Chapter 880: A Mysterious Key
The four experts of the Menghuang tribe were forced to give their Space Rings to Nubis and then left with their injuries.
Jian Chen did not take their lives and removed the sliver of Chaotic Force in the three of them. Even if you ignored the fact that he really did not have any hatred for them, the Menghuang tribe also had a person who was a part of the Serpent God Hall. Killing these three would probably cause some problems.
Jian Chen had only come to the sea realm to seek refuge and gain some more time to power up, he naturally did not wish for something like that to happen.
“Patriarch, since the matters regarding the Menghuang tribe has been resolved, we have completed our mission. We shall bid you farewell,” Jian Chen said it plainly with clasped hands to the Dare tribe patriarch after the departure of the group from the Menghuang tribe.
“Warriors, you must be exhausted from the battle before. Why don’t you rest for a few days with my tribe, so that we can properly thank you for your deeds?” urged the patriarch.
Jian Chen shook his head. “I thank the patriarch for his good will but we really have important things that we need to go deal with. We cannot delay any longer.”
Jian Chen and Nubis left immediately after declining the patriarch. They had come to the sea realm to increase their strength and not to play. They could not waste too much time on these miscellaneous matters.
The patriarch secretly sighed inside as he watched Jian Chen and Nubis leave. He mumbled, “Just how great would it have been if those two powerful warriors could stay with our tribe forever? It’s a pity my puny tribe can’t take them in.”
The grand elder of the tribe walked over to the patriarch’s side. “Patriarch, the two warriors have injured the four emissaries from the Serpent God Hall. Do you think the hall will take this as offense?” The grand elder was worried.
The patriarch shook his head. “Battles between emissaries and tribes itself is already breaking the rules of the hall. It’ll be very fortunate for them if they avoid punishment once they get back. Why would the hall punish us over such small matters?”
“The tribe’s like the citizens of the hall. The hall does not take part in arguments and disagreements between citizens unless it gets out of hand. They don’t just take sides so casually.”
…
Nubis and Jian Chen traveled at an altitude of a thousand meters. Nubis constantly sniggered as he played around with the eight Space Rings. He was guessing just how many crystal coins there were in there.
Along the way, the two of them encountered many groups of Saint Rulers and even Saint Kings who were looking around. They were searching for the traces of the Octoterra Map fragment—they would stop human Saint Rulers and Class 7 Magical Beasts whenever they came across any and would question them. Some Saint Kings even chose to take a more brutal method, directly taking and looking through their Space Rings.
Jian Chen and Nubis had been stopped many times as well but since their presences were the Sea race’s, very few people came forward to look for trouble on purpose. However, they did come across a few unreasonable groups of Saint Rulers who wanted to search through their Space Rings forcefully and this almost led to battle.
Jian Chen and Nubis were on the move for an entire day before they finally stopped when they arrived at a desolate mountain range. They carved out a cave in the depths of the range and settled down temporarily. They wanted to spend the next period of time cultivating.
Jian Chen did not rush over the matter of searching for the Octoterra Map. There were experts everywhere in search of the map fragment right now, so if these experts found out they were the ones in possession of the fragment, the pair would be hunted down by everyone. At that time, keeping it would become extremely difficult.
Jian Chen lodged a luminous pearl into the roof of the cave and the darkness was illuminated slightly. On the other hand, Nubis squatted down on the side and began to look through the eight Space Rings.
Nubis really gained quite the harvest this time. There were great quantities of crystal coins—a total of over thirty million—as well as some miscellaneous items in the rings. The amount astonished the two of them.
There were also some cultivation methods, insight on cultivation, as well as two Heaven Tier Battle Skills. However, they were only useful for Heaven Saint Masters and meant nothing to the two of them so Nubis casually threw them to one side.
At this very moment, an extremely obscure energy began to radiate from the large pile of objects. It drew in Nubis’ curiosity, so he poured out the pile from the Space Ring before he started to rummage through it.
An ordinary metal square box around thirty centimeters long and wide was soon pulled out. Nubis examined it curiously and said, “The thing inside must be very valuable.” He then proceeded to open it slowly.
The metal box was made of a very special material. Obviously, it could isolate and block out the ripples of energy inside. It was extremely difficult to discover any energy radiations when it was closed but as soon as it was opened, it would begin to pervade the surroundings.
