Chapter 279: Chapter 233: Obtaining an Unknown Item

But just then, the unexpected happened.

CRACK.

Suddenly, a faint sound came from the mummified body of the man in black.

The man in white clothes, holding the small wooden box, lowered his head and looked quizzically toward the source of the faint sound.

"You... you’re actually still alive..." the man in white clothes said, staring in utter shock at the mummified man in black. As the other man turned his head to look at him, a dreadful premonition surged through his heart.

Just as the man in white clothes was about to pull back and retreat, the man in black, with only his last breath remaining, opened his shriveled mouth and spoke in a tone dripping with hatred.

"DETONATE!!!"

A faint golden Spiritual Light bloomed from the body of the man in black, and an intense sense of danger washed over the man in white.

’This is bad.’ Facing the threat of death, the man in white clothes unleashed what little Spiritual Energy he had left in his Dantian and turned to flee.

But it was too late.

The man in black, his body blooming with faint golden Spiritual Light, disintegrated into ash. A massive explosion erupted, and the man in white, unable to escape in time, was instantly engulfed by the blast.

BOOM...

The incredible shockwave from the explosion radiated outward, sending the surrounding grass and trees flying. A cloud of dust rose to blanket a vast area.

When the dust settled, a large crater, four or five meters in diameter, had appeared at the site of the explosion.

As for the man in black and the man in white—two Second Order Middle Stage Cultivators—not even their bones remained after the explosion.

Had the man in white been at his peak, he might not have escaped the sudden blast unscathed, but he certainly wouldn’t have been so completely obliterated.

Unfortunately, he had already exhausted most of his Spiritual Energy using his awakened Superpower to kill the man in black, sealing his own fate.

The small, unremarkable wooden box from before had been sent flying into the sky by the explosion’s shockwave.

Now, as the blast subsided, the battered little wooden box fell from the sky and landed in the crater left by the explosion.

CLACK.

The wooden box shattered on impact inside the crater, and whatever was inside rolled out.

...

WHOOSH...

RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE...

A breeze blew, causing the man-high weeds to sway gently, making a soft rustling sound.

A figure in gray clothing pushed aside the grass in front of him and stepped out.

Drawn by the sound of the explosion, Lin Li emerged from the tall grass.

The first thing that met his eyes were the motionless bodies of men in black clothes, scattered all over the ground.

Lin Li used his Perception to check the condition of the people on the ground and found no trace of Spiritual Energy waves coming from them.

He moved in for a closer look and saw that the men in black had died from fatal wounds to their chests. ’What happened here? So many people are dead!’

He took a few more steps forward, and a large crater four to five meters in diameter came into view.

Standing at the edge of the crater, Lin Li looked at the hole, which was clearly not formed by natural causes. After a moment of thought, he deduced that this must be the spot where the thunderous explosion he’d heard earlier had gone off.

’Not a single person is left alive. Nothing to see... I’m leaving.’

Finding no one alive at the scene of the explosion, Lin Li turned to return to Dongwu City.

Just as he was about to take a step and run back toward Dongwu City as he had before, he suddenly perceived a faint Spiritual Energy wave from the crater behind him.

’Hm? There’s a Spiritual Energy wave?’

Lin Li turned back and looked into the large crater, scanning it carefully.

First, at the bottom of the crater, he saw a battered little wooden box.

Then, not far from the box, he saw a pitch-black object about the size of a pigeon’s egg.

The Spiritual Energy wave Lin Li had perceived seemed to be coming from this pitch-black, pigeon-egg-sized object.

’What the heck is this grimy-looking thing? And why is it emitting a Spiritual Energy wave?’

Lin Li jumped into the crater, walked over to the object, bent down, and picked it up.

’This grimy-looking thing... it looks like a chestnut from Blue Star. Don’t tell me it’s some kind of plant seed!’

’Uh... it’s emitting a Spiritual Energy wave. If it really is a plant seed, wouldn’t that mean the plant it grows into would be a Spirit Plant?’

Lin Li studied the object he’d picked up. It looked just like a chestnut from Blue Star. He squeezed it first and found its shell to be incredibly hard.

Then he sniffed it and detected a faint, clean fragrance.

’Whatever. I’ll put it away for now and plant it on the Mysterious Small Island later. We’ll find out soon enough if it’s the seed of a Spirit Plant.’

With a thought, Lin Li retrieved a plastic storage bag from the Mysterious Small Island.

He put the unknown, pitch-black, pigeon-egg-sized object into the bag and then placed it on the Mysterious Small Island. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

After stowing the unknown object, Lin Li searched the area again. He found two broken Spiritual Longswords in the grass, along with eight ordinary steel swords and sabers.

Finding nothing else, he left.

About half an hour after Lin Li had left the scene of the explosion, a ten-person team appeared.

The leader was a middle-aged man, 1.75 meters tall, with long hair, a long face, and a scar on the corner of his mouth. He radiated the Spiritual Energy waves of a Second Order High Rank cultivator.

"Boss..." one of the subordinates standing next to the long-haired middle-aged man said. After inspecting the dead at the scene, they all stared grimly at the massive crater left by the explosion.

"Pair up and split up the search. That guy couldn’t have gotten far."

The long-haired man gave the order, and his subordinates nodded. They then scattered, beginning their search for the man in black who was carrying the valuable item.

The group mistakenly believed that the man in black carrying the valuable item had killed their comrade and then fled.

However, the truth was completely different from what they imagined. Their comrade, the man in white clothes, had single-handedly killed the man in black and all his subordinates.

It was just that in the end, he was dragged into mutual destruction by the man in black’s counterattack.

As a result, all the spoils went to a certain visitor from the Otherworld who, drawn by the sound, was now already back in Dongwu City, having found a high-end restaurant and preparing to eat lunch.

Because their initial judgment was wrong, no matter how much time the long-haired middle-aged man and his subordinates spent searching, they would never find the valuable item they so desperately wanted.

...

In Dongwu City, a luxurious horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of a lavishly decorated restaurant.

Surrounding the carriage were a dozen or so guards, all radiating Spiritual Energy waves and remaining on constant alert.

"Madam, Miss, we’ve arrived," the driver said, turning to call to the passengers in the carriage.

"Mom, Xinru, let’s get out! I’m starving after shopping all morning." After speaking, the girl hopped out of the carriage first.

"Auntie, are we still shopping this afternoon?" Zhu Xinru asked.

"Xinru, are you tired?" Zhu Xinru’s aunt asked.

"I’m alright."

"You look a bit weary. How about this? After we finish lunch, I’ll have the guards escort you home..."

"Okay."

"Mom, Xinru, what are you two doing? Hurry up and get out!" Zhu Xinru’s cousin shouted.

Following that, Zhu Xinru and her aunt alighted from the carriage.

Just then, the shopkeeper of the lavishly decorated restaurant rushed out to personally welcome the three distinguished and obviously important guests.

...