Tang Ze thought that the picture on the vase could only be depicting one thing. "Is it an asura?"
"Right you are," Elder He Xuan said.
Violent.
Bloodthirsty.
Animalistic.
Demonic.
Evil incarnate.
Powerful.
Those were all words used to describe the asuras, a race of creatures who were somewhat humanoid and were said to have originated from the twisted and tormented shadows of the suras; who were their divine counterparts.
Very little was known about the asuras apart from myths, as no one in living memory had seen one however.
"Yes," Elder He Xuan said. "What caused the downfall of the Mercury Kingdom - well, are you aware of the leading theory?"
"They fought with the asuras, and though they won the war, it weakened them and then they fell to a series of natural disasters," Tang Ze answered, recalling what he had read.
That was just the leading theory regarding their downfall though. Their knowledge of the Mercury Kingdom was but a drop in a vast ocean, after all.
They had two writing systems, only one of which was partially deciphered. Elder He Xuan knew some words and most letters of that script, but as for the other writing system that they had - well, it was a complete mystery. Nothing similar to the Rosetta Stone had been found as of yet that could help decipher this other writing system.
Why did they even have two separate writing systems in the first place which were completely different from each other? The leading theory on this was that one was a common script used by everyday people, and the other was a more formal or traditional script used by people like priests and academics.
Next, they explored the inside of a few houses. They were made of wood, and some of them had collapsed in on themselves, though there were still remnants of what used to be furniture within them. Some of the buildings were still mostly intact even after all this time.
Instantly, the differences in furniture tastes were obvious based on the style of what was present. The furniture pieces were unlike anything he had seen on Earth, and they still seemed to be somewhat functional - not that he was going to risk testing that hypothesis by using something only to have it break. Elder He Xuan would be very angry were that to happen.
There was little in the surrounding environment to find, given the lack of foliage they weren't going to be finding any extinct species of plants here.
Outside of the houses, there were some murals, some of which depicted giant tortoises - the last of which had gone extinct thirty thousand years ago.
There were some other additional things of interest. There was what looked like a board game with pieces made of stone on it, a pair of dice that each had eight sides likely used for gambling, and a strange contraption made of wood that even Elder He Xuang had no idea regarding its function; writing it off as likely being used for 'ritualistic purposes.'
There were also things like jewelry and necklaces which while important from a historical perspective, Tang Ze could see people stealing for their simple market value of the precious metals used to make them. Yes, Elder He Xuan was probably right about keeping this place secret and that a lot of this stuff would be destroyed or lost if the general populace got to know about it.
One question remained in Tang Ze's mind - while this was interesting enough, why wasn't Elder He Xuang getting to the part where he needed his help?
Elder He Xuang had two reasons as to why he was holding off. One, he genuinely enjoyed finally finding someone who showed even the slightest bit of interest in his hobby. He had been ignored, and sometimes mocked, for what others considered a pointless field of study. So why rush before showing Tang Ze some of the most interesting things that he had found?
And secondly, there was a part of him that feared that Tang Ze might not actually be able to do it. He had wanted to see this secret realm's innermost secret for over a century, though he had seen nothing that could have helped him move forward when it came to that - until Tang Ze had arrived.
Elder He Xuan had nurtured a tiny amount of hope in his heart, but he dared not fan it, because the crushing disappointment he would feel if Tang Ze failed to live up to his expectations would be all the more bitter for the sweetness of his aspirations.
Tang Ze had proven himself to be more than capable multiple times, and as such, Elder He Xuan felt that it was extremely likely that Tang Ze would succeed.
Yet, the nagging feeling in his heart could not be completely suppressed - the fear that Tang Ze might fall short.
"Before we move on," Elder He Xuan said, after he was finished describing the intricacies of the basket-weaving skills of the Mercury Kingdom, "let's break for lunch."
Tang Ze was a bit surprised to learn that Elder He Xuan was relatively good at preparing food.
"I used to be the one who would cook all the time, back in my village," Elder He Xuan said. "My mother's eyesight began to get worse as she got older, and she's sometimes end up doing things like mixing the salt with the sugar - heh, I told her to leave it all to me after that. Ah, I had not begun cultivating at that time."
Tang Ze chuckled. "Sorry, I don't meant to offend you, I just remembered another cultivator who's probably going to have to do a lot of cooking on their own, because their fiancé can't."
Elder He Xuan contemplated that, and then replied, "Heed this elder's advice- it's fine if a cultivator's wife is incapable in the kitchen, so long as she can make it up in the bedroom!" He cackled at his own joke, and Tang Ze was a bit surprised to hear something like that from him of all people.
Tang Ze tried to help out as much as he could, and Elder He Xuan said once all of it was done, "Eat up! You'll need your strength for what's coming!" He then regaled Tang Ze with some stories of his childhood.
The lunch, though, was another way in which Elder He Xuan was subconsciously stalling.
However, the time would come eventually where he would have to get to the meat of the matter.
Like a college student opening a letter which could contain either a rejection or acceptance - he was filled with trepidation as he led Tang Ze to the spot of interest.
