Chapter 443: Mysterious Scale

The little Qilin lazily opened its eyes and said, "Let me see."

Before long, it alternately showed surprise and frowned, "This place seems to have once been extraordinary. However, only ten zhang underground in the northwest corner, there's something barely passable. As for the rest, there's nothing."

Jiang Fan sighed. Just as expected. The mountaintop here had been leveled. What good things could possibly remain? As for the "barely passable" item, he couldn't be bothered to waste effort. The soil here, saturated by years of ice and snow, was as hard as iron. Ten zhang deep might not seem like much, but without certain methods, it could take more than a day to dig through.

"What? Leaving already?" Sun Chaozong said in a sarcastic tone. "I thought you were determined to get something. Unexpectedly, you're scuttling away after just a moment!"

Jiang Fan frowned. He hadn't intended to pay attention to such a person. But since Sun Chaozong put it that way, how could Jiang Fan leave empty-handed? He immediately walked over to the spot in the northwest corner that the little Qilin had mentioned. Pulling out his Sword of Lamentation Frost, he thrust it into the ground with a palm strike. With a *whoosh*, even with the sword's sharpness, it only penetrated five zhang deep.

"Kid, this place is for digging, not poking!" Sun Chaozong rolled his eyes and said, "Every inch of soil here might contain treasure. Our sect's secret art, the 'Iron Blood Scripture,' was found by rummaging through some unremarkable dirt. If you just poke around blindly like that, you might not find anything, and even if you do, you'll damage it."

Jiang Fan ignored him. After retrieving his Sword of Lamentation Frost, he glanced at the hole it had made. Then he took out a black iron pellet. It was one of the two Cloudburst Iron Pellets Lin Yuheng had given him during his first visit to the Azure Cloud Sect. Its power was quite astonishing. It would be perfect for blasting open this frozen soil. He dropped the Cloudburst Iron Pellet into the hole and immediately retreated dozens of zhang away.

Sun Chaozong was momentarily stunned, then frowned and asked, "What did you throw?" A buzzing sound filled the air. Suddenly, the ground began to vibrate. An immense amount of energy was being unleashed, on the verge of erupting. Only then did Sun Chaozong realize what Jiang Fan was doing; his expression changed. He frantically ran to escape, but he was a fraction too late.

*Boom!* The Cloudburst Iron Pellet exploded. The frozen soil within a ten-zhang radius was all blasted into the air. Sun Chaozong, at the edge of the explosion, was struck on the back by the hard, flying frozen earth, sending him flying with a *thump*. He landed face-first with a heavy thud right at Jiang Fan's feet. Immediately, a sweet, metallic taste filled his throat, and his back throbbed with immense pain. He didn't even need to look to know his skin must have been torn open.

"Jiang Fan!" Sun Chaozong yelled angrily as he scrambled to his feet. Jiang Fan, expressionless, walked to the edge of the ten-zhang deep crater that had been blasted open. The frozen soil had turned scorched black. He leaped down. With a sweep of his foot, he cleared away a thin layer of soil, revealing a palm-sized black box. Its material was unknown. Despite being buried underground for such a long time, only its surface showed slight traces of dampness. What concerned him was that the poisonous pellet inside his body subtly pulsed, reacting faintly to the black box before him.

Sun Chaozong pursued him, scolding, "If you act so recklessly, even if there was treasure, you would have blasted it away..." However, when he saw the black box in front of Jiang Fan, his words abruptly stopped. His face immediately lit up with surprise, and he exclaimed, "Something appeared! Something appeared!!" It had been decades since anything had been unearthed from the cave dwelling again. Could it be another divine artifact like the 'Iron Blood Scripture' from last time? He sprinted down, rushing to seize the black box first.

To his surprise, Jiang Fan didn't compete with him; in fact, he even stepped back a few paces, retreating to a distance. Sun Chaozong paused, realizing that the black box might contain some kind of trap, and Jiang Fan was letting him test it first. But by the time he reacted, his palm had already touched the black box. In an instant, a burst of intensely black poisonous mist erupted from within the box, immediately engulfing Sun Chaozong's hand. *Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—* In a matter of breaths, his flesh was corroded away, revealing his stark bone fingers. What was terrifying was that the bone fingers were also rapidly melting! The delayed pain surged into his mind, causing Sun Chaozong to let out a horrifying shriek of agony. What frightened him even more was that the poisonous mist was swiftly spreading from his palm up his arm. Wherever it passed, flesh rotted, and bone turned to mud. It was countless times more potent than the venom of the Seven-Colored Poison Toad!

In this critical moment, a figure descended from the sky, striking Sun Chaozong's poisoned right shoulder with a decisive and ruthless palm. With a *thump*, his right arm cleanly severed at the shoulder, flying off and landing on the ground. In an instant, the arm dissolved into muddy water. Even the surrounding frozen soil was corroded into a three-foot-deep pit!

"I told you not to be reckless!" The newcomer was none other than Fan Xingkong. Dressed in chainmail, his robust body was covered in explosive muscles. His heavily bearded face, with its block-like muscles, appeared exceptionally fierce and rugged. At this moment, he slapped Sun Chaozong, then angrily chastised him, "The treasures here, more or less, all contain potent toxins. Haven't enough people sacrificed themselves because of this in the past? Why haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

As he spoke, he cast a harsh side glance at Jiang Fan, huffing through his nostrils, "You're quite cunning, aren't you! Letting my sect's disciple test the danger for you!"

Although he found Jiang Fan quite irritating, he had to admit that Jiang Fan's disposition was far superior to Sun Chaozong's! This was Jiang Fan's first time in the sacred land, yet even without knowing the treasures were poisonous, he could sense the danger and act cautiously. In contrast, Sun Chaozong, despite being repeatedly warned that the treasures were toxic, couldn't suppress his greed and fell victim. Comparing the two, the difference in their temperaments was immense!

Jiang Fan cupped his hands and said, "Elder Fan, you're truly wronging this junior. This junior is simply clumsy and not as quick as Senior Brother Sun. How could I dare to let Senior Brother Sun test the danger for me?"

Despite his words, he remained extremely cautious when facing the black box, which had already been triggered. He retreated several more steps, channeled a layer of spiritual energy to protect himself, and at the same time, grabbed a handful of dust and threw it towards the black box. With a *bang*, the lid of the black box suddenly sprang open. Another cloud of poisonous mist erupted, spreading rapidly in all directions. Fan Xingkong casually waved his hand, batting away the mist that threatened him and Sun Chaozong. Jiang Fan, however, was prepared, and the spiritual energy completely blocked the mist.

Fan Xingkong glared fiercely at Jiang Fan. "Clumsy? You're more cunning than a rabbit! Even a second trap couldn't get you!"

Jiang Fan ignored him and finally approached the black box. He peered inside, seeing a palm-sized scale quietly resting there, emitting wisps of poisonous mist. "This is what the little Qilin mentioned?" Jiang Fan picked it up, examined it briefly, and couldn't help but feel surprised. "A scale? Aside from being somewhat hard, it really doesn't seem to have any special qualities." No wonder the little Qilin sensed it was quite ordinary, barely qualifying as a treasure.

Just as Jiang Fan was thinking this, he suddenly noticed, to his surprise, that the blood within his body began to boil uncontrollably. "Did the 'Iron Blood Scripture' activate on its own?"