TL: Etude
Boom!!!
As soon as Ye Tian and Goddess Yun Zi stepped into the palace interior, they felt an unimaginably powerful pressure and a binding force.
Earlier, Ye Tian could barely manage spatial traversal within the battlefield ruins, though not for long distances. However, he could at least break through space to some degree.
But now, within the palace, he found himself completely restrained, unable to even shake the space around him, let alone traverse it.
“No wonder it’s the palace of a top-tier True Ancestor. The restrictions here are terrifyingly strong!” Ye Tian thought to himself.
“Stay alert!” Ye Tian warned.
“Mm!” Goddess Yun Zi nodded, staying within a ten-meter radius around Ye Tian, not daring to step out of that range.
The interior of the palace was vast and extravagantly decorated, filled with treasures everywhere.
What might have been ordinary items in the eyes of a top-tier True Ancestor were priceless treasures to Ye Tian and Yun Zi.For instance, Ye Tian noticed a potted plant. Though the plant had long withered into ashes, the soil in the pot was Greenwood Primordial Loam—a rare and precious earth-attribute material, ideal for cultivating high-level wood-attribute plants.
It was clear that the plants grown in these 21 pots must have been extraordinary, possibly even valuable to Dao Ancestors. However, due to neglect, the plants had perished.
Yet, just the Greenwood Primordial Loam alone was an incredible treasure.
In the chaos, many rare plants were notoriously difficult to nurture. Even in areas dense with chaos yuan qi, it was nearly impossible to cultivate them. But with Greenwood Primordial Loam, such plants could flourish with ease.
Moreover, the pot holding the loam wasn’t an ordinary item either. It was made of Wood-Steel Stone, a rare type of stone that could be used to forge half-Dao Artifacts, though it was far less valuable compared to the loam itself.
Ye Tian and Goddess Yun Zi divided the Greenwood Primordial Loam and the Wood-Steel Stone pots between them. Ye Tian felt little excitement, as he already possessed many treasures and didn’t care much for these.
But Goddess Yun Zi was ecstatic—this was the most valuable treasure she had ever obtained.
Though the quasi-Dao Realm held countless opportunities, her strength had always been too limited, making it difficult for her to acquire anything significant.
Now, with the Greenwood Primordial Loam in her possession, she couldn’t help but feel thrilled.
As they continued on, the two collected many treasures. At first, Goddess Yun Zi was overjoyed, but eventually, the excitement faded as she grew accustomed to the abundance of wealth around them.
Suddenly, Ye Tian halted.
“There’s danger!” he warned.
Goddess Yun Zi also sensed the oppressive atmosphere. However, with their spiritual senses restricted within the palace, it was impossible to see through the walls or detect any approaching threat.
Still, she knew that some powerful being or puppet was drawing near.
Boom!!!
A humanoid puppet appeared within their senses.
The puppet resembled a servant, with an appearance almost indistinguishable from a normal human, except its skin was dark, and it bore scales similar to dragon scales.
These scales weren’t real but were crafted from special materials, designed to provide terrifying defense.
“It’s a puppet, and not an ordinary one!” Ye Tian said gravely.
The moment the puppet laid eyes on Ye Tian, it attacked, dashing any hope he had of resolving things peacefully.
“Eternal Immortal Flame!”
Ye Tian unleashed a chaos divine ability to probe the puppet. However, the Eternal Immortal Flame had no effect—it didn’t even harm the puppet in the slightest. Instead, the puppet casually extinguished the flame with a wave of its hand.
“Spacequake!”
Ye Tian struck again, using a middle-grade origin divine ability. A slight spatial tremor rippled through the area.
The puppet was sent flying backward, and cracks began to appear on its scales.
Despite this, the puppet remained intact.
“This is a True Ancestor-level puppet!” Ye Tian spoke up.
Goddess Yun Zi was stunned. In the War God Tower, there were only a few True Ancestor-level puppets, and they were treated like treasures, rarely used for fear of them being destroyed.
A puppet of this level was comparable to a Dao Artifact! Only the direct descendants of certain Dao Ancestors would deploy such puppets, and even then, only in special situations for protection.
But to their surprise, this place housed a True Ancestor-level puppet!
“Good thing I brought the Dao Child of Ten Thousand Laws. If I had come alone, I might have been dead by now!” Goddess Yun Zi silently rejoiced.
Ye Tian no longer underestimated the puppet. He activated the Golden Eye Domain, suppressing the puppet firmly. Then he launched a simultaneous assault with Spacequake and Divine Might, two powerful origin divine abilities.
At the same time, Ye Tian wielded a half-Dao Artifact saber, unleashing one saber technique after another to attack it.
Under Ye Tian’s relentless assault, more and more cracks appeared on the puppet’s surface.
In the end, the puppet was hacked into fragments, and even its power core was destroyed.
However, Ye Tian still collected the puppet’s remains. The materials were anything but ordinary and were still highly valuable.
Just as he stowed away the puppet’s fragments, Ye Tian’s expression changed dramatically.
“This is bad! Let’s go—at least ten more True Ancestor-level puppets are heading this way!”
Without hesitation, Ye Tian grabbed Goddess Yun Zi and used Void Shift. Though they couldn’t traverse through space, their speed far surpassed that of most Half-Step True Ancestors—and even many True Ancestors.
The two fled from the pursuing puppets while collecting treasures along the way.
Anything within sight was scooped up immediately. They didn’t have time to identify or judge the treasures’ origins, planning instead to inspect everything after escaping.
Before long, Ye Tian arrived in front of a particular pavilion within the palace.
The palace resembled a miniature world, filled with many unique structures, but this pavilion was undoubtedly extraordinary.
“Hidden God Pavilion!”
Ye Tian read the name inscribed on the pavilion and began to speculate in his mind.
However, the pavilion was protected by restrictive formations that Ye Tian had no way of breaking.
“I’ll try using the inheritance key,” suggested Goddess Yun Zi.
“Alright!” Ye Tian nodded.
Goddess Yun Zi took out the inheritance key and used it to communicate with the restrictions guarding the Hidden God Pavilion. To their surprise, it worked.
Crack! A portal opened within the restrictive formation.
The two immediately entered the pavilion, and the restrictive formation quickly sealed itself again.
“This inheritance key is remarkable. It seems to be the control artifact for the formations in this palace. Too bad it can’t control the puppets—otherwise, things would’ve been much easier for us,” Ye Tian sighed.
“If I could control those puppets, wouldn’t I be able to sweep through the entire quasi-Dao Realm?” Goddess Yun Zi joked with a grin.
There were far more than ten True Ancestor-level puppets in this palace—there could be many more, perhaps even stronger ones. If she could harness such a force, she would have no reason to fear anyone.
But that was not realistic.
“Let’s go. Let’s see what treasures this Treasure Pavilion holds,” Ye Tian said.