Abundant Martial Arts Virtue
Chapter 173 - 144: Eye of Slumbering Truth

Chapter 173: Chapter 144: Eye of Slumbering Truth

Two bronze arms emerged.

They clenched into fists and smashed down on the emerald with all the destroying power and swinging force of the Iron Wire Fist.

The emerald remained intact and unharmed.

The bronze arms straightened up and transformed into palm knives, continuously slashing at the emerald with faint sword glimmers.

——Still, there was no progress.

"It’s no use, you need something extremely sharp to cut through it," Ulysses said.

"Really?" Wu Xiaode said.

His mind stirred.

As if receiving orders, the bronze hands transformed their fingers into swords.

Sharp sword shadows burst forth from the fingertips, slicing across the surface of the emerald.

Crack!

A fissure appeared in the emerald.

Seeing an opportunity, the bronze arms hurriedly followed the crack, slashing out sword shadows continuously.

Crash——

The emerald finally shattered completely, disintegrating into irregular pieces that fell from the crown.

A streak of different color flashed by amidst the shards of emerald.

Wu Xiaode’s quick reflexes allowed him to catch that streak of color.

He opened his hand to see.

It was a Seven-colored Gemstone; as soon as it landed in Wu Xiaode’s hand, it erupted into a sky-reaching radiance of seven colors.

The next instant.

Suddenly, a dense and delicate sound of scales rubbing together arose from Wu Xiaode’s body.

Countless Heroic Spirits rose into the air from the Demon Armor, densely surrounding the gemstone.

"Quick, press it against the back of the Demon Armor!"

The Heroic Spirits spoke in unison.

Wu Xiaode naturally knew these Heroic Spirits meant him no harm, and simply with a thought, he handed the gemstone to the bronze hands.

The bronze hands moved around him in a half-circle and pressed the gemstone against the back of the Demon Armor.

All the metal scales on the area where the gemstone touched twisted and formed a groove, securing the gemstone tightly in place.

In an instant, all the seven colors of light vanished into nothingness.

From within the coffin, Ulysses said with a tone of great satisfaction:

"My foolish brother, he deceived and betrayed me for this gemstone, but now it’s yours."

"Does this gemstone have a story?" Wu Xiaode asked with interest.

"It is an extremely rare gemstone from the Death Realm that can restore anything damaged to its original state, but other than me and my brother, no one knows how to activate its power!" Ulysses said.

"Is that so?" Wu Xiaode understood the implication, "What do you want from me?"

"Let me out, and I’ll tell you the spell to activate the gemstone’s power," Ulysses said.

Wu Xiaode couldn’t help but chuckle.

I dare not release someone like you with your strength.

Apparently knowing what he was thinking, Ulysses added, "I am willing to enter into a sacred covenant with you, ensuring we will not harm each other."

Wu Xiaode shook his head, about to say something when the Book of the Dead floated down.

Icy crystal letters appeared on the pages:

"Congratulations."

"You have obtained a treasure from the Death Realm:"

"The Eye of Slumbering Truth."

"Can be set."

"This gemstone requires a Death Spell or Death Artifact to activate its power."

"Setting effect: Restores anything damaged to its original form and can reveal all invisible beings in the Life Realm."

"The gemstone is currently set in the Demon Armor."

"——This is a very rare gemstone, even in the Death Realm, it is extremely uncommon."

"Additional note:"

"All living beings, demons, and gods are incapable of mastering the Death Spell."

"This book is a Death Artifact, and it has activated the power of the gemstone."

Wu Xiaode faintly remembered something.

When he first chose the Demon Armor, he had heard a fairy’s voice say:

"The Armor will be destroyed in the backlash of destiny, but Nina’s life will have a thread of hope."

The Armor will be destroyed.

——But now he had acquired the Eye of Slumbering Truth.

Perhaps one day, after he has rescued Nina, the backlash of destiny would destroy the Armor.

Yet the Eye of Slumbering Truth would restore the Armor to its former glory!

Tsk.

Could there really be such good fortune in this world?

Wu Xiaode sighed to himself.

Inside the coffin, Ulysses prattled on:

"Please believe me."

"Without me, you can’t utilize that gemstone."

"I will teach you how to unlock the Holy Coffin—just let me out, and I will tell you the spell to activate the power of the gemstone."

Wu Xiaode glanced at the Book of the Dead.

"All living beings, demons, and gods are incapable of mastering the Death Spell."

That line of icy crystal letters still displayed on the page.

——He was deceiving him.

First, he handed over his brother’s gemstone and then tempted him with a spell to let him out.

——But the gemstone wasn’t really given by him anyway.

His brother went to steal from the Black Dragon, so he took the opportunity to come here and steal—no, to rephrase—

He had taken all the gemstones into his own hands.

How did that become him bestowing a favor?

——This Ulysses was trying to pull a fast one!

