chapter 126 - 130

apter 126: Surprise Attack (2)

The flaming meteors were incredibly powerful and explosive. Its strength was enough to tear through mountains, and even with a protective barrier applied it was possible for one to be smashed to pieces if struck by multiple meteors in a row.

However, this was not the most frightening aspect of the attack.

After the meteors landed, countless steel needles shot out like a torrential downpour.

Blood Hedgehog Spikes!

There was a beast from Cloud Mountain known as the Blueblood Hedgehog. It possessed extremely poisonous spikes, and if it encountered any danger, it would expand its entire body, causing the needles to fly into the air like rain. This needle-rain would be hard to survive.

This was the Blood Hedgehog Spikes.

A dense wave of Blood Hedgehog Spikes surged forwards, like a constant hail of arrows. This wave of spikes was completely relentless in its attempt to kill.

However, this still was not the most frightening aspect of the attacks.

After the Blood Hedgehog Spikes, four figures exploded into view. They simultaneously flew from all four directions towards the high tower. One sent out a streak of sword light like a silver river floating through the air, another stabbed out with a spear strike like a dragon flying through the air, still another slammed down with a giant battleaxe as if trying to sunder the heavens and the earth, and the last one sent out a palm strike as scorching as a dry, prairie fire.

Yang-Opening Realm!

Four Yang-Opening Realm experts simultaneously attacked the protective barrier enveloping high tower.

Flaming meteors, Blood Hedgehog Spikes, and four Yang-Opening experts simultaneously attacked, causing the various important individuals on top of the high tower to face the threat of being wiped out completely.

Kill!

When faced with this imminent threat, however, Zhao Yu gently lifted his hand.

A jade-colored crystal hand appeared.

The palm of the hand was placed towards the sky.

At that moment, it appeared as if time had been frozen. All of the flaming meteors automatically froze in midair.

The jade-colored hand gently waved, and the hundreds of flaming meteors actually turned around and returned in the direction that they came from, leaving behind a trail of smoke. The air surged inside the smoke cloud, causing the countless Blood Hedgehog Spikes to be blown away. The wave of needles almost instantly fell to the ground.

At this time, the four Yang-Opening experts' attacks had also landed. Sword, Spear, Axe, and Palm simultaneously landed. Their power was boundless, and the killing intent soared.

Zhao Yu finally moved.

His figure flashed, and in that instant he became a streak of azure light. His jade-colored hand waved four times.

The sword light dispersed, the spear image dissolved, the giant battleaxe shattered, and the flaming palm stopped glowing.

The four Yang-Opening experts fell to the ground, blood pouring out of their orifices.

The four assassins had been easily broken like rotten tree branches under Zhao Yu's might.

"Where do you think you're going!" Zhao Yu's figure flashed like lightning, and the azure light chased after them.

In the Light-Shaking Realm, one could move like the speed of light without any ORigin Skills, as well as actual flying.

However, in the same instant that he left the high tower, the clouds in the air suddenly began to change, turning into a red-colored giant made out from the clouds that charged towards the high tower. There were still many important guests below it, and although they were not weak, Zhao Yu knew that they were not the giant red cloud man's opponent. This was because Zhao Yu was very clear about the origins of that giant red cloud man.

Upon seeing the situation, Zhao Yu squeezed out a name from between his gritted teeth. "Long Barton, you persistent bastard!"

As he spoke, he had already slammed his palm towards the giant red cloud man.

His jade hand slammed towards the giant red cloud man, and in that instant a mottled light suddenly shone.

After a moment, the frightening giant man had already completely dissipated under Zhao Yu's thundering attack.

However, at the same instant that this giant man was obliterated, the four Yang-Opening Realm cultivators took the opportunity to escape.

"Hehehehe. Indeed, fitting of being one of the Hidden Dragon Institute's eighteen Golden Girders. I originally wanted to kill a few important individuals this time, but unfortunately with your protection I won't be able to do it. But even so, I am quite happy to make some more trouble for you." This voice echoed around the mountain range before slowly dissipating.

It wasn't until this point when everyone regained their senses.

They felt as if in that brief instant, they had taken a journey to death and back.

Zhao Yu was not able to cleanly deal with the Blood Hedgehog Spikes with the flaming meteors, and a few people were still struck by them. When Zhao Yu saw this, he was unwilling to abandon them, so he pulled out a medicinal pill and said, "Dissolve it in water, then place it on the tongues of those who are wounded. The poison will be cured."

There were underlings of the Hidden Dragon Institute who immediately carried out his orders.

Those from the noble clans were quite frightened, but someone bolstered their courage and asked, "Please, sir, who were the people who just attacked us?"

"The Immortal Temple, a remnant of the Arcana Race. It's not worth mentioning them," Zhao Yu replied.

The Immortal Temple was quite well known in the Seven Kingdoms of the human race. Upon hearing this race, everyone suddenly understood. They did not wonder why the Immortal Temple had done this, because to a terrorist organization, they didn't really need much of a reason to do anything.

However, Zhao Yu felt that something was still off.

Although the Immortal Temple was an ancient Arcana organization that had existed for over ten thousand years, in reality as time had gone by, their goals had also changed. Apart from a few stubborn older individuals of the Arcana Race, most of the Arcana Race now treated these terrorist activities as an order of business.

Simply put, they had become an organization driven by external motivations rather than ideals.

But what benefits could they stand to obtain from attacking the Hidden Dragon exam grounds?

Zhao Yu didn't understand.

And this surprise attack did not have the normal Immortal Temple flair to it. Although those three waves of attacks were quite powerful, it was not very impressive considering that they knew he was present.

The four Yang-Opening experts all escaped after being defeated, and even Long Barton immediately retreated after striking out once. Even though he had clearly attacked, his focus was still on protecting his underlings, forcing Zhao Yu to back off. That was also to say that the focus of this operation was not on how to unleash an effective attack, but rather on how to effectively escape?

Did they cause such a commotion for seemingly no reason other than just to escape more easily?

Zhao Yu was somewhat speechless.

He thought for a moment, then said with some distrust, "Increase our monitor radius and see if there is any other commotion that occurs. In addition, take inventory of our losses and see if any important individuals have died."

