Xiao Chen asked out of curiosity, “What is this?”
Mo Chen explained, “My ancestor pa.s.sed down this jade pendant. Whether we can obtain the Book of Heavenly Works or not will depend on it. Yours should also be a key to a secret chamber. However, if you cannot find the location of the corresponding chamber, your key would be useless.”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen lost interest. He carefully put his phoenix-shaped jade pendant away and said, “Let’s go. We should quickly find the Book of Heavenly Works before something happens.”
Mo Chen nodded and pushed. The big closed doors opened once again, and the two formally stepped into the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion.
The instant the doors opened, an odious b.l.o.o.d.y stench a.s.saulted their noses. Boxes on the shelves and stone pedestals all lay open.
Fresh corpses cluttered the ground; the blood had not even dried yet.
Aside from those killed by cultivators, these were mostly the results of the restrictions on the treasures. Every box in here, every treasure, all had restrictions and ancient traps. They should not be touched casually.
The architecture of the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion was extremely complicated. Pa.s.sages wound everywhere. How to access the second floor was not even clear.
Mo Chen took out a rough sketch and glanced at it. Then, she advanced unhurriedly. Along the way, she walked past stone rooms and treasures on shelves. However, she did not even peep at those items.
Soon, the two arrived at the tunnel to the second floor. There was a thin barrier there, blocking several cultivators and frustrating them.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Two Inferior Grade Martial Sages attacked the barrier, but it did not budge at all. Instead, the attacks rebounded on the two, causing them to vomit blood. The final strike actually even killed them.
The other cultivators, who were preparing to try breaking the barrier, were so frightened that their complexions turned pale, no longer daring to make a move. All of them just hoped that when an expert broke the barrier, they would be able to cross as well.
Xiao Chen was startled. The force of the rebound was not half that of the original attack but double or even triple.
Of course, there had to be an upper limit. An infinite increase would be impossible. Once a strike crossed that point, the barrier would break easily.
This place was filled with cultivators. Not wanting to attract any attention, Xiao Chen took Mo Chen into his arms and did not let her struggle. Then, he pushed off the floor and soared into the air, turning his body into a saber.
“Buzz!”
A resplendent saber light flashed on Xiao Chen’s body, making him as bright as the sun and dazzling the eyes on the ground. The cultivators only heard the hum of a saber. When they opened their eyes again, the crack in the barrier was already slowly healing.
“d.a.m.n! Where did that expert come from?!”
In the time it took for a spark to fly, someone instantly penetrated the barrier. All the cultivators waiting here exclaimed in surprise.
Several people cursed in their hearts as well. Since those people were going in, they should have brought in a few more people.
“Scram!”
Just at this moment, a rough shout resounded. Two overbearing auras shot over. Cultivators got flung into the walls. Many of these people’s bodies became mangled, and they died on the spot.
The crowd turned their heads and saw two lights as resplendent as the sun illuminating the pa.s.sageway as bright as day.
“They’re the disciples of the Cyclic Astral Palace’s Sun Palace! Run!”
The survivors were greatly startled. The Cyclic Astral Palace was considered a big shot within the entire Heavenly Starry Ocean. Furthermore, faced with elite Sun Palace disciples, how could they dare to remain?
“Indeed, they are all trash. We did not even make a move, and the might of our Solar Astral Banners already smashed them to death,” Lu Shaoyou and Feng Ziying said indifferently as they looked at the mangled corpses and each retrieved a Solar Astral Banner overhead into their palms.
Chen Wunjun and a great grandmaster-level Martial Sage of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion could not help but twitch a corner of their lips. The cultivators that were stopped on this floor were mostly Martial Monarchs.
How could these cultivators block that? The Solar Astral Banners of these two probably used at least several dozen tons of divine materials.
Lu Shaoyou toyed with a piece of mysterious black metal in his hand. A faint smile appeared on his face.
Feng Ziying smiled and said, “Senior Brother, your luck is pretty good. You managed to find an ancient Steel Heart. Even if you melt it down, you should be able to obtain ten tons of divine materials.”
Lu Shaoyou said without a care, “This Steel Heart is a core component of the Fire Li Sect’s combat puppets. If we can peer into its mysteries and learn the Martial Techniques of these combat puppets, it would be much more valuable than ten tons of divine materials.”
His expression suddenly turned depressed as he added, “Unfortunately, even the few divine refiners cannot comprehend its mysteries. Without the Book of Heavenly Works, it would be impossible.”
Chen Wenjun whispered, “Senior Brothers, that saber light from earlier looked like it was from Wen Ziran. The person with him should be Mo Chen.”
Feng Ziying sighed. “What’s wrong? You have a grudge against him?”
“This Wen Ziran humiliated a subordinate clan of mine. That Mo Chen also grasps a unique refining method, so I’ve been wanting to annex her clan.”
Lu Shaoyou’s eyes lit up. Then, he said sullenly, “This Mo Chen is pretty famous. Unfortunately, she is disfigured.”
Feng Ziying suggested casually, “Let’s give chase and take a look. After all, with how big this place is, we will not be able to finish exploring it quickly. We might as well find something to do.”
When Chen Wenjun heard that, he rejoiced. He said with a smile, “Many thanks, Senior Brothers. I will go and tear the barrier open.”
Feng Ziying’s lips curled up as he said, “It is just a small barrier. There is no need to go over there. Watch this.”
With a flip of his hand, a Solar Astral Banner appeared in Feng Ziying’s grasp. Then, he unfurled the banner, and a flame shot out. After that, the entire barrier burned up.
Disdain flashed in the two’s eyes as they directly flew across the barrier.
