Chapter 385 - 374: Bodhi Formula, Emperor’s Visage, Emperor Jiang Bell

Chapter 385: Chapter 374: Bodhi Formula, Emperor’s Visage, Emperor Jiang Bell

A wind carrying a hint of moisture poured in from the shattered stone wall behind Fu Juemin, causing the air in the sealed space to circulate.

In the circulating air, the light from the Luminous Pearls spread to both sides like ripples on water, illuminating the entire tomb in waves.

Fu Juemin now stood on a ledge right next to the tomb wall. Straight ahead of him was a flight of stone steps leading up to a high platform.

He could just barely see the end to his left, while the path to his right stretched on for an unknown distance.

Above him was an arched dome with crossbeams at regular intervals. Each beam was carved with an almost infuriatingly dense array of cloud and beast-face patterns. Most of these carvings had been worn down and blurred by the passage of time, but one could still faintly discern the intricacy and exquisite detail of their original state.

Luminous Pearls of all sizes were embedded everywhere as if they were free, making the entire tomb brightly lit with no hint of gloom.

Fu Juemin wasn’t amazed by the sight before him, nor by the extravagance of the details.

He had mentally prepared himself for this long before stepping into the tomb.

What truly surprised him was when he activated [Yao Ling], spread out his Consciousness, and surveyed the entire tomb. He was astonished to discover that the Qianming Martial Tomb was shaped like a long, irregular strip.

To be precise, the Martial Tomb was built entirely in the shape of a "Dragon."

It was located entirely within Lu Mountain, closely connected to the Five Elders Peaks, like a giant dragon coiled inside the mountain’s belly, its head raised as if about to soar into the sky.

And Fu Juemin and his companion were currently located just below this "Dragon’s" head, roughly in the neck region.

SHH... SHH...

The faint sound of footsteps came from behind him. Hong Huan, who had been outside the stone wall, followed him in.

Without turning back, Fu Juemin simply walked up the steps in front of him.

Reaching the high platform, he saw dozens of stone racks built upon it. On each rack, all manner of Swords were arranged by category.

—Longswords, Short Swords, Dual Swords, Soft Swords, Giant Swords... Some were still perfectly preserved, while others already showed signs of rust.

Fu Juemin casually picked up a Short Sword with a wave-like pattern on its blade. He flicked it with his fingertip, and a light DING rang out—the blade trembled slightly, as if it had been startled awake.

Even with his complete lack of knowledge about weapons, he could tell that any Sword placed here was a Divine Weapon, the kind rarely found in the world.

In terms of quality alone, any random one of them surpassed the Blue Tassel Blade he had taken from "Northern Blade" Xue Hen back in Shenghai!

’A pity...’

Fu Juemin already possessed the Exorcism Saber, one of the twelve Heirloom Magical Artifacts. Ordinary weapons could no longer catch his eye.

At his current level of strength, mortal weapons provided little to no boost to his combat power. No matter how exquisitely forged, they were little more than children’s toys in his eyes.

"The Martial Tomb has nine levels. We’re on the third, a place specifically for storing weapons..."

Fu Juemin put down the Short Sword and spoke casually to Hong Huan.

This level of the tomb, dedicated to weapons, didn’t just have one stone platform. The platforms were connected by stone bridges, and Fu Juemin followed them across.

After the Sword Platform, he saw a Blade Platform, a Gun Platform, a Crossbow Platform, and an Armor Platform...

Walking and pausing, he eventually reached the hall of the next level.

Within this hall, however, there was only a single, massive Central platform.

On the platform stood numerous stone racks once again, but this time, they seemed to be holding book-like objects.

A flicker appeared in Fu Juemin’s eyes. He felt a strange sensation well up within him and, his body as graceful as a wild goose, landed lightly on the stone platform.

"Qianming Thirteen Techniques, Volume Two... The Dragon Taming Scripture!!"

