120: Chapter 120 A Powerful Sect Ten Thousand Years Ago

The cave entrance was deep, with steps extending downward. The stone walls on both sides were covered with ancient runes that had become mottled and blurred by the erosion of time, yet the exquisite craftsmanship of the past was still visible.

A damp, decaying aura surged from the cave, mixed with faint fluctuations of Spiritual Qi.

Shen Chong took a deep breath, slightly circulating the spiritual power of his Azure Wood Precious Body to isolate that decaying aura.

The steps were very long, numbering in the thousands.

The further down they went, the more open the space became, and the Spiritual Qi grew denser.

Upon reaching the end, the view suddenly opened up—a vast underground space appeared before everyone.

This space was completely different from what the Old Turtle had seen when he entered!

This space was about a thousand zhang wide and a hundred zhang high. The ceiling was embedded with unknown glowing crystals, illuminating the entire underground palace as bright as day.

Most shockingly, this was not a naturally formed underground cave at all, but the ruins of a Sect that had been buried entirely underground!

Broken walls, collapsed palaces, shattered stone tablets, scattered weapons...

Everything was telling the story of this Sect's former glory and its final tragic end.

"This is..." a knowledgeable old Cultivator gasped, "This is a Sect's ruins! A complete Sect's ruins!"

"Heavens! What level of Sect must this be? The area of this underground palace alone is larger than Guangnan City!"

"Look over there! That collapsed palace actually used Fifth-Grade Spiritual Jade for its flooring! This kind of material is only used in the core halls even within the Seven Great Sects!"

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed, only to see countless crystal-clear fragments scattered among the ruins, glowing with a warm luster under the light of the crystals.

Fifth-Grade Spiritual Jade!

That was a top-tier material for refining Magical Artifacts; a piece the size of a fingernail was worth over a hundred Spirit Stones!

And now, it was all over the ground!

"Grab them!"

Someone shouted, and the crowd instantly erupted.

Hundreds of Cultivators pounced toward the Spiritual Jade fragments in the ruins like a swarm of locusts.

Some bent down to pick them up, some used spiritual power to retrieve them, and some even came to blows over a fist-sized piece of Spiritual Jade, exchanging punches and kicks as blood splattered.

Shen Quan was also a bit eager and pulled Shen Chong to rush forward: "Quick, quick, quick! There won't be any left if we're late!"

Shen Chong grabbed him and shook his head: "Brother Quan, don't be in a hurry."

"Not in a hurry?" Shen Quan's eyes widened. "With so much Spiritual Jade, they'll all be snatched up if we don't hurry!"

Shen Chong pointed deeper into the ruins: "Those Spiritual Jade fragments are just things on the outermost periphery. The real treasures are inside."

Shen Quan looked in the direction he pointed and saw many relatively well-preserved buildings deeper within the ruins.

On the walls of those buildings, one could vaguely see formation patterns flowing. Clearly, they were protected by Restrictions and were not places anyone could just enter.

Moreover, he noticed that the people from the Zhao Family and the Chen Family didn't stop at the periphery at all, but headed straight for the depths.

"That makes sense!" Shen Quan's eyes lit up, and he pulled Shen Chong toward the depths.

The two passed through the broken walls, leaped over collapsed palaces, and soon arrived in front of a relatively intact group of buildings.

Here, the four Void Piercing Realm powerhouses—Shen Yuanshan, Shen Yuanhe, Zhao Hongfu, and Chen Boyuan—had already arrived first and were standing before the most well-preserved hall.

The hall was about ten zhang high and thirty zhang wide, constructed entirely of some kind of dark-gold stone. Even after enduring unknown tens of thousands of years of erosion, it remained majestic and magnificent.

The hall doors were tightly closed, and the plaque above the lintel had shattered, leaving only a broken character for "Heaven" that was barely discernible.

On either side of the hall doors stood a stone statue.

The statues were about three zhang tall, clad in armor, holding long halberds, with majestic faces and wide-open, angry eyes, looking lifelike.

Even after tens of thousands of years had passed, these two stone statues still emitted a heart-palpitating aura of slaughter.

"Guardian Puppets." Shen Yuanshan narrowed his eyes, examining the two stone statues with a look of surprise on his face. "What kind of place is this, to actually have Guardian Puppets!"

