Chapter 296 - Leaving the Ancient Tomb

"Looks like you are not a coward at least," Lord Er spoke through gritted teeth as Shafeng came to a gradual stop in the air.

Lord Er's eyes were burning with rage, and energy from his inner world condensed into black mist that formed a thin layer around his hands.

When he saw the gaze in Shafeng's eyes, Lord Er's rage only even grew further.

Lord Er was glaring at Shafeng in anger. But on the other hand, Shafeng was completely expressionless.

"You sure talk a lot," Shafeng sneered. "You speak of your sect and your territory, about issuing a challenge to everyone. But I'd have you know that I care not about any of that nonsense. To me, you are nothing more than an insect, just one that was big enough to have hurt my subordinates in an unfortunate accident."

"Is that so?" Lord Er clenched his fists. "Then shall we see just how your strength compares to that of an insect?"

"Wanting to compare with me?" Shafeng smirked. "You are far from enough!"

With that, bright silver light flashed across Shafeng's eyes.

Lu Tianzi immediately felt the space around him trembling, as though losing its stability.

This was the power of the Limitless Mirror Eye!

Lu Tianzi mused. This was the first time that he was actually the one on the receiving end of the technique.

Had he been in his original body, Lu Tianzi would have been worried. But now that he was in another person's body, Lu Tianzi could relax and watch in absolute composure.

He was not at all fl.u.s.tered, but neither was Lord Er.

Lord Er thrust his palm forward, and the layer of black mist around his hands shot forward like a shadow, forming into a black palm imprint that fired towards Shafeng.

Lu Tianzi could hear a loud shattering sound as the space around him instantly stopped trembling, regaining its former stability.

With just that one palm thrust, Lord Er had successfully broken through the spatial powers of the Limitless Mirror Eye!

Even Shafeng could not help but freeze for a moment when he saw what happened, but he quickly regained his senses.

Shafeng drew his sword, piercing it forward towards the approaching black palm imprint.

Bang-!

The tip of the sword collided with the palm imprint, releasing a shockwave powerful enough to shake the heavens and part the clouds.

This shockwave expanded in all directions, slamming straight into both Shafeng and Lord Er.

The two of them hovered in the air, their faces firm with conviction. Even with such an impact, their bodies were not blown back a single inch.

Neither of them so much as flinched, both of them continuing to stare at the other.

However, Lu Tianzi who was currently within Lord Er was not as lucky.

The aftershock of the collision was far too great, its sheer power impossible for someone like Lu Tianzi to handle.

When the shockwave had slammed into Lord Er, the body might be fine, but Lu Tianzi had not been spared from damage.

His psyche had taken a hard hit, and an immense pain was now coursing through his head.

Lu Tianzi's vision blurred, and everything descended into darkness once more.

When he opened his eyes once more, he was already back in the darkness of the ancient tomb.

Lu Tianzi sighed in his heart.

Looks like it had finally ended…

If possible, he would have wanted to continue watching the fight between Lord Er and Shafeng. Watching a fight of this level could be considered an extremely beneficial experience, not to mention how he even had a true front row seat at that!

Still, now that it had ended, so be it then.

Some things simply could not be forced.

But right at this moment, Lu Tianzi felt something amiss.

He was no longer seated under the crystal like he was before. Instead, he was currently seated at the far end of the chamber, facing the entrance.

Hmm?

Nanlan Qianxue… wasn't she standing by the entrance?

Lu Tianzi wanted to stand up and take a better look around, but he found that he actually could not move his body a single inch.

It was at that moment that he heard a familiar voice.

"To think that I, Er Chong, would actually end up with such a fate…"

These words were clearly spoken by none other than himself!

So it had not ended yet…

Cough-! Cough-!

A thin streak of blood escaped his mouth along with the heavy coughing.

After the coughing stopped temporarily, Er Chong slowly swept his gaze across the chamber with regret in his eyes.

A crystal glowed dimly on the ceiling, illuminating the chamber that was empty if not for the grass mat on the floor.

"Those arrogant demons… I don't believe that not a single human can stand up to them!" Lord Er cursed out loud in indignance.

With his eyes closed, Lord Er moved his hands in a blur, forming numerous hand seals.

As an observer, Lu Tianzi could not identify the hand seals made by Lord Er.

What he could tell, however, was that Lord Er had established a connection with the crystal, similar to what Lu Tianzi had done before.

But unlike Lu Tianzi who drew in the energy from the crystal, Lord Er was doing the direct opposite.

Essence energy flowed out from Lord Er's inner world and entered the crystal, which in turn refined this energy into something purer, diverting it into the large scale formation array underground.

Bit by bit, the light from the crystal intensified over time, and the glow from the underground formation array pierced straight through the stone floor.

Lord Er's mouth remained closed, but his firm voice sounded out in Lu Tianzi's head, as though Lu Tianzi was able to directly listen to Lord Er's thoughts.

"My descendants might be annihilated, and my sect members massacred. But even after my death, I will not allow those filthy demons to live in peace! I swear that one day, someone will put on my Thousand Venoms Armour and practise my Body of Thousand Immunities, using my Palm of Thousand Venoms to wreak havoc among the demons. One day, be it the one with the silver eyes or the one with the thousand swords, all of those bastards shall taste the misery of defeat at the hands of a human!"

