At the first Treasure Vault.
“So… So many treasures!”
Their eyes sparkled with delight and became very excited when they felt the treasures’ aura. Every space was taken up by the floating Ultimate Treasure—be it an Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasure or a Deluxe Merit Ultimate Treasure.
Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasures were created out of the Heavenly World in limited quantities. They were all indispensable treasures to a Chaos Daluo Golden Immortal.
Like the Chaos Bell for example. If a Quasi Saint were to hide inside the bell, he would be able to withstand the many attacks of a Chaos Daluo Golden Immortal. Not only that, a Quasi-Saint would not be able to unleash the full potential of an Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasure with his level of spiritual cultivation. At most, he would be able to unleash only 30 percent of its usefulness.
As a high-level member of the Heavenly Realm, Cultivator Tianhong wanted to protect everyone. The horsetail whisk was an Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasure.
An Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasure was hard to get. Whoever had their hands on it would be able to walk this world with confidence. The Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasures that were born out of the Yunhuang World could be counted on one hand but here, at a glance, there were at least 100 Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasures.
No wonder this was called the Wisdom secret border. For there to be so many Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasure on the first floor seemed like child’s play to them, as if they were nothing but junk.
Cultivator Junjun bowed to Blackie. “Lord Dog, you should take all the Ultimate Heavenly Spiritual Treasures.”
No one dared to raise a voice of dissent. Blackie had a higher social standing and he was the one who saved them. Besides, it was all due to Blackie’s effort that they were able to enter the secret border. Although having a treasure was a good thing, they did not feel any greed toward it.
“You call these treasures?” Blackie shook his head, disdain showing in his eyes. Then, he waved his paws. “Take whatever you want but be quick about it. I want to continue forward.”
Blackie wanted to search for the item that his master was interested in and to destroy the Ministry’s plan. The group was speechless at his nonchalance. However, after giving some thought, they were quick to realize that any junk belonging to the expert would be more powerful than any treasures here.
Although it pained them to think that, it was the truth after all.
Cultivator Junjun smiled bitterly. “It’s only natural for you to look down on the treasures. We’re the ignorant party here.”
Then they started to gather the treasures they wanted without saying anything further. They shoved as many treasures as they could into their bags. Even if they themselves would not be able to use them all, they could give the treasures to their own sect to increase the groups’ power.
This made it worthwhile for them to come to the secret border. It was truly the secret border of all secret borders. Of course, they would need to be careful about deciding which treasures to take because each of them contained a taboo that caused them to resist being taken.
But they were able to work it out between themselves. They were, after all, comrades in battle. The chances of in-fighting were very low.
In a blink of an eye, the whole space was cleared out and the treasures were equally divided between the group.
Blackie looked at the empty Treasure Vault and after some consideration said, “This is after all the first Treasure Vault. We should leave something here for the people that come after.”
“Lord Dog, why are we leaving some treasures for them?” asked the Food God.
“Are you crazy? Why would you leave treasures for your opponents?” said Blackie mockingly while rolling his eyes. “We’re leaving something to provoke them even more so they’d be all pumped up.”
Then, his face broke out in a smile and he raised his paws to write something in the thin air—’The fact that you’re here means you’re very talented. Well done! More exciting things are waiting for you up ahead’.
He looked at his finished work, obviously pleased. “That should be enough. Follow me. Don’t say I didn’t show you the way.”
With that, he took the first step to lead the way, walking as if he was on smooth plains.
At the same time, the Ministry group was still continuing forward with the many taboos limiting them. With every step, the spells blanketed the sky and ground as they contended with the light of taboo.
They never expected to lose one-third of their men before even reaching the first Treasure Vault. However, they were undeterred. “Work hard, people! Victory’s ours!”
The West Shadow Guard looked at the Left Messenger who seemed as if her soul had left her body.
“Don’t worry. We’re at the Wisdom secret border after all, and you can only enter with the Shinto Thunder Slashing Sword given to us by our Minister. There’s no way that dog could’ve entered in such a short time.”
He had noticed the strange behavior of the Left Messenger ever since entering the secret border. She kept looking worryingly behind her. It was obvious to him that the failure of many missions had caused some trauma in her. She had lost much confidence.
“I know,” said the Left Messenger, her lips in a tight line.
