Ordinary People: Starting with the Chen Clan

Chen Xuanzhou simply had a wisp of black incense burner cleanse this offensive magical artifact to confirm that there were no ancient demons of tens of millions of years inside.

He didn't even consider wasting a single bit of the white incense. Even if a heaven-reaching spiritual treasure were placed in front of him, it wouldn't be as useful as a Nascent Soul-level talisman.

At least they can be influenced by incense offerings, or even bestowed with official titles, and there is still a chance of successfully controlling them.

Besides these two most eye-catching treasures, there are three other magical artifacts on the side: a large brass bell, a black and white dragon and phoenix jade pendant, and a jade seal surrounded by five dragons.

Similarly, Chen Xuanzhou bestowed a wisp of black incense upon each of them.

After ensuring there were no problems, Chen Xuanzhou began to examine the other bottles and jars.

There are quite a few of these things. Although they have been worn down by time and a large part of them are no longer useful, they are still far more than what was stored in the previous storage bracelet.

The process of counting spirit stones calmed his previously anxious heart.

Indeed, the spirit stone is the courage of a hero!

Putting everything else aside, the small pile of spirit stones alone would be enough for him to build ten or a hundred more Chen families.

There were no low-grade spirit stones; they were all mid-grade and high-grade spirit stones.

There are not many mid-grade spirit stones, but there are nearly three hundred high-grade spirit stones alone, which is more than Old Monster Qiong has.

Suppressing his overwhelming joy, Chen Xuanzhou began rummaging through the various boxes to see what treasures lay inside.

There were probably over a hundred of these jade boxes, stone boxes, and wooden boxes, so Chen Xuanzhou simply used the white incense to sense them briefly before opening them.

There's so little black incense left; it's not easy to accumulate this little bit over the years, so we can't just squander it.

After firing more than ten shots, Chen Xuanzhou stopped.

It's not that there's a problem, but these boxes contain all sorts of spiritual materials.

Some rare and precious materials like metals and stones are better; once the protective talismans on the outside of the box are removed, there shouldn't be any major problems in the short term.

It can even be nurtured by placing it under the Spirit Eye Tree in the underground palace.

However, he did not have any methods to preserve other spiritual herbs perfectly.

Moreover, having been preserved for so long, it's hard to imagine how much incense would be needed to restore its vitality through the power of incense.

More likely, even the white and orange incense sticks in his hands might not be of any use against these rare treasures of heaven and earth.

So he withdrew his consciousness and turned to look at the various jade slips, bamboo slips, paper and silk scrolls on the far end of the bookshelves.

Before he could even make contact with it using his divine sense, an inconspicuous wooden box among the pile of boxes suddenly clicked open by itself.

One of them, in gold and silver, was revealed, resembling a longevity lock worn by children in ordinary life.

Such an unusual event made Chen Xuanzhou almost instinctively want to control the black incense, and he wanted to use half of the incense at once.

"boom!"

There was not a sound, but Chen Xuanzhou felt as if he had been struck by a muffled thunderbolt, and his mind went completely blank.

At this moment, both the main body and the several clones outside were completely still, like living corpses.

"Hehehe, I've waited so long, and finally they've found me a body! It's not perfect, but it's young, so I'll make do!"

A wisp of black energy drifted out from the longevity lock, gathering into a ball the size of a head within the space.

"Huh, what kind of magic weapon is this? It can actually reside in a small Foundation Establishment body and be controlled. Interesting! Interesting!"

It seems that once I've fully taken over this body, there's no rush to devour its soul for nourishment. Instead, I can leave it here and examine it carefully.

The black mist kept changing shape as it spoke.

Sometimes he transforms into a burly man with a fierce expression, sometimes into a refined middle-aged cultivator, and sometimes even into a beautiful young girl, graceful and charming, with each step a lotus flower in bloom.

"I can't keep up the act anymore, this is disgusting!"

A mocking sound, mixed with gagging, echoed through the space.

The previously calm and composed black aura was instantly startled and returned to a chaotic state.

"How is that possible? My soul-capturing voice would damage even a Nascent Soul cultivator's soul. How could a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like you possibly escape it!"

"Don't waste your energy. Since you've already tried once, what difference will a few more words make?"

Chen Xuanzhou didn't want to waste any more words with him, as he was too strange. He directly summoned all the black incense sticks, which transformed into a black net in the space and swirled towards him.

Although the black energy's soul attack had no effect on Chen Xuanzhou, its agile movement left Chen Xuanzhou unable to deal with it for the time being.

After an unknown amount of time, the distance between the black mist and the black net remained unchanged. If it weren't for the change in space, one would have thought that neither of them had moved.

Ultimately, Chen Xuanzhou had no choice but to give up.

Ignoring the black mist floating in mid-air, they began to move the treasures out one by one.

Upon seeing this, the black energy could no longer remain silent.

"Young friend, please wait a moment. I apologize for my rash actions just now. Please feel free to make any requests you may have."

I will try my best to satisfy you, and I hereby swear that I will never harm you. If I break this oath, I will surely suffer a backlash from my inner demons, go mad, and die!

You should understand that I've been trapped in this secret realm for so long, and having just escaped nature, I long to be reborn.

"Hmm, I'm really curious, are you even human?"

The black energy hadn't expected a response, but Chen Xuanzhou's words surprised it once again.

Fortunately, it was just a ball of air and had no expression, so Chen Xuanzhou couldn't tell anything from it.

"Young friend, what do you mean by this? I was originally from tens of thousands of years ago..."

With a single breath, the black energy recounted an epic tale of resistance against the invasion of the demon realm, and he himself became a Nascent Soul cultivator unfortunately tainted by demonic energy.

As the black aura spoke, its words gradually slowed down, because Chen Xuanzhou hadn't interrupted for so long.

When he uttered his last word, the entire space became eerily silent.

Time passed in an instant, and the entire storage space contained nothing but black energy.

Chen Xuanzhou was also puzzled as to how he had obtained two old men after only running the dungeon twice.

These are two rather strange old men. Is my luck just too bad?

The appearance of this demonic shadow made Chen Xuanzhou hesitant to fully believe the memories of the original remnant soul.

Fortunately, he had always coveted more than just these things in the secret realm, and he wasn't in a hurry to acquire some of the cultivation techniques and secret arts within.

Now we can only wait until we deal with the Shadow Demon.

This wait lasted for a whole month.

Of course, he wasn't waiting to deal with the demonic shadow. Instead of feeling dissatisfied with the long wait, Chen Xuanzhou was even more delighted.

The martial law has been in effect for so long; it seems that Old Monster Qiong has truly succeeded in breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage. This long period of time must be spent consolidating his cultivation.