Chapter 448: Spiritual Treasure

“No wonder even gods at the ancestral level fell here…” Ye Feng finally understood. He had long been puzzled about what kind of trap the tenth layer was. It wasn’t until he saw what was happening that he realized the death of that god-level warrior wasn’t in vain—after all, his opponent were ten times as many as him. Without some special tactics, Ye Feng might not even have a chance in a one-on-one fight, let alone one against ten; the only outcome would be death.
“What bastards! Who created such a place? This is meant to kill people!” Ye Feng cursed inwardly.
As he was still filled with resentment, the ten men who looked exactly like him moved, scattering in ten different directions to surround Ye Feng before pouncing on him.
“Hmph, thinking that by teaming up like this, you can make me fall?” Ye Feng sneered coldly. A bone-chilling coldness emanated from him, spreading rapidly—within the blink of an eye, it covered an area of a hundred meters around him.
The ten men dared not touch this extreme ice attribute energy and quickly jumped up, continuing to charge at Ye Feng.
“I was waiting for you to come!” Ye Feng laughed coldly. A scorching heat, completely opposite to before, surged upward. In an instant, his head was surrounded by a sea of fire, with red sparks spreading everywhere.
The ten men quickly retreated, trying to get out of Ye Feng’s attack range.
“Too late!” Ten black threads had already attached themselves to their bodies at some point. With just a slight movement of his fingers, the men’s ankles were as if tied by ropes, preventing them from moving.
Due to this brief delay, the red flames behind them engulfed nine of them.
Ye Feng flashed forward and appeared in front of the one he had deliberately spared. He grabbed his throat, and black devouring energy instantly enveloped the man’s entire body.
“Huh?” The moment the black energy covered the man, Ye Feng sensed his body disappearing. At the same time, he felt the auras of the nine men surrounded by the fire growing weaker. He was even more surprised because his use of fire wasn’t meant to kill them but merely to trap them and prevent them from helping the man before him.
In just a few breaths, the ten energies completely dissipated. Ye Feng released his extreme attribute energy and found that not even a trace of the ten men remained.
“What on earth is going on?” Ye Feng looked around in confusion.

At that moment, the dark hall finally lit up, and a figure began to walk toward them from afar.
Ye Feng watched the person warily, trying to figure out their intentions.
“You needn’t be nervous, young man. I’m just a remnant soul; my true self has long perished,” said a middle-aged man with a heroic appearance. He was slightly shorter than Ye Feng but much more robust. His smile seemed carefree, as if he wasn’t at all upset about his own demise.
This made Ye Feng regard him with a bit more respect.
“Enough chatter. I am the owner of this secret realm—my name is Xun Ming. To be precise, I’m the former owner. I’m here because you passed my test and met the conditions to inherit this realm.” Xun Ming stopped not far in front of Ye Feng. Seeing that Ye Feng remained silent, he looked at him doubtfully. “Don’t you have anything you want to ask?”
“Yes. I wonder—how many people could possibly pass your test? How can one person defeat ten copies of themselves?” Ye Feng couldn’t help but complain about such an absurd test.
“You mean those who haven’t mastered the power of rules, right?” Xun Ming smiled. “That’s exactly the purpose of the test. I need strong individuals who already possess the power of rules to inherit my legacy, as that will make things much easier. Haven’t you already passed it? You used the power of rules—water, fire, and even a special type of rule power.”
“The power of rules? Are you referring to attribute energy?” Ye Feng asked curiously.
“Hmm, let’s put it this way: attribute energy is just the initial stage of mastering the power of rules. As you use and delve deeper into that energy, you’ll gradually understand the essence of attributes, and your attribute energy will transform into true rule power. However, extreme attribute substances already contain a small amount of rule power, so your attribute energy is far more powerful than others’.”
“What are the different types of rule power?” Ye Feng pressed further.
“There are five basic types: wind, fire, water, earth, and lightning. Of course, there are also two special types—light and darkness—and some other rare types, such as space and time.”
“I see. But I still don’t understand—why do you want those who already master the power of rules to inherit your legacy?” Ye Feng was still confused.
“Because this Zhongxuan Tower is a spiritual treasure imbued with the power of earth attributes. If one can’t even use attribute energy, they’ll never be able to control it.”

