Ling Feng surveyed his surroundings and found that this cavern was surprisingly "clean."
It wasn't spotless, of course, but it certainly didn't resemble the tomb of a great emperor expert. Everything looked utterly ordinary and unremarkable, almost as though this place had been carved out as a temporary refuge.
For a mighty great emperor to be buried in such a place seemed utterly bizarre. Compared to this, the resting place of Great Emperor Tiance was grand beyond measure!
"Hehe, Master, it seems Chunyang Sword Emperor tricked you! From what I could glean from the memories of the Amethyst Blazing-Sun Serpent, that Chunyang Sword Emperor was a miserly, vile, devious, and utterly despicable creature!" Zifeng chuckled, his forked tongue flicking.
"Erm..." Ling Feng exchanged a glance with Tuoba Yan. After all, this was a great emperor and a revered figure. Such descriptions felt... a little disrespectful.
How deep the grudge must have been for that Amethyst Blazing-Sun Serpent to curse its master this much!
Zifeng huffed and reminded, "The more unremarkable this place looks, the more it suggests Chunyang Sword Emperor hid some exceptional treasures here!"
Drooling slightly, Zifeng's eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Oh?" Ling Feng raised an eyebrow and cast his gaze around the cavern. If an emperor-tier expert had crafted this, there could indeed be unimaginable treasures hidden here.
The cavern itself had only one level, but it ran deep underground. Ling Feng couldn't fathom how Chunyang Sword Emperor had concealed a cave so effectively within the earth veins and flowing magma.
In this vast cavern, countless stone chambers lined up identically in rows. Each chamber looked nearly identical—bare, unadorned. Why Chunyang Sword Emperor bothered carving out so many chambers even as he neared death was beyond comprehension.
No wonder Zifeng called him despicable, vile, miserly, and obscene!
"Zifeng, do you know where Chunyang Sword Emperor hid his treasures?" Ling Feng, resigned, turned back to ask Zifeng.
"You really think it's that easy to get such an opportunity?" Zifeng shot Ling Feng with a look of disdain. "Chunyang Sword Emperor set up a grand array here. Even the Amethyst Blazing-Sun Serpent couldn't fully enter. The stone chambers we see may not even be real; without knowing how to break the array, we could wander here for a lifetime and never find a single treasure."
"Then what are you waiting for? Break the array!" Ling Feng demanded.
"I don't know how!" Zifeng replied, looking at Ling Feng with an innocent expression.
The man and the snake stared at each other in silence.
"Perhaps... I know a little," Tuoba Yan finally broke the awkward silence. She pursed her lips slightly and said, "Follow me."
With that, she led the way forward, eventually turning into one of the stone chambers. Smiling faintly, she said, "If I'm not mistaken, it should be here."
Ling Feng and Zifeng stepped inside and glanced around. "Doesn't seem any different from the others," Ling Feng muttered in frustration.
"If you only look with your eyes, of course they're all the same!" Tuoba Yan smiled, flew to the center of the chamber, and stood upon a stone table. After murmuring some words, she shouted, "Void Collapse, Disperse All Forms!"
Instantly, a purple halo expanded from her center, bathing her in a radiant glow that made her appear like a goddess.
In the next moment, Ling Feng watched the stone chambers around him vanish, replaced by a vast, empty cave. At the center, a dark entrance revealed a descending staircase, leading into unknown depths.
"We really found it!" Ling Feng's eyes lit up. Chunyang Sword Emperor was indeed cautious to a paranoid degree. If not for Tuoba Yan, he could have wandered these chambers for a lifetime and never found this hidden passage.
"Miss Tuoba, how did you know the method to break the array?" Ling Feng asked, delighted.
"I happened to read about something similar in an ancient book," Tuoba Yan replied indifferently, giving Ling Feng a sidelong glance. "All right, let's go."
With a raised eyebrow, Ling Feng smiled and descended the staircase.
After walking through a long passageway, the two of them and Zifeng entered a massive stone chamber. The chamber was so enormous that it could have held four or five of the previous chambers combined.
Ling Feng's eyes sparkled with excitement. The place looked like a giant treasury! Heaps of elemental stones and elemental crystals were everywhere. Even the lowest grade stones were of the highest quality!
Not to mention the top-grade elemental stones—there were entire crates of elemental crystals with pure spiritual energy, at least seven or eight hundred crates!
Even if it couldn't rival the emperor's own treasury, it could surely equal the income of a county for decades!
Ancient great emperor experts indeed had wealth beyond imagination!
Feeling the rich, dense elemental qi surrounding him, Ling Feng felt as if he were swimming in a river of elemental qi. The sensation was exhilarating!
Aside from the treasures, rows of racks held swords and armor. Chunyang Sword Emperor must have collected an incredible array of valuable items.
The weapons, armor—at the very least—were all low-grade treasured artifacts. The highest quality pieces even included four or five sacred artifacts, displayed in massive crystal cases.
(Author's Note: Weapons are ranked as follows: ordinary artifact, mystical artifact, treasured artifact, spiritual artifact, sacred artifact, celestial artifact, and divine artifact.)
Moreover, items embodying the power of creation—Treasure of Stars, Treasure of Sun and Moon—were strewn about like garbage, covering the floor. Only the highest-tier Treasures of Heaven and Earth were placed upon altar-like pedestals, continuously absorbing elemental qi. As they gathered enough energy, these treasures could even advance from one grade to the next.
(Author's Note: Treasure rankings are as follows: Treasure of Stars, Treasure of Sun and Moon, Treasure of Heaven and Earth, Treasure of Sacred Dao, Treasure of Supreme Dao.)
The altars Ling Feng saw were designed to elevate the grade of these Treasures of Heaven and Earth.
Ling Feng's eyes gleamed with greed. The sheer abundance of treasures left him in awe. Chunyang Sword Emperor had indeed hoarded wealth beyond belief!
Even the most common Treasure of Stars would be a rare possession for an average Spiritual Element Realm expert. A Treasure of Sun and Moon would drive king-tier or even emperor-tier experts to war.
As for Treasures of Heaven and Earth, Ling Feng knew that Tianwei Academy's entire treasury held only four or five of them!
But here, in Chunyang Sword Emperor's trove, lay sixteen Treasures of Heaven and Earth!
Ling Feng swallowed hard, taking in the sight of this outrageous treasure trove. This was...
Ancient great emperors truly were wealthy beyond comprehension!
"Hahaha, Master, we're rich!" Zifeng chuckled and rushed forward to start gathering treasures. But he quickly realized that, in this underground world, he couldn't open his individual space.
That meant, despite the vast wealth in this treasury, they could take only a small portion.
Two people, two pairs of hands, and one snake—how much could they carry?