Chapter 220: Ancient Barter Array
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“How did that person die?” Watching Xiao Yuncheng vanish, Super Chen, who had been secretly observing him, was surprised.
He felt that Xiao Yuncheng’s death had been a little unfathomable. Before he could clearly see how the other boy had been struck down, the green smoke had already wafted up from his back.
Had someone killed him?
It didn’t seem possible…
With the aid of the eighth-grade hassock, Super Chen had perceived that it had just been the four of them in the vicinity of the ruins. If someone had been using a long-range magic weapon nearby to attack, it was absolutely impossible for them to have escaped the perception of the eighth-grade hassock.
Furthermore… it seemed like he had seen the godly punishment exercise just now.
The sky had abruptly been covered with dark clouds and lightning like silver snakes. It had dispersed once green smoke had drifted out of Xiao Yuncheng’s back. The whole thing had happened so suddenly and then vanished swiftly in about thirty seconds.
Super Chen was very sure that he hadn’t seen wrong.
“Second brother, do you know what happened?”
Super Chen turned his head to look at Wang Ming, who subtly tilted his head in turn to look at Wang Ling out of the corner of his eye.
The person who was the cause of all this acted as if he had had nothing to do with it, his eyes glued to the pack of crispy noodle snacks on the ground not far from them and looking like his soul had flown away!
“…”
Wang Ming knew that Super Chen would be suspicious if he didn’t give an explanation.
After turning his head to look here and there and make sure that no one else was around, he held out his fist. “See this fist the size of a sandbag? What you saw just now is the final skill in my ‘Turtle Wave Heart Sutra,’ the Non-Showy Wave…”
Hearing this, Super Chen felt like his brain had short-circuited.
After several dozen seconds of silence, he suddenly turned his head to look at Wang Ming with shining eyes.
It was a look full of reverence and adoration; Wang Ming felt a little uncomfortable being stared at so fixedly.
“Second brother, you’re too strong!” Super Chen’s eyes sparkled like stars.
In fact, Wang Ming would feel a little sorry when all this was over. Actually, he had really, really hoped that Wang Ling would one day also look at him like that.
But most regretfully, that would never happen.
…
After confirming that there was no one else nearby, the three people began to scavenge the contents of the storage bag left behind by Xiao Yuncheng.
Wang Ling silently picked up the pack of crispy noodle snacks from the ground and put it into his storage bag…
Super Chen had seen Xiao Yuncheng’s astoundment when going through the airdrop box earlier, and after verifying it repeatedly, he took out a one-of-a-kind magic treasure from the storage bag — it was a Phoenix Cup, which was brightly glazed in hues of red, green and yellow.
“So it was the Phoenix Cup.” Even without the electronic illustrated handbook, Super Chen could recognize this magic treasure.
Almost every student in junior high would have visited the history section of the Songhai City Museum, so they would know from the museum’s historical records that this Phoenix Cup was an ancient magic treasure. The rumor was that it was the exclusive magic weapon of the Fire Emperor, who was one of the three emperors in ancient times. The museum only had a small fragment of the Phoenix Cup; the whereabouts of the rest of the Cup had long been unknown.
Wang Ling gazed at the Phoenix Cup, lost in thought.
He knew from ancient books that the Phoenix Cup had a grand history. After all, it was from an ancient era, when Old Demon Han and Old Demon Wang had been around.
Back then, the three imperial magic weapons were great magic weapons on par with Old Demon Han’s Sky Bottle, and were also called demi-godly weapons.
General Yi had clearly made this Phoenix Cup for the military training exercise for the purpose of promoting history among the students. In fact, General Yi had specially designed many of these types of unique and renowned magic treasures from history for the survival contest this time.
Super Chen used the handbook to carefully analyze it, and in the end was amazed. “This Phoenix Cup has eighth-grade lethal power! Even its damage range is eighth-grade! This is a great killer weapon!”
“Maximum grade?” Wang Ming also stared at the Phoenix Cup and raised his eyebrows. “Actually, this design is also reasonable. After all, the Phoenix Cup was exceptionally formidable in ancient times; it was a demi-godly weapon that could summon the fire phoenix. History books say that when the Fire Emperor threw the cup in a fury, it could destroy demon cities.”
Saying this, Wang Ming couldn’t help a tsk . “No wonder Xiao Yuncheng had that expression just now, this thing’s lethal power is really too much. If you throw it at the city center, it would be equal to summoning a godly punishment circle. At that time, whoever is out in the open would be eliminated.”
Just then, Super Chen’s handbook vibrated with a tip; it was Immortal Toya, who had sent a reminder.
Super Chen looked at the content of the message. “Senior Toya says that the toxic fog will begin closing in after ten minutes. Should we withdraw first? Everyone who was laying low in the desert earlier should have already run for the city center.”
“No hurry yet, we still have time.”
As the person who had personally been involved in making the map for this survival contest, Wang Ming knew its environment inside and out. “There’s actually a small magic array in the ancient temple at the front of the ruins.”
“What magic array?” asked Super Chen.
“Have you heard of the ancient barter array?” Wang Ming explained, “Our arrays are based on this ancient barter array. In the olden days, the Ancient Almightys would typically set up this type of array. If you toss something that you treasure into the array, you can get something of equivalent value back in exchange. To put it simply, this is a kind of ‘take what you need’ arrangement. But this type of ancient barter array can actually also be a huge trap, as sometimes what you want isn’t necessarily what you need.”
As the three of them spoke, they walked toward the dilapidated old temple.
Just as Wang Ming had said, Wang Ling saw a semi-shaded small array in the middle of this ancient temple. It actually wasn’t big, just the size of a millstone, and its sides were engraved with indecipherable ancient characters.
Super Chen stared at it in amazement. “Second brother, is this an ancient barter array from the olden days?”
“That’s right.” Wang Ming nodded. “There are now very few people who know how to set up this type of array; this one was personally set up by General Yi.”
“But why would this appear in this survival contest?” Super Chen asked.
“On one hand, it’s to promote history; on the other hand, it’s probably just General Yi’s taste; think of it as an Easter egg,” Wang Ming replied.
Wang Ling: “…”
Super Chen: “So what should we do?”
Wang Ming: “Just throw in anything from the storage bag that’s useless.”
“Oh.” Super Chen straightaway took out the extra fourth-grade hassock from the storage bag and tossed it into the array. The instant it touched the array light, it turned into fine powder which then gradually dissolved in the array.
The small party held their breaths and silently watched the array change.
It wasn’t long before Wang Ling saw a radiant light appear. This was the array spirit of the ancient barter array.
Spirit light flashed in the array spirit’s hands, and instantly three items appeared. The spirit looked at Super Chen with eyes as calm as an ancient well, then asked in a low, magnetic voice, “Excuse me… did you throw the golden hassock, the silver hassock, or… this jade hassock?”
Wang Ling, Super Chen and Wang Ming: “…”