Chapter 272: Chapter 239 Spoils of War
The gates to the small courtyard where Ye Chen resided were tightly closed, with Ye Chen sitting cross-legged inside.
In front of him was placed the bronze giant coffin that he had snatched from Heavenly Saint Moya—the Life Origin Coffin.
Looking at this Life Origin Coffin, Ye Chen was reminded of the events from three days ago.
Three days ago, when Heavenly Saint Long Xuan suddenly appeared and single-handedly repelled Elder Kugu and Heavenly Saint Moya, she immediately inquired about the possession incident involving Heavenly Saint Moya from Ye Chen.
The other six powerhouses were also extremely curious about the ancient tomb and turned their gazes toward Ye Chen.
At that time, Ye Chen candidly recounted the events that transpired in the ancient tomb to the seven individuals, not concealing anything except the secret of Jiang Yao\'s Divine Phoenix Clan heritage in the Azure Blue Mansion.
Hearing that from the beginning at the ten peripheral islands, Heavenly Saint Moya started killing the Tomb Explorers with the help of the black pearl, leaving behind only the formidable explorers, until later on the central giant island, the encounter at Azure Blue Lake with Tiger Demon Teng, and further to the awakening of the Eight Great Demon Towers and Heavenly Saint Moya\'s true soul flame state possessing another body.
Each event caused the six powerhouses and Heavenly Saint Long Xuan to be shocked at the schemes of Heavenly Saint Moya.
The seven of them lamented that if not for the variable that is Ye Chen, Heavenly Saint Moya\'s possession this time might have been extremely successful!
Moreover, in these series of events, upon hearing that Ye Chen was able to overpower a Demon King at the early stages of the Rotating Pill Realm with his own cultivation, and even managed to utterly obliterate one wisp of Heavenly Saint Moya\'s true soul with the help of the Heavenly Saint Law Bead and a sacred soul treasure, Heavenly Saint Long Xuan\'s esteem for Ye Chen grew even more.
Furthermore, when Heavenly Saint Long Xuan asked to see the Heavenly Saint Law Bead, and Ye Chen presented it, she sensed the power of the Heavenly Saint left by Heavenly Saint Di Kong on the bead and even mentioned that over three hundred years ago, she had sensed such power in the ice palace plains of the northern region of the Barbaric Land.
However, at that time, as this Heavenly Saint\'s power was battling in an underground ice cave beneath the ice palace plains, she just flew over from a distance and didn\'t go down to see what the Heavenly Saint looked like for herself.
Although Heavenly Saint Long Xuan had not met Heavenly Saint Di Kong in person, her words surprised and delighted Ye Chen unexpectedly!
He had heard news of Heavenly Saint Di Kong once again!
Ever since Heavenly Saint Di Kong left behind the ancestral land secret realm for the three clans, he had disappeared without a trace, not even coming back for his little monkey. Now, hearing news of him again naturally filled Ye Chen with immense joy!
Ye Chen even had the thought that, when he found the time, he would visit the northern region of the Barbaric Land and check the place Heavenly Saint Long Xuan mentioned to see whether Heavenly Saint Di Kong was still there and what had happened to him over the years.
After Ye Chen finished recounting the events in the ancient tomb, Heavenly Saint Long Xuan took him, along with the six powerhouses, back to the ancient tomb.
Now knowing where the tomb was, with Heavenly Saint Long Xuan breaking the prohibitions, they all finally re-entered the ancient tomb.
However, everything inside the tomb was exactly as Ye Chen described, except for the deepest black swamp, the other areas had been completely destroyed.
And within the black swamp, as Heavenly Saint Moya and Ye Chen had left, there was not a single person left.
Except for Jiang Yao, who was still cultivating in the Azure Blue Mansion, the others had indeed all perished within the ancient tomb.
Witnessing this fact with their own eyes, the six powerhouses had grim expressions.
They had not expected that sending people to explore the ancient tomb would end like this, even letting loose a great threat like Heavenly Saint Moya.
The six powerhouses mourned the loss of their disciples while Heavenly Saint Long Xuan was more concerned about the Law Relic.
Since the battle between Heavenly Saint Moya and Heavenly Saint Linghua ended with Heavenly Saint Linghua\'s death and Heavenly Saint Moya severely injured, that meant Heavenly Saint Linghua\'s Law Relic should be in Heavenly Saint Moya\'s possession.
Nevertheless, they searched throughout the ancient tomb and could not find the Law Relic.
