Chapter 99: Chapter 90 Artifact Spirit?
The heavens and earth spun around.
Just moments ago, Ye Chen had been within the ten-acre Ancestral Land Secret Realm, having just leapt into the pitch-black vortex behind the fourth statue.
Moments later, Ye Chen discovered that he was now standing in an immensely vast world.
Upon entering this world, the first feeling Ye Chen had was one of unspeakable comfort.
True Qi filled this realm to the brim, and one could even see endless green True Qi throughout the sky, with visible streams of green True Qi occasionally passing through the air.
There, he didn't need to cultivate his True Qi at all; the seven True Qi vortices within his body, the Qi Meridian, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and the thirty-three meridian cycles all opened automatically, absorbing the True Qi of the heavens and earth.
As the True Qi of the heavens and earth cleansed him, every part of Ye Chen's body felt incredibly comfortable.
The rate at which he involuntarily absorbed the True Qi was five to six times faster than when he cultivated outside!
A treasure land!
This truly was a treasure land!
If he could keep cultivating here, the speed at which Ye Chen could rush towards the True Qi Realm could easily increase by five to six times!
"Such rich True Qi of the heavens and earth!"
"It's so comfortable, here every pore and every acupoint seems to be breathing in the True Qi of the heavens and earth!"
"Is this the 'Ancestral Land Secret Realm'?"
Alongside Ye Chen, the other young warriors also arrived one after another in the Ancestral Land Secret Realm, and like him, their first sensation was the tremendous True Qi filling this secret realm!
After a short while, Bai Xiaodie, Qian Ming, Ye Xue, and the other top ten contestants, as well as Bai Xiaolong, Qian Shan, and the other thirty strongest who Ye Chen had battled, all arrived inside the Ancestral Land Secret Realm.
The thirty youngsters stood in the vast world of the Ancestral Land Secret Realm, scrutinizing this land closely.
They were in an endless plain.
The ground was covered in low-growing vegetation that stretched as far as the eye could see—likely in the billions—and continued to the invisible horizons of the plains!
The vegetation was a deep shade of green, just like the True Qi of the heavens and earth, and what was miraculous was that on these plants, one could occasionally see golden fruits growing.
These golden fruits shone brightly, their bodies lustrous, making them quite extraordinary.
Looking into the distance, one could faintly see tracts of forests and towering peaks reaching into the distant horizon.
Ye Chen took out the map of the Ancestral Land and observed it; from their current location and the surroundings, they were unmistakably at the periphery of the Ancestral Land Secret Realm—the Green Flow Plains!
"The Ancestral Land Secret Realm is divided into three major areas: the outer periphery, the central part, and the core!"
"We are now in the outer periphery. The forests in the distant horizon probably denote the central area, and those towering peaks far in the depths must be the core of the Secret Realm!"
"How do we seek treasures in this Secret Realm? How do we enter the central and core areas of the Secret Realm? Given this distance, I fear it will take more than a month to reach there!"
The other youngsters also took out their maps of the Ancestral Land, looking and discussing amongst themselves.
In this peripheral area of the "Green Flow Plains," where True Qi was immensely abundant, cultivating here was actually not a bad choice. However, there were rumors that countless Secret Treasures existed within the Ancestral Land Secret Realm, and understandably, the youngsters did not want to just cultivate here.
According to what the elders had said, they had only one month to seek their great fortune within the Ancestral Land Secret Realm, and of course, they wanted to make the most of it.
"Ye Chen!"
"What do we do next?"
Bai Xiaodie, clad in a white snug outfit, approached Ye Chen, and Ye Chen's cousin, Ye Xue, also moved towards him.
Then, the others started to gather around Ye Chen as well.
Among those who had entered the Ancestral Land for exploration, Ye Chen was the strongest, and naturally, everyone unconsciously saw him as their leader.
Ye Chen looked up at the vast periphery, at the deep green plants covering the land, and at the occasional golden fruits on the plants.
He reached out his hand, and a golden fruit flew directly into his palm.
Ye Chen examined the golden fruit in his hand; it was the size of a walnut, extremely hard, and Ye Chen couldn't even crush it when he squeezed.
Even more bizarre was that upon closer inspection of the fruit, one could see golden light occasionally shining forth from within.
Holding the fruit, Ye Chen looked at the youngsters who had gathered around him and thought for a moment before saying, "The Ancestral Land Secret Realm, as Grandfather Patriarch mentioned, will include various challenges, and only by passing these challenges might one obtain a Secret Treasure. Now that we've all entered here, I suspect the challenges will soon arrive!"
As he was speaking, the floating green air currents in the sky suddenly began to move rapidly, with many large clusters of green air currents even converging together, building up more and more.
"What's happening?"
"This is..."
The youngsters gathered around Ye Chen, staring at the change in the True Qi air currents in the sky when suddenly, from within that large mass of green air currents, a loud laugh rang out.
"Haha, after three hundred and fifty-one years, I finally see a new batch of youngsters from the three tribes again!"
"Don't worry, I shall soon tell you how to benefit from this Ancestral Land Secret Realm!"
