Chapter 165: Primordial Treasure
"Senior Niu is too blackhearted." Jiang Yue grumbled when he saw the iron wolves.
Iron wolves were class one demonic beasts.
The youngest were low-rank class one beasts, while the pack leader was a peak-rank demonic beast.
At the moment, the pack that surrounded the two had thirty-five wolves.
Ten were mid-rank, twenty-four were high-rank, and the last was a peak rank.
"It’s a relatively strong pack." Yu Nianzhen said and frowned.
He wondered why the pack didn’t have any low-rank members, but he didn’t have enough time to ponder before a wolf launched itself at him.
"Be careful." He shouted and released his sword.
"I know. You too."
The two stood back-to-back and began to fight the wolves.
For Yu Nianzhen, fighting was easy because he had a sword, and the wolf that attacked him was only a mid-rank.
However, things were not so easy for Jiang Yue.
He had given up the whip and had yet to come up with an effective fighting method.
"How annoying." He muttered and removed his pipa.
A moment later, a rough note reverberated in the surroundings, and three wolves stopped in their attack. Before they could recover, he rushed forward and kicked them a few times.
Unfortunately, iron wolves were called so because they had very hard skin.
From his kicks, only one had died, while the remaining two were seriously injured.
’Should I learn body martial arts? Maybe a kicking art or a palm art?’ He wondered.
However, he wasn’t really interested in such martial arts.
He could use his body to attack now and then, but he didn’t really plan to be a martial artist.
"What a dilemma." He grumbled and continued to kick the wolves.
When the wolves saw that the two were not easy to mess with, they surrounded them properly and began to attack in groups.
The ensuing fight lasted six hours but eventually, all the wolves were killed.
"I am suddenly reminded of the sea beast invasion." Jiang Yue said as he stashed the corpses in a storage bag.
"Mmmm." Yu Nianzhen agreed but looked a little distracted.
"What’s the matter with you?" Jiang Yue asked.
"Do you feel something in your body?"
Jiang Yue hadn’t paid attention to his body, and he frowned when he heard Yu Nianzhen’s question.
Without delay, he examined his body, and his eyes widened in surprise.
"My realm is more stable than before."
"I am also the same. It feels like my strength has become a little more compact."
After realising the changes in their bodies, the two looked at each other and smiled.
They initially thought that the purpose of encountering demonic beasts was to train their combat effectiveness.
They didn’t think that fighting would help stabilise their strength.
If they continued fighting in this way, their foundation would be very stable when they eventually retreated to break through to the qi transformation realm.
"Let’s adjust our breath and then continue." Yu Nianzhen suggested.
Jiang Yue agreed, removed an array plate from his storage ring, and set up a protective formation.
A moment later, they settled within the formation and adjusted their breath for an hour.
When they recovered to peak condition, Yu Nianzhen removed a map from his storage ring and spread it on the ground between them.
"We should be here." He said and pointed to an area.
"Our current position isn’t too far from the lair of the monarch butterflies. I suggest we find the butterfly first and then take time to practice on our way back. What do you think?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
In fact, he was eager to get the butterfly as soon as possible. In this way, they wouldn’t be distracted when their birthday came.
"Your idea is good, let’s do it." Jiang Yue nodded.
After that, the two exited the protective formation and continued towards the buttonbush groove.
As they walked, they tried to avoid large packs of beasts but dealt with the smaller groups or lone beasts.
In this way, they walked for half a day before Jiang Yue suddenly stopped.
"What’s wrong?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
Rather than answer, Jiang Yue removed the treasure compass from around his neck.
"It’s reacting." He said and showed the compass to the other.
"Where is it pointing?"
Although he didn’t show any excited expression, Yu Nianzhen was quite excited.
All the things found by the treasure compass were good, and he was looking forward to the new find.
"It should be pointing at that tree." Jiang Yue pointed at a tree that was five metres from where they were standing.
The tree was ten metres tall and looked to have been around for a long time if its aged bark was anything to go by.
"Let’s check it out. Be careful." Yu Nianzhen warned.
Although there were no beasts around or on the tree, he didn’t dare to be careless.
They carefully approached the tree but didn’t find the treasure even after searching for a long time.
At this time, Jiang Yue remembered his experience when he discovered the nine-thousand years’ ginseng and his eyes filled with excitement.
He told his guess to Yu Nianzhen, and the other was immediately convinced.
"What you said is right. The treasure should be underground." He nodded.
"Just in case, we should set up a protective formation before we start digging."
After all, they didn’t know the exact position of the treasure.
If they dug for a long time, their movements would be discovered by demonic beasts or worse, other cultivators in the beast mountain.
"You are right."
A moment later, a protective formation that covered the tree and a diameter of ten metres around the tree was set up.
"Let’s start digging from the base of the tree outward." Jiang Yue suggested.
"Good."
After saying that, Yu Nianzhen released his sword from its scabbard and attacked the ground four times.
When the attacks landed, a loud noise was heard and four cracks appeared around the tree.
"Try to see if we can narrow the location."
Jiang Yue nodded and began to walk around with the treasure compass.
After walking for a while, he stopped in front of the north-facing crack.
"It’s down here."
"Alright."
At that, both young men began to dig.
This digging lasted for six hours before Yu Nianzhen’s blade encountered resistance, that was different from the soil.
"I may have found something." He said and began to dig around the object.
An incense stick later, he unearthed a black box that was about one hundred square centimetres.
"What’s in it?" Jiang Yue asked excitedly.
"I don’t know yet."
"Let’s go up and open it."
Yu Nianzhen frowned and said, "let’s open it here."
The protective formation they had set up was only the most basic kind. It didn’t have an isolation function which meant that those on the outside could look in.
"You are right." Jiang Yue was a little abashed when he realised he had allowed his excitement to cloud his judgement.
However, it wasn’t a big issue since Yu Nianzhen had made up for it.
"I will open it." Yu Nianzhen said, and Jiang Yue prepared to protect him.
When Yu Nianzhen saw that, his eyes softened, and he hurriedly opened the box.
"This..." Jiang Yue frowned and then looked at the swordsman.
"How can it be empty?"
The treasure compass was clearly pointing at the box, and he didn’t believe there would be no treasure.
"Maybe it’s the box..." Jiang Yue exclaimed.
"Do you know what material it’s made of?"
Yu Nianzhen frowned and looked at the metal box.
From the moment he saw the box, he felt a little familiar and a little longing.
"I think it’s made of primordial metal." He said uncertainly.
"Primordial metal?" Jiang Yue was surprised to hear that.
In the world, there were five natural elements-metal, fire, earth, water, and wood.
Yu Nianzhen’s tree of life was a primordial treasure related to the wood element. Like the wood element, there were primordial treasures related to each of the other elements.
Although Yu Nianzhen didn’t know the specific identity of the metal box, he instinctively felt it should be a primordial metal treasure.
"How can such a thing be in a place like this?" Jiang Yue wondered.
"I don’t know."
Even in ancient times, primordial treasures were very precious, let alone in the current era.
Because of that, he didn’t believe that such a box would be forged to hold nothing.
When he thought of that, he once again looked at the inside of the box.
However, he still saw nothing.
He then forced a trace of consciousness to leave his body to examine the box.
"Don’t be reckless." Jiang Yue warned.
They were still in the origin-forging realm, and releasing their consciousness was extremely difficult and damaging.
"Don’t worry, I know my limit."
After saying that, Yu Nianzhen swept the box with his consciousness.
At first, he didn’t notice anything. However, when he swept it for the second time, he felt an extreme heat at the centre of the box.
"Could it be..." He muttered, and excitement filled his heart.
