Zhang Ze opened his eyes and woke up from the eighteen-square-meter large bed.
The small orb was rolling back and forth on his chest at this moment.
It had been four days since he picked up the small orb.
Zhang Ze, the wise and brave Senior Sister Qiao, his master, and even the Pavilion Master had no idea about the origin of this small orb.
On the flying ship returning to the sect, Senior Sister Qiao and Elder Li tried various methods to remove the small orb from Zhang Ze.
But they all failed.
Elder Li attempted many traditional methods.
Such as sealing, curses, and other methods that a normal human cultivator might think of.
None of them worked.
Qiao Lezhi tried many non-human methods, which were equally ineffective.
For instance, crushing it.
Her strength, which could lift mountains, was of no use against the small orb.
She even tried stepping hard on the flying ship's accelerator and then threw the small orb out of the flying ship.
But no matter how far she threw it, the small orb would suddenly appear in a corner of the flying ship five seconds later.
Then bounced back to Zhang Ze's side.
Senior Sister Qiao even wanted to try swallowing the small orb whole.
But she was stopped by Zhang Ze and Elder Li.
In the end, there were no clues.
Therefore, on the way back, the two were troubled throughout.
Qiao Lezhi felt she was too careless, crushed the seal, causing Junior Brother Zhang Ze to be entangled by this small orb.
Elder Li felt he was negligent, not being cautious enough about the small orb, which led to this situation.
In short, it was all their own fault.
Instead, Zhang Ze, on the way back, kept comforting the two, saying he was fine.
After leaving the underground, Zhang Ze calmed down.
He thought about how, given the system's nature, if Elder Li tried to hit him, it would surely trigger an emergency task.
If this orb was really dangerous, his sight would be filled with pop-ups by now.
Just like a certain Mr. Wang, there would be a timer constantly ticking in front of him.
But now, there was nothing in front of him, quiet and still, like a dead system.
Moreover, Zhang Ze also had his own conjecture about this small orb.
The task of obtaining the small orb was called [Dream Awakening Rebirth].
The task of the Spiritual Snake statue was called [Unawakened Spiritual Snake].
The system said that the task permanently disappeared only referred to the [Unawakened Spiritual Snake] series tasks and the related [Infiltration].
Zhang Ze felt that [Unawakened Spiritual Snake] was the major prerequisite task for [Dream Awakening Rebirth].
Following the tasks, Zhang Ze needed to gain the trust of the Spiritual Snake Helm through [Infiltration], then obtain the opportunity to approach the statue.
Then trigger a task to seize the statue.
Until he broke the statue's head and saw that small coffin.
And lastly, trigger the task [Dream Awakening Rebirth].
The answer to the task was this small orb.
But what Zhang Ze couldn't understand was, what does this small orb have to do with the Thousand Machines Technique, and why was it sealed inside that Spiritual Snake statue?
So, when Zhang Ze returned to the sect, and was dragged by Elder Li to the Pavilion Master, he didn't insist he was fine.
He also wanted the Pavilion Master to take a look.
But even the Pavilion Master couldn't identify what this small orb was.
However, although the Pavilion Master didn't know either, he took it very seriously.
He even arranged for Zhang Ze to stay in this room with an eighteen-square-meter large bed.
Reportedly, this room had the effect of repressing evil and eliminating evil thoughts.
No matter if the small orb was an opportunity or a tribulation, as long as he stayed temporarily in this large room, nothing would happen.
This room also had a backstory.
Listening to Grandpa Wang's braggadocio stories.
When the Pavilion Master had just become the Pavilion Master, he once caught a giant ape.
But the giant ape was unruly, disobedient, and had demonic qi that was hard to eradicate.
The Pavilion Master built this giant room for the giant ape to live in.
The array inside the room could suppress evil and cleanse the demonic heart.
The Pavilion Master came every night after midnight to have heart-to-hearts with the giant ape, teaching it the etiquette of the human realm and the righteous heart method.
The giant ape finally turned over a new leaf and acknowledged the Pavilion Master as its master.
Even melted his iron rod used for evil deeds, fashioning part of it into a hoop around his head as a reminder.