The energy was powerful and vast, like an emperor of the world. With its appearance, the water-attributed energy in the radius of several dozen kilometers quietened down as if they were scared. It was also like they had met their ruler and they all fell to the ground in subservience.
“That’s too obvious. It’ll attract the attention of other experts. Hurry up and enter the saint artifact,” Jian Chen growled. Before he could take a closer look at the object in the box, a streak of golden light shot out from between his eyebrows and turned into a golden tower. Afterward, it sucked the two of them into the artifact space with the metal box.
A woman silently appeared in the empty cave after they had been sucked away. She was elegant and her face was concealed by a veil. If Jian Chen and Nubis saw her, they would definitely recognize her as that mysterious woman who gave them the Water Spirit’s Pearls.
The light in the woman’s eyes flickered as they became icy. She murmured, “Never would I think that some emperor’s charged into the Sea of Despair and obtained a piece of Abyssal Crystal then forged it into a key. Did you really think you could find me with that key?”
Jian Chen and Nubis suddenly appeared in the central hall of the artifact space. A cool aura immediately began to expand from all directions with them as the center. It filled the surrounding region with dense water-attributed energy.
“Master, what’s that?” The artifact spirit appeared silently beside Jian Chen. The light in his eyes flickered with suspicion as he stared at the object in the metal box curiously.
Jian Chen and Nubis stared fixedly at the item in the box. Currently, the box had been completely encased in a ball of water-blue light. They could vaguely see a palm-sized key lying inside. All the bright light originated from the key.
Jian Chen carefully lifted the key from the box to examine it. The blue light illuminated their faces, dyeing the two of them blue. They seemed rather demonic.
“It’s actually a key. Is this the key to some treasure?” said Nubis as a guess.
Jian Chen pondered about the key before returning it to the box. He slowly closed the lid and growled, “This key must open something important. It can’t be for something insignificant. I just wonder whether the item belongs to the emissary himself or the Serpent God Hall. If it was only his, then that would be easy, though it would be problematic if it was the hall’s.
“Jian Chen, looks like we need to find another place that’s even further away before we go into secluded cultivation. Just in case the people of the Serpent God Hall come looking for us.” Nubis suggested.
Jian Chen nodded. “Artifact spirit, I’ll leave the box here with your for now. Take care of it for me.”
“Yes, master!” The artifact spirit replied hurriedly.
Jian Chen left the artifact space with Nubis afterward. They returned to the cave. They no longer wanted to stick around the area, they quickly shoved the pile back into the Space Ring and left immediately. They flew away.
At the same time, the four emissaries, including Yensen, returned to the Serpent God Hall in a horrible shape. They narrated what they had experienced on the way to a hall elder.
The hall elder was a burly man in sleeveless clothes. His face was vicious and radiated with a brutal aura. The emissaries all trembled before him as they experienced a fear from the very depths of their souls. This was equivalent to the pressure of a bloodline, a phenomenon when the weak faced the strong.
“What! You actually lost it!?” The hall elder fell into a rage when he heard that the four of them had lost their Space Rings. His eyes quickly narrowed into a glare. They became like two swords that could make space tremble stabbed the void.
All four emissaries knelt on the ground as they trembled. They were terrified.
“You four pieces of trash! The reason why we got the four of you to bring it back was to deceive others! Haven’t those pathetic elders told you just how important that item is to the Serpent God Hall before you left? Not only did you go to provoke others when carrying something so important, you even lost it in the end! Do I have any reason to keep you all around!?” The middle-aged man broke into a howl. He directly threw a punch toward the four of them as he reached the end of these words.
“Charlie, calm down!” boomed an old voice. Immediately, a blue screen of light appeared and encased the four emissaries.
As the man’s fist collided with the blue screen, it began to tremble violently before it shattered in the end. The remaining force landed mercilessly on the four emissaries, causing them to all vomit blood. They shot back like cannonballs and struck the wall behind them viciously.
An old man walked in unhurriedly with a cane. The burly man stared coldly at him and growled, “Look at the ‘good disciple’ you took in. He has actually lost something so important. You should know just how important that item is to the hall master. Neither of us can bear the wrath of the hall master.”
The old man replied calmly, “Charlie, the item has already been lost. Even if you kill the four of them, it won’t be of any help. Our top priority is to get it back before the hall master comes out of seclusion. We need to fix our mistakes.”