Chapter 93: Golden Ring

Chapter 93: The Golden Ring

Chu Jie killed Sun Guanyu and then exerted all his strength to activate the Celestial Wheel. Now, having reached the sixth stage of the Spirit Convergence Realm, his power in wielding the Celestial Wheel was far greater than before. The Wheel, trailing a cascade of light like a waterfall, swept toward the remaining martial artists. In just a few passes, the five who remained were all cleaved in two by the Celestial Wheel.

In this battle, Chu Jie’s side achieved a resounding victory. Chu Jie and Duan Kun were unharmed, while Wu Long and his six companions suffered only minor injuries. Seven against twenty, and not a single one of them perished. Chu Jie claimed the most kills, followed by Duan Kun, and then the seven under Wu Long’s command.

Chu Jie and Duan Kun stood aside as Wu Long led his men to search the bodies. All twenty enemies had considerable cultivation, especially Li Xiuping and Sun Guanyu, both at the seventh stage of the Spirit Convergence Realm. Yet, neither had used their treasured weapons in the fight—it was likely they were overconfident, disdainful of relying on such tools, and thus met their end at Chu Jie’s hands.

“Boss, there are two mid-grade treasures and ten low-grade ones.” Wu Long piled the twelve weapons on the ground.

“Boss, we found five hundred high-grade spirit crystals and a thousand low-grade ones on them. It’s all in this storage pouch.” Li Yao handed over a pouch.

Chu Jie took it, glanced inside, and said, “You all should split these crystals among yourselves.”

Though a considerable sum, Chu Jie estimated he’d still need Wu Long and the others within the Abyss of Gods and Demons. He couldn’t afford to let them feel slighted.

Wu Long was stunned. “Boss, these are for us?”

He could hardly believe it. Five hundred high-grade crystals—too many to gather without repeated killings or luck in hunting rare beasts within the abyss. Such beasts weren’t easy to find, and normally, earning crystals was a slow, grinding process. Yet Blood Slaughter City had many places to spend them.

“Of course they’re for you—why so hesitant?” Duan Kun shook his head.

Wu Long took the storage pouch, still thrilled despite the rebuke. Chu Jie examined the weapons and, seeing nothing special, decided he’d either sell them or give them to the Mad Dog Battalion and the others present.

Meanwhile, Wu Long began divvying up the crystals with his six men. Each was overjoyed. Though Wu Long had reached the fifth stage of Spirit Convergence, he knew that without Chu Jie, he could never have obtained so many crystals at once. They all thought following Chu Jie had been the perfect choice and looked at him with deep gratitude, making Chu Jie a little uncomfortable.

After stowing away the two mid-grade treasures, Chu Jie addressed Wu Long’s group. “Anyone here without a weapon, pick one from these ten.”

The men behind Wu Long looked as if they might leap for joy. The crystals excited them, but a weapon was even rarer. Not everyone could obtain a treasured weapon. The twenty they had just killed were ruthless types, often robbing others, so they had weapons. Usually, those who joined powerful factions could get one, too. But Wu Long’s crew had never pledged themselves to any power, nor were they fond of plundering, so some still lacked weapons.

Four of them selected from the pile, and Chu Jie stored the remaining ones in his Savage Cauldron.

The cauldron now held a jumble of items, the most conspicuous being over ten thousand spirit crystals, then a heap of Wind Serpents. Seeing the snakes, Chu Jie upended the cauldron and shook out a dozen or so. Though as martial artists they could go days without food, eating was still better for maintaining vigor.

Before long, the aroma of roasting meat filled the cave. The firewood had been gathered earlier at random.

Since Zhou Jie had absorbed all the spirit energy here and left, the small cave had lost its light source. Now, they relied on the fire and Chu Jie’s Celestial Wheel to illuminate the space.

Chu Jie ate his roast meat while gazing up at the cave’s exit. What exactly was the Abyss of Gods and Demons? Why did it contain such secret passages, seemingly never discovered? And within, a peerless fiend of unrivaled strength—utterly overwhelming. In the face of such power, resistance was futile.

Once again, Chu Jie felt his insatiable thirst for strength. That desire seemed etched into his very bones—only by becoming powerful could one earn the right to survive. Weakness was a sin.

