Chapter 122: Mysterious Stone
Ji Changkong did not speak as he continued to walk forward. The crowd slowly followed behind him. Now that they had gotten this far, there was no turning back.
A Jiang Clan Martial Saint suddenly exclaimed in astonishment, “There seems to be someone in front!”
Everyone raised their head to take a careful look. About a hundred steps in front, there seemed to be a faint human figure; his back was facing the crowd.
Why is there someone here? The Duanmu Clan accidentally opened the underground palace entrance. There is no other way in aside from that one. How did this person get here? Furthermore, he is in front of us, The more they thought about it, the weirder it was.
Ji Changkong grasped his sword in his hand; a resplendent starry sky appeared in his eyes. A boundless river of stars stirred up in his body in preparation for an attack. The people behind became more alert as they waited for an opportunity.
When they walked forward, they managed to clearly see the figure. They all inhaled a deep breath of cold air. That was a headless corpse. There was a sword behind him and countless white bones at his feet; there were even a few sets of purple skeletons.
However, he still stood proudly. It was unknown how many years had passed. There was a feeling of time on his aura; a faint pressure extended out in his surroundings.
The starry sky in Ji Changkong’s eyes faded away. He said in shock, “This is the corpse of a Martial Sage. Look at his clothes; he should not be from the Ancient Era.”
“Even a Martial Sage died here; what exactly are the origins of this stone platform?” one of the Martial Saints asked in horror. A full fledged Martial Sage was someone who could split the mountains and overturn the seas.
Ji Changkong shook his head, “Let’s not think about it too much; someone clearly killed this Martial Sage. He did not die because of the stone platform. Otherwise, his corpse would have become a pile of white bones long ago.
Just at this moment, Hua Yunfei had an agitated expression when he walked to the front of the corpse. He saw the symbol of a holy river on the collar of the corpse’s clothes. He loudly exclaimed, “This is a senior of my Hua Clan.”
After he spoke, he carefully searched the area around the corpse. He pushed aside a pile of bones and found a small row of words on the stone platform. He read it in a soft voice, “The path of Hua Tianyu ends here; if any Hua Clan descendants find this, please leave quickly.”
“Hua Tianyu, isn’t that the third Clan Head of the Hua Clan, the most talented Clan Head of the Hua Clan? He disappeared in his later years. Some people guessed he had become a Martial Emperor. I did not expect that he died here,” someone from the side said in shock.
Hua Yunfei said indifferently, “This corpse is the ancestor of my Hua Clan. I believe none of you would fight with me over the things on his body.”
After he spoke, he prepared to remove the Spatial Ring from Hua Tianyu’s finger. A Martial Sage’s Spatial Ring would contain many treasures.
“Hu Chi!”
A black sword blocked his path. Ji Changkong laughed coldly, “Hua Yunfei, have you forgotten the agreement we made earlier? If we find any treasure, regardless of the situation, we will split it according to the clans. You won’t go back on your words, right?”
Hua Yunfei’s face turned cold, “What do you mean? This is my Hua Clan Head. His things originally belong to my Hua Clan. Why should it be distributed to you?”
Jiang Mingxun snorted coldly, “This is an ownerless body. He died a thousand years ago in the wilderness. His body itself is a treasure. Everyone has put in the effort for us to reach this place; why should only the Hua Clan benefit?”
The other noble clans also did not want to let the Hua Clan gain such an advantage. Although, logically this corpse did indeed belong to the Hua Clan; however, when there are benefits to be gained, logic loses its meaning. Hua Yunfei had no means of stopping everyone here, so he was not able to curb everyone’s greed.
Hua Yunfei laughed out of infuriation; he even said ‘good’ three times, “Ji Changkong, I’ll remember this. Jiang Mingxun, don’t think the Ji Clan can shield you forever.”
He pushed aside the sword in front of him and removed Hua Tianyu’s Spatial Ring. With just a thought, all the things contained in there came out.
“Hua La La!”
A big pile of objects came out: Spirit Stones, Medicinal Pills, Spirit Weapons, Martial Techniques, and Battle Armor. All of these belongings covered the stone platform. The exceptionally large pile of Spirit Stones caught everyone's attention.
Under this pile of Inferior Grade Spirit Stones, they even saw some Medial Grade Spirit Stones. These were genuine treasures. These noble clan disciples only had Inferior Grade Spirit Stones at most; it was impossible for them to be holding Medial Grade Spiral Stones.
Spirit Stones were ore found in nature. Not only was the Spiritual Energy in them pure, but there was also a generous amount of them. To low leveled cultivators, it could raise their cultivation by a Grade; high leveled cultivators could quickly replenish their exhausted Essence.
However, there were very few Spirit Stone mines in the Great Qin Nation. Every noble clan only controlled one or two Spirit Stone mines. Furthermore, they were not high-quality mines. It was impossible to obtain Superior Grade Spirit Stone; even Medial Grade Spirit Stones were rare.
Ji Changkong said indifferently, “That’s the way, Brother Hua! With these Spirit Stones, there is more hope of us reaching the peak of the stone platform.”
After he spoke, they started to sort out the objects from the Spatial Rings. Suddenly, he saw a rusted, broken sword. He smiled, “Brother Hua, there is no need to split this sword, you can keep this. This should be a broken Holy Weapon. You will gain a lot if you can repair this completely.
Hua Yunfei casually tossed aside the broken sword Ji Changkong threw to him. He said angrily, “Ji Changkong, don’t go too far!”
