Nine Astra Skies

Ye Chen set foot into his room which was situated adjacent to Ye Changxuan’s. The place looked pathetically small and messy as it had not been cleaned. Even the bed seemed to be in a bad shape.

The Yun Clan must have deliberately done this intending to prank them!

Given his circumstances, he could only compromise. At the very least, the good news was that he would be able to meditate at night. To hell with sleep anyway. Most importantly, he had brought along enough provisions with him.

“Tsk tsk!” Little Tanuki was frustrated. Just minutes after it had climbed onto the table, a ball of soot had already clung onto its fur!

It did not seem like anyone cared to run a rag across the extremely dusty table at all!

Ye Chen comforted Little Tanuki, “The Yun Clan is the Ye Clan’s sworn enemy. They must be trying to give us a difficult time. Someday, we’ll get even with them!”

Little Tanuki returned a sad look, cooed a few times as if it was trying to say something. Then, with a swoosh sound, it turned invisible and darted out of the room swiftly.

“Where are you going, Little Tanuki?” Ye Chen asked in surprise. Little Tanuki was as quick as lightning and Ye Chen could not stop it. Instead, he could only astral project himself to locate Little Tanuki.

Little Tanuki zipped in and out between the crowded corridors. Being invisible, not a single soul in Yun Castle saw it!

Meanwhile, Ye Chen’s Astral Body remained in close pursuit of Little Tanuki. He wondered just what was Little Tanuki up to?

After running a certain distance, Ye Chen’s Astral Body could no longer keep up with Little Tanuki as it was out of his radius of astral projection.

Ye Chen began to panic. Grandpa had warned him not to wander around the compounds of Yun Castle alone or he might bring himself some unwanted trouble. Relying on his Astral Body, Ye Chen spent an entire hour searching the grounds of the castle for Little Tanuki when suddenly, his Astral Body detected a familiar presence.

It was Little Tanuki!

Ye Chen was surprised to see it, only to be greeted by the sight of Little Tanuki darting back to the room at a blinding speed of light.

“Where did you go, Little Tanuki!? Don’t run off like that again!” Ye Chen sternly warned the critter.

Little Tanuki looked at Ye Chen with dewy eyes, a sense of indescribable hurt showed on its face.

“Forget it, I didn’t mean to get mad at you.” Ye Chen softened after looking at Little Tanuki’s expression before realizing it was holding onto a Heaven-Earth Pouch in its mouth. “Where did you get that Heaven-Earth Pouch?” He could not help but ask.

Using its tiny claws, Little Tanuki pushed the pouch to Ye Chen’s direction.

Ye Chen could tell that the pouch seemed rather spacious as he picked it up. Opening the pouch, he found several porcelain vases, each containing a ton of Chi-Amassing Pill. A rough count showed that there were at least five to six thousand Chi-Amassing Pills, fifteen Chi Deposition Pills, and Fire Quintessence Pill.

He was appalled. Where did all these pills come from? Ye Chen had so many questions running across his mind. He proceeded to open the bottom compartment of the pouch and found a few manuals and a strange-looking wooden box.

Ye Chen glanced through the titles of the manuals when suddenly, three words caught his eye – Concentrated Celestial Construct!

Ye Chen took a deep breath and looked at Little Tanuki in confusion. “Little Tanuki, you didn’t ransack the Yun Clan’s pile of treasure and stole all of their medicinal pills and guides on Martial Techniques and Cultivation Systems, did you?”

Little Tanuki responded cheekily by flexing its little claws and wagged its tail.

It turned out that Little Tanuki stole all of Yun Clan’s treasure to get back at them for dumping the two at a pathetic little room.

From the looks of it, the Yun Clan had six types of Martial Techniques, with the highest technique being upper rank three. Guess the Palms Puncturing the Cosmos had much better techniques. The Concentrated Celestial Construct was certainly impressive but it paled in comparison to the Thunder Emperor Discourse. Besides, Ye Chen did not have the slightest bit of interest in learning it. After much thought, he decided he would consult his grandpa regarding the manual. As for the Chi-Amassing and Chi Deposition Pills, he had no use for it so he might as well distribute it to his fellow clan members when he returned. The Yun Clan were filthy rich compared to the Ye Clan. One could only wonder how the clan got their hands on all the items.