"Whoa!" Tang Ze said. They had been walking towards what looked like nothing, but the moment that they passed a certain point, out of nowhere, a huge rock appeared in front of them.
"Hidden by a mirage," Elder He Xuan explained. "Whatever is here is quite important, and whoever built this place took great pains to keep this secret."
The huge rock was covering a small hole in the ground - though there were the tiniest of gaps beneath it. These gaps were not even big enough to even stick one's finger through; being barely more than a hair's breadth in size. The rock was like a lid on top of a container which did not exactly fit over it, but still covered it well enough.
The surroundings around the rock were raised slightly, and letters were etched into the circumference around the rock.
"What do these mean?" Tang Ze asked.
"I don't know," Elder He Xuan said. "They are from the alternative writing system that they had, which no one has been able to translate even as of today." He tapped the rock - it was larger than an elephant, and was made of something extremely dense that glowed a gentle shade of blue. "This is sappharite, one of the densest metals in the world. Do you know how much this thing would weigh? Enough that even an average Eternal Soul cultivator would be unable to move it."
Elder He Xuan continued, now unable to contain his excitement. "This place is hidden by a mirage - and whatever lies beneath this rock is nearly impossible to get to as one cannot rely on techniques, only their own strength in this place."
"Whoever made this clearly made it very hard to get to," Tang Ze said.
"Yes, I think it is a test of strength," Elder He Xuan said. "Who knows what lies beneath?"
Usually inheritances would have the realm set up so that directions would be mentally given to those who came to try to acquire their treasures, such as what had happened when Zhang Long found the inheritance near his village.
However, it was also not unheard of for there to be no directions at all, with the ones who had made the inheritances basically saying 'figure it out yourself if you want the treasure that lies here.'
And to see something hidden behind several walls of secrecy, like whatever lay beneath this rock, was also not unheard of. Some inheritances had secrets within secrets that could only be accessed under certain circumstances.
Naturally, it would be expected that the harder it was to obtain the inheritance, the more valuable it would be. This is not always true, but it is a good general rule of thumb.
"Yeah," Tang Ze said. If someone went through all this effort to set this up, whatever was beneath it had to be valuable. "Alright, let me try."
Elder He Xuan held his breath as Tang Ze found a good spot to use his strength optimally, and he pushed.
'He wasn't wrong when he said that this is super-dense, I've never moved anything like this,'- Tang Ze said. For the only time since coming to this world while wearing this costume, he had to seriously make an effort. Just like the martial arts instructor had taught him while training to push boulders for the Novice Tournament, he took a deep breath and used his knees.
And, the rock began to move.
"Magnificent!" Elder He Xuan said, tears now streaming down his face from happiness.
He had been wanting to unlock this secret for so long - sometimes resigning himself to the fact that he would never find someone strong enough to accomplish this. And yet, when he was least expecting to find a solution - he had ran into Tang Ze in some backwater of all places! He simply could not contain his joy at this moment!
In under a minute, Tang Ze had shifted the rock completely, revealing what lay beneath.
As Elder He Xuan watched the dust settle and got a clear look at what lay beneath - his expression of joy instantly turned to one of astonishment and then, of terror.
He realized he had made a terrible mistake.
Perhaps the biggest mistake of his life.
No, not just of his life, one of the biggest mistakes that anyone could've possibly made.
Several things fell into place in his mind.
First, he realized that what he had found here was not an 'inheritance' it was just things people had left behind.
Second, people were not meant to come upon this secret realm.
Third, there was a reason there was no mental warning or instructions when one walked in here - because whoever had put the stone there did not want someone to accidentally stumble upon it.
Fourth, and most important of all, this place was not an inheritance or even just a random collection of buildings that had been left behind. It was a prison. If he had been able to understand the writing written around the rock which had just moments before been doing its job he would've been able to realize that sooner.
There was no treasure or ruin beneath the rock. There was, however, the hulking figure of a creature three times the size of a man. It had blue skin and fangs erupted from its lower jaw - something that Elder He Xuan saw quite clearly as it moved its head to glare at him, blinking as the light irritated its eyes after centuries of darkness.
An asura.
This one had eight arms - the number of arms of an asura usually depicted how powerful they were. Those with four arms were said to be 'lords' and had powers that rivaled that of Nascent Soul cultivators at times. Those with six arms were considered to be 'kings' whose powers rivaled those of Eternal Soul realm cultivators.
What did eight arms mean?
Though he did not know it, eight arms meant this was an Asura Emperor - a creature whose powers were somewhere between a Hinayana and Mahayana realm cultivator.
It had been locked in here by the people of the Mercury Kingdom, sealed away in this secret dimension where it could not use its powers and its strength was not enough to move the rock atop its head, only enough to barely stop it from crushing his head. It could only slow down its breathing, cutting off its metabolism to a point where it waited, like that, pinned down by the rock, in case anyone either freed it or the secret realm eventually collapsed like all of them eventually did.
And now, after so long, it was finally free.