"This aura... it is as if we aren't in the sa underworld we just traversed," Wu Xingyan whispered, her voice clear from the dense spiritual energy. "Look, those gates radiate different glows. Are those the colors of treasures?"
Zhi Xuan stood still, but Ao Sheng’s voice filled his consciousness as the small golden dragon poked his head out from behind the robe collar. "Senior, this aura... those three gates are each different. One holds the law aura of treasures of heaven and earth, while another perhaps... stores divine essences or herbs?"
Wei Tianfeng’s divine sense crept forward as he stared at one of the gates with a furrowed brow, but when pure energy surged from the gate and enveloped the surroundings, his expression turned clear and refreshed.
"This... are we inside the ruins of a god's palace?" Wei Tianfeng whispered, his voice heavy. "Yet the aura radiated is completely devoid of the haunting intent from our journey. This is unexpected. That circular room in the ancient tower brought us here exactly after Senior Gu eliminated that Transforming Demon."
The Wu siblings and Lu Qingyan stepped forward first; they hesitated briefly before opening one of the three gates. A blinding bright light flashed as the gate swung open with a gentle push, revealing an interior like a mountain range filled with the ruins of heaven and earth treasures.
The sight behind the gate was like an expanse of the galaxy fallen to earth. Broken and dusty ruins of treasures were piled up and scattered about as if they were unworthy of being looked at. However, no matter how poor the opportunity appeared, it could be a turning point for fate.
"Heh, this is like a pile of straw on the floor," Wu Xingyan murmured, her eyes dazed. "These treasures might be Earth Treasures and Heaven Treasures, but those are easy to find up there... perhaps the higher ones lie helpless beneath these piles of dust."
"Earth Treasure? This is just a broken bronze sword," Wu Xinghan remarked, kicking a chest plate that had a thousand cracks. "It feels strange... we almost lost our souls beneath the axe of a headless giant and nearly turned into stone pillars, only to stand in front of a gods' junkyard?"
"Truly almost unbelievable," Wei Tianfeng added, picking up a blurred silver mirror and turning it in his hand. "In the Nine Plains, perhaps every Weaver expert possesses a Heaven Artifact. But look at this... its essence has completely evaporated. I feel like a scavenger."
Ji Yuanyi picked up a cracked jade bracelet, then took a long breath before throwing it back into the pile. "Brother Haoxuan, do you think this is the Underworld’s way of mocking us? 'Please take these rotting remnants of our glory'."
"Do not be too quick to dismiss them, Yuanyi," Ji Haoxuan replied, though a bitter smile played at the corner of his lips. He walked past a pile of spears that had rusted black. "Even if it is junk, it is junk from the ancient era. Let us try our luck. Who knows if beneath this pile of trash lies one or two fragnts that might be forged again."
Lu Qingyan flicked her fan; she appeared the calst, yet her eyes scanned everything ticulously. "Okay, not bad. At least there is no fog trying to eat our faces here. I will look toward the east; perhaps there is an Immortal Treasure cracked in half."
"Look at this! An alchemy furnace without legs!" Wu Xingyan shouted from a distance, standing atop a pile of decayed shields. "Brother, if we take this ho, the Elders might cry blood from disappointnt at seeing this junk, or perhaps they will go mad trying to fix it."
"You truly have no fear, Xingyan," Wu Xinghan shook his head. "But perhaps it's true; maybe there is an eternal treasure hidden behind this pile."
Zhi Xuan stood at the threshold, watching his juniors spread out among the piles of treasure with an attitude between laziness and curiosity. He did not lack artifacts as the bearer of two Banners of Calamity, yet he stepped forward slowly toward a mound of tallic dust.
He sharpened his divine sense, letting it glow throughout the vast room. At his collar, Ao Sheng and Yuyan Die poked their heads out, seemingly curious about the piles of treasure. anwhile, Xiao Die appeared to be lying down with a soft hum, her moth legs turned upward and her wings pinned beneath her tiny body.
"Xiao Die! Wake up, you lazy dragon—I an, lazy moth!" Ao Sheng exclaid, nudging Xiao Die’s wing with his tiny golden snout.