The rest was forged into a giant sword as his magical artifact after rebirth,
and he bid farewell to the Pavilion Master and headed west to cultivate his sword heart.
That monkey even had the surname Sun.
Zhang Ze thought it was ridiculous after hearing it, but didn't want to ask more.
Afraid that if he lingered, Grandpa Wang would tell him that the Pavilion Master lived in Liangshan Marsh before cultivating immortality.
Anyway, in these days when Zhang Ze wasn't busy, his mind was filled with Journey to the West.
For example, Zhu Bajie going in and out of Women's Kingdom seven times.
The rest of the time, Zhang Ze was reading books.
A small part were cultivation technique secret manuals for the Qi Cultivation Stage, and the rest were anecdotes and stories about the lands of the Four Continents.
Compared to the cultivation techniques, these anecdotes were more entertaining, probably because he had listened to too many of Grandpa Wang's boastful stories.
Zhang Ze picked up a book by his pillow, "Four Continents Chronicles," and continued where he left off the previous day.
"Four Continents Chronicles" talked about the history and some customs and practices of the land of the Four Continents, written by a travel-loving Purple-robed Heavenly Master from Dragon Tiger Mountain.
Tens of thousands of years ago, East Continent wasn't called East Continent, it was called Dongqi.
It was a human cultivator empire with an uninspired setting, much like those Dawei or Dazhou and similar things in current novels.
To the west of Dongqi were uninspired barbarian tribes living happily in little skirts.
Very typically passionate men on the battlefield, making friends with fists.
Very typically bold and loving women often taken home by Dongqi's rogue cultivators.
They predictably fought a battle.
The chaotic and idle demon tribes to the north also predictably united and joined the battle royale.
And then turned this world into the land of the Four Continents.
Dongqi was defeated, the royal bloodline extinguished, each sect and noble family declared independence, marking their territories and not encroaching on one another.
Each immortal sect self-governed their own lands.
Dongqi became East Continent.
Specifically, just like the scenario in "Under the Heavens."
The barbarians retreated west, to the land formerly called by Dongqi literati as the Western Barbarians.
But now Dongqi was gone, so the tribal chiefs in the west gathered, held a meeting, and expressed their desire to rename the place to West Continent.
Although everyone was tired of fighting and didn't want to continue, they couldn't lose in terms of momentum and prestige.
The most elated, of course, were the demon tribes, as they truly gained independence, with all lands north of Thousand Lotus Mountain becoming demon territory.
Blocked by mountain ranges, it was almost isolated; the old Celestial Master only occasionally visited a few times.
According to the old Celestial Master, demon customs were utterly licentious and scornful to our cultivator colleagues.
Oh, and the demons straightforwardly announced their land as the Northern Territory.
But the barbarians and the righteous sects of East Continent ignored them, still calling it the North Continent.
There was no South Continent; this continent was triangular in shape, and the fourth continent was Central Continent, the vast battleground of old.
Though the grand path wasn't obliterated, almost the whole Central Continent was shattered in battle.
Even the western barbarians said Central Continent wasn't fit even for dogs.
So Central Continent became a buffer zone between the three powers.
Of course, these sarcastic remarks were not the literal text of the "Four Continents Chronicles" in Zhang Ze's hands.
The Old Heavenly Master from Dragon Tiger Mountain was erudite and his writing style sharp, depicting that history with dramatic ebbs and flows, like the rolling waves of the river without pause.
But in Zhang Ze's view, that's how things were.
Zhang Ze put down "Four Continents Chronicles" and picked up "Wild Ghosts and Miscellaneous Talks" written by a former Demon Venerate who had taken refuge in Buddhism.
This Demon Venerate carried a giant ghost-head saber, recited Buddhist chants, and wrote about his glorious past deeds in his spare time.
Zhang Ze was most fond of the part where the Venerate flirted with a female cultivator from the Celestial Sect, but the crucial parts were blacked out by someone with a pen.
What a pity.
Just as Zhang Ze held it up to the sunlight, trying to decipher the blackened parts, the Pavilion Master's voice echoed in his ear.
"Stop looking, I was the one who blacked it out."