Tang Ze had a hundred questions running through his mind, but he trusted Elder He Xuan and said, "Alright."
"It's good that you understand. And oh, do see if you can peruse the books I gave you further with whatever time you have left," Elder He Xuan said.
Tang Ze returned to his squad's common living quarters, and they were all smiles as they saw him, though, Zhang Long had another reason to be happy.
"Guess what! Jin Zhen and my engagement party's coming up in a month!"
"Congratulations!" Tang Ze said, slapping Zhang Long on the shoulder, being careful not to use his new strength so that he didn't end up dislocating Zhang Long's arm.
Though it had been confirmed a while back, the actual engagement and the subsequent party still hadn't taken place.
Given how much work had gone into setting this thing up, even though Zhang Long and Jin Zhen were agreeable to being married, Tang Ze had asked Zhang Long offhand why the two of them just didn't run away and get married in some random shrine somewhere one day instead of having to jump through all of these hoops.
Zhang Long had a dark look on his face as he replied at the time, "My father said that if I ever did something like that which would tarnish our family's honor, he wouldn't care even if I was at the Mahayana realm, he would find me and beat me to a pulp."
As it was, Zhang Long wasn't in any hurry, simply because this was just how long arranging marriages took in the Raswatian Empire.
"I think some of the money the third prince sent helped make things move a bit faster," Zhang Long said. He had originally wanted to wait until he had reached Qi Refinement before the actual ceremony, and while his cultivation had accelerated with the help of the resources that Tang Ze had obtained, it still didn't look like that was likely to happen. Then again, he really couldn't say there was a reason to delay given the recent windfall his village had gotten, a portion of which would be used for both of the upcoming future events.
"Just make sure Jin Zhen doesn't do the catering," Yin Tiang and Chen Yu both said.
"Oh, don't worry about that," Zhang Long said. He had long since resigned himself to the fact that he would have to either do all the cooking in their household, or hire someone to do it for them.
"Ah right, I do need to tell you all that I'll be leaving," Tang Ze said, relaying what Elder He Xuan had told him to say.
"Really? A secret place - kind of like that spiritual spring we can access?" Chen Yu asked.
"Speaking of, when do you guys think is a good time to visit it? We only get one month there, so we need to make it count."
"I guess after my engagement party would be a good time," Zhang Long said. There had been a reason they were delaying going to that place, despite the immense benefits that they would gain by cultivating there. Zhang Long turned towards said reason they had been delaying things, Tang Ze (who had an upcoming meeting scheduled with the emperor at the time), and asked, "Unless you have anything else lined up after then?"
"No, hopefully things stay nice and quiet from here on out," Tang Ze said, hoping that he wasn't inviting calamity by saying so out loud.
"Yeah," Zhang Long said.
"But don't forget about the sect auction," Chen Yu said. "Didn't you want to get a storage ring from it?"
"Yeah, but there's still some time for that," Tang Ze said. Despite taking a minor loss with the mission to save the children who had been entrapped by the Baku, he still had a huge amount of sect merit points left over for the upcoming auction.
"Oh, by the way, how long will it take you to master the [Lotus Palm]?" Zhang Long asked excitedly. The question seemed to come out of nowhere, Tang Ze thought, though he still answered.
"Still a few years, at least, that's what my teacher says," Tang Ze answered. It was not easy to master, though once one did so, it had enormous battle potential. Since it didn't really rely on Qi, one could use it over and over again and it was excellent for long-standing battles of attrition.
"Oh well," Zhang Long said, slightly disappointed for some reason at that answer that Tang Ze couldn't pick up on. "When you do happen to master it, let me know, because there's something I wanted to show you that I just learned how to do..."
Tang Ze wasn't sure what this 'surprise' was but agreed to Zhang Long's request.
The auction, Zhang Long's engagement party, and going to the spirit spring - those were the main events Tang Ze had to keep in mind while planning things for the future.
The next two days, Tang Ze slept in as long as he liked, because he had to (tragically) get up early on the day that he and Elder He Xuan left.
The two of them would be traveling via magic carpet - which was a standard issue item given to Golden Core cultivators much like a storage ring, unless you belonged to the Swift Sword sect in which case naturally you were given a flying sword instead. The carpet could comfortably seat two people - as for supplies, Elder He Xuan simply tapped on the storage ring on his finger.
As they headed out, Elder He Xuan did not start telling Tang Ze about the details of their upcoming mission. Instead, he asked him, "What did you think after reading about the Mercury Kingdom for so long?"
Tang Ze had not found the topic to be very interesting, though given the fact that Elder He Xuan had been giving so many signals that it was something important he had tried his best to read up as much as he could. "Interesting, I think. But... is it related to what we're doing today?"
He took a stab in the dark with that guess, though it turned out he was right.
