Chapter 1043: Chapter 1042: The Treasure Opens

Rumble!

High above the firmament, leaden thick fireclouds shrouded more than half the Sky, and from within those clouds, terrifying thunderous roars continuously erupted, like the wrath of heaven and earth, with thunder densely woven throughout.

From within the fireclouds, bolts of thunder containing extremely violent power would pour down from time to time, fiercely smashing into the mountain range below, blasting out one large crater after another; wherever they passed, all turned into scorched earth.

The Energy of heaven and earth around this Tianyan Mountain Range was being forcibly drawn together into this single region in a twisted manner, causing the Energy here to be extraordinarily dense, filled with lethal danger.

Yet, this was merely the outer perimeter.

Ling Chen’s gaze turned toward the deepest part of the Tianyan Mountain Range. The land there was already pitch-black, and the scorching waves transmitted from that direction could still be clearly felt even across a very great distance.

The people of the Huangfu Clan and Murong Family seemed to have already taken the lead and entered the depths of the Tianyan Mountain Range.

"I should set out as well."

Ling Chen did not linger for long before he vaulted forward, sweeping into the depths of the Tianyan Mountain Range.

And only after truly charging into this deep region of the Tianyan Mountain Range did Ling Chen finally feel how terrifying this place was. From the core area of the Tianyan Mountain Range, as the volcanic eruption intensified, enormous fireballs were crazily raining down, and their density was enough to make one’s scalp crawl.

Ah!

Under this kind of dense bombardment of fireballs, miserable screams began to ring out around him. Some figures sweeping across midair were directly struck by those meteor-like fireballs; amid their shrill wails, even with True Qi protecting their bodies, they were still burned into black charcoal, white smoke curling off them. A gust of wind blew past, and they crumbled into ash and dispersed.

Many people were so frightened by those silhouettes in midair that were being blasted into charcoal one after another that their expressions changed, and they immediately grew more cautious. They had all come here for the treasure and had no desire to be reduced to dust here before even catching sight of it.

The crowd, dense as a swarm of locusts, slowed their pace at this moment. Billows of majestic true energy rose up, and all manner of life-preserving artifacts were activated one after another, everyone appearing to have pushed their defenses to the utmost.

"To enter that treasure land is indeed no simple matter..."

Ling Chen’s expression grew solemn. Even he didn’t dare show the slightest carelessness in a place like this. These fireballs might not be enough to kill him, but once struck, he would definitely not escape without injury.

If one lacked sufficient strength, they would likely find it hard to take even a single step here.

After advancing for roughly over ten minutes, Ling Chen finally reached the deepest part of the Tianyan Mountain Range. Within his sight stood a volcano about a hundred zhang tall, wildly spewing Flames into the Sky, and the rain of fireballs that had previously shrouded the entire mountain range had been born from this volcanic eruption.

However, Ling Chen’s attention did not linger long on the erupting volcano, but instead focused on a nearby area. There, fireclouds billowed, and vaguely, he seemed to see a vast Cave Mansion, faintly discernible, with grand structures like a mirage.

Without a doubt, this should be where the treasure was hidden.

This Cave Mansion was apparently shrouded by a powerful Array Formation. The one who could lay down such a formation must have possessed strength of an astonishing level.

Ling Chen nodded slightly, then lifted his gaze. On this stretch of "sea" — besides the forces of the Huangfu Clan and Azure Dragon Family — there were several other figures standing as well. This caused Ling Chen’s heart to tense slightly. These people had mostly kept a low profile at the previous camp, but clearly, they were the truly formidable ones.

While Ling Chen was sizing up these experts who had arrived ahead of time, Huangfu Qi also turned his head to glance at him, then gave him a slight smile. From the look of it, he seemed to have forgotten the conflict he’d had with Ling Chen two days earlier.

As for this seemingly friendly attitude, Ling Chen merely watched coldly from the side. He had already experienced Huangfu Qi’s gloomy scheming nature and naturally wouldn’t believe that the latter truly intended to laugh and let bygones be bygones. He knew clearly that if Huangfu Qi ever got the chance, he would definitely strike to kill without the slightest hesitation.

"Hehe, Your Excellency has arrived quite fast as well. We were still worried that if we were missing a key, this treasure might not be able to be opened." Huangfu Qi didn’t mind Ling Chen’s cold gaze in the slightest and instead spoke with a smile.

Ling Chen cast him a glance, too lazy to waste words, and said directly, "Since everyone is here, what are we still waiting for?"

Hearing this, the surrounding experts all turned their gazes over. Although they had successfully made it here, if the three of Ling Chen did not act to open the treasure, they could only stand here and watch helplessly.