Xiao Die did not budge. Instead, she let out a subtle snore that sounded like the vibration of a loose zither string. "Zzz... heavenly leaf... reincarnation honey... zzz... don't pull my leg, rotten golden dragon..."
"Look at her, Senior!" Ao Sheng turned toward Zhi Xuan’s face with a look of offense. "We are in the treasure hoard of the Gods, and she is dreaming of harvesting honey?"
Yuyan Die, on the other side of the collar, also nudged Xiao Die’s plump body. "Xiao Die, wake up. The pure aura here is very thick. She isn't just sleeping; look, she has been quiet the whole ti since entering the underworld because she was inhaling that thick death aura earlier!"
Xiao Die’s round eyes slowly opened halfway, looking weary and unfocused. "Uh... Big Brother Golden Dragon? Has the headless fog gone? Is there anything to swallow yet?"
"Swallow?! Look in front of you, you greedy insect!" Ao Sheng pointed toward the piles of treasure with his front claw. "That is ancient junk! Down there might be dragon bone fragnts or ancient essence, and you are acting like a honey-hunting moth!"
Xiao Die buzzed softly; the moth slowly rose and erged from behind Zhi Xuan’s robe, revealing a row of small insects and a dragon staring toward where Zhi Xuan was looking. Zhi Xuan stepped forward calmly, his pace stopping in front of a mound that resembled a hill of ash rather than a pile of tal.
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There, he crouched and reached for a handle that appeared to be a bronze fragnt, radiating a very faint Heaven Artifact aura. Zhi Xuan brushed the dust from the bronze fragnt with his fingertips. As soon as his skin touched the cold tal, a weak pulse traveled into his ridians.
"This weapon handle... was forged with a very pure fire, perhaps a Heavenly Fla," Zhi Xuan murmured, gently stroking the handle.
Ao Sheng shot out from Zhi Xuan’s robe, his golden eyes narrowing as he moved to sniff the law aura radiated by the mountain of dust. He landed low on a pile of tal that radiated a fairly dense law aura.
"Hmm... this law aura is quite good." Ao Sheng opened his jaws, and imdiately a soft light flowed from the tal into him. "Puih... not like the law nails from the sky, but pure enough despite being faint."
Ao Sheng squird, his golden dragon body glowing brightly as he swallowed the faint essence. anwhile, Xiao Die, who had seed sleepy, suddenly had the antennae on her head stand straight. She flew low, circling over the ash hill where Zhi Xuan was crouching, before finally landing on a plate buried under thick dust.
"Hmm? Quite a good armor," Xiao Die buzzed, flapping her wings to clear the dust. "Co to !"
However, as Xiao Die tried to absorb the law aura within the artifact plate, the armor pulsed faintly and the law aura vanished instantly before it could be swallowed. Xiao Die jolted, her long antennae drooping dejectedly as she saw the essence she was targeting disappear into the ground.
"Ehh? How stingy!" Xiao Die snorted. "I just wanted to taste the flavor of the ancient era; why did it commit suicide?"
Zhi Xuan saw this; he smiled thinly and touched Xiao Die’s head to stroke the moth before letting her land on the handle he had released. Zhi Xuan rose, but as he was about to walk toward the other side of the ash mountain, the armor suddenly slumped to the floor.
Zhi Xuan did not look back at first, but his divine sense caught an unusual wave from the armor. He stopped his pace just as his heel was about to move away. He turned his body slowly, his black and white robe rustling as it swept the fine tallic dust. His sharp eyes were fixed on the armor that had just slumped.
The armor was fully spread out, revealing a small fra that covered from the shoulders down to the waist. It looked like the black ink turtle armor he had once lted for his spiritual beasts, yet this armor appeared unusual.
On its surface, at the chest area, blood splattered that seed eternal. The armor appeared incomplete, with several parts missing as if eroded since ancient tis. anwhile, the law aura surged again, but this ti it carried a heavy aura of lightning and blood.
In the distance, within the star located in the second Grand Constellation, the star core circled a figure with deep purple hair who was ditating and absorbing the raw star core. His eyes opened; the second pillar, still faint on his forehead, glowed softly as if he felt sothing recognizing him.