"Replying to sir, people have already been dispatched, and sir's Sixth Battalion has already been deployed. The casualties are being assessed, but most were only injured, and almost no one died. A small footboy was struck by more spikes, and he died before we could save him. Bloodline nobility clans all possess secret techniques to counteract poison, and there were not many big side effects after taking the medicine. In addition, a portion of the Origin Energy Formation was disturbed."

"How so?"

"A few Origin Points were broken, and they have no way temporarily to project an image. However, it's not too severe, and it can be very quickly fixed. It will not affect the progression of the exam, but for a short period of time we will not be able to observe the movements of the exam candidates."

"Hm? How were those Origin Points broken?"

"It seems like a few flaming meteors landed on them, but it is also possible that something else happened."

"Send someone to quickly fix it."

"Yes, sir!"

Zhao Yu once again fell into silence. His heart was like a maze of suspicion and doubt.

Was it just a coincidence? Or was there a definite goal?

Or could it be that the Immortal Temple's influence had reached among the students, and they were trying to help one of them cheat?

The students of the Hidden Dragon Institute would definitely become important individuals upon graduating. It was not unreasonable to assume that the Immortal Temple wanted to seize this opportunity to insert a few members that belonged to their own organization.

Although it seemed a bit excessive to use such a large number of individuals just to protect one exam candidate and allow them to pass, it was still best to stay on the safer side.

It was very easy to stay on the safer side – during this period, anybody whose points rapidly increased was under suspicion.

The light screen was temporarily unusable, but the leaderboard screen was unaffected. Because of the last image that he had seen, Zhao Yu first looked at Su Chen, who was the only one in the top one hundred without a bloodline symbol.

But after the surprise attack occurred, Su Chen's points did not rapidly increase again.

In reality, that entire night, his points would not change at all.

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Page 2

Chapter 127: Spirit Burying Terrace (1)

Upon arriving at the pile of rubble, Su Chen silently calculated the time.

In a little while, it would be past midnight.

After midnight, the second day would begin, and that was also the twenty-second of the seventh month, the date when the Spirit Burying Terrace would open.

A star finally began to shine in the sky.

That star was the Lofty Point Star.

This star only appeared on the twenty-second day of the seventh month, and so this day was also known as the Lofty Point day.

The Lofty Point Star's appearance was always very precise.

More precisely, the timekeeping clock could have errors, but the Lofty Point Star would not.

Thus, according to the timekeeping clock, it was not yet the Lofty Point Day, but the appearance of the Lofty Point Star implied that the day had arrived – all of the various officials adjusted their timekeeping devices.

Upon seeing the Lofty Point Star appear, Su Chen didn't immediately make a move. Rather, he waited for a few moments.

As time went on, the Lofty Point Star began to shine more and more brightly.

Before Su Chen's eyes, a strange scene started to appear.

A ray of starlight began to descend from the sky, landing not too far in front of Su Chen, forming a hazy circle of light that faintly covered a smaller half of the valley. There were a few threads within the circle that criss-crossed, forming an incredibly complex map.

Upon seeing this, Su Chen silently confirmed that Old Sang had been completely right. As expected, this place was filled with devious traps, and the underground was protected by a large formation which could even conduct starlight. Where the starlight landed was where the Origin Energy Formation was located. By using the starlight, this Origin Energy Formation appeared.

This was precisely the creativity of the people who had set up the protective mechanisms of the chamber. Every thousand years, it would attract the starlight from the Lofty Point Star. At that time, as long as a person experienced with formations who could proceed according to the instructions of the formation was present, it was easy to open it up and open up the grave to see the light of day once again.

Naturally, Su Chen did not understand formations, but Sang Zhen had told him how to unlock all of the mechanisms long before.

After seeing this formation diagram appear, Su Chen walked through the formation, arriving at a location where a Profound Arcana Triangle symbol was located. He pulled out something from his Origin Ring. It was merely a hollow iron pole, which he used to stab the triangular intersection until there was no resistance. Next, he arrived to another pattern, but this time he pulled out a small sheet of iron and buried in the earth. He then arrived near another pattern, and spilled a unique bloody liquid on the ground.

He went back and forth to a total of thirty six patterns and making thirty six arrangements before pulling out an Origin Formation Disk, placing it three feet below the ground in the center.

Activate!

A mysterious light began to shine out from the ground. When the light began to shine on the patterns on the Origin Energy Formation, they in turn began to emit a powerful light.

The light shone more and more brilliantly. When Su Chen saw it, he was quite nervous. Would such a large commotion attract others over?

Finally, this intense light began to disappear.

However, the ground suddenly started to move.

The fierce trembling almost made Su Chen believe that it was an earthquake, if it weren't for the fact that the mountains around him were fine, and only the ground around his feet was shaking.

Next, Su Chen saw that the at the center of the Origin Formation, where he had placed the Origin Formation Disk, a depression had formed in the ground, and a pitch-black opening had appeared.

Upon seeing the opening, Su Chen didn't immediately enter. Instead, he first drunk a vial of medicine, then pulled out a special item and then completely covered himself from head to toe with items. Even his eyes had been completely covered by crystal chips before he began to enter.

The Spirit Burying Terrace contained Corpse Spirit Flowers. They were extremely poisonous items.

Although the Immortal Temple had given him the antidote, Su Chen did not place all his hope on the other party.

After applying two layers of insurance, Su Chen lifted the crystal lamp and entered the cave. His own crystal lamp had shattered; he had taken the one in his hand from another exam candidate.

The cave was very deep, and he walked step by step downwards before finally reaching the end. However, he saw a pitch-black, winding tunnel in front of him.

After walking along the tunnel for quite some time, he finally emerged. Su Chen discovered that he had already arrived at a large, open room.

Su Chen didn't immediately enter the large room. Instead, he pulled out an Origin Formation Disk and tossed it inside.

As soon as that Origin Formation Disk entered the room, a brilliant red light shone forth.

This implied that the Origin Energy in the room was extremely concentrated to the point that it had reached the Red Star level.

