Eternal Heavenly Emperor

This was a man capable of great things—composed, calm, and unflustered in the face of danger, he could certainly talk his way out of any situation with his persuasive eloquence.

Nangong Rou watched Chu Hao and his group with a smiling face, remaining silent and giving them time to digest and make judgments.

Chu Hao and his companions looked at each other. By now, they had no way back; behind the door lay the terrifying Green Scales Berserk Snake, and going back out meant certain death, not even enough to fill the gaps between its teeth.

And if they were to go forward... the mechanisms were plentiful.

It wasn't strange for a treasure hideout to be rigged with traps, and on this point, Chu Hao and his comrades had no reason to doubt Nangong Rou. And if the Eternal Spirit Sect truly was a Fifth Grade Sect, what kind of destructive power could their mechanisms possess?

"Fine, before we leave here, I guarantee that I won't harm a hair on your head," Shen Chao was the first to say.

"I guarantee it as well," another said.

"Agreed," another voice joined in.

Lv Han and Hu Yan also spoke up in turn.

"It's not just here," Nangong Rou said, "All four of you are too strong; how could I, a weak woman, contend with you? You must swear that aside from not harming me and my companions here, you will also not attack us for at least a month after we leave this place."

Her increasingly firm attitude made her seem even more credible that the dangers here were great, and that only by relying on the information she controlled could they safely pass through.

"Don't you fear that we'll take the information from you by force?" Chu Hao asked.

"These things are all in my head; you can try to force them out if you want," Nangong Rou said, her pretty face showing not a trace of panic, "I would die with the secrets, and you, soon enough, would accompany me in death."

Seeing the atmosphere turn decidedly tense, she smiled again and said, "I still hope that everyone can put aside past grievances and work together to unlock the treasures of the Eternal Spirit Sect. After all, those people outside are neither friends nor relatives of yours, and none of you are injured, right?"

This woman was ruthless and resolute; in order to achieve her goals, human lives meant nothing to her.

Shen Chao and the others, however, nodded repeatedly. They were all from the Sky Martial Star, and since childhood, they had believed that the strong could have everything. Ordinary people? When they embarked on the path of martial arts, ordinary people were like ants, existing only to serve them.

What did it matter if a thousand, ten thousand ordinary people died? Who would mourn the burning of an anthill?

Chu Hao sighed inwardly. His soul originated from Earth, and he could never forgive such acts. But now, it seemed that Shen Chao and the others had clearly been won over by Nangong Rou, and if he objected, he would have to face eight foes.

If he fought, he was unafraid, but he and Shen Chao and the others had previously fought side by side. Facing them now would make him hesitate. Moreover, this place was indeed fraught with danger and demanded caution.

"Okay, during this period, and for a month after we leave, I promise not to strike against you," Chu Hao said.

"Very good, very good, everyone has made the wisest choice," Nangong Rou smiled lightly, her beauty radiant and immaculate. If one only saw her current demeanor, one would never suspect that more than twenty people had died because of her.

"However, during this time we should set a few ground rules."

"The Star Stones and Treasure Artifacts we find should be divided equally among us. As for the Pills, they're three thousand years old and probably no longer effective, so let's disregard them. As for the cultivation techniques, everyone is free to take a copy of each, how does that sound?"

Her four companions of course had no objections, and after Chu Hao and his group looked at each other, they also nodded in agreement, finding the terms relatively fair.

"Then, please follow me," Nangong Rou moved forward. Beneath her white dress, her ample behind swayed from left to right, a natural hourglass figure, each step full of allure, especially when her hips swayed to the extreme, and the fabric tightly wrapped around her buttocks outlined a captivating contour.

In comparison, although Hu Yan was also a beautiful woman, she was far less enchanting than Nangong Rou.

This caused Hu Yan to snort disdainfully. Beautiful women never sparingly admired one another, only competed.

They continued forward, naturally splitting into two groups, Nangong Rou's group in front and Chu Hao's group behind. By this time, Nangong Rou's four companions had already taken off their Water Armors, revealing four middle-aged men who looked unremarkable.

After about ten minutes, the corridor finally came to an end, and another door appeared in front, tightly closed.

It was an iron door, engraved with many wild beasts, each rendered in exquisite detail.

Nangong Rou stopped in front of the iron door, extending her delicate fingers to suddenly move with lightning speed, tapping on the bodies of several beasts.

Click click click, totaling nine taps.

Clack clack clack, the iron door immediately began to rise.

Chu Hao and his companions quickly followed, for fear that Nangong Rou and her people would enter first and then close the door, trapping them there.

However, they believed Nangong Rou's words somewhat more — if the ancestors of the Nangong Family were not disciples of the Eternal Spirit Sect, they couldn't possibly have known how to open the iron door.

Beyond the iron door was a large space, dome-shaped, surrounded by five more iron doors.

"Be careful, everyone. If you make a wrong step next, it will be your doom," Nangong Rou warned, taking the lead in stepping in, "Follow me exactly, you absolutely must not step wrongly here."

