Martial Arts: I Have a Wilderness World

Chapter 524: Chapter 281: Temple Divine Statues (Part 2)

He focused his attention on the three clay statues.

The clay statues were colored. Their faces and clothes, perhaps due to the protection of the Array, remained lifelike and quite vivid.

It was then he discovered that all three clay statues were three-eyed, with an eye in the middle of their foreheads. But as he looked at the unique, crystalline red eye at the center of each brow, Cheng Zongyang’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Old Luo, take a look at the eyes on their foreheads. Do they seem familiar?" Cheng Zongyang gestured to Luo Dingran.

Hearing this, Luo Dingran looked toward the Divine Statues.

The more he looked, the more familiar they seemed, as if he had seen them somewhere before.

At that moment, the blade of a knife held by a Soul Slave outside unexpectedly reflected a ray of sunlight into the temple. It landed squarely on the forehead of the rightmost Divine Statue, but the light vanished in a flash, reflected by an unintentional movement.

But in that instant, Luo Dingran saw the red glow reflected by the eye as it flashed, and something immediately came to mind.

He said to Cheng Zongyang in a low voice, "My Lord, don’t you think it looks a bit like a Soul Crystal Stone?"

Cheng Zongyang’s eyes remained fixed on the Divine Statues’ third eyes. After hearing Luo Dingran’s guess, he too felt it was a strong resemblance.

He looked at the three Divine Statues, stroking his chin in thought for a moment. Instead of approaching, he took a few steps back and said to Luo Dingran, "Have them moved back to the cottage at the market."

Luo Dingran was taken aback for a second, then he understood. He smiled knowingly. "Your Lordship is wise."

Cheng Zongyang chuckled. "You certainly know what to say."

Next, following Cheng Zongyang’s instructions, Luo Dingran had his men attempt to move the three Divine Statues out of the temple.

When the Divine Statues were moved outside without incident, both Cheng Zongyang and Luo Dingran relaxed. Without a doubt, the Array was meant to protect these three Divine Statues.

Although they didn’t know the full story, it was something that had to be investigated. After all, this was a rather valuable clue—one of the most significant since they began developing the Wilderness World.

There was nothing else in the temple, but Cheng Zongyang didn’t leave. Instead, he had Luo Dingran take the Divine Statues back first and then bring him a Spirit Tester.

The Spirit Tester was a Tier One Magical Artifact, quite common in the Ice and Fire Cultivation Immortality Realm. It was a magical artifact used for detecting the concentration of Spiritual Power in the surroundings. You could say that almost every Cultivator in the Ice and Fire Cultivation Immortality Realm owned one.

When they went out, they could use the Spirit Tester to measure the concentration of Spiritual Qi in the environment, which could lead to the discovery of special things.

It was said that this type of Spirit Tester had a master version, from which all others were replicated. And that master version was supposedly capable of locating Spirit Veins.

From various books and legends, Cheng Zongyang had learned that the mighty figures who first came to the Ice and Fire Cultivation Immortality Realm had used that master Spirit Tester to detect Spiritual Qi leaking from underground. It was this discovery that led them to develop a world here. Or perhaps, the world had always existed, and those mighty figures merely discovered it.

But whether it was discovered or developed, he didn’t need to dwell on it any further.

His only concern was the present and the future.

After Luo Dingran escorted the three Divine Statues to the cottage at the market, he returned with a magical artifact.

It was an object similar to a Compass, with a Talisman Array inscribed inside. The user needed to hold the Spirit Tester or place it near the area they wished to measure.

Then, it would automatically sense the Spiritual Power in the surrounding environment, absorb it, and indicate the concentration level through the progress displayed by the runes.

The clearer and denser the runes on the Spirit Tester became, the richer the surrounding Spiritual Power.

Holding the Spirit Tester, Cheng Zongyang walked to the edge of where the Array had been. As he moved through the area previously covered by the Array, the brightness of the Talisman Array within the device began to change.

The Spirit Tester was extremely sensitive to Spiritual Qi. As he walked, the level of Spiritual Power it detected on the periphery was relatively thin, just a fraction higher than in the rest of the Wilderness World.

However, as he circled the inner area and drew closer to the temple, the runes began to flicker faintly, their light gradually intensifying.

As time passed and he moved nearer to the temple, the lines of the runes became sharper, and their interwoven pattern grew denser.

’It seems the Spiritual Power here at the temple is even more abundant than I imagined,’ Cheng Zongyang thought in surprise.

Luo Dingran walked up, also observing the changes on the Spirit Tester. He said, "With such rich Spiritual Power, perhaps this is why they built the temple here?"

Cheng Zongyang nodded slightly in tacit agreement, sharing the same view.

He continued to walk slowly along the temple walls, and the brightness and density of the runes on the Spirit Tester changed subtly with his movements.

When he reached the center of the temple, the exact spot where the three Divine Statues had stood, the light from the runes suddenly became blindingly bright. The dense lines of the Talisman Array nearly merged into a solid mass of light!

"Right here?" Cheng Zongyang frowned, observing the spot, trying to find some sort of clue.

"Bring the Mole Beast," Cheng Zongyang said to Luo Dingran.

Nothing happens without a reason; there’s always a source. Since this spot had the highest concentration, it meant there was a secret underground.

He used the Spirit Tester to oversee the removal of all unrelated items.

Ultimately, he confirmed the source of the Spiritual Power was underground.

Soon, Luo Dingran returned with a Mole Beast. At Cheng Zongyang’s signal, he marked out a rough perimeter based on the location indicated by the Spirit Tester.