Chapter 79
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 79: Treasure in the Stone
Senior Brother Jin’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
"How could this happen?"
As his terrified scream rang out, an overwhelming pressure slammed into him. Above, purple lightning bolts in the thundercloud merged into a beam as thick as a barrel, plummeting toward him.
"Ah!"
He instinctively raised his spiritual weapon, releasing a streak of black light. But the feeble black glow stood no chance against the raging purple beam.
With a deafening crash, the purple beam obliterated the black light and engulfed him completely.
Yu Minghong and the others gaped in horror. Purple lightning snakes skittered across the ground. Senior Brother Jin’s body vanished, and his medium-grade spiritual weapon lay shattered—yet the ground remained unmarked, deepening the eerie chill.
"Move!"
Su Ling sneered at the empty spot where Senior Brother Jin had stood, yanking Ye Yun toward the distant green mountain.
Duan Chenfeng snapped out of his daze at her shout, darting after them. Qu Yiping and the rest scrambled to follow.
"Done!"
After charging hundreds of zhang up the mountain slope, Su Ling grinned at Ye Yun. "We’re out!"
Ye Yun inhaled deeply. Though the surroundings looked unchanged, everything felt more vivid now. Glancing back, he saw lingering purple lightning snakes writhing in the clouds.
"Did we… truly escape the spatial magical array?" Duan Chenfeng muttered, equal parts relieved and doubtful.
"No wonder Qi refining stage disciples were barred," Chen Yun said, pale. "Their Spiritual Power Waves trigger the array’s defenses." He clenched his fists, bitterness rising—Senior Brother Jin, his longtime ally, had tried to betray them after reaching Qi refining.
"She must’ve known this." His gaze flicked warily to Su Ling.
"Greed killed him." Su Ling shrugged, glancing at the charred ground. "A Spirit Gathering Pill was fortune enough, yet he schemed for more."
Chen Yun sighed. Senior Brother Jin’s fate was self-made.
"The mountain’s changing—Su Ling, what’s happening?" Ye Yun interrupted.
The mountain’s peak had turned ghostly transparent, not cloaked in mist but sheer as glass.
"No!" Yu Minghong recoiled as towering trees morphed into crystalline structures, their inner rings and veins glaringly visible.
"I don’t know." Su Ling shook her head, jaw tight. "This array’s beyond me."
Duan Chenfeng’s eyes narrowed. Nearby rocks and trees began glowing translucent. He spotted strange light pulsing inside a stone fifty zhang away.
Suddenly, Qu Yiping lunged sideways, darting toward another area.
"Treasure?"
Ye Yun felt a stir in his heart as he saw Qu Yiping dart toward a large tree. A gentle green glow emanated from its trunk, vaguely revealing the shape of a pale green Long Knife.
While Su Ling, Ye Yun, and Duan Chenfeng hesitated, the others immediately charged toward the tree.
"The magical arrays here are already so dangerous," Ye Yun muttered, "any spiritual weapons left by the master of this great tomb must be extraordinary."
"Let’s stick together." He grabbed Su Ling’s arm when he noticed her eager movements.
They exchanged a glance and nodded silently. Though Su Ling possessed the sharpest judgment among them, even she couldn’t decipher the tomb’s arrays now. That faint green blade might be a spiritual weapon—or a deadly trap. Caution was wiser.
Duan Chenfeng shot Ye Yun a look as if to speak, then clenched his jaw and kept watching Qu Yiping intently.
Booming impacts echoed through the air. Qu Yiping hammered the tree trunk relentlessly, yet not a single leaf shook under his strikes. The green Long Knife remained embedded in the unyielding wood.
"Harder to claim than expected," Su Ling whispered, tilting her head. "Odd… no array backlash though." She tugged Ye Yun’s sleeve. "Let’s investigate."
"You’re certain it’s safe?"
She didn’t answer, dragging him instead toward a distant teal stone. Purple light pulsed within its surface, accompanied by low thunder-like rumblings.
"Quiet—let me examine this." Releasing him, Su Ling circled the stone three times before whispering, "This seal resembles those in treasure vaults. Breaking it might be tough, but shouldn’t trigger deadly backlash."
Ye Yun raised an eyebrow. "’Might be’?"
Stomping her foot, she hissed, "It’s a calculated risk! Coward."
He ignored her jab. The stone’s purple glow deepened, its rumbles vibrating in his bones. The black and white lights within him quivered urgently, just like when he’d chosen cultivation techniques.
His breath hitched.
"I’ll try."
Black light flashed as the Obsidian Sword materialized in his grip. He swung at the stone—
CRACK!
The rebound staggered him. The teal stone showed no damage, not even a scratch.
Golden Pill masters’ methods surpassed mortal understanding, but this tomb’s excessive arrays baffled him. Why design lethal restrictions targeting Qi refining stage cultivators, yet allow their entry? Why create this deadly labyrinth instead of simply barring intruders?
Nothing here felt accidental. The tomb’s creator seemed to invite weaker cultivators inside… only to hound them toward death.
What twisted purpose drove such design?