The grievance within Lord Er was unexpectedly huge, so much so that Lu Tianzi could almost feel the air of grievance spilling out of Lord Er's body.

He did not know what exactly happened in between, but from the looks of it, there was no doubt that Lord Er had suffered at the hands of the demons.

Lu Tianzi looked up towards the crystal embedded in the ceiling, energy pulsating from it as it grew brighter and brighter.

The glow of the crystal was like a hypnotic charm, drawing his consciousness deeper by the moment.

The more he looked at it, the more his vision blurred. It was as though he had unwittingly entered a trance like state, unable to extricate himself…

He was Lu Tianzi, and he was Er Chong.

The crystal was something that once belonged to him, and would belong to him again once more.

Right now, he had established a complete and stable connection with the crystal, just like how he had done in the past.

He had once given, but now he shall receive!

Before long, the light from the crystal had intensified to the extent of engulfing the entire chamber in pure whiteness.

Lu Tianzi felt his body heating up, as though the temperature in the chamber was rising rapidly.

No, it was not just the temperature.

The energy in his inner world was surging up wildly, uncontrolled and unhindered.

It pushed against the very limits of his current boundary, forcing its way towards the next level. With this one push, the surging energy broke right through the limiting boundary!

All of a sudden, the intense white light before his eyes vanished, returning the scene to normalcy in an instant.

Lu Tianzi slowly opened his eyes, feeling the rise in power within his inner world.

Just like that, he had broken through to the Peak Essence Condensation realm in the Spiritual Essence system!

But right at this moment, a loud crack sounded out from above.

Lu Tianzi looked up and his eyes widened in shock.

The crystal had lost much of its l.u.s.tre, and a huge crack had torn through the centre of the crystal, almost splitting it straight down the middle.

World Origin Energy that had gathered upon the crystal was no longer anywhere to be seen.

Crack-!

Before his eyes, the crystal fell from the ceiling, shattering into pieces as it struck the ground.

Lu Tianzi felt the corner of his lips twitch wildly.

He had lost himself while absorbing the energy from the crystal, and had ended up taking far more than he had intended.

This had disrupted the flow of energy to the formation array. But now that he had stopped, the flow of energy should have started recovering!

Instead, the crystal actually broke just because of that?

Wasn't that a little too exaggerated?

Now that the crystal was gone, what about the underground formation array then?

Wait a minute. In the first place, was he really back in his own body this time?

But just as he was doubting himself, Nanlan Qianxue's clear voice woke him from this thoughts.

"Tianzi, you…" Nanlan Qianxue remarked in surprise. "Did you just make a breakthrough in your Spiritual Essence cultivation?"

She had felt a sudden surge in power within Lu Tianzi after his meditation, but the energy that had been drained from within the crystal was in no way suited for demons. Given that, the only thing she could think of was the Spiritual Essence cultivation that Lu Tianzi possessed.

Lu Tianzi stood up and turned around to look at the young lady standing behind him.

"Mm," Lu Tianzi smiled. "Sorry for making you wait this long."

Before Nanlan Qianxue could even reply, a loud rumbling sound forced Lu Tianzi to turn around once more.

He stared in shock as bits of stone and dust started falling from the ceiling, as though the ceiling itself was starting to crumble.

"Doesn't' this seem kind of dangerous?" Nanlan Qianxue asked hesitantly.

Lu Tianzi did not answer immediately, a silvery light flashing across his eyes as he closely observed his surroundings.

The energy crystal was now in pieces, and energy was no longer being fed into the formation array underground.

Despite that, the formation array was still supporting the large amount of obstacles and traps within the ancient tomb. Because of that, the formation array was now rapidly losing the power to sustain itself.

After this long, the walls of the ancient tomb had long since been worn out by the sands of time. It was only through the power of the complex formation array that it was able to hold itself together.

Now that the formation array was starting to fall apart, the ancient tomb naturally followed suit!

"You are right," Lu Tianzi frowned. "We should leave."

He took a step towards the entrance, but stopped in his tracks right then and there.

"What's wrong, Tianzi?" Nanlan Qianxue asked.

Lu Tianzi silently turned around and took a deep bow towards the stone coffin.

Initially, Lu Tianzi had imagined that the ancient poison master had left his inheritance behind to benefit his descendants.

But he knew now that that was not the main reason for his actions.

In Lu Tianzi's eyes, Lord Er had left his inheritance behind mainly because of his own pride. He was hoping that this inheritance would empower a descendant, making him strong enough to take revenge on Shafeng and the demons in Lord Er's place!

In the end, it was still personal.

Still, even though Lord Er's reason for leaving behind his inheritance was slightly different from what he had originally thought, it did not change the fact that Lu Tianzi had benefitted from it.

This bow was both a show of gratitude towards a benefactor, and respect towards a powerful senior.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Lu Tianzi straighted his back once more after the ground shook as a form of reminder.

"Let's go!" Lu Tianzi grabbed Nanlan Qianxue's hand and dashed out of the chamber without anymore hesitation.

After all, they had already obtained the items left behind by Lord Er.

With the ancient tomb well on the verge of collapse, there was no longer any reason to linger.

They had to get out of the ancient tomb as quickly as possible!