Chapter 1603: Primeval Divine Marrow
The treasure vault of a great upper realm sect was naturally sealed with extreme strictness.
The treasure vault was not only the most important place for storing the sect's resources, but also a place to hide in case of major accidents. Therefore, one of its entrances was located in the Crown Prince's bedchamber.
The treasure vault of the Thousand Wilds Divine Cult had no guards at all, but it was sealed by six barriers. Each barrier could only be opened by the direct bloodline of the Cult Master's lineage, and it required fresh blood. The final defensive array required stepping accurately on ninety-nine array nodes. Missing or stepping on any incorrectly would trigger the array directly, alarming the entire sect.
Unfortunately, this defense, which was completely impenetrable to outsiders, was as if nonexistent in Yun Che's hands. Sprinkling the blood of the Thousand Wilds Crown Prince and following the Crown Prince's memories, he easily went straight to the depths and opened the door to the treasure vault.
A wave of extremely dense spiritual energy mixed with an equally dense darkness rushed toward them.
The treasure vault was dozens of miles in size, storing countless spiritual stones, profound crystals, precious jades, medicinal herbs, spirit pills, profound tools, materials, weapons, cultivation techniques, and so on.
"After all, it's a great realm sect, at least a bit more impressive than that Nine Radiance Heavenly Palace." Qianye Ying'er said... though compared to the foundation of the Fan Di God Realm, it was utterly unworthy of notice.
All the resources in sight were covered by dark barriers that seemed to have existed for an unknown length of time. These dark barriers were not strong, and breaking them was not difficult. However, once any of them was broken, the scattered dark aura would immediately alert a very large area.
Moreover, Yun Che clearly sensed that these barriers had also been inscribed with soul imprints that were extremely difficult to detect. Once triggered, the owner of the soul imprint would immediately notice... and this person was most likely the Thousand Wilds Cult Master.
Unfortunately, these were also just decorations to Yun Che. With the power of the Dark Eternal Calamity, controlling such dark barriers was extremely simple.
He stepped forward directly, his hand sweeping out. The dark barrier in front of him, along with the soul imprint on it, was slowly erased, making no sound and emitting no aura.
The profound crystals beneath the barrier were also directly swept by him into the Heavenly Poison Pearl.
The dark barriers that should have been foolproof were erased by Yun Che like bubbles. The resources that the Thousand Wilds Divine Cult had extracted from the Thousand Wilds Realm over the years quickly fell into the Heavenly Poison Pearl. At that moment, as one barrier was erased, a pile of dark energy stones with an exceptionally violent aura appeared before them.
"These are very high-grade energy jades." Qianye Ying'er said, "Compared to aiding cultivation, they are more suitable as energy sources."
Yun Che reached out his hand, feeling the aura of these dark energy stones, and said softly, "Very good. With them, [it's enough to complete one long-distance traversal]."
Qianye Ying'er raised an eyebrow: "The Primordial Mystic Ark?"
"Right." Yun Che grabbed with his palm and swept them all into the Heavenly Poison Pearl: "The space-traversing ability of the Primordial Mystic Ark was engraved by the Evil God using the Cosmic Thorn back then. Therefore, as long as there's enough energy, it can achieve instant teleportation like a Void Stone, leaving no trace."
"However, traversing the space of the God Realm in this way requires an enormous amount of energy. These energy jades are enough to continuously power an ordinary mystical ship for several hundred years, but for the Primordial Mystic Ark... for an ultra-long-distance journey, probably only one or two times."
Qianye Ying'er wasn't surprised. If it could truly achieve the same effect as a Void Stone, then even just one or two times would be worth it.
"He Ling, have Hong'er eat all these energy jades now."
Yun Che instructed with a soul sound, then spoke aloud: "With that, the only remaining problem is gone. Let's clean this place out thoroughly."
The various peculiar abilities Yun Che possessed really suited being a thief.
Places others couldn't even approach were like melting snow before fire to him. Soon, the vast treasure vault, the accumulation of the Thousand Wilds Divine Cult's relentless efforts over ten thousand years, was almost completely emptied by Yun Che... ending up exactly like the Nine Radiance Heavenly Palace.
"Very good." Qianye Ying'er said, "This should be enough for you to squander for a while."
"Let's go." The rest were all useless items to him. Just as he was about to leave, He Ling's voice came in his ear: "Master, at the lower part of the right corner, something of a very high-level aura is hidden."
He raised his left hand, and the Heavenly Poison Pearl was flickering with a faint sensing light.
"What's wrong?" Sensing Yun Che's anomaly, Qianye Ying'er sharply turned her gaze: "Have we been discovered?"
Yun Che didn't answer. He relaxed his steps, walked to the corner on the right side, crouched down, and following the position He Ling had indicated, lightly tapped with his finger.
Bang!
With a light sound, the black jade floor beneath his feet shattered, revealing an invisible barrier.
This barrier was extremely high-level and special, without any aura and blocking all auras. It was clearly generated by some special profound tool.
Although invisible, it was completely impossible to see what was sealed inside it.
"A Dustless Barrier!?" Qianye Ying'er walked over: "This thing is quite rare. It's a barrier that can be said to be 'absolutely silent'. It can only be deployed by Dustless Stone, and such Dustless Stone is almost as precious as Void Stone, if not slightly less."
"For a small sect like the Thousand Wilds Divine Cult to have such a barrier... I'm very curious what is hidden inside." As she spoke, she frowned slightly: "Strange, the existence of a Dustless Barrier is almost impossible to detect with spiritual sense. How did you find it?"
Yun Che still didn't answer. He reached out his hand, then withdrew it just before touching the "Dustless Barrier," and asked, "How do I open it?"
