The stone chamber stood bare on all four sides, with only a Thousand-Year Ice Jade Bed radiating bitter cold at its center.
A closer look would reveal countless extraordinarily intricate silver runes densely inscribed across the floor, walls, and vaulted ceiling;
Faint spiritual light flowed through the runes like living water, forming an immensely powerful Spirit-Gathering Protective Formation.
Qing Chen stepped inside, and the stone door silently closed behind him, instantly sealing off all traces of his presence.
He sat cross-legged on the jade bed. Rather than begin cultivating immediately, he first swept his sleeve.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Dozens of formation flags in assorted colors, brimming with spiritual energy, flew out one after another and planted themselves with unerring precision at every critical node in the chamber.
Amid a humming sound, several more layers of light screens rose, each glowing differently, some providing protection, others concealment. Layer upon layer, they bathed the chamber in strange, dazzling colors.
Even so, he still felt the precautions were insufficient.
After a moment's consideration, he took out three Low-Grade Fortune Spirit Crystals wreathed in tremendous fortune power, along with five hundred gleaming high-grade spirit stones containing astonishing spiritual energy;
He scattered them around himself as though laying out a formation, creating a terrifying vortex of spiritual energy and fortune to prepare for any unforeseen need.
Only then did Qing Chen feel slightly reassured.
The first thing he took out was the Cold Jade Box covered in runes.
The instant he lifted its lid, the temperature throughout the chamber plummeted.
Inside lay a fist-sized, dark-gold heart that looked as though it had been condensed from concentrated blood and marrow, beating powerfully.
Thump... thump... thump...
Each beat rang out like a war drum, stirring the qi and blood throughout Qing Chen's body into an involuntary, roaring