Ji Changkong smiled faintly, and he stated in an indifferent tone, “Don’t be angry, Brother Hua. I have already sorted out everything. There are a total of ten Medial Grade Spirit Stones, a hundred Inferior Grade Spirit Stones, three Earth Ranked Martial Techniques, one Earth Ranked Battle Armor, and five bottles of all sorts of Rank 6 Medicinal Pills.”
Everyone was astonished, the belongings a Martial Sage carried were indeed horrifying. When added together, the value of these items was even more than the what the Jiang Clan had accumulated for hundreds of years.
Ji Changkong removed the Martial Technique manuals and handed them to Hua Yunfei, “These are your Hua Clan’s Martial Techniques. Naturally, they should not be leaked. Keep them well; I will not count them as part of the spoils.”
Hua Yunfei had a sullen expression as he held onto the Martial Technique manuals. No one would feel right when they saw the treasures of their Clan Head distributed to outsiders.
While the Hua Clan’s people wore sullen expressions, the group of individuals did not waste any time in picking everything up from the ground. Although the objects in Hua Tianyu’s Spatial Ring were all valuable, the most eye catching were the ten Medial Grade Spirit Stones.
The other things may be considered as most valuable treasures when placed in a small clan, but they were not rare in the noble clans. Only the Medial Grade Spirit Stones were rare. When needed, these would be able to save their lives.
Finally, the Hua Clan obtained three Medial Grade Spirit Stones and the other noble clans obtained two Medial Grade Spirit Stones each. Because of Ji Changkong’s presence, the Jiang Clan gained one Medial Grade Spirit Stone.
After the treasures were distributed, the group continued on their way. They stepped across Hua Tianyu’s corpse and continued forward. As they went forward, everyone felt agonized by each step they took. The amount of Essence consumed with each step became even more intense.
The corpses on the stone platform became even more horrifying. They no longer saw white bones; they were all purple bones of Martial Emperors. Every skeleton caused them to shiver even though it was not cold.
After another hundred steps, the crowd saw a corpse standing tall before them. The aura on this corpse was even denser than Hua Tianyu’s. Even though it was just standing there and had been dead for an unknown amount of time, it still caused people to feel pressure.
“This is one of the Ji Clan’s Heads, “ Ji Changkong suddenly said agitatedly. The head of this corpse was chopped off, but the clothing on the corpse revealed its identity.
He started to frantically push aside the bones on the ground. A small row of words appeared in front of him. He read them out in a soft voice, “The path of Ji Haoyun ends here; if any Ji Clan descendants find this, please leave quickly.”
Ji Haoyun was also one of the Ji Clan’s Heads and was revered as a genius. Back then, he was already one foot in the Martial Emperor realm. He was from the same time as Hua Tianyu; it was unexpected he ended up as well.
Suddenly, Hua Yunfei laughed loudly, “Haha, Ji Changkong, I’m sure you never expected this to happen.” He took a large step forward and pushed Ji Changkong to the side.
Ji Changkong glared at him in anger, “Hua Yunfei, what are you trying to do?” Ji Changkong had been stuck at the peak of Martial Grand Master for many years. When he saw the Sage Dao Comprehension Picture earlier, he gained enlightenment and broke through to Martial Saint. He did not care about Hua Fei at all.
Hua Yunfei smiled coldly, “If you don’t distribute out all the treasures of this person, I, Hua Yunfei, will fight you with my life on the line. No one will be able to continue further.”
Ji Changkong smiled coldly and said in a frosty voice, “Hua Yunfei, are you seeking death?” The six Jiang Clan Martial Saints and the seven Ji Clan Martial Saints all stepped forwards. They were filled with killing intent as they glared at Hua Yunfei.
Hua Yunfei led the six Martial Saints behind him and glared at Ji Changkong without fear. There was no intention of backing down in his eyes. The current atmosphere was very tense; a huge battle would ignite with just the tiniest of spark.
Suddenly, Duanmu Qing spoke, “I feel this place is not simple. I’m sure if we keep walking forward, we will see the corpses of every noble clan’s Martial Sages.”
When Ji Changkong heard this, he was stumped for words. He turned around to looked at the endless steps in front of him. Countless bright stars appeared in his eyes, a boundless river of stars appeared behind him.
“Astral Swordplay, Eternal Light.”
Ji Changkong shouted lightly, and the star that represented him in the boundless river of stars suddenly shone brightly. The resplendent starlight rushed to the sky. It was extremely blinding, causing people not to dare look at it.
The light flickered, and Ji Changkong pierced forward with his sword. A glaring white light fired out above the stone steps. In an instant, the scene to the front appeared before everybody’s eyes.
“Chi!” everyone took in a deep breath of air. Bones filled the stone step, densely packed together, causing everyone to be dazzled. Separated by a certain distance, there were headless corpses standing tall.
Everyone felt their scalp go numb; the shock of so many decapitated Martial Sages was too much.
Why were there so many headless bodies; it was not strange for there to be one or two Clan Heads, but there were countless headless corpses. This was very astonishing; all of these were Martial Sages, so why were all their heads chopped off?
From another direction of the stone steps, Chu Chaoyun carried his sword behind him and slowly ascended the stone steps. The Hole Weapon behind him gave off a faint glow. This allowed him to walk as though he was on flat ground. He was walking at a very leisurely pace, in an incomparably relaxed manner.