A Bountiful Haul

As he stepped through the palace gates, the sight inside made him squint slightly.

The inner treasury was much larger than he had expected. The hall was divided into several Stone Chambers, each with Stone Chamber piled high with items.

In an instant, Lin Ming stepped into the inner warehouse. When his feet landed on the ground, a series of clear footprints were left on the thin layer of ash that had accumulated for thousands of years.

The air inside the hall was stuffy and dry, carrying the unique bitter Medicinal Fragrance of aged medicinal herbs.

Lin Ming looked around. This inner storehouse was divided into several Stone Chambers, each separated by a thick stone Stone Chamber. There were semi-circular archways in the walls, and ancient runes indicating different categories were carved above the archways.

He looked up and examined them for a moment. The runes, from left to right, were labeled "Spiritual Materials," "Essences," "Weapons," "Cultivation Method," and "Miscellaneous Treasures."

He first walked towards the spiritual material Stone Chamber on the far left. The Stone Chamber was about five zhang square, with stone shelves reaching the ceiling on three walls, and various spiritual materials and ores were densely stacked on the shelves.

Most of the spiritual materials have lost their Spirituality over time; those once lustrous jade stones have become grayish-white and brittle, crumbling into dust at the slightest touch.

The spirit wood had rotted into hollow shells, and peeling off the outer layer revealed the wormholes beneath.

He examined each stone on the shelf, tapping lightly on the spiritual materials with his fingers, trying to discern from the crisp, deep sound whether any Spiritual Energy remained within them.

As you go through them, nine out of ten items are defective.

But when he reached the very end of the stone shelf, his fingers tapped on a fist-sized black ore. The ore emitted a deep, resonant echo, like a bronze bell that had been gently struck.

He took the ore off the shelf, brushed away the dust on its surface, revealing a layer of dark blue metallic luster underneath.

That was a piece of "Sunken Abyss Iron Essence," a type of water-based spiritual material. It was said to be mined from the bottom of a bottomless abyss. Each piece had been soaked in seawater and tempered under high pressure for thousands of years, resulting in extremely high density. A piece the size of a fingernail could weigh a million kilograms.

This piece of Sunken Abyss Iron Essence was about the size of a fist, but weighed nearly ten million kilograms. When he held it in his palm, his wrist sank slightly.

This is a core material used to refine water-based Sacred Artifacts, and in the outside world, it's enough to exchange for a small spirit mine.

He continued searching deeper into the stone shelf and found a piece of dead wood about the length of an arm in another corner.

The dead tree was entirely charred black, its surface covered with cracks, resembling an old tree stump struck by lightning.

But when he probed into it with his Spiritual Energy, he sensed that there was still a very faint trace of life inside the withered wood, like a spark buried in charcoal ash that had not yet been completely extinguished.

After a moment of examination, he recognized it as a piece of the Heart of the Tree of a "Lightning-Struck Divine Wood," a spiritual material with Thunder Attributes. Although most of the Spiritual Energy contained within had dissipated, the remaining trace of lightning essence was still extremely pure.

He put the piece of dead wood into Jade Casket and sealed it. This thing was a rare auxiliary material for those who cultivated Thunder Attribute Cultivation Method.

After leaving the spiritual materials Stone Chamber, Lin Ming turned and went into the adjacent pill room.

The medicine room was smaller than the spiritual materials room. The three walls were inlaid with rows of jade medicine niches, each about the size of a fist. The niche opening was sealed with a translucent membrane, on which the name of the medicine and the year were engraved.

He examined each of the medicine niches one by one. Most of the pills in those niches had dried up and cracked, some had turned into powder, and some had solidified into lumps, having lost their medicinal effect.

But when he reached the end of the third row of medicine niches, he found a large Jade Casket placed alone in a recess. The sealing film on the surface of the Jade Casket was several times thicker than that of the others, like a shell that had been repeatedly painted.

He slowly peeled away the seal with his Spiritual Energy, and upon opening the Jade Casket, he saw three perfectly round golden pills inside. Each pill was the size of a longan, and fine golden Pill Patterns flowed slowly across its surface, like Miniature Suns compressed into spheres.

After examining them, he recognized them as three "Golden Sun Body-Tempering Pills," made primarily from the ten-thousand-year-old Golden Yang Grass. They were specially designed to temper the physical body and Supreme Dharma Body, and had an excellent auxiliary effect on the physical transformation of Tier 9 Supreme being when breaking through to the Earth Sovereign.

He carefully put away the Jade Casket. These three pills were just right for him to use. Although his physical body was already extremely strong, it would never hurt to temper it one more time before breaking through to the Earth Sovereign.

After leaving the medicine room, Lin Ming went into the weapons room.

The walls of this Stone Chamber are covered with all kinds of magical weapons, including swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks, and forks.

However, most of those weapons were rusted and broken. Some were broken in two, some had blades curled up like a saw, and some even had rotten handles, leaving only half of the iron pieces hanging on the wall.