“Besides, I’m different from the Right Messenger and East Shadow Guard. I’m the epitome of the word ‘stable’! I’m confident everything will go according to plan. You’ll get back your confidence by working with me,” said the West Shadow Messenger cockily.
No one could escape the fate of trodding on others to make themselves look better. It was almost a crime to not toot one’s own horn if one really had the talent to back them up.
His familiar words caused her to frown slightly. She quickly told herself she was overthinking things.
“See, we’ve already arrived at the first Treasure Vault,” announced the West Shadow Guard.
They felt relieved to see the gate opening and sensed their future was bright. Some of them were even crying out in anticipation of all the treasures they would see.
But that was not to be.
“Huh?”
“What happened?”
“Why’s the vault empty”
The smile disappeared from the group’s faces.
“Where are the treasures?”
“Is this it?”
The West Shadow Guard was shocked and confused, too.
“Everyone, look up! There are some words there!” cried out someone agitatedly.
They all noticed the message left by Blackie. Their expressions were all different.
“I know what’s going on here!” said the West Shadow Messenger with sparkles in his eyes as a smile broke out of his face. He knew some of the hidden secrets from many years ago so he was able to put two and two together. “Everyone, don’t be surprised. The owner of this secret border comes from an extraordinary background. He must’ve fought fiercely and destroyed all his magic weapons. Therefore, he couldn’t leave any magic weapons here.”
“I see!”
“Makes sense. The battle was obviously very hard to make such a strong person fall. It makes sense for him to destroy all the treasures.”
“How nice of him to leave such a comforting message for us. He probably knew we’d be feeling down on our luck.”
“Look at the words! It looks like there are still some Insights swirling about. It’s truly extraordinary. I feel like I’m about to gain some enlightenment.”
“Only a matchless high-level warrior would be about to leave such words. I can’t help but bow down to it.”
“We must move quickly! There’s bound to be some powerful treasures waiting for us!”
Although they received nothing in the end, they were able to keep their mood high. With a motivated roar, they advanced towards the second Treasure Vault.
Meanwhile, Blackie and his group had already arrived. Here, there was a green grassland with the fragrance of birds and flowers in the air. The sun was warm and the clouds were floating in the air. In the center of the grass, there was a blue pond. The surface of the pond was rippling and sparkling with lights. The powers had transformed into a mist, rising like smoke.
Cultivator Tianhong was a very knowledgeable man. He cried out when he saw the pond, “The aura of life is so thick! The vitality’s like a rainbow and the aura was born out of it naturally! This must be the Pond of Spirits!”
Anyone could detect the excitement in his voice. This Pond of Spirits must be extremely invaluable to be able to make a high-level member of the Heavenly Realm act like a child in a candy shop.
Cultivator Tianhong continued, “The Pond of Spirits has the ability to bring the dead back to life, giving them a second chance in life. It can also heal any trauma on the Origin of Life.”
The ability to grow flesh over a skeleton! However, this Pond of Spirits did not work on everyone. One had to be a Chaos Daluo Golden Immortal to reap its healing power.
Cultivator Tianhong gulped some air. “Lord Dog, may I drink from the Pond of Spirits?” he asked with anticipation.
“Help yourself,” answered Blackie calmly.
“Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!” said Cultivator Tianhong, dancing with joy. He rushed to the pond and took small sips.
The injury caused by the West Shadow Guard damaged Cultivator Tianhong’s Origin of Life. He was sure he would be healed by drinking from the Pond of Spirits.
The rest of the group followed him from behind and started drinking excitedly. Their minds and Primordial Spirits recovered instantly and they never felt better in their lives.
Blackie walked up to the pond at a much slower pace. He lowered his head and took a sip. However, he frowned and immediately spat out the water.
“The taste is too ordinary. It’s worse than the tap water provided by the master,” he said disappointedly.
Cultivator Tianhong stared at him in disbelief. How could Blackie look down on the Pond of Spirits? What kind of life did one have to lead to be able to not think much of a luxury like this?
“It seems like the Pond of Spirits is exactly what the Ministry’s looking for?”
The wheels started to spin in Blackie’s mind and his face broke out in a sinister smile. “Do you still want the water?” he asked.
“Yes! Yes!”
Qin Zhongshan and the rest of the group took out a specially made treasure bottle and filled it up with the pond water.
