67 Time Waits for No One

In the world within the Demonic Treasure, Zhang Baichi stood in place, casually glancing around.

Before, the whole inner world was dyed in crimson and emitted a terrifyingly evil aura, filled with bloodlust and demonic Qi.

But now that Zhang Baichi had used his own spiritual power to subdue the Demonic Treasure, therefore breaking its evil spirit apart and changing its inner world, the whole space looked torn and mangled.

The crimson world was ripped into pieces and permeated with snow white, pure spiritual power, that was not tinged with evil nor bloodlust.

However, the more Zhang Baichi looked around, the stranger the situation seemed to him; The more control he took over the treasure – the more his pure spiritual power permeated into the Demonic Treasure – the weaker the treasure seemed to get.

With a long sigh, Zhang Baichi pulled his consciousness back into his body, looking at the Demonic Treasure from the outside. The moment he took control over the Demonic Treasure, various pieces of information appeared in his mind.

He looked at the Demonic Treasure with trepidation in his eyes; This Demonic Treasure was simply too terrifying; Its origins too despicable.

To create this Demonic Treasure, demonic cultivators of ancient times have sacrificed hundreds of Demonbeasts, mortals, cultivators, and, most despicable of all, infants, and even unborn children.

Their bodies were tortured to death over the course of weeks, sometimes months, and their souls imprisoned, and tortured even further. The weakened souls were then corrupted by demonic Qi and assimilated into the Demonic Treasure in a grotesque amalgamation of evil.

By the time the Demonic Treasure was perfected, tens of thousands of people and their souls had fallen victim to the demonic cultivators that created it.

After the deed was done, its creators gave the Demonic Treasure its name – Thousand Soul Convergence!

However, its creation was just the beginning.

For years and years to come, the demonic cultivators would use the Thousand Soul Convergence to extract the souls out of their enemies, innocents, Demonbeasts, and even their own compatriots to further feed the Demonic Treasure.

An unknown number of years later, the Demonic Treasure fell into the hands of the Divine Dragon race's experts, who sealed it within an inescapable prison. Today, this inescapable prison was known as the Beastwilds Mystic Realm!

Still, even with all the knowledge about the Thousand Soul Convergence, Zhang Baichi could not tell how the Demonic Treasure was sealed where, nor by whom it was done, or even how much time had passed since then.

However, even he knew that the Ancient Era lies hundreds of millennia in the past, with many civilisations having risen and fallen since then.

After killing too many people and absorbing their souls, the Thousand Soul Convergence had even formed a rudimentary spirit and could be considered to a half-living being.

That, of course, meant that its power had risen tremendously compared to before, but that fact alone made Zhang Baichi frown.

It should have been impossible for him, a mere child at the Body Forging Realm, to contend with the Thousand Soul Convergence, much less subdue it so 'easily'.

Just how much time must have passed for such a terrifying treasure to be reduced to such a sorry state?

There were still thousands upon thousands of corpses within this sealed chamber, but even then, the Demonic Treasure had been weakened so tremendously.

While Zhang Baichi was lost in thought, a cracking sound caught his attention. He looked at the Thousand Soul Convergence in his hand, and quickly noticed that one of the bead-like skulls had cracked apart and fallen to the ground.

It just fell about a metre, but that alone was enough to shatter the skull into many big and small pieces with the lower portions ground into dust.

Zhang Baichi looked at the broken skull for a second, then focused on the remaining beads in his hand; All of them looked to have lost their lustre. They were brittle and rough.

His consciousness once again entered the Demonic Treasure, only to see that most of the crimson world had vanished, either replaced by pure white spiritual power, or vanished completely!

He noticed the remaining crimson fade at speed visible to the naked eye. At the same time, the Thousand Soul Convergence seems to lose its powers in proportion to the remaining parts of the crimson world.

Zhang Baichi's consciousness returned to his body with a complicated expression.

More of the skulls showed signs of falling apart, with cracks spreading on its surface.

"Its… dying?", Zhang Baichi muttered to himself. This was the best way he could explain what he was witnessing and sensing.

The Thousand Soul Convergence's spirituality was slowly dying ever since Zhang Baichi had broken it to subdue the Demonic Treasure. At the same time, the treasure itself started falling apart.

'System, what's going on?', Zhang Baichi's frown deepened. He did not understand why the Demonic Treasure was breaking apart.