Even in the Life Origin Coffin Ye Chen obtained from Heavenly Saint Moya, there was no trace of the Law Relic.
In the end, Heavenly Saint Long Xuan made a judgment, fearing that the Law Relic had already been taken by Heavenly Saint Moya.
After all the matters were concluded, there was still one thing left unarranged, which was the treasure of Heavenly Saint Moya—the countless secret treasures hidden within the Life Origin Coffin, goods that Heavenly Saint Moya could not abandon even at the last moment.
In response, Heavenly Saint Long Xuan decisively decided that all the treasures would belong to Ye Chen, and no one else should covet a share.
In Heavenly Saint Long Xuan\'s words, Ye Chen had made a significant contribution by eradicating one wisp of Heavenly Saint Moya\'s true soul, and even lost quite a few of the Heavenly Saint Law Beads in the process.
These treasures, therefore, should be Ye Chen\'s spoils of war.
As for the six powerhouses, having contributed nothing to the ancient tomb incident, even making mistakes and not informing the Heavenly Saint while rashly exploring the ancient tomb, allowing Heavenly Saint Moya the chance to possess another and escape, they naturally shouldn\'t expect any share of the treasures.
Heavenly Saint Long Xuan\'s decision left the six powerhouses with no place for dissent; they no longer brought up the matter of Heavenly Saint\'s treasures.
Even the Heavenly Saint treasures lost by Cloud Sky Sect, the Heavenly Saint Flying Knife Heavenly Saint Moya had casually taken with him, the two powerhouses from Cloud Sky Sect, Daoist Yunyang and Daoist Yun Fang, dared not mention it again but could only accept their bad luck.
Fortunately, in the end, Ye Chen also collected some of the treasures left behind by Fairy Nishang, Liu Yan, and others upon their deaths. He returned these treasures to the respective sect powerhouses, which allowed them to reminisce somewhat.
Once the matter of the ancient tomb was completely closed, Heavenly Saint Long Xuan took the six powerhouses to meet with the other two Heavenly Saints from the thirteen nations of the southern region to discuss the possession of Heavenly Saint Moya returning to the Demon Sects and the loss of Heavenly Saint Linghua\'s Law Relic.
As for Ye Chen, he directly returned to the Taixuan Sect and to Snowdrift Peak.
During these three days, in addition to visiting Sister Yu, Ye Chen also specifically went back to the three major families of Qingyang City.
Aside from the monkey\'s transformation and receiving news of Heavenly Saint Di Kong, Ye Chen had another lengthy conversation with the Spirit of the Sacred Artifact. But more importantly, Ye Chen entrusted the safety and well-being of the three major families to the Spirit of the Sacred Artifact.
Heavenly Saint Moya and Elder Kugu\'s parting words left Ye Chen feeling that a storm was coming, and the balance between the Thirteen Southern Kingdoms and the ten great Demon Sects of the Western Wastes might very well be shattered by this incident.
It appeared increasingly likely that the Thirteen Southern Kingdoms and the ten great Demon Sects of the Western Wastes would once again erupt into war.
In such a situation, Ye Chen knew he must give strict instructions to the Spirit of the Sacred Artifact, ensuring that if anything were to occur, they must protect the tribespeople of all three races at the first sign of trouble by utilizing the secret realms of their ancestral lands!
After the Spirit of the Sacred Artifact agreed, Ye Chen truly settled his mind. After a day spent with his parents, he returned to the Taixuan Sect.
Once back at the sect, Ye Chen saw that Jiang Yao was still awakening her bloodline in the Phoenix Blood Pool at the Azure Blue Mansion and wouldn\'t complete the process soon, so he also began to entertain the idea of entering closed-door cultivation.
After the matter of the ancient tomb had concluded, another significant event was quickly approaching that Ye Chen would have to face.
That was the Spirit Sea Realm Swordsmanship Competition!
Counting the days, the eight months initially mentioned by Daoist Wine Sword were spent; Ye Chen had already used more than two months training with the sword array before entering the ancient tomb, and then spent another two months inside the tomb, which left him with only a little over three months until the start of the Swordsmanship Competition!
The Spirit Sea Realm Swordsmanship Competition would take place on the Immeasurable Mountain in the Great Qian Dynasty, among the three central kingdoms!
Ye Chen had long heard that the central three kingdoms were the sacred land of the human race, teeming with countless geniuses and numerous masters!
