Cultivation starts with picking up attributes
Chapter 118: Ch-118: Loots

Chapter 118: Ch-118: Loots

The jade pillar still shimmered faintly in the sky above, its pulses now irregular—more like a flicker than a beacon.

The clash at the breach had left the atmosphere tense but unbroken.

The team regrouped silently, catching their breath amid the lingering haze of spiritual distortion.

Tian Shen wiped a trickle of sweat and blood from his brow. His robe was torn, and bruises marred his arms, but the fire of determination still burned in his eyes.

"We will move forward."

He said simply, voice steady despite exhaustion.

"We’ve come too far to turn back."

Feng Yin disagreed, adjusting the seals on her sleeves.

"Our data is incomplete. The Secret Realm isn’t what we expected. We need to see more."

Little Mei, licking a fresh wound on her shoulder, crouched low.

"I don’t like this place... it’s unstable. Like a heartbeat skipping beats."

Drowsy floated nearby, her eyes narrowed in thought.

Xu Wei rubbed his jaw, wincing as he flexed his fingers.

"After that fight, I’m not sure my spirit can take much more... but I agree. We must proceed."

Jun Lin and Yi Fen exchanged uneasy glances but silently readied their weapons.

The broken halberd, shattered talismans, and scarred terrain all whispered a grim warning—but their mission was clear.

They advanced cautiously along the floating terrace, stepping carefully between fractured stones that hovered like broken dreams suspended in mist.

The chains of spiritual metal above groaned softly, as if the Vault itself breathed around them.

Every footfall seemed to echo into an abyss, but no sound returned. Light bent at odd angles, distorting their perceptions.

Time, too, slipped like water through fingers—sometimes dragging, sometimes rushing.

"This place doesn’t obey the regular laws."

Feng Yin murmured, tracing a pale rune glowing faintly beneath the stones.

Tian Shen crouched beside her, eyes scanning the markings.

"The patterns here... They don’t match any known formation. Not even close."

Little Mei’s ears twitched.

They moved forward, placing new markers at intervals, each one humming softly as it anchored their position.

...

After several tense hours, the group reached a vast chamber—an immense hall suspended on a floating island of shattered marble and crystal pillars.

The walls shimmered with shifting light, revealing ancient murals that flickered like ghostly visions.

They depicted scenes of war and sealing rituals, but with figures warped and incomplete.

Feng Yin’s voice was low as she studied them.

"This Vault was not just a treasure trove or a tomb. It was a battleground."

Xu Wei scanned the room nervously.

"But who fought here? And what did they try to obtain?"

Jun Lin stepped forward, eyes narrowing on a massive sigil etched into the floor.

"Whatever it was... it left scars."

Tian Shen drew his sword, its edge gleaming with qi.

"Stay alert."

The chamber’s silence broke suddenly with a low rumble. The ground trembled beneath their feet as the chains above shifted, resonating with ancient power.

A shard of the floor cracked and split open.

From the fissure emerged a spectral form—half-material, half-void—its eyes blazing with forgotten wrath.

The spirit howled, releasing a pulse that pushed the group back.

Tian Shen steadied himself, raising his sword.

"Prepare!"

...

The battle erupted again—faster, fiercer.

Xu Wei summoned protective talismans, weaving barriers that shimmered with runic fire. Jun Lin and Yi Fen attacked from the flanks, their strikes precise but cautious.

Little Mei darted through the air, her claws tearing at the apparition, but it passed through her like smoke.

Feng Yin chanted, her seals burning brighter as she unleashed a torrent of spiritual flames.

Tian Shen led the charge, his blade slicing through the spirit’s form with silver lightning, yet it resisted, reforming instantly.

"We can’t kill it," he yelled. "We need to seal it!"

Feng Yin nodded, preparing a complex binding formation. The air thickened with energy as the team coordinated, driving the spirit toward the center of the sigil.

With a final incantation, Feng Yin released the seal.

The spirit screamed—a sound of shattered worlds—and was drawn into the sigil’s core, vanishing with a flash.

Panting and shaken, the group took stock.

"That was no ordinary guardian," Feng Yin said grimly.

Tian Shen wiped blood from his lip.

"And the Secret Realm isn’t done yet."

They pressed deeper, guided by the jade compass Tian Shen had worned.

...

Hours passed. They traversed impossible geometries—corridors folding into themselves, stairways that led nowhere, islands adrift in an endless void.

Every step blurred their sense of time. The Vault warped reality, bending laws as if to test their resolve.

Then, at the heart of this labyrinth, they found it.

...

A colossal chamber, cavernous beyond comprehension.

At its center, a pool of swirling energy churned in complete silence—black, dense, and slow, like a void dreaming.