This indicated two things. One: the Origin Energy circulation in the Spirit Burying Terrace was very good, and most of the mechanisms would still be in effect. They would not have broken down or decayed because of age. Of course, this could also be seen from the Origin Formation at the entrance. If the place had decayed, the Origin Formation should have lost its effectiveness a long time ago. Obviously, this place had been appropriately prepared, allowing the Spirit Burying Terrace to be preserved for tens of thousands of years without decaying. Second: the Origin Energy in this location was dense enough to be considered at the Red Star level.

The levels of Origin Energy that Origin Qi Scholars possessed could be divided into purple, black, brown, red, blue, green, and yellow stars. Origin Energy at a density of the Red Star level was equivalent to the Origin Energy a cultivator in the Light-Shaking Realm would possess.

That was also to say that the mechanisms here could kill Light-Shaking Realm cultivators.

That was a Monitoring Disk. After looking at it, it self-destructed.

Upon discovering these two pieces of information, Su Chen became even more cautious.

Two rows of stone carvings were erected in the large room. They were all martial artists wearing red chestplates, and a blood-colored longsword was at their waist. Su Chen had heard that there was a kind of martial artist during the Divine Illustrious Dynasty known as the Bloodmelting Swordsmen. They were corpses that had been refined by a unique, secret bloodline technique. At the same time, it was a byproduct of a failed experiment to produce the Bloodline Extraction Instrument.

The twelve stone statues in front of him were the Bloodmelting Swordsmen. Although they looked like stone statues, they were real Bloodmelting Swordsmen that had been sealed via a unique sealing technique into a stone sculpture. If any outsiders were to barge in, these twelve Bloodmelting Swordsmen would awaken and break out of their seals, attacking anyone who barged in.

However, Su Chen was not worried about this. He pulled out a black medallion and placed it on himself, then walked over step by step. Those Bloodmelting Swordsmen did not move at all.

This was an insignia that the Immortal Temple had created when constructing the Spirit Burying Terrace. Those Bloodmelting Swordsmen were controlled by that medallion and would not attack. Unfortunately, because Su Chen didn't understand the method used to control them, but was best to not even attempt it at all. They could very easily cause trouble for him, and after all the Immortal Temple had not planned on wanting them.

After crossing the large room, he was greeted by a large set of stone doors.

Su Chen did not open the stone doors. Instead, he squatted about a foot away from the doors. He searched around on the ground for a moment before finally discovering a movable stone slab. He raised the slab and pulled out a circular handle. Upon pulling on the handle, the stone doors slowly opened. At the same time that the stone doors opened, he could hear the sound of mechanisms shifting behind the doors.

Su Chen knew that this was the sound of the mechanisms in the door shutting down.

If he hadn't known about the setup behind the door ahead of time and just gone to open the door, he most likely would have died very tragically.

A large hall was behind the stone doors. It was much more vast and imposing when compared to the stone chamber behind him. Night Pearls were illuminating the large hall from its ceiling, making it seem as if it were daytime. These pearls did not appear at all like they had suffered from seven thousand years of corrosion. They were preserved just like in the past, and even the air in the entire large hall was very fresh.

The walls were covered with mysterious engravings, which appeared to be decorative in nature. In reality, they were a portion of the entire underground Origin Formation, and they had preserved the air, freezing time and ensuring that this place was unaffected by the passing of seven thousand years. But as Su Chen "activated" the tomb, the seals of the Origin Formation slowly began to disappear. From this day onwards, this location would no longer be isolated.

On both sides of the large hall stood four giant sculptures in total. Each one was over thirty feet tall, and they were covered in black armor. They were extremely majestic and domineering in appearance.

These were the very well-known Origin Demon Puppets.

These four Origin Demon Puppets were all battalion-grade Origin Demon Puppets.

The armies of the Seven Kingdoms were split into squadrons, fireteam, guards, wards, battalions, garrisons, and armies. Ten people made up a squadron, thirty a fireteam, a hundred a guard, three hundred a ward, a thousand a battalion, three thousand a garrison, and ten thousand an army.

Battalion-grade Demon Puppets implied that these kinds of Demon Puppets could resist the military strength of a normal battalion. Based on the standards for military strength set by the Divine Illustrious Dynasty at the time, a normal battalion had one Yang-Opening Realm person, fifteen Blood-Boiling, three hundred Qi Drawing, and seven hundred martial artists.

To deal with such a battalion, one had to at least be an expert at a high layer in the Light-Shaking Realm.

That was to say that these Demon Puppets possessed strength equal to an expert at a high layer in the Light-Shaking Realm.

There were four complete battalion-grade Demon Puppets here. No wonder the Origin Formation Disk released a brilliant red light.

But unfortunately, although these puppets were extremely strong, it was impossible to store them in an Origin Ring because their Origin Energy content was simply too high. Normal Origin Rings wouldn't be able to withstand it at all. In addition, they weighed an inconceivable amount, and the ground would shake if they walked, so it was not possible to bring them out. Thus, the Immortal Temple had no intention of taking them. Rather, they had placed their attention on the items responsible for driving these four Demon Puppets.

Tool-grade Sark's Energy Nuclei.

Because of their rarity, even a tool-grade Sark's Energy Nucleus was much more valuable than an Origin Demon Puppet.

Su Chen, who was wearing the medallion, would not be attacked by the Demon Puppets. He directly walked behind the four Demon Puppets and opened the mechanism on their lower backs according to how Sang Zhen had taught him. A device roughly as large as a millstone was revealed.

This was the Sark's Energy Nucleus, an incredibly powerful device.

Su Chen's Origin Ring couldn't store even just these four Sark's Energy Nuclei, but he was not anxious. His gaze had already landed on the highest place in the large hall.

There, a pedestal made out of black gold was erected there, and a lotus terrace was constructed out of cloud jade. Floating above the terrace were three six-sided crystals, slowly revolving in midair. Upon closer inspection, some kind of substance was faintly discernable inside the transparent outer crystal layer. Those were Void Essences.

