Though the Peony Palace's strength was average, and could be considered the weakest of the Nine Eastern Alliance's six fourth-rank sects, their connections were tangled and complicated. They had built a base in Stone City, and had received help from almost every faction. Thus, though the Peony Palace's base was the most luxurious, it was also the cheapest.
Lu Xuan did not continue to pay attention to the imposing encampment of the Mysterious Ice Pavilion. To him, this was merely a temporary resting place. In a day's time, he would head towards the mysterious cave dwelling of the ancient powerhouse.
Once inside the stone palace, everyone took their seats. Elder Tian Hong, who was stationed in Stone City, stood at the front with Pavilion Master Wen Zhiyuan.
Wen Zhiyuan said, "Ever since the ancient almighty's cave appeared, Elder Tian has been paying close attention to all relevant information. Now, Elder Tian will tell you what we know. Disciples, please listen carefully. Who knows, a single detail may save your lives in the secret realm."
Everyone immediately fell silent and held their breaths in rapt attention, carefully listening to what Tian Hong was going to say next. Right now, they were still completely clueless about the cave of the Ancient Almighty, and it would be best if they could obtain some information.
Tian Hong stroked his grizzled beard and slowly stepped forward. "The appearance of this ancient almighty's cave was extremely sudden. There was no prior warning. Though we and the others stationed in Stone City have been doing our best to gather information, we still don't know much. It's not just us, I'm sure the other great sects are the same. Perhaps the Nine Eastern Alliance knows a bit more, but they haven't revealed anything. What I know, I've heard through some special channels."
Tian Hong didn't say what channels he used, nor did he need to tell them. This was considered a secret. The Profound Ice Pavilion's branch in Stone City had taken root for so long, it was only natural that they had their own special forces.
Of course, no one was interested in knowing. They were more concerned about the information.
"Two nights ago, there was a sudden earthquake in Stone City. Some of the less sturdy buildings even collapsed, alarming everyone. At the time, the Nine Eastern Alliance was mobilized, thinking that someone had forcefully bombed the mine in an attempt to profit from it. But when they came out, they discovered that wasn't the case.
"To the east of Stone City, there was a violent wave of Yuan Energy. Even after the quake ended, it didn't stop for a long time. The entire sky was lit up like it was daytime. I'm sure you can feel the abnormal Yuan Energy in Stone City. This is the disturbance caused by the ancient almighty's cave."
"At that time, the cultivators from the Fourth Grade Sects and the experts from the Jiuhua Alliance made their way there. We discovered a massive mountain range that had been cut off from the middle. A gigantic magic array stood within. The magic array flickered with a hazy white light, making it impossible to see what was inside. Even so, we were able to immediately recognize that this was the birth of a new Secret Zone. After all, such occurrences are not uncommon in the Heavenly Sword Continent."
"Realizing that this was a new Arcana Land, countless martial artists were overjoyed and rushed straight into it. They wanted to seize the initiative and explore the treasures in the Arcana Land. At first, it was nothing, but when they were less than a foot away from the array, an invisible pressure burst out and annihilated the group of martial artists in an instant!"
"Indeed, they were annihilated. Not even their bones were left. It was as if they had vanished into thin air. Most of those who died were rogue cultivators and clan warriors. After all, our sects have their own rules, so there weren't many who wanted to rush in first. Even so, our Profound Ice Pavilion lost two tenth and two ninth stage Spirit Refinement cultivators."
Tian Hong's face didn't show any sorrow when he spoke of his four fallen comrades. These four had disobeyed orders, and deserved to die.
He paused for a moment, then continued, "Following the deaths of so many cultivators, we realized that this Hidden Realm was unusual. After a period of stalemate, the Alliance of Jiuhua took the lead. They sent several Virtualized Realm cultivators from the Alliance of Jiuhua, including some at the late Virtualized Realm. With their help, the five Virtualized Realm cultivators were able to resist the pressure within a one-foot radius of the formation. Even so, they were unable to enter the Hidden Realm."
"Later on, someone suggested that this might be an inheritance ground left behind by an ancient powerhouse. They suggested for weaker and young martial artists to try it out. Under the protection of the five Great Void Realm experts, they were able to successfully send in two martial artists below the age of 25, whose strength was below the Origin Realm. This also confirmed our guess."
"Elder Tian, we already know about these things. What else is special?" It was Leng Qingqiu who asked. He knew that his talent was extraordinary. If it really was an inheritance cave of an ancient powerhouse, he might have a chance. Naturally, he was very concerned.
"Martial Nephew Leng, don't be impatient." Tian Hong said indifferently. Although Leng Qingqiu was Nangong Shuo's disciple, he was in Stone City. There was no need for him to be too polite to a junior like the other elders. Furthermore, he had a life and death friendship with Wen Zhiyuan when he was young. In the entire Profound Ice Pavilion, the only person worthy of his politeness, other than Wen Zhiyuan, was Zhao Ying. Because Zhao Ying was the daughter of the previous Pavilion Master, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Elder Tian had watched her grow up.