Blackie looked at what was left of the pond water and raised one of his hind legs. Then, a stream of pee landed right in the middle of the pond.
Both Cultivator Junjun and Qin Zhongshan were rendered speechless. In fact, all of them had their mouths wide open with shock,
Did he just pee into the Pond of Spirits? This was definitely an abuse of treasures!
They clutched at their chests with their hands, pain making it difficult for them to breathe.
Blackie calmly put down his hind leg and said, “A little extra something for the Ministry. Do any of you want to add to it?”
They became excited at this question, raring to give it a go. Doing something as crazy as peeing into the Pond of Spirits would earn them enough bragging rights for a lifetime.
Not to mention Blackie already did it. How could they let this chance pass them by?
“Now that you’ve mentioned it, I do need to pee.”
“Should we all…do it at the same time?”
The sound of water hitting water rang throughout the place as the pond’s surface rose again to its original water level.
Blackie wrote something in the air again. ‘ The water from the Pond of Spirits is extremely valuable. Please, do not waste it’.
“Let’s go to the next stop!” shouted Blackie.
Two hours later, a blast of explosion rang in the air and there were sparks all around. The taboo became looser. The Ministry people charged in with excitement after overcoming many obstacles.
The deeper they went, the stronger the taboo. Even the West Shadow Guard, along with the rest of the group, had to find ways to reverse it.
“Ahhh!”
“Charge!”
“This is the biggest chance in my life. I’d rather die than let it pass me by!”
“A little further! I can already smell it! It smells so good!”
Compared to the number of men in the first Treasure Vault, they were further cut down by half. Their bodies were covered with injuries. They had definitely been through a lot.
Finally, they saw the light at the end of the tunnel and with a final push, reached the second Treasure Vault.
“The air’s thick with the aura of life! There must be a big fortune here!”
“The Pond of Spirits! It’s actually the Pond of Spirits! The owner of the secret border didn’t lie to us. There’s actually a big treasure in the second Treasure Vault!”
“So much water in the Pond of Spirits! It could only be birthed from Chaos! We’ve struck gold!”
Everyone rushed to the pond and drank hungrily with sparkly eyes.
“Hey, don’t you think the water’s kind of yellow?”
“It’s golden holy water! It must be the essence of the Pond of Spirits!”
“The scent alone is enough to make me feel better!”
“What good fortune it is to drink from this pond!”
Both the West Shadow Guard and the Left Messenger walked over to the pond with a smile. “This is exactly what the Minister wants.”
The others did not dare to refute them. “We wouldn’t have been able to reach here if it weren’t for the two of you. By right, the two of you should have the first drink.”
“Good that you all know that,” said the West Shadow Guard with a smile. He raised his hand and a scoop of the pond water entered his mouth. He savored it as if it was wine. “The taste is sweet and full of life. It’s the real Pond of Spirits. Do you want to give it a try, Left Messenger?”
The Left Messenger was very anxious. She had become very cautious due to the recent events. “No thanks. Let’s get some for the Minister first.”
“My lords, the golden essence floating must be the best part!” said someone, trying to earn some brownie points.
“Shut up! I don’t need you to tell me that!” said the West Shadow Guard with a cocky smile. “The best part belongs to the Minister! Scoop it all up and don’t even think of sneaking in a sip!”
The rest of the group could only take their turn once the bottle had been filled. They were contorting with impatience and let out a roar of excitement once they had been given the green light by the West Shadow Guard. They all jumped into the pond and drank in big gulps.
“This is too good! So, this is what the Pond of Spirits tastes like! I can feel my life changing for the better!”
“All my injuries from the taboo have recovered!”
“Huh? There’s a slightly salty taste to the water. How curious.”
“Doesn’t it taste great? The saltiness must be what makes it special.”
“Get out once you’ve had your fill! Don’t be too greedy. Leave some for the rest of the group!”
After an hour, some of their bellies were filled to the brim with the pond water. They all wiped their mouths with satisfaction. They had earned the right to drink from the pond first since they had a higher level of spiritual cultivation.
Behind them, the lowly members of the group had no choice but to madly lick the bottom and sides of the pond for it was already depleted.
“Look! There’s another message in the sky telling us not to waste any of it!”
“The owner of the secret border has a good sense of humor! Of course, we wouldn’t waste such precious pond water. I’d be a loser if I did that.”