Void Essences were a unique space-attribute item, and they possessed powerful space properties. They could isolate a certain space, forming a standalone region. The Spirit Burying Terrace had not been affected by the passing of time because the Void Essences had separated this place from the outside world. It wasn't until now, when Su Chen had unraveled the Origin Formation, that everything dissipated.

Upon arriving in front of the Void Essences, Su Chen pulled out another Origin Formation Disk from his Origin Ring, then gently placed it on the black gold pedestal.

The Void Essences were a unique item possessing space attributes, and it was impossible to physically grab them. Neither could they be stored in an Origin Ring. He could only use the current method and slowly draw them over using an Origin Formation Disk.

As the Origin Formation Disk began to let out a scintillating light, the three Void Essence Crystals slowly drew near to the Origin Formation Disk. Even though they were only a palm's width away, they flew through the air as if it were a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers. Finally, they landed on top of the Origin Formation Disk, and three more pearls appeared on the Origin Formation Disk. Those who knew understood that those were Void Essence Crystals, while those who didn't know would think that they were just Night Pearls.

With these three Void Storage Crystals, combined with the Origin Formation he had prepared, this Origin Formation Disk had become a storage disk that could completely contain items. The space inside, as well as its sturdiness, was more than enough to store four Sark's Energy Nuclei inside.

After placing those four Sark's Energy Nuclei in the Origin Formation Disk, Su Chen let out a sigh.

As for the black gold pedestal and the cloud jade lotus terrace, Su Chen stored them into his Origin Ring – based on their agreement, Su Chen could take anything that the Immortal Temple had not requested.

Although these two items did not possess any particular value, as raw materials they were relatively precious, and they were also antiques. They possessed a very clear style of the Divine Illustrious Dynasty, and they would be worth quite a sum if sold.

After taking care of all of this, Su Chen let out a long sigh.

Up until now, everything had ended up the way Sang Zhen had said it would. No unexpected occurrences had happened.

All that remained was the final step.

Su Chen gazed at the wall at the back of the large hall.

Up until now, everything that Su Chen had discovered, whether it was the Sark's Energy Nuclei or the Void Essence Crystals, were not the real treasures of the Spirit Burying Terrace. They existed solely to protect this area of land.

Behind that wall was hidden the true treasure of the Spirit Burying Terrace – Corpse Spirit Flowers.

At the same time, it was also the location where accidents were most likely to happen.

In order to allow the Corpse Spirit Flower to grow, it could not be cut off from the outside world. Thus, while the guardians of the Spirit Burying Terrace existed in an isolated space, the place where the Corpse Spirit Flowers were growing had really experienced the passage of seven thousand years.

No one knew what kinds of changes would occur after seven thousand years. Even Sang Zhen and the others were unable to prepare for what could happen.

As soon as that wall was opened, all of the dangers would be faced by Su Chen and Su Chen alone!

He sucked in a deep breath, then activated more than ten Meg's Guardians before pressing the switch to open the wall.

With rumblings and creaking, the back wall slowly opened.

A dark current suddenly poured into the room, swirling towards Su Chen.

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Page 3

Chapter 128: Spirit Burying Terrace (2)

The dark current surged and seethed towards Su Chen, but he was prepared. He activated the Snaking Mist Steps, and his figure retreated like it was made of smoke. At the same time, he superimposed another barrier on his body.

The dark current was like a fiend. It slammed into Su Chen, causing quite a clamor.

Those barriers began to pop one after another, as if they had been struck by the Blood Hedgehog Spikes. The barriers sounded very brittle.

Following this very brittle sound, the barriers shattered like eggshells one after another.

Su Chen retreated even more rapidly, constantly adding on barriers and rapidly changing directions.

The dark current pursued him relentlessly like a dragon, forming black smoke trails that coiled throughout the air. Upon closer inspection, a large number of unnamed black insects had gathered in the black smoke. The brittle noises landing on Su Chen's barriers like dense rain were actually created by those bugs.

They had long and razor-sharp mouths as well as a hard exoskeleton. At this moment, they were once again flying towards Su Chen, letting out piercing, shrill cries.

The barriers on Su Chen's body could not withstand this blow, and just as Su Chen's last barrier was about to explode, even more bugs had begun to surge forwards. Su Chen suddenly flipped his hand, and a fireball appeared.

Boom!

The fireball slammed into the bug swarm, and the fierce flames instantly began to spread amongst the swarm. A large swath of the poisonous bugs were incinerated into ashes.

When Su Chen saw that this was effective, he sent out another fireball.

These bugs had hard shells, but they could not endure being roasted by fire. Under Su Chen's continuous barrage of fireballs, a large portion of them died. The remaining numbers that broke through the flames to attack Su Chen could only slam onto the barriers, killing themselves as they broke the barrier.

Once the final bug had disappeared or died, Su Chen finally let out a sigh.

Although that encounter had been short-lived, it was incredibly vicious. If it weren't for the fact that his mind was clear and he had used his fireball attacks to defend himself and kill off the bug swarm, he probably would've been eaten alive if he had focused solely on defending himself.

Those bugs were not a trap that was set up in the Spirit Burying Terrace. Rather, they were mutant bugs that had evolved due to living in the environment of the Corpse Spirit Flowers. Because these bugs had naturally evolved in this kind of environment rather than under any specific stressors, these kinds of bugs could not evolve all-around defensive bodies, so they would definitely have a few obvious weaknesses. There was no fire in the Spirit Burying Terrace, so their ability to resist fire was basically nonexistent.

This was something that Su Chen had realized while he was being pursued. In fact, Su Chen's most powerful weapon was his ability to remain clear-headed even in the face of imminent danger.

At this moment, he stepped over the bug corpses, then arrived at the wall again. Despite the fact that it was heavily layered, he could still smell the powerful stench of blood and flesh.

Since this place was not isolated, this area displayed the full eeriness and sinister aura that had accumulated after seven thousand years.

After all, this place was a giant ancient tomb.

At this moment, what appeared in front of Su Chen was a pit littered with corpses.

This giant pit was three hundred feet in diameter and roughly fifty feet deep. There were six protrusions that stuck out from it. The large number of complicated Origin Energy engraved patterns and the unique structure of the pit indicated that some large Origin Formation was hidden here.

