Seeing Han Fei truly break the Illusion Array in a single attempt, the Woman in Black Veil felt utterly miserable.
She had always thought Han Fei was unfathomable. Whenever she believed she had figured him out, he would always find another way to surprise her. That was exactly how the Woman in Black Veil felt now.
Han Fei withdrew his left hand, and golden spiritual energy rippled outward in all directions.
Only then did they realize that they had been inside an enormous circular barrier of light the whole time.
Once the true surroundings emerged, Han Fei discovered that the walls around them were nowhere near as smooth, polished, orderly, or bright as they had seemed.
The actual stone chamber was surrounded by rough walls, with two entrances on either side.
Han Fei compared their positions. The one closest to him was the entrance, while the cave opposite was where they had come out.
Letting out a breath, Han Fei said, "Shall we go? Keep moving?"
Cheng Mengyao entered the cave first. Han Fei smiled helplessly and followed behind her.
Han Fei said, "Actually, you're pretty smart."
Cheng Mengyao did not even turn around. "No, don't call me smart. Compared to you, I'm far inferior."
Han Fei continued, "From beginning to end, you've maintained a state where no one could defeat you, but no one could kill you either."
Cheng Mengyao said, "What are you trying to say?"
Han Fei spread his hands. "I'm saying you're smart. You know how to hide yourself and have never revealed your true strength. And I thought we were already friends, yet I don't even know your name. Of course, no matter what, I should thank you. You didn't kill me while I was unconscious."
Cheng Mengyao slightly turned her head and glanced at Han Fei behind her. "Want to know my name? It isn't as nice as Qi Xuanxuan's. My name is Cheng Mengyao."
Han Fei said, "Cheng Mengyao? That's a lovely name. What's wrong with it?"
Cheng Mengyao suddenly turned around. "Really? Then which sounds better, Cheng Mengyao or Qi Xuanxuan?"
Han Fei said, "..."
The two continued through the cave. After walking less than twenty meters, they came across a small stone chamber.
The chamber was less than five meters square. It contained several broken bookshelves, a dust-covered desk, and a pile of bones beside the desk.
Cheng Mengyao said, "Do you think he was the master of this place?"
Han Fei shook his head. "Judging from where he was standing before he died, probably not. But his cultivation must have been quite high, or his bones could not have remained intact through endless years. I think he was the personal guard or follower of this place's master."
Cheng Mengyao suddenly pointed to the side. "Han Fei, look over there."
Han Fei narrowed his eyes and followed her finger to a small pattern on the ground.
Cheng Mengyao said, "I've seen this before. Asura Hall has them too. It's a small teleportation array. The cost of building one is enormous, and each activation requires a large number of Spirit Stones."
Han Fei had heard of teleportation arrays before, but this was his first time seeing one.
The teleportation array was an inanimate object, so Han Fei was in no hurry to study it. Instead, he went over to the bones, wanting to see whether there was a Storage Bag or something similar.
After carefully inspecting them, Han Fei was somewhat disappointed. Aside from a long saber, there was nothing else around the bones.
"Such high cultivation, yet he didn't even have a Storage Bag? That's really strange."
Cheng Mengyao looked at him disdainfully. "In your mind, are Storage Bags the only things that can hold items? Anyone with a little strength or backing uses storage tools like bracelets or even rings."
"Storage Bracelets are worth less. The most precious are Storage Rings. This skeleton was wearing a Storage Ring."
Han Fei lowered his head and saw that there really was a black ring with silver edges on one of the skeleton's fingers.
Delighted, he first respectfully bowed to the skeleton before removing the ring.
"We'll split the things inside the Storage Ring equally. You don't have any objections, right?"
Cheng Mengyao shook her head. "You killed the Seven-Colored Peacock. Keep the things."
Han Fei refined the Storage Ring and dumped everything inside out in one go.
There were not many items: a white inner armor, several dull oval stones, a few withered medicinal herbs, and four white pill bottles. There were also countless Spirit Stones.
Han Fei made a rough count. There were around one million.
"This... we've struck it rich."
Cheng Mengyao laughed. "Rich my ass. You can't even afford a mid-grade Magic Treasure, and you call that rich?"