"With your current power, it's impossible." Qianye Ying'er said directly, "If it were that easy to open, how could it be worthy of the name 'Dustless Barrier'?"
"..." Yun Che didn't move, his gaze gradually narrowing. After a brief silence, he slowly extended both hands—one hand wreathed in flame, the other in ice.
Qianye Ying'er: "?"
The flame and ice slowly drew closer, then touched. One breath... two breaths... ten breaths...
The laws of the surrounding space suddenly became chaotic. Half of Qianye Ying'er's body felt burning hot, the other half freezing cold. Her beautiful eyes shifted, and she quickly retreated, staring in shock at the flame in Yun Che's hand—a bizarre, pale blue flame that simultaneously released both scorching heat and freezing cold—a reverse-order flame.
"What is... this?" she asked. What lay before her shattered not just cognition and common sense, but also the most fundamental elemental laws!
Yun Che remained silent as the ice flame in his hand slowly descended.
The moment the ice flame touched the Dustless Barrier, the barrier that Qianye Ying'er claimed "impossible to break" vanished silently like a thin layer of ice instantly melted... then dissipated into nothingness.
Qianye Ying'er: "!!"
Yun Che covered his palm, and the ice flame disappeared. A faint, yet incredibly pure purple light shone out, reflecting on Yun Che's face.
This purple light immediately drew Qianye Ying'er's gaze as well. She stepped forward, her golden eyes fixed on it for a long moment, and from her lips came an exceptionally strange murmur: "Pri...me...val... Di...vine... Marrow!"
"You recognize it." As he spoke, Yun Che's gaze was also fixed on the purple light.
What lay before him was indeed "Primeval Divine Marrow," a name derived from what Shen Xi had taught him and the memories of the Mu Ling Wang Pearl.
"This is a true divine object containing Primordial Chaos Qi! How could I not know it!" Qianye Ying'er's golden eyes flickered with an exceptionally strange light: "Although I've never seen it before, that hint of Primordial Chaos Qi, as if containing the entire world, makes it impossible to mistake!"
Primordial Chaos Qi—anything that touched these four words even slightly was an absolutely supreme and sacred object.
Although Qianye Ying'er recognized it at a glance, she said she had never seen it. Clearly, even a realm like the Fan Di God Realm only had records of it, without the fortune to obtain it.
"The Primordial Chaos Qi of the Chaos world is nearly extinct. Divine objects like Primeval Divine Marrow, according to common knowledge, became extinct long ago. This is just an upper-level star realm, a small upper-level sect—how could such a thing exist here? This is simply not something a sect like the Thousand Wilds Divine Cult could possess!"
"This Dustless Barrier, with the power of the Thousand Wilds Divine Cult, is also impossible to open." Yun Che's eyes flickered: "In other words, the Thousand Wilds Divine Cult, 'placed' here by the Burning Moon King Realm, has a purpose beyond the surface-level 'to punish and replace the Tiangang Cloud Clan.' It is also to... secretly store this Primeval Divine Marrow!"
"This is truly an unexpected windfall!" Qianye Ying'er lowered her brows and murmured softly, her golden eyes deep with intense excitement... and burning heat.
Just like when she had learned about the Evil God's divine power on Yun Che back then.
If this divine object, which should have been extinct, was as powerful as recorded, then as long as they found the "correct" way to use it, their own strength could receive a "miracle"-like enhancement.
Yun Che reached out with extreme caution. A wisp of profound energy sank down, and the Primeval Divine Marrow was completely moved by him into the Heavenly Poison Pearl.
The purple light vanished from the pupils, but Qianye Ying'er's gaze did not move. She said slowly, "It seems you have heard of Primeval Divine Marrow before. I wonder if you have also heard of the name 'Primordial Divine Fruit'?"
"I have." Yun Che replied. This name also came from Shen Xi: "It exists only in the Tai Chu Divine Realm, guarded by the Primordial Dragon Clan. I also know that fusing Primeval Divine Marrow with the Primordial Divine Fruit can refine something that should not exist in this world..."
"The Primordial World Pill!" Qianye Ying'er said slowly, casting a sidelong glance: "The Dragon Queen told you all this, didn't she?"
"She is Shen Xi!" Yun Che's voice turned cold.
"Humph!" Qianye Ying'er let out a low, cold laugh, and said, "A Primeval Divine Marrow exists in the Northern Divine Region, and it fell into our hands so easily. I'm almost afraid you've used up the luck of the next few thousand years!"
"But if the Burning Moon King Realm finds out about this," her voice turned cold, "they will hunt us to the ends of the earth! Even in this Northern Divine Region, there will be no place for us to hide."
At their current level, they were far from being able to face a King Realm.
"Time to leave." Having obtained the Primeval Divine Marrow, Yun Che showed no excitement, nor any hint of recklessness: "Before we go, since the most troublesome person isn't here, we might as well tear this place down."
"No," Qianye Ying'er said, "Since we've taken the Primeval Divine Marrow, which is very likely hidden here by the Burning Moon King Realm, we should flee as far and as fast as possible... If you're worried about the Thousand Wilds Divine Cult going after the Tiangang Cloud Clan, then why not send them a 'gift' first?"
A chilling gleam flashed in Qianye Ying'er's eyes: "Today is that idiot Crown Prince's birthday banquet. The important figures who came to the Thousand Wilds Realm are all high-profile individuals from the various top-tier sects... And if all these people died here, coupled with their treasure vault being cleaned out, do you think the Thousand Wilds Divine Cult would still have the leisure and energy to bother with a Tiangang Cloud Clan?"