Chapter 378: World of Experts; Great Era

Chapter 378: World of Experts; Great Era

“Indeed! In our time, such people were peak geniuses, outstanding talents of the nation. Yet, now there are so many of them.”

Earlier, they mocked Xiao Chen for overestimating himself. Now, they saw so many young cultivators breaking through the huge waves. Hence, they all sighed as they expressed their opinions.

---

Beyond the huge waves, the instant Xiao Chen dashed through, he immediately felt chaos within the space. His vision blurred, and he could not recover his wits until for quite a while.

White clouds drifted across the blue sky. Surprisingly, the huge waves behind him were dozens of kilometers away.

“It is indeed as that Bloody Swordsman had said; the natural laws here have changed. It is a totally different world compared to outside.”

Xiao Chen collected his thoughts and focused his gaze on the island ahead. Then, he quickly flew over.

Ten minutes later, Xiao Chen landed firmly on the island. A massive palace occupied the highest point of the island.

The cultivators who broke through the waves all headed toward the palace. The treasures should be within the palace. Xiao Chen hesitated for a while before following after the other cultivators.

---

“I, Wu Shangxuan, have finally returned to Qianren Island. This time, I must obtain a superb treasure that will allow me to break through to half step Martial Monarch.”

In the airspace above Qianren Island’s seaside, Wu Shangxuan laughed maniacally. He said, “I hope that brat will come to his island as well. Given that he carries at least three Secret Treasures, he must have a lot of valuables on him.”

After Wu Shangxuan said this, he quickly flew toward the palace at the highest point of Qianren Island.

---

The vast, majestic palace seemed very close. However, it took quite a while to reach. The gates of the palace had opened long ago. A few collapsed pillars littered the ground outside the gateway.

When Xiao Chen arrived at the palace, he realized the palace was already badly damaged. Many of the buildings within had collapsed. However, the main palace seemed to be in perfect shape.

Since I am already here, I should not hesitate anymore. Xiao Chen followed the crowd and entered the palace. His Spiritual Sense scanned the area a hundred meters around him; he remained cautious.

The passages within the main palace were complicated. Xiao Chen felt like he was trapped in a spider web, all tangled up in the threads.

There were Night Pearls above him, illuminating the corridors.

Xiao Chen extended his Spiritual Sense forward. It moved through the place without any obstructions. Soon, a rough map of the main palace appeared in Xiao Chen’s mind.

The buildings within were arranged circularly, moving outwards from the center in layers. A rough count gave about fifteen circles, about fifteen layers. It really was like a spider web.

A vast main hall occupied the palace’s core. Xiao Chen suspected it was the heart of the palace.

Just as Xiao Chen planned to investigate every layer, he suddenly felt a pain in his mind.

The map of the main palace in his mind changed and flickered. He felt as if his mind would explode.

Xiao Chen’s expression changed slightly, and he quickly retracted his Spiritual Sense. The arrangement of the buildings followed a strange formation pattern. He could only investigate the palace with the good old fashion method.

The corridors opened to many rooms on both sides. The objects within had already vanished. The people who had arrived earlier must have taken all of the treasures here.

“There must have been plenty of good stuff in the past. We have arrived too late; everything is already gone.”

“It’s fine; the valuable Secret Treasures, Spirit Stones, Pills, and other stuff are in the deepest few layers. The outer layers only had gold, jade, and other mundane items.”

There was a group of five exploring beside Xiao Chen. When they came out of a room, they talked with hushed voices.

“How do you know? You have never been here before,” The person who spoke earlier obviously did not believe him.

“I have never been here before, but plenty had come before us. News about it is bound to leak. The inner layers have Demonic Beasts, puppet beasts, and combat puppets guarding them. It is quite dangerous. Only after defeating them can we safely take the things away.”

“There are many rooms, and very few people have explored this place in the past. Time was limited; so they could not have taken everything.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s head to the inner layers to take a look. People have already looted these rooms.”

The five stopped talking and quickly moved forward. It was like Secret Treasures beckoned them, drawing them further into the palace to claim their rewards.

Xiao Chen was very calm; he was not in a rush to follow after them. He wondered to himself indifferently, “How can one so easily obtain a Secret Treasure? Otherwise, nine out of ten would not have died trying in the past.”

Xiao Chen casually walked into a room to the side. The room was about ten meters long, five meters wide, and four meters tall. It was rather spacious.

There were some empty boxes along the south wall. Xiao Chen went over and took a look. He discovered a piece of crushed gold that someone had previously missed.

“It looks like the outer layers of the palace really do not contain any special treasures,” Xiao Chen muttered as he held the piece of crushed gold in his hand.

There was still a pile of scrap metal on the ground. Xiao Chen used his scabbard to pry the metal open. After a while, he saw shards of exhausted Medial Grade Spirit Stones.

This is just the first layer, and the combat puppets or puppet beasts already use Medial Grade Spirit Stones. It is easy to imagine the danger of the latter layers, Xiao Chen thought to himself.

Xiao Chen stopped for quite a while in the buildings of the first layer. He entered the empty rooms and carefully looked around.