Chen Wenjun recovered his wits and quickly followed, incredibly shocked at the strength of the Sun Palace’s disciples.
The Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion had a total of five floors. With each floor, the might of the barrier doubled. Even with Xiao Chen’s strength, crossing the barrier eventually took him some effort.
Towards the latter floors, Chen Wenjun’s group also required Lu Shaoyou and Feng Ziying to work together to break the barrier, in contrast to how easily they managed to break the first barrier.
The Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion’s fifth floor had many peak experts searching for treasures. Xiao Chen and Mo Chen traveled very carefully with Mo Chen picking the direction very confidently.
In this place, even though Xiao Chen extended his Spiritual Sense to the limit, he did not discover the people of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion tailing him.
In the fifth floor, every stone room contained a high-quality King Grade Secret Treasure, an Ancient Era Divine Weapon, natural treasures, or ancient divine materials.
Of course, obtaining these items was not easy. The stone rooms had powerful restrictions and traps. Without due caution when seeking treasures, one might end up dying.
Miserable shrieks had rung out incessantly in the fifth floor of the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion ever since Xiao Chen and Mo Chen arrived.
The initially indifferent Lu Shaoyou and Feng Ziying, who were following behind, now turned grave.
The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion’s group noticed that from the start until now, Xiao Chen and Mo Chen did not even glance at the various stone rooms and Secret Treasures around them. Even a fool would realize that something was up.
Excitement flashed in Feng Ziying’s eyes. He muttered, “Interesting. A casual thing to kill time resulted in us hooking a big fish.”
Chen Wenjun laughed softly and said, “Five thousand years ago, the Mo Clan was the master of this region. The treasure those two are seeking is definitely not simple. It is either the legendary Emperor Yi Shooting Sun Bow or the even more mysterious Book of Heavenly Works!”
“The Emperor Yi Shooting Sun Bow is still the fifth-ranked Divine Weapon. Is it really in the Fire Li Sect headquarters?” Shock flashed across Lu Shaoyou’s face.
He did not consider the Book of Heavenly Works being in the Fire Li Sect headquarters strange. In fact, its presence was inevitable since this divine canon was the sect’s foundation.
However, he had never heard that the Emperor Yi Shooting Sun Bow was on this treasure mountain. That was a Divine Weapon that was lost several tens of thousands of years ago.
If not for the Emperor Yi Shooting Sun Bow’s name remaining on the Divine Weapon Ranking, most people would have thought that this Divine Weapon had already broken and disappeared.
Chen Wenjun smiled somewhat embarra.s.sedly. “It is just a rumor that came about because someone once saw an arrow shoot out, directly killing a Golden Crow’s descendant that was flying over, when the treasure mountain appeared in the past.
“That Golden Crow’s descendant was a Crow Dragon Eagle, a Spirit Beast equal to a quasi-Emperor. However, this arrow shot it dead. Thus, the rumor spread within the entire Cloud Sea Domain. As for whether it is true or not, no one can verify it.”
Feng Ziying said in disbelief, “The rumor sounds somewhat fake. However, this Mo Chen has moved very cautiously along the way. She’s already rounded back for the third time. Even if their objective is not the Emperor Yi Shooting Sun Bow or the Book of Heavenly Works, it is surely a valuable treasure!”
Lu Shaoyou nodded, a fervent look flas.h.i.+ng in his eyes. “It looks like it was worth coming here. With such a valuable treasure, the two of us will definitely s.h.i.+ne at the Four Seas Hero Gathering. By then, we will crush the other outstanding talents of the Sun Palace.”
---
On the fifth floor of the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion, there were joyful cries and miserable shrieks. There were also people who were extremely depressed despite finding treasures.
The Silver Shark Swordsman carefully broke a restriction in a stone room and obtained King Grade Battle Armor containing eighty-nine formations. He was extremely joyful.
“With this Secret Treasure, my defense will double.” The silver-haired youth then muttered to himself, “The restrictions of this place are rather strange. There are several that I could not break and a few that grew stronger according to the strength of the person trying to break it. I’d better spend some time refining this Secret Treasure first.”
---
Xuanyuan Zhantian vomited a mouthful of blood and looked at the shattered bits of a combat puppet on the floor with some lingering fear. He said, “This combat puppet is quite ridiculous. It is clearly only equal to a grandmaster-level Martial Sage, but it even knew Profound Martial Techniques. I nearly died here.”
He looked at the treasure chest on a stone platform in front. Then, he took a step back and punched the air, shattering the treasure chest.
A poisonous gas quickly spread out. Xuanyuan Zhantian was already prepared for this. He sent out a palm wind and immediately dispersed the poisonous gas, entirely unaffected.
The poisonous gas scattered and revealed a pale-yellow secret manual as well as a pair of gloves. He waved a hand and pulled the secret manual over with a suction. It had a b.l.o.o.d.y “Forbidden” word on the cover.
Xuanyuan Zhantian carefully flipped through it and revealed an expression of joy. “Although it is not a Profound Martial Technique or Profound Cultivation Technique, this forbidden art can instantly raise my combat prowess by ten times. It would be great if only it does not exhaust my lifespan.”
This forbidden art was called the Life-and-Death Rotation. Once executed, it sought life among death, decreasing the lifespan of the cultivator by one year.
Even after advancing to quasi-Emperor and getting a lifespan of a thousand years, Xuanyuan Zhantian would not dare to execute it casually. He could only relax slightly after reaching Martial Emperor and extending his lifespan to two thousand years.
Compared to Xiao Chen’s Deities Descending, its shortcoming was significant.
However, the advantages of this were evident as well. Xiao Chen’s tenfold combat prowess could only explode in an instant. The Life-and-Death Rotation would last for several breaths of time.