As time had gone on, the large formation had lost its effectiveness. However, its use had already been completely manifested in the giant pit – the pit was filled with black sludge, and one could see heaps of white bones amongst the black sludge. From afar, they were like crops of bones on a desolate, black wasteland sown on the entire corpse pit.

However, this was not the most frightening.

In other words, what was the most frightening was not the bones, but the sludge!

The black sludge!

Su Chen knew that that wasn't sludge. That was blood and flesh.

Sludge formed from blood and flesh.

More precisely, everything prepared in this place was for the purpose of creating this flesh and blood sludge.

Inside the black sludge, apart from those bones that did not decay, a few black flowers were also growing. These flowers did not seem very remarkable; some grew in the black sludge, some surrounded the white bones, and some hung on the walls of the cave. They looked like wildflowers that were simply using every means at their disposal to survive in such a vicious environment.

But Su Chen knew that it was precisely these flowers that caused the deaths of countless people, resulting in everything that he had seen coming into being.

Corpse Spirit Flowers.

They were a strange kind of vegetation that grew in the sludge from the rotten corpses.

In order to obtain them, some people were willing to cause a bloodbath and creating such a large underground tomb all in the name of burying spirits.

All of the atrocities that had been committed was for these seemingly unassuming flowers.

In that instant, Su Chen's heart surged with rage, and he even wanted to immediately destroy these damned poisonous flowers.

In the end, reason overpowered his impulsiveness. He knew that the flowers were innocent; in the end, the only thing at fault was the greed inside mankind's hearts.

After calming himself down, Su Chen gazed at his surroundings. After confirming that there was nothing out of place, he walked forwards.

Just as he was attempting to harvest the first Corpse Spirit Flower, a sense of danger suddenly appeared in his heart.

Su Chen hurriedly removed his hand. A black shadow shot out of the sludge and towards Su Chen.

Thankfully, Su Chen had yet to deactivate his Meg's Guardian. The black shadow slammed into his magic barrier, instantly resulting in an even more powerful vibration than before.

Su Chen finally saw that what had ambushed him was actually a small black snake not much longer than a foot. After its first attack was ineffective, it continued to let out shrill hisses at Su Chen.

But as soon as Su Chen saw the snake, his expression changed.

Shadow Snake!

This was a kind of living organism that also thrived in such a sinister environment, and it often lived alongside organisms like the Corpse Spirit Flower. The Immortal Temple had guessed before whether the Corpse Spirit Flower would have any other Vicious Beasts like the Shadow Snake living near it, and in the end they had concluded that it was not too likely. That was because this location was manmade, and the person trying to grow these flowers had no reason to cause so much trouble for themselves.

But this time, they had guessed incorrectly.

Perhaps the person who had set up the area had brought them, or perhaps the Shadow Snakes themselves had sensed the powerful aura of death in this area and came on their own. Regardless, there were Shadow Snakes here!

Shadow Snakes were not some kind of powerful Vicious Beast, but they were beasts that lived in groups.

As the first Shadow Snake appeared, hundreds of Shadow Snakes slithered out from the black sludge. When Su Chen saw them, he felt like his spirit was about to depart.

Although the Shadow Snakes were only the most low-tier of the Vicious Beasts, hundreds of them combined were enough to completely drown him out.

Su Chen didn't hesitate. He burst into a sprint and ran away.

"Hiss!" With a piercing yell, the hundreds of Shadow Snakes rushed forwards together.

These snakes did not have large bodies, and their physical strength was only so-so. However, their bodies stored a vicious poison, and their speed was like lightning. They were so speedy that they began to close the distance between them and Su Chen.

Su Chen no longer had to conceal the speed of his Snaking Mist Steps. He revolved his energy and flew forwards like a wisp of smoke, taking multiple steps in midair. It gave off a feeling that he was flying high in the sky, giving off a graceful and elegant appearance. If Gu Qingluo saw it, she would definitely be so surprised that she wouldn't dare to believe her eyes. This was because the Snaking Mist Steps that Su Chen was using had greatly exceeded the level usable by someone without a bloodline. He could already take multiple steps in a row and exert his energy in midair.

Unfortunately, even so he could only maintain the distance between them instead of completely escaping these Shadow Snakes. Most fatally, a few Shadow Snakes that had fallen behind suddenly coiled themselves together, forming a ball. Next, they furiously slammed into the Shadow Snakes in front of hem. Those Shadow Snakes borrowed that force to raise their speed by a certain level, causing them to rapidly close in on Su Chen.

They could actually use this tactic.

Su Chen hurriedly pulled out a jug of wine before tossing it out.

Bang!

In the giant explosion, tens of Shadow Snakes were sent flying, and their scales also similarly fell off. At the same time, they let out pained hisses.

But they did not die!

Shadow Snakes were Vicious Beasts. Naturally, they did not possess as obvious a weakness as those poisonous bugs. The Explosive Medicine could injure them, but it could not possibly kill them in one blow. In addition, they simply had to be beasts that gathered in flocks. The Shadow Snakes that had been injured temporarily stopped their attacks, but the other Shadow Snakes leapt forward even more viciously.

That was also to say that this jug of Explosive Medicine didn't have any use, only slightly delaying his opponent.

"Dammit!" Even the normally calm Su Chen couldn't help but curse.

Truly, no matter how smoothly the plan had been executed, a singly accident was enough to be life-threatening.

If he couldn't outrun the Shadow Snakes and couldn't kill them, what could he do?

Su Chen furiously racked his brain.

He suddenly thought of something. His eyes lit up, and he turned around and tossed out another two jugs of wine. At the same time that he delayed the Shadow Snakes, he also charged forward at high speed.

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Page 4

Chapter 129: Spirit Burying Terrace (3)

Boom boom boom boom!

The continuous explosions caused the Shadow Snakes behind him to continuously let out pained cries. Even so, their inherently vicious temperament made it so that they were unwilling to let their target go, and they continued to chase after him furiously.

Su Chen madly charged forwards. After exiting the large hall, he returned to the stone room he was in prior.

The twelve statues continued to stand there unmoving, just like before.