Xun Ming’s explanation brought new doubts to Ye Feng.
“A Spiritual Treasure? What rank is it?” Hearing this novel term, Ye Feng immediately became interested.
“Do you know about Divine Artefacts?”
Ye Feng nodded.
“Above Divine Artefacts are Sacred Artefacts, and above those are Spiritual Treasures. They’re called Spiritual Treasures because at this level, they transcend the category of mere tools and can be regarded as treasures.” Xun Ming’s explanation greatly expanded Ye Feng’s knowledge.
“So you mean there’s a Sacred Realm above the Divine Realm, and another realm above that?” Ye Feng suddenly felt his horizons broaden.
“That’s right. You must be aware of the existence of the Divine Realm given your strength. Above the Divine Realm lies a realm called the Sacred Realm. And above that, there’s another realm known as the Star Realm.”
“The Star Realm…” Ye Feng’s mind instantly flashed with the images of Immortal and the others. He didn’t know what kind of strength they possessed.
“By the way, senior, have you heard of Illusory Treasures?”
“What?” The middle-aged man’s expression showed clear shock. “Where did you hear that?”
“I heard someone mention it once or twice. What’s wrong?”
“Well, it’s said to be even more powerful than Spiritual Treasures. I’ve also heard of it, but I’ve never seen it. The strongest treasure I’ve seen is a Supreme Spiritual Treasure. And it’s said that above the Star Realm, there’s another realm called the Illusory Realm, and it’s the weapons and armor from that realm that are called Illusory Treasures.”
“Supreme Spiritual Treasure? Illusory Treasure?” Ye Feng repeated these words silently a few times, still puzzled by some issues.
“Actually, this Chongxuan Tower is just one of the Spiritual Treasures I’ve crafted. If you can gather all of them and combine them, it will also become a Supreme Spiritual Treasure.”
Ye Feng couldn’t help but extend his mental energy into the Liuluan Hall. “Liuluan, what exactly is a Supreme Spiritual Treasure? Is it more powerful than an Illusory Treasure?”
“A Supreme Spiritual Treasure refers to the highest-ranked among Spiritual Treasures and is also the closest thing to an Illusory Treasure. In fact, a Supreme Spiritual Treasure is essentially an Illusory Treasure.”
Ye Feng suddenly understood. “Gathering them all can create an Illusory Treasure. In that case, this set is quite good.”
Quietly withdrawing his mental energy, Ye Feng turned to Xun Ming. “Senior, how can I gather these Spiritual Treasures into a set?”
“This Chongxuan Tower belongs to the Earth attribute. You just need to find the remaining towers corresponding to Water, Fire, Wind, Thunder, and Killing. Among them, the Killing Tower is the most important, as it’s the core of these six components. Without it, the combined power of the others will be halved.”

“Senior, are these towers all connected to each other?” Hearing this, Ye Feng suddenly remembered Tie Niu’s previous descriptions of the Dark Magic Realm in the Demon World—the steps imbued with a killing intent. That trial had too many similarities to this one, except for the changed game rules. “That Dark Magic Realm is very likely the hiding place of the Killing Tower. And judging from when they open, including the realms of the Buddha World, Angels and Demons, as well as the three continents of Immortals, Monsters, and Demons, all open a special secret realm at the same time and close it at the same time every time. This can’t be a coincidence.”

“Yes, they usually open and close simultaneously. Although I’ve left a trace of my soul in several towers, I’m not aware of the exact locations of the others, as the souls can’t communicate with each other. Only by merging together can their consciousnesses combine.”

“Can’t this spiritual treasure be used if it’s not a complete set?” Ye Feng was now more concerned about this issue.

“Under normal circumstances, it can be used. But if it’s not a complete set, an individual piece is only a peak-level spiritual treasure, far less powerful than a supreme spiritual treasure. Moreover, it can only utilize a single type of rule power—earthly rules. But the most urgent problem now is that when I just woke up, I found the Chongxuan Tower severely damaged. Without repair, its power might not even reach one percent of its original level. In severe cases, its rank as a spiritual treasure could drop again. There’s also a possibility it might become unusable due to these damages.” Xun Ming frowned, clearly finding this damage extremely serious.

However, Ye Feng wasn’t too worried. His own repair privileges could easily restore this spiritual treasure to its original state. But he also knew that to gather a complete set, he would have to wait until the next secret realm opened, using several of his avatars to enter the other realms and obtain the remaining treasures. But that would be many years later, and he couldn’t wait that long.

