Chapter 118: Treasure Trove!
Three figures flickered swiftly!
In just a few bounds, they covered a great distance. Before long, the three stepped onto a vast stretch of blazing red earth, the pitch-black Dark Forest left behind them.
These three were precisely Jiang Yun's group, fresh from secluded cultivation. By now, all three had reached the Heaven-Connecting Realm. Jiang Yun had attained the middle-stage peak. Zi Yan, her bloodline now more stable and further developed, had leaped past Jiang Yun in a single bound, reaching the late stage of the Heaven-Connecting Realm.
Such was the way of magical beasts—once their bloodline power underwent metamorphosis, their strength would surge explosively. However, power gained through relying on one's bloodline often had its upper limits restricted. Compared to humans under equal conditions, advancing further was considerably more difficult!
And Medusa had advanced from the middle stage of the Heaven-Connecting Realm to the peak!
Though her progress was also significant, compared to the other two, it seemed somewhat unremarkable.
The moment they landed, an extremely violent, scorching heat abruptly erupted from within their bodies. That searing intensity felt as if it wanted to set their very bodies ablaze.
Under the erosion of this dry, hot energy, it seemed even one's heart would grow somewhat restless and irascible.
"Hmph!"
The sudden development did not cause the three to panic. Though that scorching heat was fierce, given their strength, it clearly posed no real trouble. Stirring their minds, vast spiritual energy surged, directly and forcefully suppressing every wisp of that searing heat.
However, this incident made the three survey the surrounding blazing red earth with heightened vigilance. Heat waves rose from the ground, making even space itself appear somewhat distorted.
"Something's strange here. Be careful!" Frowning as she studied their surroundings, Medusa spoke with a solemn tone.
"Strange. We haven't seemed to encounter any other squads along the way!" Zi Yan also scanned the area, speaking with some bafflement.
Her words immediately set the other two on alert!
The trio's minds were on high alert as they began walking aimlessly. As they ventured deeper, this expanse of blazing red earth revealed countless gullies and ravines, large and small, everywhere.
Amidst some of the red sand and soil, shattered weapons could be seen. An aura of desolation permeated the air.
"It seems this area was where the battle raged most intensely!" After strolling like this for over ten minutes, the traces on the ground told the three that this must have been the most fiercely contested terrain.
For among the debris, Jiang Yun spotted fragments of Divine Artifacts and even Sacred Objects!
After pressing deeper still, finally, at the end of their line of sight, mountain peaks could be seen rising from the earth. On those peaks, the vague outlines of ancient city walls were visible.
"Let's go take a look!"
The trio's eyes lit up. Jiang Yun then spoke. His figure moved, swiftly heading toward the city walls.
Medusa and Zi Yan exchanged a glance, one on the left and one on the right, quickly keeping pace with Jiang Yun up ahead.
Upon drawing near, the three finally realized that these were ruins of dilapidated city walls. The scars of war were everywhere. Even now, the dark-red stains on the walls still testified to the brutality of the battles back then.
This space had been silent for ten thousand years. Everywhere presented a scene of desolation.
Yet, faint auras still lingered on the walls. Though too thin to take form, these auras still made Jiang Yun and the others feel an indescribable sense of oppression.
One could imagine that in that ancient era, this place must have been teeming with unimaginably fearsome experts—beings who could shake heaven and earth with a single thought. Even their residual auras, after thousands upon thousands of years, still lingered and refused to dissipate, bearing down oppressively upon all.
Entering the walls, the ancient city ruins within were clearly visible. Without exception, these cities had all been utterly destroyed.
This must have been one of the frontline strongholds in the war back then!
"Xiao Yun, look over there!" Just then, Zi Yan beside him seemed to have discovered something. Pointing in a direction, she let out an exclamation!
Jiang Yun and Medusa looked in that direction. What met their eyes were the ruins of a great hall. The hall was filled with skeletal remains. Some skeletons appeared to be gazing up at the sky, some staring straight ahead, posed in all sorts of positions—too many to enumerate.
But they all shared one common trait: on the faces of these skeletons, looks of sheer horror and terror seemed frozen, as if something dreadful had descended from all directions at once.
"Looks like the brutality of the war back then far exceeded our imagination." Seeing this scene, Medusa's expression turned somewhat solemn. At this moment, she thought of the snake-people. If one day the snake-people faced a crisis, and she herself was powerless to resist—would her clansmen wear these same expressions then?
