In the quiet and brightly lit stone chamber, Lin Yue stood motionless, staring blankly at the Blood Jade in his hand, his fingertips trembling slightly.
"There's hope now..."
Lin Yue murmured softly, clutching the jade pendant in his hand as if he had grasped the future.
Three months had passed.
As soon as he had realized Xiahong Lie's true identity, he knew he had fallen into a desperate situation.
He was a mere mortal, a person of no significance, yet he had offended the most noble prince in the world, and it had escalated to a fight to the death!
When he had sorted out all of these, the despair in his heart was imaginable.
The difference in class was immeasurable.
What kind of desperate situation was this?
If it were not for the slim hope provided by the Innate Divine Power, and that faint uncertain chance of life, he probably would have already broken down.
Before coming to this world, he was just an ordinary person with a bit more experience, someone who still felt fear when killing, whose daily life revolved around mundane household chores.
A person of no consequence had become mortal enemies with the Xiahong family's prince?
This was no different from a death sentence.
It was only a matter of sooner or later.
Yet, 'sooner' and 'later' were ultimately different, which was why he had been struggling bitterly up until now.
For three months, every day he felt like he was blindfolded, waiting for the executioner's blade to fall, and every moment was like an urgent death countdown.
He had no plan and could only try every means to delay the moment of death's arrival.
But...
Now it was different.
"Finally, there's a way to survive..."
Lin Yue slowly closed his eyes, overwhelmed by multitude emotions, tears welling up at the corners.
After a long while, he opened his eyes, looked at the Blood Jade in his hands, took several deep breaths to suppress the excitement in his heart.
Now was not the time to relax.
Even though he now had a clear goal and hope, achieving it still seemed difficult.
"I need to think carefully about how to use it."
Lin Yue forced himself to calm down and think as thoroughly as possible.
That deep voice had said that anyone who hadn't broken through the Heavenly Barrier could use it, and it was most suited for those who sought to seize a new life or reincarnate.
It seemed to be designed specifically for mortals.
Although he didn't know how to seize a body or reincarnate, fortunately, he was a mortal.
"Judging by the voice, this Blood Jade was not left by the owner of this Cave Mansion."
Lin Yue pondered as he quietly sat down beside the stone table.
The deep voice he had heard when claiming ownership of the Blood Jade was quite different from the voice of the body he now occupied.
Moreover, if the Blood Jade was created by the owner of the Cave Mansion, there was no need to leave a message in the Blood Jade; wouldn't it have been simpler to leave a letter instead?
The owner of the Cave Mansion placed such value on the Blood Jade. Perhaps it was a fortuitous encounter he had acquired?
"Inside this Glass Box is the Fire Phoenix Blood and soul..."
Lin Yue looked at the Glass Box on the stone table, and suddenly understood.
It seemed that the Blood Jade, as well as the Fire Phoenix Blood and soul, were items prepared by the owner of the Cave Mansion for his disciple, to compensate her, and thus these things were left here before his death.
Lin Yue reopened the letter and looked at it, finding the date of signing at the end:
[Emperor's Inspection, the eleventh year of winter]
"Emperor's Inspection?"
Lin Yue looked at this era and suddenly understood when the letter was written.
The God Emperor had always been the sole ruler of Great Yong, unchanging, so the court always used auspicious events or major occurrences to define eras.
The previous era was called 'Emperor's Inspection' because it was established when the God Emperor inspected the Human World.
'Emperor's Inspection' lasted for forty-nine years, and the current year was the fifteenth year of Qingyuan, which meant that the letter was left fifty-three years ago.
Since the Cave Mansion's owner was so certain of his impending death, it seemed he died not long after writing this letter.
"More than fifty years, and the female disciple never came?"
Lin Yue looked around the Cave Mansion, lost in thought.
Since the Cave Mansion's owner believed his disciple would see this letter, the female disciple must also know the use of "Innate Divine Skills" and how to enter the Cave Mansion.
Once she found the owner's body outside, transforming into his appearance using Innate Divine Skills, she could naturally open the Cave Mansion.
Only...
What the owner probably didn't expect was that his disciple never came.
Nor could he have imagined that there would be an exception like Lin Yue, who, thanks to Innate Divine Skills, discovered the Divine Skills and gained access to the secrets of the Cave Mansion.
He was nothing more than an accident.
Just like him, a person who did not originally belong to this world.
Just an accident.
Now, he had no choice but to take away this deeply meaningful legacy.
Lin Yue slowly turned around and looked out of the Cave Mansion at the mummified remains.
After a long silence, he said softly, "So many years have passed, and your disciple has never come. I don't know if she'll ever come, but the opportunity you left behind is my only hope for survival, so... I apologize. If I manage to survive this, and I encounter your disciple later, I will do my best to repay her, for this is the debt I owe to her."
Although he was a transmigrator, he never felt himself to be anything special.
He was just a normal person with a conscience and emotions after all.
So he held grudges and valued acts of kindness, repaying any slight or favor in full.
How could he forget a favor that saved his life?
"Fire Phoenix Blood and soul..."
Lin Yue took a glance at the Glass Box in his hand and shook his head slightly.
While he did not know if the Fire Phoenix was a Divine Beast, the name Phoenix needed no further explanation, and even if not a Divine Beast, it would not be far behind.