System Granted Me Immortality; I Outlived Everyone

Chapter 25: The Secret of the Bronze Ancient Hall, An Ancient Story

Chen Changsheng’s sheer, brazen indifference instantly made Lin Hu freeze.

By the time he processed the disrespect, Lin Hu flew into a violent rage.

But before he could strike, Hu Zhan’s Nascent Soul puppet stepped smoothly into his path.

“Hu Zhan, what is the meaning of this? Are you siding with an outsider?”

Faced with Lin Hu’s interrogation, Hu Zhan cast a calm look at Chen Changsheng—who was entirely engrossed in the Bronze Ancient Hall—and replied flatly.

“Lin Hu, you can kill someone whenever you please, but don’t forget our actual objective here.”

Those words instantly doused a significant portion of Lin Hu’s fury.

He hadn’t been targeting Chen Changsheng just because the man was participating in the recruitment assembly.

Anyone with half a brain could see the truth of the situation: this human definitely wasn’t here for Wanyan Yue.

If he wasn’t after the demon clan princess, then this Chen Changsheng must be harboring ulterior motives.

For a mere Golden Core cultivator to dare waltz alone into the heartland of the demon race, he had to have immense backing.

Striking prematurely would only alert the snake in the grass.

Letting him escape was a minor setback, but jeopardizing their true objective was an absolute disaster.

With Hu Zhan successfully talking Lin Hu down, Chen Changsheng was left in peace to study the Bronze Ancient Hall.

After some time passed, Hu Zhan stepped forward. “Brother Chen, have you noticed any clues?”

Chen Changsheng pondered for a moment before speaking. “Brother Hu, are you familiar with the Boundless Secret Realm located within the Daqian Dynasty?”

“I’ve heard passing mentions of it. Does it have some connection to this place?”

“It does, and the connection is likely immense.”

“It’s no secret within the Daqian Dynasty that the Boundless Secret Realm houses a Bronze Ancient Hall.”

“Yet now, an identical Bronze Ancient Hall has appeared here in the forbidden land of the Night Moon Country. What do you make of that, Brother Hu?”

Those words didn’t just hook Hu Zhan; even the scowling Lin Hu found his curiosity piqued.

Both the Night Moon Country and the Daqian Dynasty had stood for over a millennia, while the forbidden land and the Boundless Secret Realm had existed long before either nation’s founding.

For both locations to share such a specific structure… was there a hidden truth connecting them?

Intrigued, Hu Zhan asked, “The Boundless Secret Realm is firmly under the control of the Daqian Dynasty.”

“Furthermore, non-humans are strictly barred from entry. Had you not mentioned it, I would have remained completely ignorant of this.”

“It’s not just you. I suspect very few people across both nations are aware of this overlap.”

“The patterns etched into these Bronze Ancient Halls are highly peculiar. They aren’t mere decorative motifs.”

“If you two aren’t in a rush, I can attempt to decipher them.”

Hu Zhan looked at Chen Changsheng, his skepticism evident.

“Many Elders of our demon clan have attempted to crack this Bronze Ancient Hall, yet all returned empty-handed.”

“Are you truly confident you can decipher what’s written on it, Brother Chen?”

Hu Zhan didn’t say it aloud, but his gaze spoke volumes.

Countless mighty figures of our demon clan have failed, and you think a mere human at the Golden Core stage can do it?

Unbothered by the doubt, Chen Changsheng pulled out several sheets of white paper covered in copied patterns.

“If I were facing a single Bronze Ancient Hall in isolation, I naturally wouldn’t have a shred of confidence.”

“But don’t forget, Brother Hu: people are also studying the Bronze Ancient Hall back in the Boundless Secret Realm.”

“By piecing the clues from both halls together, we might just find the key to cracking this.”

“If these patterns genuinely record information, then the entity who left these two halls behind…”

“…must have wanted future generations to actually learn something, rather than just playing a cosmic guessing game.”

“The only reason we can’t read it is because the gap in time is too vast, and the original written language has gone extinct.”

As he spoke, Chen Changsheng began to methodically cross-reference the patterns from both Bronze Ancient Halls.

Naturally, Hu Zhan and Lin Hu leaned in closer to observe his work.

The true secret of the Night Moon Country lay within this forbidden land, and the Bronze Ancient Hall had stood at its center since its discovery.

If they could unravel the hall’s mystery, it might prove incredibly advantageous for their upcoming plans.

……

Three hours later.

“Ah, I see.”

Chen Changsheng muttered as he aligned the patterns.

Hu Zhan’s eyes lit up. “Brother Chen, have you found something?”

“Yes. I’ve solved the secret of the Bronze Ancient Hall.”

“Well? Spit it out then!”

Lin Hu couldn’t help but snap impatiently from the side.

Chen Changsheng didn’t bother dragging out the suspense. He simply pointed at the intricate grooves.

“As the young masters of your respective clans, I imagine you two are both well-educated.”

“You must have realized that the patterns on the two halls are interconnected, yet you could never match them to any known written text.”

Lin Hu crossed his arms, frowning.

“What does that prove? No one even knows how old this damn thing is.”

“It’s perfectly normal for an ancient language to have vanished.”

“A fair point, Brother Lin. But don’t forget, the great expert who constructed these halls deliberately wanted to leave a message for posterity.”

“Do you really think an expert of that caliber wouldn’t have anticipated the death of a language?”

Annoyed by the rhetorical questions, Lin Hu growled, “If you have something to say, just say it. Enough with the riddles.”

Chen Changsheng completely ignored Lin Hu’s hostility, continuing his explanation with a calm, professorial tone.

“That ancient expert absolutely accounted for the ravages of time.”

“Eras pass and oceans turn to dust. No one can guarantee that their written word will survive the ages.”

“Therefore, to ensure the message endured, they had to devise a method that transcended time and bypassed language entirely.”

“The simplest, most foolproof method is imagery.”

With a flick of his wrist, Chen Changsheng sent the sheets of paper hovering into the air, meticulously rearranging their sequence.

Once the papers were set, he channeled his spiritual energy to extract glowing rubbings directly from the Bronze Ancient Hall’s surface.

The two sets of patterns drifted together in the air, slowly interlocking until they formed a massive, albeit fragmented, mural.

“Written language suffers from generational gaps, but visual imagery does not.”

“Because visual association is the very first way any sentient being learns. From the moment we open our eyes, we absorb the world through images.”

“We look at mountains, rivers, grass, and trees, and through seeing them, we comprehend their shape and color.”

“The carvings on this Bronze Ancient Hall were never words. They are pieces of a vivid mural.”

“You were treating them like a lost alphabet, which is why they were utterly incomprehensible.”

Watching Chen Changsheng cleanly dissect a millennia-old mystery, Hu Zhan and Lin Hu felt a begrudging sliver of respect take root.

The Bronze Ancient Hall had stood for thousands of years, baffling generation after generation of demon scholars.

Yet this human had waltzed in and cracked it in a mere three hours; his intellect was frankly terrifying.

Having laid the mystery bare, Chen Changsheng and the two demons turned their full attention to the glowing mural suspended above them.

Though heavily damaged, a decipherable portion remained intact.

And from that shattered image, an ancient story unfolded before their eyes.