A Guardian Puppet was a very peculiar Magic Treasure.

When not activated, it was like a sculpture and would not move.

But once activated, it could fight like a human and exert powerful strength.

However, Guardian Puppets did not possess high intelligence like Magic Treasures with artifact spirits.

Powerful Cultivators had once tried to seize human souls and refine them into Puppets to obtain a sentient Puppet, but without exception, they all failed.

Later, as the Puppet lineage withered, Puppets became very rare in the Southern Region.

Zhao Hongfu raised an eyebrow: "They're just mere Puppets. If we strike together, we should be able to..."

Before he could finish his sentence—

"Crr-ack, crr-ack, crr-ack..."

A series of tooth-grating sounds came from the stone statues.

Those two stone statues that had stood for tens of thousands of years actually moved!

They slowly turned their heads, and two points of ghostly blue light lit up in their hollow eye sockets as they stared fixedly at the group of uninvited guests.

Immediately after, a terrifying aura erupted from the stone statues!

That aura was more than ten times stronger than a Peak Dharma Image Realm!

"Void Piercing Realm! They are Void Piercing Realm Guardian Puppets!" Chen Boyuan's expression changed drastically, and he subconsciously took a half-step back.

Shen Yuanshan looked at the Puppets, his eyes lighting up.

Good stuff!

If they could bring these Void Piercing Realm Puppets back, wouldn't their Shen Family have two more guardian deities?!

Void Piercing Realm Guardian Puppets felt no pain, knew no fatigue, and once activated, they would fight to the death.

Even for a Cultivator of the same level, they were extremely troublesome to deal with.

If the Shen Family had these, how prestigious it would be!

"Third Brother, what should we do?" Shen Yuanhe asked in a low voice.

Shen Yuanshan did not answer but instead looked up toward the depths of the hall.

Through the gap in the hall doors, he could see a faint glow of treasures flowing deep inside, clearly hiding some significant treasures.

"No need to get entangled, we'll rush straight in," Shen Yuanshan said in a low voice, then charged toward the hall.

Shen Yuanhe followed closely behind.

Zhao Hongfu and Chen Boyuan exchanged a glance and also charged toward the hall.

But at that moment, a stone statue blocked the two of them.

"Damn it!"

Zhao Hongfu and Chen Boyuan were forced to respond in a hurry.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The two Void Piercing Realm powerhouses clashed with the stone statue, spiritual power surging and rubble flying, as if the world were being torn apart.

Shen Quan and Shen Chong hid in the distance, watching the fierce battle with shock in their hearts.

The destructive power of a Void Piercing Realm battle was too terrifying.

Any random aftershock could severely injure a Dharma Image Realm Cultivator.

"Brother Quan, let's not get close." Shen Chong pulled Shen Quan back a few more steps. "The Elders are here. Let's go to the side hall first."

He pointed to a small hall in the corner.

On the other side, Shen Yuanshan and Shen Yuanhe avoided the stone statue's attack and rushed straight into the main hall.

The hall doors were pushed open, and an ancient, desolate aura rushed toward them.

The interior of the hall was even more spacious than it appeared from the outside.

In the center was a statue about three zhang tall, depicting a middle-aged man with a majestic face, wearing armor, holding a longsword, with eyes like torches, looking down upon all living beings.

Below the statue, a line of large characters was carved—

"Heavenly Sword Sect Third Generation Sect Head, Ling Cang!"

Shen Yuanshan's eyes widened, "It's actually the Heavenly Sword Sect!"

Shen Yuanhe, beside him, was also full of surprise, his expression carrying a hint of respect.

Ten thousand years ago, during the war between humans and the Yao Race, countless Sects were destroyed, and countless powerhouses fell.

The Heavenly Sword Sect was one of the top Sects in the Southern Region at that time. It was said that the Sect's Old Ancestor was a Peak Asking Dao Realm existence, only one step away from entering the Saint Realm!

But in that catastrophe, the entire Heavenly Sword Sect fought against the Yao Race and was ultimately wiped out, with the Sect's ruins disappearing without a trace.

To think it was actually buried underground outside Guangnan City!

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