Everyone looked down at the floor, which was paved with cyan stones, each a square meter in size, enough space for two people to stand, but no one would stand so close at this stage, given that they were only acquaintances and couldn't trust each other yet.

Nangong Rou moved forward, adhering to some pattern, with the others filing behind her in a single line, stepping on the stones she had trod. But to prevent an "accident", Chu Hao's group crossed paths alternately with Nangong Rou's four companions, one in between the other.

Chu Hao had already activated his Derivation ability, memorizing every step Nangong Rou took and analyzing them to try and discern a pattern. However, he was disappointed to find no discernible pattern through it all.

It wasn't really surprising, as adhering to a pattern only makes it easier to remember and less likely to be forgotten, yet no rule mandated that mechanisms must follow a discernible order.

"There are five vaults here, storing Star Stones, materials, Treasure Artifacts, Pills, and Cultivation Techniques," Nangong Rou pointed out, pointing one by one at the five doors, "Everyone, which one do you want to go to first?"

"The Treasure Artifact vault."

"Skill Library."

Shen Chao and the other two had differing opinions.

Chu Hao smiled and said, "Since we have to check everything, let's start with the nearest."

In reality, it was all in one large space, but because of the mechanisms on the floor, a great distance was segregated, as if it was as far as the ends of the earth.

"Alright, let's listen to Chu Hao," Lv Han was the first to nod, and Shen Chao and Hu Yan also expressed agreement.

Chu Hao's quick reactions and high intelligence had already won their admiration.

"Then let's start here," Nangong Rou pointed to the nearest door and walked over to it.

This iron door too was carved with many wild beasts, and Nangong Rou pointed at it, pressing on various spots.

The iron door rose upward with a clatter, revealing another space.

This was the material library.

The space wasn't very large, just about the size of two single-story houses. Inside were iron racks, and each rack had several levels, each level laden with materials.

"Don't worry, there aren't any mechanisms in here," Nangong Rou walked in first and strolled around casually to show her point to the others.

Everyone entered the treasure vault, and with a sweep of their eyes, everyone's gazes heated up.

"Cold Dragon Gold."

"Secret Bronze."

"Black Uranium."

"Dinghua Wood."

They could only recognize a few materials, but even these were enough to make their hearts thump wildly. These were incredibly valuable, enough to forge their own Divine Weapon or even a Treasure Artifact, and the excess could be sold.

In this place, a Treasure Artifact wasn't something as primitive as a bunch of beast bones strung together.

Like the Earth Element Blade Chu Hao saw in the auction house, the original body of a Treasure Artifact was a divine weapon. Only by embedding a ferocious beast's inner core could it become a Treasure Artifact. Because these cores varied greatly in attributes, it endowed the Treasure Artifacts with various ultra-abilities.

But first, the material for tool-forging had to be of exceptionally high quality to withstand the impact when the Treasure Artifact was unleashed—otherwise, for instance, a fire attribute Treasure Artifact could spew intense flames that would melt the body of the tool. How would one handle that?

Most of the materials here could be used to forge high-quality weapons, and thereafter craft into Treasure Artifacts.

"Ah no, that's not good," Shen Chao picked up a piece of Cold Dragon Iron, but as soon as he pinched it, the piece of iron crumbled.

That brittle?

"The environment here is too damp, and it's been too long, causing the materials to corrode," Chu Hao also picked up a few materials, but each crumbled at his touch, causing him to shake his head and sigh in regret.

After checking all the materials, there were only seven pieces that weren't damaged.

That wasn't even one piece per person.

"Let's take these first, gather all the usable treasures together, then decide how to distribute them," Chu Hao suggested.

Everyone agreed.

They left the material library and headed to the next nearest iron door.

Again, it was Nangong Rou who opened the door. As everyone entered, they saw it was a pill library, containing both ready-made pills and many raw materials. But everything had passed their time over thirty thousand years; these herbs were now useless, especially since this place had sunk to the lake bed, making the environment damp and the decay complete.

The pills were no good either; even sealed ones couldn't withstand the erosion of such long ages.

This treasure vault was completely useless.

They then entered the third treasure vault—the tool library.

The result was similarly disappointing. Although a few Treasure Artifacts hadn't decayed, the inner cores of the ferocious beasts embedded in them had long since lost their Star Force and were no longer connected with the Treasure Artifacts. They could only be remade into materials.

After this count, they had eleven portions of materials, finally enough to distribute.

Continue.

The fourth vault was the Star Stone library. These could be stored for a sufficiently long time, and even after thirty thousand years, most of the Star Stones were still usable, though their purity... These were previously at least Fourth Grade, but now, they barely qualified as Fifth Grade.

After dividing them up, each person received about two hundred jin of Star Stones, not a very impressive haul.

And then to the last and most anticipated room.

Skill Library.

(Thanks to the rewards from collapsing poi and Old Cat 71255 yesterday and the day before. The book is going up next week; please continue to support.)