Unlike the southern and western regions, which were barren, the south and west combined had only seven Heavenly Saints, and with the successfully reincarnated Heavenly Saint Moya, there were at most eight.
In the central region, however, with its three great kingdoms, there were countless strong individuals, and many of them were even at the Heavenly Saint Realm, with some said to be at the later stages of the Heavenly Saint Realm, living in seclusion in the central lands!
Having witnessed the True Might of a Heavenly Saint, Ye Chen naturally wanted to go to the central region to see a broader world!
And the Swordsmanship Competition presented a great opportunity.
Taking advantage of the temporary calm before the south and the west began warring with each other, it was the perfect time to visit the central region.
With this in mind, Ye Chen naturally wanted to seize the last bit of time to cultivate diligently!
So, on the third day, Ye Chen started to organize all his belongings, making final preparations for his closed-door cultivation.
Regarding external resources, Ye Chen carefully stored the remaining eight Heavenly Saint Law Beads, both defensive and offensive, that he had.
These Law Beads had played a significant role in Ye Chen\'s escape from the ancient tomb, so he intended to treasure them carefully for future use.
For the flying swords, Ye Chen continued to let them nourish within the sword palace meridian.
As for the Azure Blue Mansion, it was an heirloom of Jiang Yao\'s family, so Ye Chen, of course, would not claim it as his own. With Phoenix Spirit to watch over it, Ye Chen merely carried it with him until Jiang Yao fully awakened her bloodline, at which point he would hand it over to her.
Beyond these items, Ye Chen also took out a token.
This token was given to him by Heavenly Saint Long Xuan when they parted ways.
Heavenly Saint Long Xuan had instructed that the token bore the imprint of a Heavenly Saint\'s projection and if Ye Chen found himself under attack by the Demon Sects, he could use the token to call upon her aid, and she would send down her projection to help him.
This was also to ensure Ye Chen\'s safety as Long Xuan was concerned that he might be targeted by the Demon Sects for destroying a part of Heavenly Saint Moya\'s soul and seizing his treasures.
After all, with Ye Chen\'s outstanding performance, he had greatly caught the attention of Heavenly Saint Long Xuan, who certainly wouldn\'t want such a talented youth of the Thirteen Southern Kingdoms to fall into the hands of the Demon Sects.
However, Long Xuan also advised that this Projection Token should be used only against the Demon Sects, and for everything else, Ye Chen still had to face it on his own.
This was Long Xuan\'s consideration for Ye Chen as overly relying on external aid would not be truly beneficial to him.
Ye Chen certainly understood the thoughtful intentions of Heavenly Saint Long Xuan. He carefully stored the token away without another thought.
After inventorying all his possessions, the most important item was the Life Origin Coffin left behind by Heavenly Saint Moya!
When checking the Law Relic, Ye Chen had already glanced at the treasures within the Life Origin Coffin, which had greatly shocked him. And now, as these treasures were all his, he naturally wanted to thoroughly examine them.
The Life Origin Coffin had been the place for Heavenly Saint Moya\'s spirit to recover after his physical body shattered. All treasures Moya carried at the time were placed within this coffin.
One could say that the treasures inside were the majority of Heavenly Saint Moya\'s wealth!
Upon opening the Life Origin Coffin, Ye Chen first encountered numerous blocks of extremely high-quality Water and Earth Element Spirit Stones, just like the Fire Element Spirit Stone he had previously obtained in the ancient tomb, filled with astonishing True Qi and numbering in the hundreds!
The sight of these spirit stones surprised and impressed the six strong individuals back then, and through their reaction, Ye Chen came to understand the great value of these stones!
These spirit stones, apart from being used by martial practitioners for cultivating True Qi, were considered hard currency in the martial world, especially among the powerful cultivators of the Rotating Pill and Heavenly Saint Realms!
With these spirit stones, one could even directly purchase weapons, magical treasures, and countless precious martial techniques and methods!
According to the six powerhouses, regular Rotating Pill Realm cultivators typically used low-grade spirit stones, and at most middle-grade stones, while only the cultivators in the Heavenly Saint Realm were likely to use high-grade and top-grade spirit stones.
The hundreds of spirit stones resting within the Life Origin Coffin were all top-grade, and their number was equivalent to the entire wealth of many Heavenly Saints!
It was conceivable that these top-grade spirit stones must have been accumulated by Heavenly Saint Moya over thousands of years of cultivation; otherwise, there couldn\'t be so many.