Martial Arts: I Have a Wilderness World

Chapter 535: Chapter 286: The River God’s Remnant Soul

Cheng Zongyang stepped into the temple, his gaze immediately falling upon the three familiar Divine Statues. A sense of familiarity washed over him, and he couldn’t help but nod slightly.

Their identical third eyes and Soul Crystals held a great attraction for him.

He began to carefully inspect the other items inside. This place was more intact compared to the first temple. An incense table, a censer, and even some preserved earthen incense—everything was here. There was also the skeleton of a bird that had been reduced to white bones, and some unknown items that had turned to ash.

Clearly, everything here had once been perfectly intact, filled with a mysterious aura. Without the slightest hesitation, he reached into his robes and took out the Spirit Tester, like a professional prospector.

The results were as expected. His tests revealed that the Spiritual Power fluctuations here were identical to those in the first temple. The Spiritual Power reached its peak at the location of the three Divine Statues. He thought to himself:

’It seems that Earth Spirit Pearl really wasn’t one of a kind. It was man-made, too.’

Afterward, Cheng Zongyang moved all three of these Divine Statues, as well as the Fish Monster Divine Statue, up to the surface.

Then, he and Luo Dingran transported them to the small house in the marketplace. After that, he took the Mole Beast and dove underwater to begin excavating the buried Spirit Pearl.

This time, he only sent the Mole Beast down to search for the pearl, while he himself remained in the temple, like a focused appraiser, identifying and taking anything of value.

Half an hour passed quietly, and the Mole Beast finally found the pearl.

However, when Cheng Zongyang saw the thumb-sized, water-blue pearl in his hand, a trace of bewilderment arose in his heart. ’The color is different?’

He immediately used his Identification Technique.

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[Water Spirit Pearl]

Description: (Omitted. It’s nearly identical to the Earth Spirit Pearl, so no need to pad the word count.)

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Staring at the description, which was basically the same as the Earth Spirit Pearl’s, Cheng Zongyang fell into deep thought. He mused to himself:

’The last one was Earth Element, and this one is Water Element. The Earth Spirit Pearl was on a hillside, while this one is at the bottom of a river—Water Element... and their Attributes are different. Does this mean there are three other Spirit Pearls of different elements?’

At the thought of this possibility, Cheng Zongyang’s breathing grew slightly heavier. He was both excited and nervous, as if he could see a massive treasure beckoning to him.

But he didn’t dare to be too optimistic. After all, this was just his own speculation.

After confirming there was nothing else, Cheng Zongyang sent the Mole Beast to the riverbank, then dismantled the Array.

"Sir, did you find it?" Luo Dingran, who had returned after delivering the items, hurried forward to ask.

Cheng Zongyang nodded. After dispelling his Protective Gang Qi, he excitedly explained his idea:

"Old Luo, the probability is extremely high. I was just thinking about it while dismantling the Array. If they were really cultivating the Five Elements Spirit Pearls, then that means there are still three more temples, and three more Spirit Pearls of the Wood, Fire, and Metal elements."

As he spoke, he summoned a map and marked the locations of the first and second temples. He then connected them, forming a straight line between the two points. At that moment, Cheng Zongyang was like an explorer journeying through dangerous lands, his heart filled with anticipation and a desire to explore.

"Old Luo, finding the other temples won’t be easy right now, so let’s test this theory."

Following this method, Cheng Zongyang used the distance between the two points as a baseline to draw lines, ultimately forming two pentagrams oriented in different directions, as well as a circle.

These three patterns demarcated the potential regions for the remaining three temples.

"We’ll search according to these three regions. Focus on densely forested areas where villages exist, areas suspected of having metal ore deposits, and places that might have volcanoes or high temperatures... Hmm?"

Cheng Zongyang’s words suddenly trailed off. A thought had just flashed through his mind, but he felt it was unlikely.

He continued, "The Fire Element Spirit Pearl is likely to be in a place where a volcano once existed. This type of temple would probably be located at the mouth of a terrestrial fire crater, or even inside one. Mark those down first. Remember, the prerequisite is that a village must exist nearby."

Luo Dingran quickly jotted down Cheng Zongyang’s instructions and finally asked, "Sir, did you have a thought just now?"

Cheng Zongyang nodded. "I was just thinking, a place with high local temperatures or geothermal heat... isn’t that just like Huining County? But then I thought it was unlikely, since that was caused by an external force. During the excavation over there, did you find any temples or anything of the sort?"

Luo Dingran’s expression froze for a moment. "Temples? There were quite a few of those. Beneath some of the rubble that was pulverized to dust, we did find many plaques from temples buried in the ruins. I’ll have my people start screening them later."

"Good. Let’s head back first."

With that said, the two men and the beast headed to the hut and teleported back to the Fourth Level.

Next, Luo Dingran left with the Mole Beast to immediately arrange the investigation.

Cheng Zongyang, meanwhile, moved the Array in his hands to the Fifth Level and stored it safely before turning his gaze to the four statues.

After a round of identification, they were all basically the same as the Divine Statue from the first temple.

Then, Cheng Zongyang dug out the Soul Crystals from the three Divine Statues one by one. As expected, three waves of oppressive aura appeared and then vanished in succession.

However, after he dug out the Soul Crystal from the Fish-headed Monster, a red light flashed and shot straight toward the spot between Cheng Zongyang’s eyebrows.

In an instant, with a mere thought, Cheng Zongyang stopped the red light right before his brow, barely an inch away.

He took a step back, his expression calm as he watched the red light, which seemed to possess a will of its own, spinning back and forth. Inwardly, however, he was on high alert. Thanks to the lesson from Huangfu Ren, he was extremely wary of such things.