Chapter 319: Underground Palace
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Mo Wen and Gong Biluo’s injuries had basically recovered. As Jun Wulei had Mo Wen’s healing medicine, he had also recovered well. Compared to when they had first met, he was in much better condition.
“What happened?” Mo Wen glanced at Jun Wulei, and surprise flashed in his eyes. Jun Wulei was walking towards him and appeared to be holding a person captive.
How could there be another person in the Underground Palace?
Jun Wulei threw that person in front of Mo Wen and Gong Biluo and said with a cold expression, “When I returned to the karst cave, I found this guy craning his neck trying to peer in from the outside, so I caught him.” This Underground Palace was mysterious and strange, so they must be cautious about anybody who appeared. After all, this place was a dangerous one that normal people wouldn’t enter.
“Eh, a member of the Jiang Clan.” Surprise flashed in Mo Wen’s eyes as he stepped forward to give that person a kick. He realized that the person was wearing Jiang Clan attire. He was not old, maybe in his twenties or thirties. If Mo Wen had guessed correctly, he should be the one who had escaped from the team of Jiang Clan’s preliminary candidates.
It seemed to be Jiang Mingxun, who was Jiang Clan’s genius. After this person had run into the deep end of the forbidden land, he had even lamented this person’s courage. However, why had he appeared in the Underground Palace? If it was only to escape, and he had intruded into this dangerous place, that definitely would not make sense.
Mo Wen squatted down and patted Jiang Mingxun’s face. At that moment, he was already unconscious and was exhaling more deeply than inhaling. His body was covered with wounds of all sizes. At one look, one could see that Jun Wulei had not caused the wounds, but that they had been incurred by the dangers within the forbidden land.
He took out a golden needle and inserted it into the back of Jiang Mingxun’s head. After a short while, Jiang Mingxun slowly came around. When he saw Mo Wen, he immediately widened his eyes and didn’t understand why this person would be appearing in front of him.
“Mo Wen!” Jiang Mingxun’s face paled suddenly. Wasn’t this person just fighting with the Sect Grand Elder? He posed his next, most pressing question aloud. “Why are you in this place?”
Jiang Mingxun’s question was also Mo Wen’s question. Likewise, he was also a little baffled as to why Jiang Mingxun would be there.
“I…” Jiang Mingxun opened his mouth while his eyes roved constantly, as if he were thinking of an excuse.
“Tell the truth, or else…” Mo Wen smiled sardonically, lifted his hand, and inserted a needle into Jiang Mingxun’s body. Instantly, a heart-rending scream came from Jiang Mingxun’s mouth while his body spasmed constantly like he was having a seizure. It continued for about three minutes before Mo Wen removed the golden needle from Jiang Mingxun’s body.
“I’ll tell… tell…” Jiang Mingxun was panting, and his face trembled uncontrollably while he looked at Mo Wen with trepidation. Just now, he felt like death was better than living, which made him want to just kill himself and have done with it.
“Don’t play any tricks,” Mo Wen said stoically. This Jiang Mingxun was shrewd, and his intelligence was way above Jiang Mingxiao’s. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to escape into the Underground Palace alone.
“I am here… the purpose… purpose is to find treasure…” Jiang Mingxun took a deep breath. He knew that he couldn’t hide any longer. Otherwise, it would be too difficult even if he intended to die.
As it turned out, the reason for Jiang Mingxun to be in the Underground Palace was that he had recently obtained a treasure map. The location marked on the treasure map was in the Underground Palace in the forbidden land.
Three months ago, as he completed an important mission, he had the chance to go to the Jiang Clan’s secret treasure chamber to select a treasure, and he found a treasure map in there. He hid it secretly and brought it out of the Jiang Clan’s treasure trove.
After studying it, he realized that the treasure map had been obtained by the Dafang Sect’s five founders in the secret forbidden land hundreds of years ago. During those hundreds of years, the Dafang Sect had gone to this Underground Palace to hunt for the treasures several times, however, they never found anything and were severely injured or died instead.
After he had obtained this treasure map, he was very tempted. Although he knew that there would be dangers when hunting for the treasures, the secretive treasures gained would allow him to take a leap to success, and maybe even have the possibility of being the leader of the Dafang Sect.
His ability and talents were almost the same as Jiang Mingxun’s, but he didn’t get the position of the Dafang Sect’s leader, as the position had been decided internally long ago. The rest of the people wouldn’t have a chance either, as Jiang Mingxiao was the biological grandson of the Sect Grand Elder, Jiang Quangui.
Jiang Mingxun refused to accept this decision in his heart. Why can Jiang Mingxiao become the Sect Leader without a doubt, but I can’t? Hence in the beginning, he already had in mind to go into the forbidden land to find the treasures, and hopefully when he found the treasures, he would become an exceptional expert.
Previously, the reason why he dared to go to the ends of the forbidden land without hesitation was, in fact, not only to escape from Mo Wen, but most importantly to use the opportunity to leave the rest of the people behind so he could venture alone to find the treasures.
“Treasure map!” Surprise flickered in Mo Wen’s eyes, as previously Jun Wulei and Gong Biluo had come here to take the risks and were also after the unknown treasures. Now, there was actually another treasure map in Jiang Mingxun’s hands.
Could there really be some treasures in this Underground Palace?
