Chapter 872: Spirit Device Wrist Crossbow

Everywhere he looked, all he saw were rotten shelves and decaying, rusty sacred artifacts. Some sacred artifacts had even turned into sludge.

Jiang Fan had already experienced similar situations several times, so he wasn't surprised. Unless they were spirit artifacts, it was difficult for them to withstand the erosion of a thousand years.

He also noticed the sword box Yu Peiyuan had mentioned. It leaned against the corner of the wall, the only object in the hall that hadn't decayed. It stood out prominently!

Jiang Fan quickly moved towards it, but he didn't act rashly. He found it a bit strange. Why wasn't the sword box on a shelf? Instead, it was leaning against the wall by itself?

After thinking for a moment, he launched a blast of energy from his fist from a distance, knocking the sword box to the ground.

Whoosh—

A chilling, startling beam of light suddenly shot out from the wall behind where the sword box had been. It grazed past Jiang Fan, carrying a terrifying power that made his heart pound!

Bang—

Immediately after, the walls of the great hall behind him collapsed from the impact of that beam of cold light. The lingering residual power made Jiang Fan's hair stand on end. This was an attack capable of killing a Nascent Soul cultivator.

He looked closely. Embedded within the wall was a palm-sized sleeve crossbow. It was still loaded with three finger-length crossbow bolts, ready to fire. Aside from its slightly antique appearance, its entire body showed surprisingly little erosion from time.

“A spirit artifact sleeve crossbow!” Jiang Fan's heart filled with joy. He quickly leaped forward and carefully dug it out of the wall. “Three crossbow bolts! If used by surprise, they might even be able to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator at close range!”

His talisman arrows had just run out, so this spirit artifact sleeve crossbow came at the perfect time. He decisively put it into his Heavenly Thunder Stone.

Only then did Jiang Fan look at the sword box. He drew his purple sword and, from a distance, nudged the sword box open. He had expected a peerless spirit sword to be stored inside, but to his surprise, it was decayed beyond recognition, just like the other sacred artifacts outside.

“Are you done yet?” Yu Peiyuan's strained voice called out from a distance.

Jiang Fan quickly closed the sword box, picked it up, and rushed out of the Divine Armory. Seeing Jiang Fan emerge, Yu Peiyuan then withdrew and fled the great hall. At this moment, her hair was disheveled, her front covered in blood, and she was panting heavily. He guessed she had taken a few more blows just now.

“Senior Sister Yu, are you alright?”

Ignoring her injuries, Yu Peiyuan snatched the sword box, her eyes full of joy as she opened it. However, her expression froze. She exclaimed in annoyance, “I almost lost my life for *this*?!”

Angrily, she threw the sword box and the sword inside onto the ground. The broken sword immediately shattered upon impact. Only the sword box remained perfectly intact.

Jiang Fan was inwardly surprised. Could this sword box also be a spirit artifact? Then he recalled that the owner of this place had set up a malicious trap to prevent the sword box from being taken. His heart couldn't help but pound with excitement. But he didn't show any emotion, to prevent Yu Peiyuan from realizing the sword box's unusual nature.

She even kicked the sword box disdainfully, sending it flying into the bushes. “I almost got killed by the trap inside, only to find a pile of junk.”

Jiang Fan feigned a dejected expression. Yu Peiyuan had naturally heard the loud commotion earlier. She couldn't help but show a hint of apology.

“I made you take a risk for nothing,” she said, patting Jiang Fan's shoulder, comforting him. “Next time we find something good, I'll let you choose first.”

Jiang Fan was surprised inwardly. Although this girl kept calling him an idiot, she wasn't a bad person. Alright then. Considering her help led him to the sleeve crossbow and sword box, if there was anything good at the third treasure location, he would let her have a share.

“Alright, let's go to the next place,” Yu Peiyuan said, annoyed. They had visited two places in a row; either they found nothing at all, or they left empty-handed.

“Senior Sister Yu, you go ahead. I... need to relieve myself,” Jiang Fan suddenly said. “I was scared by that sudden Nascent Soul attack just now.”

Yu Peiyuan paused, then immediately looked towards Jiang Fan's legs. Her face involuntarily showed disgust. That guy, could he have peed himself from fright? Seeing Jiang Fan unbuckle his pants, she quickly turned her head and ran off, exclaiming, “Ugh, ugh, ugh, I'm still here!”

Jiang Fan smiled faintly. He watched her until she rounded the corner of the path and was out of sight. Only then did he quickly pull up his pants, run over, and retrieve the sword box from the pile of grass. Finally, it was his!

By this point, his gains had already fully covered his initial investment, making it worth that flame mark. Anything else he found from now on would be pure profit.

Roar—

Suddenly, a violent beast's roar echoed throughout the entire secret realm. The sound was deep and piercing, like a mortal facing a tiger's roar. Jiang Fan's body swayed, and his qi and blood surged within him. A look of surprise and doubt appeared on his face: “This... what is this? Is there still a living creature within this ruin?”

Yu Peiyuan was also startled. She quickly leaned her head over and waved, saying, “Idiot, hurry up and come over! Something's wrong in this ruin; there seems to be some fierce creature!”

Jiang Fan quickly walked over and said in a deep voice, “Let's quickly meet up with Senior Qi Yin.” Although there was still one circled area they hadn't explored, compared to that, his life was more important.

Yu Peiyuan hesitated, saying, “It's rare to come here; should we just give up without gaining anything? I hear the sound is still very far away. Let's search a bit longer. If we truly encounter danger, it won't be too late to find my master.”

Jiang Fan considered this; the ruin's area was limited. If there was truly an insurmountable danger, he should be able to use Cloud Shadow to reach Venerable Qi Yin in time. He immediately said, “Alright! Follow me!”

Given Jiang Fan's 'fool's luck' in finding the Divine Armory, Yu Peiyuan didn't complain this time.

Soon after, they followed an inconspicuous small path to its end. A vast, fenced-in nursery garden came into view.

“Ah! It's a medicinal garden!” Yu Peiyuan could barely believe it. She grabbed Jiang Fan's shoulders and shook him, exclaiming, “Idiot! You really do have a fool's luck! To actually find a place like this! We're rich, we're rich!”

Jiang Fan looked up. The vast nursery garden was completely barren, showing no signs of life. It didn't look like there was anything good there.

Yu Peiyuan, however, said excitedly, “Don't mind the barren ground. Perhaps heavenly materials and earthly treasures are growing underground! This ruin has existed for countless years; I can't even imagine how old the medicinal herbs here might be! Quick, let's split up and search! Pay close attention to the ground; don't miss any living thing, even the smallest leaf bud.”

With that said, she excitedly chose a direction and began searching.

Jiang Fan rubbed his chin. Finding things? Wasn't that his specialty? Taking out the Sky-Monitoring Treasure Mirror, Jiang Fan immediately began his search. No matter how vast the medicinal garden was, under the Sky-Monitoring Treasure Mirror's scrutiny, it was surveyed in an instant.

It was completely desolate. Not a single patch...

Wait! Jiang Fan's gaze suddenly became serious. In the furthest corner of the medicinal garden, there was a patch of scorched blackness, as if something with extremely high flames had scorched the area. Around it, several large, charred claw marks were scattered.

“Could it be that fierce creature that roared earlier?” Jiang Fan felt a sense of unease. But soon, his pupils constricted as he discovered that in that corner, there were several small, flame-like seedlings of a deep blue color.

Thousand-year-old heavenly materials and earthly treasures?