Chapter 1616: Free Labor
After arranging the matter of challenging the Unrivaled Young Emperor, Ling Feng went straight into his seclusion chamber.
Once he activated all the defensive arrays and barriers within the secret chamber, he finally sat down cross-legged and let his consciousness sink into his sea of mind, carefully examining the Divine Wilderness Atlas engraved there.
"These patterns keep feeling strangely familiar. They seem incomplete somehow, like fragments. Strange..."
Ling Feng furrowed his brows and pondered for a long while.
Suddenly, his eyelids twitched.
"Divine Wilderness Atlas... Divine Desolation Treasure Box..."
A thought flashed faintly through his mind, and he murmured to himself, "Could there be some connection between the two?"
At once, Ling Feng swallowed hard.
The secret of how he obtained the Divine Desolation Treasure Box was known only to Yan Cangtian. Not even the Despicable Donkey knew about it.
And Yan Cangtian had warned him clearly that this secret could never be told to anyone else, because the Divine Desolation Treasure Box was the greatest supreme treasure in all of the Xuanling Continent.
Not merely within the Dongling Region.
The entire continent.
Across all five great regions, every powerful expert recognized it as the number one supreme treasure.
More importantly, it was tied to the immortal opportunity left behind on Xuanling Continent by Shenhuang Emperor himself.
Thinking of this, Ling Feng immediately retrieved the Divine Desolation Treasure Box from deep within the Fire Elemental Realm, hidden beneath rolling magma in a place no one could ever reach inside the Five Elements Heavenly Palace.
As master of the Five Elements Heavenly Palace, he naturally had complete control over everything within it and could summon anything at will.
Clutching the treasure box tightly, Ling Feng could not help feeling stirred.
Ever since obtaining it, more than a year had passed without him taking it out again. He had studied it for a long time back then, but no matter what he tried, he gained nothing.
Now, however, the Divine Wilderness Atlas might finally provide a clue.
Following his memory, Ling Feng carefully compared every surface and every broken pattern on the Divine Desolation Treasure Box against the Divine Wilderness Atlas.
Sure enough, he quickly discovered why the atlas had seemed familiar.
Some of the patterns carved on the Divine Wilderness Atlas were exactly the same as those engraved on the Divine Desolation Treasure Box.
Exactly the same.
Gulp.
Ling Feng swallowed hard again.
Could it be that the Divine Wilderness Atlas was the key to unlocking the Divine Desolation Treasure Box?
Only by piecing together the atlas's patterns could he open the mysteries hidden inside?
At that thought, Ling Feng slapped his thigh.
Dongling Immortal Pool and the Blood Shadow Alliance had schemed against one another openly and in secret, sacrificing countless lives just to obtain the Divine Wilderness Atlas.
Yet neither side knew that the Divine Desolation Treasure Box had been in Ling Feng's hands all along.
The Divine Wilderness Atlas was only a map of patterns.
The true opportunity hidden within could only be obtained by opening the Divine Desolation Treasure Box.
"I truly never expected this. Two great powers fought bitterly over it, only for me, Ling Feng, to reap the benefits in the end."
A smile spread across Ling Feng's face.
This was probably what people meant when they said fortune comes when it will, and no one can stop it.
Soon, he calmed himself.
Even though he now possessed the Divine Wilderness Atlas, reconstructing one face of the treasure box into the exact atlas pattern would be an incredibly difficult task.
The box had six large faces and eight smaller angled faces.
The patterns carved across them constantly flickered and shifted, endlessly changing.
He would need to grasp the underlying law of those transformations. Otherwise, before he could finish assembling one pattern, it would already change into another.
If that happened, he could spend his entire life and never reconstruct the Divine Wilderness Atlas.
Drawing in a deep breath, Ling Feng immediately opened the Human Dao Eye, pushing his memory and perception to their limits as he began the painstaking challenge of restoring the atlas pattern.
From what he knew so far, the six large faces of the box likely represented six separate volumes of the Divine Wilderness Atlas.
