The old man furrowed his brows in surprise at Draven's request. "How do you know it is not a complete technique?"
Draven did not show any panic on his face. "In the outside world, there are many variations of Asura Intent available for cultivation. Previously, I brought the Sword-Saber Asura Intent manual for my sister, which combines both sword and saber intent. The shopkeeper then explained about the core technique named 'Asura Battle Body Forging Art,' from which all the Asura Intent techniques were later deduced."
"So I guessed the Asura Blade Intent was a part of the Asura Battle Body Forging Art."
The old man stroked his beard and nodded thoughtfully. "You already have two body forging arts no weaker than the Asura Body Forging Art. One focuses on strengthening your vital qi directly, while the other is a shaman technique that uses beast martial intent to temper your vital chi. Even then, are you sure you want my body forging art instead of a powerful darkness or chaos elemental technique?"
Draven nodded without hesitation. An elemental cultivation technique was useless to someone like him, who did not even have an inner world; so, even if it was not as powerful, this was still the best option.
A sly smile appeared on the old man's lips as he saw the resolute expression in Draven's eyes. "The Asura Battle Body Forging Art is extremely hard to practice. Now that your vital chi is already tempered to the limit, tempering it further will be even more challenging. But if you choose an elemental cultivation technique, with your powerful bloodline, you will be able to progress much faster compared to others your age."
Draven resolutely shook his head and bowed respectfully. "According to the stories I heard, the Asura Battle Body Forging Art is considered one of the strongest cultivation techniques under the heavens. Asura God's sword could even cut down 10th-rank taboo spells of time and curse. How can the cultivation technique of such a person be inferior to some elemental techniques? In my opinion, it will be at least at the same level or even higher."
Actually, he was spouting nonsense. In the 36th Stronghold, Draven had only heard about the Asura God Mansion. He had no idea about the Asura God or his achievements whatsoever. But since the Asura Blade Intent was a part of the Asura Battle Body Forging Art, Draven deduced that the Asura God would also use a sword, so he praised him blindly.
As for why he did that, it was simple. The face of the old man in front of him was the same as the one Draven had seen in his dream when he practiced the Asura Blade Intent. This meant the person before him was actually the remnant soul of the Asura God himself. So, praising him outright could only bring good fortune; after all, who did not like being praised?
As Draven expected, the old man's face stiffened for a moment before he broke out in laughter. A mighty aura spread from his body, making some of the treasures around him turn to dust in an instant.
Previously, the aura around him was just at the Ascendant Realm, but as time passed it increased tenfold, a hundredfold, and kept on increasing more and more to the point that Draven felt as though he would die if the old man in front of him just sneezed.
Fortunately, the old man protected Draven and Alexandria with his aura, so it did not kill them outright.
"Brother Draven, are we going to die?" Alexandria asked shakily as she hugged him tightly.
Draven's mouth twitched. What was he supposed to say? He was just praising the old man; who would have thought this old fellow would go insane all of a sudden?
After a while, the old man calmed himself down and said with a grin, "Kid, the only reason I left a fragment of my soul here was to find a successor for the skill I developed throughout my life. It was not to prove anything, just an obsession in my heart. But after years of waiting, some people came who were capable enough to inherit my skill. Yet, when I asked them what secret technique they wanted, all of them asked for elemental cultivation techniques. In the end, I even gave some of them parts of the Asura Body Forging Art as an extra reward."
"I felt no joy in it. In fact, I felt as though my skills were being looked down upon. But today, you made me happy. I do not care whether you can succeed in cultivating my technique or not; I just feel content all of a sudden."
The old man looked around him and said mockingly, "What powerful elemental cultivators? A person with a mediocre talent like me was able to beat them into submission and rob their treasures to keep as decorations in my tomb."
He then looked at Draven kindly. "I will give you my legacy. As for the treasures here, most of what is left is simply trash compared to the life-bond weapons I have given you. Still, there is one that can be considered top-notch. It is a treasure refined by a god for his lover, who was a mortal, so that she could share his lifespan and they could live together happily. When that god's lifespan ended and they chose to enter the cycle of reincarnation, he refined it into a life-bond weapon for his only disciple. But that guy offended me, so I killed him and snatched it for my collection."
He waved his hand, and a small butterfly made of transparent glass appeared before Draven.
"Cut your finger and drip your blood into it," the old man instructed both of them.
Draven and Alexandria did not delay and did as they were told, not for any other reason but pure fear of the god-like existence before them.
As soon as their blood fell on the glass butterfly, it suddenly came to life. A golden glow flickered around it, and it began circling them as if inspecting them.
Then, suddenly, it flew towards Draven's neck. But before it could touch his body, his purple eyes turned ruby red and a red aura flickered around him, making the butterfly stop in its tracks. It then flew towards Alexandria and entered her body in the form of an illusionary mist, condensing into a small cyan butterfly tattoo on the right side of her neck.
Draven looked at this scene in confusion. For a moment when the golden butterfly approached, he had clearly felt his chaos divine ape bloodline go out of control and activate on its own.
Seeing this, the old man did not show much surprise. "Do not think too much. Your bloodline is a bit special and will not allow the Crystal Heart Butterfly into your body, since one of its abilities is possession, which your bloodline will not tolerate. That is why it instinctively prevented it from entering."
"But do not worry. Possession is only an auxiliary feature of the Crystal Heart Butterfly. Its main feature is that it can sum up your lifespans, which is the most important feature and will benefit both of you."
After saying that, his body slowly started dissipating bit by bit like smoke. With a sigh, he snapped his finger, and Draven and Alexandria appeared outside the Asura God Mansion, some distance away from the detection range of the ghost puppets.
Suddenly, a vast amount of memory appeared in Draven's mind, the inheritance the Asura God had left for him. But he did not have time to dwell on it at this moment as he looked at the mansion in the distance with furrowed brows.
"What happened, Brother Draven?" Alexandria asked curiously when she saw him staring fixedly at the mansion.
Draven took a deep breath. "The Asura Mansion constantly moves from one place to another. According to what I know, after we were sent out, it should have disappeared from our sight. There is also the fact that we saw that senior's body turn into an illusionary form as though he would disappear at any moment. When all these are read together, I think senior's soul has already disappeared completely, and this tomb is now ownerless. Meaning anyone can take the treasure inside without any trial whatsoever."
Alexandria was stunned by Draven's analysis at first, but then her eyes lit up. "That is good! Come on, let us go inside and grab everything before someone else comes here."
Draven turned to her with a speechless expression. "I only said senior's soul disappeared. The ghost puppets he refined are still patrolling the mansion habitually. Now that we know senior was a God Realm expert, we cannot rule out the possibility of higher realm ghost puppets inside; some might even be at God Realm. Are you sure you have the courage to go inside and come out with treasures?"
Alexandria shuddered when she thought about the aura the old man had radiated before he disappeared. She shook her head vigorously; now, even if Draven wanted her to go inside, she would not.
Draven looked around grimly. "I lost my shirt. Do you have something I can wear? We cannot stay in this place much longer; otherwise, if the ghost puppets go out of control, we will not escape."
When the old man teleported them outside, Draven's white shirt was left behind. And since he had given his storage ring to Jessy, he did not even have a spare shirt to wear.
Alexandria shook her head. "I only have dresses for women in my storage ring."
Draven nodded. "Anyway, do you know where we are now?"
Alexandria shook her head.
After a moment of thinking, Draven climbed up the tallest tree in the area to see if he could find some clues. After all, if they went in the opposite direction of the 36th Stronghold, they would be entering the deep forest where beasts even above the Ascendant Realm were as common as rabbits and chickens.