Chapter 286 - 284: The Treasure Left Behind

Yi Jingwen returned to the previous cave as fast as she could.

But Luo Tian was already gone.

"That is..."

Yi Jingwen saw the hole in the opposite wall and passed through it with her slender frame.

There was no treasure here, only a pool of water.

Her beautiful eyes stared at the pool, and she soon discovered something was wrong. It contained a special Flame Power that was recovering at an extremely faint rate.

"Damn it, he used me!"

Yi Jingwen stomped her foot in anger.

Although she didn’t know what kind of treasure had originally been in the pool, the feeling of being used and kept in the dark was extremely displeasing.

The thought that the treasure Luo Tian obtained here might be far more valuable than the Fire Berries made Yi Jingwen even more furious!

"Don’t let me run into you again!"

Yi Jingwen huffed coldly and had no choice but to leave.

But a seed of curiosity was planted in her heart. How had Luo Tian discovered that there was a hidden space behind that wall?

...

After obtaining the mark’s power from the Flame Spiritual Pool, Luo Tian left quickly.

He had anticipated that Yi Jingwen would likely sense something was amiss and return to check.

Luo Tian didn’t want others to learn the secret of the Spiritual Pools too soon, especially a Core Disciple like Yi Jingwen.

After all, the number of Spiritual Pools was certainly limited, though Luo Tian had no idea exactly how many there were.

If all forty disciples were to compete for the Spiritual Pools, the difficulty for Luo Tian to succeed would multiply.

"Hm? Can these marks’ powers be taken out of Xuankong Mountain?"

A thought suddenly occurred to Luo Tian.

The power of these marks was strong, but not absurdly so. Their might was far inferior to the Red Lotus Sword.

"Of course not! The power of the mark on your hand was formed from the special power of Xuankong Mountain. Once you leave Xuankong Mountain, the power in the mark will dissipate in less than three days."

The Crow said, tilting its head up.

Although Luo Tian found the Crow unreliable, even a bit of an idiot, its knowledge was indeed vast.

He was slightly disappointed that the mark’s power could only be used on Xuankong Mountain.

In that case, Luo Tian didn’t need to be too frugal with it. He would use it when he had to.

"Huh? When did you get that water droplet mark on your hand? How come this god didn’t know?"

The Crow suddenly asked.

Luo Tian immediately had a bad feeling. If he let the Ugly Bird know the truth about how it was used, there was no telling what crazy thing it might do.

"Let’s just hurry up and hunt for treasures. There are plenty of good things here."

Luo Tian changed the subject.

"You’re right. This god still needs to find an audience to practice the Divine Melody," the Crow said.

Suddenly, the sky was covered with dark clouds. Rain began to fall, and lightning flashed.

Luo Tian felt an intangible pressure, and a sense of crisis welled up in his heart.

It was the feeling that danger could strike at any moment.

This was somewhat similar to the Survival Grotto Heaven, where all sorts of illogical crises would appear in the world.

’Looks like the survival trial from Xuankong Mountain is about to begin...’

Luo Tian sighed softly.

The Sect hadn’t opened Xuankong Mountain just for them to hunt for treasures; it was a survival trial.

At this moment, the natural environment of Xuankong Mountain had begun to change.

It wasn’t just Luo Tian who noticed this; the other disciples also felt a faint sense of crisis.

Luo Tian hadn’t walked far.

A thousand meters to his right, a pig the size of a house, covered in jet-black scale armor, suddenly fixed its vicious eyes on Luo Tian. With a roar, it charged!

"Hm?"

Luo Tian showed a look of surprise.

He was wearing the Shadow Cloak. Although it didn’t grant complete invisibility, he was quite far from the Black-armored Pig and shouldn’t have been discovered.

Furthermore, he hadn’t invaded the Black-armored Pig’s territory, nor had he provoked it.

’It seems the survival trial on Xuankong Mountain doesn’t just involve the natural environment, but also Demon Beasts...’

Luo Tian surmised, then casually dealt with the Black-armored Pig.

Afterward, he became even more cautious.

If he constantly encountered Demon Beasts along the way, his efficiency would be too low. The scent of blood might even attract powerful Demon Beasts he couldn’t handle.

Luo Tian used his Calculation Technique to determine the approximate location of the next Spiritual Pool.

Performing successive calculations was mentally taxing, but fortunately, Luo Tian always knew when to stop, content with just getting general information.

He could have deduced precise information, but the mental toll would have been immense, severely affecting his condition. It would have been counterproductive.

「Half a day later.」

Luo Tian and the Ugly Bird arrived at a desolate Gobi desert area.

Along the way, the man and bird had been attacked by many Demon Beasts, but they dealt with them all successfully. They also harvested a good number of precious materials, with Luo Tian taking sixty percent and the Crow taking forty.

"According to my previous calculation, the third Spiritual Pool is nearby."

Luo Tian’s gaze swept over the surroundings.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

In the Gobi, fierce winds howled, and yellow dust shrouded the sky and earth, greatly obstructing their vision.

"The environment is deteriorating further!"

Luo Tian murmured.

He had to find the third Spiritual Pool as quickly as possible. Otherwise, when the real survival trial began, he wouldn’t have much time to search for them, nor would it be so easy to succeed.

After searching for an hour, the Crow flew back, shouting, "Boy, this god has found your fellow sect members!"

"How many?"

Luo Tian asked.

"There are three people outside a canyon. There’s definitely treasure inside that canyon."

The Crow said with certainty.

"Three of them? Let’s go take a look!"

Luo Tian had the Crow lead the way.