Neither of the items mattered to Ye Chen. Instead, his eyes fell onto the strange-looking wooden box, which looked like it was made from a unique type of wood. Attached to the side of the box was a large golden lock, engraved with the image of a bizarre-looking divine beast. How quaint.

Ye Chen wondered what was inside the box. He opened the pouch to look for a key but there was none. It looked like he was going to have to break it open by force. He channeled the Celestial Chi within him and softly commanded, “Open!”

Bang. Waves of Celestial Chi ebbed from his palm and slammed onto the box. The box remained still.

Ye Chen was taken aback. “Weird. The box took a hit but there’s barely any dent to it!” In theory, even the Hebao Wood would break with a single strike from his Celestial Chi yet this wooden box refused to budge!

The material used must truly have some unique properties to it!

Ye Chen set his sights on the golden lock. Maybe breaking open the lock might do the trick. He channeled his Celestial Chi once again and inspected the lock’s structure through the keyhole. Ye Chen was blown away by the durability of the lock. He continued to direct his chi deeper into the lock to get a better view.

This must be a very important item for the Yun Clan to keep it hidden away in a stash of treasures, secured with such a sturdy wooden box and a golden lock!

Just as Ye Chen directed his Celestial Chi into the lock, the golden lock released a dazzling golden ray. With a hefty force, the lock latched itself onto Ye Chen’s right arm.

“Not good!” Ye Chen was caught off guard. He did not expect the golden lock to come equipped with a trap. Ye Chen could sense the Celestial Chi within him waning violently. The lock was sucking his chi!

He began to panic. Even Little Tanuki began to coo anxiously.

The Celestial Chi within Ye Chen’s chakra was close to being depleted. At the rate things were going, he might sustain a permanent injury and his chakra would be heavily damaged too!

Suddenly, a brilliant idea came into Ye Chen’s mind. He held his breath. If it wanted to suck his energy clean, then he would let it!

Ye Chen activated the Flying Dagger. A buzzing sound arose from deep within his consciousness. Streams of Celestial Chi began to pour forth into the golden lock.

The golden lock continued to absorb the Celestial Chi bit by bit until it had accumulated the amount of energy fitting of a rank nine elite combatant. Eventually, it came to a halt and thereafter, a click sound could be heard. The golden lock was unlocked.

Ye Chen finally heaved a sigh of relief after breaking free from the lock. That was a rather terrifying trap. Had one lacked proper cultivation and decided to pry open the lock using their Celestial Chi, even a rank nine elite combatant would have perished by the hands of the lock.

Ye Chen briefly channeled a recovery spell to help his Celestial Chi recuperate before removing the golden lock to inspect the insides of the wooden box.

Little Tanuki who stood by the side, widened its eyes too. What exactly did the box hold?

The wooden box was small and inside was an old, torn paper that seemed like it was made from cloth or paper yet possessed neither traits of the two. Lines resembling the shape of human veins or that of a map appeared on the paper and seemed to emit traces of Celestial Chi. The stream of Celestial Chi it emitted seemed to mirror the intensity of chi from the Flying Dagger.

“Is this a map or a cultivation system manual?” Ye Chen analyzed the piece of paper curiously. He took the paper in his hand and turned to ask Little Tanuki, “Little Tanuki, do you know what this is?”

Little Tanuki shook its head.

It looked like even Little Tanuki had not the slightest clue. Just based on the intensity of the Celestial Chi that the paper gave out, Ye Chen could tell that it held a strong significance.

‘I don’t know what it is but I’ll keep it for now.’ Ye Chen thought. He returned the paper to the wooden box and safely placed it into his Heaven-Earth pouch. As for the rest of the items from the Yun Clan, Ye Chen was taking it with him.