Chapter 287 - 249: Revisiting an Old Place, Mysterious Array (Part 2)

Chapter 287: Chapter 249: Revisiting an Old Place, Mysterious Array (Part 2)

In the distance lay a continuous mountain range, and hidden within those mountains was a Secret Realm!

This very Secret Realm was the place where he had fallen in his past life!

Xu Chang’an was going into that Secret Realm to take another look!

Flying at the speed of an Early-stage Core Formation cultivator, Xu Chang’an journeyed for over half a month before arriving amidst the sprawling mountain range.

The mountains were riddled with unique terrain, including dense swamps and poisonous miasma. However, such threats were nothing to a Core Formation Zhenren. Even an Early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator could explore the area safely as long as they were cautious.

Guided by the memories of his past life, Xu Chang’an headed straight for his destination.

In front of a mountain peak, Xu Chang’an used his Magical Power to move a giant boulder over thirty zhang in size. A rock that large could, to be precise, be called a small hill.

Behind the boulder was the entrance to a cave leading deep underground.

There were no Array Restrictions or fluctuations of Spirituality, and with the immense boulder concealing it, an ordinary Cultivator would never have discovered this place.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Chang’an entered the pitch-black maw of the cave.

The tunnel connected to the entrance was extremely long, extending continuously deeper into the earth.

This tunnel led to an Earth Palace. There were no Array Restrictions within the tunnel itself, but one would encounter some clever traps along the way.

They were capable of threatening Cultivators below Late-stage Foundation Establishment, but they posed little threat to those in the Core Formation Realm.

However, after passing through the tunnel and entering the main Earth Palace area, the traps began to be overlaid with spiritual Restrictions, greatly increasing their threat level.

A careless Mid-stage Core Formation Cultivator could easily fall prey to them.

And upon entering the depths of the Earth Palace, some powerful Mechanical Puppets would appear.

These Mechanical Puppets were strong enough to threaten Late-stage Core Formation Cultivators.

Further in, there were some extremely hidden designs that had even managed to grievously injure Xu Chang’an in his past life, when he had formed his Golden Core and was nearly invincible within the Core Formation Realm.

He and his companions had explored this Secret Realm’s ruins once before, so Xu Chang’an didn’t trigger any traps on his way through.

Even upon reaching the depths of the Earth Palace, Xu Chang’an didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

The Earth Palace was already empty, with no valuable resources left.

"This is the place!"

Xu Chang’an gazed at the surrounding walls, which were now in a state of disrepair.

Carved upon one of the walls were a series of strange markings and patterns.

Over a hundred years ago, it was these very markings that had suddenly burst with brilliant light, engulfing him and his companions.

Afterward, they were all scattered to different parts of the Earth Palace.

Xu Chang’an studied the markings for a long time, but they didn’t activate.

’Has it run out of Energy to power it? Or was it designed to only trigger once?’

Doubt crept into Xu Chang’an’s mind.

After several fruitless attempts, Xu Chang’an left the area.

He unleashed his Demon Sense, beginning to scan the Earth Palace continuously.

His Demon Sense, stretching out 24,000 zhang, covered an area of 72 li.

This underground palace was quite large, but it still couldn’t escape several sweeps of Xu Chang’an’s probe.

Hm?

Xu Chang’an frowned.

There seemed to be a small area within the Earth Palace that his Demon Sense could not penetrate.

SWOOSH!

In a flash of light, Xu Chang’an appeared in a corridor of the Earth Palace.

He looked at the wall before him, which was no more than three zhang tall.

This was the place. His Demon Sense could not penetrate any further.

Based on his Demon Sense probe, he had a clear mental map of the Earth Palace’s overall layout.

Behind this wall, there was clearly another sizable space!

Above, below, and on all sides, it was as if something was concealing it!

’Is it an Array Restriction? Or is the wall made of a special material?’

BOOM!

Xu Chang’an cast a Magic spell, blasting it toward the wall in front of him.

To prevent a large-scale collapse of the Earth Palace, Xu Chang’an was quite restrained, using only the power of his Late-stage Core Formation Cultivation for this spell.

This spell was powerful enough to obliterate a mountain peak, yet when it struck the wall, it barely caused a stir.

The tremendous impact did, however, create a momentary vacuum, which generated a shockwave that radiated outward.

Fortunately, the Earth Palace walls were made of a special material, so the aftershock alone didn’t cause much damage. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

’This sturdy?!’

Seeing how sturdy the wall was, Xu Chang’an no longer held back.