He scanned the area and found a horizontal Jade Casket at the deepest part of the Stone Chamber. The Jade Casket was about five feet long and was carved entirely from warm, lustrous white jade. A line of fine inscriptions was engraved on the surface of the box.

He opened the Jade Casket, inside which lay a long, silver-white sword, about four feet long, with a narrow and thin blade, like an elongated willow leaf.

Fine cloud patterns flowed slowly across the sword's surface, each pattern resembling a wisp of smoke frozen within the blade.

He took the sword out of the Jade Casket. It felt as light as a feather in his hand, but when he poured his Spiritual Energy into it, a layer of silvery-white light suddenly shone on the blade, and tiny sparks of lightning crackled and danced at the tip.

This sword has reached the level of Mid-Rank Sacred Artifact. He looked at the inscription on the hilt, which read "Flowing Cloud Thunder Sword" in small characters. There was also a line of even smaller characters engraved at the end of the hilt, which roughly meant that it was the sword of an elder of the First Hall.

After leaving the weapons room, Lin Ming entered the Cultivation Method room.

The Cultivation Method room was the smallest of the several Stone Chambers, with only two rows of stone shelves on the three walls, holding dozens of Jade Slips and gold books.

Most of the Jade Slips were broken; some were broken in two, and others had dense cracks on their surface, crumbling at the slightest touch.

Lin Ming opened and examined each volume one by one, and selected three volumes that were relatively well-preserved.

The first volume is a supernatural technique called "Space-Rending Finger," which uses the Metal-Element Power to condense finger force and pierce through the void, making it quite powerful.

The second volume contains a Cultivation Method called "Sea-Suppressing Art," which uses the power of water to regulate the flow of qi in the meridians. It is a rare auxiliary Cultivation Method for cultivators who practice water-based Cultivation Method.

The third volume is a body-refining Cultivation Method called "The Hundred Beasts Body-Forging Diagram," which uses the postures of a hundred Fierce Beasts to temper different parts of the body. Although it is not top-tier, its concept is quite novel and can be given to others to study.

Lin Ming carefully put away the three Jade Slips and left the Cultivation Method room.

Finally, he entered the storage room on the far right. This Stone Chamber was different from the others; there were no stone shelves or medicine niches inside. On the floor were only a few large boxes, all made of dark gold alloy, with sealing Spiritual Runes engraved on the lids.

Lin Ming opened the boxes one by one. The first box was filled with Supreme Spirit Liquid. The Spirit Liquid was sealed in an independent space inside the box and was stored in excellent condition. It was roughly estimated to contain tens of millions of drops.

The second box contained a jumble of odds and ends: a broken Jade Tablet, a rusty key, several copper pellets of unknown purpose, a water-soaked and crumpled map, and some other odds and ends whose uses he couldn't identify.

He rummaged through the box, picked out the map, unfolded it, and glanced at it. It was a topographical map of the area surrounding the First Hall, marked with several hidden passages leading to other palaces, which proved quite useful.

The third box was the smallest, containing only a palm-sized brocade box. Inside, a layer of soft satin lay, upon which rested a jet-black token. The front of the token was engraved with a coiled black Flood Dragon, while the back bore the inscription "First Hall Master Key."

Lin Ming carefully put the token away. Although he didn't know its specific purpose, since it was placed separately in the last box, it must have something special about it.

After collecting all the Supreme Spirit Liquid from those boxes, Lin Ming then inventoried the spiritual materials, pills, weapons, and Cultivation Method he had gathered in the other Stone Chambers, silently making some calculations in his mind.

Although the trip to the Imperial Treasury resulted in the loss of most of the treasures due to the erosion of millennia, the remaining items still constitute a considerable fortune.

Those tens of millions of drops of Supreme Spirit Liquid alone would make an Earth Sovereign power incredibly wealthy, not to mention the Sacred Artifact -level Flowing Cloud Thunder Sword and the three Golden Sun Body-Tempering Pills.

Lin Ming emerged from the inner treasury with satisfaction, closing the palace door behind him. The three access tokens remained embedded in their grooves; he hesitated for a moment before deciding not to remove them.

He's already emptied the inner treasury, so leaving these three tokens on the door won't hurt.

Emerging from the side hall where the inner treasury was located, we returned to the Ruins behind the main hall.

By this time, he had already searched the area within the First Hall for most of the day, from the side halls to the main hall and then to the inner treasury, and his haul was even more plentiful than he had expected.

However, the First Hall covers a vast area, and among those colossal underwater palaces are several halls he has never set foot in, which may hold other opportunities.

Lin Ming raised his head, spreading his Spiritual Energy forward to carefully scan the ruined palace complex.

A moment later, his gaze locked onto a huge palace in the distance, built entirely of crimson stones. Although most of the palace had collapsed, its remaining scale was even more magnificent than the main palace. In the square in front of the palace, there were still more than a dozen intact stone pillars, their bodies engraved with dense flame patterns, like a petrified forest of flames.

That should be another important location in the First Hall, perhaps Training Ground or a training hall.

At that moment, Lin Ming moved swiftly, heading directly towards the crimson palace.