The Three Yang True Fire Sword transformed into countless sword energies, forming an array that radiated immense power.
This sword had been refined by Qin Xi when he first formed his Core, nurtured within his dantian for nearly two hundred years, and frequently re-tempered with precious materials. Its might was extraordinary.
Hundreds of sword energies, carrying an astonishing momentum, swept towards the stone door.
With a thunderous boom, the two stone balls rolled out once more from the stone walls flanking the cave abode, only to be struck down one by one by the sword energies.
Seeing this, Mo Tiange secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this Mechanist Art was not too sophisticated. With Qin Xi's strength, breaching it was merely a matter of time.
After the stone balls came the wooden hands. These wooden hands, made of some unknown material, could not even be severed by Qin Xi's sword energies. In the end, he had to summon his Extreme Yang True Fire to break them.
After about an hour, Qin Xi finally unleashed another wave of sword energies. This time, they met no obstruction, striking the stone door of the cave abode unimpeded.
With a crash, the stone door swung open, revealing its interior.
The two exchanged a glance, both showing joy. After toiling here for several hours, their time and effort had not been wasted in vain.
"I'll go in first," Qin Xi turned and instructed. With a wave of his sleeve, the sword energies returned to his side, encircling him in an array. Only then did he step forward, cautiously entering the cave abode.
Mo Tiange watched nervously. Since this cave abode was reserved for high-level cultivators of this sect, it was entirely possible for there to be existences far beyond their realm inside. For instance, if the restrictions outside the cave abode were triggered again, it would be more than they could handle.
Fortunately, Qin Xi circled inside without incident and called out to her, "It's fine, come in."
Mo Tiange let out a sigh of relief but still dared not relax. She activated the Hunyuan Unity Art, protected herself with the white silk handkerchief, and only then stepped inside.
Entering the cave abode, she looked around. It was simple yet imposing. The main hall was spacious, furnished only with a few stone tables and chairs for receiving guests, nothing else. Moonlight stones were embedded in the walls but had long since lost their efficacy. There was another, smaller stone door nearby, likely leading to a cultivation chamber.
"These cave abodes were only temporarily rented by their high-level cultivators, and they're within the sect grounds. There probably aren't too many restrictions," Mo Tiange said after observing for a while.
Qin Xi nodded. If this were a high-level cultivator's private cave abode, it would undoubtedly be layered with restrictions. But this was a communal one, so the situation was different. Who would bother setting up numerous restrictions in a temporarily rented cave abode? Especially within the sect's important grounds; usually, one would just set up their own formation.
The furnishings in the main hall were plain to see, with nothing else of note. Their gazes turned to the cultivation chamber.
They weren't certain if there was a high-level cultivator in seclusion within this cave abode. If the cultivation chamber was also empty, then these past few hours would have been wasted.
"I'll go," Qin Xi still took the lead. Generally, cultivators would set up a defensive formation outside their cave abode and another restriction around the cultivation chamber as a precaution. If a cultivator was truly in seclusion within the chamber when the spiritual mountain was torn apart, they would most likely have set up restrictions.
Knowing her strength was inferior, Mo Tiange had no objection and followed behind him.
Several sword energies shot out, instantly shattering the stone door of the cultivation chamber. Amidst a flash of red light, several streaks of white light shot out, carrying a powerful momentum.
Seeing this, Qin Xi was startled. He raised a hand, conjuring a white light shield before him while simultaneously dodging the white light.
"Ssshhh—" It turned out to be several black arrows that struck the opposite stone wall, nearly shattering it.
Mo Tiange's face paled. She turned to see Qin Xi safely dodged, her panic slightly subsiding.
"Is this also Mechanist Art?" Qin Xi retracted his sword energies and asked.
"Most likely," Mo Tiange walked over to the nearly pierced stone wall, picked up a black arrow, examined it for a moment, then exclaimed with mixed surprise and delight, "Black Gold!"
"Black Gold?" Qin Xi also walked over, took the arrow, weighed it in his hand, then summoned Extreme Yang True Fire from his palm, burning it for a moment. The black arrow showed no change. He said joyfully, "It really is Black Gold! This is a top-tier material for sword forging!"
He was far more proficient in artifact forging than Mo Tiange, so there was no need to elaborate on how to identify Black Gold.
"The shattered spirit jade outside, those two wooden hands, and now this Black Gold—even if we don't find a token, this trip is far from wasted," Qin Xi said with a smile.
Mo Tiange nodded. Leaving aside the wooden hands, whose material they couldn't identify, both the shattered spirit jade and the Black Gold originated from the Ancient Era. In today's cultivation world, they are almost impossible to find. At high-level cultivator trade gatherings, they only appear occasionally, often just a small piece that sparks a frenzy.
"However, since there were restrictions, it's highly likely a cultivator was in seclusion here."
After carefully collecting all the black arrows, she returned to the entrance of the cultivation chamber. "Fortunately, this Mechanist Art isn't complete; there's only this one trap."
"Wait," Qin Xi stopped her before she could step into the cultivation chamber. "Let me go in first."
Mo Tiange hesitated for a moment but ultimately nodded and stepped back. Facing potential danger, Qin Xi always paved the way for her. She was touched, but the fact remained that she had not yet formed her Nascent Soul and was weaker than him. Rather than being stubborn, it was better to obey obediently.
