Hula!Right after those words were spoken, a jade token flew forth from Jiang Fangyou"s palm. It floated out of the window of the treasure vault, and the next moment, the surroundings seemed to suddenly come to life. An overwhelming aura suddenly shrouded the entire area.
With Jiang Fangyou"s eye of discernment, he could tell that the treasures had not been taken too long ago. With a swift calculation, he deduced that it was likely that the thief had not managed to escape from the treasure vault yet.
As long as he sealed the area with the formation and combed the entire treasure vault carefully, he would surely be able to weed that darned thief out!
After sealing the area, the two of them moved on to the third floor. Seeing that the third floor had been emptied as well, Jiang Fangyou"s eyebrows twitched in trepidation. His chest felt so stifled that it seemed as if it would blow up very soon.
This was the fortune that the Jiang Clan had acc.u.mulated with difficulty over the past tens of thousands of years! To dare steal their entire wealth…
Wait till I catch you! I swear that I"ll shred you into pieces!
…
Exhaling a mouthful of turbid gas, Zhang Xuan stood up.
It"s done!
Wrapping his body with his soul energy, he walked to the stone platform at the center.
As expected, the pressure from before had lowered to a level that he could endure.
He took a few steps forward and grabbed the seal floating atop the stone platform.
Hula!
To his surprise, his hand slipped right past the seal, leaving him to grab at thin air.
"What? Does this mean that… the seal is fake?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback.
Due to the immense pressure emanated by the seal, he thought that it was an artifact that was at least on par with Ancient Sage Zi Yu"s inkstone. Yet, he was not able to touch it at all.
Could this be an illusion?
If only he had known that this would happen, he never would have wasted his effort cultivating the Soul Quintessence…
That was ten breaths that he had wasted there!
Just as Zhang Xuan was about to leave the room in disappointment, a thought flashed across his mind. Wait a moment, this artifact is called the Seal of Souls, right? Could it be that… it can only be grasped by a soul?
He was certain that he had felt the pressure from the seal on his soul; there was no way to fake that… Since the pressure was real, it did not make much sense for the artifact to be a mere illusion. Yet, he was still unable to grasp it with his hands.
Since that was the case, could it be that the seal was simply intangible in form, reminiscent of a soul? If that was the case, he would only be able to grasp it with his Primordial Spirit.
Thus, Zhang Xuan took a seat on the floor and drew his Primordial Spirit out from his glabella. With a sweep of his hand, he felt a cooling sensation rippling across his Primordial Spirit as he grabbed something tangible.
He immediately knew that his deduction was right, and his eyes lit up in excitement. He quickly closed his grip on the item and attempted to pull it out.
Huala!
He nearly fell to the ground while trying to do so.
Heavy! Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes in surprise.
While the seal might not have looked big, it felt even heavier than an entire mountain. With his Introspective Convalescence realm soul cultivation, he was still unable to pick it up in his unprepared state!
Let me see just how heavy it is! Zhang Xuan thought as he took in a deep breath.
He gathered his strength and attempted to lift the seal once more.
Hong long long!
The seal slowly rose up as innumerable surges of spiritual energy swiftly gathered around the seal. Following which, the treasure vault beneath his feet began shaking non-stop. It was as if the seal served as to contain the fortune within this building, and taking away the seal spelled the collapse of the entire building.
…
"This is bad! Someone is on the top floor!"
On a floor below, Jiang Fangyou felt the shaking of the entire treasure vault, and his face turned incredibly livid. Knowing that there was no time to waste, he hurriedly rushed up the stairs.
…
"Store!"
Knowing that the shaking treasure vault would surely draw people over, Zhang Xuan knew that it was unsafe to remain in the area. Thus, he quickly kept the Seal of Souls into his storage ring.
While the entire treasure vault had shaken intensely as he took away the seal, it did not collapse as he had expected.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Zhang Xuan returned his Primordial Spirit to his body, and just as he was about to leave, he heard footsteps sounding below. Someone was rus.h.i.+ng over.
"So fast?" Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes in alarm.
With a flick of his hand, he swiftly distorted the s.p.a.ce around him, causing his body to vanish from view.
Hula!
The next instant, Jiang Fangyou and Jiang Feifei rushed into the room.
Looking at the empty stone platform, Jiang Fangyou nearly lost his mind. He swiftly diffused his Spiritual Perception into the surroundings, leaving the area feeling heavy as though it had been infused with mercury.