He pulled off the medallion that he was wearing and tossed it out as he charged forwards at full speed. He began to yell, "Awaken!"

RUMBLE!

A massive thundering and shaking suddenly began to sound out.

The twelve statues simultaneously began to tremble violently, and large chunks of rock began to fall from their bodies, sending up clouds of gray dust.

"Faster, faster!" If it were anyone else, they might have been astonished by this scene, but Su Chen seemed worried that the Bloodmelting Swordsmen wouldn't awaken fast enough. He tossed out three jugs of wine in a row and let out five large fireballs, worried that he wouldn't be able to delay long enough.

Finally, the first statue completely shattered. What followed was a blood-red streak of sword light that screamed towards Su Chen. It grew larger and larger the entire way, stabbing towards him.

"I... fuck!" Su Chen cursed.

Although he had been prepared to be attacked, Su Chen still couldn't help but curse in that moment.

As his body shifted, he activated the Snaking Mist Steps to their extreme limit, taking three steps in a row in midair. Su Chen's figure then suddenly did a rapid one-eighty in midair, dodging the sword strike.

At this moment, all of his vigor had been exhausted. He could not continue to maintain his airborne condition and he began to descend. As soon as he hit the ground, he hurriedly rolled.

A razor-sharp sword flew over the top of his head. Another Bloodmelting Swordsman had appeared.

Su Chen continued to sprint forwards.

Earlier, in order to wake up the Bloodmelting Swordsmen, he was worried that he had not tossed it far enough and wouldn't be able to wake them. Now, he could only feel that he had thrown it too far, and the very near distance seemed to be at the end of the horizon.

He had just taken a step when two blade strikes came whistling towards him.

The third and fourth swordsmen continued to walk out. Su Chen slammed the ground, and he flew into the air, narrowly dodging a sword. He was unable to dodge the other strike, and he could only borrow the use of Meg's Guardian to forcefully block it.

With a loud 'Bang!', two Meg's Guardians were simultaneously pierced through by the sword.

Su Chen borrowed the force of the impact to fly into the air again. While in midair, he could see that some of the Bloodmelting Swordsmen that had been awakened earlier had already begun to engage in battle with the Shadow Snakes.

Thank heavens, whether it was the Shadow Snakes or the Bloodmelting Swordsmen, they attacked each other without discrepancy.

His anxiety had yet to disappear when he suddenly heard four continuous "booms" from behind him. Four Bloodmelting Swordsmen stepped out from the statues.

Because Su Chen was at the very front, every Bloodmelting Swordsman that awoke would attack him first. Su Chen knew that the situation was not good. He hurriedly activated the Snaking Mist Steps, dodging the first swordsman's attack. He then struck backwards with his blade, parrying the attack of another swordsman. The blade shattered. The third swordsman was just about to attack when an air tentacle suddenly appeared, binding the swordsman's legs, causing it to stumble. Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to avoid the attack.

However, the fourth swordsman's sword came slicing towards him, once again slamming into his barriers.

This sword strike was even more ferocious than the one he had sustained earlier. With a series of multiple "bangs", all of the barriers on Su Chen's body were shattered. The impact of the large sword was not reduced, and it continued to cut into Su Chen's body. Su Chen was struck by the fierce blow, and a shower of blood sprayed from his body.

He fell from the air to the ground.

This sword strike did not result in a shallow cut. He had no way of moving for a short time.

The final four statues chose this moment to emerge, and they simultaneously walked towards Su Chen.

Su Chen could only slowly crawl towards the medallion.

However, no matter how fast he was, he was not faster than the Bloodmelting Swordsmen.

The four Bloodmelting Swordsmen had already charged to Su Chen's side, raising their large swords towards Su Chen.

Their swords began to descend!

In that moment of imminent peril, Su Chen suddenly raised his hand. An air tentacle appeared, grabbing onto the medallion in front of him and pulling it backwards.

The medallion flew through the air, landing in Su Chen's hand.

Whoosh!

Su Chen lifted the medallion.

Four large, blood-colored swords simultaneously stopped in front of Su Chen's forehead.

They retrieved their swords!

Four Bloodmelting Swordsmen turned around and charged towards the Shadow Snakes.

"Whew!"

Su Chen let out a long sigh.

Next, a wave of furious pain forced him to grit his teeth. He looked at himself only to see a deep, bloody wound from his chest to his midsection. The wound was quite deep; he had narrowly avoided being disemboweled.

Thankfully, he had cultivated the Flowing Wind Body Technique, and his physique was much more resilient than a normal Origin Qi Scholar. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to withstand it.

Even so, Su Chen was suddenly struck by a wave of dizziness. He hurriedly pulled out a vial of recovery medicine and drank it.

Thankfully, he was permitted to bring medicine inside the exam ground.

Not faraway, the twelve Bloodmelting Swordsmen had already formed a large group of battle.

The Bloodmelting Swordsmen were very powerful, but the Shadow Snakes had the advantage in numbers. The battle between the two parties resulted in a massive buildup of snake corpses. As large numbers of Shadow Snakes died, the Bloodmelting Swordsmen also began to fall one by one.

Su Chen carefully lifted a jug of wine, preparing to do battle at any moment.

But this time, the goddess of fortune smiled on him – the Bloodmelting Swordsmen were victorious in the end.

The Bloodmelting Swordsmen that had been set up here to protect the Spirit Burying Terrace were indeed strong. Nearly three hundred Shadow Snakes had been completely massacred. However, they had also paid the price of six of their comrades, and after killing the Shadow Snakes, the remaining Bloodmelting Swordsmen returned to their original positions, ignoring Su Chen no matter how much he shouted at them.

Su Chen sighed. He knew that this medallion most likely could only stop the Bloodmelting Soldiers from attacking him, but it was impossible to command them. This was for the best; those Bloodmelting Soldiers were not humand. Although they were still made of blood and flesh, they did not have the spirit of humans. They were essentially walking corpses. Bringing them out of this place would only bring Su Chen countless problems.

After ingesting the medicine, Su Chen felt much better.

He stood up again, walking towards the corpses of the snakes.

