A Dangerous Discovery and a Hard-Won Treasure

Chapter 492: Stirring the Seas Abroad — The Ancient Treasure Contest

“You dare to fight me for a treasure?” Wu Chou had not expected the ever-silent Profound Bone to start vying for the treasure without a word. Enraged, he bellowed in accusation, his face twisted with murderous intent.

“Ridiculous. Did your family forge this treasure? If you can seize it, why can’t I?” Profound Bone shot Wu Chou a cold glare and retorted without a trace of politeness.

At these words, Wu Chou’s anger turned to fury.

But then, as if recalling something, despite the venomous look on his face, he did not argue further. Instead, he accelerated his hand seal, commanding the black serpent to constrict even tighter.

It seemed Wu Chou was well aware that with the backing of Man Brutal Beard—a figure even Extreme Yin Patriarch treated with caution—Profound Bone had no reason to fear any attempt at intimidation through status.

Profound Bone sneered and, without another word, lightly pointed at the green net.

A brilliant burst of green light flared from the net. The green threads thickened by another third, and then the entire net tightened.

The fire wolf trapped within, now jointly pressured by Wu Chou and Profound Bone’s spells, felt its protective light shield compressed to a fraction of its original size. Yet it only grew more dazzling and resilient. The fire wolf remained safe inside the shield, glaring at the two of them. For the moment, a stalemate had set in.

The righteous and demonic cultivators battling high above had clearly not anticipated that this treasure would land near Han Li and the others.

Wan Tianming and the other righteous cultivators grew anxious, wanting to break away and seize the treasure.

But Man Brutal Beard and Extreme Yin remained unhurried.

Regardless, whoever retrieved it from that location would be their own man. They were more than happy to keep the righteous faction occupied, giving Wu Chou and Profound Bone a clean shot at the prize.

Moreover, each believed that the one with ties to them had the better chance of securing the treasure.

Extreme Yin Patriarch figured that Wu Chou, armed with numerous treasures gifted by him and practiced in the Profound Yin Art—a top-tier demonic technique—had a much better chance than Profound Bone, who appeared to be only an early Core Formation cultivator.

Man Brutal Beard, however, knew Profound Bone’s true background. He, of course, had complete confidence in Profound Bone.

Qing Yi Layman, seeing the scene, flashed a look of regret. After a moment’s hesitation, he continued to tangle with the Tian Wu Zi before him, preventing him from escaping.

Thus, the only person idle near the altar was Han Li.

But Han Li did not feel the least bit comfortable about his idleness. In fact, cold sweat was breaking out on his brow.

Having judged that the basket ancient treasure was perfectly suited for retrieving artifacts, he had unthinkingly taken it out to use.

But the moment he saw Profound Bone enter the fray to seize the treasure, a terrible recollection struck him.

This basket ancient treasure was something he had taken from the ugly man guarding Profound Bone after killing him. Producing it now would be a blatant admission to Extreme Yin Patriarch that he had been the one to release Profound Bone!

Han Li’s heart turned ice-cold. How could he still care about securing the treasure? His mind was a jumble of chaotic thoughts as he desperately tried to devise a countermeasure against Extreme Yin.

But after a moment, Han Li was stunned.

He could clearly sense Extreme Yin’s gaze sweep across the basket for only an instant before looking away. There was not the slightest hint of unusual emotion. Nothing happened!

Only then did Han Li realize, with a mixture of shock and relief, that the basket ancient treasure had not been bestowed on the ugly man by Extreme Yin Patriarch. In fact, Extreme Yin seemed utterly unaware that the man had ever possessed such a thing.

With that, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

Han Li’s guess was entirely correct.

The reason the ugly man had left the island where Profound Bone was imprisoned for such a long time that day was precisely that he had received news of the basket treasure and had gone out privately to acquire it.

He had successfully obtained it through his own methods, but in his absence, Han Li’s group had nearly completely dismantled the great formation imprisoning Profound Bone.

This had enraged the ugly man to the point of fury. But in the end, he died under Han Li’s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and the newly acquired ancient treasure became Han Li’s spoils of war.

Having regained his composure, Han Li cast a glance at Profound Bone, who was still contending with Wu Chou for the fire wolf, and thought to himself:

“You got lucky, old fiend. If Extreme Yin had actually discovered the truth, I would have dragged you down with me. Don’t think you can just walk away clean from this.”

Just as one might wonder whether Han Li should count his blessings or Profound Bone his fortune, another muffled roar of thunder echoed from the cave mouth.

This time, the Nascent Soul cultivators, having gained experience from the previous event, slowed their movements and exchanged glances.

Then, someone moved first. With a flash, all six of them appeared directly above the cave mouth.

