Nine Astra Skies

"What was that?" Liu Kan asked with a pale face. Even a Tenth Level combatant was still a person. There would inevitably be fear in the face of the unknown.

"It might be some kind of demon," Qiu Ying answered. He was a top Tenth Level combatant and had particularly acute perception. He had felt that there was something strange in the water, which was why he did not enter it. Seeing Liu Kan and the others this frightened, he was secretly glad that he was wise enough not to go into the water.

Liu Kan and Liu Xun glanced at Qiu Ying's back in resentment but said nothing.

"We'll just keep watch from here. I don't believe that Ye Chen won't have to surface eventually." Liu Xun was angered. The ones who had died earlier were top Ninth Level combatants and Mentor Qin was from the Second-rank Prince's Palace. Of course he would be distressed!

"We were ambushed by that demon despite only being in the water for a while. Ye Chen may have already been eaten as a long time has passed since he plunged into the water," the remaining guards said, frightened. They would not enter the water again even if they had to die.

"Ye Chen was seriously injured and drifted for so long but wasn't eaten by the demon. Could it be that he's not afraid of the demon?" Qiu Ying frowned.

"Maybe he has a treasure that deters the demons from approaching him?" Liu Kan guessed.

They stared at the river. The water's surface gradually restored its calmness and no one emerged even after a long time.

"He should still be alive." Qiu Ying's eagle-like eyes stared at the river. He could feel the energy around him. Although he had guessed that Ye Chen was still alive, the energy was too messy and the water was deep, so he did not know Ye Chen's exact position. He thought to himself that this Ye Chen boy had a lot of tricks up his sleeve to be able to stay underwater for so long.

The group of people stayed behind Qui Ying, pacing back and forth the riverbank.

Deep in the bottom of the river, after Ye Chen had used the Water God Technique, he found that he did not need to breathe in the water at all. His skin continuously exchanged oxygen with the water, enabling him to swim freely in the water like a fish. He was aware of the group of demons swimming nearby but he had his Astral Body protecting him, so those demons did not dare to approach Ye Chen at all.

Ye Chen had watched in horror as two of Qiu Ying's men had been devoured by the demon. If not for his Astral Body, he would end up the same way as them and gotten devoured by those demons.

As for Little Tanuki, it gripped tightly onto Ye Chen's shoulder. It was not very good at swimming and had been holding onto Ye Chen the entire time. When Ye Chen had distributed a portion of the Celestial Chi from the Water God Technique into its body, it no longer had to worry about suffocation. It looked around curiously with wide eyes. This was most likely its first time diving.

Ye Chen knew that Qiu Ying and the others on the riverbank would not leave for some time, so he might as well sink to the deepest bottom of the river, go along the river, and wait until Qiu Ying and the others were far away from him. The bottom of the river was extremely dark and vision was poor so Ye Chen swept it with his Astral Body. The scene at the bottom of the river shocked him.

The bottom of the river was full of bones, extending from one end to the other. It was difficult to imagine just how many people had died here. Bones were piled up in several thick layers like an ancient battlefield and there were even some scattered armor, weapons, and so on.

All the treasures on the first and second floor of the Sunken Jade Tower had mostly been searched already but not many people dared to come to the bottom of the river. The demons in the river were much more dangerous than the demons on land. If anyone dared to dive into the river, they would most likely end up like Qiu Ying's two top Ninth Level combatants and be devoured by the demons.

There should still be some treasures left here!

Ye Chen was overjoyed. He did not expect to find such a good place for treasure hunting by accident. He quickly swept his Astral Body across the river. Even if an average person went into the river in search of treasures, they would have to grope around in the darkness bit by bit. Trying to find a treasure would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, with Ye Chen's Astral Body sweeping like a radar, he would not miss a single treasure.

Ye Chen picked up a few pieces of armor. He did not know what metal it was made of but the energy flowing on it made it clear at a glance that it was no ordinary product.

In the middle of the bones deposited in the distance, Ye Chen's Astral Body picked up a peculiar energy. He flew over quickly and dug at the large pile of bones, sweeping them to the sides. After digging past more than a dozen bodies, a dark bead appeared in his sight. Although the bead had spent many years at the bottom of the river, it was still crystal-clear and shone brightly as if it was new. A strange array was engraved on its surface and when he extended his Astral Body in it, the core of the bead emitted Celestial Chi fluctuations. It was not an ordinary bead and was much more precious than the armors and weapons he had picked up earlier. However, since he did not know what the bead was for, he simply had to bring it back to study it. There were most likely still many treasures here, so Ye Chen threw it into his Heaven-Earth Pouch and carried on.

His Astral Body continuously swept the river as he went along. These bones had gone through tens of thousands of years. Although the bones of combatants were harder than ordinary people, most of them had already rotten. As for the lower-quality armors and weapons, even if they used to be extremely sharp, they now remained barely intact after countless years of being corroded by the river water and broke apart with a touch, becoming useless junk. After swimming for a few dozen feet, a skeleton in the distance caught Ye Chen's attention. Many of the skeletons were in pieces but only this skeleton looked complete without any sign of damage. There was only a long black sword pierced through its chest bone. Ye Chen did not know what material it was made from but at a glance, it looked no different from any common sword.

However, the owner of this skeleton must have been a super powerhouse before his death. Despite that, a person like him had been assassinated by a sword, which meant that this sword was also not ordinary.

Ye Chen swam over and pulled out the black sword. Looking at the blade, he found no trace of any abrasion. He flicked it with his finger and a crisp 'ding' sounded although they were underwater, just like the clear sound of a dragon's cry.

'What an amazing sword!' Ye Chen gasped in admiration. He glanced at the skeleton of the combatant. The ribs that were broken by the black sword were smooth and clean-cut, which showed the sharpness of the black sword.

There seemed to be a few words on the body of the sword. Ye Chen used his hand to wipe the dirt off and swept it with his Astral Body. The words seemed to make out "Hell Rupture".

The sword's name was Hell Rupture!

A far away and drawn-out energy seemed to emerge from the glint of the sword.

It was said that weapons and armor were differentiated based on different materials. There were Xuan-iron, Silver Arcanite, Gold Arcanite, and so on. These were common weapons that could be used to increase defense. However, in the face of a Venerable Rank combatant, those weapons were useless. As for those above Gold Arcanite, some weapons gained a mind of its own after being used in countless wars or after being forged using unique refining methods. These weapons were much stronger than common weapons and could easily slay Tenth Level or higher combatants. They were called spirit artifacts and were divided into nine Tiers.

Ordinary Xuan-iron, Silver Arcanite, and Gold Arcanite weapons would have been damaged after spending hundreds of thousands of years in the river. Only Spirit Artifacts Rank weapons and armor could be preserved. The weapons and armor he found before were all at least Tier One spirit artifacts. The quality of this Hell Rupture Sword and that black bead was higher as well but Ye Chen did not know what Tier spirit artifacts they belonged to.

It was natural to bring good things back. Besides, his Heaven-Earth Pouch had enough space. Ye Chen put the Hell Rupture Sword into the Heaven-Earth Pouch and continued his search. The riverbed was full of good items and he collected quite a few weapons and armor. However, none of them were of the same level as the Hell Rupture Sword and that bead.