Chapter 2607 - 2599: Ancient Artifact of Mars

Chapter 2607: Chapter 2599: Ancient Artifact of Mars

Before landing on Mars, Feng Jun had already decelerated,

so when he set foot on Mars, although he stirred up a thick cloud of volcanic ash, he truly didn’t feel much gravity here—the gravitational acceleration was less than 0.4G, indeed giving one a feeling of being as light as a swallow.

After landing, he released his divine sense to scour the area—really didn’t find anything.

No discovery? He can continue searching slowly. First, he flew to the far side of Mars and took off the space mech armor—this contraption was too cumbersome.

There were others in the Space Fleet observing him too. Seeing the mech fly to the other side, they hurriedly reported upward.

However, the conference room was discussing the exercise plan, and when the commander received the news, he merely paused for a moment before declaring briskly, "Since he flew over there on his own, there’s no need to worry."

Someone below still cautiously advised, "What if we can’t find him anymore?"

"At worst, the fleet just heads back openly," the commander explained clearly, impatiently adding, "Maybe he doesn’t want us to see it."

Indeed, after Feng Jun exited the mech, he immediately employed his half-baked invisibility technique, not only to evade the warships’ surveillance but also to guard against possible Martian life forms.

Then he used Blink to begin investigating what kind of minerals or life exists on Mars.

A Golden Core Master’s Blink is particularly swift, especially since Mars is small, ranked second smallest among the eight major planets.

After blinking for a while, Feng Jun eventually uttered a soft "Oh," "There’s actually a Spirit Stone Mine here?"

He sensed a Spirit Stone Mine located over fifty kilometers below the surface; if it weren’t for the Five Rings, he would be incapable of sensing so deep. Moreover, the deposit here is not vast, similar to the one in Australia.

Upon discovering the Spirit Stone Mine, Feng Jun halted, setting up a Spirit Gathering Array beside the mine.

After boarding the warship, he had been toying with the Gathering Spirit Array Plate, wanting to test whether spiritual energy can actually be gathered on Mars.

Still, everyone understands the temperament of the Spirit Gathering Array—it’s not an instantaneous affair to accumulate spiritual energy.

After establishing the Spirit Gathering Array, he added a defensive formation, then continued searching while pondering the Martian civilization.

Mars... judging from the relics alone, one can indeed deduce that civilization should have existed here.

Feng Jun isn’t keen to learn what this civilization was called; the fact is it dissipated at least hundreds of thousands of years ago, and its technological prowess couldn’t surpass the level of the Human Federation of the Insect World.

What he’s pondering is that this civilization should have practiced body cultivation—otherwise, there wouldn’t be just one Spirit Stone Mine on Mars.

So, did all those cultivators perish? Could there have been beings as powerful as Guardians?

With such thoughts occupying his mind, his movements slowed considerably, exploring minerals while also probing for life—yet the life-searching radius of the Five Rings remains short, merely around fifty kilometers. Whereas with his divine sense extended, he can screen several thousand kilometers.

With such careful searching, more than a day’s time swiftly went by, and at this moment, the space battleship’s exercises had long commenced.

In reality, even amidst the exercises, the fleet did not forsake the search for Feng Jun. A day later, upon hearing Feng Jun still hadn’t been found, the commander specifically called on Beauty Lin, "You know him better, should we dispatch a scout ship especially to find him?"

This exercise opportunity is truly precious, and it’s unlikely in the short term that another exercise of such scale will occur. With a fleet exceeding five hundred, overloaded over a thousand members, everyone earnestly engaging in drills and learning, diverting even a single-crew warship to search for Feng Jun would be very regrettable.

"No need," Beauty Lin shook her head decisively; at farewells, her emotions were hard to control, but very quickly she composed herself, let alone she was now also observing various combat coordination, "I trust his abilities."

The commander was somewhat bewildered, unable to hold back saying, "I thought you would be very concerned about him."

"Of course, I care deeply about him," Beauty Lin answered without hesitation, "But I also have a general sense of his strength."

The commander couldn’t help but smile, "Yet during farewells, I saw you crying so sorrowfully."

This dignified fleet commander, what was he concerned about? Beauty Lin justified confidently, "Women are sensitive creatures!"

Due to her suggestion, the commander decided not to send a warship to search for Feng Jun.

At the same time, Feng Jun made an astonishing discovery; beneath a large ice layer at the South Pole of Mars, existed obscure signs that he was quick to perceive, leading him to rush forward, then used his mobile phone to conduct a search.

This search left him dumbstruck; below over a thousand meters of ice layer, lay a broken arrowhead, and it was precisely this arrowhead emitting an aura that caused him discomfort.

What should I do with this thing? He felt a headache because when he searched on his mobile phone, he discovered that there were living organisms in the ice layers, not some big creatures, just microorganisms. Breaking through the ice layers might affect their ecological environment.

