Nine Astra Skies

Just as Zhu Gonggong bit One Buck on the butt, Ye Chen had already entered the stone room. He stared at the ground before him – it was covered in a carpet of glittering gems. Their radiance was dazzling.

Ye Chen was momentarily stunned. So many treasures!

In this tiny stone room, there was a large pile of soul jade. Who knew how many there were? There were also necklaces and bracelets which had been refined.

“So many soul jade!” Ye Chen was endlessly astonished. Besides soul jade, there were various gems and jewelry manufactured from unknown materials. This massive pile practically filled up the entire room which was a few meters wide.

Any one of these soul jade pieces would be a priceless treasure in the outside world. Here, there were at least a few thousand pieces. If they were all sold off in an auction, the resulting wealth would be more than enough to purchase the entire Central Empire.

‘My goodness, I can sell some of this soul jade, then manufacture a few more sets of the Myriad Sword Array!’

“Take, take, take!” Ye Chen unleashed his Celestial Chi and scooped up all of the soul jade. They tinkled as they were collected and piled up in a corner within the armguard’s space.

The items in this stone room had been swept clean by Ye Chen.

“To the second room!” Ye Chen sprang up and rushed out of that stone room, then turned and entered the next one.

Far away, One Buck and Zhu Gonggong were engaged in an intense battle. Zhu Gonggong was stubbornly biting One Buck’s buttock. No matter how One Buck tried to shake off Zhu Gonggong, he could not do so. It was so painful that he was howling. Although his skin was thick and tough, Zhu Gonggong’s teeth were too formidable. Tears were streaming down One Buck’s cheeks. His hand kept on swatting behind him and suddenly he caught hold of Zhu Gonggong’s tail.

“Let go of my butt!” One Buck tugged Zhu Gonggong’s tail violently.

Zhu Gonggong did not dare open its mouth. A shout rumbled from its throat as it cried out through clenched teeth, “Let go of my tail now!”

“You first!” One Buck gasped through his teeth as he hollered.

“You first! After you let go, I’ll let go at once!” Two snorts burst out from Zhu Gonggong’s throat.

“I won’t fall for your ruse!” One Buck desperately jerked Zhu Gonggong’s tail.

Zhu Gonggong shrieked in agony and clamped down even harder on One Buck’s butt.

“My goodness, my butt!” A heartrending burst of pain shot up from One Buck’s bottom. One Buck was near tears. “Release your mouth this instant, my butt is going to split apart!”

“Let go of my tail first and I’ll let go right away!”

“Do you think that I’m a pig?” One Buck flew into a rage.

“You’re insulting pigs!” Zhu Gonggong bit down even more viciously and One Buck screamed even louder.

“We’ll let go together!”

“Ok, together!”

Zhu Gonggong and One Buck finally separated. One Buck’s tears flowed as he quickly massaged his butt whereas Zhu Gonggong rolled around on the ground incessantly. This rogue was too forceful and had nearly ripped its tail off.

Zhu Gonggong peered into the distant stone rooms and saw that one of them was empty. It was even more upset than if it had been killed and bawled wretchedly. “My treasures!”

Zhu Gonggong was about to rush to that stone room when One Buck stretched out a large arm and pounced on Zhu Gonggong.

“D*mn Demon Pig, don’t run!” One Buck covered his butt with one hand while the other grabbed at Zhu Gonggong.

After Ye Chen exited the first stone room and entered the second, he saw that ten or so spirit artifacts were floating in this room. Among these spirit artifacts, there were swords, pikes, halberds, and various protective gear. They were just floating in the air, each gleaming brilliantly. One could tell at once that they were not ordinary items.

Each of these ten or so spirit artifacts was at least Tier Seven or Eight, with some even at Tier Nine!

Each Tier Seven or Eight spirit artifact was very valuable. Ye Chen was elated and drew them in with his right hand. “Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh”– the ten or so spirit artifacts flew toward Ye Chen and were placed into the armguard’s space.

Ye Chen looked around. The spirit artifacts in the stone room had all been collected by Ye Chen. He was about to leave when Master Lion said, “Youngling Ye Chen, don’t leave out that thing!”

“What thing?” Ye Chen asked, mystified. Was there anything left in this stone room?

“Use your Astral Body’s Externalization to focus and look carefully!” Master Lion said.

When Ye Chen heard this, his heart pounded. Could there be a better treasure hiding in the dark?

Ye Chen mobilized his Astral Body and his eyes flickered with purple flames. He examined the room closely with his Astral Externalization. In the air, an item slowly presented itself. It was a long silver chain, silver-white all over. It was four, five meters long, and consisted of a series of links. At its ends were two sharp spikes.

“What’s this?” Ye Chen asked in surprise. It was the first time he had encountered something like this – an item invisible to the naked eye, seen only by Astral Externalization. It was mystical.

“Youngling Ye Chen, you’re really ignorant. This is a Soul Weapon!” Master Lion declared with a smile.

“Soul Weapon?” Ye Chen was stunned.

“That’s right, Soul Weapon. This Soul Weapon must be Tier Nine. Its value alone is comparable to the total worth of all the spirit artifacts in your hoard!”

“It’s that valuable?” Ye Chen possessed ten thousand Tier Five spirit artifacts, and numerous Tier Seven to Tier Nine spirit artifacts of all sorts. This many spirit artifacts could not compare to a Soul Weapon?

“Soul Weapons are invisible and formless. Only Celestial Beast Daemon Kings can see them. They may be wielded with a physical body or Astral Externalization. This item can’t attack the physical form but it can strike an opponent’s Psyche. Even a Daemon King’s Psyche would be in harrowing anguish after being hit by this Soul Weapon! It’s extremely difficult to forge something like this, for its materials are extremely rare, and one would need endless soul jade to temper and refine it!”

