Chapter 1184: The Surprise of the Profound Taoist

"This aura... it's perfect, absolutely perfect!" Shu Feng's mind reeled in an instant, his eyes widening as he was captivated by this unparalleled treasure. "What kind of script is this? It's square, intricate, and ancient... yet the spiritual essence within it makes its meaning perfectly clear to me."

The aura, the degree of completeness, and the pinnacle of sculptural artistry were such that, for a moment, he couldn't even conceive of it being a fake. It truly felt like a genuine treasure from an ancient era.

Filled with excitement, he instinctively reached out to gently touch it but quickly withdrew his hand, fearing he might tarnish such a flawless masterpiece. "It's priceless! Absolutely priceless! It's said that many ancient sculptures were enormous, some even comparable in size to stars... but with the passage of time, most large treasures have been lost, leaving only smaller pieces preserved intact!"

The larger the piece, the higher its value! And this vast grotto-mansion, preserved so perfectly before him, was of immeasurable worth! Selling just this one piece would be enough to make a fortune. Even he couldn't discern its authenticity, and it would likely be difficult for anyone else. The sense of ancientness, the traces of the flow of time, and the Dao essence within it were almost unimaginable and truly awe-inspiring.

"This sculpture could fetch an astronomical price. Many Sages would undoubtedly cherish it as a priceless treasure... But aren't the inscriptions on it a bit too startling?" Daoist Shu Xuan couldn't help but interject, "That script might be a flaw."

When forging or imitating ancient artifacts, one must consider the artifact's historical context and stylistic period. It's like an antique ink painting showing an ancient person riding an electric scooter – it's immediately obvious it's a modern creation and doesn't fit the historical setting. The script before them was too astonishing... too unconventional, making it easy for people to suspect it was a fake and inconsistent with the historical ancient mythical era.

It was known that the more powerful a being, the more reverent, cautious, and humble they were in their pursuit of cosmic truth. Yet here was: "Immortal Mansion of Immortals!" and "Daoist's Home, Coeval with Heaven!" This statement was so exaggerated it was chilling. Throughout history, no matter how great the enlightened Sages, none would dare utter such arrogant boasts or desires... Inscribing such a phrase was truly the only flaw in an otherwise perfect work of art!

Shu Xuan, being meticulous, felt this flaw ruined a perfect work and exasperatedly stated, "I believe this phrase, while grand and impressive, is also too ostentatious and doesn't align with the historical atmosphere... While it might increase the perceived value of the artifact by suggesting the ancient being who owned it was powerful and thus more valuable, it makes it too easy for people to see it as a modern forgery."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Mingshan Chesu simply shook his head with a wry smile. "As I said before, this sculpture is actually very ordinary, yet you're treating it as a work of art."

Shu Xuan was stunned. Qiu Mingshan Chesu continued, "But to say it's ordinary means it's commonplace. We understand its origins, and we know how to recreate it... This is the difference between you and me. If it were you, even with the skill to make fakes appear genuine, you couldn't make it truly authentic! That's because you don't know the historical background of this sculptural art, what happened in that era... When creating ancient artifacts, you can't capture the spirit of that time. But we... we know the sculptural civilization!"

"Know?" Upon hearing this, an indescribable excitement surged through Shu Xuan. They actually knew the history of this sculpture! This was one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of antiquity. So much history had been lost, and for passionate historians like them, it was the truth they pursued their entire lives. With no hope of breaking through to a higher realm, Shu Xuan's lifelong pursuit had been the ancient artifacts of the Chaos Sea and the vast history of antiquity.

"Could you... could you tell this old Daoist?" Shu Xuan pleaded immediately.

"You will know in due time." Qiu Mingshan Chesu said calmly, continuing to gaze at the grotto-mansion. "It is precisely because we know ancient history that we created this grotto-mansion. Even if placed in that ancient era, it would be genuine... This grotto-mansion did exist in ancient history... it was merely destroyed by the passage of time. We have simply restored it from the long river of history."

At that moment, a chilling sensation intensely surged through him.

"Genuine? Truly genuine??" Seeing this, his mind went completely blank, and he began to wonder if he had truly been living in a frog's well. Immortality! Coeval with Heaven! If this genuinely happened in history, whose mansion could this be? No matter how powerful the Sages, ancient or modern, none would dare claim such things. Immortality? Even the current Sages of the universe face assimilation by the Great Dao. "Coeval with Heaven" was even more exaggerated! Its implication was a lifespan as long as the universe itself! The owner of this mansion would have been born with the universe, as old as the cosmos itself. At the same time, they had previously suspected that this era of sculptural art was terrifyingly powerful and prosperous, but they never imagined it was this incredible, utterly astounding! The appearance of this single entity would overturn many people's understanding of ancient cosmic history.

"The civilization of sculptural art! Lost history!" "What kind of existence was this?"

He then recalled the earlier statement: "How pathetic, truly pathetic... thinking oneself learned in all things ancient and modern, merely a pitiful fish in a pond." "Why would they need sufficient lifespan? Because they lived eternally in that primordial era. Why would they need to traverse the cosmos? Because in that primordial age, no stars had even appeared; in fact, the stars themselves were built by them..."

The white-haired old man was utterly bewildered, as if his mind had broken. He mumbled, "No wonder they all looked down on those treasures before. Now, they can casually create something so lifelike, even perfectly consistent with ancient history. Perhaps, it's not just me; if the beings on this land knew, their entire worldview would be overturned, and they would realize their own shallowness."

Shu Xuan suddenly had an incredible thought: "Could it be that you're not just making forgeries, but actually reviving ancient artifacts that were damaged but truly existed? Restoring them to this era?"

For example, this grotto-mansion before him, did it genuinely exist in that sculptural era, and they merely restored it? Old Man Shu Xuan was completely agitated, gripping Qiu Mingshan Chesu's hand tightly. "You're not doing this to earn resources. Your origins are mysterious, and your background unfathomably deep. How could you possibly lack resources? Are you doing this to restore ancient history to this land?"

Qiu Mingshan Chesu paused. He naturally wouldn't say he was doing it to "harvest leeks." He immediately gave the old man a solemn pat on the shoulder and said, "Precisely. We intend to unearth the ancient history buried in the dust. When we saw this land that had lost its faith, this idea came to us..."

Daoist Shu Xuan stared, taken aback.

Qiu Mingshan Chesu's voice was hoarse as he spoke earnestly, "I believe it's your dream too. I see the reverence for history in your eyes. You must be a pure seeker of the Dao, collecting ancient artifacts in the boundless chaos, exploring events from billions of years ago, treading the very path of historical truth... Therefore, for our shared dream of restoring historical truth, perhaps I won't be able to give you too large a share of the profits."