"A decent mid-grade Magic Treasure costs around a million Spirit Stones. As for high-grade Magic Treasures, only one-use ones are currently available on the market, and you'd need luck to find them."
After Cheng Mengyao poured cold water over him, Han Fei's smile immediately vanished.
Han Fei looked through the items and gave the white inner armor to Cheng Mengyao. "My physical body is quite strong, so I don't need inner armor. This one is yours."
Cheng Mengyao asked doubtfully, "Are you sure? This is a high-grade Magic Treasure. Someone would buy it even for five million."
Han Fei jumped in fright. "What? A high-grade Magic Treasure?"
Cheng Mengyao nodded. "If you wear this inner armor, even someone at the same level striking you with full force would basically just be scratching an itch. Are you sure you're giving it to me?"
Though Han Fei's heart ached a little, he still smiled awkwardly. "I, Han Fei, have never had a habit of taking back something I've already given away."
Cheng Mengyao said indifferently, "Since that's the case, I'll accept it. I don't want the remaining items either. They're all yours."
Han Fei did not refuse. At that moment, the Yellow Emperor in the Primordial Group said, "Kid, this girl has fallen for you. She lied to you. That inner armor is only a mid-grade Magic Treasure, and it's damaged too."
After hearing that, Han Fei's heart suddenly ached. Seeing Cheng Mengyao fiddling with the inner armor with such delight on her face, he suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his chest.
However, Han Fei did not expose Cheng Mengyao's lie. He silently put the Storage Ring on his finger and placed all the other items inside as well.
The herbs had already withered, their spiritual energy completely dissipated, and could no longer be used. The pills could still be consumed, but Han Fei did not know what kind they were. He decided to have Yan Di take a look later.
As for the long saber beside the bones, it had weathered away. Its blade was covered in rust and had lost all its luster.
The Yellow Emperor said, "This weapon can no longer be used. It wasn't unable to withstand the passage of time; this person must have suddenly come under attack. He only had time to make the motion of drawing his saber, and the weapon was also corroded by this unknown force."
Han Fei said in amazement, "What kind of power could destroy a weapon used by such a powerful expert? This weapon must have been a Houtian Spirit Treasure, right?"
The Yellow Emperor said, "Naturally. Although the weapon is useless now, those ores can still be used. Moreover, the longer such ores are preserved, the more valuable they become. It seems there is hope for repairing your Houtian Spirit Treasure."
Han Fei was immediately delighted. "Then I'll have to trouble you, Senior Yellow Emperor."
After putting away everything, Han Fei began pacing back and forth through the small chamber, searching for anything that had been overlooked.
Though many books sat on the two rows of shelves, Han Fei briefly flipped through them and found that nearly all had been damaged. Even special paper was useless; time was the most effective corrosive agent for it.
Just as Han Fei was about to give up on the bookshelves, he spotted a black wooden box in a corner.
After opening it, he found a booklet inside, with the words: "Primordial Qi."
Han Fei was instantly delighted. For him, any gain was the best possible outcome.
He took out Primordial Qi and eagerly glanced through its outline.
That glance left Han Fei completely stunned, because the outline of Primordial Qi was identical to the Innate Qi outline Dong Zhen had given him. It also had eight levels.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled out the Innate Qi booklet and compared it with Primordial Qi. After comparing them, Han Fei understood everything.
If Innate Qi was an incomplete version, then Primordial Qi was the complete version. Their cultivation methods were nearly identical, except that from the wording, Innate Qi seemed as though it had been altered by some great expert.
As he continued deciphering Primordial Qi, Han Fei finally understood. The skeleton belonged to an ancestor of the Dong Family. No wonder Dong Zhen had said that the Dong Family had lived in Luo'an City for generations, and that their ancestral teachings stated that no matter what happened, the family residence had to remain in Luo'an City. It was as if they had been guarding something.
The Dong Family were the guardians of this place of opportunity.
Han Fei placed the Innate Qi cultivation manual beside the skeleton and put away Primordial Qi. He decided that if he could get out, he would definitely return Primordial Qi to the Dong Family, because this was the true cultivation method. Even if one opened the eighth level and their power dissipated, they would not die.
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