Hong Huan, who was right behind him, suddenly let out a low cry of irrepressible excitement. His eyes were glued to a thread-bound ancient book on the second shelf of one of the racks.

"Legend says Emperor Qianming gathered all the Martial Arts under the heavens, discarded the dross and kept the essence, took the best of ten thousand schools, and created the Qianming Thirteen Forms!

These thirteen forms are a collection of the world’s finest Martial Arts, all-encompassing and all-inclusive. Once mastered, one can become invincible under the heavens!

I thought the legends were false, but I never... I never thought the Qianming Thirteen Forms actually existed..."

As Hong Huan murmured, Fu Juemin couldn’t help but let out a sneer. "Do you think that’s possible?"

Hong Huan’s face flushed red, and he nodded in embarrassment. "I suppose it’s not."

Despite saying that, he couldn’t suppress the curiosity and burning desire in his heart. He reached out to grab the ancient book from the stone rack.

But the moment his fingers touched the cover, his expression changed instantly.

It wasn’t because there was some trick to the book. The instant Hong Huan’s fingers touched it, the entire volume turned to dust, inch by inch, like ash from a raging fire.

Watching the legendary "Invincible Technique" turn to dust before his very eyes, Hong Huan’s face filled with regret and vexation.

But Fu Juemin’s eyes flickered, and he suddenly struck.

Between his five fingers, an endless, pale-golden light bloomed!

In that instant, a stone rack before him silently collapsed. The shattered rock was swiftly swept away by his True Gang, leaving only dozens of ancient books floating motionlessly in mid-air, enveloped in the golden light from Fu Juemin’s palm as if suspended in amber.

With a turn of his thoughts, the dozens of Secret Manuals enveloped in True Gang began to flip their pages in unison.

But even as he used his full power to protect them with True Gang, the ancient manuals still showed signs of turning to ash as their pages turned. The process was just much slower. If one’s eyesight and memory were sharp enough, it might be possible to hastily memorize the contents of a few manuals before they completely disintegrated.

Seeing this, Fu Juemin couldn’t help but sigh softly. "Even true power cannot withstand the ravages of time."

He then withdrew his True Gang and gently struck out with a backhand palm—

WHOOSH—

The Palm Wind swept across the platform. In an instant, the dozens, nearly a hundred stone racks on the high platform, along with the untold number of secret manuals they held, all turned to dust, forming a massive gray wave that slowly spread outwards.

When the dust settled, the massive platform was completely empty, leaving only a stunned Hong Huan and a thin layer of fine ash.

Fu Juemin’s face showed no sign of shame or regret for having destroyed the entire "Martial Arts Collection" with a single palm strike. He simply raised his hand with a casual expression.

The next second, a dozen or so shimmering pages rose from the thin layer of ash at his feet, flocking towards him like swallows returning to their nest.

’Discarding the dross and keeping the essence!’

’Now *this* is how you discard the dross and keep the essence.’

’Why would a truly top-tier Cultivation Technique be recorded on ordinary paper that would rot away in a few years, or a dozen at most?’

From an entire platform of Martial Arts Secret Manuals, all that ended up in Fu Juemin’s hands were a dozen or so pages made of various materials.

Some were made of Jade, some were silver tablets, and others were Cicada Gauze Golden Pages.

Fu Juemin flipped through them one by one. As expected, when he reached the fifth page, he found the *Bodhi Golden Body Formula*, written in densely packed, fly-head-sized characters!

After reading it through carefully, Fu Juemin satisfactorily stored the secret manual and all the other pages into his personal Shadow Space.

This trip to the Armory had fulfilled half of his objective.

"Let’s go."

With the *Bodhi Golden Body Formula* in hand, Fu Juemin’s mood lightened considerably. He gestured for Hong Huan to continue forward.

The entire True Dragon Tomb was composed of nine connected halls. Fu Juemin had already roughly scanned them; the hall at the Dragon Tail contained only worldly treasures.

