Sacred Artifact
"Go straight to the main hall; that should be the main residence here," Lin Ming said, gazing into the distance and looking directly at the center of the Stone Island.
If I'm not mistaken, the deep blue-green hall atop the largest ancient tree is the central location of the Lin Residence.
If we were to say where the most valuable items are most likely to be found, that would obviously be the place with the highest probability.
The group nodded in agreement, indicating they had no objections. Led by Lin Ming, they arrived at the main hall in no time.
"This is a Spirit Formation that ranks in the upper-middle range even among Grandmaster-level arrays." Lin Ming stopped in front of the main hall, looking at the large tree, or rather, at the entire forest.
His voice carried a hint of solemnity, and his dark, unfathomable eyes reflected the boundless forest, with a faint light slowly flowing deep within them.
He could clearly sense that the entire forest itself was a massive array.
The ancient trees, vines, roots, and palaces are all part of the formation, connected to each other in an extremely ingenious way, forming a vast defensive system covering the entire floating island.
The deep blue-green hall was the core of the formation, like a beating heart connecting the entire formation.
Upon hearing this, the group was quite shocked.
The fact that an array could cover such a vast forest suggests just how immense its power must be.
Looking at the boundless forest, the North King secretly wondered what would happen if he were trapped inside. After a moment, he shook his head, banishing the unrealistic idea from his mind.
Xia Jia couldn't help but swallow, her bright eyes filled with lingering fear.
At this moment, they couldn't help but feel fortunate that they were inside Lin Ming's Inner World. Otherwise, this formation alone would have made them hesitate to proceed.
In the outside world, facing a Grandmaster-level forest array, they would probably be trapped and die inside the array before even entering the Lin Residence.
Lin Ming didn't hesitate at this moment. Here, he was the Sovereign, so even a grandmaster-level formation could be broken with a wave of his hand.
Lin Ming simply raised his hand, and an invisible World Power surged outwards like a tide.
That force swept across the entire forest, and wherever it passed, the invisible Spiritual Runes connecting the ancient trees, vines, roots, and palaces dimmed, shattered, and dissipated one after another.
The grandmaster-level formation that covered the entire forest was like a spider web with its strings pulled out in the face of his will, collapsing from the core and spreading in all directions.
In less than a few breaths, the entire formation collapsed completely, and the remaining Spiritual Energy between the ancient trees slowly dissipated like unrestrained wisps of silk.
The deep blue palace in the center of the forest finally revealed its true form. The palace doors were tightly closed, and the runes on the palace walls, having lost the support of the array, instead shone with a warm light.
"Let's go! Let's see what's inside the Lin Residence." With that, Lin Ming led the way, his dark robes fluttering gently in the emerald green light.
Zi Yan and the other two followed suit, the four figures ascending the steps naturally formed by ancient tree roots in front of the deep blue hall.
As Lin Ming and his companions stepped through the deep blue palace gates, it seemed as if a radiant light was gathering before their eyes.
The light was extremely soft, like a thin mist rising from the depths of the palace gate, gently enveloping the four people's vision for a moment. When they looked again, an ancient and magnificent palace appeared in their sight.
The main hall is paved with Qing Mu.
Each of those Qing Mu planks was several feet square, with wood grain that meandered and intertwined like flowing water. The surface was polished smooth as a mirror, reflecting the light inside the hall and giving off a cool, emerald green hue.
The main hall was extremely spacious and tall, its dome hidden in a pale green light, making it impossible to discern its exact height.
In the very center of the main hall, a giant tree stands.
The colossal tree was thick enough for ten people to encircle, stretching from the ground all the way to the dome. The trunk was covered with densely packed ancient runes, which spiraled upwards from the roots like serpents entwined around the tree, emitting a faint, eerie green light.
Surrounding the giant tree was an Emerald Pool.
The Emerald Pool is an irregular circle, with its edges made of Blue Stone, and the stone surface is also engraved with fine Spiritual Runes.
The water in the pool has an extremely rich emerald green color, viscous and lustrous, like a pool of melted jade.
At that moment, wisps of smoke rose from the Emerald Pool, filling the main hall.
The clouds and mist seemed to have a life of their own, slowly swirling within the hall, sometimes gathering into clusters, sometimes unfurling like ribbons, enveloping the entire hall in a misty, emerald-green haze.
A few of the wisps of smoke were inhaled by the group, and their eyes narrowed, showing a slight change in expression.
They discovered that these clouds and mists contained extremely pure and powerful Spiritual Energy.
That Spiritual Energy was completely different from the Spirit Qi of heaven and earth that they usually absorbed. It was more condensed and gentler, like a warm stream flowing naturally along the meridians. It would integrate into their limbs and bones almost without their deliberate guidance.
They felt their Spiritual Energy increase slightly after just one breath.
