novelraw Chapter 768 - 443: The Revived Statue
Chapter 768 - 443: The Revived Statue
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When he infused energy into the wings, a smile appeared on his face as he flapped them a few times. He veered straight toward the opening on the opposite side.
The slowly reviving stone statues did not pursue Yan Xiaobao; all of them went after those who set foot on the ground. Behind him, screams and the sound of bones breaking filled the air. Upon reaching the other side, Yan Xiaobao had successfully navigated another perilous area inside the tomb.
Thinking back to the many groups that had already suffered casualties, Yan Xiaobao couldn’t help but recall his friends. Gritting his teeth, he had to trust that they would all survive, forcing himself not to dwell on them as he focused on the next hall that lay ahead. Relieved that he had managed to skirt around the ground—a deadly zone where stone statues were locked in combat with the Cultivators—Yan Xiaobao felt fortunate that he could bypass it with such ease. The sounds from behind confirmed it was a grueling battle; although more experts were making their way into the hall, the stone statues were not easily destroyed.
Yan Xiaobao shook his head, clearing his mind, and forced himself not to linger on what was happening behind him. He needed to concentrate on what lay in front of him. At the peak of his awareness, he stepped into the next room. This room was different from the one he had just left. Here, the air was suffused with a strong medicinal fragrance. Surveying his surroundings, he noticed the walls were lined with jade and glass bottles containing pills.
Grinning foolishly, Yan Xiaobao recognized this as a great opportunity for himself and moved forward to pick up a pill. "Stop!" Lan Feng
shouted. His face was pale, his feathers disheveled, as if he’d gotten up too quickly.
"These pills are protected by some sort of inscription array," he said in a grave tone. "This array isn’t as potent as the ones we’ve encountered before. In fact, I’m fairly certain we can break it if we work together, but it will take time."
Glancing at the bird, Yan Xiaobao replied curtly, "Leaving treasure behind isn’t really our style." Lan Feng shrugged, preening a feather as he remarked, "The others should be busy dealing with those stone statues. Let’s disable this inscription quickly." Then, decisively, he added, his voice suddenly condescending, "No matter what I tell you to do."
Yan Xiaobao merely nodded, already accustomed to Lan Feng dictating what he should do.
"Place your hands on the ground and channel your martial power into it. You should be able to sense the energy network beneath. It’s likely composed of many different types of energy you’ve never encountered before. One of these energies locks the pills in place, while others make the traps function. Needless to say, if we trigger any traps, we’re done for."
Suppressing a complaint, Yan Xiaobao swallowed the retort he wanted to hurl at Phoenix and simply waited for instructions on how to select the correct energy without accidentally blowing up the entire room.
"It’s really quite simple," Lan Feng continued, his voice dripping with arrogance. Yan Xiaobao resisted the urge to strike the self-satisfied bird on the head. But now wasn’t the time for bickering; they needed to gather these pills before anyone else caught up to them.
Clenching his teeth and tamping down his irritation yet again, he finally got the explanation he was waiting for. "The room is filled with the scent of the pills, and only the correct energy can access them. The energies often associated with the pills in the inscriptions are the type you’ll need to unlock them. All you have to do is pick the energy that shares the same characteristics as the one within the pills. It could even be the energy ripple’s resonance." Hearing this, Yan Xiaobao realized it was indeed incredibly simple. Without hesitation, he dropped to his knees and poured all his martial power unabashedly into the ground.
Everything was exactly as Lan Feng had described. Once his awareness followed his martial power into the floor, Yan Xiaobao discovered a vast network intertwining thousands of energy threads. Some were strong and emitted energy ripples, causing surrounding threads to vibrate. Others were weak, barely clinging to the network.
Emptying his mind, Yan Xiaobao carefully examined each energy ripple near him, but none matched the energy surrounding the pills. As he followed the network further, his frustration mounted—he was acutely aware of how little time he had before the other experts caught up to him. Some might even have managed to bypass the stone statues as swiftly as he had. If that happened, he’d be in a dire situation.
Quickening his pace, he finally caught the scent of medicinal herbs emanating from a faint, seemingly insignificant energy thread. Though it appeared small, this specific thread carried the scent he was searching for.
Holding his breath, Yan Xiaobao poured his energy into the delicate thread with determination. Suddenly, a massive surge of heat erupted, and the entire energy network began to collapse. Seeing the network crumbling, Yan Xiaobao swiftly withdrew his awareness. Without wasting a moment, he spread his martial power across the entire room and secured all the pills into his storage stone.
"The Saint who set this path clearly deemed it a waste of time. There might be far greater treasures ahead, or perhaps they simply didn’t value these remarkable pills." Lan Feng, as thrilled as Yan Xiaobao, trailed the carnage left in the Saint’s wake. The room, now emptied of its pills, retained only the faint medicinal fragrance of what had been.