Asura Emperor Venerable-Chapter 757: The Dilapidated Temple

Purple Gold Rat was astonished and said, "You almost annihilated those people, yet they still send you treasures? Gee, this old man’s seen too little, or maybe that old geezer wants to harm you?"

Shi Hao smiled broadly and unfolded the map, "If we find this ancient relic and explore it, we’ll know then."

"Aren’t you afraid it’s a trap?" Purple Gold Rat asked.

"Should I be?" Shi Hao countered.

Purple Gold Rat was suddenly at a loss for words. Shi Hao held Immortal Abode, an item only an Immortal King-class Almighty could craft. Even a Jade Immortal would need a lot of effort to dismantle it. Placed in the Mortal Realm, how could it possibly be broken?

"You’re really cocky!" it said.

Shi Hao roared with laughter, "I just love seeing that expression of yours, annoyed yet unable to get rid of me."

"Kid, being so arrogant, you’re likely to end up without friends," Purple Gold Rat commented.

Shi Hao spread his hands. He was always polite to others; this was just directed at Purple Gold Rat.

"When are we going?" Purple Gold Rat asked again.

"Did I say I would take you with me?" Shi Hao said with a smile.

Purple Gold Rat immediately forgot what it had just said and pawed at Shi Hao’s shoulder, "We’re comrades, aren’t we!"

Shi Hao pondered for a moment, "Xiao Hei and the others will stay here to continue watching for news from the Great Void Realm. I’ll ask dad if he’s coming."

He went to ask Shi Feng, but Shi Feng indicated that even if there were any ancient relics in such a trivial place, they wouldn’t benefit a Saintly Position powerhouse like himself, so he decided not to go.

Shi Hao nodded. Shi Feng was concerned that his presence would foster a dependence, hindering progress in martial arts.

It made sense, much like Shi Hao now heavily relied on Immortal Abode. But since it was his treasure, why not maximize its potential?

After all, luck is also a part of strength.

Having made arrangements, Shi Hao set off with Purple Gold Rat, following the map.

This was time-consuming because the map might have been drawn many years ago, and many areas had changed dramatically.

——Martial Artists often had the power to move mountains and drain seas, so significant changes in the landscape were quite normal.

Nine days later, Shi Hao and Purple Gold Rat finally found the place.

A mountain that, according to the map, should still have a temple on it, and the entrance to the ancient relic was inside the temple.

They made their way up the mountain and, before long, saw a group of people coming down.

Shi Hao glanced at them: there were eleven in total, led by an elder, accompanied by seven young people, and three men dressed in grey, who appeared to be attendants.

The mountain path was narrow, yet two people could still pass side by side.

The problem was, the group showed no intention of lining up to cross paths with Shi Hao.

Great Sacrificial Heaven?

Shi Hao looked at the elder, no wonder this group was so arrogant, without a hint of deference.

Fine then.

Shi Hao stood on a rock, letting the group pass first.

The elder was haughty, a Great Sacrificial Heaven powerhouse. Wasn’t it very normal for a mere Supplementing Divine Temple to give way before him?

"At least you know your place!" a young man said as he passed by Shi Hao, then strode away.

"Xiao Shi, can you really endure this?" Purple Gold Rat, ever the instigator, immediately started stirring up trouble.

Shi Hao gave a faint smile. Of course, he could kill them by surprise and then hide inside Immortal Abode.

Even with his horrifying combat power now, if he faced the Great Sacrificial Heaven from the previous sacrifice again, he wouldn’t necessarily win, but at least he wouldn’t suffer an ugly defeat.

However, it wasn’t worth getting angry over such petty individuals. Besides, the entrance to the ancient relic was right in front of him, and Shi Hao did not want to create unnecessary complications.

Shi Hao continued to advance and upon reaching the middle of the mountain, sure enough, he saw a temple there.

However, the temple was not built on the mountain path, hence the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds, and the temple itself was also in ruins.

"Something’s odd," Shi Hao said.

"Indeed, it is odd," agreed the Purple Gold Rat, nodding.

They say time changes everything drastically, but why was this ruined temple still here?

The temple was actually quite large. As they reached the central area, there was a huge incense burner, but naturally, no incense smoke drifted out anymore.

Shi Hao circled around the incense burner and soon stopped, then he took out a key. Under the grasp of Soul Force, the key levitated and flew into a small hole on the incense burner.

Click, click, click, the key turned by itself, and then, a secret door noiselessly opened below the incense burner.

Shi Hao reached out and the key flew back into his hand.

"Let’s go."

The Purple Gold Rat immediately jumped onto Shi Hao’s shoulder, "With the dangers ahead unclear, I would rather not lead."

You sure are frank, but aren’t you afraid I’d kick you to death?

Shi Hao was speechless. This rat was afraid of death and greedy for wealth, which should have been very annoying, but its shameless behavior was so blatant that it actually left people unsure of how to get angry.

He entered the secret door, and ahead was a dark passage.

Whoosh, bright light emanated from his eyes, his domain also opened, and within a thousand feet around him, nothing escaped his control.

He strode forward fearlessly.

After he entered, the secret door closed silently behind him.

Just over ten minutes later, the secret door opened again.

Zhong Kong appeared with a key in his hand!

"Boy, you wouldn’t have guessed that your key was made as a duplicate by my Zhang Family after we obtained the real key hundreds of years ago," he revealed a cold smile, "You just keep unlocking the ancient relic for me, crafting my wedding garment!"

After many years of research, the Zhang Family discovered that opening this ancient relic required a blood sacrifice.

Within the relic, there were a total of eight grand halls. Opening the first, the Zhang Family lost dozens of people; the second, cost the lives of hundreds, and up to the eighth, over a thousand people had already died there without success in opening it.

Among those many people, naturally, there were members of the Zhang Family, but more so, were individuals "invited" by the Zhang Family to jointly unlock the relic.

Jointly unlocking was naturally a pretense; the real purpose was to use them for a blood sacrifice!

Unfortunately, sacrificing ordinary people wouldn’t work; it had to be at least someone from the Supplementing Divine Temple.

But how many powerful individuals from the Supplementing Divine Temple could there be?

The Zhang Family couldn’t act too brazenly either; otherwise, the truth would easily come to light. Then, not only would the Zhang Family be hunted, but the ancient relic would also be impossible to guard.

Thus, generation after generation of the Zhang Family tricked people into entering the relic, estimating that the eighth grand hall was close to being opened.

Zhong Kong sneered repeatedly. The person using the key to unlock was the target for the blood sacrifice, and Shi Hao could not possibly know he was walking toward his death.

It was a pity that the blood sacrifice involved an instant draining of one’s vital essences, otherwise, he could have gloated in front of Shi Hao, revealing the truth to let him die with even greater resentment. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

He concealed his figure, and his footsteps were silent, stealthy as a cat.