Inside the pill chamber, Li Qingshan quickly swallowed a healing pill, calming the slight upheaval in his qi and blood from activating the talisman treasure. Before long, his aura had returned to its peak.
His gaze fixed intently on the dark-gold, third-tier Top-Grade Pill Furnace.
The furnace stood about half a man tall on three sturdy legs. Its design was simple yet imposing, and beneath the dust, the sun, moon, stars, and dancing-dragon, soaring-phoenix runes carved into its body appeared and disappeared. They seemed to resonate with the surrounding spiritual energy, forming a small world of their own.
The immense spiritual pressure and profound Dao aura it emanated were far beyond those of a spiritual artifact. This was a true magical treasure!
And a Top-Grade magical treasure that even Golden Core True Persons could only dream of!
Li Qingshan stepped forward and tried to connect with it using his spiritual sense and take it away. But the furnace was as heavy as a mountain, and some incredibly powerful restriction seemed to remain within it, faintly linking it to the earth's spiritual veins and even the entire Mysterious Sky Palace. With his Foundation Establishment cultivation and spiritual sense, he could not move it in the slightest.
"Just as I thought. How could such a precious treasure be so easy to take?"
Li Qingshan furrowed his brows, unable to keep the worry from creeping into his heart.
This was no place to linger. The sounds of their battle had been muffled to some extent by the pill chamber, but there was no guarantee they wouldn't draw others here.
Just as he was at a loss, a bold thought suddenly crossed his mind. "The Wish-Fulfilling Gourd can contain all things and improve their quality. I wonder if it can... take this furnace?"
With that thought, he focused on the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd in his dantian.
The seemingly ordinary Yellow-Skin Gourd at his waist warmed slightly, then left his body and floated in midair, spinning rapidly. It began to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye!
In the blink of an eye, the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd, which had originally been no bigger than his fist, grew even larger than the furnace. Its mouth pointed toward the furnace, radiating a hazy, chaotic light that seemed capable of devouring everything.
"Take it!" Li Qingshan cried, channeling all his strength into the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd.
Bzzz!
An irresistible force of suction burst from the gourd's mouth, instantly enveloping the third-tier furnace!
The furnace shook violently. The remaining light of the restriction flashed wildly, as if trying to resist, but against the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd's practically heaven-defying power to take things, all resistance proved futile!
Whoosh!
The furnace, impossibly heavy and linked to the earth's spiritual veins, rose as if weightless. It quickly shrank into a streak of light and was drawn into the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd!
"It worked! Hahahaha! It really can take it!"
Li Qingshan was overjoyed, too excited to contain himself! The Wish-Fulfilling Gourd had surprised him yet again! Not only could it improve the quality of things, it could even forcibly take away precious treasures that were almost impossible to move!
He hurriedly drew the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd back into his hand and probed inside with his spiritual sense. The shrunken furnace was floating quietly within the gourd's space, pill fragrance still wafting from inside it. It was completely unharmed.
"What a treasure! What a treasure!"
Li Qingshan stroked the gourd, unable to bear putting it down, his heart brimming with delight.
After taking the furnace, he didn't dare stay any longer. He immediately left the pill chamber and continued deeper into the side hall, following the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd's sensing.
Along the way, he found several scattered jade slips in some ruined meditation rooms and pill chambers. Judging by their material and the lingering fluctuations, they seemed to record something more than ordinary cultivation techniques. But he had no time to examine them, so he put them all away.
At last, he reached the deepest part of the side hall.
The atmosphere here was entirely different: solemn and dignified, filled with an aroma of sandalwood mingled with the scent of passing years.
It was an exceedingly spacious hall, lined with neat rows of ancient spirit tablets made from fine spiritual wood or beautiful jade. Each bore an engraved name and honorific title.
This was, in fact, the Mysterious Sky Sect's Founder's Ancestral Hall!
At the very back of the ancestral hall, in the central spot on the highest platform, stood the largest spirit tablet, made of purple gold. Several ancient and exalted seal-script characters had been inscribed upon it: "Spirit Tablet of the Mysterious Sky Ancestor!"
Before the tablet, instead of incense burners and offerings, sat a purple-gold gourd about a foot tall!
The gourd was entirely purple-gold, its surface smooth and lustrous. Naturally formed cloud patterns and Dao marks covered it, and it emanated an indescribable aura—ancient and profound, as if it held within it the very source of the Great Dao!
The Wish-Fulfilling Gourd in Li Qingshan's dantian was trembling more violently than ever, shuddering at an unprecedented frequency. The powerful sense of summons and resonance came from this Purple Gold Gourd!
"It's that one!"
Li Qingshan's heart raced as he stared fixedly at the Purple Gold Gourd. His instincts told him it was far more precious than the third-tier furnace, perhaps even one of the most important treasures in the entire Mysterious Sky Palace!
Suppressing his excitement, he carefully stepped forward.
Sure enough, when he was still ten zhang from the purple-gold spirit tablet and the gourd, a gentle yet incredibly resilient curtain of light appeared out of thin air, blocking his way.
The curtain looked fragile, but the runes flowing across it were complex and profound to the extreme. The energy fluctuations it emanated were as vast as the sea, their depths impossible to fathom!
Even after ten thousand years of erosion, the power it retained was far beyond what a Foundation Establishment cultivator could shake. The restriction had been laid by at least a Golden Core True Person—and it was even possible that an Nascent Soul ancestor had set it up personally!
Li Qingshan tried lightly prodding it with the Ice Sword.
Clang!
With a crisp ring, the Ice Sword was sent flying. The curtain of light remained motionless, while the force of the recoil left his arm numb.
"What a powerful restriction!"
His face grew grave, and worry and disappointment crept into his heart. A treasure mountain lay right before him, yet he couldn't take anything from it?
Unwilling to give up, he tried several more methods, even using two attack talismans, but the curtain of light remained as solid as a mountain.
Was he really going to leave empty-handed?
Li Qingshan furrowed his brows, his gaze shifting back and forth between the Purple Gold Gourd and the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd.
Suddenly, another thought came to him. "The Wish-Fulfilling Gourd could take the furnace. I wonder if it can... take this Purple Gold Gourd through the restriction?"
The idea was daring, even a little absurd.
But he had an inexplicable confidence in the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd.
He summoned the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd again and made it grow. Pointing its mouth toward the Purple Gold Gourd beyond the curtain of light, he channeled all his strength into it!
"Take it!"
This time, the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd reacted completely differently!
A hazy, chaotic light burst from its entire body. The glow at its mouth no longer drew things in; instead, it emitted a strange guiding Dao aura that seemed capable of piercing through any obstacle!
Bzzz!
The incredibly sturdy curtain of light, a restriction that even a Golden Core True Person might not have been able to break, was pierced as if it weren't there at all by this strange Dao aura!
The Purple Gold Gourd enshrined before the spirit tablet seemed to receive a supreme summons. It jolted violently!
Whoosh!
In the next instant, as Li Qingshan watched in astonished delight, the Purple Gold Gourd transformed into a streak of light, effortlessly pierced the Nascent Soul restriction, and vanished into the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd!
"It worked! It really worked!"
Li Qingshan was so excited he nearly cheered aloud.
The Wish-Fulfilling Gourd's miraculous power had exceeded his expectations once again!
He could hardly wait to see what kind of treasure the Purple Gold Gourd was.
However, the instant the Purple Gold Gourd was taken—
A sudden change occurred!
The Mysterious Sky Ancestor's spirit tablet, which had originally enshrined the Purple Gold Gourd, suddenly burst with blinding light. Then came a sharp, overburdened crack—a fissure split open across the tablet!
Before you continue