Sun Mingyuan followed behind Qin Heng with utmost respect and caution. Qin Heng did not ask any questions, and Sun Mingyuan didn't dare to utter a single word. The Grandmaster of the Martial Dao Transcendence Realm was like a little follower, trembling with fear, as if walking on thin ice.

"What was the name of the ancient text you mentioned earlier?" Qin Heng asked indifferently, walking ahead with his hands behind his back.

"It's a fragment of an ancient book that our ancestral master chanced upon, called the 'East China Travel Notes'," Sun Mingyuan replied respectfully. "It is said to have been written by Emperor Donghua during his incarnate travels in the Lower Realm, detailing the relics of Immortal Mansions across Earth's famous mountains and great rivers."

"Wang Xuanfu's travel notes?" Qin Heng's eyebrows knitted slightly. Emperor Donghua was a reincarnation of the ancient Prince East. He also incarnated as a mortal to travel through various worlds, and in the Lower Realm, he was known as Wang Xuanfu. It was not surprising that he had left behind travel notes. However, the existence of various Immortal Mansion relics on Earth caught him off guard. In his previous life, Qin Heng had attained the rank of Daluo Golden Immortal in the Immortal realm and had once descended to Earth. At that time, he could envelop the entire universe with a single thought. Against him, the tiny Earth could not possibly conceal any secrets. Yet, in his previous life, Qin Heng never discovered any so-called Immortal Mansion relics on Earth. It seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary star. At most, there were some legends of mighty beings from the Immortal realm, but nothing truly out of the ordinary. But the Earth in this world... seemed distinctly different!

"Interesting, the Earth in this world is truly fascinating!" Qin Heng's eyes sparkled with excitement.

He had an intuition. All these unusual circumstances must be of help in his quest to peer into the supreme realm! He needed to gather more information! More information from ancient texts!

"What else is recorded in that ancient book of yours?" Qin Heng inquired.

"It is as I've just described," Sun Mingyuan said. "I dare not deceive Immortal Qin. I've perused it many times over, and its contents are etched in my memory."

"When you return, bring that ancient book to the Eastern Yue Royal Palace here," Qin Heng commanded indifferently. "Also, apart from your 'East China Travel Notes,' do you know of anyone else who might have ancient texts?"

"Originally, such ancient books should be closely guarded by the imperial court or treasured by ancient families and sects..." Sun Mingyuan thought for a moment and then said, "However, during the calamity that swept through the Divine Province from a hundred to several decades ago, many ancient texts may have been scattered abroad, to places like Japan, England, France, and America."

"I see... I understand." Qin Heng nodded slightly. After destroying Golden Buddha Temple and Shadow Gate, I'll find an opportunity to go abroad to see if there's a chance to recover some ancient texts, he thought.

Then, he waved his hand and said dismissively, "Alright, you can go. If you come across any clues regarding ancient texts in the future, report them to Inner Qinghe."

"Yes, Immortal Qin." Sun Mingyuan bowed respectfully and then prepared to leave.

"Wait." Qin Heng suddenly called out to him. With a flick of his finger, a trace of seemingly insignificant Mana entered Sun Mingyuan's body.

IN AN INSTANT! Sun Mingyuan felt the Internal Force within him surge explosively! His strength, which hadn't improved for over twenty years, increased severalfold in just a few seconds! It was as if he had consumed millennia-old Spiritual Medicine! INCREDIBLE!

THUD! Sun Mingyuan knelt down before Qin Heng, kowtowing vigorously. "Thank you, Immortal Qin, for your generous reward! Thank you, Immortal Qin, for your generous reward!"

"Rise," Qin Heng said calmly. "I've always been reasonable. If I ask you to do something, I won't let you exert yourself for nothing. Giving you some benefits will make you work harder, won't it?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Sun Mingyuan nodded repeatedly, tears of gratitude in his eyes. "Immortal Qin is fair and commanding, truly convincing and impressive!"

Qin Heng gave a slight nod, then turned and walked away. It was quite a bargain to win over a Martial Arts Grandmaster with less than one ten-thousandth of his Mana, especially since the sliver of Mana he had expended was fully restored in less than a second, resulting in no loss at all.

After instructing Qinghe on a few matters and repeatedly reminding her to pay extra attention to any news of ancient manuscripts, Qin Heng left the Eastern Yue Royal Palace with Qin Yun in tow.

On their way back, they happened to encounter Gong Chenglin and Gong Renjie, who had just arrived, along with three female students and their teachers. They exchanged simple greetings and then said goodbye to each other.

Under the guidance of their teachers, Gong Renjie and his group arrived at the Eastern Yue Royal Palace. Originally, the place was not open for visitors, and the teachers had only intended to take a look from the outside. However, a few young and beautiful Daoist nuns came out and welcomed them inside! They even patiently explained the history and anecdotes related to the Eastern Yue Royal Palace, more professionally than a tour guide. Gong Renjie, the girls, and the teachers were all baffled—this hospitality seemed a bit too enthusiastic. Only Gong Renjie looked back warily in the direction Qin Heng had gone. Perhaps this has something to do with that Mr. Qin, he thought. This person is a truly hidden figure of great importance—untouchable, untouchable indeed!

「After returning from the Eastern Yue Royal Palace」

Qin Heng resumed his normal yet not-so-normal life. Normal meant attending classes every day, going home, and doing test papers. The abnormal part was that Su Xiao, the beautiful teacher, was practically living at his home, watching over him every day as he worked on various test papers, fearing his studies would fall behind by even a smidge.

Today was the last mock exam before the college entrance examination. It was also Qin Heng's first mock exam since starting his senior year; he was often absent from school and had missed all previous exams.

"Qin Heng!"

A tall and handsome boy approached Qin Heng's desk. Seeing Qin Heng lying on his desk, seemingly lost in thought, the boy said with a disdainful gaze, "How about we make a bet to see who scores higher on this exam?"

"Damn, Wu Kun, that top student and scholarly snob, has set his sights on Qin Heng! It's over, it's over. I heard Qin Heng has been working really hard lately. This is bad."

"That scholarly snob Wu Kun always challenges someone during each mock exam. Afterward, he acts all dejected as if he's flunked. But when the results come out, he's still in the top three of the school and then starts strutting around, crushing people's confidence. Disgusting!"

"I heard Wu Kun plays video games every day and doesn't study—how does he still manage to get such high scores? It's unbelievable."

The surrounding students started to buzz with discussions at the sight.

Qin Heng, however, didn't even lift his eyelids, too lazy to spare Wu Kun a glance, and said indifferently, "Roll off and play by yourself."

Wu Kun's face immediately darkened, and his gaze turned icy as he stared at Qin Heng. He was one of the top three students in the school. Even the principal showed him some respect, and his homeroom teacher, Su Xiao, thought highly of him. While people might speak ill of him behind his back, they were all very respectful to his face. Some even considered being challenged by him an honor; even if they lost, it was something to boast about.

"Qin Heng! I'm stooping to challenge you—this is your honor!" Wu Kun snorted coldly. "Someone with your grades doesn't even deserve to be in my sight! This is the last mock exam, and I wanted to motivate you! But to think you'd have this attitude—it's disappointing. It seems you've given up, not even wanting to attend college!"

He then bent down beside Qin Heng and, in a whisper audible only to them, said, "Damn! What makes a loser like you deserve to have Teacher Su Xiao supervise your test papers every night?! Accept my challenge, or you're just waste, dross, trash! You don't deserve to be around Teacher Su Xiao at all!!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.