Seeing her compliance, Qin Xi gave her a reassuring smile, raised his sword array, and stepped towards the cultivation chamber.
As he stepped inside, there was no movement. He looked around and immediately called out, "Tian Ge!"
Mo Tiange saw no restrictions or mechanisms. Hearing his voice, she followed him in. "What's..." She was about to ask what was wrong but also froze on the spot.
The cultivation chamber was similarly simply furnished, with only a stone bed. On that stone bed sat a skeleton in a white robe, cross-legged. Strangely—the bone quality of this skeleton was neither black nor white, but transparent like crystal!
"What is this..." She stared blankly at the skeleton. After a cultivator passes away, their flesh and blood dissipate into Spiritual Qi, while the skeleton gradually turns black over time, eventually becoming a pile of black ash. But this skeleton was not only perfectly preserved after over a hundred thousand years, but also transparent like crystal—something utterly unheard of.
Qin Xi cautiously approached, transforming the Three Yang True Fire Sword back to its true form. He used the sword to lift the white robe covering the skeleton.
The skeleton collapsed at the slightest touch, a clattering sound filling the air as it instantly became a pile of bones of various sizes.
"Huh?" Seeing this, Qin Xi retracted the Three Yang True Fire Sword, puzzled.
The white robe was clearly a rare spirit treasure. After over a hundred thousand years, it remained perfectly preserved, its surface smooth without a single wrinkle. Moreover, the Three Yang True Fire Sword carried True Fire, yet touching the robe had no effect on it.
Presumably, this skeleton originally belonged to an elder-level figure of this ancient great sect. Possessing such a spirit treasure was not surprising.
Mo Tiange thought for a moment, then took out a pair of gloves made from Heavenly Silkworm Brocade from her Qiankun Bag and walked forward.
"Be careful!" Qin Xi warned. "This skeleton is so abnormal; we don't know if it's safe to touch."
"Don't worry," Mo Tiange waved her hand. "These gloves aren't even afraid of Primordial Devil Qi; it should be fine." Back when Nie Wushang devoured the Primordial Devil, she wore these gloves to make contact and wasn't corroded.
She picked up a piece of bone and examined it carefully. The bone was clearly no longer ordinary bone matter, yet it was neither metal nor jade, and certainly not actual crystal—extremely strange. She tapped it; the bone emitted a crisp sound. She tried to bend it with force, but it didn't change at all.
Neither of them could make sense of it. Mo Tiange couldn't help but ask Fuyaozi, "Master, have you ever heard of a cultivator's bones becoming transparent like crystal after death?"
After a while, Fuyaozi finally spoke, "What? Crystal-like bones?"
"Master, you don't know? What were you doing just now?" Mo Tiange was surprised. This master always paid close attention to their surroundings; how could he be completely unaware of what just happened?
Fuyaozi paused, then said, "This master's Divine Sense has weakened somewhat. I was resting just now."
"Ah?" Hearing this, Mo Tiange was shocked. "Master, you..."
"At most, this wisp of Divine Sense will dissipate in another month or so," Fuyaozi said calmly. "Alright, let me see what's going on."
With that, Mo Tiange felt Divine Sense emanate from the Fusheng Sword, swirl around the crystal bones for a long while, then withdraw.
"In this master's opinion, the reason this person's bones became abnormal after death is likely due to cultivating a peculiar technique."
"A technique?"
"Indeed," Fuyaozi said. "Look around and see if there's any storage treasure."
Mo Tiange's eyes swept the area and immediately spotted a simple, ancient silver ring on the skeleton's finger bones. She put down the bone and took the silver ring.
"A Qiankun Ring?" Seeing this, Qin Xi's face lit up with joy. "It's said Qiankun Rings were the storage treasures of Ancient Era cultivators, far superior to Qiankun Bags. Unfortunately, the refining method has long been lost. I never thought we'd see the real thing today."
"Refining a Qiankun Ring uses space-tearing techniques, hence it's also called the Sumeru Ring. How can a Qiankun Bag compare?" Fuyaozi commented upon hearing Qin Xi's words, though Qin Xi couldn't hear him.
Mo Tiange tried channeling Spiritual Qi and easily opened the Qiankun Ring. A pile of items clattered out.
"Don't!" Fuyaozi's warning came too late. A large heap of items had already spilled out. Mo Tiange quickly cut off the Spiritual Qi and closed the Qiankun Ring.
Fuyaozi sighed. "Didn't you think? Which high-level cultivator doesn't carry several Qiankun Bags? If all the items from those bags were stored in a Qiankun Ring, how much would there be? Dumping it out like this, you'd probably fill the entire room."
Mo Tiange scratched her head, knowing she'd done something foolish again. But Qin Xi was here, so of course she wanted to dump everything out for them to look at together.
"However, you've hit the jackpot. Since this skeleton was an elder-level figure of this ancient great sect, they were at least at the Deity Transformation stage. You've obtained their Qiankun Ring! Truly an overnight fortune!" Fuyaozi sounded both envious and jealous. "Although this master saw a Qiankun Ring back then, it was split among five people."
Mo Tiange smiled and said, "Master, even though you only got one-fifth, you advanced to the Deity Transformation stage in one go. Why envy us?"
"Hmph!" Fuyaozi snorted at her words and fell silent.
Looking at the large pile of items on the ground, Mo Tiange pulled Qin Xi. "Senior Brother, hurry, look for a token!"