The side door led to a dim chamber, its floor almost entirely covered by a massive formation array. Monster cores of varying grades were placed at different points within it, currently emitting a warm, gentle glow in the darkness like night-pearls.
Though Song Wenqing could not see the specific details, the immense spiritual energy flowing within it made her cautiously halt her advancing steps.
An immortal tomb is not necessarily the tomb of a true immortal; it could also be the tomb of a false immortal, or perhaps a semi-immortal someone who was just a single step away from ascending to immortality.
Such individuals either failed to successfully survive their heavenly tribulation yet managed to barely preserve their physical bodies using magical treasures so their souls would not scatter, or they remained stuck in the tribulation stage until the moment of death, perhaps because their lifespan ran out and they became permanently stalled, though the majority were killed due to deep-seated grudges.
The tombs of true immortals still remaining in the world were often formed when the physical bodies of immortals fell during the ancient Great War between Immortals and Demons. Though called a tomb, it is actually nothing more than a giant crater, where the overflowing spiritual energy forms an illusionary realm around the perimeter to achieve a camouflage effect, thereby protecting the remains.
False immortal tombs, on the other hand, are mostly intricately structured burial sites. The vast majority of them were constructed by the disciples of the deceased, preserving mortal burial specifications. Not only are their locations concealed, but a multitude of mechanism traps are laid out inside to ensure the death of any intruders.
Naturally, the personal items carried by the master during their lifetime, or treasures held by their disciples, would also be placed inside. Therefore, compared to a true immortal’s tomb which might only possess remaining immortal bones, the majority of cultivators would much rather enter the tomb of a false immortal.
After all, immortal bones can only unleash their maximum utility in the hands of the Corpse-Driving Sect or the Corpse-Refining Sect. To most people, they are merely pieces of bone that happen to glow and can be exchanged for spirit stones.
Entering a tomb is considered a massive taboo in the mortal realm, but to the cultivation world where killing others to seize treasures is an everyday occurrence it is nothing out of the ordinary.
Even Song Wenqing, who grew up in the Lingyun Dao Sect, which boasts the reputation of being the righteous path’s number one sect, did not feel that her current actions were wrong. At this moment, she was far more concerned with the formation array on the ground.
The circulation of spiritual energy around the area lacked any discernible pattern.
The person who set up the formation was at least a tier-three formation master.
Song Wenqing furrowed her brows slightly; the situation was far more tricky than she had anticipated.
Formation masters, alchemists, and artifact refiners are hailed as the three existences in the cultivation world that “earn spirit stones just by sitting down,” owing to their extreme scarcity and their utility to the majority of cultivators.
Major sects would pay special attention to any disciples discovered to have these talents, sparing no resources in cultivating them. Compared to the initial investment, the subsequent benefits brought by such individuals are even greater essentially a risk-free, guaranteed-profit investment.
The Lingyun Dao Sect had a tier-three formation master, and that person was showered with adulation wherever they went. Though holding the status of a disciple, they already enjoyed the treatment of most elders. This shows just how rare such special individuals are.
Because a tier-two formation can already trap a Core Formation cultivator, if formations can be stacked, their power reaches an even higher tier.
Song Wenqing had briefly crossed swords with a formation master during a sect grand tournament, and the array deployed by her opponent was merely a tier-two formation. She ultimately won, but that was only because her opponent lacked sufficient time to set up the array, resulting in quite a few flaws remaining within the formation.
However, if her opponent had been given a bit more time to complete the array into a more perfect state, the outcome of victory and defeat would have been anyone’s guess.
Upon recognizing that the array before her was a tier-three formation, a sense of powerlessness welled up in Song Wenqing’s heart.
With countless mechanism traps all the way along the path, coupled with such rigorous defenses here, it was likely that the funerary treasures were, in all probability, inside this very hidden chamber.
Unfortunately, a tier-three formation coalesced from numerous high-grade monster cores was indeed not something she could contend with using her own abilities.
