Chapter 1039: Disappointmen
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Of the six great loose cultivators, the strongest, Gan Yangyu, was feeling extremely upset right now. He had barged into three stone rooms with Martial Techniques one after another. In the end, they had only Heaven Ranked Martial Techniques. He had not found a single Profound Martial Technique or Profound Cultivation Technique.
“I know only one Profound Martial Technique at the moment. I must find another one. Otherwise, I will not be confident of dealing with any one of the eight City Lords.”
Gao Yangyu revealed strong ambition in his eyes. From the sound of his words, it seemed like his chances in a fight with a quasi-Emperor City Lord were even.
Mu Qinghan’s group was rather lucky, having succeeded in breaking three restrictions on the fifth floor and gaining three King Grade Secret Treasures.
However, the tragic thing was that most of his group died. Only he, the manager, and the great grandmaster-level Martial Sage remained.
The value of the three King Grade Secret Treasures was definitely not worth the lives of so many people. Mu Qinghan currently showed a sullen expression. He clenched his teeth as he prepared to continue breaking restrictions.
Otherwise, he would not make any profit on this trip to the treasure mountain. On the contrary, he would suffer losses. Given his character, he would not agree to that.
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After rounding back eight times, Xiao Chen and Mo Chen continued to make several more turns. They did not fear that this was problematic; this was to prevent people from following them.
These maneuvers forced Chen Wenjun’s group to be extremely careful. If not for Lu Shaoyou reacting quickly, they would have exposed themselves a few times already.
“Young Master Wen, is there a need to go to all this trouble?” Mo Chen asked, feeling it was strange. Along the way, Xiao Chen seemed overly cautious.
“Since the second floor, I felt that something seemed off.” Xiao Chen looked around and said, “Never mind, maybe I am being too paranoid. After rounding back a few times, I do not see anyone following. Come, let’s go to the sixth floor of the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion you mentioned.”
If Xiao Chen could still use his Spiritual Sense, he would not have had to go to all that trouble. Unfortunately, the walls of this Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion contained special formations and restrictions.
The walls not only absorbed the energy of the aftershocks from battles but also restricted Spiritual Sense and Mental Energy.
The two traveled through the passageways, making several turns before they stopped at a dead end.
Xiao Chen stepped forward and knocked. The wall was solid; there was no hollow passageway behind it.
Mo Chen moved her fingers, and a red light flickered on them. Formation lines appeared at their sides.
This was a wondrous secret technique based on the Supreme Magic Skills for prediction of the Immortal Epoch. Of course, at this point, it was very much weakened and could not be called a Magic Skill.
Xiao Chen thought to himself, This Mo Chen is really talented, able to do many things.
Refining Medicinal Pills, refining Secret Treasures, brewing wine, designing wine cups, and now, an almost lost secret technique—there was probably more too. Based on the talisman scripts of the formation, her comprehension of this wondrous secret technique was clearly quite good and not just superficial.
As Mo Chen moved her hands, a clump of white light moved around all over the walls on both sides.
After a while, the light stopped moving. She pulled her hands back before sending out a palm wind that struck a certain brick.
“Huang dang!”
Suddenly, the wall in front opened, and a long passage appeared before the two. Mo Chen took the lead and entered first.
So that was how it was. The wall in front was indeed solid. However, finding the mechanism to open it required some kind of predictive skill.
Without this predictive skill, no matter how powerful a person or their technique was, they would not be able to find the secret passageway.
After the two traveled through the passageway, stairs appeared in front. By climbing the stairs, one would arrive at the mysterious sixth floor.
On that floor, a one-kilometer-wide stone room appeared before them. Plain and simple, life-sized, metallic combat puppets that radiated immense strength floated above the floor.
A quick count came to one hundred combat puppets grouped into ten separate teams in the stone room. A jade strip emitting a bright light floated above each team.
“These jade strips all contain Profound Martial Techniques or Profound Cultivation Techniques. For each jade strip you touch, you will face the attacks of ten combat puppets.” Mo Chen explained softly, “The combat puppets will set their combat prowess to the challenger’s cultivation. The highest level is all the way to Martial Emperor.”
Xiao Chen felt startled. The ancient Fire Li Sect was actually so strong, able to refine even Martial-Emperor-level combat puppets.
These combat puppets could regulate their strength. This ability should be for the sake of testing disciples, not letting those genius disciples obtain Profound Martial Techniques and Profound Cultivation Techniques so easily.
It would also prevent disciples with weaker talents from obtaining Profound Martial Techniques due to the great difficulties, creating a fair competitive environment.
Xiao Chen felt excited. He was currently only an Inferior Grade Martial Sage. However, with his combat prowess, he possessed more than enough strength to defeat great grandmaster-level Martial Sages.
In other words, if he took all ten jade strips, he would have to face one hundred combat puppets with the strength of only Inferior Grade Martial Sages.
Xiao Chen revealed an expression of joy, thinking to himself, I wonder if this is considered cheating?
That should not be. After all, it requires a bunch of coincidences for special circumstances like mine to occur. I am probably the only one since ancient times.
“Young Master Wen, I shall go and retrieve the Book of Heavenly Works first. Your strength should be more than enough to obtain one or two jade strips.” Mo Chen took out her flaming phoenix pendant and headed for a stone platform in the middle of the stone room.
