The voice of the golem came from a machine within it. It didn’t move its mouth to speak at all. In fact, it doesn’t appear to have a mouth.
Arthur was surprised to hear what it said. He asked, "So I’m not the first inheritor?"
The golem replied, "You are the only inheritor for the last 500 years. There have been other inheritors in the time period since the Jade Cauldron sect fell and during the time the Jade Cauldron sect was still around."
"Most of the 13 inheritors appeared during the period that the Jade Cauldron sect was still a sect. 9 of them came from the Jade Cauldron sect. 3 came from your Blood Skull sect. The last inheritor was a cheater from your sect who broke the formation on top of the mountain and snuck into this place."
When Arthur heard the last sentence, the identity of the only formation master who could create teleportation platforms flashed through his mind.
He didn’t dwell on that too much though. Instead, he considered something else that the golem had said about the Jade Cauldron sect.
So he said, "So you already know that the Jade Cauldron sect has been destroyed. Yet you are still here giving out inheritances to people. And for hundreds of years too. That is admirable."
The golem didn’t think there was anything admirable about what it had done. It said, "I am just doing my job, which is to give the Inheritance of the Blood Pill Daoist to worthy successors. I did that when the Blood Pill Daoist was alive, and I continued to do it when she died."
"I will continue to do my job regardless of the existence of the Jade Cauldron sect. I will select worthy successors and give them the inheritance until I run out of energy or die. That is my fate."
Arthur’s eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Wow."
Then he shook his head and said, "I’m still impressed."
The golem said, "Then you should be impressed with the skills of my creator. After all, he was the one who created something capable of doing my job for a thousand years."
Arthur nodded in agreement. "That’s true. Do you know who your creator is?"
The golem replied stiffly, "I do not."
Arthur asked another question, "Do you know what rank you are?"
The golem began moving in the direction of the house and said, "I do not know."
Then it said, "All you need to know is in the Inheritance. Follow me to receive it."
Arthur followed it while asking, "What is the inheritance about anyway?"
The golem replied, "The Inheritance is a method to convert a living being into a pill that grants another person the power of that living being."
Arthur was surprised to hear that. Even so, he had heard of something familiar. So he asked, "Is that pill a foundation?"
The golem nodded as it replied, "In a way, it is. It is a foundation in that it can be used as one. But it can also be used as a golden core and a nascent soul. It all depends on what kind of pill is created and what is used to make the pill."
Arthur was impressed the more he heard. His eyes lit up as he said, "So it is an inheritance that is useful for rank 3, rank 4, and rank 5. That’s great. I hope that I can use it, though. After all, I am not an alchemist."
The golem assured him woodenly, "You should be able to use it. But you’re indeed right to be cautious. The technique was indeed created by an alchemist for other alchemists."
"To be exact, the inheritance was created by the Blood Pill Daoist as an attempt to copy the cultivation techniques of a sect called the Red and Blue Fire sect."
"The Red and Blue Fire Sect have a cultivation system that treats the foundation as a pill and foundation establishment as refining a pill. So the disciples of this sect refine an inner pill within them. This inner pill goes on to become a golden core and then the nascent soul."
Arthur pumped his fist in excitement and said, "Great. Just great. I didn’t think much of this inheritance before, but I am getting excited just hearing about it."
The golem said, "Will you be excited to hear that the attempt to copy the cultivation technique of the Red and Blue Fire sect failed?"
Arthur’s excitement was doused. He asked, "What do you mean?"
The golem reached the small wooden house and opened its door. As it did, it said, "I mean that Daoist Blood Pill failed in her attempt to copy that great cultivation technique. She succeeded in being able to convert people into pills, but the pills were dead and incapable of growth."
"No matter what she did, the pill was stuck at whatever stage it was when it was produced. It couldn’t transform from the inner pill into the golden core, and the golden core that she produced couldn’t transform into a nascent soul."
"In an attempt to fix the problems of her pills, she created this inheritance hall to spread the Life Pill Art to talented alchemists. She thought that alchemists have the greatest chance of forging a truly living pill as a foundation."
After speaking, the golem went over to the hole in the ground. It stepped into the hole, which caused white runes to light up on its surface.
It said to Arthur, "I need to unlock the Inheritance stone first before you can take the inheritance. This is to prevent someone from stealing me in order to keep the inheritance for themselves."
"I must become one with the mountain below me and must be willing to hand over the inheritance before anyone can get the inheritance. So anyone who wants to steal me must be willing to steal the mountain too. This is how I was able to foil that cheater that broke in last time."