“Which means that this Soul Weapon is meant to be used against Celestial Beast Daemon Kings?” Ye Chen asked.

“That’s right! The forging process of Soul Weapons had been lost long ago. For ordinary Celestial Beast Daemon Kings, even a Tier One Soul Weapon is difficult to find, to say nothing of a Tier Nine Soul Weapon!”

If Master Lion had not notified him, Ye Chen would never have discovered the Soul Weapon. Even if he looked with his Astral Body, without a meticulous examination, the Soul Weapon would not be noticeable.

“This item is very difficult to discover and can directly attack a Celestial Beast Daemon King’s Psyche. When facing a Celestial Beast Daemon King, it’s an effective, fatal weapon!” Ye Chen was jumping with excitement. He extended his Astral Body to envelop the silver chain. After activating his Astral Body, the silver chain flew toward him.

Ye Chen grabbed the thin air and caught the silver chain. Although this item was invisible and formless, when one grabbed it, one could feel the icy chill coming off the chain. Furthermore, there was a solid metallic sensation in one’s hand.

When Ye Chen looked down, the silver chain seemed to waver in and out of sight.

“This Soul Weapon is truly wondrous,” Ye Chen exclaimed to himself in shock. He attached a trace of his Astral Body to the silver chain. This strand of Astral Body sank into the chain, and a faint, unstable connection was created between Ye Chen’s Astral Body and the chain.

Ye Chen’s Astral Body twitched, and the silver chain seemed to be tugged by some force. It floated up like a silver snake.

This Soul Weapon could be controlled using one’s Psyche indeed!

“What a treasure!”

Ye Chen kept the Soul Weapon in the armguard’s space. There was still a third stone room. He wondered what it would hold. Ye Chen came out of the second room and entered the third. This stone room was smaller than the previous two. Short tables had been tidily set out in the room, and on their surfaces were embroidered boxes. There were over hundreds of these embroidered boxes, which were coated in a thick layer of dust.

“I wonder what’s inside these embroidered boxes.” Ye Chen opened one embroidered box at random. There was a hissing sound and red vapor rose. Ye Chen quickly held his breath. Surely this was not some toxic gas?

“Ye Chen, buddy, don’t worry. This isn’t toxic gas but medicinal vapor. Breathing it in will do no harm, only good.”

When Ye Chen heard what Master Lion had said, he stopped holding his breath. When he looked into the embroidered box, it was empty. There was nothing inside at all.

“Master Lion, what’s this? Why is it an empty box?” Ye Chen asked. Has someone taken the contents?

“These embroidered boxes must’ve stored medicinal pills, but they were stored for too long, so the pills had turned into medicinal vapor.”

“How long have these embroidered boxes been here?” It would take an extremely long period for medicinal pills to turn into medicinal vapor.

“More than ten millennia, I think.”

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow. These embroidered boxes had been here for over ten millennia. It was not surprising that the pills inside were gone. The embroidered boxes looked very sturdy. Even after ten millennia, they had not fallen apart. “Swish, swish, swish”– Ye Chen shamelessly swept these embroidered boxes into the armguard’s space as well.

As Ye Chen put away the embroidered boxes, he opened them up one by one. “Whiff, whiff, whiff”, puffs of medicinal vapor rose.

Although these medicinal vapors came from pills, as they were far too old, their medicinal efficacy had dissipated. Thus, their effects were negligible.

As Ye Chen opened up each embroidered box, he suddenly came across one which made his eyes lit up. There was still a medicinal pill in this one!

A black pill lay silently in the box. A heavy medicinal scent drifted into his nostrils, making his feel heady.

“Master Lion, what’s this pill?” Ye Chen asked. To think that there was still a medicinal pill in these embroidered boxes.

“This is… The Chi-transforming Pill! Youngling Ye Chen, you’re in luck. Eating this Chi-transforming Pill can help your Celestial Chi cultivation base break through to mid or even top Mystique Venerable Rank. It’s too bad that this pill has no effect on the Psyche.” Master Lion’s voice rang out from the Heavenly Astra Seal.

Chi-transforming Pill? Ye Chen wondered what tier this pill was. Although it could only advance his Celestial Chi cultivation base and not his Astral Body’s cultivation base, it was still a precious pill one could not have too many of. To progress by one level in one’s cultivation base, most Mystique Venerable Ones would take at least years or even decades. This Chi-transforming Pill could tremendously cut down the time Ye Chen would need to reach Godly Venerable Rank!

Ye Chen would first put away all of these embroidered boxes, then find a time to digest this Chi-transforming Pill!

Ye Chen cautiously put the Chi-transforming Pill in a safe place, then continued to open the remaining embroidered boxes. Among the hundreds of embroidered boxes, Ye Chen had discovered five surviving medicinal pills.

“These two brown pills are Chi-shaping Spirit Pills for mystical beasts. They can help mystical beasts break through to Daemon King Attainment Level.

“This purple one is the Tonic Spirit Pill for mystical beasts as well. It boosts one’s cultivation base.

“This is the Primordial Quintessence Pill for Celestial Beasts. It can improve their Psyche’s cultivation base.”

Three Spirit Pills, one Quintessence Pill, and one Chi-transforming Pill. It was a rich harvest. Ye Chen walked around the stone room a few times and saw a few opened embroidered boxes in a corner. Zhu Gonggong had probably opened these embroidered boxes, finished the pills inside, then left them there.

Ye Chen would let nothing slip past him. “Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh”– all of the embroidered boxes were placed inside his armguard’s space.