Chapter 282: The Ancient Heavenly Clan

Ye Feng looked at the long sword in his hand, which still showed no reaction, feeling somewhat puzzled. Logically, since his blood had been absorbed by the sword, it should have indicated a successful bond formation. If the sword was of high rank and refused to recognize him as its master, then his blood would be rejected and unable to be absorbed by the sword.
“What’s going on?” Ye Feng stared at the sword in confusion.
Suddenly, a golden glow shot out from the sword’s blade. As the glow emerged, cracks began to appear on the blade. Ye Feng realized then that it wasn’t that there was no reaction—it was just that the reaction was slow.
As the cracks expanded and spread, the entire blade seemed to have been struck by something powerful. Ye Feng could even sense that if he applied even a slight force with his right hand holding the sword, it might be destroyed instantly.
But before he could try, golden light also started emanating from other cracks in the sword. Then, starting from the top of the blade, it transformed into specks of light that dispersed rapidly—just in the time it took to take a breath, the light spread from the top to the hilt. Ye Feng quickly released his right hand, and the hilt vanished swiftly.
In its place was a golden bead, floating in midair, its surface shimmering with golden light, making Ye Feng realize that this object was beyond anything in the Heavenly Realm.
Ye Feng stretched out his right hand, and the bead slowly landed in it. Clearly, the bond formation had succeeded.
After landing in Ye Feng’s hand, the bead slowly sank into his palm, and suddenly, more information appeared in his mind.
It turned out that this bead was the control center of the entire palace. And this palace wasn’t something from the Divine Realm but a relic left by the Ancient Heavenly Clan—its rank was comparable to that of a Divine Realm palace.
He also learned that Pairet had merely stumbled upon this palace by chance and practiced a set of techniques from the Ancient Heavenly Clan, which earned him fame throughout the cultivation world. Due to the different cultivation level divisions in these ancient techniques, even after reaching the level of an immortal, he couldn’t ascend to the Divine Realm, leaving him trapped in the cultivation world.
“So, it’s not that he didn’t want to ascend, but that he couldn’t,” Ye Feng understood why Pairet, despite having reached such a formidable strength, remained in the cultivation world.
After Pairet’s death, the palace began to actively search for another master.

Ye Feng finally understood why the Heavenly Realm was called that—it was a space created by the ancient Heavenly Clan. Later, as other races entered it one after another, the ancient Heavenly Clan chose to create another space as their dwelling place, abandoning the Heavenly Realm they had inhabited for generations. In fact, with their strength, they could have easily destroyed all outsiders who entered the Heavenly Realm, but they didn’t do so; instead, they chose to avoid confrontation. From that pearl, Ye Feng saw the founder of this palace perish under the heavenly calamity, and he was utterly shocked. He had never imagined that the heavenly calamity could be so terrifying. After that, the palace had second-generation, third-generation owners… The pearl clearly recorded their growth—a total of 107 people, most of whom met their end in death. Only a few, two or three, succeeded in ascending to another realm. However, for some reason, the ancient Heavenly artifacts were rejected by that realm and could not be taken away. Left with no choice, they took most of the high-grade items and left the palace to future generations. “Hmm, why were they rejected by that realm?” Ye Feng found it hard to understand. He knew that many who ascended to the Heavenly Realm with top-tier spiritual artifacts did not face such rejection—the Heavenly Realm did not reject the entry of spiritual artifacts. At that moment, a message entered Ye Feng’s mind: “Ancient Heavenly artifacts are not just lifeless tools. To enter the realm to which the ancient Heavenly Clan ascended, one must reach a certain level to be accepted by that realm. That realm regards us as living beings, which is why there are such restrictions. Moreover, ancient Heavenly artifacts can grow, but usually, they only reach 100% growth under their creator’s care; in other hands, their growth rate is greatly reduced.” “Are you the spirit of an artifact?” Ye Feng was surprised. “That’s right. I can’t take a physical form or make sounds; I can only exist as a pearl and communicate with you through messages,” another message came into his mind. “The reason you’ve been searching for a new master is to advance your own level, right?” Ye Feng guessed that this was why the palace was looking for a master. “No. I just hope to visit the realm my father couldn’t enter and fulfill his wish. Even just a glance would be enough,” the message made Ye Feng silent for a moment. “Your father must be your creator, right?” Ye Feng asked.

