Chapter 91: A House Full of Treasures

At that moment, Wan Fushan was a sorry, pitiful sight. His clothes were torn to shreds, and dozens of wounds were faintly visible upon him, as though he had been cut by swords from every direction. No wonder he was crouched in the corner of the steps like a turtle hiding its head.

"Senior Brother Wan, what on earth happened?" Lu Feng and the others were shocked, and crouched down to examine his injuries.

Xu Xuan was also startled, though for a different reason. He felt a strange bewilderment in his heart: that Senior Brother Yun and Yu Mo were both so gravely wounded they had lost their senses and were near death, yet this Wan Fushan, despite his low cultivation, seemed to be in much better condition.

Still, thinking of the man’s cowardice, caution, and shamelessness, Xu Xuan found it hardly surprising.

"That was Senior Brother Wu... heavens!"

A cry of alarm rang out from the disciples of the Sword Sect above the steps.

Turning his head, Xu Xuan saw, at the far end above the staircase, the corpse of a Sword Sect disciple lying there, his body covered in dreadful sword marks, a ghastly mass of blood, dense and horrifying to behold.

What a miserable death!

The disciples of both factions shuddered inwardly, a chill spreading through their hearts like a shadow that would not disperse.

Xu Xuan’s scalp prickled at the sight. He quickly activated the stillness formula, calming his mind as if it were a motionless pool, yet he still studied the corpse for several moments and mused, "These sword wounds are not very deep, but his pupils are constricted, and even in death there is fear in his eyes. Did he die from physical wounds, or from damage to the mind?"

If he had died from sword wounds, then it was injury to the body. If he had died from injury to the mind, then it had come from the level of the soul.

By comparison, the latter was far more terrifying.

As the saying went, it was easy to guard against open spears, but hard to防 against hidden arrows. And an attack that came from the soul was all but impossible to grasp.

Under the watching eyes of the crowd, Wan Fushan still huddled with his limbs curled in, panic-stricken and fearful, saying with lingering dread, "Inside the great hall... be careful of that sword..."

Sword?

The others were utterly perplexed. Lu Feng asked, "Was there some powerful creature?"

"No... there were only treasures!"

Wan Fushan had a faint look of unwillingness in his eyes. He tried to stand, but was utterly spent and could not move.

Only treasures!

At those words, excitement gleamed in everyone’s eyes, and they could barely restrain the trembling in their hearts.

Lu Feng first sent one person to escort Wan Fushan out of the spirit hall.

The rest all fixed their gaze toward the end of the stairway, their emotions a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

The Sword Sect’s Nie Han led the way at the front, and Xu Xuan also noticed that the aura about him was far stronger than before; clearly, he had broken through to the fourth level of Refining Qi.

Move!

One after another, they ascended the steps and headed upward.

At this moment, the entire spirit hall was deathly silent.

With every step they took, that fierce, bone-piercing chill grew stronger and more dreadful.

When they reached the top of the steps, some disciples were breathing rapidly, as though their minds were beginning to slip out of control.

Xu Xuan already felt the mysterious force coiling around his body... cold, overbearing, and frenzied, as if it would rush into him in an instant and tear his flesh to pieces.

"Tsk tsk, very interesting. Fortunately, you completed the ninth transformation, the 'Awe' formula."

The remnant soul from his previous life in his mind seemed to be sensing the outside world through Xu Xuan’s consciousness at all times.

Xu Xuan indeed discovered that his own will had some resistance to this mysterious power, and he could bear it more easily than the ordinary disciples of the immortal sect.

As everyone stepped up to the top of the stairs, they all froze.

What lay before them was a great hall space glowing in a riot of five-colored brilliance. Below was a floor of hard red-black stone, harder than even the materials used for magical implements, of a grade impossible to estimate, but one thing was certain: no one present could damage it in the slightest.

"My heavens... black profound iron stone!"

Xu Xuan recognized the material beneath their feet. Even a piece the size of a palm was worth at least several hundred thousand spirit coins, let alone the plaza floor beneath them, which was entirely made of black profound iron stone.

He drew a deep breath, doing his best to remain calm.

For Xu Xuan understood one thing: cultivators below the Soul Refining stage simply could not damage this black profound iron stone, let alone take it out of the secret realm.

Wan Fushan’s claim that the great hall contained nothing but treasures was no exaggeration. Even the floor beneath their feet was priceless.

The entire plaza within the hall was reflected in a five-colored barrier array at its center, and a vast, imposing power suppressed the fierce, frigid aura within.

At this moment, everyone standing at the front had their attention drawn to something in the center.

Xu Xuan looked closely and saw, at the center of the plaza, an ancient well about ten feet across, filled with spiritual liquid as bright and lustrous as pearls, shimmering with a dreamlike radiance.

Above the spiritual liquid in the ancient well was a broken ancient sword, rust-streaked and weathered, with faint traces of flame-patterned purple light, though much dimmer now.

