Having knocked out the demon king's favored consort, the falcon demon surveyed its surroundings. It folded its wings together as arcs of lightning surged, converging silently toward the center to condense into a silver-white ball of thunder in midair.
Inside the sphere of thunder, countless slender bolts of lightning swam incessantly.
The falcon demon chanted under its breath.
Whatever secret technique it had invoked, the thunder sphere suddenly dropped, pointing straight down at the ground.
"It really is here!"
Delighted at the sight, the falcon demon gloated smugly, "I felt it long ago—something nearby that stirred the power of thunder in my bloodline. Who would have guessed that Qianji Demon King's treasury was actually hidden in his favored consort's cave dwelling?"
The falcon demon searched meticulously, yet found nothing.
When its divine sense swept across the room, it detected not the slightest fluctuation or trace of a restriction.
Only with the guidance of the thunder sphere did it manage to grope its way to a deeply hidden entrance. The floor beneath the jade bed split open noiselessly, revealing a flight of steps.
"The old demon truly is cunning—to think he used a mortal mechanical trap!"
Cursing under its breath, the falcon demon darted into the tunnel.
The tunnel led straight underground. It was not dark inside, for a row of luminous pearls was embedded along the walls, and the end of the passage opened up before a stone door.
An indistinct glow shimmered across the stone door, clearly a restriction left behind by Qianji Demon King. Pressed for time, an anxious gleam flashed in the falcon demon's eyes, and it hurried forward to concentrate on unraveling the ward.
Right at that moment, a voice spoke unexpectedly from behind:
"Many thanks, Fellow Daoist, for finding the treasury for me."
In an instant, every feather on the falcon demon's body puffed out.
Someone had been lurking right behind it, and it hadn't noticed a thing!
"Who's there!"
Frightened out of its wits, the falcon demon did not hesitate. Lightning flashed across its entire body, coalescing into an arm-thick bolt that blasted violently backward.
Whirling around, the falcon demon was greeted by a sight that plunged it into despair.
A masked figure with azure wings sprouting from his back had appeared behind it at some unknown point.
Facing the falcon demon's strike, the masked man neither dodged nor retreated. He merely raised a single hand, his true essence surging in his palm, and caught the lightning bolt firmly in his grip, his frame swaying only slightly.
Right after that, a bright gleam caught the falcon demon's eye as a streak of sword light flashed.
The next moment, a terrifying sword momentum descended.
The falcon demon's mind shuddered. Before it could make any move, the surrounding space was sealed by a sword formation. Rays of sword light trembled faintly in midair, their tips aimed squarely at the raptor.
Engulfed by the sword formation, terror filled the falcon demon's eyes.
Although the intruder was not a Transformation stage great demon, his strength was formidable. The falcon demon had no doubt that the instant it made an unnatural twitch, it would be pierced through the heart by ten thousand swords.
"Sword momentum! You're a human?" the falcon demon shrieked.
It had heard that the most gifted human sword cultivators could comprehend sword momentum while still in the Core Formation stage, possessing astonishing combat prowess.
Now that this was proven true before its eyes, it stood utterly powerless to resist.
"Don't be rash, Fellow Daoist. Seeing as you found the treasury for this old man, I have no intention of taking your life. It would be quite unfortunate if my hand slipped out of nerves," Qin Sang said flatly, shooting out a streak of flowing light that sealed the falcon demon's cultivation.
The falcon demon felt humiliated and indignant—the man had just fed back the very words it had said to the demon king's consort.
Its eyes darted around. All thoughts of treasure hunting had evaporated; now it only racked its brain for a way to escape this person's clutches.
Though he claimed he wouldn't kill it, the falcon demon knew all too well that there were countless fates far more agonizing than death.
Qin Sang paid no heed to what the falcon demon was thinking.
He suspected this raptor might be Fat Chick, but there was no time to question it now.
If it truly were Fat Chick, it would certainly know the interior of Boundless Valley intimately. Once he interrogated it thoroughly, he could seize an opportunity in the future to return to Boundless Valley in search of the Boundless Blood Mulberry.
He had no idea how this fellow had ended up like this, or where its elders had gone.
