Chapter 327: Entering the Vault, Now What?
"Hehehe, check this out. I think this is the path to the secret passage of the royal family!"
"Meh, what if it's just a shithole? This place has nothing but a ruined palace. The jewels and the treasures should have already been cleaned by that orc and their followers. They might still be in there! If we follow them, we might run into trouble!"
Two middle-aged men had been inspecting the remains of the summer palace, searching for leftover treasures, precious gemstones, or discarded items.
The thieves had already looted three palaces, the spring palace, the winter palace, and the autumn palace. However, they got only mundane treasures, which were useless for cultivators.
They had seen how Miaomiao, Fogan, and Liu Guang deconstructed the building, but they were intimidated by Fogan's cultivation base. As they were merely 5th-stage rogue cultivators, they avoided confrontation with the stronger foes.
And now, one of them found an entrance to the underground levels, which Miaomiao had entered.
"I doubt there's only one entrance from here. Most royalties and nobles have these cliché underground passages everywhere, and there are more than two or three exits! Let's go, man. We should follow them and."
"Not a chance, asshole. We've already gotten enough. With the current treasures, they should fetch about 10 to 20 refined spirit stones. It's not worth risking our lives for a handful more."
"Tsk. You're a fucking sissy. Fine! We'll head back!"
The thieves turned away from the passage and walked away.
WHOOSH
WHOOSH
As the thieves had been preparing to leave, two cultivators in white clothes descended and landed in front of them. Their Mount Hua Sect's uniforms shone under the sunlight.
The duo jumped back in panic. Upon sensing the cultivation of the leading old man, they cupped their fists and be respectful.
"S-Senior. Greetings!"
"Honorable Mount Hua Sect! We didn't know that you were in the area. Hello, sir!"
Ling Cao stared at the two thieves. As the latter had been stalking Miaomiao's group, Ling Cao and Ling Tianlong had been watching their activities ever since the thieves had been searching this palace.
Among all four palaces, the summer palace was the most suspicious place since it was in ruin. Ling Cao and Ling Tianlong came here to check what had happened to the building, but they found the duo instead.
Ling Cao extended his hand, "Give us your spatial rings, and we'll overlook your evil deed."
"W-What?"
The thieves were shocked. From the general rumor, the Mount Hua Sect was well-known for its uprightness and obsession with justice. However, this was their first time encountering them, and their impression was different than what the rumor said.
"I won't repeat myself again. Hand over your spatial rings."
"…"
The thieves looked at each other as Ling Cao's action was no different than common rogues, who robbed weaker cultivators. They wanted to resist, but they were afraid of the elder.
"Okay, senior. We surrender. Please don't kill us..."
"Who do you think I am!? I'm Ling Cao, the 3rd elder of the Mount Hua Sect! Do you think I will waste my blade to kill the likes of you, thieves? Now, hand over your spatial rings and scram before I change my mind!"
No matter how Ling Cao sugarcoated his words, his intention was the same - He simply robbed his juniors and pretended to be righteous.
As the thieves were about to pass their rings to Ling Cao, a blue portal opened nearby and ejected Miaomiao out.
…
As the portal opened horizontally, sending Miaomiao down as if he had fallen into a hole. He fell on his butt to the concrete floor.
The portal remained open, but strange chains appeared, blocking the access.
"Take it easy, jeez!"
Miaomiao grumbled as he slowly stood up and patted his pants. Then, he looked around, after which he noticed the four pairs of eyes that had been watching him.
At the same time, the archaic voice reminded him.
[Kill the two thieves, and we shall allow acknowledge you.]
'Two thieves? But which one?'
Miaomiao looked at the two 5th-stage cultivators, the nascent soul elder, and the teenager with the same cultivation base as himself. Though his instinct told him that the thieves might be the two 5th-stage cultivators, the people in a white uniform were also suspicious, especially the youth with an unusual cultivation base.
The youth also paid attention to Miaomiao's strength. Ling Tinglong pointed his finger at Miaomiao's face.
"I remember him. He accompanied the orc."
"Hmm?"
Ling Cao raised his eyebrows and inspected Miaomiao again. Then, he noticed the similarity between his disciple and the guy.
"Haha! He's quite impressive. I think you're not the only one with the special physique."
"… I know."
Ling Cao walked a few steps closer to Miaomiao and crossed his hands behind his back, looking prideful, "Junior, what's your name?"
