Chapter 423 - 53: Pillaging
Inside the Holy Treasure Hall.
Eighteen massive bronze pillars supported a magnificent dome, and the surrounding walls were covered in bas-reliefs of all kinds of vicious beasts and monsters.
At the front of the great hall were two Magic Altars, each with a Cultivator sitting cross-legged upon it.
These two were both at the Late-Life Talisman Stage of Cultivation. They were not young and were considered senior Elders in the Demon Refining Valley.
When Fang Cheng walked into the hall, the two men glanced at each other, both somewhat surprised. But they dared not be negligent and quickly rose to bow.
One of them asked curiously, "Elder Chen, may I ask what item you have come to retrieve this time?"
Fang Cheng didn’t answer. He simply held up two fingers, and an ancient, silver Talisman flew out silently from between them.
On the Talisman, countless twisted, tadpole-like runes flickered, glowing with a radiant light.
Immediately after, a silver radiance flared from the Talisman, enveloped Fang Cheng, and then abruptly sank into the floor of the hall.
On the hall’s floor, paved with bluestone, intricate and profound Array Patterns suddenly lit up.
However, they didn’t hinder the silver radiance in the slightest; instead, they seemed to have been activated by it.
"This... This is bad!"
The two men on the Magic Altars were stunned, then suddenly realized what was happening.
The next moment, their figures dissipated from the Magic Altars.
What had been on the Magic Altars were merely their illusory avatars.
Their true bodies were hidden within the Treasure Vault’s Array.
Meanwhile, enveloped in the silver radiance, Fang Cheng instantly broke through a Grand Array and arrived in a hall identical to the one before.
The difference was that the walls of this hall had hundreds upon thousands of niches carved into them, within which rested countless wooden boxes and treasure chests.
Each of these boxes and chests flickered with the unstable light of restrictive seals, filling the entire hall with a strange and brilliant glow that was quite beautiful to behold.
In the center of the hall, there were still two Magic Altars. The two Elders from the Demon Refining Valley stared in astonishment at "Tenth Elder Chen Chizhong," who had broken through the wards to enter. Before they could even speak, they saw Elder Chen swing his large sleeve, and a tide of majestic, pitch-black Demonic Light surged toward them, tyrannical beyond compare!
In an instant, the overwhelmingly powerful Demonic Light engulfed the two men. An irresistible, vast demonic will invaded their seas of consciousness, causing the Magical Power and vital blood in their bodies to burn away.
In the blink of an eye, the two were reduced to ashes within the Li Hen Demon Light.
Fang Cheng didn’t pause for a moment. The Fourth-tier Forbidden Breaking Talisman enveloped him as he continued to descend.
The second level, the third level, the fourth level...
The Holy Treasure Hall had seven levels in total. Its seven Arrays and restrictive seals were integrated into a single Fourth-tier Array. Its defensive and trapping capabilities far surpassed those of an ordinary Tier Three Array.
Unfortunately for them, Fang Cheng was currently pouring all his power into activating the Fourth-Grade Middle Grade Breaking Forbidden Talisman. Amidst waves of spatial fluctuations, the silver radiance broke through everything in its path, continuing all the way to the bottom.
「The seventh level underground.」
An old woman’s eyes snapped open. Her hair was white as frost, her frame was short and small, and she leaned on an Eight-Section Python Staff. She looked at Fang Cheng and said in a cold voice, "Chen Chizhong, how dare you come here? No, you’re not Chen Chizhong. Who are you?"
She had just sensed the anomaly within the Grand Array when Fang Cheng appeared before her.
Fang Cheng still said nothing. A three-colored light flashed from his body, and two figures with extraordinary auras emerged.
They were none other than Zhao Wuji and the Qianmu Demon King.
After appearing, the two also remained silent. They worked together to lay down a restrictive seal, enveloping the four of them and completely cutting them off from the outside world.
The old woman had guarded the Qiankun Saint Sect’s Treasure Vault for many years. Never had she imagined someone would dare to sneak into the sect and commit violence deep within the vault.
After her initial shock, a towering rage ignited in her heart. She sneered, "What audacious thieves! You dare to act so insolently here? Today, I will let you witness the might of my Qiankun Saint Sect!"
’Here, I can borrow the power of the Grand Array to fully activate the might of this Seven Profound Staff. I know that if I can just hold out for a short while and break through your restrictive seal, I can summon the other experts of the Saint Sect here. I’d like to see what tricks you have up your sleeves...’
As the thought flashed through the old woman’s mind, she slammed her Eight-Section Python Staff heavily on the ground. A seven-colored radiance surged out from behind her, and from within it, seven figures identical to her stepped out.
What was even more astonishing was that the auras of these seven figures were surging with power. They were all at the Late-Life Soul Stage, and some were even at the Peak of Life Soul Cultivation!
The reaction of this Fourth Elder of the Qiankun Saint Sect was undeniably fast.
But a peerlessly sharp Sword Aura arrived in an instant.
The old woman merely glanced at the Sword Aura and felt the illusion of being cut.
Not daring to be careless, she opened her mouth, and a bead that shot out a dazzling golden light, almost too bright to look at, flew out to intercept the Sword Aura.
At the same time, the seven figures behind her each executed a Divine Technique, attacking the surrounding restrictive seal.
CLANG!
Suddenly, the piercing screech of a sword rang out!
Before Zhao Wuji, the Qianmu Demon King, the old woman, and her seven avatars could react, they saw over a hundred silvery-white strands of light, as thin as gossamer, scatter through the air.
The sword light was incomparably sharp and as fast as lightning, flashing through the void.
The bead radiating golden light failed to block the sword light in the slightest. In a mere moment, it cracked and was sliced cleanly in two.
Refining the Sword into Threads!
’This is bad!’ the old woman thought. She hurriedly brandished the Fourth-rank Magical Artifact in her hand, the Seven Profound Staff. Her seven great avatars joined forces to activate a Divine Technique, which descended upon her.
It was like a white sun shining in the midday sky, enveloping her figure.
When the sword threads fell, they instantly slowed, as if frozen in the void.
The old woman’s eye twitched. She left an afterimage in her place as her figure retreated more than a hundred feet away.
After dodging the sword light, she suddenly felt something was wrong and hurriedly looked toward her seven other avatars.
She saw that her seven avatars, amidst the sky full of sharp sword threads, were completely powerless to resist and were annihilated in an instant.
Some were beheaded by a single sword strike.