Qing Feng lightly tapped the stone table with his fingertips, his brows slightly furrowing: "It's three days earlier than expected." The Eight Trigrams compass hidden in his sleeve warmed slightly, indicating the intruder's location.
Would it be a Disciple from Yixian Palace coming from the northwest, or a Disciple from Beast Taming Sect from the southeast?
The magical artifacts scattered across the jade table suddenly vibrated. He immediately formed hand seals, and twelve spiritual runes streamed out from his sleeves, interweaving in the void to form an Eight Trigrams Spirit Locking Array.
However, before the spell could solidify, the profound ice jade at the array's core suddenly emitted a harsh cracking sound, shattering into dust in the blink of an eye.
This Dragon Trapping Array, with the celestial stars as its pivot, was inherently interconnected; now that its core had collapsed, the entire formation disintegrated with a crash, like shattered glass.
Qing Feng staggered back half a step, looking at the lingering spiritual light in his palm and musing: "How did this spirit stone suddenly run out?"
A roar that pierced clouds and split rocks suddenly came from deep within the rock wall, accompanied by a pungent smell of sulfur.
A four-story-tall black shadow burst through the wall, its profound iron-like fist, wrapped in Nascent Soul pressure, shot straight towards his face.
Qing Feng lightly tapped his toes, and his green robes fluttered as he retreated three zhang away.
Looking closely, though the creature resembled a zombie, with crimson eyes and fangs, it was surrounded by an eerie purplish-black mist.
Another punch, capable of splitting mountains and cracking stones, struck, causing rocks to crumble from the cave ceiling. Though seemingly powerful, its moves were as crude as a child wielding a stick.
"Roar!" The demonic creature, seeing its repeated misses, let out a deafening roar from its throat.
Wherever the sound waves passed, the thousand-year-old profound ice cracked inch by inch.
Qing Feng pointed his fingers like a sword, and a frosty sword qi shot out from his fingertips, piercing the demonic creature like a silver needle through skin, turning it into a sky full of black mist.
Brushing off the dust from his robes, Qing Feng frowned as he looked at the now silent tomb passage: "If this is the tomb-guarding restriction..."
Before he could finish, rustling sounds came from deep within the stone wall again, this time a succession of ten similar roars.
The black mist surged and reformed once more, and the massive figure stood before the young man again.
"It can regenerate infinitely?" Qing Feng's eyes ignited with battle intent. His figure blurred into an afterimage, and with one hand, he slammed the misty giant into the ground, instantly exploding into a sky full of ashes.
An eerie black qi silently wrapped around his wrist. The young man's pupils constricted slightly, and the cultivation bottleneck within him inexplicably solidified, while a bloodthirsty impulse surged forth.
The profound art in his dantian rapidly circulated, and spiritual light burst forth in his sea of consciousness, refining all the invading malevolent qi.
As the last wisp of black mist dissipated, he was surprised to find his own small world subtly expanding. This unusual phenomenon made him thoughtful.
Could it be that the rules of this world... As he was pondering, a green feather fan cut through the air.
The spiritual birds on the fan seemed ready to take flight, and as qi circulated, a gentle breeze cleansed all dust.
"Although a high-grade Human-tier artifact is good, it's a maiden's item after all." Qing Feng smiled wryly as he put away the fan, his brows slightly furrowed as he swept towards the depths of the tomb.
The previous battle had been too loud; he needed to change locations quickly.
At this moment, the bronze giant coffin in the central tomb chamber vibrated, and two ethereal figures emerged from the coffin. A majestic figure in dragon-patterned robes gazed at the void water screen: "How can someone not of our Dragon race purify chaotic demonic breath?"
The robed elder beside him stroked his beard and chuckled softly: "The human race's legacy continues, and they have their own destiny."
"How can your brute strength talent compare to our race?" The dragon-robed phantom snorted coldly.
"Back then, the Four Seas Dragon Palaces closed their doors, wasn't it precisely due to pressure from our human ancestors?"
The elder's teasing words made the dragon phantom glare in anger, then it pointed at Qing Feng, who was swiftly moving in the light screen: "Look at this lazy junior! He dared to sleep for over two years after entering the Mystic Realm. How can he bear the heavy responsibility of the inheritance?"
The elder looked at Qing Feng, who was cautiously exploring in the light screen, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes: "Who first awakens from the great dream? I know myself in this life. This child has a bit of this Deputy Head's style from back then."
The gray-robed Daoist's remnant spirit gazed at the void: "The Dao Heart needs to be honed when it's covered in dust. It's time to give the juniors some tempering." A green light emanated from his fingertips, piercing through the tomb chamber's barrier, and the ancient tomb, dormant for a thousand years, suddenly awakened.
