novelHire Chapter 856.16: The Wordless Fragment
Chapter 856.16: The Wordless Fragment
… Crack—!
In the silent palace, even such a slight sound seemed outrageously loud.
The palm of the Zhongli statue that gripped the spear split, and a few specks of dust fell.
By reflex, Chen Huaian reached out. When his finger touched the statue’s hand that still held the broken spear, a faint warmth unexpectedly passed into his fingertip.
It felt as if something had appeared in his hand...
Chen Huaian looked down. In his right hand, which had been empty moments before, a ruined scroll—neither metal nor jade—slowly took shape.
The scroll was dingy gray all over, its edges singed as if by fire, imbued with the worn melancholy of having been steeped in years.
Chen Huaian opened it and peered inside. Vast swathes of blank space met his eyes.
Only at the head of the scroll did a few indistinct ancient seal script characters faintly emerge, like an outline, or perhaps like some sort of instruction.
At the scroll’s end, a hair-thin golden thread seemed to point into the void toward the next location—the second floating peak.
His instinct told him this was only a fragment.
To see the full content, he would probably have to traverse every floating peak and gather the remaining fragments.
“Elder Chen, what is that?” Zhang Yibai leaned over curiously, but all he could see was blank space. “A wordless celestial book?”
“Maybe.” Chen Huaian casually put the scroll away. “It looks like some kind of inheritance, but it’s terribly incomplete.”
He could barely make out the faint characters on this fragment. Zhang Yibai could see nothing at all.
That proved this underground palace was connected to him.
They should probably thank those two immortals; without them, he would never have known how to enter the Nine Heavens Refining Profound Array.
Just then, heavy chaotic footsteps sounded outside the hall.
“Damn it! Damn it! Why are the formations in the Lower Realm so tricky?!”
“They’re only two mechanical constructs, yet they’ve humiliated us so badly…”
Cursing angrily, Bi Yue Wu and Tu Fu Xing staggered into the main hall, supporting each other.
There was not a trace left of their prior lofty elegance.
Bi Yue Wu’s golden coronet was gone; his hair hung loose. His precious Flowing Clouds Immortal Robe had been shredded into strips and hung on him like rags. Tu Fu Xing was worse—half his face was swollen, one eye bruised, he limped badly, and traces of golden thunderfire still clung to him.
Clearly, those rampaging bronze-armored Door Gods had given them an unforgettable “welcome.”
What infuriated them more was that after finally clearing the challenge, the blasted bronze statue hadn’t even produced a pill furnace!
Don’t talk about a miraculous healing herb—even a scrap of medicine was nowhere to be found!
“Where are the people? Where’s the treasure?!”
As Tu Fu Xing stepped into the hall, his one intact eye darted around until he only saw an empty chamber and a tattered statue, and he flew into a rage.
“You bunch of mortals! Where’s the stuff in here? Did you pilfer it?!”
He charged forward, the pressure of an immortal crushing mercilessly down on the crowd.
Gu Changsheng and Wang Shouyi both turned pale and were forced to stagger back.
Chen Huaian remained calm. He drew the dingy fragment from his sleeve and replied serenely, “Reporting to you, Immortals, it was already this empty when we entered. Only this statue held the scroll. I am but a foolish junior and cannot discern its secrets. I don’t know if it is the opportunity you seek.”
Bi Yue Wu snatched the scroll away, a trace of greed flashing in his eyes.
This was the Nine Heavens Refining Profound Array!
Anything placed in the first main hall had to be a world-shaking treasure.
He could not wait to unfurl the scroll and even probed it with immortal spirit energy.
But…
One breath, two breaths, three breaths…
Bi Yue Wu’s brow furrowed tighter and tighter until he finally flipped the scroll over and shook it.
No spiritual fluctuations, no Dao Rhythms coursing, not even unusual material. It was ordinary mortal straw paper, not even scribbled with a crude charm—utterly a scrap of worthless paper!
“What… what kind of trash is this?!”
Bi Yue Wu’s hands trembled with anger. He, an immortal of the Upper Realm, had been beaten half to death and dragged in here, only to find a scrap of paper?
“That can’t be. Let me see!”
Tu Fu Xing pushed forward and stared for a long time, then looked equally baffled. “Isn’t this just a scrap of straw paper you’d refuse to use even for wiping?”
“Looks like this first floating peak is only a ruse.”
Bi Yue Wu snorted. Though he still suspected Chen Huaian and the others of hiding something, the scroll showed no reaction under his touch.
If he were to pocket this scrap and claim it a treasure in front of so many mortals, his colleagues in Lingxiao Palace would laugh him out of the heavens.
“Take it back.”
Bi Yue Wu flung the scroll back to Chen Huaian like garbage, disdain evident on his face. “This mortal trash is only valuable to you. What rotten luck!”
Chen Huaian caught the scroll steadily and tucked it into his bosom without comment. The smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.
“Move out! To the second floating peak!”
Bi Yue Wu’s eyes glinted darkly as he stared at Chen Huaian’s retreating back. “Since the first had nothing, the good stuff must be further in. You lot will continue to scout ahead! Don’t try any tricks—an immortal will be right behind you watching!”
Though he said the scroll was trash, suspicion still lingered in their hearts.
Better to let these lucky mortals trigger traps first than to risk their own misfortune.
And if a treasure truly appeared, could they not simply seize it from the mortals afterward?
…
…