There were nine chambers in the True Dragon tomb, and the items stored in each were more precious than the last.

Of course, that was from Emperor Qianming’s perspective.

Fu Juemin’s view on the value of things was largely aligned with Emperor Qianming’s, so he had no interest in turning back to inspect the previous six chambers.

After the Martial Arts Hall was the Pill Hall.

This chamber was filled with cauldrons of various sizes, styles, and materials. There were also numerous Pill Formulas recorded on Beast Hide or Demon Hide, and even finished Elixirs, perfectly preserved and still emitting a medicinal fragrance after more than a century.

It could be said that the contents of this room represented Emperor Qianming’s true life’s work.

A pity.

Fu Juemin had no interest in the Alchemy Dao.

"Search around carefully. Collect anything you think is valuable."

Fu Juemin casually instructed Hong Huan.

Hong Huan agreed, then asked curiously, "Venerable Lord, where are you going next?"

After the Pill Hall, there was no way forward in the tomb.

Hong Huan’s gaze fell on a stone door to the side of the Pill Hall, a door with twelve grooves in it. He couldn’t help but ask, "Could it be that this Martial Tomb has a tenth level?"

"It does."

Fu Juemin nodded and said casually, "But not there. That’s the exit."

Fu Juemin looked up at the dome above the Pill Hall, which was studded with Luminous Pearls. He pointed to a small circle in the center of the dome and said in a low voice, "The tenth chamber... is up there."

As he spoke, Fu Juemin activated his True Gang. His robes billowed as an invisible force lifted him up. Treading on air, each step creating a ripple, he slowly walked towards the circle on the dome.

He had scanned it long ago. There was a hidden space concealed in the Dragon’s head position at the top. It was just secretly designed, difficult to find, and required a special mechanism to open.

Fu Juemin naturally didn’t have the time to waste studying some mechanism, nor did he want anyone else opening it.

He casually flicked out a pale-golden ripple of True Gang. The ripple penetrated the surrounding stone walls, instantly destroying all the hidden mechanical components within, ensuring that the secret chamber could never be opened by anyone else...

Only then, satisfied, did he ascend to the dome and directly activate his [Earth Travel] Talent!

Under the power of [Earth Travel], the hard stone dome parted gently like flowing mud, and Fu Juemin slowly walked into it.

The stone wall was too high, too thick.

Even with [Earth Travel] activated, Fu Juemin still had to travel through it for a good five or six breaths before he could finally "see the light of day again."

When Fu Juemin emerged from his [Earth Travel], his feet landed softly on solid ground.

The moment he looked up, he saw a huge portrait hanging directly in front of him.

The person in the painting wore a twelve-tasseled imperial crown and a golden, dragon-patterned robe, presenting a regal, emperor-like posture.

His features were handsome, even a bit refined, and his gaze was gentle. Two inches below his left eyelid was a conspicuous red mole.

Fu Juemin’s entrance stirred the stagnant air in the sealed chamber.

A corner of the scroll lifted gently, the slight breeze stirring the portrait.

In that moment, the person in the painting seemed to come to life, smiling and nodding at Fu Juemin...

The next second—

POP—!

Fu Juemin flicked a wisp of True Gang, remotely tearing the portrait to shreds!

"Qianming."

With a calm expression, Fu Juemin walked through the fluttering fragments of the portrait to the platform beneath it. He gently picked up the only object on the platform: a small, palm-sized bronze bell, mottled with age.

’One of the twelve Heirloom Magical Artifacts?’

Fu Juemin examined the Small Bell in his hand.

At first glance, the Small Bell appeared to be made of bronze, but upon closer inspection, he realized the "bronze" was merely a special kind of patina.

Beneath the patina, the Ancient Bell’s true material was revealed. It looked like yellow jade and was warm to the touch.

Fu Juemin flicked the bell with his finger. The strike was silent, but strangely, a faint sense of dizziness arose in his mind.

.....