Miaomiao stared at the elder, wondering what he was up to. Also, this person seemed rude as he didn't introduce himself first before he asked for his name.
"This junior is Cao Mao. Who might you be?" Miaomiao played along since he didn't want to fight a nascent soul cultivator at the moment.
"Cao Mao? Oh, you must be from the infamous Siren City, the Cao Clan, am I correct?" The elder didn't bother telling Miaomiao his name. Now, he proceeded to interrogate him, "Tell me the truth, Cao Mao. Are you in league with demons and demon worshipers? Did you raze the Red Sun City?"
Miaomiao hated this one-sided treatment. Also, the answers to these questions might trigger a fight.
Since answering these questions was troublesome, Miaomiao changed the subject, "Which one of you robbed something from the Liu Clan?"
"…"
The elder squinted his eyes as he didn't like how Miaomiao ignored him.
Meanwhile, the thieves detected hostility between the Mount Hua Sect and the newcomer. They attempted to capitalize on this opportunity to escape.
"W-We are! We are about to pass our spatial rings to this elder as an apology."
"I see."
Miaomiao nodded as he got the confirmation that he needed. He kicked the ground and gathered his essence in his right index and middle finger.
In a flash, Miaomiao appeared behind one of the thieves. With his fingers and his perception, the sword hand punctured through the back of a thief's skull, destroying a portion of his brain.
As if White Album knew what she was supposed to do, an ice lance manifested under another thief's feet.
SHING
The ice spear extended from the ground and impaled him from below. The speartip exited through his head.
Just like that, Miaomiao ambushed and slaughtered the two thieves on the spot. He didn't even bother stealing their spatial rings as he turned tail and flew toward the portal, which had sent him to this place.
The chains, which had blocked the portal, were gone. Miaomiao also saw the portal shrinking, hinting that he didn't get much time to reenter the previous realm.
"STOP!!"
The elder activated his domain ability, planning to stop Miaomiao from running away. Suddenly, flower petals enveloped the entire summer palace ruin.
Each petal was as sharp as a razor blade. Just by flying into the storm of flowers, the petal cut through Miaomiao's skin like butter.
After getting cut by a dozen of the petals, Miaomiao snorted and activated a clone technique.
Two Miaomiaos appeared in front of the real body. They covered themselves with dragon fire element Qi and dragon scales!
The petals caught flame and disintegrated as the two clones became Miaomiao's meat shield, rushing through the storm of blade petals.
"You shall not escape!"
Ling Tianlong decided to act when Miaomiao activated his clones. He had already found the real body, and he got into his sword range.
Ling Tianlong drew his broadsword. His presence and killing intent soared as soon as the treasure sword came off from its sheath.
Without looking back, Miaomiao could sense the tremendous volume of Life Essence from behind. He activated the skill that he had recently got from Xie Tian right away.
Fire Dragon Transformation!
Miaomiao's skin and body hardened. Hard scales covered every part of his body, including his balls. His face extended forward, turning into the face of a water monitor lizard. The red eyes were coated with waterproof lenses and turned into the second layer of Miaomiao's eyelids.
Now, Miaomiao transformed into a dragonewt, but he looked uglier than Xie Tian's version due to his demonic bloodline. Instead of having a cool dignified look of a proper dragonkin, he became a lizardman.
Still, the natural defense of this physique was all it mattered.
CLANK!
Ling Tianlong's broadsword cut through Miaomiao's clothes from the back, but he failed to cause even a scratch wound on the dragon scale skin.
Miaomiao glanced back after he had sensed the impact. Then, he flickered his tongue like a komodo dragon, mocking the protagonist.
"See ya, sucker! You can have their corpses!"
"YOU!!"
Miaomiao's body entered the portal, which immediately closed after he had entered.
Ling Tianlong flew through the place that Miaomiao had flown in, but he failed to enter the unknown gate.
For the first time in his life, Ling Tianlong's failed to capture his target.
"…"
Ling Tianlong stared at the place that the portal had closed in disbelief. A second later, he calmed down and recollected his memory about people with dragonewt physique.
His eyes sharpened as he thought of several immortals.
"Dragonkin..."
…
Upon entering the portal, Miaomiao returned to the void platform. He didn't bother undoing his transformation as he enjoyed scratching his lizard-like chin and skin with his claws.
