Chapter 805: The Missing Relics
Following Qin Zhen’s loud shout, Shen Mo and others immediately surrounded with escaping light.
Sure enough.
Within her search range in the sea, a middle-aged cultivator wearing a dragon-patterned golden robe, slightly white at the temples, looking about forty years old, is struggling within the bitter sea; his attire, physique, and appearance are exactly the same as those depicted by the Silver-haired Child as his past life form, indeed it is the "Fulong Immortal Master" who fell in the bitter sea!
"Fulong Immortal Master’s" soul has long been reincarnated into the Silver-haired Child. Over 6,500 years have passed, yet he still appears vivid and lifelike, with actions and expressions indistinguishable from the living, an inexplicable peculiarity.
Staring at his previous life’s corpse, the Silver-haired Child’s expression is quite complex. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke: "The sea water of the bitter sea is peculiar, able to obscure our five senses and senses. I cannot perceive or connect with any magic artifact on the corpse! I need to trouble fellow daoist Qingyun to retrieve my past life’s corpse."
Upon hearing this, Shen Mo nodded slightly and immediately transformed into a demonic qi hand, reaching toward "Fulong Immortal Master" within the bitter sea.
"Crash!"
The sea water churned violently, and his body was forcibly brought up, with only his feet still submerged in the sea, at which point, no matter how Shen Mo stimulated his mana, the corpse seemed to be one with the bitter sea, completely unmoving.
But with most of the body freed from the bitter sea, it was enough for the Silver-haired Child to cast magic to retrieve treasures!
"Fellow daoist, save me!"
"Save me!"
"Save me..."
"Fulong Immortal Master’s" response was like that of other creatures within the bitter sea, calling out lamentations for rescue while fiercely resisting!
Powerful magic erupted from his body, impressive in might, intending to drag everyone into the water together; under the joint effort of Shen Mo, Kang Haoxiu, and Qin Zhen, the magic cast by "Fulong Immortal Master" was dismantled one by one.
Fortunately, he was unable to exert the peak power he had before his death, otherwise Shen Mo would have had to reveal his trump card and deploy the God Slaying Array to completely suppress him... however, in this Evil Spirit scenario of "Immortal Preaching," Shen Mo did not dare to summon his Soul Generals, fearing they would absorb the "tattle and prate" from the sound and then fall into the bitter sea, or directly dissipate!
While Shen Mo and others were combating "Fulong Immortal Master," the Silver-haired Child quickly activated his seal.
Yet.
After casting magic, the Silver-haired Child’s face suddenly turned extremely grim, and he said irritably, "Why have my Storage Bracelet and that Five Dragon Divine Chariot disappeared? Why can’t I perceive their presence?"
Speaking, he summoned the Ocher Demon-dispelling Bell, swiftly activating the magic treasure’s divine power. Accompanied by a magnificent ringing, an invisible ripple radiated out, turning the "Fulong Immortal Master" within the bitter sea into dust; still, the Storage Bracelet and Five Dragon Divine Chariot remained unseen!
Shen Mo, Kang Haoxiu, and Qin Zhen also displayed expressions of doubt on their faces.
"Could it be that when fellow daoist’s past life perished, all the magic treasures scattered to other places in the bitter sea?"
Facing their inquiries, the Silver-haired Child quickly composed himself: "Then, I only had time to use the power of the Five Dragon Divine Chariot to send my soul out of the bitter sea!"
"Apart from that, I hadn’t brought out any magic artifact or spiritual item. The Five Dragon Divine Chariot itself, the Storage Bracelet, and all the spiritual items inside were indeed left on my past life’s remains. These two magic treasures are not ordinary artifacts, internally they birthed Artifact Spirits..."
"Logically speaking, if not ordered by me personally, even if they completely decay or their spirit perishes, they wouldn’t leave my past life’s remains on their own accord!"
"Also, considering the properties of the bitter sea water, not only does it not erode magic artifacts, to a certain extent it can isolate the corrosive forces of decay and death from the Immortal Mansion within, providing excellent protection for various spiritual items. Six thousand five hundred years is far from enough to decay these two magic treasures’ bodies and dissipate their spirit."
"Faced with this situation, there are only two possibilities... Either over the six thousand years, the Artifact Spirits of the Storage Bracelet and Five Dragon Divine Chariot have undergone some unknown change, betrayed me, and left the bitter sea on their own; or they were seized by outsiders who arrived first and took them away!"
Although magic artifact spirits are also a special life form of creatures, their essence remains as artifacts, born to serve and be used by their magic treasure owner; their thinking, gnosis, and perception of time passage are quite different from normal creatures, devoid of the notion of "unable to endure loneliness."
Conversely, examples of "artifact dying along with the owner" or "waiting by the owner’s corpse, gradually fading over time" are common.
If hand-forged and nurtured over countless years, Artifact Spirits typically would not exhibit "betraying the owner" behavior.
However, if a magic treasure birthing an Artifact Spirit falls into the hands of outsiders;
Once the Artifact Spirit confirms its owner has perished, it is possible it could be "persuaded" and transfer loyalty to a new master, albeit under stringent conditions.
Just like the top-grade Spiritual Artifact Taiyi Sword in Shen Mo’s possession, its previous owner’s Senior Gu Song has been deceased for many years, yet the Taiyi Sword Spirit continued guarding the Taiyi Sword Alliance for years, not selecting a master before Shen Mo.
Later, Shen Mo subdued and captured it, used both coercion and temptation for a long time before receiving the Taiyi Sword Artifact Spirit’s acknowledgement, leaving his soul imprint within the sword, refining it into his Lifebound Magical Artifact.
If the Artifact Spirit refuses to comply, it might end up like the Wildland Fire Cauldron, where the original Artifact Spirit is dispersed and later a new Artifact Spirit is cultivated.
...
Upon careful consideration, it’s likely that the Storage Bracelet and Five Dragon Divine Chariot on "Fulong Immortal Master" were taken by someone!
Currently, Shen Mo and his group already know that the True Immortal’s cave mansion doesn’t only have the Wind Flame Mountain as an entry point, and outsiders venturing into the depths of the Immortal Mansion are bound to encounter the "Immortal Preaching" Evil Spirit scene and inevitably pass through the bitter sea!
Over six thousand years have passed, the True Immortal’s cave mansion has appeared many times, who knows how many have entered during that time?
If a powerful individual happened to pass by the boundless bitter sea, discovered the two treasures on "Fulong Immortal Master," and used magic to take them away, it’s not impossible!
This realization truly left everyone somewhat disheartened.
With the Silver-haired Child leading the way, the magic treasures on his past life "Fulong Immortal Master" could be said to be the easiest to acquire, yet now their whereabouts are unknown.
Due to his demise here, following locations where Immortal Master Cizi and other four Divine Bridge Immortal Masters fell, the reasons for their demise, and any treasures they might have; even the Silver-haired Child is unsure about these aspects, relatively speaking, the risk and difficulty of retrieving treasures would multiply.
"At this stage, it’s not good to just leave."
"Better to continue delving deeper, see if we can find the relics of the other seniors. Moreover, outsiders who acquired Senior Fulong’s magic treasures might have perished ahead too!"