"Key?" the Fiend Emperor repeated with a frown. They hadn’t found any keys along the way. He unwittingly glanced at Sharky’s group. However, Sharky shrugged, as if to say that they hadn’t encountered anything resembling a key either.
The Fiend Emperor’s expression beca unpleasant. He walked up to the gate, intending to rely on his earth immortal strength to open it through brute force. There weren’t many tomb gates that could endure his full-strength attack.
However, after he sent his fists flying several tis, a flicker of radiance appeared across the gate. He could clearly sense his power being dispersed in different directions to so unknown place. Even if he tried several more tis, it wouldn’t be able to blast open the gate.
His eyes narrowed. He looked at the keyhole at the center. A mont later, he turned toward the Golden Crow Crown Prince and asked, "Son, do you rember that in the Imperial Palace’s treasury, there seed to be a key that was shaped quite similarly to this keyhole?"
The Golden Crow Crown Prince quickly went over to take a look, replying, "That is indeed the case. That key seems to have always been in the treasury. I played around with it when I was little, but I did not notice anything special about it at all. I did not know why it was kept in the treasury either."
The treasury of the Imperial Palace contained the accumulated wealth of successive generations of Fiend Emperors. Why would an ordinary key have the right to be stored there?
The Fiend Emperor said seriously, "That key was there ever since I was little as well. No one knew of its origins, but there was a rumor that it ca from the ancient past of our Golden Crow race."
"Not even successive generations of Fiend Emperors could figure out its use. They only knew that it could not be damaged by water or fire. Not even our Golden Crow Sacred Fire could damage it in the slightest."
The others were shocked. The key was sothing that not even the Golden Crow Sacred Fire could damage? Just its material alone proved how extraordinary it was!
"I did not expect it to be used here," the Fiend Emperor said. He felt happy that he had unraveled an ancient secret of the Golden Crow race, but he was also filled with deep vexation.
Diana couldn’t help but remark, "It’s fine and all to talk about it, but did you even bring it with you?"
The Fiend Emperor and Golden Crow Crown Prince hung their heads dispiritedly. Even though they didn’t reply, their expressions explained everything.
They really were frustrated! The final treasure was so close, and yet they were missing a key. They even had the key too; it was just that they hadn’t brought it with them!
Who knew how long it would take before a dungeon like this would open up again? In all the years the Imperial Tomb had existed for, it was the first ti.
If they missed this chance, they wouldn’t necessarily have the opportunity to enter again. Both of them wanted to vomit blood when they realized that.
Suddenly, however, Sharky exclaid, "Hm? This shape seems a bit familiar to , though."
The Golden Crow Crown Prince had been annoyed to begin with. When he heard that, he sneered and retorted, "Sothing in my royal family’s treasury is familiar to you? Even if you want to brag, you should use your brain a bit!"
Sharky thought, Is your royal family treasury all that? I’m even familiar with your damn bed! However, he didn’t feel like arguing with the crown prince. Instead, he carefully examined the shape of the keyhole.
"Stop putting on an act already. If even soone like you can figure sothing out, I will eat these damn rocks!" the Golden Crow Crown Prince remarked.
He secretly felt delighted. He realized that if his father couldn’t obtain anything more from this dungeon, the old man, who was near his deathbed, would pass on all of his cultivation and the throne to him!
That was why he had to stop Sharky with everything he had, even though he didn’t believe that the other man could really co up with anything valuable.
To his surprise, however, Sharky suddenly fished out a strangely shaped key and called out, "You guys, take a look. Is it this one?"
The Golden Crow Crown Prince’s smile imdiately froze on his face.
The Fiend Emperor didn’t treat it with much importance at first. After all, why would a key from his own treasury be with soone else?
However, when he saw the item, he was shocked and overjoyed. He asked, "Where did you get that from?"
He was also a bit alard. Was it that easy for this guy to enter and leave the palace? I didn’t even know he took this key from the treasury. Did he steal anything more precious?
"I happened to get it from Berry," Sharky said, counting his blessings.
Fortunately, back then, he had seen that not even the White Lotus Fla could burn the key, and thus put it away.
He hadn’t expected it to just happen to be of use here. It really was too much of a coincidence, as if a pair of invisible hands had prompted Sharky into doing all that.
"The Colebrook Clan really were double-crossing bastards!" the Fiend Emperor exclaid with an ugly expression.
The Imperial Palace’s treasury had been entrusted to the Colebrook clan to oversee. If sothing from the treasury had appeared in Berry’s possession, what else could it be but embezzlent?
The Golden Crow Crown Prince was alard. The Colebrook clan was his maternal uncle’s family, which should have been his most secure ally and shield.
From his perspective even though the Colebrook clan was a bit greedy, compared to their help, this wasn’t a big deal at all. Furthermore, his uncle’s family weren’t outsiders, so they had still technically been keeping good things on their side.