The hands of Miaomiao turned into that of a lizard's claw. He could claw people with his hard nails instead of using a weapon, but he was using it as a scratcher to tickle his hard skin.
As soon as he revisited this realm, the archaic voice resounded once more.
[Good job. Now, you've proven your worth to the Liu Clan. You can enter the vault with the soul of the Liu Clan's descendant. However, you can only take one item from the vault. Taking more than one and you shall be trapped in this void realm forever!]
A red portal appeared, inviting Miaomiao to go in.
"Haha! Finally!"
Miaomiao swagged into the portal in glee, after which he appeared in a golden passageway, containing shelves of sparkling items on both sides.
His red eyes glittered as if they were the reflection of these shiny items.
Heaven-grade artifacts
Technique manuals
Unknown spatial boxes with several items inside
Scary-looking knight armors
A mountain of essence cores and refined stones
Gold Bars that emitted Gold Element Qi
Various color element crystals
And much more!
After a brief scanning, over 10,000 items lined up on the shelves, but there were more in the grand hall, which contained the mountain of essence cores and refined stones at the center.
Looking at the treasure vault, Miaomiao was on the verge of screaming, "I'm rich!"
Secondly, he didn't even pay attention to Liu Guang, who had been inspecting items in the hall.
As Miaomiao was so absorbed in the grand treasure vault, he remembered the mysterious voice's word that he could only take one item. Otherwise, he would be trapped in here forever.
Still, Miaomiao had another idea. He looked at the random teleportation talisman that he got from OG-Buddha. Then, he questioned his audience.
"Say, if I use the random teleportation talisman over here, where will I be teleported?"
Ding
[OG-Buddha doesn't know the answer as he forgot to add the destination when he created it.]
[Tilted Hongjun is concerned whether the talisman will teleport you to a strange plane instead of sending you to a mortal world.]
"…"
In short, it was a gambling ticket if he could be sent somewhere in Heavenly Goose Planet, or he might be sent to a strange dimension.
"Dion."
[Yeah?]
"How many luck points do I have?"
[Checking…]
[You have… 3,500 luck points.]
The points increased by a lot after Miaomiao had taken in Liu Bian's soul. Now, Miaomiao wondered if he could utilize or invest his luck in his teleportation talisman.
For the sake of privacy, he talked to Dion in his mind.
'Say, if I invest my luck points into the teleportation talisman, can I choose my destination when I use it? You allowed me to use my heavenly fate fragment's energy to lock the result in the skill fusion menu from before. Can I do it with the other activities that require luck?'
[Processing…]
[Yes. It's possible.]
'Alright!!'
Miaomiao jumped in joy again as he turned toward the treasures on the shelves, planning to collect them all and use the talisman to leave the place.
[I know what you're thinking. You're planning to teleport home with that talisman, correct?]
'Yes, of course! Where else do I want to go if it isn't Siren City?'
[Unfortunately, you don't have enough luck points to designate Siren City as your teleportation target.]
"…"
Dion threw a bomb, breaking Miaomiao's hope.
Disappointed, Miaomiao sat down and hugged his knees, sulking and sniffing.
'You're cruel. Can't you help me a bit? I'm your master.'
[You are being inconsiderate. I need luck energy to make a miracle happens. You are supposed to be worshiping me instead of scolding me!]
'Then, with my current luck points, where can you teleport me if I use that talisman?'
[If it's somewhere on this planet, you need 1,000 luck points. If you want to narrow the randomness and focus on teleporting to the Aves Continent, 5,000 luck points. Sending you home will cost you 20,000 luck points.]
This was a piece of good news and bad news.
Miaomiao had enough point to come back to Heavenly Goose Planet, but he couldn't choose where he would be sent to. As for the home-teleportation, it was impossible.
'I don't have enough points to teleport back to my continent? What if I'm sent to the Holy Land Continent or another strange land!? The heck?'
Miaomiao was sad again. He sighed and looked at the treasures in front of him in pity.
'I guess we can't cheat…'
Ding
[Kunwu has given you a quest.]
[Tilted Hongjun has given you a quest.]
[Sun Crow reminded you that you have been ignoring his quest.]
[OG-Buddha has given you a quest.]
Suddenly, these nosy dao gods had thrown quests at Miaomiao as if they knew that he needed luck points so badly. He started checking the quest offers one by one.
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