Chapter 364: Let This Poor Monk Enlighten You

After confirming there was no danger, a Late Stage Golden Immortal Cultivator flashed forward, flying into the palace first.

He clearly wanted to seize the initiative and claim the treasures within the palace for himself.

The other Cultivators, seeing a Golden Immortal Cultivator take the lead, instantly shed their reservations and, one by one, unfurled their figures, following closely behind as they flew towards the palace.

Fang Hong blended into the crowd, subtly following the group of Cultivators, maintaining constant vigilance.

Upon entering the palace, the Cultivators initially intended to split up, believing it would allow them to search for treasures more quickly, as everyone wanted to gain more benefits.

However, as they looked around, they discovered that this seemingly magnificent palace contained only one straight passage leading forward.

The passage was empty on both sides, with no other rooms or side chambers visible, making it impossible to split up.

Since there were no other options, everyone could only proceed along this sole passage.

Before long, everyone followed the passage to its end, where their view suddenly opened up to a spacious hall.

When everyone clearly saw the scene inside the hall, they all paused, their eyes instantly becoming fervent, staring intently ahead.

Inside this spacious hall, a large number of Immortal Stones were piled up; at a glance, the quantity was enormous, roughly estimated to be at least several hundred thousand.

In the very center of the pile of Immortal Stones, a middle-aged man in a gray robe sat cross-legged on the ground, but his eyes were closed, and not a trace of aura could be perceived from his body.

On the ground beside the gray-robed middle-aged man, three shimmering Immortal Artifacts were also displayed.

Upon seeing the three Immortal Artifacts, everyone’ eyes became even more greedy and fervent, each person’s gaze fixed intently on them.

Judging from the fluctuations emanating from these three Immortal Artifacts, their grade was definitely not low; they were at least Seventh-Grade Immortal Artifacts.

Such Immortal Artifacts would tempt even Grand Unity Golden Immortals, let alone these True Immortals and Golden Immortals.

Unlike the other Cultivators, Fang Hong’s gaze did not linger on the three Immortal Artifacts; instead, he focused all his attention on the gray-robed middle-aged man.

After careful perception and observation, Fang Hong discovered that this gray-robed middle-aged man indeed had no life aura, not even a trace of a remnant soul remained.

What remained now was merely a cold corpse devoid of any consciousness.

Combining this with the scene inside the hall, Fang Hong secretly speculated that this gray-robed middle-aged man was likely the owner of this Ancient Tomb.

Looking at the three Seventh-Grade Immortal Artifacts placed beside him, it could be inferred that this person’s cultivation realm in life was definitely not low.

He was very likely a peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal, only one step away from the Immortal King realm.

But why would such a highly cultivated Cultivator become a soulless corpse?

Fang Hong quickly found the answer: Cultivators often need to overcome extremely perilous Heavenly Tribulations when advancing to higher realms.

Cultivators of different realms face different Heavenly Tribulations.

To advance from the True Immortal realm to the Golden Immortal realm, one needs to pass the Yin Wind Tribulation, which specifically erodes immortal orifices; Fang Hong had already experienced this.

To advance from the Golden Immortal realm to the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm, one needs to pass the Body Destruction Lightning Tribulation, which possesses immense power and can destroy the physical body.

And to advance from the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm to the Immortal King realm, the Heavenly Tribulation one faces is the even more terrifying Heavenly Fire Tribulation.

The Heavenly Fire Tribulation is extremely fearsome; when it descends, the heavens will unleash raging Heavenly Fire.

This Heavenly Fire differs from ordinary immortal fire; it does not burn the physical body, but specifically targets and burns the Cultivator’s soul.

Once a Cultivator fails to endure the trial of the Heavenly Fire, their soul will be completely burned away.

Years of cultivation will also turn into nothingness, ultimately leading to the demise of both body and dao.

Evidently, this owner of the Ancient Tomb failed to successfully pass the Heavenly Fire Tribulation while attempting to break through to the Immortal King realm, and his soul was burned away by the Heavenly Fire, leaving behind only this soulless corpse.

Just then, Fang Hong’s gaze was drawn to a black storage ring worn on the gray-robed middle-aged man’s left index finger.

Since a large number of Immortal Stones and three Seventh-Grade Immortal Artifacts had already appeared in the hall, it was highly probable that even more precious treasures were hidden within this storage ring.

The surrounding Cultivators naturally also noticed that storage ring, looking eager to move, wishing they could immediately rush forward and claim these treasures for themselves.

Yet, despite their intense desire, not a single person dared to step forward first to retrieve the treasures.

Even the three most highly cultivated Late Stage Golden Immortal Cultivators merely stood in place, looking at the treasures with complex expressions, not acting rashly.

In front of so many Cultivators, anyone who rashly tried to snatch the treasures would inevitably incur the displeasure and encirclement of everyone else.

At that point, let alone obtaining the treasures, even preserving one’s own life would be a problem.

So everyone was waiting, wanting to see who would be the first to lose patience and make a move, hoping to reap the benefits of their struggle.

However, Fang Hong disregarded all this; he was confident in handling whatever might happen next.

He slowly walked out from the crowd and, under the watchful eyes of everyone, directly took the three Seventh-Grade Immortal Artifacts.

Then, he also took away the gray-robed middle-aged man’s corpse along with the storage ring, the entire process calm and unhurried, as if those treasures rightfully belonged to him.

Seeing this, everyone all widened their eyes, looking at Fang Hong with astonishment; for a moment, the hall was silent.

Someone actually dared to so boldly monopolize all the treasures in front of so many Cultivators; this was simply not putting them in his eyes.

A burly Golden Immortal Cultivator finally reacted, looking at Fang Hong and shouting, "He stole the treasures. Everyone, let’s go together, kill him, and get the treasures back."

With the Golden Immortal Cultivator’s shout, the other Cultivators present all snapped back to reality, their greed and anger instantly ignited.

One by one, they became restless, wanting to join forces to eliminate Fang Hong and then divide his treasures. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Amitabha, if you Cultivators are so deluded and covetous of treasures, then let this poor monk enlighten you and guide you back from your lost path." Fang Hong said solemnly.

At this moment, Fang Hong still maintained the appearance of a bald old monk, looking benevolent, but his next actions stunned everyone.

The demon soul banner slowly rose from behind him, and in an instant, surging demonic qi poured out from the demon soul banner, rapidly spreading throughout the entire hall.

At the same time, the powerful pressure emanating from the demon soul banner, as a Seventh-Grade Immortal Artifact, instantly enveloped the entire hall.