And above it, suspended midair by threads of raw spiritual force, hovered something entirely out of place.

Dozens of relics.

Weapons, talismans, pills, jade slips, scrolls, glowing cores, even entire shrines—floating in perfect orbit around a large, obsidian lotus fragment. It pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat with insomnia.

Tian Shen froze in mid-step.

"That... looks suspiciously like a loot room," he said.

Feng Yin blinked.

"That’s not just loot. That’s... actual High-quality equipment. High-Star pills. Spirit inscriptions. That’s—!"

Little Mei made a high-pitched squeak.

"Treasure room! It’s a treasure room!"

Xu Wei had already taken out a bag and was shaking it open with both hands.

"Okay, okay, nobody touch anything magical-looking that’s hovering weirdly or glowing green."

Tian Shen said, stepping forward carefully.

"Just grab what’s stable, marked, or preferably labeled."

"I’m labeling everything mine."

Little Mei muttered, already stuffing spiritual beads into her pouch like a raccoon hoarding shiny rocks.

Feng Yin conjured a warding circle just to be safe.

"None of the protective formations are active."

She observed.

"I think... this wasn’t meant to be defended."

Yi Fen raised a brow.

"Then what was all that guardian and collapsing chamber nonsense earlier?"

"Distraction."

Tian Shen muttered, picking up a scroll that burst into golden light before sealing itself into his storage ring.

"Or insurance. Probably both."

Jun Lin poked a jade chest with the butt of his spear. It didn’t explode. He opened it—and promptly inhaled sharply.

"Eighty high-grade spirit stones. At least, someone help me carry this!"

"Already on it."

Xu Wei whispered, snatching it from the side like a seasoned pickpocket.

The vault shimmered again, and a low rumble echoed—but this time it wasn’t threatening. It sounded more like... a grumble.

"Was that the Vault?"

Feng Yin asked, frowning.

"I think we’re raiding its pantry," Little Mei replied. "It’s just annoyed."

Tian Shen swept his sword across a floating orb of condensed sword essence, which politely dropped into his satchel.

"Alright," he said, voice brisk. "Everyone got your share of absurdly valuable mystery items?"

Drowsy floated by with an ancient war banner dangling from her mouth like a puppy with a stick.

"That’s a yes," Tian Shen confirmed. "Let’s vanish."

...

At the exit, the breach shimmered.

Not trembling.

Not hostile.

Just... expectant.

As if the Vault itself was saying, Alright, fine, take it and go.

"Wait," Jun Lin said, glancing back. "Aren’t we gonna seal the place or at least destroy the path? What if someone else gets all this?"

Tian Shen turned to him, deadpan.

"We just looted it. What’s left?"

They all looked back at the floating chamber now emptier than a merchant’s honesty.

"Good point, boss." Jun Lin conceded.

...

Outside, the sky was still moonless, the stars just beginning to pierce the mist.

Tian Shen stepped out of the breach with the others right behind him. As they crossed the threshold, the Vault behind them gave a final flicker—and with a polite bloop, the portal quietly folded shut like a curtain after a show.

No explosion.

No seismic rupture.

Just the dignified silence of a place that had been thoroughly robbed.

...

They stood at the edge of the overlook, panting—not from battle this time, but from frenzied spiritual looting.

Xu Wei fell on his back and wheezed.

"That... was the best robbery I’ve ever been part of."

Little Mei nodded solemnly.

"We should commit more crimes together."

Tian Shen, expression unreadable, pulled out a jade slip.

"What is it?"

Feng Yin asked.

He opened it.

A light projection of ancient sword scripture lit the night air.

"Complete Heaven-Cleaving Sword Manual," he read. "Annotated by an ancient sect leader of Celestial Sword Sect. Handwritten. And signed."

Even Drowsy whistled.

Jun Lin sat down heavily.

"We were sent to scout. We just became rich."

Yi Fen smiled faintly.

"We’re going to get executed, aren’t we?"

"No," Tian Shen said. "We’re going to tell the Sect Master..."

He paused.

They all stared at him.

"...that the Vault rejected us early. No stable markers. Everything collapsed. Nothing usable gained."

Silence.

Then Xu Wei said.

"You mean we lie?"

"I mean we strategically report partial information," Tian Shen corrected.

Feng Yin gave a thin smile.

"I’ll write the report."

Little Mei raised her paw.

"I was never here."

...

Later, far behind the mist, several sects arrived at the breach site.

They found... nothing.

No light. No portal. No Secret Realm. No Vault.

Only the lingering scent of burned space and one single spirit stone left behind, deliberately cracked and stamped with a pawprint.

No one knew what it meant.

But the legend began to spread.

Someone got there first. And they took everything.