Wu Xiaode couldn’t be bothered to engage with him further and simply said:

"I’m busy right now, let’s talk some other time when I’m free."

He shook the empty bowl—

In an instant.

The voice of Ulysses vanished completely.

The entire palace returned to silence once again.

All the treasures were collected into the bowl.

This was surely a windfall of profit!

——Should I go back now?

Wu Xiaode looked around the empty hall.

This was the third level.

The title quest was rated C-level.

Now he could exchange for a C-level title and return to the Holy City.

Wu Xiaode closed his eyes to think.

Actually, if it weren’t for the suicidal behavior of those fallen angel brothers, he wouldn’t have had any way to explore this layer.

Moreover, he had obtained the Holy Shovel and the Eye of Slumbering Truth.

... Since he had come this far.

He decided to continue.

With his mind made up, Wu Xiaode looked up and around.

He saw that the crowdfunding hall was empty—

That angel, in order to deceive the souls, had left it bare and desolate.

Wu Xiaode reached out to knock on the wall.

Immediately, two lines of ice crystal words appeared on the Book of the Dead:

"This is a sacred palace built by the willpower of numerous souls, indestructible."

"—Unless excavated with holy power."

It wouldn’t be hard to dig through the wall, using the Holy Shovel would suffice.

But—

Where should he dig?

Wu Xiaode began to contemplate how to enter the next layer.

There was no need to ask Ulysses—

These apparently righteous fellows were all liars.

Wu Xiaode tapped the wall, lost in thought.

If he thought about it carefully, the tunnel from Death Demon Cave to the Dark Palace went downwards.

The secret passage to the crowdfunding hall, although the other end was far up on the ceiling of the Dark Palace, was actually also all the way down from that side.

That is to say—

Each layer of the palace was deeper than the one above it.

Then—

Dig down!

Having made this decision, Wu Xiaode started to consider another problem.

He couldn’t beat the One-eyed Giant.

Not to mention the Black Dragon.

The third layer was invaded due to the noise from the first and second layers, plus his own issues, which let him pillage the place.

The fourth layer?

No information whatsoever.

He had to prepare in advance!

Wu Xiaode looked at his arm.

Before coming here, he had got stabbed by his opponent during a match in the arena, all for a quick victory.

Although the wound had stopped bleeding, he was still unable to fight.

If a fight broke out later—

He could only rely on Thousand Hands.

...Is there a way to change this situation?

Although there were various gemstones and armors among the fallen angels’ treasures, there were no weapons.

A weapon, huh?

Wu Xiaode suddenly remembered something.

A bronze hand quietly appeared in front of his eyes.

In this bronze hand was a dagger—

It was the very dagger of the female assassin from the arena.

As Wu Xiaode gazed at the dagger, rows of ice crystal words immediately surfaced on the Book of the Dead:

"Fang of the Wind."

"A straight dagger, a type of dagger."

"Level 3 Sharpness: Sharper than ordinary weapons, with three levels of sharpness;"

"Attack Speed +1: Increases the user’s attack speed by ten percent;"

"Agility +1: Increases the speed of close-combat moves by ten percent."

—Not bad at all.

Unfortunately, it was too short to be used as a sword artifact.

Because it was a straight dagger and overly small, it also couldn’t be used for slashing as one would with a blade.

All he knew were boxing, blade, sword, and spear techniques.

Wait a minute!

Spear...

As Wu Xiaode looked at the dagger, an idea suddenly came to mind.

The Book of the Dead immediately sensed his thoughts and more rows of ice crystal words appeared:

"You have switched ’Thousand Hands’ to ’Defense’ mode."

"You have lost the ’General’ mode which had the capability for active attacks."

"In the current ’Defense’ mode, a thousand bronze hands will be hidden in the Void, ready to assist you in defense at any time."

Defense...

Wu Xiaode looked around him.

As his gaze shifted, bronze hands one after another materialized out of the Void.

"You can’t attack, right?"

He mumbled to himself.

The bronze hands quickly assembled into a big "√", affirming his statement.

"Then... send a hand over to help me hold this dagger," Wu Xiaode said.

Immediately, a bronze hand emerged and tightly grabbed the dagger.

"Send another hand to hold the wrist of the hand in front of it," Wu Xiaode said.

A second bronze hand came out, firmly seizing the wrist of the previous hand—

The wrist is the thinnest part of the arm, but hands have the largest volume, so in holding the one in front, it complemented it perfectly, making it look like a short staff.

"Keep going,"

Said Wu Xiaode.

Following his command, one bronze hand after another grabbed the hand in front—

Seven bronze hands combined to form a bronze hand "staff."

The hand at the front of this staff grasped the dagger tightly, pointing it straight forward.

Now there was a "point"—

The bronze "staff" had a "point."

—Wasn’t this a spear?

Wu Xiaode took hold of the spear with his uninjured hand and waved it about.

It moved as easily as his own arm, smoothly and freely!

—Now he had a weapon!