Chapter 386 – Celestial Bound Inscription Pattern Array
The trio stepped into the side chamber and were greeted by the sight of a grand hall, hundreds of meters in radius, supported by towering stone pillars that were dozens of meters high.
Everything, from the ground to the pillars to the walls, was filled with mysterious inscription patterns.
The designs spiderwebbed over every surface and filled every possible crack and crevice.
Dozens of chests, forged of pure gold, were scattered throughout the hall. Each one was tightly shut, concealing its contents from prying eyes. Embedded into the lid of each chest was a Luster Pearl, magnificent and dazzling to the eyes.
One could tell that the chest’s contents definitely weren’t ordinary, just by looking at the craftsmanship of the chest.
Wu Yazi’s eyes glowed with greed when he laid eyes on the chests. He wanted to immediately rush forward and open them.
Nie Li extended a hand to stop Wu Yazi. “Do you want to die?”
“What?” Wu Yazi asked him in confusion.
“The floor, the walls, and even the pillars are filled with inscription patterns. Those are all part of the Celestial Bound Inscription Pattern Array. One wrong step will set off the trap. The patterns will melt into formless chains that will bind you, causing you unable to breath and in the end, dying from burnout. And by that, I mean they’ll wring you out until even the last drop of flesh is gone from your body.” Nie Li answered darkly. “Not even Heavenly Axis nor Dao of Dragon Realm experts can escape it!”
Wu Yazi looked back at the densely packed designs on the wall, and his heart quivered. He stared at them for a moment, then shook his head and said, “In that case, could we fly over them?”
Nie Li looked at Wu Yazi with a cold smile. “You can try.”
Wu Yazi caught the message in Nie Li’s tone, so he asked, “Then, does that mean we can’t get to those chests? They’re overflowing with Heavenly Energy, so there should definitely be some remarkable treasures inside. It’d be such a waste to leave them!”
Nie Li looked back at him and said, “I did say that you can’t walk around freely. But I didn’t say that there’s no way to get them. I told you to listen to me once we got inside, remember? But there’s one other thing; how are we going to split the treasures after we get them? I won’t go for fifty-fifty!”
Wu Yazi was silent for a brief moment, then he raised his head and said, “Fine. In that case, you guys can take the first pick. Sixty percent. Is that alright?” Wu Yazi still planned to kill Nie Li and Xiao Yu, and under those circumstances, he’d get the treasures back anyways. Therefore, it made no difference to him whether Nie Li and Xiao Yu got first pick.
Nie Li looked at Wu Yazi and said, “First pick? That’s not what I meant. I made a quick count; it looks like there are twenty-six Gold Jade Treasure Chests. We don’t even know their contents. But whoever opens them gets the items. Does that sound fair?”
Wu Yazi thought things over briefly, then replied, “Fair.”
“Alright then. Now you have to listen to my instructions. Take seven steps forward. Three to the right. Six forward… Make sure your steps are three feet wide!” Nie Li commanded.
Wu Yazi looked at Nie Li, then back at the inscription patterns. “Is that really going to work? You’re not lying to me, right?”
This chamber was filled with Celestial Bound Inscription Pattern Array. One misstep and he’d be strangled to death. What if Nie Li was planning to use it to get rid of him?
Nie Li placated him. “Don’t worry about that. There’s no benefit in killing you. We’re just two Heavenly Fate Realm experts. Even if we got the treasures, we wouldn’t be able to bring it out of the Void Illusionary Divine Palace without your backing. If we get killed during escape, then others would steal our treasures. We wouldn’t do anything that stupid.”
Wu Yazi considered Nie Li’s words and realised that there was some sense in his logic. Without his protection, these two Heavenly Fate Realms definitely wouldn’t be able to enter the Void Illusionary Divine Palace. His death wouldn’t benefit Nie Li!
“Alright!” Wu Yazi replied, as he moved per Nie Li’s instructions.
Everything was just as Nie Li had said. The inscription patterns under him remained inactivated has he reached the first Gold Jade Treasure Chest, leaned down, and opened it.
A golden-armoured puppet popped out and brandished its fist towards Wu Yazi.
This puppet was at least of the Heavenly Axis Realm!
There was no treasure; instead, Wu Yazi had been attacked. Wu Yazi was surprised and he returned the puppet’s fist.
*Boom!*
A shockwave resulted from the powerful impact. Even though the golden-armoured puppet had a 5-stage Heavenly Axis Realm strength, it was still too weak compared to Wu Yazi. He destroyed it in a single punch.
Wu Yazi patted his chest, sighed in relief, and said, “That startled me! There wasn’t any treasure at all! I almost got killed by that damn thing instead!”
Nie Li smiled and said, “The master of the Void Illusionary Divine Palace must be playing a prank on you! Stay where you are. I’ll let Xiao Yu go next!”
Wu Yazi called to them, “There aren’t any treasures in these chests, only these damned things. You’re just a Heavenly Fate Realm. Aren’t you afraid of getting killed? It’ll be safer if you leave them to me!”
“The first chest has been opened. You can go ahead and take a step, but I’ll guarantee you a gruesome death! The only way you can move is if we open the second chest! Xiao Yu, make sure you move according to my instructions!”
Xiao Yu nodded. She didn’t know if there’d be another golden puppet hidden in the second chest, but she had extreme confidence in Nie Li; she didn’t doubt his words in the slightest. Either way, the most that would happen was that she’d be sent back upon death.
“Forward three steps. Left six. Back two. Left three…” Nie Li commanded Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu moved forward, arrived before the second chest, and carefully lifted the lid.
A brilliant sheen lit the room and a majestic Heavenly Energy poured out, both stemming from the treasure within the chest.
Xiao Yu peered into the chest and exclaimed in astonishment, “They’re gold spiritual stone essences! There must be dozens of them!”
Gold spiritual stone essences are extremely rare and can be used for cultivation, much like ordinary spiritual stones. A single piece of gold spiritual stone essence is equivalent to a hundred spiritual stone essences, which is also equivalent to hundreds of thousands of regular spiritual stones. If used to forge artifacts, the results would be Grade 8 or 9, at the very least!
The Heavenly Energy had been thinning out over the past tens of thousands of years. Even regular spiritual stone essence had become hard to come by, not to mention gold spiritual stone essence!
Dozens of precious gold spiritual stone essence!
That was an absolutely frightening wealth!
Wu Yazi’s eyes turned red the instant he saw them. Even a single piece of gold spiritual stone essence would be extremely valuable, not to mention dozens of them!
Xiao Yu stored them away.
Wu Yazi watched Xiao Yu put the spiritual stone essences away in her interspatial ring, and couldn’t help trying to console himself.
‘It’s stored inside Xiao Yu’s ring, so it’ll be mine, sooner or later!’ He felt a little better when he thought that.
He couldn’t wait to open another one. He then turned back to Nie Li and said, “Hurry up, can we get to the third chest?”
Nie Li glanced at Wu Yazi and said, “The third one is mine…” before he took his steps toward the third treasure chest.