Just like the Corpse Spirit Flowers, the Shadow Snakes were also medicinal ingredients that were hard to come by.

Medicinal ingredients were usually divided into common, uncommon, rare, mythical, and divine medicines – those five tiers. The Corpse Spirit Flowers were considered low-tier mythical ingredients. Although Shadow Snakes were not as precious as Corpse Spirit Flowers, they were high-quality materials that were hard to obtain.

With so many snake corpses, he had achieved quite a profitable harvest.

Accidents and dangers represented an unexpected harvest. At the very least, these Shadow Snake corpses were much more valuable than the black gold pedestal or the cloud jade lotus terrace.

He stowed away these snake corpses without any trace of politeness. Su Chen was just about to return to the corpse pit when he suddenly discovered that something was not quite right.

He lowered his head.

Beneath his feet, large quantities of blood were converging and flowing, kind of like quicksilver. They gradually formed an Origin Formation pattern.

There was still an Origin Formation here?

Su Chen was shocked.

Hadn't all of the mechanisms here been broken down? What was happening now?

Su Chen did not understand.

The fresh blood was from the six Bloodmelting Swordsmen that had just died. The flowing of their blood had caused the current situation, but it seemed like the fresh blood they had was not enough. Thus, although the Origin Formation was lit up, it had not really been activated.

Having realized something, Su Chen turned around to look at the remaining six Bloodmelting Swordsmen.

A few suspicions suddenly emerged in the back of his brain.

Since the main hall already had four Demonic Puppets that were even more powerful, why was it necessary to open up a rock room out front and place twelve Bloodmelting Swordsmen as guardians? The strength of those twelve Bloodmelting Swordsmen could not even compare to the finger of a battalion-tier Demonic Puppet.

Upon seeing the fresh blood on the ground, an idea appeared in Su Chen's head.

Could it be that their true usage was not to guard the area?

Upon thinking to this point, guesses had already begun to surface in Su Chen's heart.

He didn't immediately move. Rather, he first returned to the corpse pit and harvested the Corpse Spirit Flowers there.

This time, Su Chen didn't run into any other problems. He easily harvested the Corpse Spirit Flowers, then placed them in the jade box he had prepared long before – this kind of flower absolutely needed to be placed in a special jade box to avoid wilting. The value of just the jade box alone was quite uncommon.

Then he returned to the stone room.

Just like before, he applied a large number of barriers on himself. Su Chen lifted a short blade.

Whoosh!

Six streaks of light to chop off the heads of the remaining six Bloodmelting Swordsmen. They fell to the ground.

The fresh blood gurgled from out his chest. After it flowed onto the ground, it began to disappear as if under the control of some mystical force. Thus, the blood-colored Origin patterns became even clearer, and the stone room began to gently tremble.

Su Chen began to retreat, until he reached the entrance of the tunnel.

There was no harmful trap.

An instant later, the trembling stopped.

A small door soundlessly opened on a wall of the stone room.

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Page 5

Chapter 130: Spirit Burying Terrace (4)

Behind the door was a small secret chamber.

There were no traps. There were vials, jugs, and large piles of books as far as the eye could see. It seemed like a very messy storage space.

At the center of the secret chamber was a large table.

Su Chen was very familiar with this kind of table – he had already taken two of them before. They had belonged to Ulrich and Master Feng, respectively.

It was a research workbench.

In front of the large workbench was a giant armchair, and there was a person sitting on the armchair.

Su Chen's heart sank.

He cautiously watched the person sitting on the chair.

However, that person sat there unmoving, as if he were completely unaware that the secret chamber had been opened.

Su Chen cautiously walked closer. Upon walking around the chair, he discovered that the "person" sitting on it was actually a dried-up corpse.

That person's head was extremely large, and his limbs were very short. He looked just like a big baby doll.

Of course, the dry corpse was not a big baby doll.

It belonged to someone of the Arcana Race.

The Arcana Race was quite short in the first place. After becoming a dried corpse, it had shrunk even more.

This Arcana Race member had most likely died for quite a long time. Because his corpse was in an isolated space, it had not decomposed. Instead, it had simply become desiccated.

He ignored the dried corpse, instead turning his attention to the Arcana Race member's experimental logs.

Every good researcher had a habit of recording experiments. The Arcana Race was no different.

There was a pile of experimental logs on the counter, but Su Chen temporarily had no interest in the experiments themselves. What he was looking for was the experiment date.

The date was not hard to find. It was in the middle of the experiments.

Not outside of his expectations, the Arcana Race corpse in front of him was the real creator of the Spirit Burying Terrace.

He was called Mainbrooke, and he was a prominent scholar of the Arcana Race. He had a deep understanding of Origin Formations, the compositions of Origin Energy Patterns, as well as the mechanical behavior of Origin Energy. He also had a certain amount of research on biological organisms. This Spirit Burying Terrace had been set up by him singlehandedly, including all of the traps within traps and Origin Formations concealed within Origin Formations, which would not be damaged even after the passage of ten thousand years. His talent was so great that even of the current great Origin Formation masters, not many could compare to him.

However, Mainbrooke's real ambition was not limited to this.

This guy had an extremely crazy idea – he reckoned that there was a method that could surpass the ability of bloodlines to control Origin Energy at a high layer.

In order to understand the implications of this sentence, it was important to break it down.

Was there a method to control Origin Energy without the use of a bloodline?

Yes!

Mankind didn't need any bloodline help to charge into the Qi Drawing Realm.

But unfortunately, this was a low-layer method of controlling Origin Energy.

Without a bloodline, the highest realm that a human cultivator could reach was the Blood Boiling Realm.

If one wanted to go higher, they could only do it with the support of a bloodline.

Thus, there were methods to control Origin Energy without the power of a bloodline, but it was limited to a low-layer control.

Then were there any high-layer methods to control Origin Energy without a bloodline?

There were!

The Ferocious Race's Origin Energy Temple and the Spirit Race's Spirit Body Conversion allowed them to control Origin Energy at a high layer without the use of a bloodline.

But these two methods had their own large drawbacks. The Origin Energy Temple would cause those who used it to intermittently go berserk and lose reason, while the Spirit Body Conversion would even result in a change to their intrinsic nature. Whether or not they could still be considered alive was a good question.

