The token was entirely blue-gold, its material unknown. In the center, a leaf-like totem was intricately engraved.
"This token must be related to that tomb. Jin Zhi might know something about it," Qin Chuan thought. He then turned to Baihe King and said, "Release those two youngsters."
"Alright."
Baihe King breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly opened the bronze gate, allowing Jin Zhi and Princess Bai Lu to fly out.
"Senior Brother Jin!"
"Junior Brother Qin!"
Qin Zi and Jin Zhi rushed toward each other, embracing warmly in mid-air.
Reunited with old friends, their affection was clear.
Qin Chuan and Baihe King stood quietly to the side, letting the three young ones catch up.
After a while, Qin Chuan tossed the token to Jin Zhi and asked, "Do you recognize this symbol?"
"This!!"
Jin Zhi's expression shifted slightly, as though something had dawned on him. He immediately asked, "Where did you find this?"
"It dropped from the body of that misfortune creature," Qin Chuan replied calmly.
"So that's it... I understand now!"
Jin Zhi suddenly realized the truth, laughing bitterly as he said:
"I finally know where this misfortune came from. It originated from that tomb!"
"What happened?" Baihe King asked with a frown. A tomb? Jin Zhi had never mentioned anything like that before.
Jin Zhi sighed with a hint of bitterness and explained, "This all began when I was fleeing to the Beast Tribe's territory years ago."
"At the time, Ziyun Academy had been breached by the demon race. I used a random teleportation array and ended up in a desolate hill within the Beast Tribe's territory. The area was barren, unremarkable on the surface."
"However, in that desolate place, I stumbled upon two shady individuals."
"One was a refined-looking young man, and the other was a chubby fellow dressed in the robes of an alchemist. These two seemed like they were up to something big. I thought they were engaged in some major undertaking, but... they were tomb robbing!"
Jin Zhi spoke with great disdain:
"I watched them burn three incense sticks and perform some phony ritual in front of a mound before flattening it. Underneath that hill was an entrance to a tomb."
"There were countless formation arrays around the entrance, so dense that I felt dizzy just looking at them."
"But those two seemed to be formation geniuses, or more accurately, formation freaks. Working together, they quickly opened a gap in the arrays and crawled inside like rats."
"I saw this exact symbol carved into the stone wall at the entrance of the tomb—yes, exactly this symbol!"
Jin Zhi examined the token in his hand closely and nodded in confirmation before continuing:
"I had a bad feeling about that tomb and suspected it was dangerous, so I didn't dare follow them inside."
"Of course, I didn't just leave either. I figured those two were good at formations but probably not that strong. So, I thought to myself, why not wait at the entrance and claim a share of the spoils when they come out?"
"I waited for half a month before those two finally crawled out. I don't know how much treasure they found in there, but their strength had increased dramatically. Even I could barely handle fighting ten of them."
"So, I jumped out to rob them."
"The fat one was shameless. He immediately knelt down and begged for his life, taking out treasures from his storage ring, groveling like a true coward."
"At that moment, I got distracted by the treasures, and while I was off guard, the other guy secretly activated a teleportation array. In the end, they managed to escape."
"Before the fat one fled, he threw a dark object at me. I didn't dodge in time..."
"I believe that's how this misfortune came upon me."
Jin Zhi sighed regretfully as he finished his story.
He regretted not studying more when he had the chance.
Sometimes, ignorance has its costs!
Hearing this, Qin Chuan and Qin Zi exchanged a glance. Both father and son saw the same strange expression in each other's eyes.
Master Pang Qi and Zhou Mo!
From Jin Zhi's description, they were almost certain that the tomb robbers were none other than those two troublemakers.
Both of them were highly talented in formations: Pang Qi loved raiding tombs, while Zhou Mo had a penchant for stealing things. And tomb raiding was essentially a form of stealing, so they were a perfect match.
Moreover, these two had already formed a team back when they were in the Fragment Continent, robbing many ancestral graves.
"These two really outdid themselves, didn't they? Not only did they make it to the main continent, but they even dared to raid such a terrifying tomb," Qin Chuan squinted, thinking to himself.
In truth, those two wouldn't have embarked on this path without Qin Chuan's influence. He could almost be considered their mentor in tomb-raiding!
"From what it looks like, those two likely stole something from the tomb and, through some strange method, transferred the curse and hatred of the tomb's creature onto Jin Zhi," Baihe King said gravely.
"People who dig around in graves all the time are tricky. It's best not to provoke them carelessly," Princess Bai Lu shuddered.
Qin Chuan, however, looked at Jin Zhi and said, "Where is this tomb? Take me there."
"Alright."
Jin Zhi nodded.
Soon, under Jin Zhi's guidance, the group arrived at a remote part of the Beast Tribe's territory.
The area was desolate.
Yellow earth stretched as far as the eye could see, the ground cracked with fissures. No green plants were in sight, except for a few withered grasses swaying in the wind like sparse, brittle hair on a skeleton's head.
"Rumble!"
Before they even reached their destination, the ground trembled violently. In the distance, a massive black island slowly rose from the earth, gathering gales as it floated into the sky.
Below, a massive basin appeared, dark as an abyss.
"That's the place!"
Jin Zhi exclaimed in shock, his face pale with fear. He never imagined the tomb had turned into a floating island.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
As the group watched, the black hue of the floating island slowly faded away, like an old black-and-white photo coming to life, transforming into a vivid scene.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
Loud, solemn bells rang out from the island, sounding like funeral bells... or perhaps morning bells.
An ancient and dignified voice echoed across the sky, deep and resonant, as if it could be heard throughout the heavens.
"Awaken from oblivion, revive from decay. Millions of years have passed in the blink of an eye. The world has changed, but the dreamer awakens first!"
"Today, yesterday, what does it matter? The inheritance is lost, the heavenly ladder is gone, and all beings are like ants! Whoever holds the token may enter my Azure Leaf Celestial Sect!"
Whoosh!
In the next moment, hundreds of blue-golden beams of light shot out from the floating island, fanning out in all directions like a peacock spreading its feathers.
Normally, such magnificent objects would incite countless strong figures to fight over them, stirring up bloody chaos across the Nine Skies Realm.
However...
Qin Chuan, being merciful and compassionate, didn't wish to see such a tragedy unfold. So, he casually waved his hand.
Whoosh!
A boundless force sealed off the entire sky, and all the tokens flying outward fell under his control.
As the saying goes, "Don't let good fortune flow to outsiders."
Opportunities like this? Naturally, he would monopolize them!