"Because we've decided to send the disciples of the various sects to search for opportunities, we haven't stopped exploring this ancient powerhouse's cave for the past two days. After some exploration, we finally found something."
Speaking up to here, Elder Tian paused again before continuing, "That array that prevents us from investigating actually has a trace of a characteristic that we are extremely familiar with!"
"What characteristic?" This time, many people asked at the same time. Their curiosity had all been aroused by Elder Tian.
Elder Tian smiled slightly and said, "The characteristics contained in this formation are almost exactly the same as the outer shell that covers the ores produced by Stone City, making it impossible for us to investigate!"
Lu Xuan said thoughtfully, "That is to say …. The unique ores produced by Stone City are probably related to this cave? Or could it be that they came from this abode? "
Tian Hong looked at Lu Xuan approvingly and said, "That's right! The mountain range in which the ancient powerhouse's cave appears is the place with the highest probability of finding ores. Our guess is that this ancient powerhouse's cave might have appeared a few times in the past countless years, but all of them ended in failure. In the end, it caused a powerful Yuan Energy fluctuation in the cave, causing countless rare ores to burst out of the formation. When they burst out of the cave, they were enveloped by the aura of the formation, thus forming the wondrous ores. "
Hearing this, everyone could not help but exclaim in surprise. They did not expect the existence of Stone City to be due to the existence of this ancient powerhouse's cave. In this way, everyone became even more expectant of this mysterious cave. Just the Yuan Energy fluctuation alone was able to shoot out so many rare ores. What kind of treasures were inside the cave?
At this moment, Lu Xuan said to Zhao Bing`er and the rest in a low voice, "Looks like we have to go to this stone gambling. Even if it's not to find those rare ores, we might be able to gain something if we can understand the outer shell that covers the ores."
This time, Zhao Bing`er also nodded. Once they entered the cave, everything was beyond their control. If they could gain something before then, that would undoubtedly be excellent.
"There's another piece of news." Elder Tian spoke, once again interrupting the whispers of the crowd.
"After going through countless channels and halls, we finally confirmed that the disciples of the Jiuhua Alliance who entered the ancient powerhouse's cave brought out several enchantment scrolls."
Enchantment scrolls? Hearing this familiar yet strange term, everyone couldn't help but feel a little surprised. They were no strangers to enchantment scrolls, but as everyone knew, enchantment was only a step before becoming a talisman master. Their enchantment abilities were relatively limited, and they could only enchant low-grade artifacts. There were almost no enchantment scrolls that could enchant high-grade artifacts.
As for everyone present, even the weakest among them was using a high-grade Human-level treasure weapon. Some were even using Earth-level treasure weapons. Enchantment scrolls were completely useless to them. It was precisely because of this that Lu Xuan stopped practicing enchantment after realizing this. Instead, he turned to talisman techniques. What did Elder Tian mean when he mentioned enchantment scrolls?
Elder Tian had already anticipated everyone's doubts. He calmly said, "According to a reliable source, these enchantment scrolls have already been successfully enchanted on the Earth-step treasures, greatly increasing the power of the weapons."
As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere in the great hall suddenly heated up! The breathing of countless martial artists began to quicken.
After reaching the Origin Realm, it was extremely difficult to increase one's strength by even a little. If the enchantment scrolls produced in the ancient powerhouse's cave could enchant their weapons, it would be equivalent to increasing their strength by several times! Don't look at weapons as mere worldly possessions. In a battle, it would be impossible to lose these worldly possessions!
Lu Xuan was also incomparably surprised. Enchantment could actually enchant earth-grade artifacts and above. This had completely overturned his previous view of enchantment. He had personally experimented with it before. Even the ancient enchantment technique he obtained was only ahead of the Sky Sword Continent in terms of enchantment runes. It was still unable to enchant high-grade artifacts. He didn't expect the ancient powerhouse's cave to contain such a secret.
If anyone could master this enchantment technique, they would instantly become a huge, delicious cake. If any sect could obtain it, their strength would increase by leaps and bounds in a short period of time!
Lu Xuan believed that there was no martial artist that wouldn't want it, and no sect that wouldn't covet it!
"It is said that those disciples only moved around the periphery for a while. As for what other treasures are inside, I don't know for now. But if there are such treasures in the periphery, then the treasures inside must be extraordinary. I dare to say that this ancient powerhouse's cave is definitely the most precious place in the past hundred years. It is not an exaggeration to say that it can even further promote the development of the Sky Sword Continent!" Elder Tian's gaze swept across the crowd. "Whether or not you can obtain great benefits from this cave depends on your disciples' luck."
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