The instant Xu Xuan’s eyes fell upon the sword, his heart jolted violently, his soul as if struck by thunder. He hurriedly circulated the essence of the Awe formula, and only then did that feeling gradually fade.

Several disciples beside him, however, let out muffled groans as soon as they looked at the ancient sword, and some even spat out a mouthful of blood.

Above the spiritual liquid in the ancient well floated a prayer bead and a green lotus leaf, both in communication with the power of the formation, suppressing the ancient sword below.

Besides these, there were four or five similar magical treasures suspended in midair throughout the plaza, jointly sustaining the barrier’s five-colored power.

"These treasures... they’re at least spiritual instruments!"

Baipan of the Sword Sect forcefully suppressed the ecstasy in his heart.

A spiritual instrument was a highly precious type of treasure in the cultivation world, possessing a degree of sentience and far surpassing ordinary magical implements in power. It was said that only Immortal Masters in the Soul Refining stage could bring out their true might. In value, a spiritual instrument was worth more than ten ordinary magical implements.

It must be known that most of the disciples present possessed only one or two low-grade magical implements, while true disciples had mid-grade ones; not a single person had even a high-grade magical implement, let alone a spiritual instrument of far superior quality.

For these disciples, spiritual instruments were usually things they could only hear of but never see, yet now they had seen so many at once.

"Look over there!"

Senior Brother Jia pointed deeper beside the ancient well. Amid the five-colored radiance, a stone table could be seen.

Beside the table were several worn prayer cushions, and faintly one could see a few human skeletons lying there.

The stone table stood right by the well, and one could almost imagine the scene of several powerful cultivators once sitting there, drinking and discussing the Dao.

Xu Xuan’s gaze was first drawn to the broken ancient sword in the well, then to the human skeletons before the stone table.

These skeletal remains, despite the erosion of time, were still white, lustrous, and translucent, radiating a distinct spiritual aura.

"After several hundred years, the bones still contain spiritual resonance. These people were likely strong figures who had stepped into the Golden Core path back then."

Lu Feng stared from afar at those human skeletons, his eyes full of reverence.

Even more inconceivable was that these powerful cultivators, known only in legend, seemed to have perished here together.

Were they the ancestors of the two factions of Star Feather Mountain from that era? What kind of catastrophe could have caused their collective downfall?

"Tsk tsk, these skeletons were all Golden Core stage or above in their time. Having awakened after so many years, they have finally seen a proper cultivator in this world. What a pity they have already been dead for centuries."

The remnant soul from his previous life sighed within his mind.

But Xu Xuan had no time to listen to him; his entire attention was drawn to the treasures before him.

Even before those skeletal remains, storage bags from their lifetimes could still be faintly seen.

Storage bags belonging to Golden Core stage experts!

To everyone present, that was an almost irresistible temptation.

At last, Xu Xuan’s gaze shifted to the items on the stone platform: a dark purple piece of jade, a small ancient cauldron flickering with a strange spiritual luster, and, besides these, a dazzling array of jade slips, ancient books, and all kinds of other objects.

It was enough to dazzle him.

Treasures, all treasures!

Could it be that the upper echelons of the once-prosperous Star Feather Sect had all perished here?

At this point, he finally understood Wan Fushan’s words, and the intense unwillingness on the man’s face.

"Wait!" the remnant soul from his previous life suddenly spoke.

Xu Xuan’s gaze immediately fixed on the stone platform, because he knew the remnant soul from his previous life perceived the outside world through his senses.

"That piece of dark purple jade—see it? You must obtain it... and that little cauldron beside it is no ordinary thing either. As for the rest, they are only tempting value to you."

The remnant soul from his previous life was clearly excited.

"What use is that stone?" Xu Xuan had not recognized the item at first, only felt his heart tremble the moment his gaze touched it, as though even his soul wanted to be drawn in by it.

"This is Purple Soul Jade, a treasure for the soul. It is ten times rarer than the Soul Ink Stone that once awakened the Memory Star Sea. With it, you can unlock any sealed fragment of memory anywhere within the Memory Star Sea; it will no longer be limited to the low-tier memories of the present."

The remnant soul from his previous life spoke urgently and joyfully.

Hearing this, Xu Xuan’s heartbeat quickened as well. With such a soul treasure, its effect on him was by no means comparable to any other treasure.

"I must have it!" Xu Xuan’s eyes lit up as he made up his mind.

Most of the people on the field had their eyes drawn to the broken ancient sword in the spiritual liquid of the ancient well, or to the storage bags of Golden Core stage experts, or even to the spiritual instruments floating in midair, their hearts trembling at the alluring value of these things.

But Xu Xuan had locked onto, at once, the thing most useful to himself.

In an instant, everyone’s breathing grew rapid, and their heartbeats quickened sharply, not only because of the oppressive force, but also because of the excitement and urgency in their hearts.

Second update, asking for recommendations; I’ll try for an extra update tonight.