Though he’d just reached the sixth stage of Spirit Convergence, he knew it wasn’t enough. He still had to destroy the Yang clan, and to help the old man from the dungeon annihilate the Wang clan’s descendants. His current strength was far from sufficient.

He recalled the martial artist who had searched for them from the sky—Wang Shan. But was he truly a descendant of the Wang clan, as the old man had said?

He shook off these thoughts and realized he’d already eaten a whole Wind Serpent, feeling surges of heat flow through his limbs, bringing great comfort. The serpent meat still had a faintly beneficial effect on his body.

The Celestial Wheel spun slowly in the air, requiring little spirit energy to maintain its light. Otherwise, Chu Jie wouldn’t have used it for illumination.

Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Chu Jie used the Celestial Wheel to fly his people out of the cave one by one, following after the last of them.

The Celestial Wheel spun wildly from Chu Jie’s fist, a torrent of light swirling through the massive tunnel. The passage was large enough for the Stone Hall to move through, but within its vast, lightless emptiness, one felt as though swallowed by the void.

Everyone walked in silence; any sound might carry far in such a place, potentially attracting unwelcome attention.

“We’ll search for an exit and see if there are treasures here as well,” Chu Jie said.

In such a grand underground structure, there was bound to be something worth finding.

Two strange tracks lined the tunnel, crafted from a peculiar material that glimmered blue-violet in the darkness. They cast no light, serving only to make the tracks themselves visible.

These had to be the rails for the Stone Hall’s movement.

Chu Jie pondered aloud, “There are two directions. Should we retrace the Stone Hall’s path, or go forward?”

Retracing might lead them back to the entrance, but going forward was a leap into the unknown.

“Let’s go forward!”

After some discussion, they chose the unknown path. It was too risky to run into that peerless fiend again, and besides, all the caves along the previous route had already been searched. If there was anything left, it likely belonged to the fiend now; hope would be futile.

Chu Jie led the way with the Celestial Wheel, the others following the rails. No one knew how long they walked before at last they found another cave. It was pitch-black and seemingly empty.

“Nothing…” Duan Kun sighed. The first one was already empty; how difficult could this be?

“Boss, I’ll go check it out,” Wu Long volunteered.

Though it appeared barren, there was always a chance something remained. Darkness meant no spirit crystals, but perhaps something else.

Chu Jie took Wu Long and Li Yao down with the Celestial Wheel, while the others waited above. The cave was small, similar in size to the previous one—any larger, and searching would have been difficult. Chu Jie controlled the Celestial Wheel to cast dazzling light, illuminating every corner.

“Boss, there’s a corpse down here!” Wu Long’s voice rang out.

Chu Jie’s spirits lifted. Where there were bodies, there might be valuables.

“Take anything you find, leave the corpse,” Chu Jie ordered.

After a while, Wu Long called, “Boss, take us up—we’re done down here.”

Chu Jie quickly brought them up with the Celestial Wheel. As they neared the entrance, he saw something in Wu Long’s hand.

“Boss, I found this below,” Wu Long said, handing it over.

Chu Jie saw it was a fragment of a golden ring, engraved with array patterns. Though old and incomplete, the designs were still clear.

Chu Jie knew nothing of arrays and ignored the markings, turning his attention to the ring’s construction. The more he looked, the more familiar it seemed.

He handed the ring to Duan Kun and waited for his reaction.

Duan Kun examined it, channeling spirit energy into it. The array glowed in response, but since the ring was only a part of a whole, its function could only be realized once reassembled.

Duan Kun’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Chu Jie knew they were thinking the same thing.

“Golden Armor!” they exclaimed in unison.

It meant that somewhere in these tunnels, components of the Golden Armor must be scattered—perhaps even a complete set. From seeing Zhou Jie wear the Golden Armor, it must be at least a high-grade treasure, perhaps even more.

Zhou Jie was at the early Star Core stage, and with relatively few spirit crystals in the cave, the Golden Armor had to be a powerful weapon for someone at that level or higher—a formidable magical artifact.

“Keep searching—we must assemble a full set of Golden Armor!” Chu Jie declared excitedly. This cave was now thoroughly searched, so they pressed on, following the rails deeper. This time, their hopes were high; if the very first cave yielded the golden ring, perhaps somewhere ahead lay the entire Golden Armor.