Chapter 1 What's That Sound? The Artifacts Can Talk!

"What's that sound? The artifacts can talk!" Zhang Yuanqing darted forward, his teammates close behind!

They arrived at the display case and found that the voice was coming from a clay mask. It had a beard, wrinkles, and the image of a kind old man!

Only the empty eyes were a bit eerie!

"You can talk? Were you the one speaking just now?" Zhang Yuanqing stared at the clay mask.

"If I can't talk, were you just hallucinating?" The clay mask's mouth opened and closed as it cheerfully replied!

"Understands sarcasm, so the IQ is quite high." Zhang Yuanqing's mind raced. He had been wondering why there were no clues in Exhibition Hall 2. The purpose of the instance dungeon was to train.

Although the mortality rate was high, there wouldn't be absolutely no clues. Based on his understanding of the instance dungeon, the clue had arrived.

Zhang Yuanqing also smiled cheerfully and said, "I'm very curious where your vocal cords are. Hmm, what kind of artifact are you?"

"I can only answer one question each time. Are you asking about my vocal cords or my identity?" the clay mask replied.

"Your identity!"

"I am a mask of a great being. I was born in ancient times, when humans had just mastered the technique of firing pottery. However, my intelligence was born many years later!" The clay mask said with emotion, "My first master was Yu of the Youxiong Clan, who was in charge of sacrifices and praying for rain!"

Youxiong Clan… hadn't heard of that... As a top student at Songhai University, Zhang Yuanqing carefully reviewed his knowledge reserves, but couldn't remember which figure the Youxiong Clan was!

Huang Taiji narrowed his eyes and said in a stern voice, "Youxiong Clan is the Yellow Emperor."

Um, isn't the Yellow Emperor of the Gongsun Clan, the Xuanyuan Clan? Even if you said the Ji Clan, I'd understand! What the heck is the Youxiong Clan? Zhang Yuanqing complained inwardly while being filled with awe!

This artifact's origin is not simple!

The clay mask lay quietly in the display case, not speaking unless someone asked it a question.

Xiao Yuan tentatively asked, "Where is your master?"

The clay mask then spoke, "After the Battle of Zhuolu, my master died in battle. I was passed around among various tribes, placed on altars, and used to communicate with heaven and earth. Until the great upheaval in ancient times, when Buzhou Mountain collapsed, my power was sealed, and I became a mundane object."

Zhang Yuanqing's eyes lit up. "Tell me more about that great upheaval in ancient times!"

The clay mask laughed and said, "A wild cultivator like you who doesn't even have a godhood shouldn't inquire about secrets at the emperor level!"

Alyssia asked, half understanding, "Emperor level? What kind of division is that? I've never heard of it!"

The clay mask answered every question, slowly saying, "The Three Sovereigns created the world, namely the Heavenly Sovereign, the Earthly Sovereign, and Wa Huang. After the Three Sovereigns, the Five Emperors controlled the universe and ruled the Nine Provinces. Below the Five Emperors were the Four Divine Spirits!"

"Mountains, rivers, lakes, and marshes all had divine spirits. They were all appointed by the Five Emperors to manage the Nine Provinces on their behalf."

"Below the divine spirits are the chimaera, demons, ghosts, and monsters, as well as wild cultivators. All of you here are wild cultivators!"

There was a sense of superiority. This guy looked like a kind old man, but his speaking style and tone were a bit annoying.

Zhang Yuanqing's expression was serious as he savored these words, feeling that they revealed a great amount of information!

What the clay mask said was very likely the history of ancient cultivators in ancient times.

He remembered the Palace Master saying that Wa Huang was the only historically verifiable real figure in the mythological stories and was a Lingjing administrator.

If what the clay mask said was true, then the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were also ancient cultivators!

The Five Emperors should represent metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, which in mythological stories are the Yan Emperor, White Emperor, Red Emperor, Yellow Emperor, and Black Emperor.

"What about the Three Sovereigns?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.

"What kind of figures are the Heavenly Sovereign and Earthly Sovereign? What kind of authority do they wield?"

"I don't know," the clay mask answered succinctly.

"Are the Heavenly Sovereign and Earthly Sovereign legends or real?" Zhang Yuanqing asked again.

"Don't know," the clay mask gave the same answer.

The Heavenly Sovereign and Earthly Sovereign are very mysterious. It's not even certain whether they exist. Zhang Yuanqing expanded his imagination and analyzed the possibility of the Heavenly Sovereign and Earthly Sovereign's existence, and possible occupations!

These could all be deduced based on the Lingjing's existing occupations. Seeing that Yuan Shi Tianzun wasn't speaking, Xiao Yuan took the initiative to ask about the instance dungeon: "Where is the key to the bronze door?"

"In the four artifacts in the southeast, northwest, and southwest!" the clay mask replied!

Zhang Yuanqing and the others immediately raised their heads and looked around, scanning the four artifacts in the southeast, northwest, and southwest one by one.

"How can we get the key?" Zhang Yuanqing continued his spirit of fleecing the sheep, asking questions as soon as there was a problem.

The clay mask smiled and said, "Subdue the artifacts!"

"How do we subdue them?" Huang Taiji's eyes narrowed.

The clay mask's beard twitched as it laughed, "See that Guanyin statue? Take the jade bottle from her, and the key to open the bronze door is inside."

Zhang Yuanqing and his teammates exchanged glances and said, "I'll do it. Let the Yin corpse try."

Taking the key would definitely be accompanied by danger!

No one objected. Zhang Yuanqing took out the Little Red Hat and released a level four Yin corpse, manipulating it to go to the Guanyin statue!