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart. Then, turning her head, she saw Jiang Yun's back ahead of her. Her heart instantly grew calm. An enchanting curve tugged at the corner of her lips.
It seemed now, everything had changed. She had glimpsed a vaster sky. She now had broader pursuits. Everything was beginning to change.
"What a pity. Too much time has passed. Coupled with the erosion of the surrounding evil qi, these Divine Artifacts and storage bracelets are all useless!" At that moment, Jiang Yun crouched down, looking at the weapon and storage bracelet on a set of remains. He shook his head in disappointment.
The moment those items reached Jiang Yun's hands, they crumbled with a rustling sound, turning to powder and drifting away.
Seeing this, the two women beside him also felt a pang of disappointment. If these items had still been usable, what an enormous fortune it would have been!
After a round of searching, the three all shook their heads, indicating they had found nothing else of value.
Jiang Yun's gaze fell further into the distance. "Let's go. There's nothing of value here. Let's head further inside. We still haven't encountered the other squads—looks like we haven't reached the deepest part yet."
As his words fell, the three did not hesitate. They shot out urgently, transforming into streaks of light, heading toward the inner city.
Traveling swiftly, they finally caught sight of quite a few figures of considerable strength. These people seemed somewhat surprised upon seeing Jiang Yun's trio. But seeing the combination of three Heaven-Connecting Realm experts, they still had to suppress any ill intentions rising in their hearts.
After a long while, the three came to a stop not far from a ruined great hall. With their arrival, it was as if some switch had been triggered. An unending stream of rushing wind sounds came from the distance. Countless streaks of light rapidly closed in.
The atmosphere between heaven and earth grew considerably livelier!
Countless groups warily watched one another. No one spoke first. They gathered around this 'relatively intact' great hall, studying it, wanting to find the entrance.
Soon, Jiang Yun's trio came to a halt at a connecting corridor. At the end of that corridor stood a tightly shut stone door.
And right at that moment, streaks of light continuously howled in from all directions. Clearly, others had also discovered the anomaly here. In just over ten short minutes, the area was filled with a dense mass of figures both in the sky and on the ground.
Jiang Yun swept his gaze around, his eyes narrowing slightly. Among those figures, the member of the Flame Spirit Clan was indeed present. And he also noticed quite a few people radiating astonishing spiritual energy fluctuations—fluctuations that were in no way weaker than the three Fleshly Tribulation experts they had encountered before. In fact, they seemed stronger.
It seemed those who had originally come to explore this ruin weren't limited to the ones they'd met earlier. There were other entrances to this place.
"Be careful. Quite a few troublesome characters have arrived!" While Jiang Yun sized up the crowd, Medusa had not been idle either. Sensing the powerful auras around her, she too couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart. She couldn't resist voicing a warning.
This time, for once, Zi Yan did not oppose her. Instead, she nodded solemnly.
"Look! The great door is opening!"
A startled cry rang out, immediately causing a commotion. The group looked over. The stone door not far away was slowly opening. A rich, fragrant aroma wafted toward them, invigorating everyone present.
"Charge!"
Someone couldn't hold back any longer and abruptly shot toward the great hall at top speed. This action seemed to spur on everyone present. All began scrambling madly to charge inside.
"We're going in too!"
Seeing the crowd surge, Zi Yan grew anxious. Judging the moment was about right, Jiang Yun also grabbed Zi Yan and Medusa and rushed toward the great hall.
The three transformed into streaks of light, shooting directly into that colossal, immense hall.
Upon entering the hall, Jiang Yun and the others discovered that the light inside was actually brighter than outside. The interior was also extremely spacious and vast. Passageways stretched out ahead, leading deep into the hall.
The moment they entered, Zi Yan immediately twitched her nose lightly. Her eyes instantly brightened. In a light, cheerful tone, she said, "Xiao Yun, I sense treasure!"
Jiang Yun looked at Zi Yan with pleasant surprise. This is... the treasure-hunting dragon has come online!
Following Zi Yan's lead, the trio spent over ten minutes arriving at an ancient hall. Above that hall, three bold, flourishing characters were etched.
"Alchemy Room!"
Shifting their gaze downward, what met their eyes were four stone beasts crouched on the ground. They guarded the only passage into the Alchemy Room, like sentinels.