Thus, they were methods that could be used to control Origin Energy at a high layer without a bloodline, but they were definitely not methods that were superior to bloodlines in that regard.

What Mainbrooke wanted was a method to control Origin Energy at a high layer that was superior to a bloodline.

More precisely, this was not his dream alone. It was also the dream of every single Intelligent Race on the Primordial Continent for tens of thousands of years.

But apart from the Origin Beasts, no one was able to achieve it!

They were the darlings of this world, and only the power of this world was enough to send them into hibernation and a deep sleep.

What Mainbrooke pursued was such an illusive destination in his dreams.

From the ancient times until now, who knew how many great talents of the Intelligent Races had advanced in the place of those who had fallen, unafraid of any difficulties.

But no one had ever achieved it before.

In reality, the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, the Origin Energy Temple, and the Spirit Body Conversion were all embodiments of the Intelligent Races' insights they had gained while controlling Origin Energy.

Thus, rather than saying that Mainbrooke was pursuing a high-layer method to control Origin Energy that was superior to a bloodline, it was probably more accurate to say that he was pursuing the final dream of every lifeform and continuing on the path forwards. As for bloodline, temple, or Spirit Body, they were all like small traveler inns on the side of this long path.

Most people, having found a suitable place to stay in these inns, were satisfied.

There were still others who were never satisfied and who continued to forge onwards.

In this regard, Mainbrooke's ideals were very majestic, and he could even be considered a pioneer.

However, the methods he used to pursue these dreams were not worthy of praise.

In order to obtain more resources, he did not shy away from large-scale wanton killings, using human beings to raise up Corpse Spirit Flowers.

In order to preserve his own life to that point, he had sealed himself in this isolated location, attempting to use such a method to evade the obliteration of time. Then, he could open up this place and obtain the ingredients.

However, he had evidently made one miscalculation.

Mainbrooke was originally a leader of an Arcana Organization. Everything that he had prepared here was done using the resources of the organization, but the beneficiary of his movements would only be himself.

To him, upon placing himself in such an isolated space, time would pause. Regardless of how many years it was, to him it would only be a single moment. After entering, he could then return to see how the world had changed, and what he would obtain would be a huge pit filled with Corpse Spirit Flowers.

And because so much time would have gone by, why care about what kinds of negative influences it would have on the organization? When faced with such an ultimate dream, everything else was insignificant, everything else could be sacrificed.

He had planned everything out well, but because his plans had been too good, he had completely overlooked the organization's benefits. Thus, when a few people found out about the situation, they were enraged. Chaos ensued.

Mainbrooke and his underlings were embroiled in a fierce battle.

The conclusion of the battle was that a portion of those ingredients in the corpse pit belonged to those from the Arcana Organization.

Even though he had obtained victory, Mainbrooke was gravely injured.

Most fatally, his Origin Formation had been damaged because of this, and he would not be able to see the great changes that had occurred in a short period of time.

Mainbrooke knew that he was not long for this world, and so after he entered the tomb he created a secret chamber, then chose to quietly die here.

His recordings did not say why he had chosen to use such a method to conceal himself.

It seemed as if he did not hope to be discovered by others – he had not left behind any clues or methods on how to open the chamber. But at the same time it also seemed that he wanted to be discovered – the method of opening the door was not difficult.

Most likely, Mainbrooke himself was very conflicted. He didn't know if he should allow all of the sins that he had ever committed to be known by later generations. This kind of useless concealment was the best portrayal of the inner conflict of Mainbrooke.

There was no answer.

This question would never have an answer. All that was certain was that Su Chen had become Mainbrooke's last successor.

He did not have much wealth. Mainbrooke had only ever pursued knowledge, and he didn't even have a single decent Origin Tool.

But he had left behind large quantities of knowledge!

Those countless recordings were Mainbrooke's greatest treasure. They were much more superior to any kind of treasure.

In all honesty, just this collection of recordings was most likely equivalent to a high-tier institute's library. If Su Chen was able to completely consume these recordings, it wasn't a big deal even if he wasn't able to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute..

Of course, apart from knowledge, the Hidden Dragon Institute also possessed resources, connections, opportunities, and pointers from instructors. These could not be conferred by mere recordings.

According to their agreement, all of these items belonged to Su Chen.

Thus, he unreservedly began to stow away the workbench and all kinds of research containers, as well as all of the recordings.

It really was true that with accidents came happy surprises. If it weren't for the poisonous bugs and the Shadow Snakes, he didn't know if he would've been able to discover this location.

But the greatest happy surprise was still the Origin Ring worn on Mainbrooke's finger, as well as all the Origin Stones inside.

The Origin Ring was many times larger than Su Chen's. In the end, it was still the ring of a great scholar, and the things that they used were naturally different. However, there wasn't much inside. The last time this ORigin Ring was used was to transport everything inside the secret chamber to this place.

Unfortunately, this secret chamber had just been set up and hadn't even been used yet. He hadn't even brought in any ingredients before his commission had ended.

All that remained in the Origin Ring was a high-grade Origin Stone. This was the last bit of property that Mainbrooke possessed after that large battle. Most of the Origin Energy inside had already been ingested as well.

Even so, Su Chen was unbelievably excited.

This was too timely!

One had to know that he was still in the Hidden Dragon Institute's entrance exam. None of the exam candidates possessed any Origin Stones to help themselves recover.

With this high-grade Origin Stone, he could recover Origin Energy. He had used up most of his Origin Energy in the two battles prior, so at this moment he hurriedly absorbed the Origin Energy that the stone contained.

A single high-grade Origin Stone, even if it no longer contained much Orign Energy, was enough to help Su Chen recover multiple times. Su Chen's Origin Energy quickly was restored to its maximum level.

He stowed the Origin Stone away again, then glanced at Mainbrooke one last time. He was about to leave before his eyes fell on the pocket on Mainbrooke's tattered clothes.

There, another thin experimental log was placed.

There was still one more book.

After Su Chen picked it up and carelessly flipped through it, he was unable to put it down.

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