The Yin corpse stopped in front of the four-meter-high giant sculpture, leaped up, grabbed the hand holding the jade bottle, and used its strength to stand firmly in the palm. The jade bottle was as big as a bucket, but the mouth of the bottle could accommodate an adult's arm!

"Open it." Zhang Yuanqing controlled the Yin corpse to look down at the inside of the bottle's mouth, which was pitch black.

Even the Night Wanderer's vision couldn't penetrate the darkness!

He simply bent down and put his arm deep into the mouth of the bottle to explore inside. The next second, the Yin corpse was sucked into the jade bottle!

Zhang Yuanqing's consciousness was bounced back, and his main body's head jerked back as if he had been hit with a club!

Xiao Yuan hurriedly supported him. Before she could ask, they heard a rumbling vibration. The Guanyin statue shook violently, its base and body crashing against the floor and walls. The rumbling sound was extremely intense.

Then, black spring water gushed out of the mouth of the bottle, creating a loud splashing sound.

The black spring water spread along the floor tiles!

"Black spring water." Zhang Yuanqing was greatly alarmed. "This is the black water that kills Qingzhu that he saw in his divination."

But what really changed his expression was that he recognized the black spring water as Weak Water. There was also the same Weak Water in the Gou Clan's animal park, which could drown everything!

The divination screen was blurred, and he didn't recognize it, but now that he saw the real black spring water, he knew it was Weak Water!

Qingzhu remembered Yuan Shi Tianzun's reminder, his expression tightened, and he asked, "What kind of water is this? What's the danger?"

The clay mask replied, "No danger, no danger!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at the drowning water.

"That's not right!" Zhang Yuanqing's eyes stared sharply at the clay mask in the display case and said coldly, "This is Weak Water, Weak Water that can drown everything. You're lying to us. How much of what you just said was true and how much was false?"

The moment the clay mask said there was no danger, Zhang Yuanqing realized that he had been deceived. This thing couldn't be trusted!

Maybe the key wasn't in the jade bottle at all. The clay mask tricked him into touching the jade bottle in order to trigger a mechanism and kill them!

Huang Taiji, Qingzhu, and Alyssia's expressions changed!

It was difficult for Xiao Yuan's bee queen image to have any expression!

"Splash, splash"

The jade bottle spewed out large amounts of black spring water like a water pump. White foam surged as the Weak Water quickly spread across half of the exhibition hall!

Soon, it spread to Zhang Yuanqing and the others' feet!

The five retreated in a panic. Alyssia used Wind Blade to cut off a piece of her skirt and threw it into the thin layer of Weak Water covering the tiles!

The skirt instantly sank and then disappeared, not knowing where it went!

Maybe it entered the jade bottle, or maybe it was dissolved. It didn't matter anymore. This had already proved that Yuan Shi Tianzun was right. They had been fooled by the clay mask, thus triggering the death mechanism!

In the water, the clay mask chuckled and said, "My answer is true for the first half and false for the second half! I speak the truth and then speak falsehood!"

Speak the truth and then speak falsehood? This is its characteristic.

Zhang Yuanqing retreated while thinking and raced against the Weak Water!

"What do we do? What do we do?" Qingzhu was the most flustered!

Alyssia calmly said, "Don't panic, I'll use air to lift you up!"

"It's useless!" Zhang Yuanqing explained to the foreign girl, "Weak Water drowns everything, including flying creatures. When the Weak Water spreads throughout the exhibition hall, we'll definitely die unless we have Lin wood. Only Lin wood can float on Weak Water, but this thing is a scarce material. The entire Lingjing is probably very rare, not to mention a killing instance dungeon."

The black Weak Water continued to spread, forcing Zhang Yuanqing and the others to retreat again and again. Soon, they reached the end, behind them was that huge blank mural!

Looking at the surging Weak Water, Huang Taiji raised his foot and stomped heavily. The tiles in front of everyone shattered, and a thin concrete barrier rose, trying to block the spread of the Weak Water!

The concrete melted like ice as soon as it rose and sank into the Weak Water. The hope in everyone's eyes shattered along with it. Even the power of Yellow Earth couldn't stop the Weak Water!

"Damn it." Qingzhu gritted his teeth, "I'm going to smash that broken mask!"

Xiao Yuan suddenly said, "Yuan Shi, take them in!"

Zhang Yuanqing understood his lover's meaning in a second and decisively took out the Little Red Hat to activate the storage ability!

The Weak Water steadily surged forward, not stopping any changes!

"It's not working. The level of Weak Water is too high. It can't be contained by a Saint-level item!" Zhang Yuanqing shook his head regretfully!

"What do we do then?" Alyssia was a little anxious. She had never seen this kind of thing before and couldn't think of a solution for a while!

"It's at our feet! It's at our feet!" Qingzhu shouted!

Zhang Yuanqing looked left and right, his mind racing. Suddenly, he had an idea and shouted, "Climb onto the display cases, quickly."

Without him saying more, everyone quickly climbed onto the display cases, one person per case.

The next second, the black Weak Water submerged the place where they were standing and flooded the entire exhibition hall!

The five breathed a sigh of relief on different display cases. Weak Water drowned everything, but the display cases were still there, indicating that staying on the display cases was the right thing to do!

But everyone's relief didn't last long, because the Weak Water was still gushing out of the mouth of the bottle. The water level in the exhibition hall was getting higher and higher, gradually reaching the knees of an average person!

At this rate, the Weak Water would sooner or later fill up to the display cases, and they would still not escape death!