It turned out to be true.

In that case, even after so many years, most of the treasures here should still retain a considerable amount of spiritual energy.

Following the memory of the Fate Turning Pagoda’s remnant consciousness, Xiao Shou carefully avoided the alert restrictions and took one of the outermost jade boxes that was covered in dust and showed no glow at all.

When he opened it, a dried, withered object inside instantly turned to ash. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

While Xiao Shou was opening jade boxes one after another inside the treasure vault, outside, after Jian Li struck down with a single sword, splitting the earth open into a massive fissure and scorching all surrounding vegetation, both him and Zhong Kui, as Deity Transformation experts, possessed extremely powerful divine senses.

The moment they sensed the unusually dense spiritual energy emanating from beneath the crack, they immediately descended into it.

As soon as they entered the fissure and were surrounded by the dense spiritual energy, all three of them felt an inexplicable force envelop their bodies and were instantly transported elsewhere.

Jian Li calmly hovered in a place filled with flowing magma.

His divine sense was suppressed, and neither Zhong Kui nor Xiao Ran could be seen.

Even though he could clearly feel the excitement of the Vermilion Bird Flame, his expression did not change at all.

Zhong Kui wore a wicked smile and completely unfazed by the surroundings. He muttered to himself, "My lovely Xiao Ran has disappeared. How troubling. What should I do? Tsk, tsk... It seems this ancient cultivator cave residence was exposed by that fellow’s sword strike. How interesting."

"Finally escaped from that lunatic..." Xiao Ran muttered as her face slightly flushed.

She took several deep breaths to suppress the restless medicinal effect within her body.

After a while, her expression returned to its usual icy calm as she cautiously began to explore her surroundings.

Inside the stone chamber as the ground shook violently, the children clung tightly to each other and rolling into a bundle.

After things settled down, the little girl Hua Tingyue hugged her brother Hua Yingjun tightly.

"Brother... the earth dragon turned over... I’m scared..."

"Be good, Yueyue. Don’t be afraid. This stone chamber is very sturdy. It was built by immortals. It won’t collapse," Hua Yingjun comforted her while carefully looking at the others. "Is everyone alright? Is anyone hurt?"

"Other than Cao Jinyang bumping his head and getting a swelling, no one else is injured," Cao Mudan said after checking carefully.

Ye Ying let out a sigh of relief. "It’s good that everyone is fine. I wonder what’s happening outside. I heard that some of the adults in the neighboring stone chambers seem to be injured."

"Really? Then they’re even more unlucky than us," Cao Jinyang said, his tone carrying a hint of schadenfreude.

Ye Ying showed a strange expression and gave a bitter smile. "I think that man’s luck is truly terrible. He was already the most seriously injured here, and now he’s been hurt even more. But thanks to that injury, he actually woke up."

"Ye Ying, your hearing is amazing. You can even pick up something like that," Cao Mudan said enviously.

Hua Yingjun puffed up with pride as if it were his own achievement. "That’s nothing. Ye Ying has many amazing abilities. A couple of years ago when bandits attacked, he heard the sound of hooves long before anyone else and warned Uncle Ye and Aunt Ye. Uncle Ye is the village head and knew how good Ye Ying’s hearing was, so he immediately led everyone in the village to hide..."

...

In the neighboring stone chamber, the gaunt middle-aged man with a deathly pale face had just regained consciousness.

After hitting his head against the stone wall earlier, he was now bleeding heavily.

While leaning against the wall, his trembling fingers dipped into his own blood as he drew patterns on the ground.

When the pattern was completed, the ground flashed with light.

A storage bag suddenly appeared and the pattern vanished without a trace.

The man opened the storage bag with a bitter expression, took out several jade bottles, and swallowed multiple pills in succession.

After a short while, his complexion improved slightly, and his emaciated body gradually regained some fullness.

"This bout of misfortune really won’t stop until it kills me... sigh. My Golden Core is damaged, my cultivation has fallen back to the Foundation Establishment stage, and my meridians and dantian are in ruins. Aside from a Creation Pill, nothing can save me..."

...

In another stone chamber, where a pair of twin brothers were imprisoned, the younger one tossed aside the dried grass he had been using as chess pieces.

His eyes sparkled as he looked at his brother across from him.

"Brother, our chance of survival has appeared. Should we act now? If we move now, we might still be able to grab some leftovers."

The older brother who is holding a stone piece remained calm and said indifferently, "Wait a little longer. The one destined to give us a chance has not arrived yet. Focus on your cultivation and stop playing around. The art of heavenly calculation does not lie. Those of us who cultivate it are bound to fate itself."

"Alright, alright, I get it. Stop lecturing me," the younger brother said with a gloomy expression. "I wonder how that unlucky guy is doing. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone born with such a fate actually manage to form a Golden Core. If we hadn’t been curious about his destiny, we wouldn’t have been captured."

"Since the destined one has arrived, unless someone has been abandoned by the Heavenly Dao, no one will die..."

...

After working hard for quite a while, was this all that remained in such a grand treasure vault?

Xiao Shou felt a bit dissatisfied as he looked at the few items in front of him.

A pitch-black dagger, a multicolored shell of unknown use, a bronze mirror with ancient and mysterious patterns engraved with flowers and birds, a pair of gold bracelets, and a pair of small bells.