Cultivators are very resolute in their mindset. For Feng Jun, affecting the environment isn’t that important, but the ice layers on Mars have always been closely monitored by countries on Earth. There’s an unknown amount of relevant image data.

What’s worse is that most of this information is not open to Huaxia. Feng Jun is worried that whatever action he takes will eventually be discovered.

However, the most critical issue is that he feels that the broken arrowhead is likely to pose a threat to him.

After contemplating for a while, he steeled his resolve, raised his hand to gather a large mass of aura, compressing it into a small ball the size of a ping-pong ball. Then, he used mental drive inside his mobile phone and appeared in Chaoyang, sending his Divine Sense out to the Guardian.

Why not use the big boss at home?

The Guardian was a bit slow to respond this time, taking about ten minutes to bring him over. "What is it... Huh, what aura do you have in your hand?"

Feng Jun briefly described his experience, and after a moment of silence, the Guardian asked, "A broken arrowhead?"

"Yes," Feng Jun nodded, "Fortunately, it’s under a kilometer of ice layer, frozen quite hard, otherwise I doubt I could withstand this aura."

"Sigh, you’re right," the Guardian sighed leisurely, "That arrowhead is an ancient artifact, primarily focused on slaughter. The aura of slaughter on it is not something you at the Golden Core Stage can endure... It needs at least a Strong Nascent Soul."

"An ancient artifact?" Feng Jun was startled at the words, "An ancient artifact that can rival a Dao artifact?"

"Ancient artifacts are Chaos Artifacts, bolstered by mental intent, while Dao artifacts are infused with Dao Rhyme. The two cannot be directly compared," the Guardian corrected his view, "The arrowhead you saw is an ancient artifact used by a Mahayana cultivator."

"Mahayana Realm?" Feng Jun was startled again, "It seems the ice on Mars is really formidable. No wonder people say that the colder and harder the ice, if placed in the Earth Realm, I suppose I’d be in danger."

"How much relation can it have with the ice?" the Guardian chuckled helplessly, "You remain unharmed mainly because the ancient artifact is broken."

Feng Jun blinked, cautiously asking, "This arrowhead... do you know its origin, Senior?"

"It’s nothing but those few possibilities," the Guardian ambiguously replied, "Think for yourself, I’m too lazy to consider... Are you planning to take it away?"

Feng Jun answered decisively, "If it is ownerless... things sent by heaven shouldn’t be rejected lest they bring misfortune."

"You probably don’t know how to collect it, right?" The Guardian understood his concern, "Fetch a Storage Talisman, and I’ll handle it for you. It can only be used once... handling fee is three hundred upper Spirit Stones."

At some point, it became quite particular, charging Spirit Stones for everything it does.

"Upper Spirit Stones are easy enough," Feng Jun was indifferent to this; what he cared about was, "What use does this broken ancient artifact have for me?"

"The aura of slaughter on it can hone the willpower of a Nascent Soul and Emergence Stage, why say it’s useless?" The Guardian was a bit angry, "If the aura matches closely, not only Divine Spirit Stage, even Integration Cultivators would pay a high price."

Feng Jun was bewildered by this, "Fusion Stage... pay a high price for this broken arrowhead?"

The Guardian replied irritably, "If this arrowhead were intact, the Fusion Stage wouldn’t even get a chance to buy."

That’s indeed the case; Feng Jun was speechless. The arrowhead was an ancient artifact used by Mahayana Realm cultivators, far above the Transcendence Tribulation Stage.

After thinking for a moment, he cautiously asked, "Could it sell for a few extreme Spirit Stones?"

"To sell for extreme Spirit Stones, I’d wish the same," the Guardian was somewhat helpless, "but mainly it depends on demand... Actually, if possible, I’d prefer you didn’t sell it. When you become a Nascent Soul, using it to hone willpower or comprehend the path of slaughter would be excellent."

Nothing can be decided now, Feng Jun asked again, "Is there any presence similar to yours on Mars?"

"There should be none," the Guardian replied uncertainly, "If there really was, most of the time would be spent in sleep; otherwise, six thousand years ago, I should have sensed it. Why are you asking?"

"Because I found a Spirit Stone Mine on Mars," Feng Jun answered solemnly, "So far, I’ve discovered only one, so I wonder, was there ever a cultivation civilization?"

"Civilization is unlikely, but surely someone has been there," the Guardian stated undoubtedly, "That Spirit Stone Mine... go ahead and dig it up, leaving it in that desolate place is pointless."

Indeed, any being is selfish! Feng Jun laughed, "That’s why I asked if there’s a Guardian on Mars. If there were, I’d be worried it wouldn’t let me mine the Spirit Stone."

The Guardian was silent for a while, and suddenly a jade token appeared on the table, "This is a Defensive Amulet I’ve prepared for you; it can withstand one strike from the Fusion Stage. If you encounter something protecting on Mars... it can at least buy you time to escape."

Feng Jun wanted to take it, but was a bit embarrassed because earlier he had expressed not wanting to be a man carrying a nanny.