Elder He Xuan nodded. "Quite perceptive, junior. Indeed, where we are going actually has everything to do with the Mercury Kingdom."
Tang Ze couldn't wrap his head around how that could be. The Mercury Kingdom had fallen far before the Raswatian Empire had even formed, and to Tang Ze, the Raswatian Empire was already indescribably ancient when compared to civilizations from back on Earth.
So how could this little excursion have anything to do with it? "Are we going to see some ruins of the Mercury Kingdom?"
"Yes! Correct again! We are going to a place left behind which still has the Mercury Kingdom's lingering influence," Elder He Xuan said.
"Really?" Tang Ze asked. "But... why do you need me specifically for this?" Elder He Xuan could've taken anyone else from the sect, however it was clear to Tang Ze that he had chosen him for some specific reason. It wasn't just this mission - all of those hints suggesting that Tang Ze study about the topic meant that Elder He Xuan had likely had this little excursion planned for quite a while.
"I will get to that," Elder He Xuan said. "But let me start at the beginning. During my youth, I had a fortuitous encounter with a secret realm. This secret realm, as it turns out, opened up only once every ten years - I was quite lucky to have been the one who chanced upon it. This was not just any secret realm, it was an inheritance left behind since before the Raswatian Empire was even founded. I found many treasures within this inheritance, and more important than that, I got to know about the Mercury Kingdom. I even taught myself to read a part of their language. The Mercury Kingdom became something of an obsession of mine after I had found that inheritance."
"The people of this country think that such study is mostly meaningless," Elder He Xuan said, a hint of venom now increasingly evident in his voice as he continued. "The Imperial Family pretends as if the world existed only after the Raswatian Empire came into being, though that could be no further from the truth. To a small extent they suppress study of the time before its founding to a large extent, citing it as 'pointless' and a 'waste of money.' In truth, they likely just want to project that they were always the rulers of this land, as another way to consolidate their rule."
It was the first time that Tang Ze had heard Elder He Xuan speak negatively about the Imperial Family like this, but it was clear that he was quite passionate about this subject. Why else would there be such anger in his voice when criticizing those who had disdain for it? Elder He Xuan actually had several reasons to dislike the Imperial Family, now that Tang Ze thought about it, including the plot to steal the Grimoire of Heaven.
Elder He Xuan had never expressed such feelings before, though the moment Tang Ze thought about it, he could only realize that, of course, obviously Elder He Xuan would not openly say things which could be construed as treason.
Come to think of it, Tang Ze remembered the history quiz that took place during the Novice Tournament, and could not recall a single question that was asked during the quiz regarding the time period before the Raswatian Empire had been founded. It wasn't as if their knowledge about the warring states period or the Mercury Kingdom was entirely nonexistent - so this was quite strange now that he reflected on it.
He had thought nothing of it at the time, not even noticing that fact until Elder He Xuan pointed it out to him.
"They are fools, nothing more," Elder He Xuan snorted. "Returning to the topic on hand though, I explored that pocket dimension many times, and was able to learn nearly all of its secrets. Nearly all, that is, save for one. There was one thing that I found that I could not obtain - a region where I could not go to, for I lacked the strength for such."
They reached their destination - which looked just like the rest of the forest they had been flying over for the last half an hour to Tang Ze, but clearly Elder He Xuan was able to tell it apart somehow from the rest of the foliage.
"Before we go in," Elder He Xuan said, "I need you to understand some things. First of all, this place has many artifacts and treasures from the Mercury Kingdom - that is why it has to be kept secret from outsiders, do you understand? Most cultivators do not understand the importance of history unless it can directly advance their cultivation. They would use a vase that is centuries old and a great work of craftsmanship as a spittoon if it could not be sold. Many of these treasures have valuable metals in them like gold and silver, and if word got out about them, you would have people coming in to take these statues and other works of art, disregarding their historical value, and selling them for bits and fragments. It would be like casting pearls before swine - few people would understand the true value of these things. And there might even be some people, such as those from the Imperial Family, who would just wish to outright destroy them."
Tang Ze nodded. He could see why Elder He Xuan had not told anyone about this place were that the case.
Back on Earth, the right thing to do would've been to hand over such objects to a museum where they could be preserved, studied, and also enjoyed by the public. However, such institutions did not really exist in this world, and if they did, they would belong to private collectors who would also most likely not understand the value of such things, or the State, which, if Elder He Xuan was to be believed, would have good reason to either destroy them or keep them hidden from the public.
"Secondly," Elder He Xuan continued. "Hopefully we succeed, though even if we don't, I find it best to settle such matters here and now before we embark on our journey. Say that we find a treasure that is worth taking and not something that should be preserved - I think a fifty-fifty split between the two of us is acceptable. If there is something that cannot be split that easily, we can share it amongst each other based on the same principle. Is that agreeable to you?"