Instinctively, Jiang Yun felt these stone beasts were no ordinary statues. Yet, there was not the slightest trace of spiritual energy fluctuations within them. It seemed he was merely overthinking things.
At that moment, faint sounds of movement came from behind. Clearly, others had arrived here. No time to ponder further, Jiang Yun called out and took the lead, darting into this spacious hall.
Upon entering the Alchemy Room, their field of vision immediately widened. Row after row of wooden shelves stood neatly arranged. Countless jade bottles were placed in perfect order on the shelves. Quite a few of those bottles still emitted faint spiritual energy fluctuations. It was clear these bottles still contained pills that had survived to this day.
"Let's go!"
With just one sweeping glance, Jiang Yun decisively pulled Zi Yan deeper into the pill hall. Finding a staircase leading upward, they directly ascended to the second floor.
Seeing this, Medusa chose to trust Jiang Yun's judgment. She decisively followed his steps, close behind, heading toward the second floor.
The reason for abandoning the pills on the first floor was, naturally, because after a quick look, Jiang Yun had realized that the vast majority were pills at the sixth tier or below. Such pills were not worth wasting his time over.
Right now, they were racing against time. Behind them, quite a few squads were eyeing them covetously!
As for why he dragged Zi Yan along—had Jiang Yun not pulled her, she would likely have been blissfully swimming in an ocean of pills by now.
Indeed, shortly after the three entered the second floor, several squads followed hot on their heels and burst inside. Seeing so many pills, their eyes immediately turned blood-red as they began slaughtering one another.
The pills on the second floor were still numerous. However, compared to the first floor, there were far fewer. Yet, the preservation rate on this floor was much lower than on the first.
Had they been used up?
A vague speculation formed in Jiang Yun's mind, but he couldn't be certain. He grabbed a jade bottle and opened it. Inside was a seventh-tier pill preserved to this day.
After searching for a while, they found quite a few seventh-tier pills—some Jiang Yun recognized, others ancient pills he did not. Sensing the destructive fluctuations from the second floor gradually weakening, Jiang Yun hesitated no longer. Once again, he led Medusa and Zi Yan toward the third floor.
"These here should be the legendary eighth-tier pills, right?!" Upon entering the third floor, even the usually indifferent Medusa grew somewhat excited. Eighth-tier pills! Those were the pills of legend!
"Perhaps!" Jiang Yun, however, was more detached. Based on his earlier speculation, he wouldn't be disappointed even if they found nothing here.
If his guess was correct, this place was a wartime logistics point. The pills here were meant to supply the great army at the front lines. And the higher-grade pills were naturally more favored!
The main forces of this war had been Sovereigns, Earthly Sovereigns, and experts of that caliber. Ordinary low-grade pills would have been of little use to them. Therefore, given the high consumption and difficulty of refining high-grade pills, Jiang Yun wouldn't be surprised even if not a single one remained.
Upon entering the third floor, this pill chamber was much smaller in scale. But the moment they arrived, the three stared up at the ceiling of the chamber with fiery gazes—even Jiang Yun was no exception.
It was filled with a vast, resplendent spiritual light. The air above, like a starry sky, held countless stars twinkling with radiance.
If one looked closely, they would discover those were not stars at all—they were clearly transformed from pill after pill.
"Jackpot!"
The three exchanged shocked glances, seeing the same feeling reflected in each other's eyes.
So many pills equivalent to the eighth tier—on the Dou Qi Continent, aside from the seven great ancient clans, probably only the Pill Tower could produce such a number.
"Eighth-tier pills already possess their own sentience. Some even have combat strength. Do what you can; don't obsess over going for the highest-quality pills. There are still people chasing behind us. We need to secure the largest number of pills in the shortest time!"
After recovering his composure, Jiang Yun rapidly instructed Zi Yan and Medusa beside him.
Hearing Jiang Yun's instructions, both women nodded with grave expressions. Then, the three swiftly shot toward the ceiling.
One after another, giant energy hands flew out, swiftly breaking through the seals and retrieving the pills within!
Fortunately, though the eighth-tier pills here had sentience, their strength was still lacking. Had any ninth-tier pills been present, Jiang Yun would likely only have the option of fleeing.
Dong!
Just as the three were each collecting several pills, a deep, muffled sound rang out.