Qin Sang remembered that back then, Fat Chick had possessed the cultivation of the Demon Spirit stage fresh out of its shell and had beaten him black and blue. Now, ironically, Qin Sang had captured it alive without breaking a sweat.
Qin Sang examined the restriction on the stone door. With the help of the Heavenly Eye Butterfly, he discerned its weak points and, after expending some effort, finally dismantled the ward and pushed open the door to enter.
"Ha!"
Gazing upon the items displayed in the vault, even Qin Sang felt a bit dazzled.
The most precious treasures had surely been kept by Qianji Demon King on his person. Filling most of the vault were chests upon chests of spirit stones, all of them mid-grade spirit stones.
Behind them stood a row of wooden shelves lined with various magic treasures.
Radiating brilliant light, their rank might not have been exceptionally high—merely the sort of treasures that Qianji Demon King had no use for but could not bear to throw away. Yet if a Core Formation cultivator obtained them, they would surely revere them like supreme rarities.
Every one of these treasures bore restrictions left behind by the demon king.
Qin Sang was not distracted by such vast wealth. His gaze swept rapidly across the shelves until, at last, he found a square stone slab on a wooden rack.
It was identical to what Senior Sister Qingjun had described!
"This is it!"
Delight welled up in Qin Sang's heart. He strode swiftly over to the shelf and fixed his gaze upon the slab.
Seeing that Qin Sang's target was this very stone slab, the Thunder-Devouring Falcon—its cultivation sealed as it stood immobilized by the entrance—was thoroughly astounded and cursed its bad luck.
It could sense that the thing calling out to it was precisely this stone slab!
The restrictions Qianji Demon King had laid on the slab numbered several layers, a clear sign of how much he valued this treasure. After observing them for a while and identifying the flaws in the wards, Qin Sang channeled his true essence and gingerly attempted to crack them.
Only by infusing true essence could the projection of the Azure Luan within the slab be activated.
Layer after layer of restrictions were broken by Qin Sang in succession,
finally revealing the true body of the slab.
The mysterious slab had an uneven, bumpy surface of an off-white color. At this moment, it lay quietly on the wooden shelf with no phantom of an Azure Luan emerging, appearing no different from any ordinary stone slab.
Having obtained it so effortlessly, Qin Sang decided to take the stone slab with him and leave the Ten Thousand Snakes Abyss first before doing anything else. He would not trigger the Azure Luan projection here, lest unexpected complications arise.
Unexpectedly, the moment his fingers brushed against the slab, an abrupt change occurred!
A layer of azure light suddenly diffused from the stone slab.
As if alive, the azure glow coiled around Qin Sang's fingers and flooded rapidly into his body.
Caught off guard, Qin Sang's expression changed drastically.
He had no idea what that azure light was. He had never anticipated that the mysterious slab would stir on its own, nor had Qingjun ever mentioned that such a thing could happen.
"Not good!" Qin Sang shouted inwardly.
Regardless of whether the azure light was beneficial or harmful, without knowing its nature, he could not allow it into his body.
Reacting with extreme swiftness, Qin Sang yanked his hand back and furiously drove his true essence, attempting to halt the spread of the azure light across his body.
All of a sudden, with a deafening boom,
the stone slab shattered!
Rubble flew in all directions.
Amidst the dust and debris, a projection of an Azure Luan spread its wings and soared high, as an unprecedented, world-shaking aura surged forth wildly.
At this moment, the vault seemed exceptionally cramped. The Azure Luan projection circled briefly, lowered its head, and gazed down at Qin Sang.
Both felt as if they were facing a true celestial demon; their souls trembled in shock, and the falcon demon shivered uncontrollably.
"Skreeee!"
A piercing cry rang out.
The next moment, the Azure Luan projection suddenly transformed into a beam of azure light and shot into Qin Sang's body without giving him any say in the matter.
In a daze, Qin Sang seemed to be transported to a primordial wilderness.
He seemed to see a desolate expanse between heaven and earth, where an Azure Luan streaked through thunderclouds, treating the terrifying lightning as if it were nothing!
Chapter 1143