Chapter 268: Wooden Rulers Secret (2/2)

“Consider it our meeting gift, lest your sister continues to suspect me of swindling your materials.” Li Qiye laughed and turned around to enter the room.

Chi Xiaodao was quite stunned for a bit. One had to know that Li Qiye had already given him a meeting gift, the Heavenly Stone Golden Turtle!

“Egomaniac!” Chi Xiaodie grumpily stomped her foot and then left in anger. Back at the grave auction, she had to play along with him yet, at this moment, this egomaniac was looking down on her!

As for Chi Xiaodao, he could only gently sigh. He really wanted to pair the two of them together, but it seemed like Li Qiye did not think highly of his sister at this moment.

After the Chi duo left, Li Qiye then solemnly took out the wooden ruler he obtained from the grave auction. He, once again, meticulously a.n.a.lyzed every single detail of this thing.

20,000 Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades — even if they were of the lowest grade, it was still a monstrous sum to any cultivator. Even a sect would have a difficult time producing 20,000 Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades.

For some people, it was complete insanity to use this amount of jades to buy a memento. Even the most prodigal son wouldn’t be this wasteful.

However, Li Qiye clearly knew that this was not a memento. Bringing up this so-called Harmonious Ghost Tree was just his attempt at tricking the Inheritance Ancient Pavilion.

Yes, the wooden patterns of this ruler did resemble the ones of a Harmonious Ghost Tree. However, it was not made from a Harmonious Ghost Tree; Li Qiye was absolutely certain of this as he held the ruler in his hand. This wooden ruler was made from Ghost Ancestral Wood; there was only one Ghost Ancestral Tree in the entire Nine Worlds!

Li Qiye did not lie entirely back at the time of the grave auction. This item truly had something to do with the ghost race and even its origin!

There were three claims to the origin of the ghost race. The first was the theory proposed by the ghost race themselves; and it was also the most credible theory. This theory stated that the ghost race’s Progenitor turned from a ghost into an immortal and finally left behind descendants in this world. Afterwards, one hundred tribes were established, resulting in the current ghost race of today. Because of this theory, the ghost race was also called the Ghost Immortal Race.

Another theory was that this Progenitor was a True Ghost. By combining with a mortal woman, he finally gave birth to descendants which resulted in the current ghost race.

There were both skeptics and believers regarding this theory within the ghost race. The majority did not deny nor admit this claim.

The last theory had always been vehemently denied by the ghost race. The ghost race was also called the hundred races with many side branches; however, all of the branches essentially denied this last theory.

It stated that the Progenitor was a corpse that eventually gave birth to a soul and became alive; then it bred with a mortal woman and its descendants became the current ghost race.

Any believers of this last theory would be considered heretics within the ghost race.

Future generations did not know why the ghost race was so antagonistic to this theory. In fact, even the ghost race themselves did not know why. The denial of this claim had existed since the Desolate Era and had continued up til now.

However, Li Qiye had lived for countless years and knew some inside stories regarding this last theory; it was indeed not an aimless arrow! In a very far and ancient era, an ancient corpse coming to life did appear. No one in this world knew how long this ancient corpse had lived before this!

As for this corpse giving birth to a soul, future generations could not find out whether it was the Progenitor of the ghost race or not.

However, Li Qiye knew a secret unbeknown to the future generations! The origin ground of the ghost race had a Ghost Ancestral Tree. It was the one and only tree of its kind in this world; it was absolutely worthy of being referred to as a supreme Immortal Tree or peerless G.o.d Tree!

This Ghost Ancestral Tree — to a certain extent — was related to the origin of the ghost race! In an extremely ancient era, legend has it that the ghost race’s Progenitor left behind a key, and it could unlock the secrets of the ghost race’s origin. This key had a lot to do with the Ghost Ancestral Tree!

This key was called the Ghost’s Origin Ancestral Key, and it had a heaven-frightening secret embedded within.

In a future generation, Li Qiye, as the Dark Crow, heard of another rumor. A certain alchemist clan at Eastern Descent City became in-laws with a ghost tribe. People said that this ghost tribe once had an unfathomable character, and there were whispers of him being a True Ghost.

Unfortunately, this ghost tribe believed in the third theory of the ghost race’s origin which eventually led to the tribe’s complete destruction. And this grand character, who was possibly a True Ghost, was able to escape into Eastern Descent City and hid in the alchemist clan to escape this calamity!

This time at the grave auction, after looking at the geography of the burial ground, Li Qiye felt that this had a chance to be the land of the alchemist clan in the legend.

After opening the coffin and seeing the pitch-black corpse, Li Qiye was sure that this was not the coffin of a Legendary Alchemist, it was merely using this name to bury someone else. He was the grand character of the ghost tribe. Moreover, he had underwent suppression when he was alive, so his divinity withered away!