He only possessed one volume.
But if he could restore even one face, perhaps he could obtain part of Shenhuang Emperor's inheritance.
That was the inheritance of an immortal dao supreme expert.
No inheritance left behind by any martial practitioner of the lower realms could possibly compare.
One hour passed.
Then two.
Then more...
Time slipped away little by little.
Even with the Human Dao Eye assisting him, Ling Feng's progress remained painfully slow.
No, slow was giving it too much credit.
He had made absolutely no progress at all.
Irritation rose in Ling Feng's heart, and for a moment he nearly smashed the Divine Desolation Treasure Box into pieces.
This thing was maddening.
It strained the mind, drained the spirit, and ground away at one's patience.
"Forget it. Unlocking the Divine Desolation Treasure Box was never going to be something accomplished in a day or two. Otherwise, this immortal opportunity would not have remained buried for tens of thousands of years without appearing."
Ling Feng took a slow breath and calmed himself.
Then his eyes lit up.
A moment later, he directly summoned Zifeng.
As for the Despicable Donkey, after devouring a massive amount of Great Peng blood essence, it had fallen into deep sleep.
Little Qiongqi slept even more as part of its daily routine. For high-level demon beasts, sleeping for decades was hardly unusual.
After absorbing a drop of Ling Feng's blood essence, little Qiongqi had coincidentally gained part of the abilities belonging to a child of the Heavenly Dao.
The price was slower growth.
Its sleep cycle might last ten years.
It might even last a hundred.
"Master, what do you need me for?"
Zifeng leaped onto Ling Feng's shoulder without ceremony.
This little fellow was obsessed with shrinking himself into a tiny pocket-sized form and acting cute. Ling Feng had long since gotten used to it.
"It's nothing much. I just thought you must get bored staying alone in the Five Elements Heavenly Palace all the time, so I prepared something fun for you."
Ling Feng grinned broadly.
His eyes carried a very suspicious gleam.
"Hm?"
At the mention of something fun, Zifeng's eyes instantly widened.
"What is it? Heehee, Master treats me so well!"
Ling Feng coughed dryly, then produced the Divine Desolation Treasure Box like a magician revealing a trick.
"In the human world, this is called a mysterious treasure box. Follow this pattern and complete one side of the box. Once it opens, there will be lots and lots of rewards inside. Sounds fun, right? Very challenging too."
"Wow! That sounds really interesting!"
Poor little Zifeng had no idea he was being shamelessly tricked by his black-hearted master.
He eagerly reached out with both tiny hands, took the Divine Desolation Treasure Box, and began fondly turning it over and over, completely enchanted by it.
Ling Feng secretly laughed.
Then he gently tapped Zifeng between the brows and said with a smile, "I just passed the memory of the pattern into your mind. That's what you need to assemble. If you complete it, I'll give you a huge reward too."
"Haha, thank you, Master! Master is the best!"
Zifeng immediately hugged the Divine Desolation Treasure Box like a priceless toy and happily started piecing it together.
Ling Feng nodded approvingly.
"Mm, it seems Zifeng is very talented and very clever. The most important thing for a spirit pet is perseverance. You absolutely must finish it. If you give up halfway, then next time I get something good, I'll only give it to the Despicable Donkey and little Qiongqi, not you."
Ling Feng smiled warmly as he continued his shameless temptation.
"Mhm, mhm! Don't worry, Master! I can definitely complete the mysterious treasure box pattern!"
Zifeng nodded vigorously, face full of determination.
Ling Feng gently rubbed the little fellow's head, then sent him back into the Five Elements Heavenly Palace.
"Hah... I finally found myself some free labor."
Ling Feng grinned.
For a mind-breaking task like this, handing it off to someone else really was the best feeling.
Little Zifeng, don't blame your master for being heartless.
You were idle anyway.
Besides, your master is only doing this to sharpen your intelligence.
His intentions were truly painstaking and noble... at least, that was what Ling Feng told himself.
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