“I’m not sure what exactly damaged the Chongxuan Tower so badly. After all, even as a single piece, it’s already a peak-level spiritual treasure. Something that could damage it to this extent must be at least a supreme spiritual treasure. It might even be a legendary Void Treasure.”

Xun Ming’s words made Ye Feng ponder deeply. At first, he had overlooked this issue, finding it merely interesting that the secret realms were said to collide with each other. But now, after hearing Xun Ming’s explanation, he realized how unusual this matter was.

This Wan Yao Ling is one of the most renowned secret realms in the entire Heavenly Realm. Its extraordinary rank as a secret realm is already astonishing, not to mention that at its core lies a peak-level spiritual treasure. As for the secret realm that collided with it, no such realm has ever been heard of in this location since the existence of the Heavenly Realm, let alone what could damage such a peak-level spiritual treasure.

“This definitely isn’t a coincidence…” Ye Feng frowned deeply, instinctively feeling that things were not as simple as they seemed. It seemed someone had deliberately arranged this to allow him to obtain this spiritual treasure. If that was the case, the power of the person behind this must be terrifying. “It can’t be my godfather; given his nature, he would never engage in such secretive actions. Nor could it be my elder brother—he already gave me an entire storage ring filled with fake and pseudo-fake treasures. It certainly can’t be my second brother, whom I just met not long ago…”

“Then who is this person? An enemy or a friend?” At this thought, Ye Feng even hesitated about whether to accept this secret realm.

“Inside this secret realm, aside from the Chong Xuan Tower, there aren’t many other treasures. However, my understanding of earth-based principles has reached a state of perfection, and I’ve stored all my insights in those prayer beads. It should be of great benefit to your cultivation.”

Ye Feng glanced at Xun Ming’s remaining soul. He knew that even if he were indeed being set up, it surely had nothing to do with Xun Ming. With only a few strands of his soul left, Xun Ming couldn’t even undergo reincarnation and could only wait for his energy to run out and he to perish. Such a person surely had no interest in scheming against others, especially since Xun Ming clearly hoped someone would carry on his legacy. After remaining silent for a while, Ye Feng set aside his doubts. “Anyway, I’ll accept it for now. If anyone wants to scheme against me, let them come—I’m waiting!”

With that thought, Ye Feng nodded at Xun Ming. “What should I do?”

“It’s simple—don’t resist…” Xun Ming appeared right in front of Ye Feng, less than a meter away, and placed a finger on Ye Feng’s forehead.

Ye Feng was slightly startled. Just as he was about to react instinctively, he noticed Xun Ming gradually fading away.

“What’s going on?” Ye Feng was puzzled.

“Concentrate your attention on your mind sea,” Xun Ming’s voice echoed softly. Ye Feng immediately focused his mind and directed his spiritual energy toward his mind sea.

Another small tower appeared in his sea of consciousness, entirely colored in purple gold. However, its glow was dim, and there was a huge gap at its waist, occupying three entire layers.
“The damage is quite severe…” Ye Feng frowned upon seeing this.
Retiring his mental energy, Xun Ming’s figure across from him had become as faint as mist, giving the impression that it could be blown away by a gust of wind.
“Elder, you…” Ye Feng vaguely guessed it was related to him.
“Because there’s still a trace of my residual soul, the Zhongxuan Tower hasn’t fully severed its connection with me yet. And since spiritual treasures are different from other items, transferring the contract requires its consent; otherwise, it would consume a great deal of energy. Previously, it refused to allow the contract to be transferred, so I had to force it. Fortunately, at the critical moment, it gave up resisting. Otherwise, it would have taken all my residual soul energy to complete the transfer. But now, not much energy remains. How about I give you all the remaining soul energy?”
“I refuse,” Ye Feng shook his head. “Even though only a residual soul remains, it’s not certain that my original strength can’t be restored. How about you fall into a deep sleep for now? I’ll find a way to revive you and then wake you up.”
“There might be such a method, but I’ve never heard of a residual soul being able to restore one’s original strength. I’m not holding out much hope. But if you keep this trace of my soul, it might be useful someday. I’ll follow your advice and fall into sleep first. Just wake me up if anything happens.”
“Mm,” Ye Feng nodded, watching as Xun Ming’s faint figure disappeared inside a transparent crystal coffin.