Jun Wulei raised his brows slightly and commanded sternly, “Hand over the treasure map.” Previously, he had suspected that since he only had half of the treasure map, another person probably had the other half. It now appeared his previous theory had been almost completely spot on.
Jiang Mingxun smiled bitterly, extended his hand into his chest, and fished out a piece of sheepskin scroll. He threw it onto the floor without looking at it, as if he had no sense of attachment to it. In fact, Jiang Mingxun didn’t have any more intention of finding the treasure. He only wished that he could get out of that place.
Along the way, not only had there been no sign of the treasure, but he had also encountered endless dangers and wondered how he could survive in this perilous place. He muddled along aimlessly in the Underground Palace wondering when he would die.
If there was a choice, he definitely wouldn’t have any intention of finding the treasure and would conscientiously stay on the outskirts of the forbidden land without stepping into it.
No wonder that piece of treasure map had been in the Dafang Sect for so many years, but nobody had come forth to find the treasure. They must have known that the forbidden land was incredibly perilous.
Jun Wulei extended his hand and waved. That piece of treasure map appeared in his hand, and then he fished out another piece of sheepskin scroll from his chest that was almost the same. He opened up the two pieces of sheepskin and joined them together.
The next moment, a shocking scene occurred.
The two pieces of sheepskin almost simultaneously emitted two masses of black radiance. Then, the two masses of black lights gradually integrated together. The two pieces of sheepskin also began to fuse as if they were originally supposed to have been one.
“Secret Scroll of Magical Instruments.” Shock flashed in Mo Wen’s eyes, as only the Immortal Cultivators would manufacture the Secret Scroll of Magical Instrument and have this effect. The two pieces of sheepskin scroll maps basically were not normal sheepskin scrolls, but were two pieces of Magical Instruments, and only the Immortal Cultivators could manufacture such Magical Instruments.
Moreover, the Magical Instruments manufactured by the normal Immortal Cultivators were coarse and wouldn’t be able to be preserved for a long time. These two pieces of sheepskin had a history of at least thousands of years and yet could have such an effect. It was simply shocking. They were most likely the works of a Mighty Immortal Cultivator.
After the two pieces of sheepskin scroll had fused together, a strange black stratagem appeared in the air and instantly wrapped all four of them up. Everyone’s bodies were enveloped in a mass of black radiance.
The next moment, the four of them disappeared from their original position without a trace, completely and strangely as if they had never appeared before or had directly evaporated into the air.
In the strange palace at the deep end of the forbidden land, a big black stratagem had gradually appeared without anyone noticing. The dim radiance caused the ancient palace to acquire an eerie ambience.
Mo Wen, Gong Biluo, and company had appeared inexplicably in the palace as if space and time and the environment had changed instantly.
“What is this place?” Astonishment flashed in Jun Wulei’s eyes as he surveyed the surrounding ancient palace. It looked like it had been buried underground for tens of millions of years. The scene that had happened just now was really beyond imagination and basically couldn’t be explained logically.
Gong Biluo cast a look at the surroundings and said indifferently, “We should still be in the Underground Palace.” She was only guessing with absolutely no basis for her statement, but the woman’s instinct was usually very accurate.
“Indeed, we are still in the Underground Palace.” Mo Wen nodded. Just now, the teleporting distance had been quite short, and the surrounding ambience and the ambience of the five stone doors that he had felt in the karst cave were almost the same.
Perhaps they were already inside the stone door, but where exactly this place was, he really didn’t know. Jun Wulei’s accidental act of triggering the Secret Scroll of Magical Instrument aside, he definitely didn’t wish to intrude into this Underground Palace.
He knew the extent of his abilities and naturally understood that to be here with just the four of them, there was definitely only a slim chance of survival.
The palace was empty and colossal. There was almost no furnishing at all, not even a Spiral Dragon Pillar. It was unknown how such a colossal palace was being supported. On the surrounding walls, there were carvings of many patterns and weird runes, and the fringe regions had many stone doors. Behind those stone doors, there was a network of passages that was emitting a dense, eerie ambience.
“What are those colorful light masses?” Gong Biluo suddenly pointed at the top part of the palace. They could see masses of colorful lights wandering above their heads. They were each the size of a fist, and many of them emitted a hazy radiance and looked very beautiful.
Mo Wen heard her and cast a look in that direction. Just then, his countenance changed, and shock filled his eyes. “Primordial Soul Pearls, so many of them! How could it be possible!?” he exclaimed out loud. So many Primordial Soul Pearls were simply too mind blowing. Forget about this lifetime, even in his last lifetime, he had never seen such a spectacle.
There were as many as tens of thousands of Primordial Soul Pearls in the air. They were almost uncountable. This scene would have given any Immortal Cultivator a hair-raising feeling.
Mo Wen had only seen a Primordial Soul Pearl once, and it was long ago when one of the Senior Elders in Divine Pill Sect had passed away. Before he died, he passed it down, and he had looked throughout the entire sect to find a suitable disciple to accept the inheritance.
At that time, he had had the honor of observing, so he was able to see for once that an Immortal Cultivator, who was above the Supreme Profundity realm, would be able to have a Primordial Soul Pearl. The spectacle at that time was too mind-blowing, and it was almost equivalent to the power of a deity being exhibited completely in front of him.
There were tens of thousands of people at the scene, however, only one had the honor of receiving that Senior Elder’s inheritance.