"This is not yet the best time to open it. Please wait a little longer."

Murong Qingcheng turned her head at this moment, a faint smile appearing on that stunning face as she spoke.

Hearing this, Ling Chen couldn’t help but furrow his brows. But since these two had both said as much, he couldn’t enter alone anyway. He could only retreat a bit, maintaining a safe distance from the people of these two Aristocratic Families before stopping, cautiously watching the violent fireclouds churning in midair.

"May I ask how I should address Your Excellency?"

As for Ling Chen’s wary look, Murong Qingcheng naturally took it all in. Right after, she also turned to Ling Chen and asked with a smiling gaze.

She was still somewhat curious about Ling Chen’s true identity.

"Chen Ling."

Ling Chen only pondered for a brief moment before speaking up.

Ling Yu’s name definitely couldn’t be used anymore, so he could only switch to another name.

"Chen Ling, surname Chen?"

Murong Qingcheng’s willow brows knitted slightly. Within the entire Yangzhou Territory, she had never heard of any expert with the surname Chen that could match the Ling Chen before her. There were only two possibilities: either the other party was someone from another province, or the name was fabricated.

Of course, since Ling Chen had already given her an answer, she naturally wouldn’t keep pressing. The surrounding experts, seeing that the three of them didn’t move, also had a trace of doubt flash in their eyes, but didn’t ask much. No matter what, Huangfu Qi and Murong Qingcheng had both come for the treasure; if they wanted to enter, they had to open it first. And as long as the treasure was opened, no matter what happened, they would still be able to get a share of the spoils.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

As they waited, more and more experts rushed over from the rear in great haste. Most of them looked rather bedraggled; it seemed they had suffered a bit in that earlier rain of fireballs.

The sound of air being torn kept ringing out. Looking at those figures arriving one after another, Ling Chen couldn’t help but once again sigh at the sheer number of people drawn here by the treasure. Even after being filtered by that harsh environment earlier, the number of people who made it here was still this large.

The experts who arrived also immediately fixed their gazes on that faintly discernible Cave Mansion phantom in the sky. Thick greed surged in their eyes. Judging from the scale of this Cave Mansion alone, its owner had at least been a High-rank Saint; no matter what, it shouldn’t let them have come all this way for nothing.

And as more and more experts gathered, bursts of clamor spread out, with faint sounds of urging mixed in. Clearly, they were impatient to have Ling Chen and the others open the treasure.

However, the three of them turned a deaf ear to these urges. Ling Chen simply sat there with his eyes closed, resting. Since Huangfu Qi and Murong Qingcheng hadn’t moved, there was naturally no need for him to worry about anything.

After they waited like this for a full One hour, that Cave Mansion phantom in the sky finally became much more solid. At this moment, Huangfu Qi’s gaze, which had been locked onto the phantom, suddenly flickered. He then looked toward Murong Qingcheng not far away and said, "Qingcheng, it’s about time."

"Mm."

Murong Qingcheng nodded lightly. With a flip of her jade-like hand, she took out the Black Small Sword she held.

"Brother Chen Ling."

Hearing Murong Qingcheng’s voice, Ling Chen also stood up and similarly took out his own key.

With that, the three keys were all assembled.

The moment the three Treasure Keys appeared, Ling Chen immediately felt many greedy and burning gazes shoot over from the shadows. Possessing a key would provide no small advantage in seeking the treasure.

As the three of them poured their True Qi into the Black Small Swords, the three small swords resonated with one another, shooting out three beams of black light from their surfaces, which all pierced into the thick sea of fire clouds.

Once the three beams sank into the fire clouds, that entire stretch of fire cloud suddenly dispersed, and from that region, an ancient stone door emerged.

The stone door towered several dozen zhang high, covered in ancient patterns and cracks, reflecting its age and extraordinary nature.

Rumble!

The moment the ancient stone door appeared, it began to slowly open to both sides. From behind it, dazzling radiance burst forth, making it impossible to see what lay beyond.

Whoosh whoosh!

At the instant the stone door opened, two figures shot toward it at an astonishing speed. The auras of these two figures both surpassed the Half-Saint level; they were clearly Saints.

However, just as the two of them drew near the stone door, they were repelled by a terrifying force, sent flying back in a rather miserable fashion.

"Saints cannot enter?"

Ling Chen’s eyes lit up slightly. These two Saints couldn’t even get close to the stone door; it seemed this Treasure Cave Mansion did not allow experts who had reached the Saint Realm and above to enter. In that case, it was actually a good thing for him. After all, with Ling Chen’s current strength, if he relied purely on his own power to snatch treasures from Saints, it would still be somewhat strenuous.