As for how much time Xiaoyao spent completing his exploration of this treasure vault itself, it took quite a while, several months in total. This wasn't just because Xiaoyao didn't have much time and couldn't be inside around the clock, having to prevent discovery which delayed some time.
It was mainly because this underground treasure vault was too large, it could almost be called an underground palace. Whether it was luck or coincidence, such a large underground palace had never been discovered by Heavenly Gate above ground in two thousand years. It was truly magical.
Xiaoyao could be certain of this point, because nothing in this underground palace had been touched. The entrances hadn't been opened, and there were no other accidental entry points.
This could perhaps be said to show the underground palace's original design was very perfect, considering the possibility of discovery. It was quite deep within the mountain belly. But it had to be said that Heavenly Gate had no fate with this treasure so far, because in many places, Heavenly Gate's underground facilities almost overlapped with the underground palace, just missing by the smallest distance. If they had gotten just a bit closer, it would have been discovered!
But a little off was still off, ultimately it still wasn't discovered.
Xiaoyao should also be grateful for this point. If it had been discovered by others, he wouldn't have been able to see such complete mechanism design, nor would he have been able to see this well-preserved underground palace, much less the book collection palace, other weapon palaces, and treasure palaces in the vault afterward. He didn't care much about those.
Perhaps he cared a bit about the materials palace inside. As for the pill palace, the pills there seemed to have expired. Three thousand year old items, it was very difficult to preserve pills. Even if there were any, most of their medicinal effects would be gone.
Regarding the treasure palace, it was just one area of this underground palace. Although the treasure palace had numerous sub-palaces, what was mentioned above was only a small part, there were many other rare collections. But even so, this was still just one area of the underground palace.
There were several other areas, such as living areas, martial practice areas, and so on. This underground palace almost encompassed all facilities - things you could think of and things you couldn't think of were all here!
...
...
Xiaoyao already understood that this underground palace wasn't actually built for storing treasure, so calling this place a treasure vault was already somewhat one-sided.
Xiaoyao felt this was a base, or a refuge. The people who originally built this place might have wanted people to move here, or it was meant to leave people a way out. Xiaoyao felt the latter possibility was greater, otherwise why would it be so secretly placed in the Peerless Sword?
However, these were just Xiaoyao's guesses. Whether things were actually like this, only people from three thousand years ago would know. What exactly happened at that time, only people from that time would know.
As for why such a large project had no historical records and no one knew about it, only those original people would know.
Now Xiaoyao only had one thing to do, excavate the treasures of this underground palace. After studying the mechanisms inside, Xiaoyao began looking at the book collections.
While studying the mechanisms, Xiaoyao also performed maintenance and repairs on all of them, keeping the mechanisms inside in perfect condition and able to continue operating. For him, this was a good opportunity to experience and study these mechanisms. But for people who entered later, this was a very bad thing, because they would have to face all the mechanisms and solve them one by one.
At that time, they would find it very strange, why could these mechanisms stay so intact, still functioning like new after three thousand years.
But these were all future matters. When Xiaoyao saw these book collections, he seemed to discover again, or rather confirm again, one thing. The confirmation of this matter made Xiaoyao feel this whole thing became very interesting. He hadn't expected this underground palace to actually be...
If it really was like this, then Heavenly Gate being built above this underground palace would be too ironic...
No matter what, Xiaoyao felt this matter had nothing to do with him. He didn't want to interfere or think too much about it. He now only wanted to excavate the second treasure of this underground palace, the Book Collection Hall in the palace. The things here were completely beyond his expectations.
The book collections here could create not just one peerless expert, but could create a super power. The martial arts classics here were more numerous than anywhere else in the world. Most precious of all, these were the most mysterious martial arts classics, some even long lost.
Not just martial arts classics, but also some medical classics, mechanism classics, sword forging classics - almost every kind of technique was represented, very comprehensive. Perhaps some techniques were already outdated, but there were still many lost superior skills, giving Xiaoyao great gains.
Just this book repository alone took Xiaoyao about ten months to completely digest everything inside. This also announced that Xiaoyao pretty much didn't need to go to this underground palace anymore, because the remaining things were all physical objects that Xiaoyao couldn't take out even if he wanted them.
However, during this time Xiaoyao also used materials inside to make some things. These materials were just a drop in the ocean for this underground palace, no one would notice.
When Xiaoyao made these things, it was also very secretive, no one knew!
