After traversing a long path through the cave, Tang Jie saw a giant stone double door.
The stone doors exuded a sense of age that left Tang Jie with an inexplicable feeling of heaviness.
It took a while for Tang Jie to shake himself out of this stupor. Just when he was about to push open the doors, he suddenly sensed something amiss.
He heard a whistling sound, and then several pitch-black crossbow bolts came shooting out from the side. The bolts looked ordinary, but Tang Jie still hastily retreated, not letting those bolts touch him.
The bolts shot into the ground, but nothing particularly special happened.
However, a moment later, Tang Jie sensed the thick energy of death on the bolts.
The power of Destruction.
These bolts had been empowered by the Dao of Destruction. Of course, they weren’t Dao armaments and could only work once, but that instantaneous burst of power was not at all inferior to that of a Destruction Dao armament.
Tang Jie had never thought that the Great Dao could be used this way, nor that this trap would be so simple yet treacherous. Anyone else might have chosen to try and repulse the bolts with energy, to tragic results. Thankfully, Tang Jie was proficient in the Dao of Destruction, allowing him to discover this trick.
He looked over at the doors, which remained shut.
Tang Jie didn’t try to open it, instead looking around. He coldly chuckled. “So there was also an Armory Formation laid out here.”
This Armory Formation wasn’t some special formation, and it had average strength. However, it had been concealed extremely well, and it had also been enhanced with Dao power, which gave it the feeling of a Dao Formation.
However, minor formations remained minor formations, and Tang Jie was able to quickly identify its critical node. He immediately threw a punch, and with a boom, the double doors disappeared, revealing the stone chamber beyond.
Tang Jie realized that the stone doors had been an illusion concealing the reality of this stone chamber.
Within the stone chamber was a stone bed upon which sat a transcendent-seeming man in a Daoist robe. Tang Jie was initially startled, but when he took a closer look, he found that the man was long dead. It was just that some method had prevented him from becoming Returned Remnants and maintained his appearance in life.
Several words had been carved into the stone in front of the man. “Here rests Five Origins. Please do not disturb. Before me are my possessions. Help yourself.”
Other than those words, there was a jade plate.
A book, a jade mirror, and a Mustard Seed Bag rested on the plate.
Tang Jie opened up the book and found that it was a text concerning the Five Elements. While it didn’t discuss the profundities of the Great Dao, it was written in a simple yet insightful style that easily unraveled the mysteries of the cosmos. Tang Jie was more and more amazed as he read on, finding the solutions to some problems that had puzzled him for a long time. He immediately realized its value.
This treatise wouldn’t visibly improve his strength, but it would undoubtedly enhance his understanding of the Dao of Five Elements.
From a certain perspective, it was like the Weapon Mantra, using an art to transmit the Dao, though this was an inferior version. The Weapon Mantra transmitted a Dao Art via a spell, and while it couldn’t fully exhibit the might of the Weapon Dao’s Dao Art, it was enough to form the peerless weapon that was the Sovereign Blade. This Five Elements treatise couldn’t go this far, only allowing a cultivator to more easily be enlightened through its explanations. In the end, what one was enlightened to still depended on the individual. Even so, this Five Origins Dao Lord was very impressive, to have achieved this much.
As for the jade mirror, it was the crucial node around which the formation turned. Tang Jie grabbed the jade mirror and was able to see the situation in the entire valley through it. He saw Flowing Wind and his fellow Immortals, and he also saw Yiyi’s group.
Tang Jie quickly determined how to use this mirror. He lightly pressed a finger on the mirror, and the ants, scorpions, and spiders assailing Yiyi’s group began to withdraw.
Xu Miaoran and the others were right in the middle of battle, so they were taken aback by the sudden retreat of the bugs.
In the end, it was Yiyi who laughed and said, “It’s Big Brother. He found the key.”
Tang Jie had messaged her, and the news made everyone sigh in relief.
At the same time, Mou Siming and the others fell into misfortune, an endless flood of giant bugs rushing at them. Even as Immortals, they found it hard to break out of this sea of insects.
Alas, the Miniaturization Formation had no lethal moves of its own, and Tang Jie could only order all the insects to attack. It was far too difficult to kill Earth Immortals with only these bugs. Fortunately, Tang Jie had never pinned his hopes on them. He just wanted to use up some of their Immortal energy.
As he recovered and the other side weakened, he would emerge the ultimate victor.
The jade mirror wasn’t merely the key to controlling the Miniaturization Formation. It was itself a valuable formation treasure, far superior to Tang Jie’s crystal ball. Tang Jie put it away and then turned his attention to the Mustard Seed Bag.
Inside were white and glossy stones.
“Immortal Stones?” Tang Jie’s eyes brightened.
Cultivators could use spirit stones to gain energy, while Immortals used Immortal Stones, which were spirit stones on an even greater scale. They could be used to lay down Immortal formations, refine Immortal medicines, and also assist in cultivation, refining Immortal Essence.
But these Immortal Stones had only been used in High Antiquity, and by Near Antiquity, all the ore veins had dried up. Their quantity had dwindled until even Immortals found them difficult to come across. Tang Jie had seen several Immortal Stones in Yun Tianlan’s possession, but Yun Tianlan considered them precious treasures that he didn’t even let Tang Jie touch, saying that they were to be used to recover in battle.
Thus, Tang Jie was elated to find this Mustard Seed Bag packed with Immortal Stones.
These items also increased his chances of reaching Immortal Platform. After all, the charge at Immortal Platform required large quantities of Immortal energy, which these Immortal Stones could provide.
Besides the Immortal Stones, the bag also contained some medicines, a book, three divine weapons, and some rather rare materials.
The medicines were all Immortal medicines that could only be used at the Immortal Platform Realm, and they were valuable even if they were only given to Xu Miaoran for her to study. The book recorded several powerful Immortal arts, but Tang Jie was currently incapable of using them. Those three divine weapons were rather average, but Tang Jie didn’t mind.
The materials, on the other hand, made his eyes shine.
This was because these materials together with the Five Elements treatise gave Tang Jie an idea of how to grow stronger.