Zhi Xuan felt that pull before the fra of His Majesty closed his eyes again. "This armor plate... recognizes the Ancient Devil aura from my body?" Zhi Xuan thought. "His Majesty felt it; this armor is no ordinary object."
"That armor looks strange," Yuyan Die whispered; the butterfly flapped her wings, her voice catching. "Could it be..."
Xiao Die and Ao Sheng, who were on the piles of dust, appeared shocked by the aura suddenly emanating from the armor. They who were busy swallowing laws and biting artifacts now shot back into Zhi Xuan’s robe collar, only showing their heads as they stared at the armor.
"Hey, so sudden!" Xiao Die buzzed softly. "When I was on top of that armor plate, the blood wasn't visible, and the law aura suddenly disappeared. Why is it suddenly like this now?"
"Very interesting," Ao Sheng murmured, the golden scales on his neck standing upright. "Senior, that blood... it hasn't dried. Look at how it is splattered. That is blood from a figure that must have been as high as the heavens!"
"Does this armor have a soul?" Xiao Die asked with a trembling voice, her antennae twitching. "It rejected earlier, but now it shows its fangs before Senior. Is it choosing its master?"
Zhi Xuan remained motionless, his ice-cold eyes staring intently at the blood splatter. "It is not choosing a master," he replied lowly. "It is reacting to the Ancient Devil aura within my body. This blood... it sohow feels my distant presence."
Zhi Xuan reached out his palm, not roughly, but slowly as if to touch a surface of water that was calm yet deadly. When his fingers were only an inch from the armor plate, a blood-red arc of lightning leaped out, striking his fingertip.
Yet as quickly as it rippled, it vanished. The piercing aura from the armor suddenly disappeared again after releasing the lightning arc. The blood still stained the surface of the armor, but Zhi Xuan could feel that this armor had been destroyed to the point of being one step away from artifact extinction.
Zhi Xuan fell silent, yet he grabbed the armor and looked at it for a mont. "Rotted too long in the underworld, this artifact... is no better than an Earth Artifact. Yet, that feeling..."
"Lightning and Blood," Zhi Xuan thought, his eyes remaining fixed on the armor in his hand. "The Ancient Heavens has no mory of this armor, suggesting that it is a quite mysterious treasure originating from the ancient era."
He could feel the remnants of anger and majesty left on this armor. The splattered blood was no ordinary blood; it contained a war intent so thick that thousands of years under the pressure of the underworld's death aura could not erase it.
"It is a great pity," Zhi Xuan murmured, his voice echoing among the silent piles of treasure. "The body you protected is gone; perhaps the soul has also dissolved. Now, you are left buried here as if longing for your master to return and pick you up."
Zhi Xuan turned his palm, letting the small armor float above it. Even though this artifact was on the verge of destruction, it still possessed a dignity that did not allow itself to be touched by just any creature.
If not for the resonance with the Ancient Devil aura from His Majesty's fra, this armor might have remained a piece of silent tal forever. Zhi Xuan moved his fingers, making the armor shrink to the size of his fingertip. He smiled thinly, as if wagering on the armor's origins.
"Your origins may be unknown, and you have a master you worship," Zhi Xuan murmured. "But now, I will be the one to pick you up and will forge you again one day."
Zhi Xuan flicked his wrist, letting the small, shrunken armor disappear into his storage bag. Instantly, the remnants of the lightning aura that had filled the air around him vanished, leaving a silence that was again muffled by the piles of tallic dust.
"Great Saint," Zhi Xuan thought. "You have nothing to say about this armor?"
"For what? My mory does not go back far enough to rember armor unworthy in my eyes," Ruo Xianxue replied from his sea of consciousness. "If you obtain the Sacred Bell of Heaven's Creation, then ask for my opinion. But that armor? I could crack it even if it were in its pri."
Zhi Xuan only smiled thinly at Ruo Xianxue’s absolute arrogance. It was true; for a figure who once stood at the peak of creation, a shattered war armorno matter how majestic in the eyes of a Weaver practitioner was rely a aningless fragnt of dust.
"Heh, then I shall forge this 'useless' armor," Zhi Xuan thought, slowly rising. "Well, at least if it truly is useless, I can just throw it away later."
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