Calculating the time, Xiaoyao seemed to have been at Heavenly Gate for almost over a year. Because of this matter, his plan to roam the martial world had been shelved. However, this was also worth it for him, and this was also a kind of martial world life.
Over this year-plus, Xiaoyao seemed to gradually integrate into Heavenly Gate, becoming a Heavenly Gate person, and even a somewhat famous Heavenly Gate person.
The small fame was because Xiaoyao was relatively close to Dongfang Wunian, the sect master's daughter. Dongfang Wunian was still the same now, she only accepted food made by Xiaoyao. She couldn't eat other people's food, and it was useless even to lie and say it was made by Xiaoyao.
Because of this relationship, Dongfang Wunian would often chat with Xiaoyao, but it was just that, there was no further development. This put many people at ease and kept Xiaoyao from being disturbed.
If Dongfang Wunian and Xiaoyao showed any signs of romance, many people would probably come talk to Xiaoyao, possibly even including the sect master. Perhaps their reasons would be different, but for Xiaoyao, they would all be the same trouble.
Fortunately, the friendship between Dongfang Wunian and Xiaoyao could be described as "a gentleman's friendship is as light as water." This made it impossible for people to find anything to say to Xiaoyao. Anyone with a bit of sense knew that saying anything in such a situation would be superfluous and would also affect Dongfang Wunian's opinion of themselves. This point was most important.
Speaking of the water-light friendship between the two, it was also due to their personalities, most importantly Dongfang Wunian's personality. The name "Wunian" (No Thoughts) really suited her. Although she often chatted with Xiaoyao, she had no ulterior thoughts - she just wanted to chat.
As for Xiaoyao, he paid even less attention to Dongfang Wunian's thoughts. Even if Dongfang Wunian had other thoughts beyond chatting, he wouldn't respond, causing the other party to give up those thoughts. Therefore, the two seemed so plain and unremarkable, making many people feel that the development that should have happened didn't occur.
Of course, though somewhat disappointing, this was a good thing for everyone!
On this day, Xiaoyao was originally in the underground palace looking for some things, but his pre-set warning device sounded. He knew someone was coming to find him. This warning was placed a hundred meters outside his house. Within this hundred meters, there was only Xiaoyao's house. This place rarely had visitors - there might not even be one person a day. Therefore, whoever triggered the warning must be someone looking for Xiaoyao.
After sensing the warning, Xiaoyao naturally had to appear, otherwise if people discovered he wasn't there, there would definitely be problems.
"Xiaoyao!" Dongfang Wunian's gentle voice sounded as she lightly knocked on the door.
"Second Miss, good morning. Didn't I have the kitchen prepare your breakfast today?" Xiaoyao opened the door almost immediately when Dongfang Wunian knocked. He wasn't afraid of being suspected of responding too quickly, because this place was so open that it was normal to discover someone coming early.
Xiaoyao was a bit puzzled about what Dongfang Wunian was doing here at this time. Although she would come normally, there were intervals between visits. It had only been two days since the last time, which was a bit abnormal.
"I already ate breakfast - as delicious as always. But I'm not here for food this time. Do you think I'm like Chi Chi, that we're both gluttons?" Dongfang Wunian said with a smile.
"Chi chi..." Chi Chi protested from the side - why drag it into this?
"Actually, in my opinion, you and Chi Chi are indeed quite similar. The connection between us is food." Xiaoyao laughed at this moment, quite bluntly, not afraid of offending Dongfang Wunian. Within a certain range, they could speak freely to each other.
"..." Dongfang Wunian was silent.
"What are you looking for me about today?" Xiaoyao asked.
"How do you know I'm looking for you about something?" Dongfang Wunian asked curiously.
"So there really is something. I originally thought this was just abnormal behavior on your part, coming to chat with me after only two days." Xiaoyao said.
"What do you mean abnormal? How are you talking!" Dongfang Wunian said somewhat displeased.
"Under normal circumstances, you should come talk to me again in five or six days, proposing your desired food standards. Today's situation naturally belongs to abnormal behavior!" Xiaoyao said slowly.
"..." Dongfang Wunian was silent. If going by Xiaoyao's reasoning, it was indeed so, but these words felt strange somehow, and she couldn't find anything to refute.
"Let's talk serious business." Xiaoyao smiled and changed the topic. He was also very curious about what Dongfang Wunian wanted from him. Based on his understanding of Dongfang Wunian, he knew she must have serious business.
(End of Chapter)