Although his goal was to find the Spiritual Pool, he wouldn’t ignore other opportunities that came his way.

Three people gathered together must be plotting something.

On Xuankong Mountain, which was filled with opportunities, the answer was obvious.

Luo Tian advanced stealthily and soon arrived at the canyon the Crow had mentioned.

The first thing he saw were numerous Demon Beast corpses, all recently killed.

Looking up, he saw two bare, yellow peaks soaring high into the sky. Fierce winds roared within, and sand filled the air, making it difficult to see with the naked eye.

But Luo Tian could see the three Yunxiao Sect disciples outside the canyon perfectly clearly.

"Ying Feihang!"

Luo Tian was slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected to run into an enemy.

Among the forty Yunxiao Sect disciples, only three could be considered his enemies: Ying Feihang, Han Yuan, and Qiao Hai.

Running into one of them just showed that Luo Tian’s luck was average at best.

But on the other hand, Ying Feihang was the weakest of his three enemies. From that perspective, Luo Tian’s luck seemed pretty good.

If he had encountered Han Yuan or Qiao Hai, Luo Tian probably would have just fled.

"Attack! Faster!"

In the distance, Ying Feihang shouted.

He was the leader of the three Yunxiao Sect disciples. Right now, they were all attacking the entrance to the canyon in unison.

There, a faint blue Array barrier stood in their way.

As their attacks landed on it, the blue barrier rippled.

Ying Feihang had broken through to the Ninth Layer of the Spirit Sea Realm not long after entering this place. The three of them had been attacking the barrier for some time, but it remained stable.

’An Array this sturdy must be protecting a treasure! Maybe it’s even the inheritance of a Sect senior!’

Ying Feihang thought to himself.

His master, the Third Elder, had obtained the inheritance of a high-ranking Yunxiao Sect member from a thousand years ago right here on Xuankong Mountain, after which he rose unstoppably through the ranks.

"Senior Brother Ying, my Warehouse Spirit Rat senses someone approaching."

A young man with short hair said. On his shoulder, a white squirrel was chittering.

"Oh?"

Ying Feihang responded, frowning in thought.

As long as it wasn’t one of the ten Core Disciples, their small team had nothing to fear.

Ying Feihang could even continue to expand his team. Then, even if they encountered one of the ten Core Disciples in the future, they would have no reason to be afraid.

Ying Feihang planned to drag out whoever was hiding nearby.

But suddenly, a figure emerged from the distant, sand-swept winds. "What are you fellow brothers doing here?"

"There must be treasure hidden inside. If you’re willing to join my team, Junior Brother, you can get a share of the spoils!"

Ying Feihang said nonchalantly.

But then he suddenly found the speaker’s voice familiar, and it made him inexplicably angry.

"Alright, I’m willing to join!"

As Luo Tian drew closer, he was seen clearly by Ying Feihang and his companions!

"Luo Tian!"

The three of them were all startled.

A cold glint instantly flashed in Ying Feihang’s eyes, and True Qi surged from his body!

The other two both looked toward Ying Feihang. As Upper Sect Disciples, who didn’t know about the enmity between Ying Feihang and Luo Tian?

But Ying Feihang quickly reined in his killing intent and revealed a faint smile. "Heh, so it’s Junior Luo. Welcome!"

"Junior Luo’s strength is impressive. With you joining us, we’ll surely be able to break this Barrier much faster."

Ying Feihang continued.

He hated Luo Tian to the bone, but he wasn’t blinded by rage.

Killing Luo Tian wasn’t that easy. Luo Tian could simply run away. If he faced a life-or-death crisis, he could just crush his Token, and after getting out, he could even report Ying Feihang!

It was better to pull Luo Tian into the team, use his power to gain benefits for himself, and look for a better opportunity to get rid of him!

"Alright!"

Luo Tian happily joined the team and attacked the barrier alongside Ying Feihang and the others.

’This kid’s strength is actually quite impressive. An ordinary cultivator at the Eighth Layer of the Spirit Sea Realm would be no match for him!’

Ying Feihang observed Luo Tian.

’However, with strength like that, he wouldn’t last three moves against me!’

An incense stick’s worth of time later.

Under the combined attack of the four, the faint blue barrier shattered with a BOOM!

SWOOSH...

The four of them immediately entered the canyon.

Inside the canyon, fierce winds whipped up yellow sand, casting a murky yellow haze all around. Visibility was only a few dozen meters.

After walking just a few steps, the four of them saw three blue orbs of light floating in the center of the sandstorm.

In the first orb was an ancient book.

In the second orb was a cyan gourd.

In the third orb was a long black spear.

"It’s treasure left behind by a Yunxiao Sect senior!"

Ying Feihang’s face lit up with joy.

The rarity of these three items was hard to discern with the naked eye alone.

They could only judge from the barrier outside that the person who set it up had a profound Cultivation, so the items left behind must be extraordinary.

Luo Tian activated his Qi Observation Technique to observe the Treasure Qi of the three items.

’They’re really good treasures, just as I thought!’

Luo Tian observed that the Treasure Qi on all three items was quite dense, and there wasn’t much difference between them.

Luo Tian compared his Ice Trace Sword to the black spear and found that the spear’s Treasure Qi was denser. Its Tier was likely very close to that of a Top Grade Treasure Artifact.

The four of them had just started to approach.

RUSTLE! RUSTLE! RUSTLE!

The surrounding ground began to churn as yellow sand surged and gathered, coalescing into four Yellow Sand Giants, each a full four meters tall.

The Yellow Sand Giants had no eyes, yet they seemed to see Luo Tian and the others, and suddenly charged forward to kill!