Chapter 323: Skeleton of the Saint Ruler (One)
Jian Chen could feel his emotions stirring as he read the Heaven Tier Battle Skill the Heaven’s Stolen Fortune. Jian Chen had long since knew about the rarity of a battle skill since he had left the Changyang clan. Even an inferior Human Tier Battle Skill was worth thousands of coins and could not be acquired by the most inferior of mercenaries. Right now he had a Heaven Tier Battle Skill, so his heart was naturally moved with joy that could not be described. Jian Chen knew clearly how precious Heaven Tier Battle Skills were and could not be exaggerated to any degree. Any time a Heaven Tier Battle Skill appeared within the continent, a bloody war would follow straight away and would eventually lead to an even bigger conflict.
On the Tian Yuan Continent, there were not many Heaven Tier Battle Skills. Each time one appeared, countless of Earth Saint Masters and Heaven Saint Masters would fight each other for it. Some Heaven Saint Masters fell to their deaths because of this.
Because of the rarity of a precious Heaven Tier Battle Skill, many similarly priced Heaven Tier Cultivation Methods were more highly sought for.
It would seem that this “Heaven Stolen Fortune” was capable of providing enough energy to rebel against the heavens. Jian Chen desperately wanted to flip through the pages, but he was a rational person and forced his surging emotions and stored the Heaven Tier Battle Skill within his Space Ring with disatisfaction.
As soon as the battle skill was stored in his Space Ring, Jian Chen’s emotions were quickly calmed down. Looking around at the people who were searching the cave, he began to join them.
The cave was extremely large and spacious. Hanging right on the ceiling of the cave was a single head sized nightpearl that illuminated the entire cave with its shiny glow.
At the front of the cave was a single high platform that had contained the wooden box with the Heaven Tier Battle Skill. In the middle was a single stone table with a small pile of dust gathered on it. The stone table looked as if it was made from the very same material as the stone door that was protecting the cave out in front. On it was a single chessboard, indicating that the previous owner of the cave loved to play chess.
Right next to a wall was a single haphazardly made wooden bookshelf with several books on it. These books had clearly been thumbed through by Qin Ji’s men, since there were dust piles on the floor in front of the bookshelf.
Jian Chen walked up to the bookshelf and grabbed a book with a sudden look of shock on his face. All of these books were Human Tier Battle Skills.
Jian Chen swiftly rummaged through the remaining books to find that two of the books were Advanced Human Tier Battle Skills and the rest were Earth Tier Battle Skills. Four of them were Primary Earth Tier Battle Skills and two were Middle Earth Tier Battle Skills. This discovery had left Jian Chen in a pleasant mood since this was quite a big find. Since he grew up in a rich clan and had a Ruler Armament, Qin Ji and his men were all men with eyes that were taller than their heads. These Earth Tier Battle Skills were beneath their notice, so even after they looked through these books, they didn’t take them–which was convenient for Jian Chen.
Jian Chen wasn’t as overbearing as they were and began to store away all of the battle skills into his Space Ring. For the sake of the development of the Flame Mercenaries, these battle skills were essential.
Despite the expansive cave, the items within were relatively scarce. Aside from a few things, there was nothing else to be seen. Qin Ji, Tianmu Ling, Dugu Feng, and the yellow robed girl had already scoured the entire cave and even had some choice words with the cave walls.
Suddenly, a noise could be heard from outside the cave as two middle aged men with blood pouring out their mouths flew into the cave before landing heavily on the ground.
These two men were the men that Qin Ji and Tianmu Lin had brought.
Seeing their own men sent flying through the air, Qin Ji and Tianmu Ling instantly grew dark in the face as an aura of killing intent could be felt being directed toward the entrance to the cave.
A cyan colored swordsman wearing black robes came walking in slowly as he argued angrily, “I can’t enter? This cave isn’t even yours, just what reason could you have for blocking me from entering?” As Ming Dong entered the cave, many people followed behind him including an embarrassed Senior An. Right behind him was a large crowd of people who began to crowd the place.
“Who are you!” Qin Ji thundered at Ming Dong dangerously in an unfriendly manner.
Ming Dong didn’t even look at Qin Ji as he searched the five people in the cave before finally discovering Dugu Feng and Jian Chen. With a friendly wave, he spoke out, “Hey, Jian Chen, Dugu Feng, you two are here after all! It seems I’ve found the right place after all!” He spoke as he walked up to Jian Chen and clasped onto Jian Chen’s shoulder as a sign of friendship.
Seeing how Jian Chen and Ming Dong were so close with each other, Tianmu Ling and Qin Ji’s faces both slowly eased up. Despite this, they were still filled with dissatisfaction at Ming Dong. That was because everyone had been allowed entry into the cave with the disturbance Ming Dong had created.
Jian Chen forced a smile on his face as he looked at the people behind Ming Dong as he whispered, “Why did you bring so many people in here?”
Hearing this, Ming Dong suddenly had an embarrassed look on his face as he laughed awkwardly, “Jian Chen, were those guards outside the cave’s entrance a part of this group? If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have been so rough.” As he spoke, Ming Dong strolled over to where the stone table was and placed a leg on it. In the next second, something strange happened as the stone table where Ming Dong was stepping on slowly began to descend into the ground.
Immediately leaping off the table, Ming Dong could only look on in astonishment as the table descended deeper into the ground before exclaiming, “Wh…what’s happening? I couldn’t have activated some sort of mechanism have I?”
