So, this was a prank inheritance?
Such things did exist - there were people in this world who had far too much time on their hands and decided to get their kicks from setting up pointless or sometimes even dangerous inheritances.
Sometimes such troublemakers didn't set up a reward at all or put in a prank reward - looks like this was one of the latter cases.
The pranks could even be harmful at times. Everyone in this world by now was familiar with some of them.
'Castrate yourself!'
People would write this on the first page of a book, leave the second page blank, and hope that people assumed you needed to follow the instructions to read the rest of the book. The third page would then say, 'Do you really do anything that a random book instructs you to do?'; and that would be all.
Zhang Long doubted that anyone had fallen for such a prank in recent memory given that knowledge of this was widespread by this point, but there likely had been one such individual at some time in the past who had fallen for it which was why that kind of prank was so popular.
That wasn't the only kind of scam going around. There were stories of applicants being asked to put their hands into small slits within boxes, within which there would be scorpions or snakes - and a bite or sting would be the only 'inheritance' that those people got.
Zhang Long had to admit that some of the stories he'd heard really were quite funny though. There was a famous one about someone who had supposedly found the inheritance of a great alchemist, and were promised a special recipe so long as they could pass through a trial.
The trial was to catch and kiss one hundred frogs - this took place in a swamp, as you can imagine, so catching the frogs themselves was no easy feat either.
Once the applicant had done so, it turned out the reward was just the recipe for a regular fruit smoothie with a page attached to it that said, 'Hope this helps wash the bitter taste in your mouth down!'
Despite himself, Zhang Long couldn't help but snicker at the thought of Yin Tiang running around a swamp trying to catch frogs to kiss in order to receive a valuable alchemical recipe.
That said, once he was done laughing at that mental image, rage gripped him and he wanted to find the person who had set up this phony inheritance and give them a swift kick to the Mt. Tai!
Why did people go through so much trouble to set up such pranks? For mostly the same reason as to why people back on Earth made computer viruses that would break your computer - that is to say, for personal amusement.
Even if the inheritance was set up properly and with the intent of actually leaving something useful behind, there was a chance that someone had already taken it and the creator of said inheritance hadn't had the foresight or ability to close the secret realm off once it had been taken. However, had that been the case, Zhang Long wouldn't have been nearly as furious as he was right now.
Granted, the trials hadn't been too hard, so he really wasn't expecting anything spectacular, but still, it was annoying to be handed basically nothing.
No, actually, if he had found out that the prize was 'nothing' he might be disappointed that someone had gotten to it before him, but that would be somewhat within expectations for such an easy inheritance. He was not just disappointed now though - he was furious that someone had gone out of their way to pull this prank. Imagine all that time and effort spent setting all of that up - just so you could pull a 'gotcha!' on someone in the future.
That was what he thought, before he suddenly realized that there were more pages that he hadn't checked out yet.
"Oh, turns out I had jumped to conclusions too fast," he said to himself as he saw text on the other pages, which described a certain technique.
There was no name on the book or title, however, so all of this had likely been set up by a cultivator quite a long time ago. Their village was only two hundred years old, after all.
And it turned out there was a good reason for the words written down on the first page, Zhang Long discovered as he read more of what was in the book.
He spent most of the rest of his time in his village on this 'assignment' learning about what was written inside and how to practice the technique enshrined within.
Zhang Long discovered a few interesting things about the manual he had gotten from that inheritance. For one, once he turned a page, it stuck to the pages prior, so that he couldn't turn it back to see what had been written before. Yet, whatever he read seemed to 'stick' in his mind permanently once he was done reading it. This was likely a feature of the book.
The philosophy it expounded was quite different from what he was used to as well.
This was an excerpt from said text:
"Before the creation of the universe, and the separation of all, there was a single entity. There was a single soul, and we were all part of that soul. After the creation of the universe, that soul was splintered into countless pieces, and we all originate from this soul. But, at the beginning, it was all one - one body, one soul, and one mind. Humans are the creatures which are closest to comprehending the Dao, and as such, humans spend their entire lives as social creatures - trying to forge bonds with each other, in a form, attempting to reunite with these other souls of which we were once part of.