Under different circumstances, Song Wenqing might have given it a try, but formation arrays… were simply too dangerous.
The danger of a formation lies in its unknown nature; those who enter the array cannot know what vicious tricks the formation setter has concealed.
A fatal strike of instant death is already considered merciful; the majority of traps slowly drain the life out of people. For instance, some aggressive killing moves slowly slice away human skin and flesh, others use raging fires to burn people until not even bones remain, and still others create illusionary realms using the scenes people fear the most to mentally torture cultivators until they suffer a mental breakdown…
Song Wenqing was not afraid of the last category, as she possessed the Eyes of Truth-Breaking, which could see through all illusions and falsehoods. However, ever since she was injured by the moves of Immortal Heguang, her eyes had yet to show any signs of recovery and were currently incapable of functioning.
“Meow~”
A tiny cat meow interrupted Song Wenqing’s train of thought. She instinctively looked down, dimly catching sight of two glowing pearls of different colors on the ground.
From Yan Zhu’s perspective, however, the scene was much clearer.
The little black cat leaped lightly from her arms onto the ground, shook its body by the way, and then stepped forward on its tiny paws. It held its head high with an elegant posture, carrying a bit more arrogance than usual.
“Meow~”
It looked up at Song Wenqing beside it, then turned its head back to look at her.
Yan Zhu noticed the two glowing feline pupils shifting with the tiny fellow’s gentle nodding motion.
At that moment, its posture looked precisely like a noble gentleman stepping onto a high platform, gladly accepting the applause and praise of the surrounding crowd.
A bizarre analogy popped into Yan Zhu’s mind.
Just as Yan Zhu suspected she might be seeing things, the heterochromic cat pupils traced two streaks of light in the air, and the black cat suddenly darted forward, its figure instantly merging into the dark room’s night shadows, making its whereabouts difficult to discern.
Following that, the light of the massive array on the ground dimmed instantly. The monster cores placed upon it, however, flared with brilliant light, casting various colors onto the surrounding walls and revealing a bizarre scene rarely seen in the mortal world.
“Meow!”
Strutting gracefully like a cat, the black cat walked up in front of the two of them. Illuminated by the colorful, chaotic lights of the monster cores resembling a dance of demons, its little black cat face displayed an intensely humanized expression of triumph.
“You know how to break arrays?”
Song Wenqing looked somewhat surprised at this ordinary-looking little cat. Even among spiritual beasts, she had never heard of one that could break formations.
Moreover, some powerful formation masters might only specialize in setting arrays and are only capable of undoing their own formations.
Yet, the little cat before her had seemingly strolled around with absolute ease and broken a tier-three formation.
It was hard for Song Wenqing not to feel astonished.
Hearing these remarks, the black cat proudly puffed out its chest, let out a “meow” in response, and then demurely walked slowly to Yan Zhu’s side.
“So amazing, you actually know how to break arrays!”
Yan Zhu saw at a glance that the little fellow was fishing for praise. As soon as it came over, she reached out and began petting it furiously, while endless sweet words flowed from her mouth.
“So smart, you’re simply a genius cat!”
The little black ball’s reserve was hard to maintain any longer; it squinted its eyes comfortably as it rubbed against her, its throat filled entirely with purrs.
The interaction between the young girl and the cat before them was deeply heartwarming, inevitably stirring up a sense of warmth in anyone who saw it.
However, this was the first time Song Wenqing had heard Yan Zhu emit such a sweet voice light and soft, even gentler than when she used to speak to herself back when she was still a child.
If she had life experience in the modern world, she might have used descriptions like marshmallows or cotton candy. But Song Wenqing had grown up entirely within the Lingyun Dao Sect, rarely even coming into contact with mortal food, and at this moment, she found herself at a loss for words.
“Cough.” She coughed awkwardly, causing both human and cat to turn their heads to look at her simultaneously.
“Let’s go.”
Song Wenqing forced herself to ignore the heat on her face, stepped forward, and entered the hidden chamber first.
Walking all the way to the natural stone room behind it, treasures were indeed stored inside just as she had anticipated earlier.
