The two of them searched for a while and indeed found three pitch-black tokens. The material of the tokens was neither metal nor wood, with faint, strange restrictions visible on them.
“This is it,” Fuyaozi said. “You two are quite lucky to find three at once.”
Mo Tiange hadn’t expected them to be so fortunate either—finding tokens in the first cave abode, and three at that. Delighted, she said, “We have to thank Master for your guidance.”
Fuyaozi fell silent again, perhaps even more envious now. Back when he and the other four entered the Immortal Palace, they went through immense hardship to obtain just one token. Yet these two had such good fortune, acquiring the accumulated treasures of an ancient cultivator without a single scratch!
After storing the tokens safely, the two quickly inventoried the items in the Qiankun Ring.
This ancient cultivator who had turned into a crystal skeleton was indeed a God Transformation Stage cultivator. The Qiankun Ring contained many treasures that surpassed the Nascent Soul Stage. Unfortunately, too much time had passed; the spiritual herbs and pills had long since lost their efficacy. Fortunately, the Qiankun Ring’s space was independent, with stagnant spiritual energy, so most of the refining materials and magic treasures remained intact.
“These are all high-grade Spirit Stones,” Qin Xi picked up a Spirit Stone pouch. “Ancient cultivators were truly wealthy. There must be at least tens of thousands of high-grade Spirit Stones here!”
“The entire Immortal Palace is built from high-grade Spirit Stones. It seems high-grade Spirit Stones weren’t rare in ancient times.”
Qin Xi nodded in agreement, then exclaimed in surprise the next moment, “Tian Ge, look!”
Mo Tiange turned and was equally startled. “This is…”
In Qin Xi’s hand lay several colorful, crystal-clear jade stones. Each one was surrounded by visible Spiritual Qi, refracting rainbow-like hues.
“Could this be Crystal Jade?!” After staring for a moment, she cried out involuntarily.
The appearance of these jade stones was very similar to the Crystal Soul Jade she had obtained in Kunzhong City years ago, but their quality was superior—each piece was flawless, smooth, and crystalline.
Crystal Jade, a type of jade from the Primordial Era used to store Spirit Stones. The genuine article was called Crystal Jade, inferior grades were called Crystal Stone, and flawed pieces were called Crystal Soul Jade. Compared to Spirit Stones, Crystal Jade not only contained vast amounts of Spiritual Qi, but that Spiritual Qi could slowly replenish itself after being consumed! After the Great Cataclysm, Crystal Jade had almost disappeared. Even Crystal Soul Jade was something one could only encounter by chance.
In the current cultivation world, if a cultivator obtained Crystal Soul Jade, they would usually inlay it into a magic treasure. This allowed the treasure to automatically recover Spiritual Qi—albeit slowly. In a battle, that extra bit of Spiritual Qi could influence the outcome.
The Crystal Jade before them was of such excellent quality that its effects were surely a hundred times better than Crystal Soul Jade. In today’s cultivation world, each piece would fetch an astronomical price!
“Most likely,” Qin Xi said, pouring out all the Crystal Jade. There were actually several hundred pieces! Despite having seen many treasures, he still felt a bit breathless. After steadying himself, he finally smiled. “Although resources in the Ancient Era were slightly inferior to the Primordial Era, they still shouldn’t be underestimated. They could use high-grade Spirit Stones to build an Immortal Palace; presumably, high-level cultivators used Crystal Jade for transactions.”
Mo Tiange pressed a hand to her chest, calming her breathing, her face breaking into a joyful smile. “Master Fuyaozi was right—we’ve truly become overnight tycoons!”
Having seen so much Crystal Jade, they were prepared when looking at the other treasures and weren’t shocked again.
Subsequently, the two found a jade slip among the miscellaneous items, recording a cultivation technique called the “Ice Heart Jade Bone Art.”