The bronze beast-faced patterned brick walls cracked open, and nine Taotie stone statues opened their crimson eyes. The remnant soul of a Xuanjia General coldly chuckled with his arms crossed: "It's as if you're the tomb owner, knowing even the tomb-guarding profound mechanisms like the back of your hand."
"I personally set up the Twelve Yuan Chen Array back then, so I naturally left a back door." The gray-robed Daoist's wide sleeves fluttered, and the two remnant souls gradually became transparent. "The Son of Fortune must bear the tribulations of heaven and earth; this is the ultimate truth of creation."
Deep in the tomb passage, Qing Feng was about to adjust his breathing when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his glabella.
Eerie blue nether-flames rose from the bluestone slab, making his pupils constrict. The Ink Jade Sword unsheathed, bringing with it a chill, and when it cut through the fire curtain, a bronze bell actually fell.
"Human-tier magical artifact?" Before Qing Feng could react, the star map on the dome suddenly brightened, and a purple Xiaolei Waterfall poured down. As he dodged awkwardly, he caught a glimpse of a Xuanjia phantom flashing past, and in his hand, there was another lightning-patterned bronze mirror.
For the next seven days, the tomb chamber was like a living entity. Whenever Qing Feng found a moment to breathe, there would be Kan-Li True Fire burning the heavens and boiling the seas, and Geng Metal Sword Qi splitting rocks and piercing clouds.
By the time he broke out of the Five Elements Killing Array, his storage bag was filled with twenty-three magical artifacts, the most precious being the Earth-tier "Profound Nether Pendant."
When the last restriction was broken, Qing Feng looked at the Spirit Transformation demonic beast blocking his path with a look of relief.
Compared to those strange arrays, this tomb-guarding beast, which only knew how to pounce and bite, was simply pure.
The Ink Jade Sword light was like a reversed Milky Way. As the demonic beast crashed to the ground, the starlight outside the tomb door pierced through a thousand years of accumulated dust.
The young man held his breath, leaning against the rock wall, a faint smile playing on his lips as he gazed at the demonic beast in front of him.
Suddenly, the trembling sound of zither strings pierced the air. A three-foot-long sharp sword transformed into the phantom of a white flood dragon, carrying frosty sword qi that ran through the monster's body.
Qing Feng suddenly turned his head, the profound iron chain at his waist making a faint clinking sound. At the corner of the passage stood a graceful figure in a snow-colored gauze dress. A moonlight satin ribbon outlined her slender waist, and a spiritual rune array diagram, not yet dissipated, hung between her flowing cloud sleeves.
"Immortal Yun?" The young man's Adam's apple bobbed slightly, his voice tinged with just the right amount of surprise.
Meanwhile, Yun Qingrao, facing him, had already formed the Startling Swan Art, and ripples appeared in her usually calm eyes.
She had deduced thousands of possibilities, but she had only missed this idle Disciple who would even stumble and fall into the water while fishing by the Jade Pond.
Qing Feng suddenly staggered forward, his dark robes sweeping across the ice crystals on the ground: "I finally waited for an Immortal Maiden!" Before his fingertips could touch her sleeve, they were blocked by a starlight barrier just inches away.
He took the opportunity to fall to the ground, shaking out half a broken sword and a shattered heart-guard mirror from his Qiankun bag.
"This Disciple accidentally stumbled into the Cold Pond that day." The young man's voice trembled at the end, dark red bloodstains winding along an old wound on his wrist. "If I hadn't found the dragon-patterned array diagram in the secret chamber to protect myself, I'm afraid..."
His words stopped abruptly. When he looked up, his eyes were shimmering with moisture, but his left hand, hidden behind his back, quietly formed the Grand Void Seal.
Yun Qingrao gazed at the damaged magical artifacts on the ground, her frosty skirt fluttering without wind.
The nine layers of restrictions that she had spent seven hundred days and nights breaking, this person actually reached the core by simply falling into a pond?
Her pristine white fingertips traced the lingering dragon scale patterns on the ice wall, and she suddenly noticed the faint golden vein patterns on the young man's neck.
Qing Feng continued to ramble about the heaven and earth anomaly from seven days ago, but his divine consciousness had already immersed itself in the vast sea of consciousness.
The Autumn Water Sword vibrated incessantly in his soul mansion, and seventy-two golden protective lights circulated along his meridians. That dragon breath resonance just now, after all, could not escape the perception of a Grand Void Realm cultivator.