Pursued by the Top Grade Saintess after Engagement Annulled-Chapter 345 - 341: Extracting the Divine Marrow from the Divine Vein
The box was sealed with six layers inside and out.
Much like a nested doll, by the end of it, Xia Feng was a bit annoyed with the dismantling.
If not for the thought that anything sealed under so many layers must contain something valuable inside,
he might have just tossed the box aside to collect dust.
Once he had taken it all apart, Xia Feng cautiously extracted a purple token engraved with the words "Wuji" from inside.
His face was almost dark with frustration, as this item showed no reaction whether probed with divine sense or refined with blood.
If not for its unknown material which resisted destruction despite Xia Feng pouring most of his divine power into it,
Xia Feng would have suspected it to be just a mere broken plaque.
Dongfang Zhuangzhuang suddenly exclaimed as if he’d found something, "My lord, I found the location of the private treasury."
Carrying the token of unknown use, Xia Feng walked over, only to see a somewhat rugged secret chamber.
It opened between his two rooms, and because the walls were slightly thicker, Dongfang Zhuangzhuang had looked with curiosity.
After a few touches and not quite knowing what they hit, they found a narrow space.
Xia Feng poked his head in to take a quick look, then turned to ask Dongfang Zhuangzhuang about the token.
"Have you seen this token before?"
Dongfang Zhuangzhuang examined it a few times in confusion, "Never seen it; could be the branch clan leader’s identification token?"
Xia Feng furrowed his brow, glanced at the token, and finally placed it in his storage space.
Consider it a memento of his first strike against a branch family in the Divine Domain.
After raiding the private treasury, Xia Feng took Dongfang Zhuangzhuang to rendezvous with Xia Tianming.
Xia Tianming gave Dongfang Zhuangzhuang another look, "Aren’t you planning to deal with him?"
Dongfang Zhuangzhuang shivered and stammered, "My lord, I—I am useful..."
He pulled out a map from his chest pocket, which detailed the distribution of the fourth branch’s divine veins and other secret realms.
After receiving the map, Xia Tianming’s expression softened somewhat.
However, Xia Feng looked worried and asked, "You didn’t draw this yourself, did you?"
Considering Dongfang Zhuangzhuang’s lost traveler state, if he had drawn it, then the map was really just for reference.
He shook his head, "Not at all, if I drew it you couldn’t even look at it. I had someone help me organize it."
"Since I always get lost, I got someone to draw this distribution map so that if I do get lost, I can follow it back."
But soon his expression turned to embarrassment and shame.
"But after getting this map, I realized, I still can’t read it!"
"In the end, the clan elders gave me a travel permit when I descended to the Lower Realm."
The travel permit was now in Xia Feng’s hand, and his expression changed slightly, "Do you still need it?"
"If you do, I can return it to you."
Dongfang Zhuangzhuang waved his hands repeatedly, "No need, no need, I plan to use my terrible sense of direction as an excuse to escape this place."
"Taking the travel permit would make it harder to explain my absence."
After finishing, he looked around and whispered, "I’ve told you everything that needs to be said. Can I leave now?"
Xia Feng looked at his simple and somewhat cowardly demeanor and tutted lightly, waving, "Go on, just be careful not to be so unlucky in the future."
Dongfang Zhuangzhuang giggled foolishly, turned around, and ran without a word.
Xia Tianming watched his retreating figure, "Is he reliable? Despite looking simple-minded, he could be playing dumb to trick us."
Xia Feng shrugged, "It doesn’t matter that much; whether he is truly simple-minded or pretending."
"Fear of death is real, regardless. More importantly, we should discuss where to go next."
Xia Tianming turned back to scrutinize the slightly crude map, "Hmm, let’s start by extracting the divine marrow around the area."
"What do you plan to do about the Purple Crystal Divine Vein?"
Xia Feng didn’t give a definite answer; he just replied softly, "We’ll see when we get there."
The two spent a few days extracting several divine marrows from the surrounding divine veins.
Xia Feng noticed that in the central area of most divine veins, quite a few exotic beasts gathered, seemingly also secretly absorbing some of the divine power leaking from the divine marrow.
He took out an Upper Grade Divine Crystal from his storage ring and slipped it into his sleeve.
The Nine Evils happily climbed around his wrist for a while before biting onto the Divine Crystal and almost swallowing it whole.
Over the past few days, the Nine Evils had been very helpful since the disturbance of divine power near the divine marrow couldn’t be detected by Xia Feng and Xia Tianming’s divine sense alone to check for any exotic beasts therein.
Several times it was the Nine Evils that gave early warnings, allowing them to avoid some of the divine vein guards and some rather large exotic beasts.
Not that they couldn’t defeat them, but Xia Feng was mindful of what Dongfang Zhuangzhuang said about the Eastern Divine Guard Squad, so he didn’t want to waste time on those exotic beasts.
Recently, many people from the fourth branch of the Dongfang Clan scattered outside were extremely scared.
Especially those sent to mine, looking like they had seen a ghost.
Suddenly, as they mined, the mine began to collapse, and all the divine crystals began to scatter.
If it were normal circumstances, they’d be joyful, as mining divine crystals was time-consuming and labor-intensive, with concerns about the size of what’s extracted.
But such a mine collapse was something they hadn’t witnessed in a lifetime.
However, there were elders who had experienced many things; upon seeing such a large collapse, their faces instantly turned pale.
"Hurry, go back and report to the Patriarch! Someone has stolen the divine vein’s divine marrow!"
Only then did everyone realize the gravity of the situation, as issues were reported in multiple divine veins.
As they hastily returned, they found the Dongfang Clan to be unusually quiet instead of its usual chaos.
The sudden silence made everyone feel uneasy.
Once inside, seeing clan members fallen to the ground and the clan leader nowhere to be found, their faces instantly paled.
"Quick, quickly find someone to notify the main family that something has happened to the fourth branch!"
These people rushed to report the situation, while some who were more cautious observed their surroundings.
Not everyone here was a member of the Dongfang Clan; there were many slaves and others like Charon, who, after ascending into the Divine Domain, lived oppressed for half their life.
Seeing the Dongfang Clan in such disorder, some with ulterior motives blended into the crowd and quietly slipped away.