“Yes, he perished in the celestial calamity… Only I know how much he longed for that new world. Since he couldn’t make it there, I’ll go in his place to see it—consider it fulfilling one of his wishes.”
Ye Feng never expected this spirit to have such rich emotions, even knowing about fulfilling a legacy. No wonder it was regarded as a living being in another realm.
“But I can’t ascend to the realm you want to go to,” Ye Feng said helplessly, shaking his head. “Because I can’t practice the techniques of the Heavenly Clan like others.”
“It doesn’t matter. I can sense that your physique is very special; it should be able to help me reach a new level. Once we reach that level, there should be other ways for me to go to that realm.”
“Since you’re the spirit of this palace, you should be able to let me leave this place!” Ye Feng was now eager to leave.
“That’s right. Under normal circumstances, if one doesn’t gain ownership of the palace upon arriving here, they’ll be immediately sent away.”
“But for you, who already owns the palace, there’s another area you can enter. That’s where the palace truly stores its treasures. All high-grade items have been moved there, including various high-tier crystals, magic cores, as well as a small number of ancient celestial artifacts, divine artifacts, and high-grade pills. Do you want to take a look?”
“No rush. I’ll first collect all the useless items on these shelves,” Ye Feng said, pointing at the items on the shelf. “They’re not useful anyway and just take up space.”
Apart from a few remaining top-grade immortal artifacts and various pills that Ye Feng kept, almost all other items were collected by him.
In fact, most of the good items in this area had already been taken by Fat and the others. The few remaining top-grade immortal artifacts were probably overlooked by them and left on the shelves. The vast majority of items were lower or mid-grade immortal artifacts.
Thousands of items were exchanged for over 30 million points of third-tier domain value.
“Obtained third-tier domain value: 30 million points.”
“Reward: Three times the item upgrade privilege!”
“Reward: Three times the item modification privilege!”
Ye Feng certainly knew what the item upgrade privilege was, as he had used it on his own equipment. But the item modification privilege left him a bit confused.

He clearly remembered that in the Virtual Realm, almost any item could be modified by paying the required domain value. While its main function remained unchanged, more functions could be added by spending domain value.
Ye Feng sent his mental energy into the Virtual Realm. “Yuhuang, what’s the use of that item modification privilege? Isn’t there already an item modification function in the Virtual Realm?”
“That privilege is much more powerful than modifying items with domain value in the Virtual Realm, and it’s free,” Yuhuang explained. “The item modification privilege allows you to transform an item of a certain rank into any other item of the same rank you desire. As long as the ranks are the same, you can make any modifications—turn a sword into gloves or into armor. Unlike modification with domain value, its main function can be changed. Moreover, multiple modifications can be done at once, as long as you haven’t confirmed completion of the modifications; one privilege use isn’t considered finished until then. Of course, items that haven’t been fully modified cannot be used. But keep in mind that if you use domain value for modification, you have to pay for each additional function. And modifications with domain value can only be done up to three times—after that, no further modifications are allowed.”
“There’s a restriction with using this privilege: there can only be one main function, and at most five additional functions. That’s equivalent to six modifications, still for free.” Yuhuang clearly loved this privilege.
“It sounds great,” Ye Feng said after hearing Yuhuang’s explanation. He finally understood what the privilege was. Although he hadn’t thought of when he might use it, he knew it would definitely come in handy someday.
“One more thing: items modified with domain value can be modified again using this privilege. But items modified with this privilege cannot be modified further with domain value. When using the privilege, you can choose whether to retain some of the original additional functions…” Yuhuang said this and winked at Ye Feng before stopping.
“Thanks!” Ye Feng nodded at him. He understood that Yuhuang was telling him that if he needed many additional functions, he could first add three using domain value, then modify the item with the privilege to add more functions. In other words, it was like stacking uses, allowing a total of eight additional functions.
Yuhuang certainly had good intentions, but Ye Feng thought that usually, adding two or three additional functions to an item was enough. Adding eight functions was something he might not encounter in the future.

These things are just minor details, but since Yu Huang was willing to guide him in using the Virtual Realm, even down to such technical aspects, Ye Feng still felt somewhat grateful to him.