However, from the Fiend Emperor’s perspective, it was completely different. He wasn’t so charitable to the Colebrook clan, and thought of the incident as already sufficient to prove their disloyalty.
The Golden Crow Crown Prince was so frightened he imdiately changed the topic. He berated Sharky ferociously. "No wonder we couldn’t find anything from Berry’s disappearance! So you killed him!"
Sharky said indifferently, "You can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever you want. Be careful of speaking slander!"
"Hmph, this key was clearly in Berry’s possession, so why would it be with you?" the Golden Crow Crown Prince asked coldly.
"If this key could be moved from the Imperial Palace’s treasury into Berry’s possession, then why can’t it be in mine?" Sharky replied with a smile.
Berry had been trying to kill him back then, and furthermore, he had only acted out of self-defense. There was no way he was going to admit to that at all, though.
Of course, the Fiend Emperor’s side undoubtedly knew that Sharky was the one who had killed Berry. Either way, they had already offended each other, so a bit more wouldn’t make a difference as long as he didn’t give them anything they could use against him.
The Golden Crow Crown Prince was about to continue when the Fiend Emperor stopped him, saying "We should not talk about past matters for now. The most important thing right now is opening up this gate."
Sharky flicked his finger outward, and the key inserted itself into the hole in the center. He wasn’t in a rush to open the door, however. On the contrary, opening the door could put him in danger.
The Fiend Emperor had confidence in his high cultivation and wasn’t too scared. Thus, he grabbed the end of the key and slowly turned it.
When he turned it to a particular angle, the four gemstones began shining again with a crisp click. The patterns around them once again lit up like electrical circuits.
They converged into four streaks of light that poured into the key’s position at the very center. The previously dark golden key began shining with rainbow brilliance.
Then, the light spread in all directions before disappearing into the depths of the tomb through the pattern’s grooves. Several waves of rumbling followed, as if the entire tomb were coming alive.
Sharky thought to himself, If this key is so special, why did it end up with the Golden Crows?
The Golden Crow race had probably passed it down from one generation to the next since ancient tis.
He only got more and more confused the more he thought about it, so he decided to just not spend any more effort brooding over the matter. Instead, he focused on the gate in front of him.
Suddenly, the gate split in two down the middle and slowly opened inward, revealing a dark tunnel amid a shower of scattered rocks.
The Fiend Emperor took large strides forward with a fervent expression. The Golden Crow Crown Prince quickly followed behind him. In a secret dungeon like this with terrifying beings at every turn, it was still safest at his father’s side.
Sharky and the others exchanged a look, then followed at a moderate pace behind them. They expected that it would be dark inside and thought of making a torch, but it was actually brightly lit.
There were lamp-like objects hanging from the walls, surrounded by an assortnt of runes that resembled electrical circuits.
It was as if the light that had emanated from the four gemstones and the key from earlier had provided the entire underground palace with a light source.
Sharky was quite surprised. Why did such ancient things bear a strange resemblance to modern technology? He thought, Don’t tell there were aliens or sothing back then, were there?
The group clicked their tongues, in awe of the tomb. Along the way, they saw many chanisms.
They continued for so ti just like that. Eventually, Wendy activated another chanism, opening a gate that led to a spacious room.
"This should be the main tomb room," Wendy said, swallowing his saliva. He looked at the very center of the room, where there was a rectangular stone platform covered in runes; it seed to have had so kind of seal applied to it.
Sharky noticed that there were two giant statues, more than ten ters tall, standing on either side of the room.
One statue had the body of a giant snake, and there were nine heads on it; when he first saw it, he thought it was of the Nine Infants. Only upon closer inspection was he able to tell that it was different.
Even though the statue also had nine heads, the Nine Infants had nine snake heads, while it had nine human heads. It resembled a sort of ancient demonic deity, emanating mysterious intimidation and pressure.
The other statue looked like a giant bear. It was completely red, with an extrely sinister expression. It didn’t look like a being that belonged to the righteous faction.
Sharky wondered whether the two statues were just there to accompany the stone altar in the center, or if they were guarding sothing.
The Fiend Emperor kneaded Vrishaketu in his palm, asking "Did you not say that Karna knew about the Goldenrain Fruit? If one really existed, why would he be lying in a coffin?"
Indeed, the rectangular platform resembled a coffin. The Fiend Emperor quickly felt incredible disappointnt when he thought about how Karna could be inside.
He was close to the end of his life; what he desired the most was none other than immortal dicine and a higher level of power. Now, it looked as if neither of them seed too likely to be obtainable.
Sharky was startled. The Fiend Emperor also had information regarding immortal dicine?
That makes sense. If that spirit really is Karna’s son, it’s not too strange for them to know. It and Karna are both from ancient tis, after all.
Vrishaketu quickly said, "He’s sealed... sealed inside. He definitely isn’t dead and should know about the undying dicine!"
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