Unimaginable dangers always accompanied fortuitous encounters. Xiao Chen was no longer the greenhorn that had just stepped into the world.

Xiao Chen did not carry the delusion of falling into a hole and finding a secret manual allowing him to become a peak expert.

Since Xiao Chen left Mohe City, he had experienced too many dangerous situations. In this cruel world, one’s life could vanish like a puff of smoke, ending violently.

Xiao Chen carefully searched every layer. Each time he entered a layer, he would carefully investigate a few rooms to see if he could uncover any useful information.

Soon, Xiao Chen moved past the third layer and arrived at the fourth. There were already some rooms which were not empty in the fourth layer.

Xiao Chen heard the sounds of fighting. Someone in another room fought a combat puppet or puppet beast.

However, the treasures of the fourth layer were merely some worldly goods. There was nothing a cultivator needed such as Spirit Stones or Medicinal Pills.

Xiao Chen continued forward and soon arrived at the entrance of the fifth layer. As the main palace was built such that the outer circles led to the inner circles, there were many entrances into the inner layers.

The big doors before Xiao Chen were only one of them. The doors were already open, and there were several corpses lying around the door.

As Xiao Chen took a look, his expression changed slightly. The group of cultivators he saw earlier were within that pile of corpses.

There were three men and two women. They were Superior Grade Martial Kings, and their corpses were perfectly intact.

There was only a single wound on their necks. It was clear that there were killed with a sword, caught off guard.

Anything valuable on them had been removed. Only humans would kill for treasure. These people had probably never imagined that their lives would end like that.

“Xiu!”

A strand of sword Qi tore through the air and flew toward Xiao Chen from behind the door. The sword Qi was incredibly dense and gave off a piercing sonic boom.

Xiao Chen had already kept an eye out long ago. He performed a backhanded swing with his saber and smashed apart this strand of sword Qi.

An overbearing, middle-aged Superior Grade Martial King stepped out from behind the door. He had an eye-catching scar on his face. When he saw Xiao Chen, he laughed hoarsely, “Since when can a Superior Grade Martial Saint join in the excitement on Qianren island? However, since you can defend against my sword, you are pretty strong.”

This person should have comprehended a state. Otherwise, he could not have instantly killed five Martial Kings of the same grade; this person would be problematic to deal with.

Furthermore, this Martial King had waited here for a long time, killing all of the cultivators who walked past without mercy. He was clearly vicious and merciless.

“Dong! Dong! Dong!”

Soft footsteps came from behind Xiao Chen. The overbearing middle-aged man’s expression changed slightly. He glared at Xiao Chen and said, “Consider yourself lucky, surviving even after I saw you.”

Who is this powerful? Before he arrived, he managed to scare away this middle-aged Martial King. Xiao Chen could not help but turn his head to look.

The sound of footsteps drew near. Soon, Xiao Chen saw this person appear. He was stunned. This was the Bloody Swordsman, Sun Guangquan, the tenth-ranked great bladesmen of the Ancient Desolate Land.

When Sun Guangquan saw Xiao Chen, he was stunned as well. He smiled and said, “Little Brother, I did not expect to see you again. Here’s a suggestion for you; with your strength, you can try your luck in the fifth layer. If you explore further, it will become dangerous.”

“This person is rather interesting,” Xiao Chen smiled faintly as he watched Sun Guangquan leave. “Let’s go to the fifth layer and take a look; hopefully I can obtain something good.”

Immediately after Xiao Chen stepped through the doors, he heard the sounds of fighting. Occasionally, intense explosions reverberated throughout the fifth floor.

When Xiao Chen investigated, these sounds all came from the rooms.

Xiao Chen rejoiced. He realized that many rooms still had treasures. He should hurry and find a room still tightly shut.

Xiao Chen took in a deep breath, and his expression calmed. After that, he kicked down a door, turning it into dust.

Xiao Chen’s figure flashed, and he stayed close to the wall beside the door. When the combat puppet guarding the room heard some sound, it rushed out with heavy footsteps.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

When the combat puppets stepped through the door, Xiao Chen sent out his Lunar Shadow Saber quickly, hacking three times at the combat puppet.

Xiao Chen used his full force with every strike, holding nothing back. He merged his Essence and physical strength, using a force of at least one hundred thousand kilograms.

The first saber strike chopped off the combat puppet’s right hand, which held its weapon. The second saber strike severed the other hand. The third saber strike sliced off the combat puppet’s right leg.

The crippled combat puppet fell to the ground; it had lost all its combat prowess completely. Xiao Chen had done this for a good reason.

When Xiao Chen observed the combat puppets in the earlier layers, he realized that all the combat puppets and puppet beasts had been shattered into tiny pieces.

Xiao Chen had guessed that these combat puppets would self-destruct before they died. When he entered the fifth layer and heard sounds of explosions, this verified his guess.

All Xiao Chen had to do was to disable the limbs of the combat puppet, removing its combat prowess. Just the thought of twenty Medial Grade Spirit Stones exploding was horrible.

Xiao Chen was not willing to take the risk to discover its strength. He simply ignored the struggling combat puppet on the ground and headed for the treasure room.