He fully unleashed his Mid-stage Nascent Soul Cultivation and executed an Attack Technique.

With a loud BOOM.

The powerful blast caused the entire Earth Palace to tremble violently.

The aftershocks from the impact caused many of the surrounding walls to collapse completely.

However, the wall in front of Xu Chang’an remained standing, showing no change whatsoever.

Xu Chang’an’s current Attack power was no weaker than that of an ordinary Late-stage Nascent Soul Cultivator.

’With such power, this wall can actually withstand it? Completely undamaged?!’

Hm?!

No!

Under the probe of his Demon Sense, Xu Chang’an discovered extremely fine cracks appearing on the wall’s surface!

’It can be broken!’

Seeing that his first strike had some effect, Xu Chang’an began to bombard it relentlessly!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Earth Palace trembled continuously.

The aftershocks of the bombardment caused some of the more fragile structures on the outer edges of the Earth Palace to collapse one after another.

The cracks on the wall grew larger and larger!

VMMM~

A purple glow lit up.

Xu Chang’an suddenly struck forward with his palm.

Though he was in his human form, his physical body was still incredibly powerful.

The cracks on the wall continued to spread, growing deeper and deeper.

’Again!’

Xu Chang’an struck with his palm once more.

And then...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

More than ten consecutive palm strikes.

The wall could no longer hold and was blasted open, leaving a large hole.

Peering through the hole, Xu Chang’an easily saw the scene inside.

"This is..."

Xu Chang’an was somewhat stunned.

SWOOSH!

He instantly passed through the wall.

The space within the wall was not large, but it wasn’t small either.

Many round stone pillars stood around the room, each carved with various figures and patterns.

In the center was a circular platform, slightly raised from the ground.

Incredibly complex Array Patterns were carved onto the platform, and in the center lay a round crystal that had gone completely dim.

"A Spirit Crystal!"

Spirit Stones served as the common currency for Human Race Cultivators, used to measure value and circulated in the market.

Among High-Tier Cultivators, in addition to Spirit Stones, trades were also conducted using Spirit Stone Essence.

One piece of Spirit Stone Essence was equivalent to ten thousand Spirit Stones!

And the so-called Spirit Crystal was a resource even more precious than Spirit Stone Essence.

One Spirit Crystal was equivalent to ten thousand pieces of Spirit Stone Essence, which was one hundred million Spirit Stones.

A normal Spirit Crystal was only slightly larger than a person’s thumb!

But the Spirit Crystal before Xu Chang’an was even larger than a baby’s fist!

Calculating its value, this Spirit Crystal was worth at least five hundred million Spirit Stones!

Five hundred million Spirit Stones!

This was a fortune that even a Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator would have to look up to!

A Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator couldn’t accumulate such a massive fortune even after several thousand years of accumulation!

And now, it was sitting right in front of Xu Chang’an!

Yet, faced with such wealth, Xu Chang’an wasn’t the least bit excited!

Because...

This Spirit Crystal was completely depleted!

Xu Chang’an investigated it for a moment and easily discovered the truth.

This Spirit Crystal must have been the power source for the Array.

’What kind of Array needs such a large Spirit Crystal as its power source?!’

Xu Chang’an was completely baffled.

Even the most advanced Tier Four Array wouldn’t use one percent of this Spirit Crystal!

’Could this be a Tier Five Array?!’

Xu Chang’an examined it closely.

He had never seen an Array with such complex Array Patterns.

After investigating the Array and finding nothing more, Xu Chang’an turned his attention to the stone pillars surrounding it.

The stone pillars were carved with numerous figures.

Xu Chang’an tried to identify them carefully but found that he didn’t recognize a single one of the figures.

There was a certain pattern between the figures, and some repeated occasionally. Xu Chang’an judged that these figures were very likely a form of writing.

A script he had never seen before!

For the first time, Xu Chang’an felt the inadequacy of his own experience.

His re-cultivation journey had been smooth sailing up to this point. Relying on his knowledge from his past life, he could often anticipate his enemies’ moves and grasp a great deal of information.

But now, as his Cultivation Realm rose, his past experience was gradually losing its effectiveness.

Even counting his past life, Xu Chang’an had only been cultivating for a few hundred years.

His perspective, knowledge, and experience were far inferior to those old, veteran Great Cultivators of Nascent Soul.

Xu Chang’an was inwardly sobered, resolving to gather more information, broaden his horizons, and make up for this shortcoming!