, even though he was a transcendent, it had only been for the past year. In terms of some common sense, he was indeed inferior to these natives who had grown up in the transcendent world since childhood.

As Bai Canglang narrated, he gradually understood why Yan Sheng had called him in for the Kunlun Mountain matter, and why Bai Canglang’s side seemed somewhat resistant.

After all, Kunlun Mountain was the base camp of the Hua Yao Ni Dao lineage. The inheritances and methods of opening it left behind in the past were mostly in the hands of Ni Dao families like the Bai family. And the Xian Shen of the Kunlun lineage seemed to have left Earth very early, not at the last moment a thousand years ago, but probably four thousand years ago.

So even the Xian Shen could not have imagined that when the connection between heaven and earth reopened, times had changed. The path of Hua Yao Ni Dao was no longer one of the orthodox paths, family inheritance was no longer the general trend, and various cultivation methods did not require the absorption of demon blood inheritance, and were even implicitly discriminated against.

Over the years, the contradictions between the two sides had been surging. Many families with divine beast bloodlines had been broken up and lost their inheritance. The Bai family was one of the few remaining.

As for the inheritance of the Four Symbols Sacred Beasts, only the Bai family of the Northwest White Tiger and the Xuan family, which had already integrated into the Zhenwu Shuyuan (True Martial Academy), remained. The Vermillion Bird and Azure Dragon had already been lost. The inheritance of the Azure Dragon lineage had been lost for seven hundred years, and the descendants of the bloodline could no longer be found at all. It was estimated that it had been completely lost.

Su Zhou and the others had also been suspected of having the Azure Dragon bloodline, but the result was not.

Now, the Kunlun Mountain relic was about to open, which delighted all the divine beast bloodline families that still existed in Zheng Guo. Even many fallen families who had lost their inheritance but still remembered the origins of their ancestors placed their hopes of revival on the Xian Shen inheritance that might exist in Kunlun Mountain—the Su family had been classified as one of these fallen bloodlines some time ago, but looking at this thin degree, one would have to trace back at least two or three thousand years.

But if one traced back two or three thousand years, who among the 1.4 billion people in Zheng Guo hadn’t produced some great power… so it was meaningless.

Anyway, the orthodox cultivation faction didn’t seem to be very happy to see this scene, so they had been secretly obstructing it… Su Zhou also understood. After all, this was how the Zhong Sheng Du Zhi (various saints' supervision) was, harmonious on the surface, but in reality, there were various factions and cliques. There were no factions within the country, it was strange and bizarre. Moreover, the resurgence of the demon blood path would indeed complicate the situation.

Su Zhou, who had awakened at least the dragon blood inheritance of the Xian Shen Dragon King level, was originally regarded as one of their own by these families, and his dragon blood was definitely a great help for exploring the Kunlun Mountain relic. But Su Zhou had always been in contact with the orthodox cultivation faction, and had been forcibly stuffed into the Kunlun exploration team without any communication some time ago, which aroused dissatisfaction among many people.

So in their view, Su Zhou was sent by the Zheng Guo orthodox cultivation lineage to snatch benefits.

“You guys have so much drama.”

Although Su Zhou understood and understood this kind of struggle and hostility between different paths, it didn’t affect his opinion that this kind of thing was simply a waste of effort. He picked up a piece of braised pork, put it in his mouth and chewed: “Orthodox cultivation requires talent, Hua Yao Ni Dao requires bloodlines. The two are not contradictory at all. In the future, those ordinary people who can’t go far in orthodox cultivation can spend money to buy some divine beast bloodlines and implant them, and transform into the Hua Yao Dao—wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“That’s still a bit too ahead of the times…” Hearing these words, Bai Canglang couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed, and forgot to eat the cumin lamb chops in his hand: “Divine beast bloodlines are essentially a condensation of extraordinary elements. Even within the family, one has to rely on luck to awaken them. If it could be spread so easily, many families wouldn’t have fallen to the point of losing their inheritance.”

In general, Bai Canglang also apologized for the initial test. He could see that Su Zhou had only just learned about this matter not long ago, and it was probably really just because he possessed dragon blood that he was stuffed into the exploration team, not to target them.

Thinking carefully, the struggle in the era when spiritual energy was cut off was because of insufficient resources. Now that spiritual energy has revived, inheritance has reopened, and resources are extremely abundant, and all mankind around the world will face challenges. In such an environment, no matter how much one wants to be hostile and obstruct, they will be suppressed by the high-level officials who still have some reason.

“Around October 14th, the doors of Kunlun Yushan will be completely opened. Although in theory, the Xian Shen will not set up any traps in these places of inheritance that are deliberately left for us descendants, there must be many tests. At this time, we will have to rely on your strength, Professor Su, a transcendent realm expert.”

In less than half an hour, Su Zhou and Bai Canglang had swept away all the food, and this Bai family youth also told Su Zhou the specific exploration time: “The early notification is mainly to hope that you, Professor Su, will be prepared, because this is the first time that Zheng Guo is exploring a Xian Shen relic, so it is taken very seriously—other countries around the world also attach great importance to and are paying attention to our actions this time, so we must not fail.”

“Don’t worry.” Su Zhou naturally wouldn’t underestimate this exploration. He said with a smile: “I am the very reliable type of person, just believe me.”

After paying the bill, Bai Canglang left. He had to go to the south as an envoy to notify the descendants of the Vermillion Bird lineage—the inheritance of their family had been cut off more than two hundred years ago, but they had a close relationship with the Bai family, who were also bloodlines of the Four Symbols Sacred Beasts. This trip to Kunlun Mountain might allow them to regain the glory of their ancestors.

“Spiritual energy revival allows us to regain the glory of our ancestors.”

At the time of parting, Bai Canglang cupped his fist at Su Zhou seriously: “But this does not mean that the Hua Yao path is just eating the food of our ancestors and has not made any progress. Over the years, our Bai family has relied on our bloodline’s keenness for the metallic properties of gold to bring great progress in materials science. The emergence of many satellites and aerospace alloys, and even new transcendent alloys, has the contribution of our Bai family.”

“Demon blood is the same as spiritual power, it is a kind of power, and it can be used by us humans. Professor Su, I think you feel the same way. In this era of great struggle, we should encourage each other, not fight among ourselves and waste precious power.”

Hearing this, Su Zhou also nodded slightly. He replied seriously: “That’s how it should be, we should encourage each other.”