The Void Heaven Cauldron was now very close to the opening. Though they were Nascent Soul cultivators, they were forced to channel their full power to resist the bone-chilling cold emanating from the cave. They summoned one defensive treasure after another, their bodies shimmering with swirling, multicolored light. At the same time, the righteous and demonic factions kept a wary eye on each other.

Extreme Yin Patriarch was filled with chagrin.

His original plan had been to drive off the righteous faction, retrieve both the Void Heaven Cauldron and the treasures within it, and then divide the spoils according to their agreed shares.

But he had never imagined that just as the Void Heaven Cauldron neared the cave mouth, the ancient treasures within would fly out on their own.

Now, who ended up with which treasure would depend entirely on skill.

After all, no one who captured an ancient treasure would ever give it up to another. The original agreement for dividing the spoils was now effectively null and void.

As Extreme Yin fumed, his eyes darted as he tried to think of a way to secure more treasures for himself.

But just as this thought arose, a harsh grinding sound erupted, followed by two whooshes. A yellow light and a white light shot out together from the blue flames within the cave.

With the six men so close to the treasures, they all struck out almost simultaneously, using secret techniques to snatch the nearest beam of light.

Wan Tianming, Extreme Yin, and the Confucian-robed elder all set their sights on the yellow light. Wan Tianming manifested a purple fire dragon that lunged to bite at the yellow light. At the same time, a strange glint flashed in his eyes, and he opened his mouth to spit out two sparkling purple orbs, sending them unceremoniously toward his opponents.

“Heavenly Luo True Thunder!”

At the sight of these unassuming little orbs, Extreme Yin cried out as if he had seen a viper.

The two of them dared not use their treasures to block or parry the orbs. Instead, they flickered and dodged out of their path.

But in that brief moment of delay, the purple fire dragon swallowed the yellow light in a single gulp. It then shook its head and retreated.

Wan Tianming, his face alight with excitement, held the yellow light in his hands. He rubbed them together, revealing the original form of the ancient treasure.

It was a square ancient pendant, covered in flowing runic light and brimming with spiritual energy. It was clearly a treasure of the highest quality.

As for the two purple orbs, after flying a few dozen feet, they emitted two soft pops and vanished without a trace.

At this sight, Extreme Yin Patriarch and the Confucian-robed elder turned to Wan Tianming, who was now examining the pendant. Their faces turned ashen.

“Well played, Sect Leader Wan of the righteous path! Using such a base trick—a counterfeit thunder to deceive us!” Extreme Yin Patriarch ground out the words through clenched teeth.

The Confucian-robed elder’s face was similarly flushed with rage, and he fixed a cold, piercing stare on Wan Tianming.

Wan Tianming responded with a cold sneer:

“And you two call yourselves cultivators of many years’ fame? You can’t even tell a real Heavenly Luo True Thunder from a fake, yet you have the gall to accuse me of underhanded tactics in front of me? Don’t you know such a treasure is not something I would waste on casual use unless my life was on the line? After all, cultivating this divine thunder at the cost of my own cultivation isn’t something I can afford to be so extravagant with. Of course, if the two of you truly wish to witness this thunder orb, I could make an exception for you.”

With that, Wan Tianming gently clapped his hands together.

With a flash of purple light, the pendant disappeared. In his hand appeared a purple orb identical to the one he had just used.

Extreme Yin and the elder’s expressions shifted. They exchanged a gloomy glance, seemingly uncertain of their next move.

Meanwhile, Man Brutal Beard, relying on the supreme defense of his Heavenly Devil Arts, had weathered a combined strike from the thin, dark elder and Tian Wu Zi to seize the white light.

It was a glimmering white coin-shaped ancient piece, which looked extremely peculiar.

At this sight, Extreme Yin’s expression grew even uglier.

Just then, the elder beside him let out a soft “Eh?” of great surprise.

Extreme Yin followed his gaze and his face similarly showed astonishment.

Near the altar below, Han Li was holding a yellow-and-red jade ruyi, carefully examining it. The ends of the ruyi were carved with two lifelike wolf heads.

From the look of things, this was the ancient treasure that the twin-headed fire wolf had transformed into! Not far away, Wu Chou and Profound Bone were staring at Han Li with resigned expressions, a hint of chagrin on their faces.

A flicker of doubt passed through Extreme Yin Patriarch’s eyes, but he remained silent. Inwardly, however, he was deeply shocked.

This ancient treasure had not fallen into the hands of either Wu Chou or Profound Bone, but instead had ended up with Han Li, who had shown no intention of acting from the very beginning.

To Extreme Yin, this was an utterly unexpected turn of events.