"Father…"
This was the first time that Jiang Feifei had seen such a frightening look on her father"s face, and she trembled a little in fear.
"Check the surroundings. It"s unlikely that the thief has gotten far!" Jiang Fangyou commanded with a wintry voice.
"Yes!" Jiang Feifei nodded and rushed down the stairs.
Right after the young lady left the area, Jiang Fangyou walked up to the stone platform and stroked its smooth surface lightly, seemingly unable to believe that someone had actually managed to rob the Seal of Souls. With twitching cheeks, he growled in anger, "Just which b*stard could it be…"
Before finis.h.i.+ng his words, he abruptly turned around and thrust his finger toward an empty corner of the room.
This wily fox!
Seeing a finger art darting in his direction, Zhang Xuan could not be bothered with concealing himself anymore. He hurriedly leaped away to dodge the attack.
It was one thing for Jiang Fangyou"s strength to be on par with Sword Saint Xing and the others, but more importantly, he possessed an extraordinarily powerful soul as well. In truth, he had already noticed Zhang Xuan when he scanned the area with his Spiritual Perception earlier. However, he had chosen to feign ignorance in a bid to make the other party lower his guard.
Sila!
An attack harnessing the burning rage of a Great Sage expert, Jiang Fangyou"s finger art tore Zhang Xuan"s spatial barrier apart. Realizing that he would not make it in time to dodge the attack, Zhang Xuan"s gooseb.u.mps rose in astonishment.
Activate!
Knowing that there was no way he would be able to survive if he got into a direct confrontation with Jiang Fangyou, he immediately ignited the Zhang Clan blood essence within his body.
In an instant, time seemed to have slowed down.
The finger that he could hardly see earlier seemed to have frozen in midair, and the other party"s infuriated expression appeared in high definition before him.
Sensing the incredible might pulsating around him, Zhang Xuan felt his hairs stand on end. He"s too powerful! Even with time acceleration, I won"t be able to last too long against him…
The last time he saw Jiang Fangyou, the latter still had a smile on his face… Who could have thought that he would wield such frightening strength!
This was especially so given the powerful soul pressure that he was constantly emanating. Even when tapping into the Zhang Clan"s bloodline ability, Zhang Xuan knew that he would not be able to last too long. At the same time, his spatial barrier would not be of much use either.
When a soul was too powerful, it would be able to suppress time and s.p.a.ce!
In the end, the problem was that his cultivation was simply too low. If the both of them had been at the same cultivation realm, Zhang Xuan would have been able to stroll leisurely before Jiang Fangyou without drawing his attention at all.
Knowing that he was no match for Jiang Fangyou in his current state, Zhang Xuan unhesitatingly dashed out of the room.
Huala!
But before he could even get too far away, Jiang Fangyou"s finger art broke Zhang Xuan"s time acceleration before shattering the spatial barrier that he had set up.
The shockwave from the collision exploded into the surroundings and struck Zhang Xuan"s back. A sweet sensation welled up at the back of his throat, and he nearly spurted blood.
"Are you from the Zhang Clan, or are you from the Luo Clan?" Jiang Fangyou asked with an utterly cold voice.
That scoundrel had been hiding in the midst of a spatial barrier earlier, but upon realizing that his hiding spot had been exposed, he immediately utilized the power of time to flee.
As a result of that, he had failed to even catch the other party"s appearance…
To think that there was a person in the world who would have comprehended both the Spatial Quintessence and the Time Quintessence!
Who in the world was the other party?
Hula!
Paying no heed to Jiang Fangyou"s questions, Zhang Xuan immediately darted for the windows.
What was he to do after ravaging the other party"s treasure vault if not flee? Was he supposed to wait for the other party to serve him tea?
Seeing that the thief was intending to escape from the treasure vault, Jiang Fangyou bellowed furiously, "Where do you think you"re going?"
Tss la!
His soul energy rippled outward and shrouded the treasure vault swiftly, forming a ma.s.sive barrier.
But barely after Jiang Fangyou formed the barrier, the enemy"s deep voice echoed in the air.
"Break!"
Following which, the barrier formed of soul energy shattered apart.
"This is… Soul Quintessence? Y-you… Who in the world are you?" Jiang Fangyou was startled.