Amidst the laughter, the cyan stream of True Qi slowly converged to form a gigantic face that appeared to be that of a monkey's?
All the young adventurers looked up into the sky, towards the gigantic face made of True Qi that could speak.
"Could it be… is this Lord Di Kong's avatar left in the Ancestral Land Secret Realm?"
Ye Chen gazed at the huge face in the sky and speculated.
He had once entered a secret realm, the Thousand Lotus Cave Abode, where the master of the abode, Qian Jizi, had left behind an avatar as well.
"No, that's not right!"
"It doesn't quite resemble Lord Di Kong's visage!"
Upon closer examination, Ye Chen discovered the face mimicked Lord Di Kong's features but didn't resemble his heroic and extraordinary true appearance.
Through his Ancestral Blood, Ye Chen had indeed glimpsed the true form of Lord Di Kong!
As the youths were guessing the nature of the speaking face, it seemed to have seen through their thoughts. It opened its mouth and laughed, saying, "No need for wild guesses, I am the 'Ethereal Spirit Holy Temple' or what you refer to as the Artifact Spirit of the Ancestral Land Secret Realm!"
"Ethereal Spirit Holy Temple?"
"Artifact Spirit?"
The youngsters were even more bewildered by the giant face's words.
The enormous face explained, "I might as well tell you, since when you leave this place, aside from the secrets treasures you will take with you, all other vital information about this 'Ethereal Spirit Holy Temple' will be erased from your memories. You'll only retain basic recollections of your adventure."
"This Ancestral Land Secret Realm you are in was owned by my former master, 'Lord Di Kong'."
"In those days, to repay your three clans for saving his life, he deliberately left his Spatial Sacred Artifact 'Ethereal Spirit Holy Temple' here in the ancestral land, transforming it into a secret realm for you to explore!"
"Little fellows, the place you are exploring is actually inside the Spatial Sacred Artifact 'Ethereal Spirit Holy Temple'!"
"And I am the Spirit of the Sacred Artifact of this 'Ethereal Spirit Holy Temple'! This Sacred Artifact was naturally formed, possesses endless wisdom, and is the controlling Artifact Spirit of this entire artifact!"
The words of the gigantic face stunned all the youngsters.
"Lord Di Kong? A Spatial Sacred Artifact?!"
"It turns out the Ancestral Land Secret Realm is actually a Sacred Artifact!"
"The vast world we are in is actually the internal space of a Sacred Artifact?"
"And this suddenly appearing gigantic face is an intelligent Artifact Spirit?"
Whether it was the concept of a Spatial Sacred Artifact or that of a Spirit of a Sacred Artifact, these were beyond the level of things that the youths in the True Qi Realm should contact. Hearing about it for the first time, they were naturally astonished.
Upon hearing the words 'Spatial Sacred Artifact', Ye Chen's eyes suddenly sparkled with brilliance.
He had seen a Spatial Sacred Artifact before; the Thousand Lotus Cave Abode he had ventured into was one such artifact. Even though there were the Three-Eyed Giant Ape and the giant feathered bird, as well as the avatar of Qian Jizi, the Artifact Spirit of that space didn't come forth to oversee the challenges of the Cave Abode.
But Ye Chen knew that the Sacred Artifact could only be truly controlled by powerful beings in the Heavenly Saint Realm!
"So, it's true, Lord Di Kong indeed is a mighty Heavenly Saint Realm expert!"
"He actually left one of his Sacred Artifacts within our three clans as a place of adventure, giving the youth of the clans the opportunity to seek treasure!"
Ye Chen finally understood the true strength of the significant figure their clans had once saved!
A Sacred Artifact, casually left within the three clans – Lord Di Kong must have reached the Heavenly Saint Realm, and perhaps even within that realm, he was incredibly powerful!
Thinking back to the glimpse of the towering figure during the fusion of the primeval blood with his Ancestral Blood, recalling the extraordinary dharma of Lord Di Kong over a thousand zhang tall, Ye Chen was beside himself with excitement.
When would he be able to reach the Heavenly Saint Realm and become as mighty as this!
While all the youngsters were engrossed and astounded by the words of the Spirit of the Sacred Artifact, the Artifact Spirit that had morphed into the gigantic face continued, "The Ethereal Spirit Holy Temple contains countless treasures!"
"The treasures that our old master left for the younger generations of your three clans are also innumerable!"
"Next, I will tell you about the secret treasures you might obtain in this outer area!"
As the Artifact Spirit spoke, endless streams of True Qi surged violently, and then a massive stele suddenly fell from the sky, crashing down.
This huge stele, standing over thirty meters tall, was embedded directly into the ground!
Etched on the massive stele from top to bottom were hundreds of lines of text, and at the very top were the large characters, "Myriad Treasures Stele".
Hearing the Artifact Spirit mention the secret treasures, the thirty youths focused their attention, looking towards both the Artifact Spirit and the huge stele that had descended from the heavens.
Upon seeing the text on the enormous stele, all the youngsters involuntarily gaped in awe.
The writings on the gigantic stele were all descriptions of countless treasures!
The Myriad Treasures Stele appeared to contain records of treasures, perhaps truly as many as ten thousand!