"This pool of water..." Xia Jia stared at the pool of water with a bright look in her eyes, and couldn't help but lick her lips.
Her bright, watery eyes reflected the emerald green light, her pupils filled with unbelievable shock.
She reached out and gestured at the edge of the pool, then withdrew her hand, as if afraid that touching it would shatter this dreamlike scene.
"That pool of water was formed from the Supreme Spirit Liquid!" The North King couldn't help but exclaim, his eyes showing some astonishment.
His voice trembled with barely suppressed emotion, his tiger-like eyes fixed on the emerald green pool of water, and his Adam's apple bobbed.
He had seen many Supreme Spirit Liquid; the Dragon Battle Palace's treasury contained millions of drops, but those Spirit Liquid were all stored in Jade Bottle and used one by one.
The pool of water before them was entirely formed from Supreme Spirit Liquid; the gesture was as if a treasure trove had been poured directly into the pool.
The two were clearly shocked by the Lin Residence's extravagance. To create such a pure pool of water from Supreme Spirit Liquid, at least hundreds of millions of drops of Supreme Spirit Liquid would be needed.
Although the pool of water in front of us has become much shallower, with the surface still several feet away from the edge, it is clear that a lot of it has evaporated and been lost over the millennia. Even so, if it were refined into a Supreme Spirit Liquid, it would probably be worth no less than fifty million.
Such a quantity is not insignificant, let alone for the forces in the Northern Domain; even for a power like the Great Xia Imperial Dynasty, it is no small number.
The North King was rapidly calculating in his mind: fifty million Supreme Spirit Liquid was almost equivalent to the entire income of the Dragon Battle Palace over several years, but in this Ancient Heavenly Palace, it was merely a pool of water in a single prefecture.
"It does have the grandeur of the Nine Residences," Lin Ming remarked in admiration.
He stood at the edge of the Emerald Pool, his hands behind his back, gazing at the emerald green water. His dark, unfathomable eyes reflected the misty emerald light, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
However, he did not rush to collect the Supreme Spirit Liquid, but instead raised his head and continued to scan the entire hall.
He knew perfectly well that the true treasures of a mansion presided over by a Lower-Rank Earth Sovereign could not possibly be limited to just this pool of Spirit Liquid.
Although those Spirit Liquid were precious, for a manor lord, they were merely consumables for daily cultivation.
The truly good things are always hidden deeper inside.
Lin Ming's gaze swept across the area and immediately focused on the depths of the main hall.
There were also two rather thick wooden pillars hanging down from the roof of the hall. The pillars were thicker and older than the wooden pillars supporting the hall on the outside, and the Spiritual Runes on their surfaces were denser and more mysterious.
At the top of the wooden pillar, a light shone forth. The light was deep and warm, like two stars that had been asleep for thousands of years being awakened anew.
Two things were present within the light.
One was a deep, dark seal, about the size of a fist, with an almost black, dark hue throughout, and a faint, ethereal glow flowing across its surface, like a gemstone frozen in the abyss.
The bottom of the seal was engraved with dense ancient runes, more complex and precise than any they had ever seen anywhere else, each one containing a heart-pounding energy.
The other item was a green jade scroll, about a foot long, carved entirely from some kind of unidentified jade. The surface of the scroll was engraved with fine patterns that spread and intertwined like leaf veins, radiating a warm yet powerful Spiritual Energy.
At this moment, everyone's gaze was also focused on the two objects. Zi Yan's pupils immediately contracted, and she said with some shock, "That's... Sacred Artifact?!"
Zi Yan's voice trembled with barely concealed emotion, her purplish-gold eyes fixed on the deep, dark seal, their pupils reflecting a profound, dark light.
Although the deep, dark seal was unusually quiet, as still as an inanimate object, she could still sense a chilling fluctuation emanating from it.
That's something no quasi -Quasi-Sacred Artifact could possess. Therefore, this item must be a true Sacred Artifact.
She had seen records of Sacred Artifact in the Dragon Battle Palace's inherited scriptures. Treasures of that level had already transcended the category of spiritual artifacts and were enough to make even Earth Sovereign or Heavenly Sovereign fight for them.
That green jade scroll was certainly no ordinary object. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been placed alongside the imperial seal.
Both the North King and Xia Jia were also awestruck by the aura of those two objects.
The North King's fingers, which were clasped behind his back, tightened slightly. He could sense that the power contained in those two items far surpassed any treasure he had ever seen in his life.
Xia Jia subconsciously took half a step back behind Lin Ming, a kind of instinctive awe that arose spontaneously when facing an existence far beyond her own level.
Lin Ming stood before the Emerald Pool, his gaze sweeping from the seal to the jade scroll, and then back from the jade scroll to the seal. His expression remained calm, but a faint light slowly flowed in the depths of his dark, abyss-like eyes.