[Ding! It seems that the spirituality of the Spiritual Ascension Realm treasure 'Thousand Soul Convergence' was the core holding the treasure together. Through the passage of time, the treasure has been severely weakened, and only the treasure's spirit was keeping it complete. Without its spirit, it was already destined to have been reduced to ashes long ago.]

Zhang Baichi looked at the system interface for a moment, then his eyes returned to the treasure falling apart in his hands. '…What happens with the souls that made up the treasure?'

[Ding! With the destruction of the Demonic Treasure, the souls trapped within it will be liberated. As long as enough of their souls remains, they will be able to be reborn through the Laws of Reincarnation and the River of Destiny.]

Although he did not quite understand what the Laws of Reincarnation or the River of Destiny were, Zhang Baichi was at least assured that the souls would be liberated from their pitiful state.

"This is a good thing, huh.", he muttered once again and shook his head. "Too many have died to create this thing. Way too many…"

He once again forced his consciousness into the Demonic Treasure and used his spiritual power to help in destroying the remnants of the treasure's spirit. The world within the treasure collapsed, and Zhang Baichi's consciousness was forced out.

He crushed the cracked skulls into dust, completely destroying what remained of this Demonic Treasure.

For a while now, Yu Hao had observed the situation from afar, with Lu Zheng still recuperating by his side. At first, he was unsure if Zhang Baichi had succeeded or failed, but with the destruction of the treasure in Zhang Baichi's hands, Yu Hao heaved a sigh of relief.

"Baichi!", he called out from his spot, smiling at Zhang Baichi, a lot of the worry in his heart alleviated.

Zhang Baichi's head snapped to the side, and he noticed Yu Hao. With big strides, he walked over to him and Lu Zheng, once again noticing their tattered clothing.

"Are you guys alright?", he asked in an apologetic tone, concern visible on his face.

Yu Hao shook his head, indicating for him not to worry. "We're fine. Most of our injuries are superficial, but the loss of vital blood essence is still a problem."

He turned to Lu Zheng, who was still busy meditating to stabilize himself. The wounds on his body were fine, but his pale countenance was apparent.

Zhang Baichi mustered him for a few seconds, the medicinal knowledge of the Divine Doctor, Zhou Yubai, that he had absorbed from a piece of Spiritual Jade a long time ago, kicking into full throttle.

'His injuries are fine. They'll naturally heal within a day or two, and he won't need to worry about them in the future. However, nearly two thirds of his vital blood essence seem to have been absorbed…', Zhang Baichi's face grew grave.

He himself had lost around 40 percent of his vital blood essence, but he could already feel how much this weakened him. Especially now, with his Soul Space opened up; He could easily tell the state of his own body in complete detail.

'I'll need a few weeks, probably. Lu Zheng might even need some a few Natural Treasures to recover…', Zhang Baichi analysed, then sighed deeply. "It seems we've all suffered this time…"

Yu Hao grunted in agreement and nodded his head. "We've really stepped into dog sh*t this time."

"Right? If anything, the Heavens need to give us some great opportunity to make up for all this suffering.", Zhang Baichi jokingly said while sitting down across from Lu Zheng.

"Yeah, yeah; That much would only be appropriate.", Yu Hao laughed, then plopped down next to the other two. "Seriously, though; How do we get out of here? Where is 'here' in the first place…"

Zhang Baichi shrugged. "From what I understand, it should be a sealed chamber within the Beastwilds Mystic Realm. Even then, since we're outsiders, we should be teleported out of the Mystic Realm once it closes, right?"

"…What if we don't? This is a 'sealed' chamber, remember? I'd assume there to be at least a few safety measures." Yu Hao wasn't as optimistic as Zhang Baichi.

Zhang Baichi smiled, explaining his thoughts. "When the Demonic Treasure tried to take over my body, getting out of this sealed chamber was one of its main concerns. It was sure that we would get out once our time is up, since were outsiders."

"I'd rather search for an exit myself. I don't think a Demonic Treasure is a valid source for important information…", Yu Hao sneered.

Once again, Zhang Baichi smiled. "Then, let's go? Where do we start looking?"

In hist heart, he asked the same question to the system. Since the imminent danger was resolved, they now had more than enough time to search for an exit.

[Ding! Host still has two options: Destroy the sealed chamber or use the lingering spatial coordinates to construct a new teleportation formation to escape.]

Without Yu Hao having the time to speak, Zhang Baichi started to laugh. "You know what? Screw that; Let's just destroy this d*mned place altogether."