Fuyaozi had guessed correctly. This ancient cultivator’s skeleton resembled crystal precisely because of the Ice Heart Jade Bone Art’s effects. This technique could only be cultivated by those with an Ice Spiritual Root. It was the foundational sect technique of the ancient great sect “Frigid Ice Palace,” reserved only for a few exceptionally talented individuals. Cultivating this technique would gradually transform one’s entire skeleton. By the Nascent Soul Stage, it could be refined to be as crystal-clear and translucent as crystal. At this point, the Ice Heart Jade Bone Art was considered to have reached minor completion, increasing the chances of advancing to the God Transformation Stage.
The two felt rather regretful. Neither of them had an Ice Spiritual Root; such a miraculous technique was useless to them.
Apart from that, there was also a jade slip concerning Mechanist Arts, titled “Mechanist Arts Primer.” Mo Tiange glanced through it and was somewhat disappointed. The Mechanist Arts recorded in this jade slip were quite elementary. It seemed this ancient cultivator senior had only just begun researching Mechanist Arts and wasn’t proficient. No wonder the mechanisms arranged in this cave abode weren’t particularly sophisticated—just made from rare materials with considerable lethal power.
After reviewing everything, the two returned all items to the Qiankun Ring, including the white robe covering the corpse.
As for those crystal bones, Fuyaozi also told them to collect them.
Hearing this, Mo Tiange hesitated inwardly. These bones were so special; they must have uses. But having already taken this ancient cultivator’s belongings, not sparing even his remains… felt somewhat… As if knowing what she was thinking, Fuyaozi said indifferently, “It’s just a physical shell; why care so much? This ancient cultivator senior has already passed. This pile of white bones has long had nothing to do with him.”
Mo Tiange realized she was being constrained by superficial appearances. She took a deep breath, offered a silent apology, placed the crystal bones into a bag, and stored them in the Qiankun Ring as well.
After finishing these tasks and confirming they hadn’t missed anything, she and Qin Xi withdrew from the cave abode.
Exiting this cave abode, the two proceeded without pause to the second one.
This time was much simpler. This cave abode had no Mechanist Arts, only some residual restrictions. The two spent only half an hour breaking the restrictions at the entrance.
Entering the cave abode, the furnishings inside were the same as before: aside from stone tables and chairs, there was nothing else. After Qin Xi broke open the cultivation chamber, they found no traces of restrictions either. The inside was empty; no one was in seclusion here.
Although both had mentally prepared themselves, they still felt a pang of disappointment.
Next was the third, and final, one.
“Something’s off,” Qin Xi said with a furrowed brow before even attempting to break the restrictions.
“What is it?” Mo Tiange was in the midst of setting up formation flags to break the restrictions.
“There’s a strange aura inside,” Qin Xi said. “Be careful.”
Mo Tiange nodded. Due to the difference in cultivation stages, Qin Xi’s divine sense was stronger than hers, and he was more sensitive to danger. After a moment’s thought, she set up an additional restriction outside the formation flags for breaking the array.
The restriction-breaking formation activated, and the light screen before the cave abode flickered and vanished. Qin Xi stepped forward, gathered sword energy, and struck the stone door.
With a thunderous boom, the stone door was shattered to pieces, and a surge of black energy gushed out.
“Careful!” Qin Xi pulled Mo Tiange back, retreating rapidly.
“Origin Demonic Qi!” Mo Tiange gasped, not wasting time thinking. She reached into her sleeve and summoned the Lotus Parasol.
Fortunately, she had set up an extra restriction earlier. The Origin Demonic Qi was blocked momentarily, so not much leaked out. Now, with the Lotus Parasol unfurled, fluorescent light cascaded down, isolating the remaining demonic energy outside.
“Sword Array!” Remembering what Fuyaozi had once instructed, she called out.
Qin Xi reacted swiftly, instantly recalling the Three Yang True Fire Sword into his body and dispersing his protective Spiritual Qi, circulating the Demon-Suppressing Art.
Aside from the Lotus Parasol, Mo Tiange also withdrew all her magic treasures simultaneously.