Since our souls have been split from each other, we constantly wander this earth, alone, trying to find company - though no matter how much we may seek companionship, the fact remains that nothing can truly fill in the gap, the true longing we have to one day merge with each other completely. Not even the most intimate or close relationship can compare to the fusion of two souls together. We all have the innate desire, perhaps subconsciously, to return to the state that we had once been in, when we were truly one with everything and with each other. And were that to happen, the loneliness that grips us, that surrounds us, and that we dread from the bottom of our souls would completely cease to exist.
However, through forming bonds with others, we can come closer to understanding each other - and come closer to understanding this 'supersoul' that had once existed."
Zhang Long contemplated the words in the text. Some of this philosophy ran counter to what he had been taught was the ideal way of learning the Dao.
Yes, cultivators did cooperate with each other - weren't sects just an example of that?
Yet, it was always said that the road to true enlightenment was a road that one had to walk alone.
That was why cultivators would oftentimes become ascetics - vowing to never marry or have children. They would meditate in caves away from society, sometimes for decades on end.
After all, no matter how much you might wish it, you could not give enlightenment to someone else - that was what his teachers had always taught him. It was something that they had to discover for themselves.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!
Then again, this book was based off the life experiences and ruminations of its writer - it didn't necessarily mean that what was written was objectively fact.
There were as many interpretations of the Dao as there were cultivators, and many of these ideas outright contradicted each other.
There was a Nascent Soul cultivator, who one day, after emerging from a seven year secluded meditation session said, "There is no ultimate meaning to life, or grander truth that can be found through cultivating. One should spend as much time seeking as much pleasure as possible through activities like gambling, doing drugs, and fornication - because after death nothing remains." He then left his sect, and spent the rest of his days in debauchery.
This went against practically everything known about cultivation, but it was the 'truth' that this person had stumbled upon. It had caused him to stop cultivating entirely after denouncing the whole practice as 'inherently worthless.'
However, that did not mean that this person had been correct.
Oftentimes, the only true way to understand the Dao was to experience it for yourself. Zhang Long really didn't have enough life experience to come to any conclusions on his own - he could only rely on the teachings of those who had come before him. That was not to say that those teachings were absolute truths, of course - but there usually was at least a grain of truth to them, and it was easier to walk the beaten path rather than trudging through the wilderness on your own.
That is to say, that Zhang Long would take these words with a grain of salt. What was described was the truth that the writer of this manual had discovered, but it did not mean that it was The Truth. It might be a portion of the greater truth, or could even be completely false entirely, but only the truly enlightened knew the complete truth.
"We are born into this world alone, and also leave it alone. No one can accompany us into the next life, no matter how we may promise to stay with them for seven lifetimes. And yet, we spend our time in between these moments searching for others.
However, if enlightenment is truly possible, then it means that eventually, once it occurs, all living beings will achieve it at one point, and the supersoul will be formed once yet again. The universe cycles over and over, and with the eventuality that one can become enlightened given enough time - all will become enlightened in the very end."
Zhang Long read more and more of the philosophy until it finally turned into something that was more tangible in its use for cultivation - an actual technique.
'The True Treasure is Friendship'- the reason that was written on the manual's first page was because of the technique that was kept within. All souls had once been part of one another, and as such, were still connected to each other in a way.
This technique involved the use of a power granted through the formation of bonds between people.
Humans, throughout their lives tried to strengthen these bonds.
When this author described 'bonds' they started off by describing their function on a molecular level - bonds were what kept atoms from falling apart and how matter could exist in the world in the first place.
And yet, bonds did not exist in simply that kind of material regard - there were also those bonds between people. Between father and son, between friends, and even bonds that existed between humans and animals.
One can draw strength from these kinds of bonds - and in doing so, borrow a portion of another person's strength!
'Ah, so that is why I saw Jin Zhen's face in that puzzle. It was a clue about what kind of inheritance lay up ahead - it was showing me the face of my closest friend!' - Zhang Long realized. There had been a purpose to what the first trial had been about, rather than it being a portent of something malevolent going on behind the scenes.
But, he had overthought it to the point where it had nearly given him a headache at the time.
Once one had mastered the technique described in the text, they could draw on the techniques of their allies depending on how deep the bond between the two of them was.