Xiao Chen nodded and spread his hand, pulling over all ten jade strips containing Profound Martial Techniques and Profound Cultivation Techniques.
“Hua!”
The statuelike combat puppets that showed no signs of life earlier all suddenly moved in an orderly manner. The dust on their bodies instantly exploded off with loud sounds.
This development stunned Mo Chen, who was at the side. Unexpectedly, Xiao Chen took the risk of collecting all ten jade strips in one go.
However, the shocking thing was yet to come. Xiao Chen immediately burst one of these combat puppets, which had the combat prowess of a Martial Emperor at the maximum, with one punch.
Five dragon-shaped clumps of energy behind Xiao Chen surged, roaring together.
This punch contained twenty-five thousand tons of force, combined with the Dragon Claw Fist that burned his Vital Qi. When fighting, he was like the autumn wind scudding through the fallen leaves, cold and emotionless.
Xiao Chen occasionally executed the Kun Peng Fist and hurtled through a large number of the combat puppets. A strong wind blew as Heavenly Dragons roared. The Kun Peng spread its wings, hating the sky for being too low, shaking up the heavens and sweeping through in all directions.
Mo Chen gaped slightly, her face filled with disbelief, forgetting what she was supposed to be doing.
When Xiao Chen had subdued all one hundred combat puppets, he waved his hand, and a suction pulled all the Steel Hearts into the Universe Ring. With this, Mo Chen recovered her wits.
She smiled bitterly. This person was truly incomparable.
The platform in the middle had a stone pillar with an indent. This indent happened to match the flaming phoenix pendant in her hand.
Without giving it too much thought, Mo Chen set the jade pendant in the indent. In that instant, the stone pillar lit up in fire. An ancient book that seemed to be made of bamboo leaves soared out of the flames.
The frontmost piece of bamboo leaf had black words that looked very eye-catching against the flame; they read “Book of Heavenly Works.”
Mo Chen looked joyfully at Xiao Chen and said somewhat excitedly, “Young Master Wen, it really is the Book of Heavenly Works. I obtained it!”
Xiao Chen smiled faintly, feeling happy for her. He could understand her current emotions. He said softly, “Congratulations, Miss Mo. You got your wish.”
She smiled warmly and said, “Many thanks, Young Master Wen. If not for you, I would not have been able to clear several of the combat puppets and barriers. Mo Chen would not have been able to obtain the Book of Heavenly Works so easily.”
While Mo Chen was feeling very happy, she also felt somewhat disappointed. Now that she had what she wanted, there was no more need for Xiao Chen to remain by her side.
Although she did not know Xiao Chen’s true identity, she knew that the insignificant Cloud Sea Domain could not contain this person.
A chance meeting at sea had resulted in Xiao Chen’s sudden appearance. Then, he killed people in a rage at the City Lord’s Residence. Even after seeing her appearance, he was willing to extend his cold hands and bring her a trace of warmth.
However… However, he did not belong in the Cloud Sea Domain after all. He was not a part of this insignificant sky.
Xiao Chen felt a little emotional. In the end, he had to leave. There were not many people in this world he could call friends. This girl who could make him look at her in a new light was even rarer.
This Mo Chen was unusually good at the zither, chess, calligraphy, drawing, medicine, and many other skills, yet she had an extraordinarily stubborn personality.
The emotions of the two were somewhat strange; neither spoke at all. Then, Mo Chen showed a clearly bitter smile and said, “After obtaining this Book of Heavenly Works, I will be able to become a quasi-Emperor in less than ten years. At that time, I will be your bodyguard and protect you for ten years.”
Quasi-Emperor…
As long as Xiao Chen was willing, he could immediately absorb ten Peak Spirit Veins and restore his cultivation to its peak. Together with the Sea Monarch Crown, he could rival a quasi-Emperor and would not need Mo Chen’s protection.
However, he would just take this as his white lie.
Xiao Chen smiled and said, “Good, I will wait for you, wait for you to become a quasi-Emperor. When you knock on the doors to Martial Emperor, I will personally watch you take off the veil from your face.”
“Dong! Dong! Dong!”
Urgent footsteps resounded. Chen Wenjun led the Sun Palace’s Lu Shaoyou and Feng Ziying, as well as the great grandmaster-level Martial Sage of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, and appeared in the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion’s sixth floor.
“The Book of Heavenly Works!”
The group of people saw the eye-catching words in the fierce flames and immediately became excited.
Lu Shaoyou smiled and said, “Good. This is worth us running around and hiding, following Miss Mo Chen for such a long time. Many thanks, Miss Mo Chen. Without you, even a Martial Emperor would not find this Book of Heavenly Works.
“You really put in a lot of effort. Clear out right now. I am in a good mood and can leave you a path to life.”
Xiao Chen frowned slightly before smiling. “So, you are disciples of the Astral Palace’s Sun Palace. No wonder after rounding back so many times, we did not discover you.”
Feng Ziying smiled coldly and said, “It’s good that you know where we come from. Get out on the double. Don’t think that after killing eight trash, you are some powerful demonic genius. You do not know how high the heavens are and how vast the earth is.”
Xiao Chen’s smile lingered as he retorted, “Is that so? I shall return the same words to you two. Don’t think that because you are considered elite disciples of the Sun Palace, the sky is only that high and the earth is only that vast.”
“You’re asking to die!”
Feng Ziying’s killing Qi immediately erupted at this moment.