The two retreated quite a distance before finally relaxing.
“What’s going on?” The two exchanged glances, and Mo Tiange asked, puzzled.
“Perhaps… this cave abode is precisely one of the leakage points for the Origin Demonic Qi,” Qin Xi speculated. There was no other explanation.
Hearing this, Mo Tiange hesitated. “Then… should we still go in?” The Origin Demonic Qi within this space was purer and more potent than any they had encountered before, and it could backlash. It would be truly difficult to deal with.
Qin Xi glanced at her. “What do you think?”
Just as Mo Tiange was about to speak, the two suddenly sensed a dangerous aura. Alert, they looked toward the cave abode entrance.
At the gaping stone door, the Origin Demonic Qi grew increasingly dense. A powerful pressure bore down on them, almost suffocating.
“God Transformation Stage…” Qin Xi murmured.
He was already at the Nascent Soul mid-stage. He could say with certainty that no Nascent Soul Stage cultivator could possess such an aura, not even a late-Nascent Soul great cultivator on the verge of God Transformation.
“Go!” He made a decisive decision, abruptly grabbing Mo Tiange’s hand. With a sweep of his sleeve, he summoned the Flying Cloud. Without regard for anything else, he leaped directly off the Bitter Cultivation Cliff.
As the two leaped off the Bitter Cultivation Cliff, Mo Tiange caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye: at the cave abode entrance appeared a charred-black, swaying Corpse Puppet.
The Corpse Puppet paused at the entrance for a moment, waved its hand, and its sharp claws destroyed the formation she had set up at the entrance. Then, as if sensing their presence, it looked in their direction.
Her heart shook violently. She roughly guessed what had happened.
Inside this third cave abode, there had also been a God Transformation Stage cultivator in secluded cultivation. When the spatial rift tore open, all cultivators lost their lives, and this cultivator perished at that moment. Later, the sacrificial temple beneath the Immortal Palace developed problems, and Origin Demonic Qi leaked out. This cave abode happened to be one of the leakage points. With restrictions both inside and out, the Origin Demonic Qi was sealed within the cave abode, accumulating and growing denser over the long years, eventually corroding this cultivator’s remains into a Corpse Puppet.
The Corpse Puppet had no consciousness, and the cave abode was in a closed state. Throughout the long years, this God Transformation Stage Corpse Puppet remained in a daze inside the cave abode, utterly unaware of the changes outside.
If they hadn’t opened the cave abode, perhaps it would have remained silent, no different from a corpse.
But today, they opened the cave abode. It sensed the aura of living beings, and so it finally stepped out of this cave abode, heading toward the world it once knew.
Plummeting rapidly from the top of the Bitter Cultivation Cliff, just as they were about to hit the ground, the Flying Cloud abruptly halted, changed direction, and sped away into the distance.
Meanwhile, that God Transformation Stage Corpse Puppet also jumped off the Bitter Cultivation Cliff, landing with a thunderous “boom,” heavily crashing at the cliff base. The demonic energy around it churned violently from the jump. After a while, it finally solidified again. Swaying unsteadily, it stood up and began pursuing in the direction they had fled.
“It’s behind us!” Mo Tiange glanced back. Within this Immortal Palace, divine sense couldn’t operate freely; she could only barely sense that powerful aura following them.
Qin Xi’s expression was grave, but his voice was calm. “A Corpse Puppet’s speed is its weakness. If we’re fast enough, we can escape!” With that, a clear cry rang out as he redeployed the sword array, surrounding them. Simultaneously, he unsparingly slapped precious spirit talismans onto both of them.
Although within this Immortal Palace, there might be peculiar restrictions due to the spatial rift, making rapid flight inadvisable, they couldn’t afford to care now. God Transformation Stage—a God Transformation Stage Corpse Puppet. Even if all the cultivators who entered the Immortal Palace combined their strength, it could wipe them out with a wave of its hand. They were no match at all!
There was no other choice but to flee.