Even as Ming Dong spoke, the group of men in the cave all grew vigilant as they began to worry whether or not the mechanism that was activated would kill them.
As the table descended into the ground, it was almost as if there was indeed a mechanism as Ming Dong had said. The cave began to shake as a muffled boom could be heard and a hidden stone door slowly started to rise up from the ground.
“There must be a treasure inside, hurry up and enter before anyone else can!”
“Hurry up and go in, there has to be the Heaven Tier Battle Skill inside!”
The crowded cave of people quickly began to cry out loud as they charged toward the area.
Jian Chen and the others in the group didn’t hesitate for even a moment. In an instant they quickly flew toward the stone door. In a blur of movements, Jian Chen, Ming Dong, Qin Ji and the rest all disappeared from within the cave.
The area past the stone doors was quite small, only a few men could stand inside. There seemed to be a single person resting inside and right above his head was a single fist sized nightpearl that seemed to endlessly pour out a ray of light that would never cease.
As soon as several men entered this small cave, they immediately felt a tremendous amount of pressure coming at them from all angles. It was enough for everyone to suddenly become serious as their hearts could feel the shock; this cave was not a normal one.
Right next to one of the walls was a single jade white bed. On the white bed, a single white skeleton could be seen maintaining a meditative position for an unknown amount of time. This entire skeleton exuded a fluorescent light from itself as well. Although it was only a skeleton, it was giving off an incredible amount of pressure. Even the faint amount of power that could be felt in the room was coming from this skeleton.
“This is the skeleton of a Saint Ruler!” Tianmu Ling shouted out loud in shock at the skeleton. Qin Ji, Dugu Feng, Ming Dong and the yellow clothed girl all showed similar signs of shock at this new found discovery. As they discovered the skeleton and felt shock overtake them, everyone soon quickly felt their blood begin to boil.
In a single flash of movement of Qin Ji that caused a squall of wind to appear, he flew toward the skeleton. At the same time, Dugu Feng, Tianmu Ling, Ming Dong and the yellow clothed girl all charged toward it.
Ming Dong looked at the skeleton with his blood pounding in his veins, immediately enwrapping himself in his wind attributed Saint Force, his speed increased by a terrifying amount and instantly brought him closer to the skeleton. Without any hesitation, he placed his hand on the skeleton and quickly stored it into his Space Belt.
Seeing that Ming Dong had collected the Saint Ruler’s skeleton, Qin Ji, Tianmu Ling and even the yellow clothed girl’s face began to look exceedingly disappointed.
Suddenly, a saw tooth blade Ruler Armament appeared in Qin Ji’s hand as a whip like Ruler Armament appeared in Tianmu Ling’s own hand as they both attacked Ming Dong.
Dugu Feng sneered before pulling out his flame sword from his back before closing the distance between himself and Tianmu Ling to substitute for Ming Dong as a strong individual.
Simultaneously, Jian Chen had already pulled out his Light Wind Sword as he flew at Qin Ji. With a firm outreach, the Light Wind Sword began to exude Sword Qi into the area around Qin Ji, causing him to be forced to pull back his Ruler Armament.
On the other side, the already ready to strike longbow wielder saw that both Jian Chen and Dugu Feng were unexpectedly helping the one that had taken the Saint Ruler’s skeleton. In an instant, she had realized that the relationship between these three were not ordinary at all and slowly withdrew her bow.
Dugu Feng didn’t hesitate in the slightest as he slashed his sword at Tianmu Ling, forcing her to use her barrier. Although it blocked his attack, the force behind the blow was enough to send her flying back.
Jian Chen had no desire to fight against Qin Ji, as soon as he renounced his attack on Ming Dong, Jian Chen drew back as well as he gave an apologetic look to Qin Ji. After all, the man had just given him the pages to the Heaven Tier Battle Skill. Jian Chen wasn’t a man that would show ingratitude to one that helped him, so this attack held no force behind it.
Qin Ji naturally realized the intent behind Jian Chen’s attack and waved his hands in a disheartened manner. “Fine fine, brother Jian Chen, I’ll give you face, this Saint Ruler’s skeleton I’ll give up on.” Despite the dissatisfaction in his heart, Qin Ji was secretly afraid of Jian Chen and did not wish to become an enemy of his. It was with great difficulty that he had established a decent friendship with Jian Chen so he did not wish to ruin it all and become enemies over the Saint Ruler skeleton. Even if he had become enemies with Jian Chen, it was possible that he wouldn’t receive anything and would share the same fate as Jiede Wukang and Shi Xiangran.
“My apologies brother Qin Ji. I hope I did not offend and that you will forgive me.” Jian Chen cupped his hands in an apologetic manner toward him while confused at what just happened, could a Saint Ruler’s skeleton hold some sort of treasure?
“How infuriating! Such a good item was taken away by you, no, that won’t do, I want compensation!” Tianmu Ling seethed with rage toward Jian Chen and the other two. Right now her emotions had grown terrible; even her normal words of “Big brother” were gone from her speech as she called out to Jian Chen in such an informal manner.
Ming Dong turned to look at Tianmu Ling and Qin Ji before slowly walking up to Jian Chen. With a smile, he spoke with some emotion, “Jian Chen, my luck was quite good after all, I’ve picked up a treasure.”
“What is that good for?” Jian Chen had to ask as he looked at Ming Dong with a look of pure concentration for an answer to his question.