Two days had passed since Jiang Fei told his parents about finding the archive, and in the meantime they had come to a consensus.

They were going to embark on the path of cultivation.

Now, Jiang Fei is finally going to show his parents the legendary Jiang archive. He just had one issue, he had no idea as to how he was going to open the archive again.

Both the times he activated the staircase mechanism were both complete flukes. To not make a fool of himself in front of his parents, he decided to visit the ancestral shrine at the crack of dawn before his parents caught on to the fact that he was completely ignorant like them.

Jiang Fei gently pushed against the dilapidated wooden door of the ancestral shrine, the door making an eerie creaking sound, every step he took while soft in reality, resounded in his heart. Each step brought him one step closer to embarking on the path of cultivation.

The feeling of anticipation in his heart grew stronger with every step, however it also birthed uncertainty.

The intricate and elegant carvings in the pillars, the beautiful murals on the walls, the ancient altar placed in front of the ancestors’ portraits which were hung on the wall, and the faded marble reflected how prosperous the Jiang family used to be, the current Jiang family was unable to pick up on it due to them not having interacted with other families’ ancestral shrines, after all the ancestral shrine was a forbidden place for outsiders to enter and only its descendants were allowed to enter.

Jiang Fei’s eyes darted around the shrine, taking in the faded murals that spoke of battles and rituals long past. His fingers reached for a stick of incense placed on the drawer to his right,he quickly lit it using a candle on that same drawer and he began to pay his respects to his ancestors.

After sincerely praying for his family’s safety and prosperity, he placed the stick of incense into the altar. After firmly rooting it in, he began to ponder the issue at hand.

“How should I activate the mechanism? Maybe dropping my blood on it would activate it, just like last time!” Jiang Fei felt like he had an epiphany as he vocalised his thoughts.

Then, he returned back to his house. Taking great care to walk only on his tiptoes, ensuring that he only walked on the most secure and stable floorboards so they would not make a creaking sound which would surely disrupt his parents’ slumber.

He meticulously made his way to the kitchen, reaching into the upper-right cabinet for his mother’s sewing kit for a small needle.

Bringing the needle back to the ancestral shrine, he ensured the needle was not rusted before pricking his left thumb with it to extract a drop of blood.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Letting the blood drip onto the floor, Jiang Fei eagerly anticipated his future cultivation path. Though he had no idea how to both cultivate and what cultivation was about, his past two days were spent day-dreaming about him having immense talent, being able to reach the pinnacle of his world, before ascending just like his ancestor he read about did.

Yet beneath these grand and majestic dreams, a dreadful feeling of uncertainty gnawed at him about the path ahead. After all he had not forgotten the fact that something had scared his ancestors enough to abandon their roots.

As Jiang Fei’s blood finally dropped onto the floor,the shadows in the shrine seemed to darken, the silence seemed to grow heavier,and the air grew colder. Jiang Fei’s mind began to race, that feeling of uncertainty grew ever stronger. What if my ancestors were outlawed cultivators? What if I find a manual telling me the atrocities my ancestors committed, that all our manuscripts were stolen? What if they were devil cultivators?

Just then, an abrupt voice disrupted Jiang Fei’s thoughts.

“Master is already registered, there is no need to verify bloodline nor register again. If the master wants to know more, please ask Ling er again.I am excited to serve you! Kindly do not hesitate to not ask more” A shrill yet somehow rather pleasing and comfortable voice tinged with traditional formality rang directly into Jiang Fei’s mind.

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The needle from Jiang Fei’s hand fell straight onto the floor, his hand had started shaking uncontrollably, beads of cold sweat started forming on his forehead. While he usually verbalised most of his thoughts, he still regarded his mind as a citadel accessible only to him. A bastion he could keep his greatest secrets and deepest fears.

Such as, him imagining a beautiful and rosy married life with the cute inn-keeper he saw the last time he visited the nearby village to purchase new clothes. Or when he thought he saw a ghost in the fields and pissed his pants before running into his house and staying up all night.

Now, this impregnable fortress had been infiltrated. What was worse is that he did not know what infiltrated his mind and what intentions it had.

So, he made the logical decision.

He dropped to his knees and scurried into the bottom left corner. He put his left hand in front of his face before trying to communicate with this Ling-er.

“Ling-er, when you said master, who did you mean?” Jiang Fei worriedly called out, his voice shaking a little.

“Master, there is no need to vocalise your statements. You can call upon Ling-er in your mind by using Ling-er’s name in your mind.” Ling-er enthusiastically responded, as if eager to please and win over Jiang Fei.

‘Ok Ling-er, could you tell me what is needed for me to remain your master and what I can do as your master?’

“Master is allowed to access the Jiang family’s thousand generation archive, given full access to all formations in the Jiang family’s territories,access the former masters’ saved consciousness and register his and is able to register who is allowed within the family’s territory. To become Ling-er’s master one needs to let Ling-er absorb the master’s blood, the master must have the Jiang family’s bloodline and must have the approval of the previous master. In certain cases there are exceptions.” Ling-er promptly responded.

‘Ling-er what territory does the Jiang Family own? Also is the last ability not just the extension of the formations?’Jiang Fei quickly deduced that the last ability could never come about on its own and had to be the effects of certain formations.

“Sorry master, I do not understand the question asked. Could I access your memories to understand the current scenario of the world? It has been 2467 years since Ling-er was last activated.” Ling-er responded, sounding perplexed.

‘Sure, however, you have no permission to override my memories nor save them. Also, show me all your stored data.” Jiang Fei did not want to lose out on this opportunity to learn more about the history of his family.

“Much obliged master. Data transfer and receive shall begin. For your information Ling-er is an array spirit, capable of forming my own theories. However, there is no need to worry about my loyalty. I shall forever serve the Jiang family.Now please brace yourself, you are about to view the memories of the previous masters. This way you can appropriately serve and protect our heritage”

Just as Ling-er finished that sentence, Jiang Fei’s vision began to blur, the shrine seemed to fade into the distant past and future, a swirl of colours and melodies seemed to envelop him, he felt something tugging him and the ancestral shrine transformed into an ethereal landscape.

Jiang Fei was in for his first adventure.