Shadow Devil Spirit Lamp

"What's written here?" Ye Ziyun asked curiously looking at the stone monument.

Nie Li read the text for them. Even though the text was pretentious, girls were in awe. Seeing that Nie Li snorted.

"When I reach the pinnacle of cultivation I will also create empty tombs in remote places of the world and put stone obelisks in them with words: 'I began cultivating the day I was born. And reached the legend rank when I was 5 years old. When I was ten years old, I accidentally destroyed our second moon. Since then we have only one moon.' And thousands of years later I will be remembered as a person who destroyed the second moon," said Nie Li with false fervor.

"The second moon?" girls looked at him and began snickering.

"Nie Li, ten-year-old moon destroyer. You are my hero." Ye Ziyun said taking his arm in her hands and fake swooning.

"Oh Nie Li. You are so powerful." Xiao Ning'er joined the game by taking his second arm and fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"I know. I'm just too modest."

The trio began laughing. For some time they were again carefree teenagers unconcerned that they were hundreds of meters underground and the hall above them was filled with the bones of the dead they have looted.

Nie Li was very happy. The two girls he liked were beside him delightfully laughing. Heavens above, they were so beautiful.

Seeing the look in his eyes girls also stopped laughing, blushed, and let go of his hands.

Nie Li wasn't flustered for getting caught staring. He doubted that anyone would have been able to resist. And he was a healthy hormonal teenager.

"Okay. I don't think there's anything else here, so let's go," said Nie Li and headed towards the stairs. Girls silently followed him surreptitiously glancing at each other. They clearly noticed Nie Li's interest in them. Both of them had feelings for him as well. Now looking at his dashing figure in his silver-blue armor ahead of them they had a great many things to ruminate over.

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The trio headed towards the possible location of the Ancient Orchid City's underground treasure. Nie Li periodically looked at his compass, adjusting their course. Even though the rest of the way was a confusing set of hallways Nie Li led the way confidently. And it had taken them less than an hour to reach the hidden stone door to the treasure. It was very well hidden, but Nie Li's topographical abilities were superb. He knew they were approximately under the training grounds so he looked for it specifically. It's great to have foreknowledge.

Under the curious eyes of the girls, Nie Li pushed the suspicious stone wall. It creaked and slowly turned inwards. Behind it was a huge stone chamber. At the other end of the chamber, there was a staircase leading upwards. And it was blocked by collapsed stones.

But that was not the most important thing about the chamber. Girls were shocked. The Chamber was filled with all sorts of treasures. Armor, inscription scrolls, demon crystals, and other resources. It was also full of precious metals, gems, and piles of gold coins, which was the official currency of the Sacred Empire. There were also many other unknown valuables.

There was a large amount of treasures here. Even though they couldn't take everything, they could choose the most valuable things as the first finders.

"Pick whatever you think is the most valuable but leave something for Chen Linjian and others," Nie Li said to the girls.

"What do you mean?" asked Ye Ziyun looking around.

"We are directly under the training grounds" Nie Li replied motioning towards the stairs, "When others dig out the entrance they may become agitated if they find the chamber empty."

"Oh," said Xiao Ning'er looking at the ceiling. "Will we wait for them to dig out the entrance?"

"No, we will return the way we came. Who knows why they haven't begun digging already. Maybe they are looking for you." Nie Li answered, looking at the girls meaningfully.

The duo lowered their eyes. Even though they have told Huyan Lanruo where they were going, she was completely against it. She asked them to wait until they regroup with others, but they still insisted and left. They were too worried about Nie Li.

"Don't worry, we will see them tomorrow at the latest. So concentrate on the present and pick up your treasures." Nie Li reassured them.

The girls spread around the hall looking for things. And Nie Li set his gaze on a lamp atop a stone platform.

Upon seeing the lamp, Nie Li was filled with joy. It was really a Shadow Devil Spirit Lamp. Nie Li agreed with his novel counterpart in choosing this demon spirit as his first integrated demon. Nie Li picked up the lamp and looked around for other treasures. He collected some Black Gold rank demon crystals and other materials, like different types of metals and gems.

He wasn't interested in Bronze and Silver rank armors and weapons, so he dumped some he picked in the coffin room and took materials instead. Seeing that girls also dropped some Bronze rank equipment, exchanging them for Silver rank ones.

In half an hour they were finished. They quickly had lunch and decided to return the way they came. The traps along the way were already deactivated, so it won't take them long to reach the hole they entered from.

Prior to leaving the chamber, Nie Li put some small inscription arrays on the floor. And activated them before closing the hidden door. Under the curious eyes of the girls, the dust on the floor and objects rose up in the air as if by some wind. When the dust rose up to a meter high, Nie Li stopped his technique. Now dust will slowly settle on the ground erasing their footprints.

"There's no reason to vex others in the expedition. Let them think that they were the first ones to reach this chamber." Nie Li explained.

Girls nodded understanding his reasons. Each of them had taken the most valuable treasures from this chamber. Dangling it in front of others would be a bad idea, even though there were still hundreds of millions of worth of riches remaining. They were once again impressed by Nie Li's forethought who didn't forget even about such small details.

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The trio returned to the base of the hole by the evening. Even though there wasn't any sunlight underground following their timetable was a good idea. They decided to rest for the night underground because it was simply safer. Mostly because there weren't any demon beasts underground. They set up their tents. After dinner, the girls wished him goodnight and headed to their tents. Nie Li had some things to do as well before his nightly session of cultivation.

He returned to his tent and activated the Starlight Crafting Plate. And took out the Heavenly Energy Crystal and transferred it into the pocket workspace to scan it thoroughly. The results he got were reassuring. When he released the heavenly energy from the crystal, it didn't turn into the soul force immediately. It looks like the internal chamber of the Starlight Plate was outside the laws of this world. So he could imbue Heavenly Energy into objects and create proper artifacts.

Unlike the enchanted objects, artifacts had their energy source. Enchanted objects had a limited amount of power and after they used up that energy they got damaged. To restore it one had to reapply the enchantments on them. Of course, integrating a demon spirit and other methods partially solved that problem, but artifacts had large advantages over enchanted objects. One of them was their ability to evolve. Some of them even had developed sentience over time.

Nie Li currently could create only low-level artifacts due to his low cultivation and lack of resources, but even that was over the top for this world.