As for those monster cores used to supply spiritual energy to the array, they were naturally stored away into Song Wenqing’s portable spatial storage.
Because the array had been broken by finding its “birth gate,” the spiritual energy within the monster cores was almost entirely unconsumed. Therefore, they still held immense value. Whether used for personal absorption to elevate one’s cultivation level, or taken to refine artifacts and elixirs, they were exceptional materials.
The quantity of these monster cores was around twenty-odd pieces, universally at tier three, though higher grades were not lacking. Among them, the highest-grade one actually reached tier seven, equivalent to the human race’s Integration Stage cultivation.
After using her divine sense to probe and discover this result, Song Wenqing almost thought she had made a mistake somewhere, and only dared to truly believe it after repeated confirmations.
That was an orange-yellow monster core about the size of an infant’s fist. Judging from the lingering aura, it could be determined to be the inner core of a winged serpent beast.
Winged serpent beasts are inherently the royal family among serpent-type monster beasts; if this monster core were to appear in the outside world, it would start at a minimum of tens of thousands of top-grade spirit stones.
Although Song Wenqing could not use it right now, she had no intention of taking it out to sell; this item was simply too eye-catching and would easily draw targeted attention from people with ulterior motives.
“Do you want it?”
The large, round yellow “night-pearl” was held out in front of the small cat.
The little black ball leaned forward to sniff it, poked it with its tiny paw, and seeing the object roll away, tilted its head slightly in uncomprehending confusion for a moment without chasing after it.
“Meow~”
Displaying a haughty attitude, it let out a meow to show it had no interest in the item whatsoever, and turned around to walk back to Yan Zhu’s side.
Seeing the “great meritorious contributor” reject this battle spoils, Song Wenqing was somewhat taken aback.
The refinement and absorption of monster cores by spiritual beasts yield several times better effects than those of humans. Generally, the inner cores of powerful monster beasts hold immense attraction for spiritual beasts. Logically speaking, this “night-pearl” ought not to have been refused.
Glancing at the black cat, which was contentedly enjoying being petted, she had no choice but to first store the monster core away into her personal spatial storage.
Song Wenqing stepped through the small door behind the hidden chamber, and only then did she fully appreciate the meaning of the cultivation world’s oft-repeated saying: “Entering an immortal tomb is stepping half a foot into the immortal gate.”
A massive wooden rack occupied almost the entire space, featuring about a hundred compartments. Each compartment held porcelain vials filled with elixirs, their types varying greatly and covering an extensive range, leaving one simply dizzy with options.
These elixirs alone were sufficient to forcefully elevate someone who had not yet touched the threshold of cultivation all the way up to the Core Formation stage.
Going any further was impossible; a massive divide exists between the Nascent Soul and Core Formation stages. The former requires successfully comprehending the laws of the Great Dao and forming a personal understanding thereof before one can step into it.
Yet even so, this was still astonishingly generous.
After all, the present era is no longer the ancient period where “Core Formation experts are as common as dogs and mighty figures are everywhere,” but rather a Dharma-ending age where possessing Core Formation cultivation is enough to grant one the strength to roam unhindered across the Five Continents.
Song Wenqing reached out and picked up the cyan porcelain vial closest to her. After removing the stopper, a rich medicinal fragrance rushed toward her face. However, one could also clearly sense that the grade of the elixir inside had dropped by at least one tier, presumably caused by the passage of time.
The large array in the hidden chamber likely also served the function of preserving the spiritual energy of the elixirs on this wooden rack; if it had been forcefully broken by brute force, the pills inside would have turned to fine dust in an instant.
Song Wenqing guessed the truth of the matter within moments, hitting the mark nine times out of ten.
This trick was truly too vicious; the person who oversaw the construction of the tomb was most likely a deeply scheming individual.
Fearing that some other variable might arise later, Song Wenqing immediately waved her hand and swept all the porcelain vials displayed on the wooden shelves directly into her portable spatial storage.